FRAGMENT. 21^ 



for mofl: of the Gods of Greece were natives of 

 their Country ; Mercury, on Mount Cyllene ; Ju- 

 piter, on Mount Lyceum ; Pan, on Mount Mcna- 

 lus, or, according to others, amidft the forefts of 

 Mount Lyceum, where he was worlliipped with 

 lingular devotion. Arcadia, too, was the theatre 

 on which Hercules exhibited the moft aflonifhing 

 of his laborious atchievements. 



With thofe fentiments of patriotifm and of reli- 

 gion, tl e Arcadians blended that of love, which 

 has, at length, acquired the afcendant, as the prin- 

 cipal idea which that People have left us of them- 

 felves. For, political and religious inftitutions 

 vary, in every Country, with the lapfe of ages, and 

 are peculiar to it ; but the Laws of Nature are of 

 all periods of time, and intereft all Nations. Hence 

 it has come to pafs, that the Poets, ancient and 

 modern, have reprefented the Arcadians as a Na- 

 tion of amorous fliepherds, who excelled in Poetry 

 and Mufic, which are, in all countries, the expref- 

 five languages of love. Virgil, in particular, fre- 

 quently celebrates their talents, and their rural fe- 

 licity. In his ninth Eclogue, which breathes the 

 gentleft melancholy, he thus introduces Gallus, 

 the fon of Pollio, inviting the Arcadian fwains, to 

 deplore with him the lofs of his miftrefs Lycoris : 



Cantabitis, 



