Familiar Studies in HomerClerke, Agnes M. (Agnes Mary)
History
Familiar Studies in Homer
Clerke, Agnes M. (Agnes Mary)
Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer -- Criticism and interpretation
The Suliot dog, or German boar-hound, comes from the same region, and
has also strong claims to the honours of Molossian descent. Some of the
breed were employed by the Turkish soldiery in the earlier part of this
century, to guard their outposts against Austrian attacks; and one
captured specimen, presented to the King of Naples, was reputed to be
the largest dog in existence.[86] Measuring nearly four feet from the
shoulder to the ground, he in fact rivalled the dimensions of a Shetland
pony. Others were secured as regimental pets, and used to make a grand
show in Brussels, marching with their respective corps to the blare of
martial music. They were fierce-natured animals, rough-coated, and
coarsely formed; mostly tan-coloured, but with blackish markings on the
back, shoulders, and round the ears. Tan-coloured, too, was probably the
immortal Argus; and we can further picture him, on the assumption that
the modern races west of Pindus reproduce many features of his aspect,
as a wolf-like hound, with a bushy tail, small, sensitive ears, and a
glance at once eager, intelligent, and wistful. Drooping ears in dogs
are, it may be remarked, a result of domestication; and varieties
distinguished by them were unknown in Europe until Alexander the Great
introduced from Asia some specimens of the mastiff kind. Consequently,
Shakespeare’s description of the pack of Theseus—
Footnote 86:
C. Hamilton Smith, _Naturalist’s Library_, vol. v. p. 151.
With ears that sweep away the morning dew,
is one among many examples of his genial disregard for archæological
detail. Argus, then, resembled ‘White-breasted Bran,’ the dog of Fingal,
in his possession of ‘an ear like a leaf.’
It is not too much to say that the opposed sentiments concerning the
relations of men with animals displayed in the Iliad and Odyssey suffice
in themselves to establish their diversity of origin. For they render it
psychologically impossible that they could have been the work of one
individual. The varying _prominence_ assigned respectively to the horse
and the dog might, it is true, be plausibly accounted for by the
diversified conditions of the two epics; but no shifting of scene can
explain a _reversal_ of sympathies. Such sentiments form part of the
ingrained structure of the mind. They take root before consciousness is
awake, or memory active; they live through the decades of a man’s life;
are transported with him from shore to shore; survive the enthusiasm of
friendship and the illusions of ambition; they can no more be eradicated
from the tenor of his thoughts than the type of his features can be
changed from Tartar to Caucasian, or the colour of his eyes from black
to blue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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