To cope with the wild boar the huntsman needs to have a variety of dogs, Indian, Cretan, Locrian, and Laconian,[1] along with a stock of nets, javelins, boar-spears, and foot-traps.
[1] For these breeds see Pollux, v. 37: for the Laconian, Pind. "Fr." 73; Soph. "Aj." 8; cf. Shakesp. "Mids. N. D." iv. 1. 119, 129 foll.
To begin with, the hounds must be no ordinary specimens of the species named,[2] in order to do battle with the beast in question.
[2] Or, "these hounds of the breed named must not be any ordinary specimens"; but what does Xenophon mean by {ek toutou tou genous}?
The nets should be made of the same flaxen cord[3] as those for hares above described. They should be forty-five threaded in three strands, each strand consisting of fifteen threads. The height from the upper rim[4] (i.e. from top to bottom) should be ten meshes, and the depth of the nooses or pockets one elbow-length (say fifteen inches).[5] The ropes running round the net should be half as thick again as the cords of the net; and at the extremities[6] they should be fitted with rings, and should be inserted (in and out) under the nooses, with the end passing out through the rings. Fifteen nets will be sufficient.[7]
1
[5] {pugon}. The distance from the elbow to the first joint of the finger = 20 {daktuloi} = 5 {palaistai} = 1 1/4 ft. + (L. & S.)[6] {ep akrois}. Cf. {akreleniois}.
[7] Reading {ikanai}, vid. Lenz ad loc. and ii. 4.
The javelins should be of all sorts,[8] having blades of a good breadth and razor-sharpness, and stout shafts.
[8] Al. "of various material." See Pollux, v. 20 ap. Schneid.
The boar-spears should in the first place have blades fifteen inches long, and in the middle of the socket two solid projecting teeth of wrought metal,[9] and shafts of cornel-wood a spear-shaft's thickness.
[9] Wrought of copper (or bronze).
The foot-traps should resemble those used for deer.
These hunts should be conducted not singly,[10] but in parties, since the wild boar can be captured only by the collective energy of several men, and that not easily.
[10] Lit. "There should be a band of huntsmen"; or, "It will take the united energies of several to capture this game." See Hom. "Il." ix. 543, of the Calydonian boar:
{ton d' uios Oineos apekteinen Meleagros, polleon ek polion theretoras andras ageiras kai kunas . ou men gar k' edame pauroisi brotoisin tossos een, pollous de pures epebes' alegeines.}
"But him slew Meleagros the son of Oineus, having gathered together from many cities huntsmen and hounds; for not of few men could the boar be slain, so mighty was he; and many an one brought he to the grievous pyre" (W. Leaf).
I will now explain how each part of the gear is to be used in hunting. The company being come to some place where a boar is thought to lie,the first step is to bring up the pack,[11] which done, they will loose a single Laconian *****, and keeping the rest in leash, beat about with this one hound.[12] As soon as she has got on the boar's track, let them follow in order, one after another, close on the tracking hound, who gives the lead to the whole company.[13] Even to the huntsmen themselves many a mark of the creature will be plain, such as his footprints on soft portions of the ground, and in the thick undergrowth of forests broken twigs; and, where there are single trees, the scars made by his tusks.[14] As she follows up the trail the hound will, as a general rule, finally arrive at some well- wooded spot; since, as a general rule, the boar lies ensconced in places of the sort, that are warm in winter and cool in summer.
[11] {kunegesion}, "a hunting establishment, huntsmen and hounds, a pack of hounds," L. & S. cf. Herod. i. 36; Pollux. v. 17. In Aristot. "H. A." viii. 5. 2, of wolves in a pack; v. {monopeirai}. {upagein}-- "stealthily?"[12] Or, "go on a voyage of discovery."
[13] Reading {te ikhneuouse}, or if vulg. {ikhneusei}, transl. "set her to follow the trail, at the head of the whole train."[14] Schneid. cf. Aristot. "H. A." vi. 18; Plin. viii. 52; Virg.
"Georg." iii. 255, "ipse ruit, dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus";Hom."Il." xi. 416, xiii. 475; Hes. "Shield," 389; Eur. "Phoen."1389; Ovid,"Met." viii. 369.
As soon as she has reached his lair she will give tongue; but the boar will not get up, not he, in nine cases out of ten. The huntsman will thereupon recover the hound, and tie her up also with the rest at a good distance from the lair.[15] He will then launch his toils into the wild boar's harbourage,[16] placing the nooses upon any forked branches of wood to hand. Out of the net itself he must construct a deep forward-jutting gulf or bosom, posting young shoots on this side and that within, as stays or beams,[17] so that the rays of light may penetrate as freely as possible through the nooses into the bosom,[18] and the interior be as fully lit up as possible when the creature makes his charge. The string round the top of the net must be attached to some stout tree, and not to any mere shrub or thorn-bush, since these light-bending branches will give way to strain on open ground.[19] All about each net it will be well to stop with timber even places[20] "where harbrough nis to see," so that the hulking brute may drive a straight course[21] into the toils without tacking.
[15] Lit. "accordingly recover the dog, and tie her up also with the rest," etc.
[16] {ormous}. Lit. "moorings," i.e. "favourite haunts." Cf. {dusorma} below. Al. "stelle die Fallnetze auf die Wechsel," Lenz.
[17] {anteridas}. See a note in the "Class. Rev." X. i. p. 7, by G. S. Sale: "It can only mean long sticks used as stretchers orspreaders to hold up the net between and beyond the props." Cf. Thuc. vii. 36, 2.
[18] Or, "within the bay of network."
[19] {sunekhontai en tois psilois ai e}. "Denn diese werden an unbestandenenOrtendurchdieLeineniedergezogen,"Lenz;{sunelkontai}conj.Schn.;{sunerkhontai}al.,"concurrunt,"vid. Sturz.
