ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN FIELD SPORTS. 
By the Bey. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. 
II.— STAG HUNTING IN THE TIME OF XENOPHON. 
T was on the 20th day of 
the Attic month Elaphe- 
bolion, in the first year of 
the 99th Olympiad,'" that 
Xenophon, so celebrated 
in Grecian history, enter- 
tained a few friends at his 
house in Scillus, a small 
town of Triphyllia, a 
district of Elis, and distant 
about three miles from Olympia. The great 
annual hunt in honour of Artemis was about 
to take place. Reclining at the Symposium, after 
dinner, were to be seen, in one of the banqueting- 
rooms of the house, several individuals, all ardent 
lovers of the chase. There was Xenophon, the host 
now about 60 years of age, a tine handsome man, 
of a modest and prepossessing appearance, t with 
grey hair, and animated countenance, which, 'though 
it did not bespeak great subtil ty of intellect, or 
profound thought, was full of good common sense, 
deep piety, and thorough kindliness of heart. At 
his right hand reclined a distinguished foreigner, 
Anacharsis;}; by name, a Scythian, who had been on 
a visit to Lacedaemon, and was Xenophon’s guest 
for the hunt. Gryllus § and Diodorus, Xenophon’s 
two sons, were there ; the former was about 23 
years old, of strong active frame, and with the 
courage of a lion. His brother was about two 
years his junior, and a fine open-hearted youth, 
though apparently not of such a determined dis- 
position as Gryllus. Two guests from Lacedsemon 
completed the pai’ty. Xenophon did not seem to 
have suffered at all from his Asiatic campaign, about 
twelve years before, nor did his bearing show any 
signs that he took to heart his banishment from his 
native Athens. He had been resident at this de- 
liglitfid spot of Scillus about ten years, at the time 
* In the month of March, b.c. 383. 
f See Biogenes Laertius, in his Life of Xenophon. 
I A descendant, we will suppose, of the celebrated 
traveller of that name, who was brother of the king of 
Thrace, about b.c. 590, and the contemporary of Solon. 
§ Afterwards killed, bravely fighting at the battle of 
Mantinea. 
III. 
of which I am speaking. Devoted to field sports 
and farming, proud of his horses and dogs, he lived 
here a good type of the Greek gentleman. Of course 
lie took interest in politics, and heard with peculiar 
zest what was going on in democratic Athens. The 
great quinquennial Olympic festivals brought him 
into contact with men of his own town, from whom 
he could learn the state of public opinion at Athens 
towards himself. But little was said of politics on 
the present occasion. The pleasures of the chase 
formed the chief topic of conversation at the 
Symposium. The merits of certain horses, and 
the qualities of a good dog, the best places for deer 
and wild boars, and the preparations for the great 
hunt, were all discussed with considerable ani- 
mation. The old general treated his guests with 
anecdotes of hunting he had taken part in, while 
with the army in Asia : he dwelt especially on the 
first-rate sport which was afforded by the chase of 
the wild ass on the plains of Arabia. He spoke of 
its amazing swiftness, and of the excellent quality 
of its flesh — like venison in flavour, but more 
tender — and told them of the amusement the horse- 
men had found in pursuing ostriches, bustards, 
and antelopes, though he had to confess that the 
ostrich — proverbial amongst the Orientals for its 
stupidity — had so far proved too clever for its 
pursuers, who had not succeeded in capturing a 
single specimen. 
“ We must drink after the Scythian fashion, my 
friends, on this occasion,” said the host, raising his 
elbow from the pillow of the couch, and looking 
full at Anacharsis. “ Slave, fill a cyathus of un- 
mixed wine from the crater, and hand it to each 
of the party.” “By Jupiter!” cried one of the 
Lacedasmonians, jestingly, “ our worthy host would 
have us share the fate of Cleottienes !”* * * § * “May 
the gods avert from each of us so dire a calamity,” 
responded Xenophon : “ but we drink to the health 
of Anacharsis.” The Scythian expressed himself 
* Cleomenes I., a King of Sparta, who died raving mad 
by his own hand. Some of his own countrymen attributed 
his death and madness to the habit he had learnt from the 
Scythains of drinking large quantities of strong wine. 
(Herodotus, vi. 84.) 
F 
