HUNTING 393 was even usual for him " to remain in his chariot, and, urging his horses to their full speed, endeavour to turn or intercept them as they doubled, discharging a well-directed arrow whenever they came with in its range." 1 The partiality for the chase which the ancient Egyptians manifested was shared by the Assyrians and Babylonians, as is shown by the frequency with which hunting scenes are found depicted on the walls of their temples and palaces, and also by the alleged fact that even their dresses and furniture were ornamented with similar subjects. 2 The game pursued included the lion, the wild ass, the gazelle, and the hare, and the implements chiefly employed seem to have been the javelin and the bow. There are indications that hawk ing was also known. The Assyrian kings also maintained magnificent parks, or " paradises," in which game of every kind was enclosed ; and perhaps it was from them that the Persian sovereigns borrowed the practice mentioned both by Xenophon in the Cyropcedia, and by Curtius. Accord ing to Herodotus, Cyrus devoted the revenue of four great towns to meet the expenses of his hunting establishments. The circumstances under which the death of the son of Croesus is by the same writer (i. 34-45) related to have occurred incidentally show in what high estimation the recreation of hunting was held in Lyclia. In Palestine game has always been plentiful, and the P>iblical indica tions that it was much sought and duly appreciated are numerous. As means of capture, nets, traps, snares, and pitfalls are most frequently alluded to; but the arrow (Isa. vii. 24), the spear, and the dart (Job xli. 26-29) are also mentioned. There is no evidence that the use of the dog (Jos., Ant., iv. 8, 10, notwithstanding) or of the horse in hunting was known among the Jews during the period covered by the Old Testament history; Herod, however, was a keen and successful sportsman, and is recorded by Josephus (B. i/., i. 21, 13, compare A nt., xv. 7, 7 ; xvi. 10, 3) to have killed no fewer than forty head of game (boar, wild ass, deer) in one day. The sporting tastes of the ancient Greeks, as may be gathered from many references in Homer (7/.,ix. 538-545; Oil, ix. 120: xvii. 295, 316; xix. 429 sq.}, had developed themselves at a very early period; they first found adequate literary expression in the work of Xenophon entitled Cynegeticus? which expounds his principles and embodies his experience in his favourite art of hunting. The treatise chiefly deals with the capture of the hare ; in the author s day the approved method was to find the hare in her form by the use of dogs; when found she was either driven into nets previously set in her runs, or else run down in the open. Boar-hunting is also de scribed ; it was effected by nets into which the animal was pursued, and in which when fairly entangled he was speared. The stag, according to the same work, was taken by means of a kind of wooden trap (TroSoorpa/:??/) which attached itself to the foot. Lions, leopards, lynxes, panthers, and bears are also specially mentioned among the large game ; sometimes they were taken in pitfalls, sometimes speared by mounted horsemen. As a writer on field sports Xenophon was followed by Arrian, who in his Cynegeticus, in avowed dependence on his predecessor, seeks to supplement such deficiencies in the earlier treatise as arose from its author s unacquaintance with the dogs of Gaul and the horses of Scythia and Libya. Four books of Cynegetica, extending to about 2100 hexameters, by Oppian have also been pre served ; the last of these is incomplete, and it is probable that a fifth at one time existed. The poem contains some good descriptive passages, as well as some very 1 See on this whole subject ch. viii. of Wilkinson s Ancient Egyp tians (ii. 78-92, ed. Birch, 1878). 4 See Layard (Nineveh, ii. 431, 432), who cites Ammian. Marcell. , xxvi. 6, and Athen., xii. 9. 3 Engl. transl. by Blane. curious indications of the state of zoological knowledge in the author s time. Hunting scenes are frequently repre sented in ancient works of art, especially the boar-hunt, and also that of the hare. In Roman literature allusions to the pleasures of the chase (wild ass, boar, hare, fallow deer, being specially mentioned as favourite game) are not wanting (Virg., Georg., iii. 409-413; Ed., iii. 75; Hor.,0^., i. 1, 25-28); it seems to have been viewed, however, with less favour as an occupation for gentlemen, and to have been chiefly left to inferiors and professionals. The immense vivaria or theriotropheia, in which various wild animals, such as boars, stags, and roe-deer, were kept in a state of semi-domestication, were developments which arose at a comparatively late period ; as also were the venationes in the circus, although these are mentioned as having been known as early as 186 B.C. The bald and meagre poem of Gratius Faliscus on hunting (Cynegetica] is modelled upon Xenophon s prose work; a still extant fragment (315 lines) of a similar poem with the same title, of much later date, by Nemesianus, seems to have at one time formed the introduction to an extended work corresponding to that of Oppian. That the Romans had borrowed some things in the art of hunting from the Gauls may be inferred from the name canis gallicus (Spanish gaJgo) for a greyhound, which is to be met with both in Ovid and Martial ; also in the words (canis) vertragus and segitsius, both of Celtic origin. 4 According to Strabo (p. 200) the Britons also bred dogs well adapted for hunting purposes. The addic tion of the Franks in later centuries to the chase is evi denced by the frequency with which not only the laity but also the clergy were warned by provincial councils against expending so much of their time and money on hounds, hawks, and falcons ; and we have similar proof with regard to the habits of other Teutonic nations subsequent to the introduction of Christianity. 5 Originally among the northern nations sport was open to every one 6 except to slaves, who were not permitted to bear arms ; the growth of the idea of game-preserving was a gradual one, and kept pace with the development of feudalism. For its ultimate development
in Britain see FOREST LAW, where also the distinction
I between beasts of forest or venery, beasts of chase, and i beasts and fowls of warren is explained. See also GAME LAWS. The English word "hunt" (from henten, "to capture," , and thus nearly equivalent to "chase," w r hich is the doublet of the verb " to catch " ; compare Ital. caccia, Fr. chasse) has come specially to be applied to the pursuit of j the stag, hare, and fox, especially of the last-named, with , horse, hound, and horn, as distinguished from other modes 1 of capturing game. It thus corresponds to the French chasse an courre, as distinguished from chasse, au tir, a Voiseau &c., and to the German Hetzjagd as distinguished from I Birsch, The origin of the sport in Britain does not admit of being historically traced. Doubtless the early inhabit-
- ants shared to a large extent in the habits of the other
Celtic peoples; the fact that at least they kept good hunt ing dogs is vouched for, as we have seen, by Strabo ; and an interesting illustration of the manner in which these were used is given in the inscription quoted by Orelli (u. 1G03) "Silvano Invicto Sacrum ob aprumeximia; format captum, quern multi antecessores pradari non potuerunt." When the period of Alfred the Great is reached, we have it on the authority of Asserius, his biographer, that before he was twelve years of age he " was a most expert and 4 Helm, Kulturpflanzcn u. Ifausthierc, p. 327. 5 References will be found in Smith s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, art. "Hunting." 6 " Vita onmis in venationibus . . . consistit, " Ca?s., B. G., vi. 21. " Quoties bella non inennt, multum Venatibus, plus per otium trans- igunt," Tacitus, Germ., 15.
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