Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/174

164 well-known writer on 'Rural Sports,' and he speaks of the work with the highest admiration. He says, "I have been indeed astonished in reading the 'Cynegeticus' of Xenophon to find the accurate knowledge that great man had of the nature of the hare, and the method of hunting her; and to observe one of the finest writers, the bravest soldiers, the ablest politicians, the wisest philosophers, and the most virtuous citizens of antiquity, so intimately acquainted with all the niceties and difficulties of pursuing this little animal, and describing them with a precision that would not disgrace the oldest sportsman of Great Britain, who had never any other idea to interfere to perplex his researches."

The greater part of the 'Cynegeticus' is devoted to the subject of hunting the hare; and it is perhaps a little disappointing, after all that Xenophon says about hunting in general as a preparation for war, to find such a very safe kind of sport made so prominent. Doubtless, however, even running with beagles hardens the physique, and Xenophon was quite right in maintaining (what perhaps in his time it was necessary to maintain) that those nations are most likely to do well in war of which the upper classes have a taste for field-sports. He says, that for a young man who has a competency, the first thing is to devote himself to hunting, and the second thing is to learn other accomplishments.

Hare-hunting, with Xenophon, means to find the hare in her form by the use of dogs tracking her scent; when found, to drive her with these dogs into nets previously set in her runs, or, failing this, to tire