PAN, the god of shepherds among the Greeks, was the son of Mercury, and of a nymph, the daughter of Dryops. He was born a noisy, grinning, hairy infant, fully equipped with horns, a puck-nose, a beard, a tail, and the feet of a goat. As soon as his mother saw her monstrous offspring, she fled from him in horror, and left him to the care of his father. Wrapped up in hare-skins, he was carried by Mercury to Olympus, and was there exhibited to the delighted gods. He was then given out to nymphs to be nursed. The young divinity grew up to be possessed of every rustic accomplishment. His goat-feet could walk lightly and gracefully through the mazes of the dance; his hands could wander nimbly and skilfully over the stops of the pastoral pipe; and his piercing sight, dashing recklessness, and wild lusty halloo, made him the very paragon of hunters. Adorned with all these qualifications, Pan settled down in Arcadia, and undertook the avocations of a rural deity. During his hours of business he protected flocks, bees, and game, and attended to the interests of shepherds, husbandmen, and hunters. A less beneficent part of his employment was to strike sudden fright into large herds of cattle, to startle travellers in lonely places of the forest, and to throw armies into irretrievable rout with a causeless alarm, which was called after him Panic terror. In his hours of leisure he took his mid-day slumber in a grotto, practised upon the syrinx, made love to the nymphs, and conducted with dance and song the greenwood merry-makings of the rustic divinities. He would occasionally pay a visit to Bacchus, a god to whom he was always welcome, on account of his loud-ringing voice, and his musical and calisthenic accomplishments. Occasionally also would his fondness for the sea lead him down to the coast to patronize fishing and marine amusements. Pan had many temples
PANENUS
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Panamá.
and shrines erected to him in Arcadia. There were also many other places in which his worship was observed. Among these was Athens, where a chapel was dedicated to him in consideration of the aid he had given to the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. His sacrifices were milk and honey. In addition to his best-known character as a god of Arcadia, Pan had also other characters. He was identified with the Faunus of the Romans and the Mendes of the Egyptians. He was also latterly considered as the universal god of nature, as the impersonation of the svir-tse—τὸ πᾶν.