Note 219 — ARRIAN ON COURSING.
William Dansey translation
Ἀγαθὴ δὲ τῇ θηλεία ἡλικία, &c. Marvellous tales are on record of periods much later than the seventh year, in which bitches have given birth to numerous progenies; but Arrian has specified a limited time within which a greyhound bitch may be considered as being at the acme of her bodily powers, and likely to yield such a litter as will not disappoint the expectations of the Veltrarius. To Mr. Pope we are indebted, in his endeavour to reconcile with probability the age of the Homeric Argus,—
Odyssey, B. xvii. vs. 394.
The dog whom fate had granted to behold His lord, when twenty tedious years had roll’d,—
for the almost incredible case of a gravid bitch of the age of twenty-two years. After which, we may well exclaim in the words of the Greek naturalist, Ælian. Hist. Animal. L. vii. c. 29.οὔκουν οὐδὲ Ἄργος ὁ κύων μυθοποίημα ἦν, ὦ θεῖε Ὅμηρε, σὸν, οὐδὲ κόμπος ποιητικός!