1 48 Gleanings from the 



thick lair was a great boar lying, and through 

 the coppice the force of the wet winds blew never, 

 neither did the bright fun light on it with his rays, 

 nor could the rain pierce through, fo thick it was, 

 and of fallen leaves there was great plenty therein. 

 Then the noife of the men's feet, and of the dogs 

 came upon the boar, as they preffed on in their hunt- 

 ing, and forth from his lair he fprang towards them, 

 with his back well briftled and fire mining in his 

 eyes, and flood at bay before them all. Then 

 Odyfieus was the firft to rum in, holding his fpear 

 aloft in his ftrong hand, moft keen to fmite ; but 

 the boar was too quick for him, and flruck him 

 above the knee, ripping through much flefh as he 

 charged fideways, but he reached not to the bone 

 of the man. But Odyffeus fmote at his right 

 moulder and hit it, fo that the point of the bright 

 fpear went clean through, and the boar fell in the 

 duft with a cry, and his life pafTed from him." 1 

 This is exactly the place where the "pigfticker" 

 on the plains of India ftill endeavours to transfix 

 a wild boar, another proof that the lines may 

 have been infpired by fome perfonal adventure of 

 Homer. The woes of the hunter, "as he ranges 

 over the peaks of the mountains," are feelingly 

 dwelt upon by Homer, 2 recalling Horace's " venator 

 fub Jove frigido." 



A common mode of hunting- large animals was 

 by enclosing them with a ring of men and dogs, 

 through which it was difficult to break. " As a 



1 "Odyfley," xix. 431-454 (Butcher and Lang). 



2 Ibid., ix. 121. 



