[279] Paus. i. 44. 4.
[280] Diog. Laert. vi. 41. Æliani Var. Hist. xii. 56.
In the Peloponnesus, Arcadia was always remarkable for the attention paid to sheep.
Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern times. Here the lively genius and imaginative disposition common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contemplation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of mountain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character, highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, generally favorable to the development of the domestic and social virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to show in what degree the want of higher attainments in religious knowledge and moral cultivation was supplied by the peculiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint account of the genuine Arcadian system of religion and manners without attempting to refute at length the opposite views, which have been adopted by ancient and modern writers.
The peculiar Divinity of Arcadia, whose worship had a constant and manifest reference to the principal employments of the inhabitants, was Pan. Hence he is called by Virgil and Propertius “the God of Arcadia[281].” According to Herodotus (ii. 145.), Pan, the son of Mercury (who was born at Cyllene in Arcadia, where Mercury was previously worshipped,) first saw the light after the Trojan war, and about 800 years before his own time. Thus we are able to refer the supposed birth of Pan, and consequently the commencement of his worship to about the year 1260 B. C.[282].
[281] Virg. Buc. x. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17.
[282] Hist. d’Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359, 582.
The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his habits and employments, are described as follows in the most ancient document which we have relating to him, viz. Homer’s Hymn to Pan. Mercury tended rough flocks at Cyllene in the service of a mortal man, being enamored of a beautiful nymph. In the course of time she bore him a son, having the feet of a goat, two horns upon his forehead, a long shaggy beard, and a bewitching smile. This was Pan, who became the god of the shepherds, and the companion of the mountain nymphs, penetrating through the densest thickets, and inhabiting the most wild, rough, and lofty summits of the sylvan Arcadia. There it is his business to destroy the wild beasts; and when, having returned from hunting, he drives his sheep into a cave, he plays upon his reeds a tune sweet as the song of any bird in spring. The nymphs, delighting in melody, listen to him when they go to the dark fountain, and the god sometimes appears among them, wearing on his back the hide of a lynx, which he has lately killed, and he joins with them in the choral song and dance upon a meadow variegated with the crocus and the hyacinth. He is beloved by Bacchus, and is the delight of his father Mercury, and he celebrates their worship beyond that of all the other gods.
Callimachus (Hymn. in Dianam, 88.) represents Pan at his fold in Arcadia, feeding his dogs with the flesh of a lynx, which he has caught on Mænalus. It is to be observed, that the care of dogs to guard the flock was an indispensable part of the pastoral office. Philostratus, in his Second Book of Pictures[283], supposes the nymphs to have been reproving Pan for his want of grace in dancing, telling him that he leapt too high and like a goat, and offering to teach him a more gentle method. He pays no attention to them, but tries to catch hold of them. Upon this they surprise him sleeping at noon after the toils of the chase; and he is represented in the picture with his arms tied behind him, and enraged and struggling against them, while they are cutting off his beard and trying to transform his legs and to humanize him.
[283] Philostrati Senioris Imag. l. ii. c. 11.