Cynegetica

Cynēgĕtĭca, ōrum, n. ( = τὰ κυνηγετικά, from κυνηγετικός, venaticus, pertaining to the chase),

• Cynegetics, the name given to poems on hunting by Gratius Faliscus and Nemesianus in Latin, and by Oppianus in Greek.

Cўnēgĕtĭca, ōn, n. pl., (κυνηγετικά), poème sur la chasse [titre dʼun poème de Gratius Faliscus et dʼun autre de Némésianus].

Cynegetĭca

A poem on the chase, written in Latin by Grattius (q.v.) towards the end of the Augustan Age, and existing in an imperfect state. It traces the development of the chase from the earliest ages, and goes on to describe the chase itself, giving also an account of the different breeds of dogs and horses, with digressions on various themes. The technical details are carefully given, but the poem has no very great merit. The part of the poem still existing consists of 536 hexameter lines and five fragments of lines. The same title was chosen by the later poet Nemesianus (about A.D. 275), of which we have the first 425 lines (hexameters), partly in imitation of Calpurnius (q.v.). The poems of both Grattius and Nemesia nus were edited together by Stern (Halle, 1832), by Haupt (Leipzig, 1838), and by Schenkl (Prague, 1885). See Birt, Hist. Hexam. Lat. p. 57. A treatise of Xenophon, in prose, on the chase is entitled Κυνηγετικός. See Oppianus.