Al'l'KN 1)1 \. 



193 



. 1- . t 1 1- V I 1 '^en. de Venat. 



ii>ot-tra[)s or i^ms, resembling the -KocoaTpapai o\ Aenoplioii ami ^^ ,x. 



I*»)llux; and formed, as the following lines indicate, of wood, con- Poll. Onom. 

 ceulod on tlio ground ; ^* ^' ^^' 



Quid (jui dentatas illgno robore clausit 

 Venator pedicas 1 cum dissimulautibus arniis 

 Sa?pe habet iiiiprudens alieni lucra laboris 1 



It being no small recommendation to them that one poacher might 

 reap the fruits of another's labours. Their invention is attributed to 

 a virtuous and holy Arcadian, ycleped Dercylus,i in higli favour 

 with the Sylvan goddess, and by her initiated in the mysteries of 

 hunting, and the formation of sundry destructive implements of 

 predation, which he first employed in the valleys of Mount Maenalus, 

 and the Lacediemonian AmycIvK : 



And 



O felix, tantis quern primum industria rebus 

 Prodidit auctorem ! Deus ille, an proxuma Divos 

 Mens fuit, in caecas aciem quae magna tenebras 

 Egit, et ignarum perfudit himine valgus ? 



Ergo ilium primis nemorum Dea finxit in annis, 

 Auctoremque operi dignata inscribere magno, 

 Jussit adire suas et pandere geutibus artes. 



Gralii Cjneg. 

 vs. 95. 



1. It is remarkable that this inventive genius is noticed by no other writer ; high 

 as his character stands with the Faliscian, 



baud illo quisquam se justior egit, 

 Aut fuit in terris Diviim observautior alter : 



unless indeed he be the sly coadjutor of Alebion, wlio with a thief cleped Dercjlus 

 (of a different caste seemingly from the Gratian hero) despoiled Hercules of his 

 bovine booty during its transit through Iberia. See Natal. Comes, Mytholog. L. vii. 

 Perhaps we may with Wernsdorf consider him the first writer on the science and 

 mechanism of the chase, rather than the actual inventor of its multifarious furniture : 

 or if we cannot thus dispose of his claim to manual dexterity, may we not identify 

 him with Aristaeus, the Arcadian nephew of Diana, 



hv KaXfovaiv 



aypea Koi nSfiiov, 



a sort of legendary Sir Tristrem iu ancient matters of venery, and rural economy. 



2 R 



Gratii Cyneg. 

 vs. 103. 



Excursus II. 

 ad Gratii 

 vs. 103. 



Apollon. 

 Argonaut. 

 L. II. 508. 



