The Sportsman: On Hunting, a Sportsman's Manual, Commonly Called CynegeticusXenophon
Philosophy
The Sportsman: On Hunting, a Sportsman's Manual, Commonly Called Cynegeticus
Xenophon
Classical literature; Sportsmanship -- Early works to 1800
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)
(21) i.e. "at mid-day"; or, "in the height of summer"; al. "during the
dog-days"; "at the rising of the dog-star."
(22) See Pollux, ib. 59; Arrian, vi. 1.
As to the colour proper for a hound, (23) it should not be simply tawny,
nor absolutely black or white, which is not a sign of breeding, but
monotonous--a simplicity suggestive of the wild animal. (24) Accordingly
the red dog should show a bloom of white hair about the muzzle, and
so should the black, the white commonly showing red. On the top of the
thigh the hair should be straight and thick, as also on the loins and on
the lower portion of the stern, but of a moderate thickness only on the
upper parts.
(23) See Stonehenge, p. 25; Darwin, op. cit. ii. 109.
(24) But see Pollux, ib. 65, who apparently read {gennaion touto to
aploun alla therides}; al. Arrian, vi. See Jaques de Fouilloux,
"La Venerie" (ap. E. Talbot, "Oeuvres completes de Xenophon,"
traduction, ii. 318).
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