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
The company being come to some place where a boar is thought to lie, the
first step is to bring up the pack, (11) which done, they will loose a
single Laconian bitch, and keeping the rest in leash, beat about with
this one hound. (12) As soon as she has got on the boar's track, let
them follow in order, one after another, close on the tracking hound,
who gives the lead to the whole company. (13) Even to the huntsmen
themselves many a mark of the creature will be plain, such as his
footprints on soft portions of the ground, and in the thick undergrowth
of forests broken twigs; and, where there are single trees, the scars
made by his tusks. (14) As she follows up the trail the hound will, as
a general rule, finally arrive at some well-wooded spot; since, as a
general rule, the boar lies ensconced in places of the sort, that are
warm in winter and cool in summer.
(11) {kunegesion}, "a hunting establishment, huntsmen and hounds, a
pack of hounds," L. & S. cf. Herod. i. 36; Pollux. v. 17. In
Aristot. "H. A." viii. 5. 2, of wolves in a pack; v. {monopeirai}.
{upagein}--"stealthily?"
(12) Or, "go on a voyage of discovery."
(13) Reading {te ikhneuouse}, or if vulg. {ikhneusei}, transl. "set
her to follow the trail, at the head of the whole train."
(14) Schneid. cf. Aristot. "H. A." vi. 18; Plin. viii. 52; Virg.
"Georg." iii. 255, "ipse ruit, dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus";
Hom. "Il." xi. 416, xiii. 475; Hes. "Shield," 389; Eur. "Phoen."
1389; Ovid, "Met." viii. 369.
As soon as she has reached his lair she will give tongue; but the boar
will not get up, not he, in nine cases out of ten. The huntsman will
thereupon recover the hound, and tie her up also with the rest at a good
distance from the lair. (15) He will then launch his toils into the wild
boar's harbourage, (16) placing the nooses upon any forked branches
of wood to hand. Out of the net itself he must construct a deep
forward-jutting gulf or bosom, posting young shoots on this side and
that within, as stays or beams, (17) so that the rays of light may
penetrate as freely as possible through the nooses into the bosom, (18)
and the interior be as fully lit up as possible when the creature makes
his charge. The string round the top of the net must be attached to
some stout tree, and not to any mere shrub or thorn-bush, since these
light-bending branches will give way to strain on open ground. (19)
All about each net it will be well to stop with timber even places (20)
"where harbrough nis to see," so that the hulking brute may drive a
straight course (21) into the toils without tacking.
(15) Lit. "accordingly recover the dog, and tie her up also with the
rest," etc.
(16) {ormous}. Lit. "moorings," i.e. "favourite haunts." Cf. {dusorma}
below. Al. "stelle die Fallnetze auf die Wechsel," Lenz.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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