Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/49

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 27 of the chase. ^ That marvellous art which teaches the birds of the air to acknowledge the voice, and execute the commands, ol their master had been unknown to the ingenuity of the Greeks and Romans.'^ Scandinavia and Scythia produce the l)oldest and most tractable falcons ; '" they are tamed and edu- cated by the i-oving inhabitants, always on horseback and in the fi^'id. This favourite amusement of our ancestors was introduced hy the barbarians into the Roman provinces ; and the laws of Italy esteem the sword and the hawk as of equal dignity and importance in the hands of a noble Lombard.-'" So rapid was the influence of climate and example that the Dress and Lombards of the fourth generation surveyed with curiosity and °"^" ^°* aflright the portraits of their savage forefathers. '^^ Their heads were shaven behind, but the shaggy locks hung over their eyes and mouth, and a long beard, represented the name and character of the nation. Their dress consisted of loose linen garments, after the fashion of the Anglo-Saxons, which were decorated, in tlieir opinion, with broad stripes of variegated colours. The legs and feet were clothed in long hose and open sandals ; and even in the security of peace a trusty sword was constantly girt to their side. Yet this strange apparel and horrid aspect often concealed a gentle and generous disposition ; and, as soon as the rage of battle had subsided, the captives and •'■' Consult the xxist Dissertation of Muiatori. ■'"Their ignorance is proved by the silence even of those who professedly treat of the arts of hunting and the history of animals. Aristotle (Hist. Animal. 1. i.. c. 36, torn. i. p. 586, and the Notes of his last editor, M. Camus, torn. ii. p. 314), Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. x. c. 10), .'Elian (de Natur. . imal. !. ii. c. 42), and perhaps Homer (Odyss. xxii. 302-306), describe with astonishment a tacit league and common chase between the hawks and the Thracian fotvlers. '■'•Particularly the gerfaut, or gyrfalcon, of the size of a small eagle. See the animated description of M. de Ruflon, Hist. Naturelle, torn. xvi. p. 239, &c. ■"Script. Kerum Italicarum, tom. i. part ii. p. 129. This is the xvith law of the emperor Lewis the Pious. His father Charlemagne had falconers in his house- hold as well as huntsmen (M^inoires sur I'ancienne Chevalerie, par M. de St. Palaye, tom. iii. p. 175). I observe in the laws of Rotharis a more eaily mention of the art of hawking (No. 3'?2) ; and in Gaul, in the vth century, it is celebrated by Sidonius .•pollinaris among ihe talents of Avitus ([Carm. vii.] 202-207). ■'^ The epitaph of Droctulf (Paul, 1. iii. c. 19) may be applied to maiiy of his countrymen : Terribilis visu facies, sed corda benignus, Longaque robusto pectore barba fuit. The portraits of the old Lombards might still be seen in the palace of Monza, twelve miles from Milan, which had been founded or restored by queen Theude- linda (1. iv. 22, 23). See Muratori, tom. i. dissertaz. xxiii. p. 300. [Theudelinda's comb, with a gold handle, and a counterfeit hen with chickens, which belonged to her,. are shown in the sacristy of the church at Monza, which she founcjed. Little of the old Ijuilding remains,]