CYNEGETICA, IV. 21-43 



Severiis. And do thou of thy grace, O lady goddess, 

 queen of the chase, declare those things for quick 

 royal ears, so that knowing before all the lore of 

 thy works the king may slay wild beasts, blessed at 

 once in hand and song. 



Of wild beasts some are wise ° and cunning but small 

 of body ; others again are valiant in might but weak 

 in the counsel of their breasts ; others are both 

 craven of heart and feeble of body, but swift of foot ; 

 to others again God hath given all the gifts together 

 — cunning counsel, valorous strength, and nimble 

 knees. But they know each ^ the splendid gifts of 

 his own nature— where they are feeble and where 

 they are deadly." Not with his horns is the Stag bold 

 but with his horns the Bull ; not A\-ith his teeth is 

 the Oryx strong, but ^^'ith his teeth the Lion ; not 

 in his feet doth the Rhinoceros trust, but feet are 

 the armour of the Hare ; the deadly Leopard knows 

 the baleful venom of his claws and the dread Ram 

 the mighty strength of his stony forehead, and the 

 wild Boar knows the exceeding might of his tusks. 



Now whatever special arts and snares are used by 

 deadly hunters amid the crags, the particular ways 

 of hunting we shall tell for each sort of beast ; but 

 those things which are common to all, are sung in 

 one lay. Common is hunting Avith nets, common 



torpedines : miilta etiara infectantes odoris intolerabili 

 foeditate depellunt ; cf. Ov. Hal. 1 flF. 



* Ael. ix. 40 olSe 5^ ipa tuiv ^ifiwv (Kaffrov ev (L pLepet K^KTTjTai 

 TT)i> a.\Kriv ; Ov. Hal. 7 Omnibus ignotae mortis tiraor, 

 omnibus hostem Praesidiumque datum sentire et noscere 

 teli Vimque modumque sui. 



« 5a<f>oiv6s is sometimes definitely of colour = rvpp6s, reddish ; 

 Horn. II. ii. 308 SpaKoiv iirl vQira ba<(>oivb% ; x. 23 hatpcuvbv depfia 

 XiovTos, but often merely = <^6«'ioj, <f>o^ep6s ; cf. 37 infr., Hes. 

 and Suid. s.v., E.M. s. dpSpe/x^oXa. 



163 



