ON COUKSl NG, 



157 



into which they j)ay two oboli for every hare that is cauoht,^ — 

 a drachma lor a I'ox/ (because he is a crafty animal, and 



Chap. 

 XXXllI. 



images the unseen divinity of earlier adoration, she in her turn yielded the tutelage 

 of tiie chase to St. Martin, St. Germain, and St. Hubert. Arrian wrote in the second 

 century, and in the sixth we find Diana still predominant : — " Le pere Dom Martin 

 nous assure que vers la fin du sixieme siecie, les Gaulois c^Iebroient les inysteres de 

 cette divinite avec des chants excessifs, et toutes les debauches que peuvent produire 

 I'amour et le vin, sur une montagne des Ardennes qui est dans le Luxembourg, oii 

 ils avoient une idole de Diane fort grande et fort celebre," &c. 



M. Fleuri (Hist. Ecclesiast. Tom. viii. L. xxxv. n. 22.) relates tlie destruction of 

 Diana's image, and the erection of the monastery and church of St. Martin on its 

 site. But neither St. Martin, nor St. Germain, (" eveque d'Auxerre, et chasseur de 

 grande reputation,") were able to preserve their ascendancy against the superior 

 claims of St. Hubert, (" eveque de Liege, plus fin et plus rus6 dans I'art de la 

 chasse,") who subsequently received the first-fruits of the chase, airapxas tuv a,\i<T- 

 Koft.(vwv, and a tenth part of the game, as an annual consecration, fviavcria, from the 

 posterity of the Celts. 



The worship of Diana Venatrix extended from Celtica to the British Isles, which 

 at an early period were peopled by a Celtic race, (see note 12. at the end of the 

 present chapter). " Amongst other the goddes also," says Holinshed, " whiche 

 the Scottislimen had in most reverence, Diana was chiefe, whom they accompted as 

 their peculiar patronesse, for that she was taken to be tiie goddesse of hunting, 

 wherein consisted their chiefest exercise, pastime, and delite." And at the same 

 period, vve find these Scoto-Celts in possession of greyhounds and hounds of chase of 

 the highest repute, during the reign of Dorvadiile. 



2. ©r/iraupbj signifies, primarily, " theca, ubi res pretiosa deponitur ;" and secon- 

 darily, " ipsa res condita." See Martinii Lexicon Philologicum. 



3. 'Eirl fiev \ay^ a\6vTi Svo ofioXii iii^iWovaiv, The game of the modern courser 

 was valued by the Celtic sportsmen, for Dian's treasury, at about 2Jd. of British 

 currency. The obolus was a small Greek coin of silver, weighing about 11 grains, 

 in ancient money worth \\d. It was the sixth part of the drachma, which nearly 

 answered to the Roman denarius. The double obolus, or diobolion, exactly bit the 

 value of the hare in the Celtic scale of appreciation. 



4. 'ETrl 5e aKdii-nfKi SpaXM^— Anglice, winepefjce /or a fox. The silver drachma 

 was equal to six oboli, consequently this crafty and destructive felon was estimated 

 at thrice the value of the hare. The reasons of the text for the extra payment must 

 be perfectly satisfactory to the patrons of the leash — '6ti iirifiovXov th XP^M^j ""^ ''""i's 

 Xwyltis Sta^delpei, k. t. \. " Fraudulenturn animal," says Isidorus, " insidiisque 

 decipiens :" and i£lian, alpovvrai Se oi Aa7cj) wrb aXoyirtKuv iviore, ovk ^ttov SpSfiCj), 

 dA\i Koi /xaWov Texfjl' (To<l>hv ykp airaj^v a\ei7nj|, Ka\ ^6\ovs oT^iv. Xenophon, 

 too, remarks that foxes are wont to kill not only hares, hut leverets, avrotis Koi ra 

 TiKva : and is supported by the Cilician poet of the chase, who says of the fux — 



V6nerie 



Normande. 



Lu S. Hubert. 



Historic of 

 Scotland. 

 Mainiis. 



Pinkerton on 

 Coins. Vol. I. 



p. 8<). 

 and Aiiisworth. 



L. XII. c. ir. 



iElian. de 

 Natura Animal. 

 L. XIII. c. XI. 



De Venat. 



