12 



THE DOG IN HISTORY, ART, AND LITERATURE. 



" Of the dog in ancient story 

 Many a pleasant tale is told.'" 



Whatever its direct origin, there is in- 

 dubitable proof that the domestic dog in 

 various recognisable breeds was co-existent 



ACT/EON DEVOURED BY HIS DOGS. GROUP FROM 

 THE VILLA OF ANTONINUS PIUS, CIVITA LAVINIA. 

 (British Museum.) 



with the earliest civilised societies, and 

 that it was the trusted companion of man 

 many hundreds of years prior to the time 

 when it became the painted Briton's pride. 

 Homer, the first of Greek poets, frequently 

 used the word " dog " as an epithet of 

 contempt and reproach to women lacking 

 in modesty and virtue, applying it to Helen 

 (Lib. VI. 344), whose incontinence was the 



Mary Howitt. 



cause of the Trojan war ; and " Thou dog 

 in forehead " is his taunt flung at a despic- 

 able man. But generally his allusions are 

 not uncomplimentary to canine sagacity, 

 and they show a certain sympathy and 

 esteem for an animal which was evidently 

 held in high value. When the " God of 

 the silver bow " strikes beasts and men 

 with pestilence, it is said : 



" Mules first and dogs he struck, but at them- 

 selves, 

 Dispatching soon his bitter arrows keen, 

 Smote them." 



Yet, mixed with these friendly dogs 

 there were apparently those of the pariah 

 kind. Cowards in battle are threatened 

 thus : 



"... The vulture's maw 

 Shall have his carcase, and the dogs his 

 bones." 



Shepherd dogs and hounds are more than 

 once indicated : 



" As dogs that careful watch the fold by night, 

 Hearing some wild beast in the woods, 



which hounds 

 And hunters with tumultuous clamour drive 

 Down from the mountain-top, all sleep 



forego." 



In the Iliad there is also mention of the 

 hunting of lions and boars by dogs. " They 

 all trembled as dogs around a lion " (Lib. V. 

 476), and again a brave warrior faces his 

 foes " as when a boar or lion looking fiercely 

 round, conscious of his strength, turns upon 

 the dogs and huntsmen" (Lib. XII. 41). 

 The Boarhound must have been a favourite 

 in Homer's time, for it enters frequently 

 into his similes of warfare : 



