Nupta, quid expectas? non tu pollentibus herbis, and Juv. S. II. 140. steriles moriuntur, et illis Turgida non prodest condita pyxide Lyde In the two following extracts Ovid gives a description of these rites, and endeavours, in various ways, to explain their origin. He then proceeds to inquire into the etymology of the word Lupercal, and first derives it from Lupus, supposing the den of the wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus to have been situated at this spot, which leads him to repeat the legend of the exposure of the twins. As a second derivation, we are told that we may consider Lupercus a translation of Λυκαίος, an epithet of Pan, to whom the Λυκαίον ὄρος or Wolf Mountain in Arcadia was sacred. This was the Greek version of the matter, and commonly current among the Romans in the age of Virgil, as we see from E. VIII. 342. Hic lucum ingentem, quem Romulus acer Asylum Some curious details are given by Dionysius, who tells us that one of the first acts of the colony under Evander was to consecrate a shrine to Lycean Pan, the most ancient and honoured of the Arcadian deities, "having found out a fitting spot which the Romans call Lupercalium, but we (the Greeks) would name Lyceum. The ground in every direction about the sacred inclosure being now covered with buildings, it has become difficult to form an idea of the original aspect of the place. But there was in ancient times, as we are told, a great cave under the hill, covered over by a dense thicket, deep springs welled from beneath the rocks, while the cliffs all round were shaded by numerous tall trees. Having there erected an altar to the god, they performed, in the manner of their country, a sacrifice which is still offered by the Romans in the month of February, after the winter solstice, the ancient ceremonies being performed without change." 1 The note of Servius is worth reading. There can be little doubt, however, that these derivations and explanations' are all equally futile, for we find distinct traces of an ancient Latin god and goddess, Lupercus and Luperca, of whom the latter is said to be the very wolf who suckled the twins raised to the rank of a deity. Hence the Luperci would be their priests, the Lupercal their shrine, the Lupercalia their proper festival. Their worship was afterwards mixed up with that of Faunus, who in his turn was identified with Pan, thus forming one of those confused combinations so frequent in the religion of the later Romans.3 1. (Tertia post Idus.) The Faunalia commenced on the Ides of February. See Extract from Ov. Fast. II. 193, p. 111. 2. (Fauni...bicornis.) Below line 25 we have “Cornipedi Fauno." The Fauns, however, are frequently represented in ancient works of art without the goat hoof, and are often distinguished merely by a short tail. (Eunt,) i. e., proceed. We have seen in the Introduction that the Lupercalia were considered as forming part of the festival of Faunus. 3. (Pierides.) See note on Ov. Amor. III. ix. 26. p. 263. 5. Pan was the shepherd-god of the pastoral Arcadians, and his worship was for a long period confined to that region. When Phidippides, an Athenian courier, was traversing Mount Parthenius, above Tegea, a short time before the battle of Marathon, he was encountered by the deity, who, calling upon him by name with a loud voice, commanded him to ask the Athenians why they paid no respect to a power who had ever been friendly to them and was still willing to promote their welfare. In consequence of this remonstrance, after the defeat of the Persians, a temple was dedicated to Pan beneath the Acropolis, and his favour was propitiated by annual sacrifices and torch races." He is not mentioned either by Homer or Hesiod, but in the Homeric Hymns Hermes is said to have been enamoured of the nymph Dryops, who Bore him a son monstrous to look upon : } We ought not to omit a very choice one preserved by Quinctilian (I. 5.) who tells us that some persons maintained that Lupercal was a triple compound of the words luere per capram. 2 See Justin XLIII. 1. Varro ap. Arnob. 1V. 3. Lactant. I. 20. Hartung 11. p. 176. There were Faunalia in December also, so that possibly Faunus may originally have had no connection with the festivals in February. See Horace, Ode to Faunus, C. III. xviii. Ludit herboso pecus omne campo-Quum tibi Nonæ redeunt Decembres, + Herodotus II. 145. says that Hercules, Dionysus and Pan were reckoned among the Greeks the most recent of the Gods. 5 Herod. VI. 105.6 Hymn XVII. The nurse sprung up and fleeing left the babe, His visage grim with shaggy hair o'er-grown. Hermes, however, proud of his boy, wrapped him up in the skin of a mountain-hare and carried him to the celestial abodes, where he was welcomed with delight by the immortals, especially by Dionysus, and received the name of Pan because he pleased all Πᾶνα δέ μιν καλέεσκον, ὅτι φρένα πᾶσιν ἔτερψε. According to other more recent authorities, he was the son of Zeus and Thymbris, of Zeus and Callisto, of Penelope and Hermes transformed into a goat, of Penelope and all her suitors, &c. The name (which is probably derived from Táw, to tend flocks, to feed,) evidently suggested the last of these genealogies, and led later writers2 to assert that this God was a symbol of the Universe or of Universal Nature, an idea to which Milton alludes in the lines, while Universal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, All wild voices heard echoing through the hills, strange and unearthly sounds of every description, and sudden inexplicable alarms3 were attributed to Pan, and hence the terms Πανεῖα, δεῖμα Πανικόν, Panici terrores, &c., employed by the Greek and Roman writers, from whom the word panic has been adopted in our language.1 We find in Silius Italicus a very minute and lively description of Pan, when he was despatched by Jove to save Capua from the vengeance of the Romans, (XIII. 326.) Pan Iove missus erat, servari tecta volente 1 Apollod. I. 4, 1. Schol. Theocrit. I. 3. See also Hemsterh. ad Lucian. T. I. p. 270. Hymn. Orphic. X. 3 See Eurip. Rhes. 36, and Schol. and Valer. Flacc. III. 46. 4 Compare remarks on Faunus in the Introduction to this Extract. Nulla in præruptum tam prona et inhospita cautes, Dulce sonat calamis, ducit stabula omnia cantu. 7. Pholoe (Mauro bouni) is a mountain on the N. W. of Arcadia, and together with the lofty range of Erymanthus (Olonos) of which it is a continuation, forms the boundary between Arcadia and Elis. The city Stymphalus (Kiona) and the Stymphalis Palus (Zaracca) were situated at the N. E. corner of Arcadia. The lake was the scene of one of the labours of Hercules, who was required to dislodge and drive away the countless multitudes of birds which thronged its thickly wooded banks.' The Ladon which rises in the north of Arcadia, and, after a considerable course, falls into the Alpheus abové Olympia, is in many respects remarkable. We are told that it was the most beautiful of all the Grecian streams, that its banks were the scene of the adventures of Daphne, that one of its tributaries the Arvanius produced fishes which sung like blackbirds,3 and that near the town of Clitor, situated on another tributary of the same name, there was a fountain which inspired all who drank of its waters with a distaste for wine. Ov. Met. XV. 322, Clitorio quicumque sitim de fonte levarit, The Ladon is mentioned again in the Fasti V. 89. Arcades hunc, Ladonque rapax, et Mænalos ingens and again when narrating the transformation of Syrinx, Met. I. 702. Nonacris (Naukria) was an ancient city near the sources of the Ladon; it was chiefly celebrated for the rivulet of Styx, which fell drop 1 Apollod. II. 5, 5. Pausan, VIII. 22. Ov. Met. IX. 186. 2 Pausan. VIII. 20. 3 Pausanias tells us gravely, however, that although he saw the fish caught and waited until sun-set when they were said to be most vocal, he heard them utter no sound. Other authors assign this property to the fish of the Ladon itself, others to those of the Clitor. See Athenæus VIII. 3. by drop from a precipitous rock above the town. This water was said to possess many marvellous properties; it was a deadly poison to all living creatures; vessels of glass, china, or earthenware were broken by its force; those of horn, bone, and ordinary metals were dissolved, even gold itself became corroded: the only substance which resisted its power was a horse's hoof, and consequently cups made of this were alone capable of containing it.1 Ovid tells us that the Naiad Syrinx was Inter Hamadryadas celeberrima Nonacrinas, and gives the epithet of Nonacrina to the Arcadian heroines Atalanta and Callisto. Cyllene (Zyria) which rises immediately above Stymphalus, is the loftiest of the Arcadian mountains, and was the birth place of Hermes2 (Mercury), so Virg. Æ. VIII. 138. Vobis Mercurius pater est, quem candida Maia Hence Cyllenius and Cyllenia proles1 for Mercury, Cyllenius ignis for the star of Mercury; and Ovid gives the name of Cyllenea testudo to a particular manner of dressing the hair so as to resemble a lyre, which was the instrument invented by Mercury. The Parrhasii we have had before. See note p. 296. 11 It will be seen from the various readings that many MSS. have aquarum instead of equarum. If we prefer the former we may understand either the fountains and streams of the Arcadian Highlands, or the waters of the deep; for Pan loved to wander on the sea-shore, and is hence termed ἁλίπλαγκτος by Sophocles, ἄκτιος by Theocritus,8 while Aschylus thus describes Psyttaleia,9 7 An isle there is in front of Salamis Of narrow bounds, to ships inhospitable, Along whose sea-wash'd beach dance-loving Pan Is wont to stalk.............. 13. (Evander.) See Introduction to Extract from Fasti I. 469. p. 294. 15. (Pelasgis.) By the Pelasgi we are to understand in general that ancient and widely diffused tribe which was the common parent of the Greeks and of the earliest civilized inhabitants of Italy. All 1 Pausan. VIII. 17, 18. 2 Homer. Hymn. in Merc. 3 Virg. Æ. IV. 252. 4 258. 5 G. 1. 337, 6 A. A. III. 147. 7 Aj. 695. 8 Idyll. V. 14. 9 Pers. 454. See Blomfield's note. |