Part 21

Nunquam ego te summo volitantem in vertice montis Hyrcanos interque canes agmenque ferarum Conspiciam, nec te redeuntem amplexa tenebo.

The Locrian dog, much esteemed by Grecian sportsmen, is particularly employed by Xenophon in the boar-chase; but I know not to which of the territories called Locris he should be appropriated, nor whether common to all. Nor do I find in him properties sufficiently characteristic of the family of bellicosi to place him here with confidence—and yet I no where see him used in pursuit of timid fugacious quarry. Oppian (no authority for classification) introduces him between the Egyptian and Molossian—here then let him stand—βουκολίων οὖροι, Λοκροὶ χαροποί τε Μολοσσοί. The following beautiful little epitaph of Anyta is admitted, merely because its subject, the fleetest of musical hounds, bears the name of Locris—

ὤλεο δήποτε καὶ σὺ πολύῤῥιζον παρὰ θάμνον, Λοκρὶ φιλοφθόγγων ὠκυτάτα σκυλάκων, τοῖον ἐλαφρίζοντι τεῷ ἐγκάτθετο κώλῳ ἴον ἀμείλικτον ποικιλόδειρος ἔχις.

for I am by no means convinced that the title is any thing more than an individual appellative (unconnected with locality) bestowed by a Grecian lady, perhaps, on a valued pet. Darcius of Venusium places the Locrian with the Arcadian, and others of the pugnacious class.

Sunt et Locrenses catuli, sunt Arcades, atque Cypria quos Salamis, quos dives Iberia pascit.

The Carthaginian poet alone has commemorated the “acres catuli” of Libya, his native country,

Quinetiam siccæ Libyes in finibus acres Gignuntur catuli, quorum non spreveris usum:

and from him probably, Fracastorius (a learned physician of Verona, who wrote a short poem of some merit, “de curâ canum,” eleven centuries later,) may have derived the Canes Libyci of his Alcon, recommended for the savage chase.

Nam rabidas si fortè feras te cura tenebit Venari, et variis caput objectare perîclis; Spartanâ de stirpe tibi, de stirpe Molossâ Quære canes, Libycos illis, acresque Britannos Pannoniosque truces, et amantes prælia Celtas Adde, nec Hyrcanos, nec Seras sperne feroces.

It cannot be granted to Conrad Gesner that the Libyan of the African poet is the Metagon of Gratius; nor is the resemblance between the former and the Egyptian of Oppian sufficiently clear to justify an inference of identity. Indeed our materials for forming a judgment are far too scanty. We know no more of the “Incola arundiferi Nili” of Natalis Comes than we cull from the credulous historians of the Egyptian dog, Ælian and Solinus, relative to his fear of crocodiles. The former naturalist reports οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι κύνες καὶ ἑλεῖν, καὶ ἀνιχνεῦσαι τὰ θηρία σοφοί· οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι φυγεῖν δεινότατοι, κ. τ. λ. “E Nilo nunquam nisi currentes lambitant, dum à crocodilis insidias cavent,” adds the author of the Polyhistor.

The Pannonian breed of Canes bellicosi, of high courage, were employed in actual war, as well as its mimicry the chase. Παίονες stand at the head of Oppian’s long catalogue, and, upon his principle of omnifarious commixture, are recommended to be crossed with sagacious Cretans—

ἐπιμίσγεο Παίοσι Κρῆτας.

The Veronese poet makes a twofold distinction of the dogs of Pannonia in his cynegetical effusion, entitled Alcon. In the first class, he places the Pannonii truces, as already cited, adapted for the chase of fierce prey; in the second, Pannonii agiles, for timid, innoxious quarry:

Si verò parvos lepores, capreasque fugaces Malueris, timidosque sequi per devia cervos, Delige Pannonios agiles, volucresque Sicambros.

The Pannonii truces are noticed by Julius Pollux, and also their consimilars of Magnesia—both evidently of the Epirote breed. The former are also mentioned by Nemesian, Cyneg. v. 126.

Ælian characterizes the Magnesian war-hounds as φοβεροί τε, καὶ ἄγριοι, καὶ ἐντυχεῖν ἀμείλικτοι; and states that the horsemen of Magnesia, in the Ephesian war, were each accompanied to the field with a Canis Venaticus, the dogs collectively first assaulting the enemy, backed by the pedestrian soldiers, and lastly by the cavalry; who did not charge till the canine warriors προπηδῶντες ἐτάραττον τὴν παρεμβολήν. The Μάγνητες are merely named by the poet of Anazarbus, in his first Cynegetic, vs. 372.

Sidenote: Onomast. L. +v.+ 39.]

Of all the pugnacious dogs of the classic file, the most renowned were those bred on the continent of Epirus, and denominated, from one of its principal districts, Molossian: of which Aristotle records two varieties, the one for ordinary hunting, the other for guarding flocks, houses, and property. The fabled origin of the breed is consistent with its high repute in the kennels of antiquity. For, on the authority of Nicander, we are told by Julius Pollux, that the Epirote was descended from the brazen dog, which Vulcan wrought for Jupiter, and animated with all the functions of canine life—

καὶ ψυχὴν ἐνθεὶς δῶρον ἔδωκε Διΐ.

Of this Molossian prototype the fortunate proprietors were, successively, Europa, Minos, Procris, and Cephalus; and, somehow or other, as he passed from kennel to kennel, amidst heroines and heroes, or whilst in the temporary keeping of Diana, (who seemingly bestowed him on Procris,) he was metamorphosed into a wolf-greyhound, under the name and character of the Ovidian Lælaps. See Class +iii.+ Vertragus.

The prowess of the Canes Molossi rendered them most useful auxiliaries in the field of battle; and they were equally prized in the contests of the circus and amphitheatre. Their war praises are sung by the classic muse of Darcius, in a style worthy the purest age of Roman literature, nor are their other merits forgotten by this accomplished poet:

Diversâ veniunt præstantes dote Molossi Diversi ingeniis, non omnibus omnia præstat Natura, at vario ludit discrimine morum, &c.

But our citations must be made from writers of an earlier date, and the character of these dogs derived from coeval, or at least original, sources. The attachment and fidelity of Epirotes to their masters formed a remarkable feature of their tribe—so much so, that Statius tells us the soldiers of Molossia wept over their faithful canine companions, slain in war:

gemit inter bella peremptum Parthus equum, fidosque canes flevêre Molossi;

—a manifestation of kindly and affectionate feeling, of which their congeners of an earlier date, on the authority of Tryphiodorus, were totally unworthy:

οἱ δ’ ὑλάοντες ἀγρία κοπτομένοισιν ἐπ’ ἀνδράσιν ὠδύροντο νηλέες, οὐδ’ ἀλέγιζον ἑοὺς ἐρύοντες ἄνακτας.

In the capacity of dogs of war, they do not fall under my plan; nor indeed as οἰκουροὶ, nor as fighters in the Venatio of the amphitheatre, do they strictly come within this arrangement. On these points of their character the reader will find illustrative anecdotes in Julius Pollux, Pliny, and Solinus.

As dogs of the chase, their strength, size, and undaunted courage, enabled them to contend with the most terrific wild animals; and we are assured that the lion himself has been mastered by the dog of Epirus—the tiger, pard, panther, and boar, have yielded to him. The epithets applied to the Canis Molossus all indicate his fire and resolution. Ælian calls him θυμικώτατος; Virgil, “acremque Molossum,” (Georg. +iii.+); and Seneca uses the same epithet, “teneant acres lora Molossos,” (Hippolyt. Act +i.+) But there is much difference of opinion whether he was an open or close hound, when employed in the field. To the latter conclusion I am induced to accede from the following passage of Statius,