Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.1.32

9.1.32

Horum vim ut ostenderet Alexandro, in consaeptum leonem eximiae magnitudinis iussit emitti et quattuor omnino admoveri canes. Qui celeriter feram occupaverunt: tum ex iis, qui adsueverant talibus ministeriis, unus canis leoni cum aliis inhaerentis crus avellere et, quia non sequebatur, ferro amputare coepit.

His country possesses a noble breed of dogs, used for hunting, and said to refrain from barking when they sight their game which is chiefly the lion. Sopithes wishing to show Alexander the strength and mettle of these dogs, caused a very large lion to be placed within an enclosure where four dogs in all were let loose upon him. The dogs at once fastened upon the wild beast, when one of the huntsmen who was accustomed to work of this kind tried to pull away by the leg one of the dogs which with the others had seized the lion, and when the limb would not come away, cut it off with a knife. The dog could not even by this means be forced to let go his hold, and so the man proceeded to cut him in another place, and finding him still clutching the lion as tenaciously as before, he continued cutting away with his knife one part of him after another. The brave dog, however, even in dying kept his fangs fixed in the lion's flesh; so great is the eagerness for hunting which nature has implanted in these animals, as testified by the accounts transmitted to us.