Part 10

There is no objection to your cheering your hound as often as you like in his first course; but in his second or third, when it is probable that he is fagged, I think it wrong to cheer him very often by name, lest from his ardour, and desire of pleasing his master, he exert himself beyond his strength, and suffer some inward rupture; an accident which has been fatal to many a high-bred greyhound. But he should be allowed to slacken his running as he chooses. For the contest is by no means equal between the hare and greyhound: the hare runs where she likes, and the dog pursues; she shifts her course, throws him off, and darts forward; and if thrown out, the dog is wide of the hare, and must again stretch away after her a-head, and recover what he has lost of the course by overshooting himself.

Moreover, the natural difficulties of the country are more in favour of the hare, than the dog—such as rough and stony grounds, steeps and inequalities of surface—both because she is light, and because her feet, from their woolliness, are not liable to be lacerated by the roughness of the ground; and the running for her life, too, takes away all sense of difficulties.

When the greyhound has caught the hare, or been otherwise victorious in the course, you should dismount from your horse, pat him with your hand and praise him, kissing his head, and stroking his ears, and speaking to him by name—“Well done, Cirras!”—“Well done, Bonnas!”—“Bravo, my Hormé!”—calling each hound by his name; for, like men of generous spirit, they love to be praised: and the dog, if not quite tired out, will come up with joy to caress you. At this time, it is a good sign for him to roll himself on the ground, as we see horses do; for it shows that he is not done up with the course, and, at the same time, rolling refreshes him.

The more opulent Celts, who live in luxury, course in the following manner. They send out hare-finders early in the morning to look over such places as are likely to afford hares in form; and a messenger brings word if they have found any, and what number. They then go out themselves, and having started the hare, slip the dogs after her, and follow on horseback.

But others, who have no hare-finders, go out on horseback, collecting a large party of fellow-sportsmen together; and coming to likely lying-ground, when a hare is started, they slip their dogs. While others again, who are more of workmen at the sport, sally forth on foot; and if any one accompanies them on horseback, it is his duty to keep up with the dogs.

They beat the ground in regular array, with an extended front, proceeding in a straight line to the completion of a certain extent of country; and then, wheeling about in a body, return in the same way by the side of their former track, omitting as far as possible none of the likely lying.

But it is necessary, if many dogs are taken into the field, that they should not be left at random, and without arrangement. For when the hare is started from her form, not a man would refrain from slipping his hound after her: one from eagerness to see his own dog run, and another from being startled and beside himself at the hallooing; and the hare would be caught, in consequence of the crowd and confusion of the dogs, without a struggle, and the whole value of the spectacle destroyed. On which account a steward should be appointed over the sport, should match the dogs, and give orders to the field:—if the hare start on this side, you and you are to slip, and nobody else; but if on that side, you and you: and let strict attention be paid to the orders given.

The Celts sometimes course with a mixture of sagacious and swift-footed hounds; and while the dogs of scent are trying, they stand apart with the greyhounds, leading them in their hands where it is most probable the hare will direct her course, that they may slip them at her when she breaks cover. And here the greyhounds answer the same purpose as Xenophon’s nets. But the courses in this way are irregular and confused, and the hare, however good, is generally so terrified at the barking of the finders, that, unless she get far enough a-head to be able to recover herself, she is easily caught, being frightened out of her wits.

Whoever, therefore, is a good slipper, should not let go his dog while the hare is at all bewildered, (unless he would destroy the sport,) but should allow her to make her first turns, and then slip.

Let it be deemed unlawful to slip to a young hare; but rather, in obedience to my namesake, spare such for the Goddess. If possible, indeed, you should endeavour to call off the dogs on scent; though they are with difficulty checked, being intractable from hunger, and so keen at devouring whatever prey they take, that you can scarce drive them away, even by beating them with sticks.

You should course the stag, or any game of equal size in the same way, slipping high-couraged hounds; for the animal is large, runs a long while, and is by no means safe to contend with; indeed there is no little danger of a greyhound being destroyed by a stag.

But where the plains are adapted for riding, as in Mysia, Dacia, Scythia, and Illyricum, they are in the habit of coursing deer with Scythian and Illyrian horses; which, though slow at first in pursuit, and utterly despicable, as far as appearance goes, by the side of those of Thessaly, Sicily, or Peloponnesus, hold out to the last under the most severe work. On such occasions you will see the huge, swift, proud-looking horse flagging, and this lean and scrubby little animal at first passing him, then leaving him behind, and at last even driving the stag away from him. He holds on indeed until the stag gives out and stops, gasping with distress; when you may, if you choose, spear him at close quarters as if enfettered, or throw a noose over his neck, and lead him away alive.

In Africa there is a mode of coursing on Libyan horses, called Nomades, on which the sportsmen, mounted, catch not only red and roe deer, (for these are taken with little effort, and the horses are not esteemed good in consequence,) but also wild asses, which excel in speed, and power of holding out for the greatest length of course.

For when the Greeks marched with Cyrus, the son of Darius, against the great king, (in which expedition Xenophon was engaged, who relates the circumstance,) while they were passing over the plains of Arabia, there appeared herds of wild asses, but not one could be caught by any single horseman, and therefore the Greeks pursued them with relays of horsemen at stated distances; and after the asses had held out for a long while against several, they sunk at last from fatigue. Thus even Cyrus himself, the son of the great king, and the brother of the great king, had not horses good enough for this chase; and yet the Libyan boys, some at eight years of age, and others not much older, mounted on their naked steeds, and guiding them with a switch, as the Greeks employ the rein, press these wild asses so closely in pursuit, that at last they throw a noose around their necks and lead them away quite subdued.

Such are the methods of coursing adopted by those who have fleet hounds and horses: they neither ensnare the animals with toils, nets, or springes; nor employ, in short, any other tricks or wily inventions, but contend with them in a straight-forward trial of speed. And to me, the two spectacles appear nowise akin: the former being like thievish depredation; the latter, like a battle fought out with main strength: the one class of sportsmen resembling pirates in their clandestine attack, while the other are as openly victorious as were the Athenians over the Medes in the naval engagement at Artemisium, or at Salamis and Psyttalia, or again at Cyprus.

As to the age at which greyhounds should begin coursing, you may take a bitch out after the eleventh month; or, if she be well set, and not loose-limbed, you may let go a hare from your hand before her, in an open field, a month earlier than this, starting the pup close to the hare, that she may enjoy the sight of her game, and, by seeing it quite close, may work with eagerness. But presently slip another good dog to the hare, that the puppy may not suffer by too long a course, nor flag from over-fatigue; and the second dog turning the hare with ease again and again, will drive her into the puppy’s mouth, when the latter should be allowed to tear her with her teeth till she has killed her.

As soon as the season arrives for taking out your puppies, let them be first walked over such roads as are rough; for this exercise is conducive to forming and strengthening their feet. Then station the man who leads them upon a conspicuous and elevated spot, and be sure that he does not slip a puppy when the hare has got much a-head, and is out of sight; (notwithstanding the elder Xenophon advises it in regard to dogs that are to be practised at running on scent;) for if you slip a greyhound puppy out of sight of her game, she runs wide, and jumps about, and is beside herself and bewildered. And after she is full-grown, if a hare happen to escape her, she is never at rest, neither returning to her keeper, nor obeying his call, but, from eagerness for a course, continuing to run about wildly, like a mad dog, after nothing.

Let the man, then, that holds the puppy stand on such a spot as I have stated, concealed from view at the point where it is most probable the tired hare will come in the course of her turns; and when he sees her quite weary, let him slip the puppy close to her, neither before, nor directly opposite to her; for the bitch rushing right upon her will overshoot herself, and the hare, with a wrench, easily skimming by, will of course leave the bitch far behind; the latter with difficulty turning herself, as gallies sailing briskly a-head cannot readily tack, unless the rowing be much slackened before they are brought about. Let the hare, therefore, just pass by, and then let him slip obliquely after her. Some one should follow up quickly, as soon as the hare is caught, before the dogs are gorged with her blood. Not that the flesh of a hare is to be accounted of much worth by a person who courses for the beauty of the sport; but it is a bad thing to teach a greyhound to eat a hare. Many a dog, too, has been destroyed by gorging himself while out of breath, after a long course, and has died of suffocation.

Dog-puppies must not be taken out coursing until they are two years old, for their limbs become set at a much later period than those of bitches. Besides it is attended with no little danger to take them out earlier, many a greyhound having been prematurely destroyed by a severe course before he was full-grown, and especially those of the greatest spirit and highest breeding; for, in consequence of their spirit, they run to the very utmost of their power.

The other practical points, already insisted on in reference to bitches, are equally to be attended to in regard to the other sex. Dogs are to be kept from copulation within the age stated; for the seed being not yet matured in them, is generally weak and evanid, καθάπερ ἡ τῶν παίδων. The puppies themselves too are so utterly ruined by it that you can never afterwards, do what you will, remedy the error. The proper and seasonable time for sexual intercourse is from the completion of the third year.

And it should be thus managed:—watch the opportunity of the bitch being clear of vaginal blood; for if she receive the seed before, it generally is not retained, but is washed out by the blood, καθάπερ ταῖς γυναιξί; and you must here pay her particular attention, as it is only for a short interval of time that she preserves her heat after the vaginal blood has stopped.

A bitch’s age may be considered good for the purpose from the second to the seventh year.

It is best for the dog and bitch to be shut up by themselves, and to be out of sight while together. For open and public copulations, if we may believe sportsmen, are not prolific; but such as are effected by dogs in private are reported to succeed.

Bitches, after being warded, may be led out, as walking about is conducive to their strength; but they must not be slipped again to a hare, for fear of being destroyed by overstraining or excessive fatigue. The dog likewise should not be let loose after a hare until he is recovered from his exhaustion, and invigorated by an interval of at least sixty days’ rest. After which there will be no obstacle to his being coursed.

The most favourable season for breeding is the spring of the year, as the temperature is mediate between hot and cold. Winter is not propitious for rearing puppies, more especially on account of the want of milk: and summer is distressing to the dams for suckling. Autumn is worse than spring for this reason, that the winter arrests the whelps before they are thoroughly formed.

If you wish a brood-bitch to recover her previous speed, you must not let her suckle her whelps, except merely to lighten any excess of milk,—and then put them to other bitches, selecting such as are well-bred: for the milk of degenerate curs is not congenial to high-bred puppies. If, however, the dam herself appear no longer serviceable for coursing, it is best to leave the whelps with their own mother, and not to put them under a foster-parent. For the growth is stinted by a stranger’s nursing, (as the other Xenophon declares,) but the mother’s milk and breath are cherishing to her puppies.

When puppies can run about, Xenophon properly recommends that they be fed with milk; for the filling them with heavy food distorts their legs, and occasions diseases in their bodies. And as to giving dogs short names of easy pronunciation, in this we should also attend to him; for the names which he has enumerated, (in part the invention of others, and some of his own creation), are cleverly composed.

But if you do not as yet wish your bitches to breed up any puppies, you must take the greatest possible care of them while under distress in consequence. For when they have ceased to give suck, their teats become turgid and full of milk, and the parts beneath the belly distended . At which time, it is not safe to loose them after a hare,—for their flanks may be burst asunder: nor should you let them play with another dog, as, by contending and striving with him beyond their strength, they may be placed in equal danger.