Note 399 — CANES VENATICI. Class II.

Ancient sportsmen were equally aware with their modern descendants of the necessity of keeping hounds, when once entered, steady to their particular game. Plutarch (περὶ πολυπραγμοσύνης) alludes to the attention they paid to this point of field discipline: οἱ κυνηγοὶ τοὺς σκύλακας οὐκ ἐῶσιν ἐκτρέπεσθαι καὶ διώκειν πᾶσαν ὀδμὴν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ῥυτῆρσιν ἕλκουσι καὶ ἀνακρούουσι, καθαρὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἄκρατον φυλάττοντες τὸ αἰσθήριον ἐπὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον.Xenophon De Venat. c. vi. Xenophon, passionately enamoured of the hare-chase, would not allow his harriers to turn aside, and run riot, after foxes—διαφθορὰ γὰρ μεγίστη, καὶ ἐν τῷ δεόντι οὔ ποτε πάρεισιν—it is fatal to their steadiness.