On Hunting

As for Meleager, the honours that he won are manifest; and it was not by his own fault that he came to sorrow when his father in old age forgot the goddess.[*](i.e., when his father Oeneus forgot Artemis,—a lapse which led ultimately to the death of Meleager.) Theseus single-handed slew the enemies of all Greece; and because he enlarged greatly the borders of his country he is admired to this day.

Hippolytus was honoured by Artemis and held converse with her; and for his prudence and holiness he was counted happy when he died. Palamedes far outstripped the men of his generation in wisdom while he lived; and being unjustly slain he won from the gods such vengeance as fell to the lot of no other mortal. But his end was not compassed by those[*](Odysseus and Diomedes, who, according to one account, drowned Palamedes when he was fishing. The reference here may be to this version. In Memorabilia 4.2.4 X. follows the commoner version that Odysseus got P. put to death by a false charge of treachery; and in the Odyssey attributed to the rhetorician Alcidamus, Diomedes and Sthenelus are associated with Odysseus in bringing this charge. In revenge for his death his father Nauplius caused the shipwreck of the Greek fleet off the south of Euboea.) whom some imagine, else could not the one of them have been well-nigh the best, and the other the peer of the good; but bad men did the deed.

Menestheus through the heed he paid to hunting, so far surpassed others in love of toil that the first of the Greeks confessed themselves his inferiors in feats of war, all save Nestor; and he, it is said,[*](In Iliad 2.555.) outdid not, but rivalled him.

Odysseus and Diomedes were brilliant in every single deed, and in short, to them was due the capture of Troy. Castor and Polydeuces, through the renown that they won by displaying in Greece the arts they learned of Cheiron, are immortal.

Machaon and Podaleirius, schooled in all the selfsame arts, proved in crafts and reasonings and wars good men. Antilochus, by giving his life for his father,[*](How Antilochus, son of Nestor, saved his father’s life is told by Pindar in the sixth Pythian.) won such glory that he alone was proclaimed among the Greeks as the Devoted Son.

Aeneas saved the gods of his father’s and his mother’s family, and withal his father himself; wherefore he bore away fame for his piety, so that to him alone among all the vanquished at Troy even the enemy granted not to be despoiled.

Achilles, nursed in this schooling, bequeathed to posterity memorials so great and glorious that no man wearies of telling and hearing of him.

These, whom the good love even to this day and the evil envy, were made so perfect through the care they learned of Cheiron that, when troubles fell upon any state or any king in Greece, they were composed through their influence; or if all Greece was at strife or at war with all the Barbarian powers, these brought victory to the Greeks, so that they made Greece invincible.

Therefore I charge the young not to despise hunting or any other schooling. For these are the means by which men become good in war and in all things out of which must come excellence in thought and word and deed.

The first pursuit, therefore, that a young man just out of his boyhood should take up is hunting, and afterwards he should go on to the other branches of education, provided he has means. He must look to his means, and, if they are sufficient, spend as much as the benefit to himself is worth; or, if they are insufficient, at least let him supply enthusiasm, in no way coming short of his power.[*](The text of this paragraph is open to suspicion. The words from εἶτα to ἔχοντα may be an afterthought.)

I will give a list and a description of the intending hunter’s outfit, and the explanation of each item, in order that he may understand the business before he puts his hand to it. And let no one regard these details as trivial; inasmuch as nothing can be done without them.

The net-keeper should be a man with a keen interest in the business, one who speaks Greek, about twenty years old, agile and strong, and resolute, that, being well qualified to overcome his tasks, he may take pleasure in the business.

The purse-nets should be made of fine Phasian[*](i.e., Colchian. Much flax and linen was exported from Colchis.) or Carthaginian flax, and the road-nets and hayes of the same material.

Let the purse-nets be of nine threads woven in three strands, each strand consisting of three threads. The proper length for these nets is forty-five inches, the proper width of the meshes six inches. The cords that run round[*](The cords meant here are those that ran round the mouth of the purse, and served as a running noose to close it when the hare got in.) them must be without knots, so that they may run easily.

The road-nets should be of twelve threads, and the hayes of sixteen. The length of the road-nets may be twelve, twenty-four or thirty-feet; that of the hayes sixty, a hundred and twenty, or a hundred and eighty feet. If they are longer, they will be unwieldy. Both kinds should be thirty knots[*](i.e., ten meshes, so that the extreme height, if the net was fully stretched, would be five feet. Poachers now use slip-knots or nets about four feet deep with a mesh of two-and-a-half inches.) high, and should have meshes of the same width as those of the purse-nets.

At the elbows at either end let the road-nets have slip-knots of string and the hayes metal rings,[*](The rings running down the two sides were used for joining two nets together.) and let the cords[*](i.e., the cords running along the top and bottom of the nets.) be attached by loops.

The stakes for the purse-nets should be thirty inches long, but some should be shorter. Those of unequal length are for use on sloping ground, to make the height of the nets equal, while those of the same length are used on the level. These stakes must be so shaped at the top that the nets will pull off readily and they must be smooth.[*](The author means, I think, to imply a contrast between the stakes of the purse-nets and those of the other nets. The second αὗται in the text can scarcely be right: possibly καὶ αὗται λεῖαι should be omitted, or αὐταί, they themselves, read with Dindorf.) The stakes for the road-nets should be twice the length of these, and those for the hayes forty-five inches long. The latter[*](Or perhaps he means both sets. ) should have little forks with shallow grooves, and all should be stout, of a thickness proportioned to the length.

The number of stakes used for the hayes may be large or small; fewer are required if the nets are strained tight when set up, more if they are slack.

A calf-skin bag will be wanted for carrying the purse-nets and road-nets and hayes and the bill-hooks for cutting wood and stopping gaps where necessary.

The hounds used are of two kinds, the Castorian and the Vulpine.[*](Both are Laconian varieties, the Castorian being much the larger. The Vulpine resembled a fox; hence the erroneous idea that it was a hybrid between dog and fox (O. Keller, die antike Tierwelt, i. 121).) The Castorian is so called because Castor paid special attention to the breed, making a hobby of the business. The Vulpine is a hybrid between the dog and the fox: hence the name. In the course of time the nature of the parents has become fused.

Inferior specimens (that is to say, the majority) show one or more of the following defects. They are small, hook-nosed, grey-eyed, blinking, ungainly, stiff, weak, thin-coated, lanky, ill-proportioned, cowardly, dull-scented, unsound in the feet.