Part 19

How beautifully are the more innoxious sports of sylvan life, and superior claims of the hare and deer hunt, touched by Ovid in the fable of Venus and Adonis. The goddess of love turns huntress:

Per juga, per sylvas, dumosaque saxa vagatur Nuda genu, vestem ritu succincta Dianæ: Hortaturque canes; tutæque animalia prædæ, Aut pronos lepores, aut celsum in cornua cervum, Aut agitat damas; à fortibus abstinet apris. Raptoresque lupos, armatosque unguibus ursos Vitat, et armenti saturatos cæde leones. Te quoque, ut hos timeas (si quid prodesse monendo Possit) Adoni, monet. ‘Fortisque fugacibus esto,’ Inquit; ‘in audaces non est audacia tuta. Parce meo, juvenis, temerarius esse perîclo. Neve feras, quibus arma dedit natura, lacesse; Stet mihi ne magno tua gloria. Non movet ætas, Nec facies, nec quæ Venerem movêre, leones Setigerosque sues, oculosque animosque ferarum. Fulmen habent acres in aduncis dentibus apri; Impetus est fulvis et vasta leonibus ira.’

No wonder that the Celtic people by degrees discontinued the warlike chase, fraught with innumerable perils, and substituted the harmless pursuit of fugacious quarry, with keen-scented and swift-footed hounds, according to the injunctions of the meretricious queen to her disobedient “sweete boy;”

Pursuing game of hurtlesse sort, as hares made lowe before, Or stagges with lofty heades, or buckes;—

which, in the days of Arrian, constituted their principal field sport.

Julius Pollux, in his Onomasticon, mentions the Celtic war-dogs, and Oppian also includes Κελτοὶ in the muster-roll of his first cynegetic. It is probable that they were a-kin to those of ancient Britain; for we are told by Strabo, who lived soon after Gratius, that the exports from this island to Gaul consisted of δέρματα, καὶ ἀνδράποδα, καὶ κύνες εὐφυεῖς πρὸς τὰς κυνηγεσίας. Κελτοὶ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πολέμους χρῶνται, καὶ τούτοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις. Whence it appears that the Celts had native Canes Venatici which they employed in war, as well as those imported from Britain. In this adaptation of canine ferocity the Celtæ were not peculiar; but as dogs, thus applied, can scarce be considered in their sporting character, it is unnecessary to multiply citations. Let the few instances hereafter adduced suffice on this head. Whether these Celtic dogs are the Gallic hybrids of the natural historian I cannot say: “hoc idem,” says Pliny, “è lupis Galli, quorum greges suum quisque ductorem è canibus et Lyciscam habent. Illum in venatu comitantur, illi parent. Namque inter se exercent etiam magisteria.” There were whole packs of these dogs in every chase or forest, “that had for their leader some particular demi-wolf, which the rest accompanied in hunting, obeyed, and were directed by; keeping an order among themselves of government and mastership.”

Gratius mentions, in the next place, the Ser, the Lycaonian or Arcadian, the Hyrcanian, and the union of the latter with the tiger.

Sunt qui Seras alant, genus intractabilis iræ; At contrà faciles, magnique Lycaones armis.

The Seræ were a nation of Æthiopia near the origin of the Nile, and also of India between the Indus and Hydaspes: but “the famous Seræ were a people of Asia, the farthest to the east beyond China towards Scythia without Imaus,” according to Wase’s geography of Gratius. As the poet does not record the fame of the Canes Indici under their usual denomination, we may consider the Seric dog as the redoubted Indian—“genus intractabilis iræ.”

The Indian dog is noticed by Herodotus, Aristotle, Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, Pollux, Ælian, Athenaeus, Themistius, and Phile, among the Greeks; and by Pliny, Solinus, and Quintus Curtius, among the Latins. The size, strength, speed, and courage of this dog induced Xenophon to recommend him for boar and deer hunting—εἰσὶ γὰρ ἰσχυραὶ, μεγάλαι, ποδώκεις, οὐκ ἄψυχοι, says this experienced sportsman; and Ælian adds to his good qualities keenness of sight or scent in tracking—εὐγενεῖς καὶ ἴχνη καταγνῶναι θηρίων ἀγαθαὶ, κ. τ. λ. J. Pollux, on the authority of Nicander, derives the Canes Indici from Actæon’s pack; who, when they had recovered from their madness, “satiatæ sanguine herili,” passed the Euphrates, and wandered into India. He particularly distinguishes them from the Hyrcanian, with which they have been by some historians confounded. Both the last-mentioned authors, and also Plutarch, would have us believe that the lion was the only antagonist with whom this courageous dog would willingly contend:—τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ζώων ὑπερφρονοῦντα πάντων, says Plutarch; and Ælian affirms his victory over the lion; but Themistius adds the pard to his chosen antagonists, to the exclusion of inferior combatants, as wolves and foxes. Fable however and history are so closely blended in the records of canine biography, that we are compelled occasionally to doubt. And did we not relieve ourselves by incredulity, the marvellous tale of patient courage narrated by Ælian, as manifested by this fierce animal, would make us shudder at the bare recital. It is found in detail in the first chapter of his eighth book de Naturâ Animalium, and succinctly copied by Pollux in the fifth chapter of the fifth book of his Onomasticon.

The cruel experiment, transmitted to us by Dr. Goldsmith, as having been practised on the British Molossus, is quite eclipsed by this more barbarous exhibition of the innate fortitude of the dog of India. For in the latter case, the commencement of the inhuman test of patient courage was the amputation of the tail, and the conclusion decollation. The legs of the poor brute were successively cut off, one by one, without his quitting his hold of the lion, his chosen antagonist:—and when at last the neck was severed from the body, the teeth still adhered with the trunkless, but still mordacious head, (credat Judæus,) suspended to the wound. But let the credulous story-teller speak for himself:—καὶ τελευτῶντες τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα ἀφεῖλον· ὀδόντες δὲ ἐκείνῃ ἤρτηντο τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀντιλαβῆς, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἠωρεῖτο μετέωρος ἐκ τοῦ λέοντος, αὐτοῦ μέντοι τοῦ δακόντος ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ ἔτι ὄντος. The dog like the British bull-dog was memorable for never quitting his hold—a feature in his ferocious character remarked by Phile in his iambic versification of Ælian’s marvellous tale.

παντὸς κυνὸς μέγιστος, Ἰνδὸς πᾶς κύων. ὃς οὐδὲ τὸν λέοντα παρόντα τρέμει, ἀνθίσταται δὲ, καὶ σφριγᾷ πρὸς τὴν μάχην, καὶ τοῖς βρυχηθμοῖς ἀνθυλακτεῖ συντόμως, ἐγκείμενον δὲ καρτερεῖ τὸν αὐθάδη. καὶ δάκνεται μὲν, ἀντιδάκνει δὲ πλέον. τέλος δὲ τοῦ τένοντος αὐτὸν ἁρπάσας, ῥίπτει κατὰ γῆς, καὶ σπαράττει, καὶ θλίβει. κἄν τις ἐπελθὼν ἀποκόψῃ τὸ σκέλος τῷ τὸν μέγαν ἄγχοντι, καὶ πρὶν γεννάδαν, μόλις ὁ νεκρὸς ὑπανήσει τὸ στόμα.

In the scarce plates of Stradan, engraven by Galle, there is a picture of the Canis Indicus, as I conceive, fighting with the elephant and lion. The annexed quatrain, by Kilian Dufflæus, sufficiently explains it, but is not worthy of citation. The following poetical portrait, however, by a far better scholar, will be read with pleasure, whether viewed as delineating the Indian, or his congener, the Albanian:

—si aliqua è sylvis sese fera nobilis altis Offeret, et campo bellum committit aperto, (Degeneris neque enim lætatur sanguine prædæ) Vim canis egregiam, atque acres mirabere pugnas. Vidimus assuetos inter deserta ferarum Nequicquam immanes irasci in cornua tauros. Sternere ludus apros, nec totam excandet in iram, Si rigidis pugnent informes unguibus ursi. Gaudet atrox magni fremitum si fortè leonis Audiat, et celeri rapitur per devia cursu, Ac formidando metuendus obambulat hosti, Villosæ donec cervici adnisus inhæret, Sanguineâque feram morientem extendit arenâ. Acriùs exultans vastos in prælia barros Provocat, et tantam (dictu mirabile) molem Sternit; at ingentem procumbens ille ruinam Per dumosa trahit, garritu tesqua sonoro Dissultant, gliscitque gravis venantibus horror.

Bodin supposes Oppian to allude to the Canis Indicus in his 1st Cynegetic, vs. 413.; but as the poet does not mention any name, and particularly specifies a want of speed in the dogs he describes, I should rather refer his sketch to the Molossian or true Epirote, (if it must have a particular application,) than to the Indian or Albanian. I have no doubt, however, that it is, as already stated, a general description of the pugnacious type, and therefore includes both Indian and Molossian.

Many of the anecdotes of the Indian dog are promiscuously told of the Albanian, Iberian, and Hyrcanian; and it certainly is difficult to point out any distinctive characters between them. Of the latter I shall presently speak, in the rotation in which he is recorded by Gratius. The Albanian and Iberian are undoubtedly consimilars, strongly impregnated with the Molossian cast—natives of the Asiatic district indifferently called Iberia and Albania. They are celebrated by modern travellers as much as by classic historical and cynegetical writers. Pliny does not name the country of the dog “inusitatæ magnitudinis” given to Alexander by a king of Albania; though it would be a fair conclusion that the dog was of the same country as the king. Yet Strabo, notwithstanding he commemorates the prowess of the Albanian race of dogs, particularly notes that those presented to the king of Macedonia were Indian; and he is supported by Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, and Julius Pollux, differing somewhat in the historical detail. Solinus, for the most part a copyist of Pliny and Strabo, is, on this occasion, it may be, mistaken in assigning to them an Albanian origin. Speaking of the Albanese, he says: “Apud hos populos nati canes feris anteponuntur, frangunt tauros, leones premunt, detinent quid-quid objectum: quibus ex causis meruerunt etiam annalibus tradi. Legimus petenti Indiam Alexandro, à rege Albaniæ dono duos missos,” &c.—and again, “Hoc genus canes crescunt ad formam amplissimam, terrificis latratibus ultra rugitus insonantes.” May we not reconcile these statements by considering the Albanese dogs of the Latin historians—Pliny, Solinus, and Curtius—the Indians of the Greek authors—Strabo, Plutarch, Diodorus, Ælian, and Pollux—and the Albania of the former, the India of the latter? The inhabitants of Albania and India were both excessively addicted to hunting—θηρευτικοί τε καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ κύνες αὐτῶν εἰς ὑπερβολήν.

The Iberian dog is mentioned by Julius Pollux, Oppian, and Nemesian—the latter poet merely saying the breed is not to be despised by sportsmen;

Nec tibi Pannonicæ stirpis temnatur origo, Nec quorum proles de sanguine manat Ibero;

and the former recommending it to be crossed with Sarmatian blood,

Σαρματικόν τε πόσιν φορέοις πρὸς Ἰβηρίδα νύμφην.

Darcius records the strength, courage, and velocity of the Albanian breed;

Adde etiam Albanos, qui quantum viribus apris Occursare valent, fulvosque æquare leones, Et vasto indomitos certamine frangere tauros, Aligeras tantum cursu prævertere damas;

and two lines below mentions the dogs, “quos dives Iberia pascit,” as if distinct from the Albanese—which, if Asiatic, they certainly resembled. It is, however, possible, that Darcius may allude to European Iberia, or Spain. Indeed, the geographical appropriation of Oppian’s Iberian dogs is doubtful in the opinion of commentators. Brodæus assigns the Iberian horse of Oppian (Cyn. +i.+ vs. 284.) to Asia; but the people mentioned by the poet under the same name, in connexion with the Celts, in the episode at the conclusion of his second Halieutic, are evidently inhabitants of Western Europe. And again—his description of the tunnies “rushing from th’ Atlantic deep,” into the Mediterranean, and of their subsequent capture along its shores, places the Iberians a second time in the West:

τούσδ’ ἤτοι πρῶτον μὲν Ἰβηρίδος ἔνδοθεν ἄλμης ἀνέρες ἀγρώσσουσι βίῃ κομόωντες Ἴβηρες. δεύτερα δὲ Ῥοδανοῖο παρὰ στόμα θηρητῆρες Κελτοὶ, κ. τ. λ.

however, whether Asiatic or European, it is sufficient for our classification that the dogs were of the pugnacious class.

The modern representative of the classical Albanese occupies a more extensive district than his ferocious prototype, who was confined to the region between Colchos and Armenia; whereas his descendant is found in Macedonia, Illyria, Chaonia, and Epirus.

Of the classical Albanian, in his character of a dog of war, Valerius Flaccus has left us the following very animated description:

Insequitur Drangæa phalanx, claustrisque profusi Caspiadæ; queîs turba canum non segnius acres Exilit ad lituos, pugnasque capessit heriles: Inde etiam par mortis honos; tumulisque recepti Inter avos, positusque virûm: nam pectora ferro Terribilesque innexa jubas ruit agmine nigro Latratuque cohors: quanto sonat horrida Ditis Janua, vel superas Hecates comitatus ad auras.