Others again will make wide circuits and excursions; either forecasting the line,[18] they overshoot it and leave the hare itself behind, or every time they run against the line they fall to conjecture, and when they catch sight of the quarry are all in a tremor,[19] and will not advance a step till they see the creature begin to stir.
[14] Or, 'Also the same dogs will exhibit many styles of coursing: one
set as soon as they have got the trail pursue it without a sign,
so there is no means of finding out that the animal is on the
track.'
[15] 'Stern.'
[16] Or 'with their noses solemnly fixed on the ground and sterns
lowered.'
[17] Or, 'have quite a different action'; 'exhibit quite another
manner.'
[18] i.e. 'they cast forwards to make short cuts,' of skirters too
lazy to run the line honestly.
[19] Reading {tremousi}, 'fall a-trembling'; al. {atremousi}, stand
stock-still'; i.e. are 'dwellers.'
A particular sort may be described as hounds which, when hunting or pursuing, run forward with a frequent eye to the discoveries of the rest of the pack, because they have no confidence in themselves. Another sort is over- confident-not letting the cleverer members of the pack go on ahead, but keeping them back with nonsensical clamour. Others will wilfully hug every false scent,[20] and with a tremendous display of eagerness, whatever they chance upon, will take the lead, conscious all the while they are playing false;[21] whilst another sort again will behave in a precisely similar style out of sheer ignorance.[22] It is a poor sort of hound which will not leave a stale line[23] for want of recognising the true trail. So, too, a hound that cannot distinguish the trail leading to a hare's form, and scampers over that of a running hare, hot haste, is no thoroughbred.[24]
[20] Al. 'seem to take pleasure in fondling every lie.'
[21] Or, 'fully aware themselves that the whole thing is a make-
believe.'
[22] Or, 'do exactly the same thing because they do not know any
better.'
[23] {ek ton trimmon}. Lit. 'keep away from beaten paths,' and
commonly of footpaths, but here apparently of the hare's habitual
'run,' not necessarily lately traversed, still less the true line.
[24] Lit. 'A dog who on the one hand ignores the form track, and on
the other tears swiftly over a running track, is not a well-bred
dog.' Al. {ta eunaia}, 'traces of the form'; {ta dromaia}, 'tracks
of a running hare.' See Sturz. s.v. {dromaios}.
When it comes to the actual chase, some hounds will show great ardour at first starting, but presently give up from weakness of spirit. Others will run in too hastily[25] and then balk; and go hopelessly astray, as if they had lost the sense of hearing altogether.
[25] So L. S., {upotheousin} = 'cut in before' the rest of the pack
and over-run the scent. Al. 'flash in for a time, and then lose
the scent.'
Many a hound will give up the chase and return from mere distaste for hunting,[26] and not a few from pure affection for mankind. Others with their clamorous yelping on the line do their best to deceive, as if true and false were all one to them.[27] There are others that will not do that, but which in the middle of their running,[28] should they catch the echo of a sound from some other quarter, will leave their own business and incontinently tear off towards it.[29] The fact is,[30] they run on without clear motive, some of them; others taking too much for granted; and a third set to suit their whims and fancies. Others simply play at hunting; or from pure jealousy, keep questing about beside the line, continually rushing along and tumbling over one another.[31]
[26] Or, {misotheron}, 'out of antipathy to the quarry.' For
{philanthropon} cf. Pollux, ib. 64; Hermog. ap. L. Dind.
[27] Or, 'unable apparently to distinguish false from true.' See
Sturz, s.v. {poieisthai}. Cf. Plut. 'de Exil.' 6. Al. 'Gaily
substituting false for true.'
[28] 'In the heat of the chase.'
[29] 'Rush to attack it.'
[30] The fact is, there are as many different modes of following up
the chase almost as there are dogs. Some follow up the chase
{asaphos}, indistinctly; some {polu upolambanousai}, with a good
deal of guess-work; others again {doxazousai}, without conviction,
insincerely; others, {peplasmenos}, out of mere pretence, pure
humbug, make-believe, or {phthoneros}, in a fit of jealousy,
{ekkunousi}, are skirters; al. {ekkinousi}, Sturz, quit the scent.
[31] Al. 'unceasingly tearing along, around, and about it.'
The majority of these defects are due to natural disposition, though some must be assigned no doubt to want of scientific training. In either case such hounds are useless, and may well deter the keenest sportsman from the hunting field.[32]
[32] Or, 'Naturally, dogs like these damp the sportsman's ardour, and
indeed are enough to sicken him altogether with the chase.'
The characters, bodily and other, exhibited by the finer specimens of the same breed,[33] I will now set forth.
[33] Or, 'The features, points, qualities, whether physical or other,
which characterise the better indidivuals.' But what does Xenophon
mean by {tou autou genous}?
IV
In the first place, this true type of hound should be of large build; and, in the next place, furnished with a light small head, broad and flat in the snout,[1] well knit and sinewy, the lower part of the forehead puckered into strong wrinkles; eyes set well up[2] in the head, black and bright; forehead large and broad; the depression between the eyes pronounced;[3] ears long[4] and thin, without hair on the under side; neck long and flexible, freely moving on its pivot;[5] chest broad and fairly fleshy; shoulder-blades detached a little from the shoulders;[6] the shin-bones of the fore-legs should be small, straight, round, stout and strong; the elbows straight; ribs[7] not deep all along, but sloped away obliquely; the loins muscular, in size a mean between long and short, neither too flexible nor too stiff; [8] flanks, a mean between large and small; the hips (or 'couples') rounded, fleshy behind, not tied together above, but firmly knitted on the inside;[9] the lower or under part of the belly[10] slack, and the belly itself the same, that is, hollow and sunken; tail long, straight, and pointed;[11] thighs (i.e. hams) stout and compact; shanks (i.e. lower thighs) long, round, and solid; hind-legs much longer than the fore-legs, and relatively lean; feet round and cat- like.[12]
[1] Pollux, v. 7; Arrian, 'Cyn.' iv.
[2] {meteora}, prominent. ?See Sturz, s.v.
[3] {tas diakriseis batheias}, lit. 'with a deep frontal sinus.'
[4] Reading {makra}, or if {mikra}, 'small.'
[5] Al. 'well rounded.'
[6] 'Shoulder blades standing out a little from the shoulders'; i.e.
'free.'
[7] i.e. 'not wholly given up to depth, but well curved'; depth is not
everything unless the ribs be also curved. Schneid. cf. Ov. 'Met.'
iii. 216, 'et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon,' where the
