On Hunting

As he advances let him hold the spear before him, with his legs not much further apart than in wrestling, turning the left side towards the left hand, and then watching the beast’s eye and noting the movement of the fellow’s head. Let him present the spear, taking care that the boar doesn’t knock it out of his hand with a jerk of his head, since he follows up the impetus of the sudden knock.

In case this accident should happen, the man must fall on his face and clutch the undergrowth beneath him, for, if the beast attacks him in this position, he is unable to lift the man’s body owing to the upward curve of his tusks; but if his body is off the ground, the man is certain to be gored. Consequently the boar tries to lift him up, and, if he cannot, he stands over and tramples on him.

For a man in this critical situation there is only one escape from these disasters. One of his fellow huntsmen must approach with a spear and provoke the boar by making as though he would hurl it; but he must not hurl it, or he may hit the man on the ground.