ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



disconsolate for the rape of Proserpine, hid herself, and all 

 the gods took the utmost pains to find her, by going out 

 different ways for that purpose, Pan only had the good 

 fortune to meet her as he was hunting, and discovered her 

 to the rest. He likewise had the assurance to rival Apollo 

 in music; and in the judgment of Midas was preferred: but 

 the judge had, though with great privacy and secrecy, a 

 pair of ass s ears fastened on him for his sentence. 3 



&quot;There is very little said of his amours, which may seem 

 strange among such a multitude of gods, so profusely amor 

 ous. He is only reported to have been very fond of Echo, 

 who was also esteemed his wife; and one nymph more called 

 Syrinx, with the love of whom Cupid inflamed him for his 

 insolent challenge; so he is reported, once, to have solicited 

 the moon to accompany him apart into the deep woods. 



&quot;Lastly, Pan had no descendant, which also is a wonder, 

 when the male gods were so extremely prolific; only he was 

 the reputed father of a servant girl, called lambe, who used 

 to divert strangers with her ridiculous and prattling stories.&quot; 



This fable is, perhaps, the noblest of all antiquity, and 

 pregnant with the mysteries and secrets of nature. Pan, as 

 the name imports, represents the universe, about whose 

 origin there are two opinions; viz., that it either sprung 

 from Mercury, that is, the Divine Word, according to the 

 Scriptures and philosophical divines; or from the confused 

 seeds of things. For some of the philosophers 4 held that 

 the seeds and elements of nature were infinite in their sub 

 stance; whence arose the opinion of homogeneous primary 

 parts, which Anaxagoras either invented or propagated. 

 Others more accurately maintain that the variety of nature 

 can equally spring from seeds, certain and definite in sub 

 stance, but only diversified in form and figure, and attribute 

 the remaining varieties to the interior organization of the 

 seeds themselves. From this source the doctrine of atoms 

 is derived, which Democritus maintained, and Leucippus 



3 Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii. 4 Anaxagoras, in Diog. Laert. 



