8 Gleanings from the 



were, eaten at a funeral feaft, and facrificed, ef- 

 pecially black ones, to Pofeidon. The mifguided 

 followers of Odyffeus perifhed through their folly 

 in eating the oxen of the Sungod, in the Ifle of 

 Thrinacia, when the Sungod amufingly threatens 

 Zeus that if the facrilege be not avenged, he will 

 go down to Hades and mine among the dead. 1 



Wild goats feem to have been found on lonely 

 mountains. In the ifle off the land of the Cyclopes 

 were herds of them. They were eaten at feafts. 

 We find them mrinking with fear from a lion. 

 Argus had been ufed to hunt them. The horns of 

 one are mentioned as being fixteen palms in length, 

 which were made into a bow and tipped with gold. 

 Two fpecies of wild goat yet inhabit Europe, the 

 Capra ibex of the Alps, whofe horns will meafure 

 two feet eight inches in length ; and the C. 

 Pyrenaica, of which the horns are only two inches 

 lefs. The goat was facrificed to Apollo in the 

 Homeric poems. A fimile in the " Iliad " repre- 

 fents two lions as fnatching away a goat from 

 fharp-toothed dogs ; they bear it off in their jaws, 

 raifmg it on high from the earth among the 

 thickets. 



The Homeric dogs much refemble modern dogs 

 in their habits. They tear corpfes (like the dogs 

 of Eaftern cities and countries) in conjunction with 

 the fowls of the. air ; and guard fheep and fwine. 

 Eumaeus, the fwine-herd, thus employs four. 

 They hunt lions, boars, ftags, roedeer and hares. 

 A chara.c"teriftic paffage defcribes their behaviour 



. * " Odyflcy," xii. 



