Part 14

And again:

Ergo illum primis nemorum Dea finxit in annis, Auctoremque operi dignata inscribere magno, Jussit adire suas et pandere gentibus artes.

But it must not be forgotten that a competitor for the glory of these, and other like discoveries, is mentioned by Plutarch, in Amatorio, and by Nonnus, in Dionysiacis, in the person of Aristæus—εὔχονται δ’ Ἀρισταίῳ δολοῦντες ὀρύγμασι καὶ βρόχοις λύκους καὶ ἄρκτους, ὃς πρῶτος θήρεσσιν ἔπηξε ποδάγρας:—indeed, if we may credit the Christian poet of Panopolis, the sire of the hapless Actæon is entitled to the invention of almost every article of hunting-gear, the dresses of sportsmen, initiation of hounds of chase, &c.—of many of which he has been deprived by less rightful claimants:

κεῖνος ἀνὴρ πρώτιστος ὀρίδρομος ἅλματι ταρσῶν εὗρε φιλοσκοπέλοιο πόνον κεμαδοσσόον ἄγρης, πῶς νοερῷ μυκτῆρι παρὰ σφυρὰ φορβάδος ὕλης θηρὸς ἀσημάντοιο κύων μαντεύεται ὀδμὴν, ὄρθια ὀξυκέλευθον ἐπὶ δρόμον οὔατα τείνων· καὶ δολίης δεδάηκε πολύπλοκα δίκτυα τέχνης, καὶ σταλίκων τύπον ὀρθόν. κ. τ. λ.

To the first-mentioned Arcadian worthy Gratius attributes the earliest fashioning of hunting-spears with moræ or guards. Virgil sings of “lato venabula ferro,” for close conflict; and Gratius more particularly adds, to the honour of Dercylus’s armoury, the introduction of bifid spears:

Ille etiam valido primus venabula dente Induit: et proni moderatus vulneris iram Omne moris excepit onus. Tum stricta verutis Dentibus et geminas subiêre hastilia furcas.

But although the Arcadian formed the spear for pedestrian assault, and Meleager was conspicuous in the use of it,—ἐν σταδίοισιν ὀρειοτέροισι μόθοισιν,—a more celebrated hero first wielded it in distant jaculation on horseback:

ἱππαλέην δ’ ἄγρην ὁ φαεσφόρος εὕρατο Κάστωρ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κατέπεφνεν, ἐπὶ σκοπὸν ἰθὺς ἄκοντι βαλλόμενος, τοὺς δ’ αὖτε θοοῖς ἵπποισιν ἐλαύνων θῆρας ἕλε ξυλόχοισι μεσημβρινοῖο δρόμοιο.

—a style of hunting, which we may suppose to have been much practised in the Roman empire by persons of noble rank, as Montfaucon gives several representations of it from the sepulchre of the Nasoni:—in exact accordance with which, the ἱππελάτης of Oppian is decked out for the equestrian chase.

The reader’s recollection will readily supply, from authors in every one’s hands, the use of bows and arrows, and small darts—“excussâ lancea torta manu,”—in the early annals of field-sports:

Quocirca et jaculis habilem perpendimus usum: Neu leve vulnus eat, neu sit brevis impetus illi. Ipsa arcu Lyciâque suas Diana pharetrâ Armavit comites; ne tela relinquite Divæ, Magnum opus et volucres quondam fecêre sagittæ.

The far-famed female ally of Meleager in the attack on the Calydonian boar,

the paragone Of Lycey forest, Atalant, a goodly lady, one Of Schænyes daughters,

claims the merit of first employing archery; having been instructed both in κυνηλασίη and εὐστοχίη by Dian herself, (see Callim. H. in Dian. vs. 217.)

Σχοινῆος πρώτη δὲ κλυτὴ θυγάτηρ Ἀταλάντη θηρσὶ φόνον πτερόεντα συηβόλος εὕρατο κούρη.

We are unacquainted with the form and use of many of the weapons, with which Oppian accoutres his able-bodied rustics for the covert-side,

καὶ μὴν τόσσα φέροιντο ποτὶ κνημοὺς ξυλόχους τε ἐργοπόνοι κρατεροὶ θήρης ἐρικυδέος ὅπλα, ἔντεά τ’ εὐθήροιο μέγα πνείοντα φόνοιο, κ. τ. λ.

and Natalis Comes, with his brief scholiast Ruscellius, throws no light on them, in the borrowed armoury of his first cynegetic. The Oppianic catalogue runs through eight lines, in which we recognize, in addition to the former implements of predatory hunting, others particularly devoted to the capture of the hare, the ἁρπάλαγον and λαγωοφόνος τρίαινα, the hare-pole, and three-pronged hare-fork—belonging probably to the class of murderous instruments mentioned by the poet of Barga:

Nec desint duræ sinuato vertice clavæ Quæ leporis cursum jactæ compescere possint.

Among the more simple modes of following wild animals for capture, I should have earlier mentioned that of tracking—from its simplicity, probably, coeval with the rudest species of pursuit. It is alluded to in the 32nd Epigram of Callimachus,

Ὠγρευτὴς, Ἐπικυδὲς, ἐν οὔρεσι πάντα λαγωὸν διφᾷ, καὶ πάσης ἴχνια δορκαλίδος, στίβῃ καὶ νιφετῷ κεχαρημένος—

in the 1st Georgic of Virgil vs. 308. and the 2nd Satire of the 1st book of Horace vs. 105. Oppian describes tracking as twofold, by men, and dogs,—the former of course being the more ancient, and more correctly termed tracking, the latter scenting:

εἴδεα δὲ στιβίης δυσδερκέος ἔπλετο δισσὰ, ἀνδρῶν, ἠδὲ κυνῶν· μέροπες μὲν ἄρ’ αἰολόβουλοι ὄμμασι τεκμῄραντο, καὶ εὖ φράσσαντο κέλευθα· μυξωτῆρσι κύνες δὲ πανίχνια σημήναντο.

Savary’s ejaculation on snow-tracking the hare is more amusing than poetical:

O nix! improba nix! generosæ invisa Dianæ, Pernicies leporum! venantum ignobile vulgus Quam votis petit assiduis, ut cæde cruentâ Depopuletur agros! &c.

The many wily inventions devised by man’s ingenuity of old for ensnaring noxious and timid animals, appear to us more like instruments of lawless poaching, than fair hunting, and fully justify the conclusion of Arrian’s 24th chapter de Venatione; wherein, with the spirit of a genuine courser, he exclaims, “there is as much difference between a fair trial of speed in a good run, and ensnaring a poor animal without an effort, as between the secret piratical assaults of robbers at sea, and the victorious naval engagements of the Athenians at Artemisium, at Salamis, at Psyttalia, and at Cyprus.”

It has been erroneously stated by Montfaucon and others, that the use of nets and snares was not an exercise of pleasure to men of quality, but only to peasants, and persons of inferior grade;—the praise of a noble employment being, on this view, alone awarded to hunting with dogs, or being armed for the sport with venabula, hastilia, &c. either on foot or horseback. But this distinction, however plausible in theory, is not tenable in fact. Discreditable as the use of snares may be deemed, and irreconcilable to modern taste, the philosophic recluse of Scillus, the patrician Xenophon, and every other sportsman, whether high or low, of the classic ages, must plead guilty to their employment:

ducuntur et ipsi Retibus, et claudunt campos formidine mortis, Mendacesque parant foveas, laqueosque tenaces, Currentesque feras pedicarum compede nectunt, Aut canibus ferrove necant, prædasque reportant.