(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 individuals." 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 the eyes pronounced; (3) ears long (4) and thin, without hair on the under side; neck long and flexible, freely moving on its pivot; (5) chest broad and fairly fleshy; shoulder-blades detached a little from the shoulders; (6) the shin-bones of the fore-legs should be small, straight, round, stout and strong; the elbows straight; ribs (7) not deep all along, but sloped away obliquely; the loins muscular, in size a mean between long and short, neither too flexible nor too stiff; (8) flanks, a mean between large and small; the hips (or "couples") rounded, fleshy behind, not tied together above, but firmly knitted on the inside; (9) the lower or under part of the belly (10) slack, and the belly itself the same, that is, hollow and sunken; tail long, straight, and pointed; (11) thighs (i.e. hams) stout and compact; shanks (i.e. lower thighs) long, round, and solid; hind-legs much longer than the fore-legs, and relatively lean; feet round and cat-like. (12)
(1) Pollux, v. 7; Arrian, "Cyn." iv.
(2) {meteora}, prominent.?See Sturz, s.v.
(3) {tas diakriseis batheias}, lit. "with a deep frontal sinus."
(4) Reading {makra}, or if {mikra}, "small."
(5) Al. "well rounded."
(6) "Shoulder blades standing out a little from the shoulders"; i.e.
"free."
(7) i.e. "not wholly given up to depth, but well curved"; depth is not
everything unless the ribs be also curved. Schneid. cf. Ov. "Met."
iii. 216, "et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon," where the
poet is perhaps describing a greyhound, "chyned like a bream." See
Stonehenge, pp. 21, 22. Xenophon's "Castorians" were more like the
Welsh harrier in build, I presume.
(8) Or, "neither soft and spongy nor unyielding." See Stoneh., p. 23.
(9) "Drawn up underneath it," lit. "tucked up."
(10) Al. "flank," "flanks themselves."
(11) Or, as we should say, "stern." See Pollux, v. 59; Arrian, v. 9.
(12) See Stonehenge, p. 24 foll.