Note 239 — ARRIAN ON COURSING.
William Dansey translation
Ἄῤῥενες δὲ καὶ ἐς δέκατον διαφυλάττουσιν. Our author is here at issue with Juliana Berners, who says of the greyhound in his ninth year,
Book of St. Alban’s. 1496.
And whan he is comyn to that yere, Have hym to the tannere; For the beste hounde that ever bytche had, At nynthe yere he is full badde.
Indeed, it is incredible, however great may have been his youthful vigour, that any dog should retain his full speed till the tenth year; a period at which all the bodily powers begin to feel the gradual approach of infirmity, at which many dogs die apparently of natural decay, and all are incapacitated for strenuous exertion. “Canes Laconici,” says Pliny, “vivunt annis denis, fœminæ duodenis, cætera genera quindecim annos, aliquando viginti.” Instances of the latter protracted period are very rare. I never knew a greyhound to reach the memorable age of the Homeric Argus—
Odyss. xvii. 326.
The Chace. B. iv.
Ἄργον δ’ αὖ κατὰ μοῖρ’ ἔλαβεν μέλανος θανάτοιο, αὐτίκ’ ἰδόντ’ Ὀδυσῆα ἐεικοστῷ ἐνιαυτῷ. Short is their span; few at the date arrive Of ancient Argus, in old Homer’s song So highly honour’d; kind, sagacious brute!
See Ælian de Nat. Animal. Buffon Hist. Natur. and Lord Bacon Hist. Vitæ et Mortis.