CYNEGETICA, II. 447-477 



to wild beasts. His colour is even as that of milk in 

 spring, only the cheeks about his face being black. 

 He has a double back, rich in fat. Sharp rise aloft 

 the piercing points of his horns, black of hue, which 

 are mightier than whetted bronze or chilly iron or 

 jagged rock, and men say that those horns have a 

 venomous nature. The spirit of the Oryx is over- 

 weening and stem. For they tremble neither at the 

 yelping of the keen-scented Hound nor at the snort- 

 ing of the ^vild Boar among the rocks, neither do 

 they fear the mighty bellowing of the Bull nor 

 shudder at the mirthless cry of the Leopard nor the 

 mighty roar of the Lion himself, nor in the dauntless- 

 ness of their heart do they care aught for men : 

 many a time a mighty hunter has perished ** on the 

 hills when he has encountered the deadly Oryxes. 

 When the Oryx descries a vahant wild beast, a tusked 

 Boar or a saw-toothed ^ Lion or chilly Bear of deadly 

 courage, straightway he bows to earth and holds 

 steadfast his outstretched head and brows, and fixing 

 close to the ground his sharp weapons, awaits the 

 onset of the foe and strikes him first and slays. For 

 bending a httle aside his horned brows he watches 

 and springs with his sharper weapons on the beast ; 

 which, heeding not, rushes incontinently straight on 

 and horribly clashes with the sharp palisade of 

 his horns. As when in the thickets, as a Lion 

 charges, a vahant man, who is skilled in the gifts of 

 Artemis, holding in his hands his flashing spear, with 

 feet set mcU apart, awaits him, and, as he rages 



so recurved are a formidable weapon of offence, and when 

 wounded and brought to bay, it will frequently pierce the 

 hunter by a sudden and well-directed blow " (Tristr. p. 08). 

 Diod. iii. 27 (certain Ethiopians) on-Xots d.nvvTT]piois x/"^/i€vot 

 Toh Twv dpvyuv Kipaai. * C. iii. o n. 



H 97 



