114 



AKRIAN 



Chap. XVIT. Moreover, the natural difficulties of the country are more in 

 favour of the hare, than the dog — such as rough and stony 



ami Virgil in the simile of the " vividus Umber;" copjing, probably, the poet of the 

 Argonauts, 



jEneid. 

 L. XII. 754. 



Ilfcret hiaus, jam jamque tenet, similisque tenenti 

 Increpuit malis, morsuque elusus inani est. 



The hare under pursuit has a peculiar sensibility of sounds behind her. To this 

 excellence she owes her preservation from the danger of her pursuers. By this 

 faculty she often outstrips the fleetest brace of greyhounds, attentive to the noise of 

 every stretch, and sound of every pant : 



Statii Theb. 

 L. V. 168. 



Praecipitat suspensa fugam ; jam jamque teneri 

 Credit, et elusos audit concurrere morsiis. 



The Booke of 

 Venerie. 

 p. 248. 



Bacon, of 



Discourse, 



Essay xxxii. 



" It is a gallant sport," says Turberville, " to see how the hare will turne and 

 wind to save herselfe out of the dogges mouth. So that sometimes even when you 

 thinke that your greyhound doth (as it were) gape to take her, she will turne and 

 cast them a good way behind her : and so saveth herselfe by turning, wrenching, and 

 winding, until she reach some covert and so save her life." And a far greater than 

 this translator of Fouilloux has remarked : "We see in beasts, that those that are 

 weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in the turne ; as it is betwixt the greyhound 

 and the liare." 



Scarce inferior to his poetical predecessor of Venusium, the classic Darcius slips 

 liis swift-footed Ptereias after the started hare, in a sketch which places the course 

 before the reader's eyes : 



Darcii Ve- 

 nusini Canes. 



Ocyus insequitur Ptereias, cursuque citato 

 Intervalia facit lati decrescere campi. 

 Jam propior propiorque micat, jam captat hianti 

 Summa pedum rostro, jam terga fugacia stringit. 

 Ille pavet, flexoque obliquat tramite cursus, 

 Et dubia trepidans formidine, jamque teneri 

 Se putat, et rursum tangentis ab ore recedit, 

 Fataque moment© sibi prorogat, a;mula donee 

 Rostra Jevis mergat miserando in corpore victor, 

 Fulmineus victor, gemino cui tramite lumbos 

 Spina subit graciles, et castigata coercet 

 liiu suhstrictus venter, stant crura volantem 



