464 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



Pan s mantle, or clothing, is with great ingenuity made of a 

 leopard s skin, because of the spots it has ; for in like manner the 

 heavens are sprinkled with stars, the sea with islands, the earth with 

 flowers, and almost each particular thing is variegated, or wears a 

 mottled coat. 



The office of Pan could not be more livelily expressed than by 

 making him the god of hunters ; for every natural action, every motion 

 and process, is no other than a chase : thus arts and sciences hunt 

 out their works, and human schemes and counsels their several ends ; 

 and all living creatures cither hunt out their aliment, pursue their prey, 

 or seek their pleasures, and this in a skilful and sagacious manner.* 

 He is also styled the god of the rural inhabitants, because men in this 

 situation live more according to nature than they do in cities and 

 courts, where nature is so corrupted with effeminate arts, that the 

 saying of the poet may be verified 



pars minima est ipsa puella sui. 



He is likewise particularly styled President of the Mountains, because 

 in mountains and lofty places the nature of things lies more open and 

 exposed to the eye and the understanding. 



In his being called the messenger of the gods, next after Mercury, 

 lies a divine allegory, as next after the Word of God, the image of the 

 world is the herald of the Divine power and wisdom, according to the 

 expression of the Psalmist, &quot; The heavens declare the glory of God, 

 and the firmament showcth his handiwork.&quot; 



Pan is delighted with the company of the Nymphs ; that is, the souls 

 of all living creatures are the delight of the world ; and he is properly 

 called their governor, because each of them follows its own nature as 

 a leader, and all dance about their own respective rings, with infinite 

 variety and never-ceasing motion. And with these continually join 

 the Satyrs and Sileni ; that is, youth and age ; for all things have a 

 kind of young, cheerful, and dancing time ; and again their time of 

 slowness, tottering, and creeping. And whoever, in a true light, con 

 siders the motions and endeavours of both these ages, like another 

 Dcmocritus, will perhaps find them as odd and strange as the gesticu 

 lations and antic motions of the Satyrs and Sileni. 



The power he had of striking terrors contains a very sensible 

 doctrine ; for nature has implanted fear in all living creatures ; as well 

 to keep them from risking their lives, as to guard against injuries and 

 violence ; and yet this nature or passion keeps not its bounds, but with 

 just and profitable fears always mixes such as are vain and senseless ; 

 so that all things, if we could see their insides, would appear full of 

 panic terrors. Thus mankind, particularly the vulgar, labour under a 

 high degree of superstition, which is nothing more than a panic-dread 

 that principally reigns in unsettled and troublesome times. 



* &quot;Torva leaena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capcllam : 

 Florcntem cytisum sequitur Usciva capella.&quot; 



