462 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



giant Typhon in a net, and held him fast. They relate farther 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 like 

 wise 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. 



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

 among such a multitude of gods, so profusely amorous. He is only re 

 ported 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 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, re 

 presents 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 they who allow only one beginning of all things, either 

 ascribe it to God ; or if they suppose a material beginning, acknow 

 ledge it to be various in its powers ; so that the whole dispute comes to 

 these points ; viz., either that nature proceeds from Mercury, or from 

 Penelope and all her suitors.* 



The third origin of Pan seems borrowed by the Greeks from the 

 Hebrew mysteries, either by means of the Egyptians, or otherwise ; for 

 it relates to the state of the world, not in its first creation, but as made 

 subject to death and corruption after the fall ; and in this state it was 

 and remains, the offspring of God and Sin, or Jupiter and Reproach. 

 And therefore these three several accounts of Pan s birth may seem 

 true, if duly distinguished in respect of things and times. For this 

 Pan, or the universal nature of things, which we view and contemplate, 

 had its origin from the divine Word and confused matter, first created 

 by God himself, with the subsequent introduction of sin, and conse 

 quently corruption. 



The Destinies, or the natures and fates of things, are justly made 

 Pan s sisters, as the chain of natural causes links together the rise, 

 duration, and corruption: the exaltation, degeneration, and works; 

 the processes, the effects, and changes, of all that can any way happen 

 to things. 



* &quot; Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta 

 Semina terrarumque animceque marisque fuissent ; 

 Et liquid! simul ignis ; ut his exordia primis 

 Omnia, et ipse ten*r mundi concreverit orbis.&quot; Virgil, Eel. vi. 31. 



