370 HUNTING. 



subdued them ; Apollo obtained the laurels that 

 encircle his brow, by killing the serpent Python ; 

 and Hercules got his lion's skin by his exploits in 

 the forest of Nemsea. Diana was worshipped in 

 her temple, the finest the world ever saw, in honour 

 of her skill in destroying noxious animals ; even 

 Venus herself took the field, and Adonis was killed 

 in the chase. The Egyptians, also, in their most 

 splendid ages, were much addicted to hunting ; and 

 it was the common exercise of the children educated 

 in the court of Sesostris. 



But there would be no end to these examples of 

 the acknowledged benefits of the chase, on the 

 manners and characters of nations. The ancient 

 Persians considered hunting not only as a serious 

 employment, but an excellent preparation for war, 

 in which the same w^eapons were used as in the 

 chase ; and their renowned monarch, Cyrus, was the 

 first sportsman of his day. With the Athenians 

 the passion for the sports of the field was so strong, 

 that Solon was obliged to restrain the ardour for 

 hunting, to prevent the people neglecting the 

 mechanic arts, which it was his wish they should 

 cultivate ; and the Lacedemonians, who were war- 

 riors by profession, cultivated hunting with inces- 

 sant care. It was not only their ruling passion, 

 but there is reason to believe they exercised in it 

 the greatest skill ; and, as we learn from Virgil, in 

 his third Georgic, they were celebrated for their 

 breed of speedy dogs. But there is not a nation 

 in which it has not been found necessa^ry to restrain 

 by laws the excessive love for the chase ; so natural 



