QVI _nimis exercet venatus, ac ſine fine Haurit opes patrias, prodigit inque canes: Tantus amor vani, tantus furor vſque recurſat, Induat ut celeris cornua bina feræ. Accidit Actæon tibi, qui cornutus ab ortu, À canibus propriis dilaceratus eras. Quàm multos hodie, quos paſcit odora canum vis. Venandi ſtudium conficit, atque vorat. Seria ne ludis poſtponas, commoda damnis, Quod ſupereſt rerum ſic ut egenus habe. Sæpe etiam propria qui interdum vxore relicta Deperit externas corniger iſta luit._ Stanzas which may thus be rendered,— “Whoever too eagerly hunting pursues, and without moderation Drains paternal treasures and lavishes them on dogs: So great the love of the folly, so strong does the passion return That it clothes him in the twin horns of the swift stag. It happened, Actæon, to thee, who though horned from thy birth, By thy own dogs into pieces wast torn. At this day how many, whom the dogs’ quick scent delights, The strong passion for hunting wastes and devours. Put not off serious things for sports,—advantages for losses: As one in need so hold fast whatever things remain: Often even the horn bearer, his own wife forsaken, Loves desperately strangers, and pays penalties for crimes.” We here see that Sambucus has adopted the theory of the old grammarian or historian of Alexandria, Palæphatus, who informs us,— “Actæon by race was an Arcadian, very fond of dogs. Many of them he kept, and hunted in the mountains. But he neglected his own affairs, for men then were all self-workers; they had no servants, but themselves tilled the earth; and that man was the richest, who tilled the earth and was the most diligent workman. But Actæon being careless of domestic affairs, and rather going about hunting with his dogs, his substance was wasted. And when he had nothing left, people kept saying: the wretched Actæon was eaten up by his own dogs.” A very instructive tale this for some of our Nimrods, mighty hunters and racers in the land; but it is not to be pressed too strictly into the service of the parsimonious. From the same motto Whitney (p. 15) keeps much closer to the mythological narrative,[136]— “Actæon heare, vnhappie man behoulde, When in the well, hee sawe Diana brighte, With greedie lookes, hee waxed ouer boulde, That to a stagge hee was transformed righte, Whereat amasde, hee thought to runne awaie, But straighte his howndes did rente hym, for their praie. By which is ment, That those whoe do pursue Theire fancies fonde, and thinges vnlawfull craue, Like brutishe beastes appeare vnto the viewe, And shall at lengthe, Actæons guerdon haue: And as his houndes, soe theire affections base, Shall them deuowre, and all their deedes deface.”