124 



A R R I A N 



Chap. XXIII. large, runs a long while, and is by no means safe to contend 

 with ; - indeed there is no little danger of a greyhound being 

 destroyed by a stag. ^ 



But where the plains are adapted for riding, as in Mysia, 

 Dacia, Scythia, and Illyricum,* they are in the habit of 



The coursing of deer was a recreation of high repute, and was divided into two 

 sorts ; the paddock, and the forest or purlieu. See Daniel's Rural Sports. But a 

 better authority, Turberville, in " a short observation set downs by the Translatour, 

 concerning courting with greyhoundes," attached to " Tlie Booke of Hunting," has 

 given us liis remarks on coursing deer, and the method of doing it in the olden time 

 with " teasers,^' (" to start the deare from the whole heard, or make a low deare 

 strain,") " side laies," (" to way-lay him by the midway,") and " back-sets, or 

 receits," (to meet him " full in the face — to the end they may the more amase 

 him.") See Turberville's Appendix to his translation of Fouilloux, and " The Go- 

 vernour," B. i. c. 17. 



2. Meya re yap rh 6'i]piof, &c. " He is of all beasts," says Gervase Markham, 

 " the goodliest, stateliest, and most manly :" and Buffon, after describing the stag 



Hist. Naturelle. with his wonted eloquence, concludes, " sa grandeur, sa legerete, sa force le dis- 

 tinguent assez des autres habitans des bois : et comme il est le plus noble d'eutre 

 eux, il ne sert aussi qu'aux plaisirs des plus nobles des hommes ; il a, dans tous les 

 temps, occupe le loisir des heros." 



" A red deare will beare sometimes foure or five brase of greyhounds before they 

 can pull him downe : such wonderfuU force he is of, and can so easily shake off a 

 greyhound when he pincheth him." 



3. 'O Kivdovos oh CfxiKphs, &c. " He that hath a good hare greyhound, shal do 

 very evill to course a deare with him, for it wil both bruse him and make him lyther : 

 and the course at the hare is much the nobler pastime." 



Oppian denies that deer butt with their horns, and thereby endanger the dogs : 



Booke of 

 Hunting. 

 p. 247. 



p. 247. 



Cyncgcticus 

 II. 184. 



ovnoTe yap Ke^a\fj<pi.v ivavria driplaaivro, 

 oi) 6T]pal KpaTepols, ovk apyaKfoicri Kvvicrffi 



Be Venat. 



C. IX. 



but Xenophon, a practical authority, affirms it — tois Kfpaai iraUi Kol rois irocrlv. The 

 thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the stag's horns, were accounted far more 

 dangerous to a human being than those of the boar's tusk : 



If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier : 



But barber's liand shall boar's hurt heal ; thereof have thou no fear. 



Hippolyt. 

 Act. 1. 71. 



4. "Evda Tc TreSia fin}\aTa. The Homeric scholar will remember the Nomade tribes 



