Note 343 — CANES VENATICI. Class I.
William Dansey translation
To this dog Priscian alludes in his Periegesis, vs. 706.:
Poetæ Latini Minores. Tom. v. p. i. Wernsdorf.
Hic sunt Albani bellaces marte feroci; Unde canes nati superant genus omne ferarum. Magnus Alexander missum sibi viderat inde Victorem barrique canem, rapidique leonis:—
and John of Salisbury celebrates the race in his Policraticus; the merits of the breed losing nothing of its lustre, but rather gaining, in the prose narration;—“AlbaniDe Nugis Curialium L. i. c. iv. quidem in Asiâ canes habent leonibus fortiores: eos virtute canum, et suæ gentis artificio, quasi imbelles bestiolas populantur. Canibus quidem illis nulla ferarum fortior, nulla animosior est. Hos Hercules, tergemino Geryone victo, ab Italiâ trajecit in Asiam, eis virtutem quâ leones sternerent, quasi hereditariam derelinquens,” &c.