ON CO IJ USING. 125 



coursino; deer with Scythian and lUyrian horses ; which, Chap, xxiil. 

 though slow at first in pursuit, and utterly despicable, as far as 

 appearance goes, by the side of those of Thessaly, Sicily, or 

 Peloponnesus, hold out to the last under the most severe work.^ 

 On such occasions you will see the huge, swift, proud-looking 

 horse flagging, and this lean and scrubby little animal at first 

 passing him, then leaving him behind, and at last even driving 

 the stag away from him. He holds on indeed until the stag 

 gives out and stops, gasping with distress ; ^ when you may, if 



of this champaign region, on whom Jupiter cast his eyes in looking from Mount Ida 

 towards Thrace. The Mysiana were of the number : 



aiirhs 8f TraAtj' Tpeirev ocrcre (paeivwy Iliad, v. 3. 



pScrcpiv i<p' iiriroTrSKuv QpriKuiv Kadopufievos alav, 

 Mv(TU)v t' ajx^l^dxcDV, Kul ayavuv 'li:ir7]ixo\'ywv, &c. 



Seneca speaks of the " Vacuisque vagus Sarmata canipis," — Claudian, of the " gens De iv. Consul, 

 exercita carapo," — and an earlier poet, the exiled Ovid, in one of his mournful Honorii. 



elegies, comraemorates the Scythian's skill in horsemanship : 



Protinus aquato siccis aquilonibus Istro, Tristium 



Invehitur celeri barbarus hoslis equo : '^'* '* *" 



Hostis equo pollens longeque volante sagitt^ 

 Vicinam late depopulatur huraum. 



Strabo notices the hunting propensities of the inhabitants of the Scythian and Sar- 

 matian plains (L. xvii.); and the eloquent historian of the Decline and Fall en- Hist, of Rome. 

 larges on the vigour and patience both of the men and horses in the continual exer- vol. iv. c. xxvi. 

 cise of the chase. From the way in which these pastoral tribes of the Scythian 

 plains are introduced by Arrian in connexion with the Celtic coursing, we may con- 

 clude that they v»ere Celto-Scythians. 



5. The highest praise is bestowed by Oppian on Sicilian horses, iiKvraroi. 'SiKeXoi : Cyneg. i. 

 hut fleeter than these are the Armenians and Parthians ; and fleetest of all, the ^^^* 



Iberians. 



C. 'O Se is ToaovTov 6.pa aurexft- 



non ilium miquam genibusve labantem P. Angelii 



Videris, aut animam fessum vix ore trahentem. rJarg^i Cyneg. 



Verum importuno potuit superesse labori 

 Acrior, atque novas currendo acquirere vires, 



L. 



