. With a light bound it leaped over the nets, and passed over the
topmost barriers of the toils that were set. The couples were taken off
the dogs, from which, as they followed, it fled, and eluded them, no
otherwise than as a winged bird. I myself, too, was requested, with
eager demands, for my {dog} Laelaps [{Tempest}]; that was the name of {my
wife's} present. For some time already had he been struggling to get
free from the couples, and strained them with his neck, as they detained
him. Scarce was he well let loose; and {yet} we could not now tell where
he was; the warm dust had the prints of his feet, {but} he himself was
snatched from our eyes. A spear does not fly swifter than he {did}, nor
pellets whirled from the twisted sling, nor the light arrow from the
Gortynian bow.[115] The top of a hill, {standing} in the middle, looks
down upon the plains below. Thither I mount, and I enjoy the sight of an
unusual chase; wherein the wild beast[116] one while seemed to be
caught, at another to elude his very bite; and it does not fly in a
direct course, and straight onward, but deceives his mouth, as he
pursues it, and returns in circles, that its enemy may not have his full
career against it. He keeps close to it, and pursues it, a match for
him; and {though} like as if he has caught it, {still} he fails to catch
it, and vainly snaps at the air. I was {now} turning to the resources of
my javelin; while my right hand was poising it, {and} while I was
attempting to insert my fingers in the thongs {of it}, I turned away my
eyes; and again I had directed them, recalled to the same spot, when,
{most} wondrous, I beheld two marble statues in the middle of the plain;
you would think the one was flying, the other barking {in pursuit}. Some
God undoubtedly, if any God {really} did attend to them, desired them
both to remain unconquered in this contest of speed."

[Footnote 107: _AEolus._--Ver. 672. Apollodorus reckons Deioneus,
the parent of Cephalus, among the children of Apollo.]

[Footnote 108: _Nereian youth._--Ver. 685. Phocus, who was the son
of AEacus, by Psamathe, the daughter of Nereus.]

[Footnote 109: _Orithyia._--Ver. 695. She was the daughter of
Erectheus, king of Athens, and was carried off by Boreas, as
already stated.]

[Footnote 110: _Hymettus._--Ver. 702. This was a mountain of
Attica, famous for its honey and its marble.]

[Footnote 111: _To make attempts._--Ver. 721