ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 65 



practised when the early relations are applied to more modern char- 

 acters and persons, though sometimes with great absurdity and ig- 

 norance, as in the present case: for Pan was one of the ancientest 

 gods, and long before the time of Ulysses: besides, Penelope was ven- 

 erated by antiquity for her matronal chastity. A third sort will have 

 him the issue of Jupiter and Hybris, that is, Reproach. But whatever 

 his origin was, the Destinies are allowed his sisters.a 



" He is described by antiquity with pyramidal horns reaching up to 

 heaven, a rough and shaggy body, a very long beard, of a biform figure, 

 human above, half-brute below, ending in goat's feet. His arms, or 

 ensigns of power, are a pipe in his left hand, composed of seven reeds ; 

 in his right a crook ; and he wore for his mantle a leopard's skin. 



" His attributes and titles were, the god of hunters, shepherds, and 

 all the rural inhabitants ; president of the mountains, and after Mercury 

 the next messenger of the gods. He was also held the leader and ruler 

 of the Nymphs, who continually danced and frisked about him, attended 

 with the Satyrs, and their elders the Sileni. He had also the power of 

 striking terrors, especially such as were vain and superstitious ; whence 

 they came to be called panic terrors.d 



" Few actions are recorded of him ; only a principal one is, that he 

 challenged Cupid at wrestling, and was worsted. He also catched the 

 giant Typhon in a net, and held him fast. They relate further of him, 

 that when Ceres growing 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 se- 

 cresy, a pair of ass's ears fastened on him for his sentences 



" There is very little said of his amours, which may seem strange 

 among such a multitude of gods, so profusely amorous. 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. 



" 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." 



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

 the mysteries and secrets of nature. Pan, as the name imports, repre- 

 sents the universe, about whose origin there arc two opinions; viz., 

 that it either sprung from Mercury, that is, the Divine Word, accord- 

 ing to the Scriptures and philosophical divines; or from the confused 

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

 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 

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