Part 58

εἰ δὲ νύ τοι πινυτὴ σκυλακοτροφίη μεμέληται, μή ποτ’ ἀμέλγεσθαι σκύλακας νεοθηλέϊ μαζῷ αἰγῶν, ἢ προβάτων, μηδ’ οἰκιδίησι κύνεσσιν· ἦ γάρ τοι νωθροί τε καὶ οὐτιδανοὶ βαρύθοιεν.

Nec unquam eos quorum generosam volumus indolem conservare, patiemur alienæ nutricis uberibus educari; quoniam semper et lac et spiritus maternus longè magis ingenii atque incrementa corporis augent.

Κράτιστον ἐᾷν ὑπὸ τῇ τεκούσῃ.—Arrian here copies his predecessor almost verbatim; but in addition to the τὸ γάλα ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα of the former, the latter adds καὶ αἱ περιβολαὶ φίλαι. The classic reader will remember the pathetic address of Andromache in the Troades,

ὦ νέον ὑπαγκάλισμα μητρὶ φίλτατον, ὦ χρωτὸς ἡδὺ πνεῦμα!

It is true that a foster-mother may “cherish kind—an alien offspring,” and “pleased” we may “behold her tenderness, and hospitable love,” but instances are, I believe, most rare of greyhound puppies, suckled by alien dams of mongrel blood, repaying the courser for the trouble of rearing them. Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ τεκὸν τροφὴν ἔχει ἐπιτηδείαν ᾧ ἂν τέκῃ: and it is in vain that we make the unnatural attempt, αἱ γὰρ θεραπεῖαι αἱ ἀλλότριαι οὐκ εἰσὶν αὔξιμοι, according to both Xenophons; whereas “les jeunes chiens, nourris par leur propre mère, seroient plus forts et mieux portans que ceux qui sont nourris d’un lait étranger.” “When a bitch hath whelpes,” says Turberville, “let a mastiffe bitch (une matine, Fouilloux) give sucke to one halfe, and you shall find that they will never be so good as those which the damme did bring up.”

ἦ ῥα τόσον τέκεών τε, καὶ ἀρτιγόνοιο γενέθλης φίλτρον ἐνὶ κραδίῃ στάξεν θεός· τόσσον ῥα φύσις κρατερώτατον ἄλλων.

Χρὴ γάλακτι ἀνατρέφειν αὐτά. See Ch. +viii.+ where he also speaks of milk food; and Xenophon. de Venat. c. +vii.+ 4. The latter recommends milk for the first year: καὶ οἷς μέλλει τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον βιώσεσθαι, ἄλλο δὲ μηδέν—αἱ γὰρ βαρεῖαι πλησμοναὶ τῶν σκυλακίων διαστρέφουσι σκέλη, σώμασι νόσους ἐμποιοῦσι, καὶ τὰ ἐντὸς ἄδικα γίγνεται.

tum denique fœtû Cum desunt, operis fregitque industria matres, Transeat in catulos omnis tutela relictos. Lacte novam pubem, facilique tuebere mazâ. Nec luxus alios avidæque impendia vitæ Noscant.

Columella also, and the Carthaginian poet, administer milk to the young fry, and Pollux with his copyist Paullini adds thereto the blood of the game to which the hounds are to be afterwards entered; “Quod si effœta lacte deficitur, caprinum maximè conveniet præberi catulis, dum fiant mensium quatuor:”

Interdumque cibo cererem cum lacte ministra, Fortibus ut succis teneras complere medullas Possint, et validas jam tunc promittere vires.

“Probè autem despiciendum,” says the credulous physician of Eisenach, on the authority of Julius Pollux, “cui generi singulos applicare velis, ut eorum animalium, quæ venationi sunt destinata, sanguinem cum offis statim post ablactationem subministres,” &c.

“Thei hav grete nede of hur dame,” according to Duke Edmund, “in to the tyme that thei be ij monethis olde, and than thei shuld be fedde with gootis mylke or with kowes mylk and cromes of brede ymade smale and put there inne; and specially in the morowe and at nyght by cause that y^{e}. nyght is more cold than the day and also men shuld geve hem crommes in fflesh brothe and in this wise men may norfshe hem tyl thei be of half yeere olde.”

Largus victus solet esse maximo damno.

It very rarely happens that the κύων ἀρτιτόκος is deficient in milk for six or eight weeks after the birth of her progeny;

fœmina quæque Cum peperit dulci repletur lacte, quod omnis Impetus in mammas convertitur ille alimenti:

but if the puppies do not thrive on the nutriment they derive from their dam, it is probably deficient in quantity, and should be dispensed with altogether as soon as they will lap cow’s milk sufficient for their support.

Tum tu adeò (nam tempus erit) jam parce parenti, Exhaustis parce uberibus. Sed mollia nondum Subducenda tamen natis alimenta, sed haustu Pascendi lactis, cujus mulctralia pingues Implerunt vaccæ, et redeuntes rure capellæ.

Turberville says, “the longer they tast of their dammes teat, the more they shall take of her complexion and nature.” And when weaned, “it is best,” he remarks, “to bring them up abroad with milke, bread, and all sorts of pottages, and you shall understand that to bring them up in villages of the country, is much better than to bring them up in a butcherie:” “aux villages, et non aux boucheries,” Fouilloux p. 9.

How close is the analogy “touching the acceleration of growth and stature,” in the human and canine subject! In breeding for the kennel, Lord Bacon’s observations may be turned to some account. “Excess of nourishment,” says he, “is hurtful; for it maketh the child corpulent, and growing in breadth rather than in height.” “The nature of it may not be too dry, and therefore children in dairy countries do wax more tall, than where they feed more upon bread and flesh;” “over-dry nourishment in childhood putteth back stature.” Upon which principle Albertus Magnus orders liquid food for the dog, because his temperament is dry.

It is seldom that the practical courser will differ from the advice of old Gervase Markham; but when he says, “if the house you keep be of great receite, and many servants, you shall let your cooke bring up your whelpes, and your dairy-maide your second best, and the rest you shall put forth amongst your friends or tenants, according unto the love you possesse in the country,” I am inclined to invert the merits of the respective claimants on the litter, placing la cuisinière at the bottom of the list.

————unto thy choicest friends Commit thy valued prize: the rustic dames Shall at thy kennel wait, and in their laps Receive thy growing hopes, with many a kiss Caress, and dignify their little charge With some great title, and resounding name Of high import.

See Xenophon de Venat. c. +vii.+ 5. All the names left us by Xenophon, Arrian, and Columella, are dissyllabical. Nominibus autem non longissimis appellandi sunt, quo celeriùs quisque vocatus exaudiat; nec tamen brevioribus, quàm quæ duabus syllabis enuntientur. Oppian names his puppies, while young and tractable, νηπιάχοι:

αὐτὰρ νηπιάχοισιν ἐπ’ οὐνόματα σκυλάκεσσι βαιὰ τίθει, θοὰ πάντα, θοὴν ἵνα βάξιν ἀκούῃ.

By which Gesner supposes the names should be “oxytona.” Natalis Comes agrees with his predecessors:

ponantur nomina cuique Certa cani, teneatque ad summum syllaba bina: Protinùs ut noscat voces, et verba vocantum.

The indefatigable German naturalist has alphabetically arranged all the classic names of the Greek and Roman kennels that have descended to us. We find in his canine vocabulary, those of Xenophon, Ovid, Columella, and others of ancient days; and some from Blondus (of which Gesner disapproves) of more modern use. Hyginus has a copious list of canine appellatives in his 181st fable, entitled “Diana.” And one of the most chaste poets of the fifteenth century supplies the kennel with

bona naribus Heuresiïchne, Theragus, Ocypete, Thoissa, Melæna, Cylindus, Chætodesque hirtus setis, domitorque ferarum Theridamas, veloxque Lagois, et ocyor illa Protodomus, longoque legens compendia passu Macrobates, Leuconque rapaci et cum Harpage Theron.

Εἰ δὲ μή πω ἐθέλοις σκυλακεῦσαι. Schneider is of opinion that Arrian is here cautioning the courser against running a bitch, whom it has been deemed prudent to put aside from taking the dog, and whose milk-vessels are distended towards the close of the period of gestation, as if she were actually pregnant. This interpretation is ingenious, and may be tenable; but as I find no such caution in any ancient author, and have never seen any mischief accrue from running a bitch at the time alluded to, (though her speed is certainly impaired by the constitutional plethora of the period;) and, moreover, as it magnifies a very unimportant circumstance in the physical condition of the bitch, and is, on the whole, rather a far-fetched interpretation, I have followed Blancard and Zeune in the more usual acceptation of the verb σκυλακεύειν, i. e. catulos nutrire. No man in his senses would think of coursing a brood bitch while in the state described in the text.