[14] Or, "Also the same dogs will exhibit many styles of coursing: one set as soon as they have got the trail pursue it without a sign, so thereis no means of finding out that the animal is on thetrack." [15] "Stern."[16] Or "with their noses solemnly fixed on the ground and sterns lowered."[17] Or, "have quite a different action"; "exhibit quite another manner."[18] i.e. "they cast forwards to make short cuts," of skirters too lazy to run the line honestly.
[19] Reading {tremousi}, "fall a-trembling"; al. {atremousi}, stand stock-still"; i.e. are "dwellers."A particular sort may be described as hounds which, when hunting or pursuing, run forward with a frequent eye to the discoveries of the rest of the pack, because they have no confidence in themselves. Another sort is over-confident--not letting the cleverer members of the pack go on ahead, but keeping them back with nonsensical clamour. Others will wilfully hug every false scent,[20] and with a tremendous display of eagerness, whatever they chance upon, will take the lead, conscious all the while they are playing false;[21] whilst another sort again will behave in a precisely similar style out of sheer ignorance.[22] It is a poor sort of hound which will not leave a stale line[23] for want of recognising the true trail. So, too, a hound that cannot distinguish the trail leading to a hare's form, and scampers over that of a running hare, hot haste, is no thoroughbred.[24]
[20] Al. "seem to take pleasure in fondling every lie."[21] Or, "fully aware themselves that the whole thing is a make- believe."[22] Or, "do exactly the same thing because they do not know any better."[23] {ek ton trimmon}. Lit. "keep away from beaten paths," and commonly of footpaths, but here apparently of the hare's habitual "run," not necessarily lately traversed, still less the true line.
[24] Lit. "A dog who on the one hand ignores the form track, and on the other tears swiftly over a running track, is not a well-bred dog." Al. {ta eunaia}, "traces of the form"; {ta dromaia}, "tracks of a running hare." See Sturz. s.v. {dromaios}.
When it comes to the actual chase, some hounds will show great ardour at first starting, but presently give up from weakness of spirit. Others will run in too hastily[25] and then balk; and go hopelessly astray, as if they had lost the sense of hearing altogether.
[25] So L. & S., {upotheousin} = "cut in before" the rest of the pack and over-run the scent. Al. "flash in for a time, and then lose the scent."Many a hound will give up the chase and return from mere distaste for hunting,[26] and not a few from pure affection for mankind. Others with their clamorous yelping on the line do their best to deceive, as if true and false were all one to them.[27] There are others that will not do that, but which in the middle of their running,[28] should they catch the echo of a sound from some other quarter, will leave their own business and incontinently tear off towards it.[29] The fact is,[30] they run on without clear motive, some of them; others taking too much for granted; and a third set to suit their whims and fancies. Others simply play at hunting; or from pure jealousy, keep questing about beside the line, continually rushing along and tumbling over one another.[31]
[26]Or,{misotheron},"outofantipathytothequarry."For{philanthropon} cf. Pollux, ib. 64; Hermog. ap. L. Dind.
[27] Or, "unable apparently to distinguish false from true." See Sturz, s.v. {poieisthai}. Cf. Plut. "de Exil." 6. Al. "Gaily substituting false for true."[28] "In the heat of the chase." [29] "Rush to attack it."[30] The fact is, there are as many different modes of following up the chase almost as there are dogs. Some follow up the chase{asaphos}, indistinctly; some {polu upolambanousai}, with a good deal of guess-work; others again {doxazousai}, without conviction, insincerely; others, {peplasmenos}, out of mere pretence, pure humbug, make-believe, or {phthoneros}, in a fit of jealousy,{ekkunousi}, are skirters; al. {ekkinousi}, Sturz, quit the scent. [31] Al. "unceasingly tearing along, around, and about it."The majority of these defects are due to natural disposition, thoughsome must be assigned no doubt to want of scientific training. In either case such hounds are useless, and may well deter the keenest sportsman from the hunting field.[32]
[32] Or, "Naturally, dogs like these damp the sportsman's ardour, and indeed are enough to sicken him altogether with the chase."The characters, bodily and other, exhibited by the finer specimens of the same breed,[33] I will now set forth.
[33] Or, "The features, points, qualities, whether physical or other, which characterise the better indidivuals." But what does Xenophon mean by {tou autou genous}?
