Arrian on coursing : the Cynegeticus of the younger Xenophon, translated from…
Arrian on coursing by Arrian is a classical treatise on hunting written in the Roman imperial period. It sets out the art of hare‑coursing with greyhounds, detailing selection, breeding, training, slipping practice, and kennel management while reflecting on the ethics and value of the sport. In the edition opened here, the ancient manual is presented within an early nineteenth‑century English translation enriched by extensive annotations and appendices for dedicated coursers. The opening
of this volume offers a dedication to “amateurs of the leash” and a substantial preface that declares the work’s niche audience, surveys classical references to the greyhound from Ovid to Oppian and Nemesian, and argues that Arrian’s guidance on dogs and coursing remains unsurpassed. It sketches four Celtic modes of coursing, contrasts coursing with other field sports, and mounts a measured defense of the pastime against moral critics, mustering authorities ancient and modern. The translator explains a preference for a faithful, near‑literal rendering, notes the difficulty of technical terms, and promises an appendix clarifying ancient dog types. A bibliographical notice follows, tracing the manuscript’s neglect and later editions, and criticizing an earlier incomplete English attempt. The section then begins a concise life of the author—placing him at Nicomedia, noting his military command in Cappadocia and campaign against the Alani, and listing major works such as the Anabasis, Indica, the Epictetus Discourses and Enchiridion, the Periplus of the Euxine, and the Tactics—while hinting at his shared tastes with Emperor Hadrian. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Arrian, 90?-180? |
|---|---|
| Translator | Dansey, William, 1792-1856 |
| LoC No. | 17002584 |
| Uniform Title | Cynegeticus |
| Title | Arrian on coursing : the Cynegeticus of the younger Xenophon, translated from the Greek, with classical and practical annotations, and a brief sketch of the life and writings of the author. To which is added an appendix, containing some account of the Canes Venatici of classical antiquity |
| Original Publication | London: J. Bohn, 1831. |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing, Robert Tonsing, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | SK: Agriculture: Hunting sports |
| Subject | Hunting |
| Subject | Coursing |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 78013 |
| Release Date | Feb 23, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 5350 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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