100 ADVANCEMENT OP LEAtWIHG, [BOOK tl. 



disconsolate for the rape of Proserpine, liid 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. 



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

 strange among such a multitude of gods, so profusely amo 

 rous. 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 1 held that the 

 Reeds and elements of nature were infinite in their substance ; 

 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 substance, 

 but only diversified in form and figure, and attribute the 

 v maining varieties to the interior organization of the seeds 

 ttntMieives. From this source the doctrine of atoms is de 

 rived, which Democritus maintained, and Leucippus found 

 out. But others teach only one principle of nature Thales, 

 water; Anaximenes, air; Heraclitus, hre e and defined tliis 



c Ovid, Metamorphoses, ii. d Anaxagoras, in Diog. Laert. 



e This difference between the three philosophies is nothing else, aa 

 a has observed ^De Di;ta, lib. i.), than a mere dispute about 



