[39] Al. "at the passages from woodland lakes into oak-coppices."
[40] {udata}, "waters," lakes, pools, rivers, etc.
[41] Or, "and proceed to tackle him."
It is a form of sport which costs the lives of many hounds and endangers those of the huntsmen themselves. Supposing that the animal has given in from exhaustion at some moment in the chase, and they are forced to come to close quarters;[42] whether he has taken to the water, or stands at bay against some craggy bank, or does not choose to come out from some thicket (since neither net nor anything else hinders him from bearing down like a tornado on whoever approaches); still, even so, advance they must, come what come may, to the attack. And now for a display of that hardihood which first induced them to indulge a passion not fit for carpet knights[43]-in other words, they must ply their boar-spears and assume that poise of body[44] already described, since if one must meet misfortune, let it not be for want of observing the best rules.[45]
[42] Reading {prosienai} [{ta probolia}]. [The last two words are
probably a gloss, and should be omitted, since {prosienai} (from
{prosiemi}) {ta probolia} = "ply," or "apply their boar-spears,"
is hardly Greek.] See Schneid. "Add. et Corr." and L. Dind. ad
loc.
[43] {ekponein}, "to exercise this passion to the full."
[44] Lit. "assume their boar-spears and that forward attitude of
body."
[45] Lit. "it will not be at any rate from behaving correctly."
Foot-traps are also set for the wild boar, similar to those for deer and in the same sort of places; the same inspections and methods of pursuit are needed, with consequent attacks and an appeal to the boar- spear in the end.
Any attempt to capture the young pigs will cost the huntsman some rough work.[46] The young are not left alone, as long as they are small; and when the hounds have hit upon them or they get wind of something wrong, they will disappear like magic, vanishing into the forest. As a rule, both parents attend on their own progeny, and are not pleasant then to meddle with, being more disposed to do battle for their young than for themselves.
[46] Lit. "the piglings will resent it (sc. {to aliskesthai})
strongly"; al. "the adult (sub. {to therion}) will stand anything
rather."
XI
Lions, leopards, lynxes, panthers, bears and all other such game are to be captured in foreign countries-about Mount Pangaeus and Cittus beyond Macedonia;[1] or again, in Nysa beyond Syria, and upon other mountains suited to the breeding of large game.
[1] Of these places, Mt. Pangaeus (mod. Pirnari) (see "Hell." V. ii.
17), Cittus (s. Cissus, mod. Khortiatzi), N. W. of the Chalcidice,
Mysian Olympus, and Pindus are well known. Nysa has not been
verified hitherto, I think. Sturz cf. Bochart, "Hieroz." Part I.
lib. iii. c. 1, p. 722. Strabo, 637 (xv. 1. 7), mentions a Mount
Nysa in India sacred to Dionysus, and cites Soph. "Frag." 782-
{othen kateidon ton bebakkhiomenen brotoisi kleinon Nusan . . . k.t.l.},
but it is a far cry from Xenophon's Syria to India. Possibly it is
to be sought for in the region of Mt. Amanus.
In the mountains, owing to the difficulty of the ground,[2] some of these animals are captured by means of poison-the drug aconite-which the hunters throw down for them,[3] taking care to mix it with the favourite food of the wild best, near pools and drinking-places or wherever else they are likely to pay visits. Others of them, as they descend into the plains at night, may be cut off by parties mounted upon horseback and well armed, and so captured, but not without causing considerable danger to their captors.[4]
[2] Or, "the inaccessibility of their habitats."
[3] "The method is for the trapper to throw it down mixed with the
food which the particular creature likes best."
[4] For the poison method see Pollux, v. 82; Plin. "H. N." viii. 27.
In some cases the custom is to construct large circular pits of some depth, leaving a single pillar of earth in the centre, on the top of which at nightfall they set a goat fast-bound, and hedge the pit about with timber, so as to prevent the wild beasts seeing over, and without a portal of admission. What happens then is this: the wild beasts, hearing the bleating in the night, keep scampering round the barrier, and finding no passage, leap over it, and are caught.[5]
[5] See "Tales from the Fjeld," Sir George W. Dasent, "Father Bruin in
the Corner."
XII
With regard to methods of procedure in the hunting-field, enough has been said.[1] But there are many benefits which the enthusiastic sportsman may expect to derive from this pursuit.[2] I speak of the health which will thereby accrue to the physical frame, the quickening of the eye and ear, the defiance of old age, and last, but not least, the warlike training which it ensures. To begin with, when some day he has to tramp along rough ways under arms, the heavy infantry soldier will not faint or flag-he will stand the toil from being long accustomed to the same experiences in capturing wild beasts. In the next place, men so trained will be capable of sleeping on hard couches, and prove brave guardians of the posts assigned them. In the actual encounter with the enemy, they will know at once how to attack and to carry out the word of command as it passes along the lines, because it was just so in the old hunting days that they captured the wild game. If posted in the van of battle, they will not desert their ranks, because endurance is engrained in them. In the rout of the enemy their footsteps will not falter nor faiclass="underline" straight as an arrow they will follow the flying foe, on every kind of ground, through long habituation.[3] Or if their own army encounter a reverse on wooded and precipitous ground beset with difficulties, these will be the men to save themselves with honour and to extricate their friends; since long acquaintance with the business of the chase has widened their intelligence.[4]
[1] Or, "Respecting the methods employed in different forms of the
chase, I have said my say." As to the genuineness of this and the
following chapter see L. Dind. ad loc.; K. Lincke, "Xenophon's
Dialog." {peri oikonomias}, p. 132.
[2] Lit. "this work"; and in reference to the highly Xenophontine
argument which follows see "Hellenica Essays," p. 342; cf.
"Cyrop." I. vi. 28, 39-41.
[3] "For the sake of 'auld lang syne.'"
[4] Or, "will place them on the vantage-ground of experts."
Nay, even under the worst of circumstances, when a whole mob of fellow-combatants[5] has been put to flight, how often ere now has a handful[6] of such men, by virtue of their bodily health[7] and courage, caught the victorious enemy roaming blindly in some intricacy of ground, renewed the fight, and routed him. Since so it must ever be; to those whose souls and bodies are in happy case success is near at hand.[8]
[5] Or, "allies."
[6] Or, "a forlorn hope."
[7] {euexia}, al. {eutaxia}, "by good discipline."
[8] "Fortune favours the brave," reading {to eutukhesai} (L. D.); or
if {tou eutukhesai}, (vulg.) "those whose health of soul and body
is established are ipso facto nigh unto good fortune."
It was through knowledge that they owed success against their foes to such a training, that our own forefathers paid so careful a heed to the young.[9] Though they had but a scant supply of fruits, it was an immemorial custom "not to hinder[10] the hunter from hunting any of earth's offspring"; and in addition, "not to hunt by night[11] within many furlongs of the city," in order that the adepts in that art might not rob the young lads of their game. They saw plainly that among the many pleasures to which youth is prone, this one alone is productive of the greatest blessings. In other words, it tends to make them sound of soul and upright, being trained in the real world of actual things[12] [and, as was said before, our ancestors could not but perceive they owed their success in war to such instrumentality[13]]; and the chase alone deprives them of none of the other fair and noble pursuits that they may choose to cultivate, as do those other evil pleasures, which ought never to be learned. Of such stuff are good soldiers and good generals made.[14] Naturally, those from whose souls and bodies the sweat of toil has washed all base and wanton thoughts, who have implanted in them a passion for manly virtue-these, I say, are the true nobles.[15] Not theirs will it be to allow their city or its sacred soil to suffer wrong.