Note 186 — ARRIAN ON COURSING.
William Dansey translation
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:
Cynegeticus ii. 184.
οὔποτε γὰρ κεφαλῇφιν ἐναντία δηρίσαιντο, οὐ θηρσὶ κρατεροῖς, οὐκ ἀργαλέοισι κύνεσσι:
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.