216 FOREST CREATURES. 



" The men and dogs standing in a crowd at a distance 

 from the lion and crying out incessantly and loud with- 

 out daring to approach, pallid horror did so possess 

 them " (book xvii.) ; or a little further on when a lion 

 appears near the fold, and all around, men and dogs, 

 scare him away with lances and shoutings ; all this is 

 the very same as what G-erard relates of the Arabs and 

 of their lion hunts at the present day. 



How exactly too in accordance with G-erard's accounts 

 of the infancy of the lion, and of his parental education, 

 are the words of Homer : " He leads his weaklings about 

 like a father. ^^ 



In book XX. the account of the hunt is as if Homer 

 had copied his description from Gerard : and had the 

 two men been contemporaries, there is no doubt but that 

 the reviewers would have reproached the Grreek with 

 being a plagiarist. " Achilles advanced as a lion ap- 

 proaches, full of rage, when a number of men who have 

 collected — a whole tribe — come on, burning to slay 

 him : proudly and disdainfully he at first steps along * ; 

 but as soon as a bold youth has struck him with a jave- 

 lin, yawning he crouches to spring f ; and from his jaws 

 foam drops, and his great heart groans inwardly. With 



■^ "II arrive qiielquefois qu'il entend les pas des chasseurs ou une 

 pierre qui a roule, et alors il se leve et marche dans la direction du 

 bruit," 



t "Le lion est rase a la maniere du chat, afin de mieux bondir et 

 d'offrir moins de prise aux balles." 



