Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (166 page)

If the deer is caught by the fore-foot it will soon be taken, as it hits every part of its body and its face with the clog during the run; or if by the hindleg, the dragging of the clog hampers the whole body; and sometimes it dashes into forked branches of trees, and unless it breaks the cord, is caught on the spot.
[20]
But, whether you catch it in this way or by wearing it out, don’t go near it; for it will butt, if it’s a stag, and kick, and if it’s a hind, it will kick. So throw javelins at it from a distance.

In the summer months they are also caught by pursuit without the aid of a caltrop; for they get dead beat, so that they are hit standing. When hard pressed, they will even plunge into the sea and into pools in their bewilderment; and occasionally they drop from want of breath.

10.
For hunting the wild boar provide yourself with Indian, Cretan, Locrian and Laconian hounds, boar nets, javelins, spears and caltrops. In the first place the hounds of each breed must be of high quality, that they may be qualified to fight the beast.
[2]
The nets must be made of the same flax as those used for hares, of forty-five threads woven in three strands, each strand containing fifteen threads. The height should be ten knots, counted from the top, and the depths of the meshes fifteen inches. The ropes at top and bottom must be half as thick again as the nets. There must be metal rings at the elbows, and the ropes must be inserted under the meshes, and their ends must pass out through the rings. Fifteen nets are sufficient.
[3]

The javelins must be of every variety, the blades broad and keen, and the shafts strong. The spears must have blades fifteen inches long, and stout teeth at the middle of the socket, forged in one piece but standing out; and their shafts must be of cornel wood, as thick as a military spear. The caltrops must be similar to those used in hunting deer. There must be several huntsmen, for the task of capturing the beast is no light one even for a large number of men. I will now explain how to use each portion of the outfit in hunting.
[4]

First then, when the company reach the place where they suppose the game to lurk, let them slip one of the Laconian hounds, and taking the others in leash, go round the place with the hound.
[5]
As soon as she has found his tracks, let the field follow, one behind another, keeping exactly to the line of the track. The huntsmen also will find many evidences of the quarry, the tracks in soft ground, broken branches where the bushes are thick, and marks of his tusks wherever there are trees.
[6]
The hound following the track will, as a rule, arrive at a well-wooded spot. For the beast usually lies in such places, since they are warm in winter and cool in summer. As soon as the hound reaches the lair, she will bark.
[7]
But in most cases the boar will not get up. So take the hound and tie her up with the others at a good distance from the lair, and have the nets put up in the convenient anchorages, hanging the meshes on forked branches of trees. Out of the net itself make a long projecting bosom, putting sticks inside to prop it up on both sides, so that the light of day may penetrate as much as possible into the bosom through the meshes, in order that the interior may be as light as possible when the boar rushes at it. Fasten the (lower) rope to a strong tree, not to a bush, since the bushes give way at the bare stem. Wherever there is a gap between a net and the ground, fill in the places that afford no anchorage with wood, in order that the boar may rush into the net, and not slip out.
[8]

As soon as they are in position, let the party go to the hounds and loose them all, and take the javelins and the spears and advance. Let one man, the most experienced, urge on the hounds, while the others follow in regular order, keeping well behind one another, so that the boar may have a free passage between them; for should he beat a retreat and dash into a crowd, there is a risk of being gored, since he spends his rage on anyone he encounters.
[9]

As soon as the hounds are near the lair, they will go for him. The noise will cause him to get up, and he will toss any hound that attacks him in front. He will run and plunge into the nets; or if not, you must pursue him. If the ground where he is caught in the net is sloping, he will quickly get up; if it is level, he will immediately stand still, intent on himself.
[10]
At this moment the hounds will press their attack, and the huntsmen must fling their javelins at him warily, and pelt him with stones, gathering round behind and a good way off, till he shoves hard enough to pull the rope of the net tight. Then let the most experienced and most powerful man in the field approach him in front and thrust his spear into him.
[11]
If, in spite of javelins and stones, he refuses to pull the rope tight, but draws back, wheels round and marks his assailant, in that case the man must approach him spear in hand, and grasp it with the left in front and the right behind, since the left steadies while the right drives it. The left foot must follow the left hand forward, and the right foot the other hand.
[12]
As he advances let him hold the spear before him, with his legs not much further apart than in wrestling, turning the left side towards the left hand, and then watching the beast’s eye and noting the movement of the fellow’s head. Let him present the spear, taking care that the boar doesn’t knock it out of his hand with a jerk of his head, since he follows up the impetus of the sudden knock.
[13]
In case this accident should happen, the man must fall on his face and clutch the undergrowth beneath him, for, if the beast attacks him in this position, he is unable to lift the man’s body owing to the upward curve of his tusks; but if his body is off the ground, the man is certain to be gored. Consequently the boar tries to lift him up, and, if he cannot, he stands over and tramples on him.
[14]
For a man in this critical situation there is only one escape from these disasters. One of his fellow huntsmen must approach with a spear and provoke the boar by making as though he would hurl it; but he must not hurl it, or he may hit the man on the ground.
[15]
On seeing this the boar will leave the man under him and turn savagely and furiously on his tormentor. The other must jump up instantly, remembering to keep his spear in his hand as he rises, for safety without victory is not honourable.
[16]
He must again present the spear in the same way as before, and thrust it inside the shoulder-blade where the throat is, and push with all his might. The enraged beast will come on, and but for the teeth of the blade, would shove himself forward along the shaft far enough to reach the man holding the spear.
[17]

His strength is so great that he has some peculiar properties which one would never imagine him to possess. Thus, if you lay hairs on his tusks immediately after he is dead, they shrivel up, such is the heat of the tusks. While he is alive they become intensely hot whenever he is provoked, or the surface of the hounds’ coats would not be singed when he tries to gore them and misses.
[18]

All this trouble, and even more, the male animal causes before he is caught. If the creature in the toils is a sow, run up and stick her, taking care not to be knocked down. Such an accident is bound to result in your being trampled and bitten. So don’t fall under her, if you can help it. If you get into that position unintentionally, the same aids to rise that are used to assist a man under a boar are employed. When on your feet again, you must ply the spear until you kill her.
[19]

Another way of capturing them is as follows. The nets are set up for them at the passages from glens into oak coppices, dells and rough places, on the outskirts of meadows, fens and sheets of water. The keeper, spear in hand, watches the nets. The huntsmen take the hounds and search for the likeliest places. As soon as the boar is found, he is pursued. If he falls into the net, the net-keeper must take
[20]
his spear, approach the boar, and use it as I have explained. The boar is also captured, in hot weather, when pursued by the hounds; for in spite of his prodigious strength, the animal tires with hard breathing.
[21]
Many hounds are killed in this kind of sport, and the huntsmen themselves run risks, whenever in the course of the pursuit they are forced to approach a boar with their spears in their hands, when he is tired or standing in water or has posted himself by a steep declivity or is unwilling to come out of a thicket; for neither net nor anything else stops him from rushing at anyone coming near him. Nevertheless approach they must in these circumstances, and show the pluck that led them to take up this hobby.
[22]
They must use the spear and the forward position of the body as explained; then, if a man does come to grief, it will not be through doing things the wrong way.

Caltrops are also set for them as for the deer and in the same places. The routine of inspection and pursuit, the methods of approach and the use of the spear are the same.
[23]

The young pigs are not to be caught without difficulty. For they are not left alone so long as they are little, and when the hounds find them or they see something coming, they quickly vanish into the wood; and they are generally accompanied by both parents, who are fierce at such times and more ready to fight for their young than for themselves.

11.
Lions, leopards, lynxes, panthers, bears and all similar wild beasts are captured in foreign countries, about Mt. Pangaeus and Cittus beyond Macedonia, on Mysian Olympus and Pindus, on Nysa beyond Syria, and in other mountain ranges capable of supporting such animals.
[2]
On the mountains they are sometimes poisoned, owing to the difficulty of the ground, with aconite. Hunters put it down mixed with the animals’ favourite food round pools and in other places that they frequent.
[3]
Sometimes, while they are going down to the plain at night, they are cut off by parties of armed and mounted men. This is a dangerous method of capturing them.
[4]
Sometimes the hunters dig large, round, deep holes, leaving a pillar of earth in the middle. They tie up a goat and put it on the pillar in the evening, and pile wood round the hole without leaving an entrance, so that the animals cannot see what lies in front. On hearing the bleating in the night, the beasts run round the barrier, and finding no opening, jump over and are caught.

12.
With the practical side of hunting I have finished. But the advantages that those who have been attracted by this pursuit will gain are many. For it makes the body healthy, improves the sight and hearing, and keeps men from growing old; and it affords the best training for war.
[2]
In the first place, when marching over rough roads under arms, they will not tire: accustomed to carry arms for capturing wild beasts, they will bear up under their tasks. Again, they will be capable of sleeping on a hard bed and of guarding well the place assigned to them.
[3]
In an attack on the enemy they will be able to go for him and at the same time to carry out the orders that are passed along, because they are used to do the same things on their own account when capturing the game. If their post is in the van they will not desert it, because they can endure.
[4]
In the rout of the enemy they will make straight for the foe without a slip over any kind of ground, through habit. If part of their own army has met with disaster in ground rendered difficult by woods and defiles or what not, they will manage to save themselves without loss of honour and to save others. For their familiarity with the business will give them knowledge that others lack.
[5]
Indeed, it has happened before now, when a great host of allies has been put to flight, that a little band of such men, through their fitness and confidence, has renewed the battle and routed the victorious enemy when he has blundered owing to difficulties in the ground. For men who are sound in body and mind may always stand on the threshold of success.
[6]
It was because they knew that they owed their successes against the enemy to such qualities that our ancestors looked after the young men. For in spite of the scarcity of corn it was their custom from the earliest times not to prevent hunters from hunting over any growing crops; and, in addition, not to permit hunting at
[7]
night within a radius of many furlongs from the city, so that the masters of that art might not rob the young men of their game. In fact they saw that this is the only one among the pleasures of the younger men that produces a rich crop of blessings. For it makes sober and upright men of them, because they are trained in the school of truth (and they perceived
[8]
that to these men they owed their success in war, as in other matters); and it does not keep them from any other honourable occupation they wish to follow, like other and evil pleasures that they ought not to learn. Of such men, therefore, are good soldiers and good generals made.
[9]
For they whose toils root out whatever is base and froward from mind and body and make desire for virtue to flourish in their place — they are the best, since they will not brook injustice to their own city nor injury to its soil.
[10]

Some say that it is not right to love hunting, because it may lead to neglect of one’s domestic affairs. They are not aware that all who benefit their cities and their friends are more attentive to their domestic affairs than other men.
[11]
Therefore, if keen sportsmen fit themselves to be useful to their country in matters of vital moment, neither will they be remiss in their private affairs: for the state is necessarily concerned both in the safety and in the ruin of the individual’s domestic fortunes. Consequently such men as these save the fortunes of every other individual as well as their own.
[12]
But many of those who talk in this way, blinded by jealousy, choose to be ruined through their own evil rather than be saved by other men’s virtue. For most pleasures are evil, and by yielding to these they are encouraged either to say or to do what is wrong.
[13]
Then by their frivolous words they make enemies, and by their evil deeds bring diseases and losses and death on themselves, their children and their friends, being without perception of the evils, but more perceptive than others of the pleasures. Who would employ these to save a state?
[14]
From these evils, however, everyone who loves that which I recommend will hold aloof, since a good education teaches a man to observe laws, to talk of righteousness and hear of it.
[15]
Those, then, who have given themselves up to continual toil and learning hold for their own portion laborious lessons and exercises, but they hold safety for their cities. But if any decline to receive instruction because of the labour and prefer to live among untimely pleasures, they are by nature utterly evil.
[16]
For they obey neither laws nor good words, for because they toil not, they do not discover what a good man ought to be, so that they cannot be pious or wise men; and being without education they constantly find fault with the educated.
[17]
In these men’s hands, therefore, nothing can prosper. All discoveries that have benefited mankind are due to the better sort. Now the better sort are those who are willing to toil. And this has been proved by a great example.
[18]
For among the ancients the companions of Cheiron to whom I referred learnt many noble lessons in their youth, beginning with hunting; from these lessons there sprang in them great virtue, for which they are admired even today. That all desire Virtue is obvious, but because they must toil if they are to gain her, the many fall away.
[19]
For the achievement of her is hidden in obscurity, whereas the toils inseparable from her are manifest.