Part 22

[Sidenote: Ovid. Met. L. +vii.+ 769.]

Copula detrahitur canibus.

[Sidenote: De Venat. c. +vi.+]

Xenophon particularly enjoins, in his instructions on hare-hunting, that the Spartan hounds should be held in separate collars at the covert-side: ἑκάστην χωρὶς, (each apart) ὅπως ἂν εὔλυτοι ὦσι.

[Sidenote: See the lithograph of Chrysis and Aura.]

The ancient slip or slippe (ab elabendo Vlit. p. 94.) was formed by a leading thong or lyam, passed through the ring of the dog’s collar, the two ends being held in the hand of the slipper, or keeper. When the dog was loosed, the slipper let go one end of the thong, and drew the other with his hand from the eye of the collar, whereby the dog was liberated with the collar on his neck, the lyam remaining in the slipper’s hand. (See Xenophon, Pollux, and Conrad Gesner, on these accoutrements: the latter is copious on the subject in his Hist. Quadrup. “Canis.”) Such a representation of greyhounds coursing, with collars on their necks, we have in Montfaucon, Tom. +iii.+ liv. +iv.+ pl. 176. (Chasse au Lièvre.) Nor are the incumbrances, which envelop the necks of Chrysis and Aura in this beautiful gem, got rid of in the coursing plates of “The Gentleman’s Recreations,”—so few are the improvements in the practical department of the leash, from the days of Arrian till those of Richard Blome. The modern method of slipping a brace of greyhounds, at the same instant of time, from double spring or wedge collars, is of recent introduction; having its origin, probably, at the institution of public coursing meetings.

[Sidenote: Arriani Tactic. 71. Ed. Blancard.]

Οἱ δὲ ἐμπεδούντων τὸ ταχθέν. Obedience to the orders of the ἄρχων or ἀγωνοθέτης, in a coursing field, is an essential point of discipline: indeed, we could not select any more important for the regulation of such an assemblage than the brief and emphatic injunction of our author in his Tactics, “silence and attention to orders”—σίγα καὶ πρόσεχε τῷ παραγγελλομένῳ.

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xxxv.+ fol. 99.]

This method of coursing was practised in England in the days of Edmund De Langley (A. D. 1380). From the instructions which he gives relative to it, it appears that the greyhounds were placed, as amongst the Celts, on the outside of the covert. So also in the beautiful poetry of Scott:

[Sidenote: Marmion. Introduction to Canto +ii.+]

And foresters in greenwood trim Lead in the leash the gazehounds grim, Attentive as the brachet’s bay From the dark covert drove the prey To slip them as he drove away. The startled quarry bounds amain, As fast the gallant greyhounds strain.

[Sidenote: De Canibus et Venatione Libellus.]

“Nos autem vidimus,” says Blondus, “venantes in capiendis leporibus hunc modum servare insidiandi. Divisi ac sparsi venatores per inculta frequentiùs quàm per culta, arte quâdam incedunt laqueis canem leporarium detinentes: spineta et sentes, sive dumeta, saltusve potiùs celebrantes quàm nemora. Nonnunquam etiam præmittunt odorum canem qui è latebris pellat timidum leporem, post quem è laqueis mittunt canem fugacem, altis clamoribus persequentes, qui sunt exhortationes fugacium canum.”

[Sidenote: U. Aldrovand. de Quad. Digit. Vivip. L. +ii.+]

“In montosis locis (agri Bononiensis) ob rubetorum frequentiam, canibus sagacibus ad lepores excitandos utuntur, deinde visis leporibus canes leporarios solvunt,” &c.

The classic poet of Barga, although we look in vain for a description of the hare-course throughout his varied and copious Cynegeticon, has left us the following counterpart in the machinery of the fox-chase with swift-footed hounds:

[Sidenote: P. Angel. Barg. Cyneg. L. +vi.+]

Intereà juvenes quà sunt asperrima campi Dumeta, et spinis clivus consurgit acutis, Obsedêre vias, alii quà mane tepenti Flamine in adversos auras fert Eurus odoras, Veloces tenuere canes: turbamque sagacem Immisêre, premant patulis, quæ naribus hostem Obscenam, et dumis sese occultare parantem, Conantemque animam tristi subducere letho. Quam postquam certo latratu ursere propinquam, Solvuntur canibus curracia vincla Lacænis:

and this is again followed by other chases, wherein the wolf and stag are the greyhound’s quarry.

[Sidenote: Vénerie Normande. c. +vii.+]

See also L’Ecole de la Chasse, (Rouen, 1788,) “Manière de prendre les loups avec les lévriers.”

Ὅπως ἄν τοι προχωρῇ. “Quâcunque ratione fieri potest,” Ind. Græc. Z. “When she is going off,” Blane.

Καὶ εἰσὶν αἱ κύνες αὗται, ὅ τι περ αἱ ἄρκυς Ξενοφῶντι ἐκείνῳ. From some curious Dialogues composed by Elfric, Duke of Mercia, in Latin, Mr. Turner has shown that our ancestors resembled their continental neighbours in these field sports.

[Sidenote: Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons.]

“I am a hunter to one of the kings.—How do you exercise your art? I spread my nets, and set them in a fit place, and instruct my hounds to pursue the wild deer till they come to the nets unexpectedly, and so are entangled, and I slay them in the nets.—Cannot you hunt without nets? Yes, with swift hounds I follow the wild deer.—What wild deer do you chiefly take? Harts, boars, and rein-deer, and goats, and sometimes hares,” &c.

[Sidenote: Apollon. Rhod. L. +iii.+ 13.]

[Sidenote: Journey thro’ Albania, &c. Letter +xvii.+]

Ὑπὸ τῆς κλαγγῆς τῶν κυνῶν, &c. Κυνῶν ἐφόβησεν ὁμοκλή: for a practical exemplification of a course conducted upon the principle of uniting speed and sagacity in the same pack, see Mr. Hobhouse’s description of his sport with his host at Votizza. To “four wire-haired Lacouni” were added “three mongrel pointers, and several curs ... with a large party of men on foot and horseback, making as much noise as possible.” It is scarce necessary to state the poor hare was killed “after a short run.”

[Sidenote: Book of Hunting. p. 246.]

This method of coursing (if it deserve the name) was much in use in France two centuries or more ago. “They use their greyhounds,” says Turberville, “only to set backsets, or receytes for deare, wolfe, fox, or such-like. Whereas we here in England do make great account of such pastime as is to be seen in coursing with greyhounds at deare, hare, foxe, or such-like, even of themselves, when there are neyther hounds hunting, nor other meane to help them.”

[Sidenote: c. +xvii.+ fol 69.]

Edmund De Langley, in his =Mayster of Game=, condemns the union of sagacious and fleet hounds, “spaynels and greihoundes,” in the same field; for “the spaynel wil make al the ryot and al the harme.” The latter’s mode of hunting is beautifully described by Darcius of Venusium:

[Sidenote: Canes.]

Hi si forte levis toto lepus errat in arvo, Pone legent rostro vestigia nota sagaci: Et modò transverso, modò recto jugera sulco Scrutantur, &c.

[Sidenote: Xenophon. de Venatione. c. +v.+ 14.]

Τὰ μὲν οὖν λίαν νεογνὰ οἱ φιλοκυνηγέται ἀφιᾶσι τῇ Θεῷ. But the same mercy was not extended to fawns: see Xenoph. de Venat. c. +ix.+ 1.

Τῇ Θεῷ. Diana ἀγροτέρα, or Venatrix.

[Sidenote: Homer. Iliad. φʹ.]

——πότνια θηρῶν Ἄρτεμις ἀγροτέρη.

[Sidenote: Homer. Hymn. in Dian.]

ἡ κατ’ ὄρη σκιόεντα καὶ ἄκριας ἠνεμόεσσας ἀγρῇ τερπομένη παγχρύσεα τόξα τιταίνει.

So, in the Anacreontic Λιτανεία,

γουνοῦμαι σ’ ἐλαφηβόλε, Ξανθὴ, παὶ Διὸς, ἀγρίων δέσποιν’, Ἄρτεμι, θηρῶν.

[Sidenote: Polluc. Onom. L. +v.+ c. +i.+ 13.]

By Pollux the worshipful goddess is variously called ἀγροτέρα, καὶ κυνηγέτις, καὶ φιλόθηρος, καὶ ὀρεία. For the popular belief respecting her many vocations, see Callimach. H. in Dian. How graphically is she decked out, in all her sylvan trim, by Nemesian, in the following address to her, to aid, with her many sporting associates, the essay of his Cynegetical Muse!

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. 86.]

Tu modo quæ saltus placidos silvasque pererras Latonæ, Phœbe, magnum decus, eja age suetos Sume habitus, arcumque manu: pictamque pharetram Suspende ex humeris: sint aurea tela, sagittæ: Candida puniceis aptentur crura cothurnis: Sit chlamys aurato multum sub tegmine lusa, Corrugesque sinus gemmatis baltheus arctet Nexibus: implicibus cohibe diademate crines. Tecum Naiades faciles, viridique juventâ Pubentes Dryades, Nymphæque, unde amnibus humor, Adsint, et docilis decantet Oreadas Echo. Duc age, Diva, tuum frondosa per avia vatem. Te sequimur: tu pande domos et lustra ferarum.

See Lucian’s Deorum Dialogi, Venus et Cupido, for the pursuits of Diana; and for several elegant representations of her in her sporting attire, see Montfaucon, Tom. +i.+ perrier, tab. 64. goltzii numismata græciæ, &c. tab. +vii.+ f. 1. Insular Medals, Tab. +xvii.+ f. 1. morell. tab. +xv.+ passerii tom. +iii.+ Tab. 88. &c. A few of the most classic gems and medals have been faithfully copied in outline by Mr. Haghe from the antique, and annexed to this work; they are taken from Montfaucon, who had previously borrowed them from La Chausse and Beger.

The translation of Mr. Blane does not extend beyond this Chapter.

Xenophon De Venat. c. +ix.+ recommends Indian dogs for deer-hunting, as they are strong, large, swift-footed, and resolute.

In the ancient field sports of Britain we find the deer, the wolf, and the fox, and even sometimes the wild cat, (of which last the =Mayster of Game= c. +x.+ reports, “he hath the Devyllis spyryt,”) coursed with greyhounds: but at present these diversions are discontinued, and the hare alone deemed worthy of the honourable distinction of competing in speed with the Celtic hound:

[Sidenote: Book of St. Alban’s.]

And where that ye come in playne or in place, I shall you tell whyche ben bestys of enchace: One of theym is the bucke: a nother is the doo: The foxe and the marteron: and the wylde roo.

The coursing of deer was a recreation of high repute, and was divided into two sorts; the paddock, and the forest or purlieu. See Daniel’s Rural Sports. But a better authority, Turberville, in “a short observation set downe by the Translatour, concerning coursing with greyhoundes,” attached to “The Booke of Hunting,” has given us his remarks on coursing deer, and the method of doing it in the olden time with “teasers,” (“to start the deare from the whole heard, or make a low deare strain,”) “side laies,” (“to way-lay him by the midway,”) and “back-sets, or receits,” (to meet him “full in the face—to the end they may the more amase him.”) See Turberville’s Appendix to his translation of Fouilloux, and “The Governour,” B. +i.+ c. 17.

[Sidenote: Hist. Naturelle.]

Μέγα τε γὰρ τὸ θηρίον, &c. “He is of all beasts,” says Gervase Markham, “the goodliest, stateliest, and most manly:” and Buffon, after describing the stag with his wonted eloquence, concludes, “sa grandeur, sa légèreté, sa force le distinguent assez des autres habitans des bois: et comme il est le plus noble d’entre eux, il ne sert aussi qu’aux plaisirs des plus nobles des hommes; il a, dans tous les temps, occupé le loisir des héros.”

[Sidenote: Booke of Hunting. p. 247.]

“A red deare will beare sometimes foure or five brase of greyhounds before they can pull him downe: such wonderfull force he is of, and can so easily shake off a greyhound when he pincheth him.”

[Sidenote: p. 247.]

Ὁ κίνδυνος οὐ σμικρὸς, &c. “He that hath a good hare greyhound, shal do very evill to course a deare with him, for it wil both bruse him and make him lyther: and the course at the hare is much the nobler pastime.”

Oppian denies that deer butt with their horns, and thereby endanger the dogs:

[Sidenote: Cynegeticus +ii.+ 184.]

οὔποτε γὰρ κεφαλῇφιν ἐναντία δηρίσαιντο, οὐ θηρσὶ κρατεροῖς, οὐκ ἀργαλέοισι κύνεσσι:

[Sidenote: De Venat. c. +ix.+]

but Xenophon, a practical authority, affirms it—τοῖς κέρασι παίει καὶ τοῖς ποσίν. The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the stag’s horns, were accounted far more dangerous to a human being than those of the boar’s tusk:

If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier: But barber’s hand shall boar’s hurt heal; thereof have thou no fear.

[Sidenote: Hippolyt. Act. +i.+ 71.]

Ἔνθα τὰ πεδία εὐήλατα. The Homeric scholar will remember the Nomade tribes of this champaign region, on whom Jupiter cast his eyes in looking from Mount Ida towards Thrace. The Mysians were of the number:

[Sidenote: Iliad. νʹ. 3.]

——αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν τρέπεν ὄσσε φαεινὼ, νόσφιν ἐφ’ ἱπποπόλων Θρῃκῶν καθορώμενος αἶαν, Μυσῶν τ’ ἀγχιμάχων, καὶ ἀγαυῶν Ἱππημολγῶν, &c.

[Sidenote: De +iv.+ Consul. Honorii.]

Seneca speaks of the “Vacuisque vagus Sarmata campis,”—Claudian, of the “gens exercita campo,”—and an earlier poet, the exiled Ovid, in one of his mournful elegies, commemorates the Scythian’s skill in horsemanship:

[Sidenote: Tristium L. +iii.+ El. x.]

Protinùs æquato siccis aquilonibus Istro, Invehitur celeri barbarus hostis equo: Hostis equo pollens longèque volante sagittâ Vicinam latè depopulatur humum.

[Sidenote: Hist. of Rome. vol. +iv.+ c. +xxvi.+]

Strabo notices the hunting propensities of the inhabitants of the Scythian and Sarmatian plains (L. +xvii.+); and the eloquent historian of the Decline and Fall enlarges on the vigour and patience both of the men and horses in the continual exercise of the chase. From the way in which these pastoral tribes of the Scythian plains are introduced by Arrian in connexion with the Celtic coursing, we may conclude that they were Celto-Scythians.

[Sidenote: Cyneg. +i.+ 272.]

The highest praise is bestowed by Oppian on Sicilian horses, ὠκύτατοι Σικελοί: but fleeter than these are the Armenians and Parthians; and fleetest of all, the Iberians.

Ὁ δὲ ἐς τοσοῦτον ἄρα ἀντέχει.

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

——non illum unquam genibusve labantem Videris, aut animam fessum vix ore trahentem. Verùm importuno potuit superesse labori Acrior, atque novas currendo acquirere vires, Velocem quandoque fugâ prævertere cervum, Et premere immanes animis optavimus apros.

Ἔξεστιν ἤδη, εἰ μὲν βούλοιο, ἀκοντίσαι ἐγγύθεν ὡς πεπεδημένην.

[Sidenote: Virgil. Georg. L. +iii.+ v. 374.]

Cominùs obtruncant ferro, graviterque rudentes Cædunt, et magno læti clamore reportant.

Xenophon gives a full description of the mode of ensnaring deer in a variety of trap called ποδοστράβη, and adds: ἁλίσκονται δὲ καὶ ἄνευ ποδοστράβης διωκόμεναι, ὅταν ᾖ ἡ ὥρα θερινὴ, ἀπαγορεύουσι γὰρ σφόδρα, ὥστε ἑστῶσαι ἀκοντίζονται.

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +iv.+ 54.]

ξυνὸν ἀκοντίζειν δὲ καὶ ἀντία τοξάζεσθαι θῆρας ἀρειοτέρους.

Βρόχον—a noose-rope. Such ropes were generally used by rude nations in battle as well as the chase. For a clever representation of this mode of catching deer, see the Venationes Ferarum of Stradanus and Galle, and the accompanying quatrain of Kilian Dufflæus.

[Sidenote: De Nat. Anim. L. +ii.+ c. +ii.+]

Ælian mentions these horses in his second book of Animal History: ὤκιστοι μέν εἰσιν ἵππων καμάτου δὲ δή τι αἴσθονται οὐδέν λεπτοὶ δὲ, καὶ οὐκ εὔσαρκοι, ἐπιτήδειοί γε μὴν καὶ φέρειν ὀλιγωρίαν δεσπότου εἰσίν:—and Oppian in his first Cynegetic:

[Sidenote: Cyneg. +i.+ v. 289.]

Μαύρων δ’ αἰόλα φῦλα πολὺ προφέρουσιν ἁπάντων ἀμφὶ δρόμους ταναούς τε, καὶ ἀμφὶ πόνους ἀλεγεινούς καὶ Λίβυες μετὰ τοὺς δολιχὸν δρόμον ἐκτελέουσιν.

[Sidenote: Cyneg. +ii.+ v. 293.]

Ἐλάφους ἢ δορκάδας. I take ἐλάφος to be the red deer, the cervus elaphus of naturalists; and δόρκας the roe deer, cervus capreolus, the chevreuil of France. To these the poet of Anazarbus adds the fallow deer, under the name of εὐρυκέρωτες.

[Sidenote: Cyneg. +ii.+ v. 315.]

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +v.+ fol. 32.]

From hence it would appear that it was no great exploit to take a red or roe deer, in Arrian’s opinion; but the latter was deemed very fleet by the last-cited poet, ὠκυτάτων δόρκων ἀρίδηλα γένεθλα: and his opinion is supported by the high authority of the Mayster of Game, who affirms that “he rennyth wondir fast, and some tyme, at the partyng from his leyre, he shal out goo a brace of good greye houndes.”

The wild ass, or Koulan, is an animal of the greatest speed and beauty. He is elegantly and correctly described by Oppian:

[Sidenote: Cyneget. +iii.+ 183.]

——εὔσφορον, ἠνεμόεντα, κραιπνὸν, ἀελλοπόδην, κρατερώνυχον, αἰπὺν ὄναγρον, ὅστε πέλει φαιδρὸς, δέμας ἄρκιος, εὐρὺς ἰδέσθαι, ἀργύφεος χροιὴν, δολιχούατος, ὀξύτατος θεῖν.

[Sidenote: Epigr. L. +xiii.+ 100.]

See also the Book of Job, c. +xxxix.+ vs. 5. et seqq. plin. hist. nat. l. +viii.+ c. 44. Varro de R. R. L. +ii.+ c. 6. and the veterinarian apsyrtus, geopon. l. +xvi.+ c. 21. Martial records his beauty, “Pulcher adest onager.” Spelman is mistaken in identifying the onager and zebra, and referring to the stuffed specimen of our college for his example of the former under the type of the latter.

Μέγαν βασιλέα. This is the title given by all Greek authors to the king of Persia; and it is preserved to the successors of Mahomet in that of the Grand Seignor. Cyrus was the youngest son of Darius by Parysatis, and brother to Artaxerxes. His father, therefore, and brother, were both called, κατ’ ἐξοχὴν, “the great king.”

Xenophon. Anabas. L. +i.+ 5. 2.

The inhabitants of this part of Arabia are denominated Σκηνίται Ἄραβες by Strabo; a vagabond people, living by depredation. “Nomades, infestioresque Chaldæorum, Scenitæ,” says Pliny, “à tabernaculis cognominati;” afterwards Saracens.

Ἐπὶ γυμνῶν τῶν ἵππων.

[Sidenote: Lucret. L. +iv.+]

Gens quæ nudo residens Massylia dorso Ora levi flectit frænorum nescia virgâ.

The allusions to the tractable and fleet Numidian horse, and his expert rider, are too numerous in the authors of antiquity for citation of more than a few. The barbs, in the language of our great dramatist,

will follow where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o’er the plain.

[Sidenote: Livii L. +v.+ Decad. +iv.+]

In the army of Hannibal, the “equi hominesque paululi, discinctus et inermis eques, equi sine frænis,” are eulogized by the Roman historian: and Strabo notices the docility of the African little steeds to be such ὥς τ’ ἀπὸ ῥαβδίου οἰακίζεσθαι.

Virgil speaks of the “Numidæ infræni,” (Æneid. L. +iv.+ 41.): Silius Italicus of the

velocior Euris Et doctus virgæ sonipes:—L. +iii.+

and again, in the first book of his Punic War:

Hic passim exultant Numidæ gens inscia fræni, Queîs inter geminas per ludum nobilis aures Quadrupedem flectit non cedens virga lupatis.

But the poets of the chase, Oppian and Nemesian, have left us in detail their shape and qualifications:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +iv.+ 45.]

——ὁππότε δ’ αὖτε καὶ μούνοις ἵπποισι κυνῶν ἄτερ ἰθὺς ἐλαύνειν ἵπποισιν κείνοισιν ὅσοι περὶ Μαυρίδα γαῖαν φέρβοντ’, ἢ Λιβύεσσιν, ὅσοι μὴ κάρτεϊ χειρῶν ἄγχονται ψελίοισι βιαζομένοιο χαλινοῦ, πείθονται δὲ λύγοισιν, ὅπη βροτὸς ἡγεμονεύει. τοὔνεκεν ἱππελάται κείνων ἐπιβήτορες ἵππων ἠδὲ κύνας λείπουσι φίλους, πίσυνοι τ’ ἐλόωσιν ἵπποις, ἠελίου τε βολῇ, καὶ νόσφιν ἀρωγῶν.

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. vs. 261.]

Quemque coloratus Mazax deserta per arva Pavit, et assiduos docuit tolerare labores. Nec pigeat quod turpe caput, deformis et alvus Est ollis, quodque infrenes, quod liber uterque, Quodque jubis pronos cervix diverberet armos. Nam flecti facilis, lascivaque colla secutus Paret in obsequium lentæ moderamine virgæ. Verbera sunt præcepta fugæ, sunt verbera freni. Quin et promissi spatiosa per æquora campi Cursibus acquirunt commoto sanguine vires, Paulatimque avidos comites post terga relinquunt.

The same fact is related by Ælian, in his Natural History of Animals, L. +xiv.+ c. 10.; and Beckman (Hist. of Inventions, Vol. +iv.+ p. 292.) observes, on the authority of Vancouver, that the βρόχος, or noose-rope, is still employed by the Hungarians, for the subjugation of wild horses.

See these instruments of predatory hunting described in the early part of the Appendix, and accurately represented in the spirited engravings of the “Venationes Ferarum” of Stradanus and Galle. The metrical skill of A. C. Kilian Dufflæus, the poet of the annexed quatrains, is not commensurate with that of the engraver.

Ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος διαγωνιζόμενοι. Many are the instances recorded in which the agency of the hound of chase was despised by “the light-footed sons of Chiron’s school.” The heroes and heroines of old were all-sufficient for the capture of the fleetest animals of the forest and plain. This was indeed coursing in good earnest, and is well illustrated by the simile of the text. In this way Diana furnished her chariot with deer, her πρωτάγριον, the swiftest beasts of draught—

[Sidenote: Callimach. H. in Dian. vs. 105.]

——πίσυρας δ’ ἕλες ὦκα θέουσα, νόσφι κυνοδρομίης, ἵνα τοι θοὸν ἅρμα φέρωσι.

In this way, the son of Peleus arrested the attention of her sylvan ladyship and the goddess Pallas,

[Sidenote: Lee’s Pindar. Nem. Od. +iii.+]

when, if we credit tales believed of old, His speed subdued the bounding stag, his spoil— By hounds unaided and the treach’rous toil.

[Sidenote: Justin. II. L. +xxxvii.+ c. +ii.+]

[Sidenote: Description of Britaine. Booke Thirde. c. 7.]

Mithridates, in later days, was wont, during his rustication, “feras cursu aut fugare, aut persequi, cum quibusdam etiam viribus congredi.” And in our own annals, “King Henrye the fift,” says Holinshed, “thought it a mere scoffery to pursue any fallow deare wyth hounds or greyhounds, but supposed hym selfe alwayes to have done a sufficient acte, when he had tired them by his own travaile on foote, and so kylled them wyth hys handes, in the upshot of that exercise and ende of hys recreation.”

Περὶ Ἀρτεμίσιον.

[Sidenote: Pindar. Fragm. +xl.+ p. 75. edit. Heyne.]

ὅθι παῖδες Ἀθηναί- ων ἐβάλοντο φαεννὰν κρηπῖδ’ ἐλευθερίας.

Plato (λόγος ἐπιτάφιος) gives the first and principal honours (ἀριστεῖα) to the victors of Marathon—τὰ δὲ δευτερεῖα, τοῖς περὶ Σαλαμῖνα καὶ ἐπ’ Ἀρτεμισίῳ ναυμαχήσασι καὶ νικήσασι. Artemisium was a northern promontory of the island of Eubœa; Psyttalia, a small, rocky, and barren isle, off the coast of Attica, and near to Salamis; Cyprus, an island of the Mediterranean Sea. The naval victories of Themistocles and Cimon are too well known to need any detail.