The Sportsman | Page 8

cast forwards to make short cuts," of skirters too lazy to
run the line honestly.

[19] Reading {tremousi}, "fall a-trembling"; al. {atremousi}, stand
stock-still"; i.e. are "dwellers."
A particular sort may be described as hounds which, when hunting or
pursuing, run forward with a frequent eye to the discoveries of the rest
of the pack, because they have no confidence in themselves. Another
sort is over-confident--not letting the cleverer members of the pack go
on ahead, but keeping them back with nonsensical clamour. Others will
wilfully hug every false scent,[20] and with a tremendous display of
eagerness, whatever they chance upon, will take the lead, conscious all
the while they are playing false;[21] whilst another sort again will
behave in a precisely similar style out of sheer ignorance.[22] It is a
poor sort of hound which will not leave a stale line[23] for want of
recognising the true trail. So, too, a hound that cannot distinguish the
trail leading to a hare's form, and scampers over that of a running hare,
hot haste, is no thoroughbred.[24]
[20] Al. "seem to take pleasure in fondling every lie."
[21] Or, "fully aware themselves that the whole thing is a make-
believe."
[22] Or, "do exactly the same thing because they do not know any
better."
[23] {ek ton trimmon}. Lit. "keep away from beaten paths," and
commonly of footpaths, but here apparently of the hare's habitual "run,"
not necessarily lately traversed, still less the true line.
[24] Lit. "A dog who on the one hand ignores the form track, and on
the other tears swiftly over a running track, is not a well-bred dog." Al.
{ta eunaia}, "traces of the form"; {ta dromaia}, "tracks of a running
hare." See Sturz. s.v. {dromaios}.
When it comes to the actual chase, some hounds will show great ardour
at first starting, but presently give up from weakness of spirit. Others
will run in too hastily[25] and then balk; and go hopelessly astray, as if
they had lost the sense of hearing altogether.
[25] So L. & S., {upotheousin} = "cut in before" the rest of the pack
and over-run the scent. Al. "flash in for a time, and then lose the scent."
Many a hound will give up the chase and return from mere distaste for
hunting,[26] and not a few from pure affection for mankind. Others
with their clamorous yelping on the line do their best to deceive, as if
true and false were all one to them.[27] There are others that will not do

that, but which in the middle of their running,[28] should they catch the
echo of a sound from some other quarter, will leave their own business
and incontinently tear off towards it.[29] The fact is,[30] they run on
without clear motive, some of them; others taking too much for granted;
and a third set to suit their whims and fancies. Others simply play at
hunting; or from pure jealousy, keep questing about beside the line,
continually rushing along and tumbling over one another.[31]
[26] Or, {misotheron}, "out of antipathy to the quarry." For
{philanthropon} cf. Pollux, ib. 64; Hermog. ap. L. Dind.
[27] Or, "unable apparently to distinguish false from true." See Sturz,
s.v. {poieisthai}. Cf. Plut. "de Exil." 6. Al. "Gaily substituting false for
true."
[28] "In the heat of the chase."
[29] "Rush to attack it."
[30] The fact is, there are as many different modes of following up the
chase almost as there are dogs. Some follow up the chase {asaphos},
indistinctly; some {polu upolambanousai}, with a good deal of
guess-work; others again {doxazousai}, without conviction, insincerely;
others, {peplasmenos}, out of mere pretence, pure humbug,
make-believe, or {phthoneros}, in a fit of jealousy, {ekkunousi}, are
skirters; al. {ekkinousi}, Sturz, quit the scent.
[31] Al. "unceasingly tearing along, around, and about it."
The majority of these defects are due to natural disposition, though
some must be assigned no doubt to want of scientific training. In either
case such hounds are useless, and may well deter the keenest sportsman
from the hunting field.[32]
[32] Or, "Naturally, dogs like these damp the sportsman's ardour, and
indeed are enough to sicken him altogether with the chase."
The characters, bodily and other, exhibited by the finer specimens of
the same breed,[33] I will now set forth.
[33] Or, "The features, points, qualities, whether physical or other,
which characterise the better indidivuals." But what does Xenophon
mean by {tou autou genous}?

IV
In the first place, this true type of hound should be of large build; and,
in the next place, furnished with a light small head, broad and flat in the

snout,[1] well knit and sinewy, the lower part of the forehead puckered
into strong wrinkles; eyes set well up[2] in the head, black and bright;
forehead large and broad; the depression between