Part 40

Ὄμματα δ’ αἰγλήεντα:

and again,

καὶ πυρὸς ἀστράπτουσιν ἀπ’ ὀφθαλμῶν ἀμαρυγαί:

of the leopard or panther,

——ὄμμα φαεινὸν, γλαυκιόωσι κόραι βλεφάροις ὑπὸ μαρμαίρουσι, γλαυκιόωσιν ὁμοῦ τε, καὶ ἔνδοθι φοινίσσονται αἰθομέναις ἵκελαι, πυριλαμπέες:

of the lynx,

βλεφάροισιν ἀπ’ ὀφθαλμῶν ἀμαρυγαὶ ἱμερόεν στράπτουσι.

Xenophon de Venat. c. +iii.+ condemns blink-eyed and grey-eyed hounds as bad and unsightly, αἰσχραὶ ὁρᾶσθαι: but Oppian particularly specifies blue eyes as preferable to all others; and I have known many azure-eyed dogs of great merit. The darker the eye, however, the better. “Her eynne shuld be,” according to De Langley, “reed or blak as of a sphauke:”—“full and clear, with long eye-lids,” according to Markham. The reader of Anacreon will understand the sort of eye admired in the greyhound, from the

μέλαν ὄμμα γοργὸν ἔστω κεκερασμένον γαλήνῃ—

of the 29th Ode; and at the same time, perhaps, smile at the quotation.

The early part of this chapter, devoted to the portraiture of the author’s beloved Hormé, interrupts his general description of the greyhound’s shape, which he again resumes after gratifying his personal feelings in an affectionate interlude of canine biography; ostensibly introduced to prove that a blue-eyed hound (κύνα χαροπὴν, οἵαν χαροπωτάτην) may possess all the essential excellencies of his race.

I have taken the liberty of changing the sex of this favourite dog, according to the example of Holsten; because I think it probable that Arrian may have used the feminine gender here, and generally through the treatise, not from the animal spoken of having been really of that sex, but from its being usual with Xenophon and other classic authors to employ the feminine gender when speaking of the dogs of the chase. Indeed, it has been remarked by Eustathius and others, that such was the custom of the ancient Greek writers, whenever they spoke of any kind of animals collectively. But Arrian does not apply the feminine gender to dogs gregatim only, but also individually: and the same prevalence of this gender is also observable in the Latin poets. It must be confessed, however, that the name Hormé (Angl. Rush) is more applicable to a bitch than a dog.

It is generally believed that greyhounds have very weak attachments; and the fickle companions of Charles de Blois and of Richard II. favour such an opinion. But against these well-known examples of canine infidelity, we may place others of extraordinary attachment to their lords; at the head of which let Hormé stand, πρᾳοτάτη καὶ φιλανθρωποτάτη, the beloved and affectionate hound of the founder of the leash:

Possem multa canum variorum exempla referre, Ni pigeat studium parvarum noscere rerum.

To the tales of inviolable attachment recorded by the royal pen of Edmund Duke of York, of “the greihounde boothe good and faire of Kyng Apollo of Lyonnys,” and the “wel good and faire greihounde that was Aubries of Mondidert,” the reader is referred for farther examples; nor should he forget the martyr Charles’s dying eulogy of the Celtic hound.

Vide J. C. Scaliger de Subtil. ad Card. Exerc. +ccii.+ the last of the Historiæ Duæ Nobilissimæ;, sect. 6.

“Amans dominorum adulatio.”

——nulla homini magè prodiga grati Officii quadrupes, dominisque fidelior ipsis!

says the kind-hearted poet of Venusium: and again,

Usque sequetur ovans, tua nec vestigia quoquam Deseret, at lateri semper comes ibit herili. Sistis iter? sistit—properas? velociùs Euro Scindit in obliquum campos, &c.

The following lines from a canine epitaph, “De Mopso fidissimo cane,” are not inapposite:

Custos assiduus domi forisque Nostri principis, et comes fidelis: Equo seu fuit ire, sive curru, Seu tritâ pedibus viâ voluptas. Hinc me carior haud erat; nec alter Posthac est aliis futurus annis Me carus magis, aut magis peritus Blandiri domino, &c.

Ἐπανίοντος πρόεισι, θαμινὰ ἐπιστρεφομένη, κ. τ. λ.

——si post terga relinquas, (Nam dominum crebrò aspiciens observat euntem) Ille moram cursu pensat, viden’ ecce repentè A tergo ut vultuque hilaris blanditur amico, &c.

——fidas ad limina custos Excubias agit, et nutus observat heriles; Ut quò jussa vocant velocior advolet: idem Nunc hilari congaudet hero, nunc tristior ægro Assidet.

So Calpurnius of the pet stag:

——sequiturque vocantem Credulus, et mensæ non improba porrigit ora.

The ancients cleansed their hands with the soft crumb of bread after meals, and threw it to their dogs. These pieces of bread were called ἀπομαγδαλίαι: the μειλίγματα of the Homeric simile: