A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

PAN;

an Egyptian God who was worship∣ped under the Shape of a Goat, they called him also Mendes, because that Word signified an He-goat in the Egyptian Language. Eusebius gives us the Opinion and Words of Porphyrie concern∣ing him, who says, that Pan was one of the good Genii, engaged in the Service of Bacchus, who shew'd himself sometimes to labouring Men, and put them into such terrible Frights, that many of them died thereof, from whence these Frights came to be called Panick Fears. Euse∣bius very discreetly takes Notice of the Contra∣dictions of the said Philosophers, that would have Pan to be a good Genius, and yet made it cost them their Lives to whom he appeared: Its true that Pan was honoured in Egypt under the Form of an He-goat, and that the Damons very often took upon them the Shape of the said Animal: The Daemons in Scripture are often termed Pilosi, He goats: The Hebrew Word Sebirim signifies an He goat, Pilosi, Hirci: This sort of Idolatry was common even in Moses his Time, seeing the same had crept in among the Israelites: Non sacrificabunt ampliùs sacrificia sua Pilosis, post quos fornicari sunt.

Herodotus says, that the People of the Pro∣vince of Mendes placed Pan among the Gods who were before the 12. that he was represent∣ed with a She-goat's Head and the Legs of an He-goat; tho' he were believed to be really like unto other Gods, Lastly, that at Mendes it is a common Name to Pan, to an He-goat, and to a Town, there was kept a sacred He-goat, upon whose Death, all the Country went in Mourning, as others did upon the Death of Ayl or Mnevis. Plutarch reckons that the Pans and Satyrs hapning first to know of the Death of Osiris, who was killed by his Brother Typhon, and having spread the News of it, put the People into so great a Consternation, that that was after∣wards called Panich Fears: The Word Pan in Hebrew signifies Terror: Diodorus Siculus says, the Egyptian Priests first consecrated themselves to Pan, and that in their Temples they dedi∣cated the Images of their Pans in the Form of an He-goat; pretending the same was no more than to give Thanks unto the Gods for the Fer∣tility of Nature and of their Nation.

The Greeks, if we believe Herodotus, came late to know the History of Pan; that Historian says, it was not above 800 Years before his Time, and that the Greeks made him to be Mercury and Penelope's Son: In general he declares, that the Greeks came but by Degrees to the Knowledge of the Egyptian Deities, and that they formed their Genealogy according to the Time they came to be acquainted with them: And so they did not know Pan till after the Trojan War, be∣cause they make Penelope to be his Mother; and Lncian in his Dialogues of the Gods explains the Matter, where he brings in Pan and Mercury speaking thus.

Pan,

Good-morrow, Father.

Merc.

Good-morrow, Son, but who are you that call me so? for to look upon you, you are more like unto an He-goat than a God.

Pan,

You reflect upon your self more than I, in saying so; Do you no longer remember that pretty Woman whom you ravish'd in Arca∣dia? What makes you bite your Fingers? It was Penelope the Daughter of Icarus.

Merc.

And how comes it to pass that you are become horned, with a Beard, Tail, and Goat's Feet.

Pan,

It is because you were then transformed into the Shape of an He-goat that you might surprize her.

Merc.

I remember it, but I am asham'd to own it. Pan: I will not disgrace you at all, for besides that I am worshipped in Arcadia, where I possess 1000 Flocks, I am famous for my Skill in Musick, and have shewed my Valour in the Battle of Marathon, insomuch that the Athenians for my Reward have given me a Grot under their Cittadel, whether if you will ever come, you shall see how I am honoured there.

Pausanias says, that it was in the Reign of Pandion the Second at Athens, that those Plays and Combats called Lupercalia Lycoea, were insti∣tuted in Arcadia by Lycaon, who was King of the

Country, near unto the Temple of Pan, tho' they were consecrated to Jupiter Lycaeus. When Evander went from Arcadia into Italy, he car∣ried the Celebration of the Lupercalia in Honour of Pan thither; and Dionysius of Hallicarnassus gives a Description thereof, as of a Custom which was still in Force in his Time. Pausanias tells us, that Lycaon consecrated these Plays to Jupiter Lycaeus, but Dionysius of Hallicarnassus says, they were consecrated to Pan; which gives occasion to believe that the Arcadians confound∣ed Jupiter with Pan, of which the said Historian gives also a convincing Proof, when he says else∣where, that the greatest and most ancient of the Arcadian Gods was Pan: As Arcadia was a mountainous and woody Country, Its not strange they should make the God of the Mountains and Woods to be the greatest of all the Gods: montes & nemora Pani dicari. Ovid himself in his Fasti testifies, that Pan's Chief Priest was na∣med Flamen Dialis, as well as Jupiters. And this is clear, that they have either put the Name of Pan upon Jupiter himself, or invested Pan with the Majesty of Jupiter. Those who would make the ancient Fables to be a kind of Philosophy, which under those Disguises conceal the greatest Secrets of Nature, take Pan which in Greek signifies All, for the Universe, as Plutarch says in his Treatise of Osiris: That Part of Pan which has Humane Shape from the Wast upwards re∣presents Heaven and that Intelligent Being, whereby all the World is govern'd. His red and fiery Face denotes the Region of Elemen∣tary Fire: His Wrinkles and stern Looks the various Changes of the Air and Seasons: His Hairs are the Beams of the Sun; and his Horns denote the Moon which receives all the Influ∣ences of the Coelestial Bodies, and disperses the same again over the Earth: His lower Part is rough and hairy, which denotes the Earth with the Forests, Herbs and Plants growing thereon, his Two Legs are the Two Hemisphears that compose the World; his Belly is the Sea; and his Horn feet denote the Stability of the Earth. The Panther's Skin which he carries upon his Shoulders, the which is full of round Spots, represents the Firmament full of Stars, says Probus the Grammarian upon Virgil's Georgicks: The Seven Reed-pipes joined together denote the Seven Planets and their Spears; the Har∣mony of the Seven Tones, that of their Courses and Revolutions, says Cicero in his Somnium Sci∣••••••••is; the Breath wherewith he makes them sound is the Spirit of Life which is in these Stars. He holds a crooked Staff in his Hand that signi∣fies the Year; his amourous Complexion, and the Laciviousness wherewith he pursues the Nymphs is the Desire of Generation which spreads it self thro' all the Beings of this World, who attract Matter proper for that End from the Moisture which is represented by the Nymphs.