Part 25

Their strength and courage recommended them to shepherds and herdsmen, as guardians of their flocks—the goatherd Lacon’s dog, from his venatico-pastoral cast, being probably, of this variety.

χ’ ἁμῖν ἐντὶ κύων φιλοποίμνιος, ὃς λύκος ἄγχει· ὃν τῷ παιδὶ δίδωμι τὰ θηρία πάντα διώκεν.

Virgil enjoins feeding the Spartan and Molossian on fattening whey, for the safe custody of cattle;

Veloces Spartæ catulos, acremque Molossum Pasce sero pingui: nunquam custodibus illis Nocturnum stabulis furem, incursusque luporum, Aut impacatos à tergo horrebis Iberos....

and briefly runs through the ordinary chases in which the canine tribe generally are used;

Sæpè etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros; Et canibus leporem, canibus venabere damas. Sæpè volutabris pulsos sylvestribus apros Latratu turbabis agens: montesque per altos Ingentem clamore premes in retia cervum.

The trailing quality of the Spartan, and keenness of scent, Plato refers to, in his Parmenides—ὥσπεργε αἱ Λάκαιναι σκύλακες μεταθεὶς καὶ ἰχνεύεις τὰ λεχθέντα, (Zeno Socrati)—and Sophocles in the prologue of the Ajax Flagellifer, where the wily son of Laertes, tracking the murderous maniac, Αἴαντι τῷ σακεσφόρῳ, is likened to a sharp-nosed Spartan hound,

εὖ δέ σ’ ἐκφέρει κυνὸς Λακαίνης ὥστις εὔρινος βάσις.

Homer’s kindly and vivid description of the hunting excellencies of the faithful Argus, his keenness of sight and smell, and speed of foot, would lead us to place him amongst the swiftest of the sagacious class: and where can we assign him a more honourable station than in a Spartan kennel?—I am aware some ancient Greek writer (to whom I have lost my clue of reference) considers this far-famed hound an isolated variety of no particular family—ὅμως ἡ φύσις καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις καὶ ἅπασι τόποις διασπείρει κύνας ἀγαθοὺς, ὁποῖός τις καὶ ὁ Ἄργος—not reducible within the pale of a general classification founded on geographical distribution; but he has evidently all the characteristic qualities of a genuine Spartan, and I never heard of any breed peculiar to Ithaca.

Ἄργος Ὀδυσσῆος ταλασίφρονος, ὅν ῥά ποτ’ αὐτὸς θρέψε μὲν, οὐδ’ ἀπόνητο· πάρος δ’ εἰς Ἴλιον ἱρὴν ᾤχετο· τὸν δὲ πάροιθεν ἀγίνεσκον νέοι ἄνδρες αἶγας ἐπ’ ἀγροτέρας, ἠδὲ πρόκας, ἠδὲ λαγωούς.

Bred by Ulysses, nourish’d at his board, But ah! not fated long to please his lord! To him his swiftness and his strength were vain; The voice of glory call’d him o’er the main. Till then in every sylvan chase renown’d, With Argus, Argus, rung the woods around; With him the youth pursued the goat or fawn, Or traced the mazy lev’ret o’er the lawn.

The answer of Eumæus, in which he fondly dilates on the prowess of the old dog in the better days of his youth, throws farther light on his supposed connexion with a Spartan kennel:

οὐ μὲν γάρ τι φύγεσκε βαθείης βένθεσιν ὕλης κνώδαλον ὅττι ἴδοιτο· καὶ ἴχνεσι γὰρ περιῄδη....

—evidently showing that he ran on sight of his game as well as scent: for the common reading ἴδοιτο is preferable to the δίοιτο of Eustathius, and is followed by Pope in his inimitable translation:

Oh! had you seen him, vig’rous, bold and young, Swift as a stag, and as a lion strong; Him no fell savage on the plain withstood, None ’scaped him, bosom’d in the gloomy wood; His eye how piercing, and his scent how true, To wind the vapour in the tainted dew!

A Spartan huntsman might value such omnifarious qualifications; but we cannot allow such a hound, εἰ δὴ καὶ ταχὺς ἔσκε θέειν, within the precincts of a coursing kennel, where speed and keen-sightedness are essential properties, according to the modern canons of the leash; but to stoop to “the tainted green” with the sagacity of a harrier, or even of a Caledonian deer-hound, of which Argus has been deemed a prototype, invalidates the claim to εὐγένεια in the breed.

Diana having been particularly worshipped in Crete,

Pallada Cecropiæ, Minoïa Creta Dianam, Vulcanum tellus Hypsipilæa, colit,...

we naturally look for a race of dogs deriving a local name from her favourite isle. And, accordingly, connected with the last-mentioned tribe of Canes Venatici, we have the Cretan and Carian, powerful, quick-scented, nimble hounds; whom it would be wrong unnaturally to dissever, as having no marked physical peculiarities. Indeed from their parity of character, and supposed identity of origin, the hounds of Crete, and its neighbouring continent of Caria, have generally been united in one family.

Ælian describes the κύων Κρῆσσα κούφη, καὶ ἁλτικὴ, καὶ ὀρειβασίαις σύντροφος. By Seneca the Cretans are called pugnacious—“pugnaces Cressæ;” and by Claudian, wire-haired—“Hirsutæque fremunt Cressæ.” Arrian, when speaking of the Segusian hounds of Celtica, their unsightly aspect, their noisy howl, and extraordinary sagacity of nose, indirectly proves the speed and keen-scentedness of the Carian and Cretan. Oppian enjoins the hound of Crete to be crossed with that of Pannonia, and the Carian, as if different, with the Thracian,

ἐπιμίσγεο Παίοσι Κρῆτας, Κᾶρας Θρηϊκίοις....

but, it is probable, the Pannonian and Thracian resembled each other as much as the Cretan and Carian.

Two sub-varieties are recorded by Julius Pollux under the titles of διάπονοι and πάριπποι:—the former so called from their bustling, indefatigable character—τὰς νύκτας ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὰ θηρία μάχαις ἐπιλαμβάνειν, καὶ πολλάκις παρευνασθέντας τοῖς θηρίοις μεθ’ ἡμέραν ἄρχεσθαι τῆς μάχης; the latter, from their running at the horse’s side—τοῖς ἵπποις συνθέουσιν οὔτε προθέοντες οὔτε μὴν ἀπολειπόμενοι.

Cecropius catulus est quem dixêre parippum.

To these the courser of Nicomedia adds a third sub-variety, seemingly produced by the union of the former two—αἱ διάπονοι ἀπὸ τοῦ φιλοπονεῖν, καὶ αἱ ἰταμαὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀξέως, καὶ αἱ μικταὶ ἀπ’ ἀμφοῖν; the ἰταμαὶ probably answering to the πάριπποι of the philologist. On the authority of Arrian, we conclude the Cretan and Carian modes of hunting to have been the same as generally practised in Greece—such as are described at large by the elder Xenophon in his Cynegeticus. See Meursii Opera, Tom. +iii.+ c. +vii.+ Creta.

Though not used by the elder Xenophon in the common hare-chase, the Cretans are recommended for boar-hunting, and were sometimes employed in pursuit of deer.

Κρῆσσα κύων ἐλάφοιο κατ’ ἴχνιον ἔδραμε γόργως—

How beautifully is their style of hunting described by the poet Varius, “Mæonii carminis ales,” in the fragment preserved by Macrobius!