138 ARRIAN 



Chap. XXVII. the bitch being clear of vaginal blood ; for if she receive 

 the seed before, it generally is not retained, but is washed out 



be supplied by experience and reference to other authorities. Arrian, however, was 

 too good a judge of the importance of purity of blood in the greyhound kennel to 

 attend to the mongrel crosses recommended by other cynegetical writers, whose object 

 seems to have been to induce sportsmen to correct the faults or defects of one species 

 by crossing it with anotlier in which the opposite excellencies abounded. The 

 ancients, before the time of Arrian at least, had no idea of correcting the imperfec- 

 tions of individuals of the same species by selecting from it other individuals in 

 which the same defects were not apparent, but rather " a redundancy of the desired 

 excellency, coveted in the imperfect animal." Such is the plan of Gratius : 



Gratii Cyneg. Idcirco variis miscebo gentibus usum. 



^"^' Quondam inconsultis raatcr dabit Umbrica Gallis 



Sensum agilem, traxere animos de patie Gelona; 

 Hyrcano, et vanae tantum Calydonia linguae 

 Exibit vitium patre emendata Molosso. 

 Scilicet ex omni fiorem virtute capessunt, 

 Et sequilur natura favens. 



De Re Rust. Varro, however, speaking of the breed of the shepherd's dog, says " magni 



L. II. c. IX. interest ex seniine esse canes eodem;" by which he means that it should not be 

 crossed with any hunting breed. But in the "Geoponica" we are cautioned against 

 L. XIX. c. I. allowing those of the same litter to have sexual connexion with each other, (pvXdr- 

 readai fi^ irore ol eK ttjs outtjs firtrphs oures Kvves tq irphs a.Wr]\ovs jUi|€i xP'h'^"''-^''''' — 

 a circumstance the more remarkable, because breeding in and in {(puivavra awiroicn) 

 was general in other animals, though not practised in the canine tribe : 



Ovid. Met. Coeuntque animalia nullo 



L. x- Csetera delicto, nee habetur turpe juvencse 



Ferre patrem tergo, fit equo sua filia conjux. 



Oppian's tale to the contrary is not worthy of attention. 



The Greek poet of the Chase goes a little farther than his Cynegetical predecessors 

 on the subject of breeding. His concubinage is promiscuous, and he seems inditferent 

 whether the varieties united be both of a mild, or both of a savage disposition, or 

 each different in its type and character. The male and female are to be suited to 

 each other, and of superior excellence— 



CyneE. i. ap/xiva t' aWTjAoicriv, ioiKSra t' e|oxa ^CAa. 



vs. 31)2. 



Then uniting the Arcadian with the Elcan, the Cretan with the Pannonian, the 



