Hymn 19 — To Pan

Sing to us, O Muse, of that dread child of Hermes and Penelope — the goat-footed, two-horned, noise-loving Pan. He it is who wanders over every wooded ridge and windswept peak and rocky path, drawn hither and thither through the thickets. Sometimes he courses through the glistening high mountains, and sometimes he presses on among the shadowy crests.

Pan, the great shepherd god, plays his sweet-sounding pipes and leads the dance of the nymphs upon the high hills while his reedy music passes through the wildwood. They sing of the blessed gods and of high Olympus and choose to tell of such an one as luck-bringing Hermes above the rest, how he is the swift messenger of all the gods. Then they come all together to Arcadia full of springs, the mother of flocks, where his holy place is as a god is.

It was there that Hermes was loved by Penelope and the goat-footed Pan was born of them both. Then the divine Hermes left the shadowy mountains and came to Olympus, a great joy to the immortals, with the boy wrapped in the skin of a mountain hare. They all rejoiced in heart, and Bacchic Dionysus in especial; and they called the boy Pan because he delighted all their hearts.