QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. From what does Pan derive his name? What was he called by the Latins, and under what title was he worshipped at Rome? What is the origin of Pan? How is he represented? What is the origin of the phrase "panic-struck?" What does the image of Pan signify? What instruments did he invent, and what occurs when he blows his pipe? What does Lucretius say of the invention of the pipes? What were used in the sacrifices of Pan? CHAPTER XII. SILVANUS AND SILENUS. ALTHOUGH many writers confound Silvanus the Fauni, Satyri, and Sileni, with Pan, yet, as others distinguish them, we shall treat of them separately, and begin with Silvanus. Silvanus, who is placed next to Pan, with the feet of a goat, and the face of a man, of little stature. He holds cypress in his hand stretched out. He is so called from silva, the woods; for he presides over them. He loved the boy Cyparissus, who had a tame deer, in which he took great pleasure. Silvanus by chance killed it; upon which the youth died for grief. Therefore Silvanus changed him into a cypress-tree, and carried a branch of it always in his hand, in memory of his loss. Silenus follows next, with a flat nose, bald head, large ears, and a small flat body; he derives his name from his jocular temper, because he perpetually jests upon the people. He sits upon a saddle backed ass but when he walks, he leans upon a staff. He was foster-father to Bacchus his master, and his perpetual companion, and consequently was almost always drunk, as we find him described in the sixth Eclogue of Virgil. The cup which he and Bacchus used, was called Cantharus; and a staff with which he supported himself, Ferula: this he tised when he was so drunk, as it often happened, that he could not sit, but fell from his ass. The Satyrs were not only constant companions of Silenus, but were assistants to him; they held him in great esteem, and honoured him as their father; and when they became old, they were called Sileni too. And concerning Silenus' ass, they say, that he was translated into heaven, and placed among the stars; because in the giant's war, Silenus rode on him, and helped Jupiter very much. * When Silenus was asked, "What was the best thing that could befall man?" he, after long silence, answered, "It is best for all never to be born, but being born, to die very quickly." Which expression Pliny reports nearly in the same words: †There have been many who have judged it happy never to have been born, or to die immediately after one's birth. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. How is Silvanus represented? From what is his name derived? Why is he represented with a branch of cypress in his hand? How is Silenus represented? What are his cap and staff called? Who were his companions? What became of his ass? What was the decision of Silenus with respect to the best thing that can befall man? *Rogatus quidnam, esset hominibus optimum: respondit om. nibus esse optimum non nasci, et natos quam citissime inteire. Plut in Consolatione Apol. + Multi extitere qui non nasci, optimum censerunt, aut quam citissime aboleri. In Prefat. 1. 7 173 CHAPTER XIII. THE SATYRS, FAUNS, PRIAPUS, ARISTÆUS TERMINUS. BEHOLD! Those are Satyrs who dance under the shade of that tall and spreading oak; they have heads armed with horns, goat's feet and legs, crooked hands, and tails not much shorter than horses' tails. There is no animal in nature more libidinous than these gods. Their *name itself shows their nature. The Fauns, whom you see joined with the Satyrs, differ from them in the name only; at least they are not unlike them in their looks: for they have hoofs and horns, and are crowned with the branches of the pine. When they meet drunken persons, they stupify them with their looks alone. The boors of the country call them the "rural gods;" and pay them the more respect because they are armed with horns and nails, and painted in terrible shapes. Faunus, or Fatuellus, was the son of Picus, king of the Latins. He married his own sister, whose name was Fauna or Fatuella: he consecrated and made her priestess; after which she had the gift of prophecy. History likewise tells us that this Faunus was the father and prince of the other Fauns and Satyrs. His name was given him from his skill in prophecying; and thence also fatus signifies both persons that speak rashly and inconsiderately, and enthusiasts; because they who prophecy, deliver the mind and will of another, and speak things which themselves, many times, do not understand. Priapus, painted with a sickle in his hand, was the son of Venus and Bacchus, born at Lampsacus; from whence he was banished, till by the oracle's Satyrus derivatur aro ons vadus a veretro. Euseb. Præp Evan. 15* 1 command he was recalled, and made god, of the gardens, and crowned with garden herbs. He carries a sickle in his hand, to cut off from the trees all superfluous boughs, and to drive away thieves and beasts, and mischievous birds; whence he is called Avistupor. His image is usually placed in gardens, as we may learn from Tibullus, Virgil, and Horace. He is called Hellespontiacus by the poets; because the city Lampsacus, where he was born, was situate upon the Hellespont. He was very deformed, which misfortune was occasioned by the ill usage that his mother suffered while pregnant, from Juno. He was named Priapus, Phallus, and Fascinum, from his deformity. All these names have an indecent signification; though by some he is called Bonus Dæmon, or the good Genius. Aristæus; whom you see busied in that nursery of olives, supporting and improving the trees, is employed in drawing oil from the olive, which art he first invented. He also found out the use of honey, and therefore, you see rows of bee-hives near him. For these two profitable inventions, the ancients paid him divine honours. He was otherwise called Nomius and Agræus, and was the son of Apollo by Cyrene; or, as Cicero says, the son of Liber Pater, educated by the nymphs, and taught by them the art of making oil, honey, and cheese. He fell in love with Euridice, the wife of Orpheus, and pursued her into a wood, where a serpent stung her so that she died. On this account the nymphs hated him, and destroyed all his bees to revenge the death of Euridice. The loss was exceedingly deplored by him; and asking his mother's advice, he was told by the oracle that he ought by sacrifices to appease Euridice. Wherefore he sacrificed to her four bulls and four heifers, and his loss was supplied; for suddenly a swarm of bees burst forth from the carcases of the bulls. Another god, greatly honoured in the city of Rome, is Terminus, because they imagine that the boundaries and limits of men's estates are under his protection. His name, and the divine honours paid to him by the ancients, are mentioned by Ovid, Tibullus, and Seneca. The statue of this god was either a square stone, or a log of wood planed; which they usually perfumed with ointment, and crowned with garlands. And, indeed, the Lapides Terminales (that is, "land-marks,") were esteemed sacred; so that whoever dared to move, or plough up, or transfer them to another place, his head became devoted to the Diis Terminalibus, and it was lawful for any body to kill him. And further, though they did not sacrifice the lives of animals to those stones, because they though that it was not lawful to stain them with blood; yet they offered wafer made of flour to them, and the first fruits of corn, and the like: and upon the last day of the year, they always observed festivals to their honour, called Terminalia. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. How are the Satyrs represented? How are the Fauns represented, and what are they called by the country-boors? What does history say of Faunus ? How did he obtain his name? Who was Priapus, and where was he born? How is he represented, and for what is the sickle in his hand? Why was he called Hellespontiacus? Where is his image placed? What is Aristaus's employment? What did he invent? Why was he called Nomius? What is the story of Euridice? How did Terminus derive his name? What was his statue ? What is said of the Lapides i erminales? What did the ancients offer as sacrifices to these stones? |