A THEME OF THE ABLEST WRITERS. 873 



derived from the mixture of society in the hunting- 

 field, or of the many valuable and lasting friend- 

 ships that may be dated from accidental meetings 

 by the cover's side. But Xenophon wrote in praise 

 of hunting rather perhaps as a soldier than a philo- 

 sopher, giving it as his opinion, that the exercise 

 of the chase formed the best soldiers in the world ; 

 that it habituated men to cold, to heat, and to fa- 

 tigue ; that it kindled courage, elevated the soul, and 

 invigorated the body ; that it retarded the eftects 

 of age, and rendered the senses more acute ; and, 

 finalty, that the pleasure it afforded was a sovereign 

 remedy against all mental uneasiness ; in which 

 latter sentiment he is seconded by a modern author 

 of celebrity, who says that " the chase fortifies the 

 heart as well as the body." Nor is Xenophon 

 the only eminent soldier or philosopher of his re- 

 nowned country who has written in commendation 

 of hunting. Aristotle wrote a treatise on field- 

 sports, by order of Alexander the Great ; and Poly- 

 bius, one of the greatest soldiers of any age, relates 

 that Maxim us restored discipline in the Roman 

 legions, by often exercising them in hunting ; and 

 he even goes so far as to celebrate one individual 

 sportsman, Ptolemy Epiphanes, for his dexterity 

 in killing a wild bull. Amongst the poets of 

 Greece, Oppian distinguished himself highly by 

 his poems on hunting. So excellent, indeed, were 

 they considered by his emperor, that he is said to 

 have presented him with a piece of gold for every 

 verse they contained, and thus they acquired the 

 honourable appellation of "the golden verses of 



