[25] So L. S., {upotheousin} = "cut in before" the rest of the pack
and over-run the scent. Al. "flash in for a time, and then lose
the scent."
Many a hound will give up the chase and return from mere distaste for hunting,[26] and not a few from pure affection for mankind. Others with their clamorous yelping on the line do their best to deceive, as if true and false were all one to them.[27] There are others that will not do that, but which in the middle of their running,[28] should they catch the echo of a sound from some other quarter, will leave their own business and incontinently tear off towards it.[29] The fact is,[30] they run on without clear motive, some of them; others taking too much for granted; and a third set to suit their whims and fancies. Others simply play at hunting; or from pure jealousy, keep questing about beside the line, continually rushing along and tumbling over one another.[31]
[26] Or, {misotheron}, "out of antipathy to the quarry." For
{philanthropon} cf. Pollux, ib. 64; Hermog. ap. L. Dind.
[27] Or, "unable apparently to distinguish false from true." See
Sturz, s.v. {poieisthai}. Cf. Plut. "de Exil." 6. Al. "Gaily
substituting false for true."
[28] "In the heat of the chase."
[29] "Rush to attack it."
[30] The fact is, there are as many different modes of following up
the chase almost as there are dogs. Some follow up the chase
{asaphos}, indistinctly; some {polu upolambanousai}, with a good
deal of guess-work; others again {doxazousai}, without conviction,
insincerely; others, {peplasmenos}, out of mere pretence, pure
humbug, make-believe, or {phthoneros}, in a fit of jealousy,
{ekkunousi}, are skirters; al. {ekkinousi}, Sturz, quit the scent.
[31] Al. "unceasingly tearing along, around, and about it."
The majority of these defects are due to natural disposition, though some must be assigned no doubt to want of scientific training. In either case such hounds are useless, and may well deter the keenest sportsman from the hunting field.[32]
[32] Or, "Naturally, dogs like these damp the sportsman's ardour, and
indeed are enough to sicken him altogether with the chase."
The characters, bodily and other, exhibited by the finer specimens of the same breed,[33] I will now set forth.
[33] Or, "The features, points, qualities, whether physical or other,
which characterise the better indidivuals." But what does Xenophon
mean by {tou autou genous}?
IV
In the first place, this true type of hound should be of large build; and, in the next place, furnished with a light small head, broad and flat in the snout,[1] well knit and sinewy, the lower part of the forehead puckered into strong wrinkles; eyes set well up[2] in the head, black and bright; forehead large and broad; the depression between the eyes pronounced;[3] ears long[4] and thin, without hair on the under side; neck long and flexible, freely moving on its pivot;[5] chest broad and fairly fleshy; shoulder-blades detached a little from the shoulders;[6] the shin-bones of the fore-legs should be small, straight, round, stout and strong; the elbows straight; ribs[7] not deep all along, but sloped away obliquely; the loins muscular, in size a mean between long and short, neither too flexible nor too stiff;[8] flanks, a mean between large and small; the hips (or "couples") rounded, fleshy behind, not tied together above, but firmly knitted on the inside;[9] the lower or under part of the belly[10] slack, and the belly itself the same, that is, hollow and sunken; tail long, straight, and pointed;[11] thighs (i.e. hams) stout and compact; shanks (i.e. lower thighs) long, round, and solid; hind-legs much longer than the fore-legs, and relatively lean; feet round and cat- like.[12]
[1] Pollux, v. 7; Arrian, "Cyn." iv.
[2] {meteora}, prominent. ?See Sturz, s.v.
[3] {tas diakriseis batheias}, lit. "with a deep frontal sinus."
[4] Reading {makra}, or if {mikra}, "small."
[5] Al. "well rounded."
[6] "Shoulder blades standing out a little from the shoulders"; i.e.
"free."
[7] i.e. "not wholly given up to depth, but well curved"; depth is not
everything unless the ribs be also curved. Schneid. cf. Ov. "Met."
iii. 216, "et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon," where the
poet is perhaps describing a greyhound, "chyned like a bream." See
Stonehenge, pp. 21, 22. Xenophon's "Castorians" were more like the
Welsh harrier in build, I presume.
[8] Or, "neither soft and spongy nor unyielding." See Stoneh., p. 23.
[9] "Drawn up underneath it," lit. "tucked up."
[10] Al. "flank," "flanks themselves."
[11] Or, as we should say, "stern." See Pollux, v. 59; Arrian, v. 9.
[12] See Stonehenge, p. 24 foll.
Hounds possessed of these points will be strong in build, and at the same time light and active; they will have symmetry at once and pace; a bright, beaming expression; and good mouths.
In following up scent,[13] see how they show their mettle by rapidly quitting beaten paths, keeping their heads sloping to the ground, smiling, as it were to greet the trail; see how they let their ears drop, how they keep moving their eyes to and fro quickly, flourishing their sterns.[14] Forwards they should go with many a circle towards the hare's form,[15] steadily guided by the line, all together. When they are close to the hare itself, they will make the fact plain to the huntsman by the quickened pace at which they run, as if they would let him know by their fury, by the motion of head and eyes, by rapid changes of gait and gesture,[16] now casting a glance back and now fixing their gaze steadily forward to the creature's hiding-place,[17] by twistings and turnings of the body, flinging themselves backwards, forwards, and sideways, and lastly, by the genuine exaltation of spirits, visible enough now, and the ecstasy of their pleasure, that they are close upon the quarry.
[13] Lit. "Let them follow up the trail."
[14] Lit. "fawning and wagging their tails."
[15] Lit. "bed" or "lair."
[16] Or, "by rapid shiftings of attitude, by looks now thrown backward
and now forwards to the . . ." Reading {kai apo ton anablemmaton
kai emblemmaton ton epi tas kathedras tou l.}, or if with L. D.,
{kai apo ton a. kai emblemmaton eis ton ulen kai anastremmaton ton
epi tas k.}, transl. "now looking back at the huntsman and now
staring hard into the covert, and again right-about-face in the
direction of the hare's sitting-place."
[17] Lit. "form"; "the place where puss is seated."
Once she is off, the pack should pursue with vigour.[18] They must not relax their hold, but with yelp and bark full cry insist on keeping close and dogging puss at every turn. Twist for twist and turn for turn, they, too, must follow in a succession of swift and brilliant bursts, interrupted by frequent doublings; while ever and again they give tongue and yet again till the very welkin rings.[19] One thing they must not do, and that is, leave the scent and return crestfallen to the huntsman.[20]
[18] Lit. "let them follow up the chase vigorously, and not relax,
with yelp and bark."
[19] {dikaios}, Sturz, "non temere"; "and not without good reason."
Al. "a right good honest salvo of barks."
[20] Lit. "Let them not hark back to join the huntsman, and desert the
trail."
Along with this build and method of working, hounds should possess four points. They should have pluck, sound feet, keen noses, and sleek coats. The spirited, plucky hound will prove his mettle by refusing to leave the chase, however stifling the weather; a good nose is shown by his capacity for scenting the hare on barren and dry ground exposed to the sun, and that when the orb is at the zenith;[21] soundness of foot in the fact that the dog may course over mountains during the same season, and yet his feet will not be torn to pieces; and a good coat means the possession of light, thick, soft, and silky hair.[22]