Part 26

Varius apud Macrob. L. +vi.+ c. +ii.+

Seu canis umbrosam lustrans Gortynia vallem, Si veteris poterit cervæ comprendere lustra, Sævit in absentem, et circum vestigia latrans Aëra per nitidum tenues sectatur odores: Non amnes illam medii, non ardua tardant, Perdita nec seræ meminit decedere nocti.

—affording the Cilician copyist one of a profusion of highly poetical similes, with which he depicts the polypus, or preke, searching for its beloved olive-tree:

ἔνθα γὰρ ἀγλαόκαρπος ἁλὸς σχεδόν ἐστιν ἐλαίη γείτοσιν ἐν γουνοῖσιν ἐπακταίη τεθαλυῖα, κεῖθι δὲ πουλύποδος νόος ἕλκεται, ἠΰτ’ ἐπ’ ἴχνος Κνωσσίου εὐρίνοιο κυνὸς μένος, ὅστ’ ἐν ὄρεσσι θηρὸς ἀνιχνεύει σκολιὴν βάσιν ἐξερεείνων ῥινὸς ὑπ’ ἀγγελίῃ νημερτέϊ, καί τέ μιν ὦκα μάρψε, καὶ οὐκ ἐμάτησεν, ἑὸν δ’ ἐπέλασσεν ἄνακτα· ὣς καὶ τηλεθόωσαν ἄφαρ μάθεν ἐγγὺς ἐλαίην πούλυπος, ἐκδύνει δὲ βυθῶν, καὶ γαῖαν ἀνέρπει καγχαλόων, πρέμνοισι δ’ Ἀθηναίης ἐπέλασσεν.

In connexion with the kindred Spartans, the Cretans are briefly mentioned by Gratius,—an allusion being, probably, intended to an intermixture of the two allied breeds in order to produce the Metagon, whose praises are subsequently sung:

At vestrum non vile genus, non patria vulgò, Sparta suos et Creta suos promittit alumnos.

To your high breed countries of dogs not base, Sparta and Creta do conferre their race.

Ovid specifies them by name in Actæon’s blood-thirsty pack,

primusque Melampus Ichnobatesque sagax latratu signa dedêre; Gnossius Ichnobates, Spartanâ gente Melampus;

and subsequently a litter,

that had a sire of Crete And dam of Sparta,

as sings Sir Arthur Golding:

Et patre Dictæo, sed matre Laconide nati, Labros et Agriodos, et acutæ vocis Hylactor.

Indeed almost all the Ovidian pack were of Cretan, Spartan, and Arcadian blood, well chosen by the poet for the fabled chase of the son of Autonoë, “falsi sub imagine cervi”—

εὖτε τανυπρέμνοιο καθήμενος ὑψόθι φηγοῦ, λουομένης ἐνόησεν ὅλον δέμας ἰοχεαίρης· θηητὴρ δ’ ἀκόρητος ἀθηήτοιο θεαίνης ἁγνὸν ἀνυμφεύτοιο δέμας διεμέτρεε κούρης ἀγχιφανὴς, κ. τ. λ.

The whole of the Spartan family, inclusive of the Cretan and Carian, appear to have barked, as I have already observed, on scent of their game—a quality reprobated by Gratius (malignum officium!) when shown before the quarry was started from his lair.

The noisy bark of the Etolian breed Gratius contrasts with the mute cunning of its neighbour of Acarnania, already considered in the first class:

At clangore citat, quos nondum conspicit, apros Ætolâ quæcunque canis de stirpe (malignum Officium) sive illa metus convicia rupit, Seu frustra nimius properat furor. Et tamen illud Ne vanum totas genus aspernere per artes, Mirum quàm celeres, et quantum nare merentur: Tum non est victi cui concessêre labori.

Too much addicted to gladdening, when near the lair of his game, the Etolian is not admitted into the class of Canes Bellicosi, whose general character was closeness till the game was started; at which time a cry, however loud, was not objected to by classic huntsmen,—but the dog, that roused the game by giving tongue beforehand, was strongly reprobated. Such was the faulty dog of Calydon, who needed all his other better qualities to counterbalance this latrant propensity. That he had some valuable properties Gratius allows, and recommends them to be turned to account by judicious commixture with the mute Molossian’s blood:

vanæ tantum Calydonia linguæ Exibit vitium patre emendata Molosso.

In consequence of the common Canes Venatici giving tongue or opening, before the game was roused, it was customary with classic sportsmen to employ Inductores, mute finders, “canes tacitæ,” (Senecæ Hippolyt.,) to search out the quarry by the trail;

Dogs such whose cold secrecy was meant By nature for surprise— Wise temperate limehounds, that proclaim no scent, Nor harb’ring will their mouths in boasting spend.

These are the Metagontes of the Faliscian poet—so called from “drawing after their game”—μετάγοντες:

maturo pressantes gaudia lusu Dissimulare feras tacitique accedere possent.

Steadiness and a close mouth are essential attributes of the limehound tribe. Gratius, Lucan, Seneca, Ælian, and others, insist on silence. And Oppian, seemingly forgetful of this negative quality in the Armenian bear-hound, (whom I consider a limehound,) inculcates closeness in sagacious dogs, generally, from their very puppyhood;

μηδ’ ὑλάειν ἐθέλοιεν, ἐπεὶ μάλα θηρευτῆρσι σιγὴ τέθμιός ἐστι, πανέξοχα δ’ ἰχνευτῆρσιν.

They are to be taught it with their names, and other matters of kennel discipline.

The limiers of classical antiquity, more numerous perhaps than the reader may suppose, are found widely distributed. We gather traces of them in Homer, Lucretius, Virgil, Pliny, Gratius, Ælian, Seneca, Nemesian, Oppian, Silius Italicus, and others. The Belgic hound of the poet of the Second Punic War is certainly an inductor or limier: