[341] Hist. Rom. l. i. p. 20, 21. ed. R. Stephani, Par. 1546. folio.
As it has been a frequent error with nations to push back their annals into a higher antiquity than was consistent with fact, this may have been the case in the present instance. For it is to be observed, that according to Herodotus the worship of Pan did not arise in Arcadia until after the time when according to this latter statement it was introduced from Arcadia into Latium.
[342] Livii l. i. c. 4.
According to Pausanias (l. viii. c. 3. § 2.) the first Greek colony, which went into Italy, was from Arcadia, being conducted thither by Œnotrus, an Arcadian prince[343]. This was several centuries before the expedition under Evander, and the part of Italy thus colonized was the southern extremity, afterwards occupied by the Bruttii[344]. If with Niebuhr we regard this tradition only in the light of a genealogical table, designed to indicate the affinities of tribes and nations, still the simple fact of the colonization of South Italy by Arcadians certainly authorizes the conjecture, that Arcadia was one of the stepping-stones, by which the art of sheep-breeding was transported from Asia into Europe.
[343] As further evidence for this tradition see Pherecydis Fragmenta, a Sturtz, p. 190. Virg. Æn. i. 532, and iii. 165. Compare Heyne, Excursus vi. ad Æn. l. iii.
[344] Heyne, Excursus xxi. ad Æn. l. i. Niebuhr, Röm. Geschichte, i. p. 57.
The reader will have perceived from the observations already made on the worship of Faunus in Italy, that the Roman Faunus was the same with the Arcadian Pan. It seems no sufficient objection to this hypothesis, that a few Roman authors have supposed Faunus to be either the son of Mars[345], or of Picus and the grandson of Saturn, thus connecting him with their native mythology, or that his oracle was held by them in high repute[346]. It is here sufficient to remark, that we find him extensively recognized in Italy as a pastoral divinity.
Stretch’d on the springing grass, the shepherd swain
His reedy pipe with rural music fills;
The god, who guards his flock, approves the strain,