Part 10

The Cilician gives a decided preference to those canine tribes which are specifically pure in their breed—φῦλα μονόφυλα—and enumerates, without any attempt at classification, all the tribes known to him, under their geographical appellations:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +i.+ 367.]

Παίονες, Αὐσόνιοι, Κᾶρες, Θρήϊκες, Ἴβηρες, Ἀρκάδες, Ἀργεῖοι, Λακεδαιμόνιοι, Τεγεῆται, Σαυρομάται, Κελτοὶ, Κρῆτες, Μάγνητες, Ἐπειοὶ, ὅσσοι τ’ Αἰγύπτοιο πολυψαμάθοισιν ἐπ’ ὄχθαις βουκολίων οὖροι, Λοκροὶ, χαροποί τε Μολοσσοί.

[Sidenote: Hist. Animal L. +ix.+ c. +i.+]

But if the kennel-master acted on the principles laid down by this poet, and his Latin predecessor, Gratius, and crossed his pack with irreconcilable varieties out of different families, belonging to different countries, (and that he did so we have evidence in the irregular and ill-disciplined muster-roll of Ovid,) although the names on Oppian’s file might remain, the animals must have been so changed by the “superinduction of opposite qualities,” that a genuine breed of any one variety must have been most rare. To this general amalgamation of heterogeneous forms and qualities in the canine race, must be attributed the custom of applying the terms Molossian and Spartan to the Canes bellicosi and Canes sagaces respectively, gregatim—the dogs of Epirus and Sparta being held the best of their several classes. And, for the same reason, a true Molossian or Spartan of pure blood must have fallen to the lot of few of Dian’s worshippers. Aristotle speaks with praise of the Spartan and Molossian cross, but awards the highest price in the Spartan kennel to the purest blood: and Themistius, in his first oration, states it as an acknowledged rule in breeding, that the kennel be supplied from bitches of the purest and most unadulterated blood.

Even after the introduction of the Vertragus, and the commixture of his breed with the older varieties of sporting dogs—

[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi L. +v.+]

et unà Præcipites pedibus catulos habuêre sagaces,—

the names derived from Sparta and Molosse were still kept up, and prostituted in many instances on most degenerate brutes.

[Sidenote: Spelmanni Glossar. p. 113.]

With regard to the original geographical distribution of the three varieties of bellicosi, sagaces, and celeres, and of their respective chases, the most prevalent opinion of continental writers, who have devoted their attention to the Cynegetica of Greece and Rome, is that the last mentioned originally came from Gaul, the sagacious from Greece, and the bellicose from Asia. War-dogs of pure blood are nearly extinct in the British islands, and are becoming more rare on the continent of Europe; being much crossed with the sagacious and swift-footed tribes. Vlitius, himself a Dutchman, naturally espouses the Belgic origin of the Belgic, or, more correctly speaking, the Celtic dog. Spelman, on the contrary, claims him for the honour of Britain; and, in addition, we have always deemed some sorts of bellicosi and sagaces indigenous of this country. Mr. Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, gives to the ancient Britons the old English hound, or talbot, as the parent stock of the celebrated sagacious hounds of our island: and it is found, by experience, that this dog degenerates in every other part of the world—a strong presumptive proof of his being indigenous of Britain. The earliest record of the greyhound allots him to Gallia; and we have no hesitation in considering him of Celtic origin, notwithstanding the offensive disclaimer of Savary of Caen—

[Sidenote: Venationis Cervinæ Leges. L. +i.+]

Gallos non hæc infamia tangit.

No exclusive national claim can be made for the pugnacious tribe, almost every nation of antiquity having had its particular variety; of which none surpassed the Britannus and Molossus, natives of regions remote from each other, unconnected, probably, in their lineage, and united alone in untameable ferocity of character.

[Sidenote: Certaine Illustrations of the Cynegeticall Poem, &c. p. 34.]

The translator of Gratius, after enumerating the various sorts of the British hound, greyhound, and mastiff, (which he calls “indigena, or native of England,”) observes:—“all these dogs have deserved to be famous in adjacent and remote countries, whither they are sent for great rarities, and ambitiously sought for by their lords and princes, although only the fighting dogs seem to have been known to the antient authors: and perhaps in that age hunting was not so much cultivated by our own countrymen.”

CANES VENATICI. +Class I.+

CANES BELLICOSI +or+ PUGNACES.

[Sidenote: Gratii Halieut. vs. 98.]

Quibus est audacia præceps.

The type of this class is given by Gratius in the following lines, which must be taken as a general description, requiring some latitude in its application to individuals:

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 269.]

Sint celsi vultus, sint hirtæ frontibus aures, Os magnum, et patulis agitatos morsibus ignes Spirent, adstricti succingant ilia ventres, Cauda brevis, longumque latus, discretaque collo Cæsaries, non pexa nimis, non frigoris illa Impatiens: validis tum surgat pectus ab armis, Quod magnos capiat motus, magnisque supersit. Effuge, qui latâ pandit vestigia planlâ, Mollis in officio, siccis ego dura lacertis Crura velim, et solidos hæc in certamina calces.

By its side we may place its counterpart in Greek;—for, notwithstanding the Oppianic sketch has been appropriated by Bodinus to the Albanese, it certainly may be viewed in a broader light, as a picture in outline of the whole pugnacious family, without reference to individuals:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +i.+ 413.]

θοῦροι δ’ αὖθ’ ἕτεροι, τοῖσιν μενεδήϊος ἀλκὴ, ὅσσοι καὶ ταύροισιν ἐπέχραον ἠϋγενείοις, καὶ σύας ὑβριστῆρας ἐπαΐξαντες ὄλεσσαν ὅσσοι μηδὲ λέοντας ἑοὺς τρείουσιν ἄνακτας, ζατρεφέες, πρώνεσσιν ἐοικότες ἀκρολόφοισι. σιμότεροι μὲν ἔασι προσώπατα, δεινὰ δ’ ὕπερθε νεύει ἐπισκυνίοισι μεσόφρυα, καὶ πυρόεντες ὀφθαλμοὶ χαροπῇσιν ὑποστίλβοντες ὀπωπαῖς ῥινὸς ἅπας λάσιος, κρατερὸν δέμας, εὐρέα νῶτα κραιπνοὶ δ’ οὐ τελέθουσιν, ἀτὰρ μένος ἔνδοθι πολλὸν καὶ σθένος ἄφραστον, κραδίη καὶ θυμὸς ἀναιδής.

The introduction of a third, more recent portrait, will be justified by the chaste Latinity of Peter Angelio, and the faithful accuracy of his pen:

[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]

Ille tibi ingentes tauros aggressus, et ursos Sistat, et imposito fugientes vulnere tardet: Cui summæ pendent aures, cui laxa supernè Labra fluant, cui vultus atrox, cui maxima cervix, Obtusumque caput, pressumque ante omnia rostrum: Præterea magnique pedes, unguesque recurvi: Molle solum, sublime femen, suppressior alvus: Ipsaque rectorum longa internodia crurum: Spina duplex, pingues lumbi, color helvus, honestum Pectus: et è patulis efflet qui naribus ignem, Latratu quoties sylvas implevit, et amplo Pectore conceptas subitus decurrit ad iras. Tum verò splendent oculi, collumque tumescit, Et caudam crebrò villosa in terga retorquet.

The quarry of these savage hounds consisted of animals more ferocious than their assailants—such as

[Sidenote: Gratii Halieut. vs. 73.]

Trahit in præceps non sana ferocia mentis.

Following the order of the poetical manual, to which we are indebted for our first-cited outline of the race, the Mede and Celt arrest our earliest attention, followed by the Ser, Lycaonian, Hyrcanian, Briton, Molossian, and others:

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 155.]

——magna indocilis dat prælia Medus, Magnaque diversos extollit gloria Celtas.

The Persian appears to have been a connecting link between the pugnacious and sagacious classes, though his neighbours of Media and Hyrcania were a purely savage breed. The Persian was a mongrel variety—

[Sidenote: Ejusd. vs. 158.]

Perses in utroque paratus.

[Sidenote: De Naturâ Animal. L. +iii.+ c. +ii.+]

The character of the “indocilis Medus” we may infer from Ælian’s description, already cited, of the men and horses of the country—which at the conclusion he also extends to the dogs—ταῦτά τοι καὶ περὶ τῶν κυνῶν ἔπεισι νοεῖν μοι. The latter were fierce, impetuous, and of great size.

There is evidently no connexion between the Celtæ of Gratius and κύνες Κελτικαὶ of Arrian, though deriving their name from the same source, and seemingly of the same country. The former were originally perhaps the only varieties of the canine species inmates of the kennels of Gaul,

[Sidenote: Savary Venat. Cervin. Leges. L. +i.+]

Gallia cùm pridem coleret devota Dianam,

the sagacious and swift-footed hounds being subsequently admitted therein;—but not until the older mode of hunting ferocious animals with savage dogs had fallen into disrepute, from the superior attraction of the improved style; or into disuse, from the gradual extirpation of beasts of prey. As the latter disappeared, or were driven into remote fastnesses, we may suppose the more timid and fugacious creatures supplied their place; and, multiplying in the ratio of the others’ diminution, afforded abundant quarry to the Vertragus, and the archetype of the chien courant of modern France.

How beautifully are the more innoxious sports of sylvan life, and superior claims of the hare and deer hunt, touched by Ovid in the fable of Venus and Adonis. The goddess of love turns huntress:

[Sidenote: Ovid. Metam. L. +x.+ 537.]

Per juga, per sylvas, dumosaque saxa vagatur Nuda genu, vestem ritu succincta Dianæ: Hortaturque canes; tutæque animalia prædæ, Aut pronos lepores, aut celsum in cornua cervum, Aut agitat damas; à fortibus abstinet apris. Raptoresque lupos, armatosque unguibus ursos Vitat, et armenti saturatos cæde leones. Te quoque, ut hos timeas (si quid prodesse monendo Possit) Adoni, monet. ‘Fortisque fugacibus esto,’ Inquit; ‘in audaces non est audacia tuta. Parce meo, juvenis, temerarius esse perîclo. Neve feras, quibus arma dedit natura, lacesse; Stet mihi ne magno tua gloria. Non movet ætas, Nec facies, nec quæ Venerem movêre, leones Setigerosque sues, oculosque animosque ferarum. Fulmen habent acres in aduncis dentibus apri; Impetus est fulvis et vasta leonibus ira.’

No wonder that the Celtic people by degrees discontinued the warlike chase, fraught with innumerable perils, and substituted the harmless pursuit of fugacious quarry, with keen-scented and swift-footed hounds, according to the injunctions of the meretricious queen to her disobedient “sweete boy;”

[Sidenote: Sir A. Golding Ovid’s Metam. B. 10.]

Pursuing game of hurtlesse sort, as hares made lowe before, Or stagges with lofty heades, or buckes;—

which, in the days of Arrian, constituted their principal field sport.

[Sidenote: Strabo L. +iv.+ p. 138.]

[Sidenote: L. +viii.+ c. 40. ex Vlitii Emend.]

Julius Pollux, in his Onomasticon, mentions the Celtic war-dogs, and Oppian also includes Κελτοὶ in the muster-roll of his first cynegetic. It is probable that they were a-kin to those of ancient Britain; for we are told by Strabo, who lived soon after Gratius, that the exports from this island to Gaul consisted of δέρματα, καὶ ἀνδράποδα, καὶ κύνες εὐφυεῖς πρὸς τὰς κυνηγεσίας. Κελτοὶ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πολέμους χρῶνται, καὶ τούτοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις. Whence it appears that the Celts had native Canes Venatici which they employed in war, as well as those imported from Britain. In this adaptation of canine ferocity the Celtæ were not peculiar; but as dogs, thus applied, can scarce be considered in their sporting character, it is unnecessary to multiply citations. Let the few instances hereafter adduced suffice on this head. Whether these Celtic dogs are the Gallic hybrids of the natural historian I cannot say: “hoc idem,” says Pliny, “è lupis Galli, quorum greges suum quisque ductorem è canibus et Lyciscam habent. Illum in venatu comitantur, illi parent. Namque inter se exercent etiam magisteria.” There were whole packs of these dogs in every chase or forest, “that had for their leader some particular demi-wolf, which the rest accompanied in hunting, obeyed, and were directed by; keeping an order among themselves of government and mastership.”

Gratius mentions, in the next place, the Ser, the Lycaonian or Arcadian, the Hyrcanian, and the union of the latter with the tiger.

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 159.]

Sunt qui Seras alant, genus intractabilis iræ; At contrà faciles, magnique Lycaones armis.

The Seræ were a nation of Æthiopia near the origin of the Nile, and also of India between the Indus and Hydaspes: but “the famous Seræ were a people of Asia, the farthest to the east beyond China towards Scythia without Imaus,” according to Wase’s geography of Gratius. As the poet does not record the fame of the Canes Indici under their usual denomination, we may consider the Seric dog as the redoubted Indian—“genus intractabilis iræ.”

[Sidenote: Xenophon, de Venat. c. +ix.+]

[Sidenote: Ælian. de Natur. Animal. L. +viii.+ c. 1.]

[Sidenote: Ovid. Metam. L. +iii.+ 140.]

[Sidenote: Polluc. Onom. L. +v.+ c. +v.+ 39.]

[Sidenote: Ælian. de Nat. Animal. L. +iv.+ c. 19.]

[Sidenote: Plutarch. p. 1787. Ed. Steph.]

[Sidenote: Brodæi Annot. in Oppian. p. 43.]

The Indian dog is noticed by Herodotus, Aristotle, Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, Pollux, Ælian, Athenaeus, Themistius, and Phile, among the Greeks; and by Pliny, Solinus, and Quintus Curtius, among the Latins. The size, strength, speed, and courage of this dog induced Xenophon to recommend him for boar and deer hunting—εἰσὶ γὰρ ἰσχυραὶ, μεγάλαι, ποδώκεις, οὐκ ἄψυχοι, says this experienced sportsman; and Ælian adds to his good qualities keenness of sight or scent in tracking—εὐγενεῖς καὶ ἴχνη καταγνῶναι θηρίων ἀγαθαὶ, κ. τ. λ. J. Pollux, on the authority of Nicander, derives the Canes Indici from Actæon’s pack; who, when they had recovered from their madness, “satiatæ sanguine herili,” passed the Euphrates, and wandered into India. He particularly distinguishes them from the Hyrcanian, with which they have been by some historians confounded. Both the last-mentioned authors, and also Plutarch, would have us believe that the lion was the only antagonist with whom this courageous dog would willingly contend:—τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ζώων ὑπερφρονοῦντα πάντων, says Plutarch; and Ælian affirms his victory over the lion; but Themistius adds the pard to his chosen antagonists, to the exclusion of inferior combatants, as wolves and foxes. Fable however and history are so closely blended in the records of canine biography, that we are compelled occasionally to doubt. And did we not relieve ourselves by incredulity, the marvellous tale of patient courage narrated by Ælian, as manifested by this fierce animal, would make us shudder at the bare recital. It is found in detail in the first chapter of his eighth book de Naturâ Animalium, and succinctly copied by Pollux in the fifth chapter of the fifth book of his Onomasticon.

[Sidenote: Ælian. de Nat. Animal. L. +viii.+ c. 1.]

The cruel experiment, transmitted to us by Dr. Goldsmith, as having been practised on the British Molossus, is quite eclipsed by this more barbarous exhibition of the innate fortitude of the dog of India. For in the latter case, the commencement of the inhuman test of patient courage was the amputation of the tail, and the conclusion decollation. The legs of the poor brute were successively cut off, one by one, without his quitting his hold of the lion, his chosen antagonist:—and when at last the neck was severed from the body, the teeth still adhered with the trunkless, but still mordacious head, (credat Judæus,) suspended to the wound. But let the credulous story-teller speak for himself:—καὶ τελευτῶντες τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα ἀφεῖλον ὀδόντες δὲ ἐκείνῃ ἤρτηντο τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀντιλαβῆς, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἠωρεῖτο μετέωρος ἐκ τοῦ λέοντος, αὐτοῦ μέντοι τοῦ δακόντος ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ ἔτι ὄντος. The dog like the British bull-dog was memorable for never quitting his hold—a feature in his ferocious character remarked by Phile in his iambic versification of Ælian’s marvellous tale.

[Sidenote: De Animal. Proprietate. De cane Indico. p. 148.]

παντὸς κυνὸς μέγιστος, Ἰνδὸς πᾶς κύων. ὃς οὐδὲ τὸν λέοντα παρόντα τρέμει, ἀνθίσταται δὲ, καὶ σφριγᾷ πρὸς τὴν μάχην, καὶ τοῖς βρυχηθμοῖς ἀνθυλακτεῖ συντόμως, ἐγκείμενον δὲ καρτερεῖ τὸν αὐθάδη. καὶ δάκνεται μὲν, ἀντιδάκνει δὲ πλέον. τέλος δὲ τοῦ τένοντος αὐτὸν ἁρπάσας, ῥίπτει κατὰ γῆς, καὶ σπαράττει, καὶ θλίβει. κἄν τις ἐπελθὼν ἀποκόψῃ τὸ σκέλος τῷ τὸν μέγαν ἄγχοντι, καὶ πρὶν γεννάδαν, μόλις ὁ νεκρὸς ὑπανήσει τὸ στόμα.

[Sidenote: Venationes Ferarum, &c. pl. +iv.+]

In the scarce plates of Stradan, engraven by Galle, there is a picture of the Canis Indicus, as I conceive, fighting with the elephant and lion. The annexed quatrain, by Kilian Dufflæus, sufficiently explains it, but is not worthy of citation. The following poetical portrait, however, by a far better scholar, will be read with pleasure, whether viewed as delineating the Indian, or his congener, the Albanian:

[Sidenote: Hercul. Strozæ Caesar. Borgiæ Ducis Epiced.]

—si aliqua è sylvis sese fera nobilis altis Offeret, et campo bellum committit aperto, (Degeneris neque enim lætatur sanguine prædæ) Vim canis egregiam, atque acres mirabere pugnas. Vidimus assuetos inter deserta ferarum Nequicquam immanes irasci in cornua tauros. Sternere ludus apros, nec totam excandet in iram, Si rigidis pugnent informes unguibus ursi. Gaudet atrox magni fremitum si fortè leonis Audiat, et celeri rapitur per devia cursu, Ac formidando metuendus obambulat hosti, Villosæ donec cervici adnisus inhæret, Sanguineâque feram morientem extendit arenâ. Acriùs exultans vastos in prælia barros Provocat, et tantam (dictu mirabile) molem Sternit; at ingentem procumbens ille ruinam Per dumosa trahit, garritu tesqua sonoro Dissultant, gliscitque gravis venantibus horror.

Bodin supposes Oppian to allude to the Canis Indicus in his 1st Cynegetic, vs. 413.; but as the poet does not mention any name, and particularly specifies a want of speed in the dogs he describes, I should rather refer his sketch to the Molossian or true Epirote, (if it must have a particular application,) than to the Indian or Albanian. I have no doubt, however, that it is, as already stated, a general description of the pugnacious type, and therefore includes both Indian and Molossian.

[Sidenote: Hist. Natur. L. +viii.+ c. +xl.+]

[Sidenote: Strabo L. +xv.+]

[Sidenote: C. J. Solini Polyhistor. c. +xv.+]

[Sidenote: Vide Bodini Comment. in Oppian. p. 63.]

[Sidenote: Strabo L. +xi.+]

Many of the anecdotes of the Indian dog are promiscuously told of the Albanian, Iberian, and Hyrcanian; and it certainly is difficult to point out any distinctive characters between them. Of the latter I shall presently speak, in the rotation in which he is recorded by Gratius. The Albanian and Iberian are undoubtedly consimilars, strongly impregnated with the Molossian cast—natives of the Asiatic district indifferently called Iberia and Albania. They are celebrated by modern travellers as much as by classic historical and cynegetical writers. Pliny does not name the country of the dog “inusitatæ magnitudinis” given to Alexander by a king of Albania; though it would be a fair conclusion that the dog was of the same country as the king. Yet Strabo, notwithstanding he commemorates the prowess of the Albanian race of dogs, particularly notes that those presented to the king of Macedonia were Indian; and he is supported by Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, and Julius Pollux, differing somewhat in the historical detail. Solinus, for the most part a copyist of Pliny and Strabo, is, on this occasion, it may be, mistaken in assigning to them an Albanian origin. Speaking of the Albanese, he says: “Apud hos populos nati canes feris anteponuntur, frangunt tauros, leones premunt, detinent quid-quid objectum: quibus ex causis meruerunt etiam annalibus tradi. Legimus petenti Indiam Alexandro, à rege Albaniæ dono duos missos,” &c.—and again, “Hoc genus canes crescunt ad formam amplissimam, terrificis latratibus ultra rugitus insonantes.” May we not reconcile these statements by considering the Albanese dogs of the Latin historians—Pliny, Solinus, and Curtius—the Indians of the Greek authors—Strabo, Plutarch, Diodorus, Ælian, and Pollux—and the Albania of the former, the India of the latter? The inhabitants of Albania and India were both excessively addicted to hunting—θηρευτικοί τε καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ κύνες αὐτῶν εἰς ὑπερβολήν.

The Iberian dog is mentioned by Julius Pollux, Oppian, and Nemesian—the latter poet merely saying the breed is not to be despised by sportsmen;

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. vs. 126.]

Nec tibi Pannonicæ stirpis temnatur origo, Nec quorum proles de sanguine manat Ibero;

and the former recommending it to be crossed with Sarmatian blood,

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +i.+ 397.]

Σαρματικόν τε πόσιν φορέοις πρὸς Ἰβηρίδα νύμφην.

Darcius records the strength, courage, and velocity of the Albanian breed;

[Sidenote: Darcii Venusini Canes.]

Adde etiam Albanos, qui quantum viribus apris Occursare valent, fulvosque æquare leones, Et vasto indomitos certamine frangere tauros, Aligeras tantum cursu prævertere damas;

[Sidenote: Brodæi Annotationes in Oppian.]

[Sidenote: Jones’s Oppian’s Halieutics.]

and two lines below mentions the dogs, “quos dives Iberia pascit,” as if distinct from the Albanese—which, if Asiatic, they certainly resembled. It is, however, possible, that Darcius may allude to European Iberia, or Spain. Indeed, the geographical appropriation of Oppian’s Iberian dogs is doubtful in the opinion of commentators. Brodæus assigns the Iberian horse of Oppian (Cyn. +i.+ vs. 284.) to Asia; but the people mentioned by the poet under the same name, in connexion with the Celts, in the episode at the conclusion of his second Halieutic, are evidently inhabitants of Western Europe. And again—his description of the tunnies “rushing from th’ Atlantic deep,” into the Mediterranean, and of their subsequent capture along its shores, places the Iberians a second time in the West:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Halieut. L. +iii.+ 623.]

τούσδ’ ἤτοι πρῶτον μὲν Ἰβηρίδος ἔνδοθεν ἄλμης ἀνέρες ἀγρώσσουσι βίῃ κομόωντες Ἴβηρες. δεύτερα δὲ Ῥοδανοῖο παρὰ στόμα θηρητῆρες Κελτοὶ, κ. τ. λ.

however, whether Asiatic or European, it is sufficient for our classification that the dogs were of the pugnacious class.

The modern representative of the classical Albanese occupies a more extensive district than his ferocious prototype, who was confined to the region between Colchos and Armenia; whereas his descendant is found in Macedonia, Illyria, Chaonia, and Epirus.

Of the classical Albanian, in his character of a dog of war, Valerius Flaccus has left us the following very animated description: