About this Learned men cannot agree, for who was the first Author, is not sufficiently understood; _Donatus_, tis true, tells us tis proper to the Golden Age, and therefore must needs be the product of that happy time: but who was the Author, where, what time it was first invented hath been a great Controversy, and not yet sufficiently determined: _Epicharmus_ one of _Pythagoras_ his School, in his *alkyoni* mentions one _Diomus_ a _Sicilian_, who, if we believe _Athænæus_ was the first that wrote _Pastorals: those that fed Cattle had a peculiar kind of Poetry, call'd Bucolicks, of which Dotimus a Sicilian was inventer:_ _Diodorus Siculus_ *en tois mythologoumenois*, seems to make _Daphnis_ the son of _Mercury_ and a certain _Nymph_, to be the Author; and agreeable to this, _Theon_ an old _scholiast_ on _Theocritus_, in his notes upon the first _Idyllium_ mentioning _Daphnis_, adds, _he was the author of Bucolicks_, and _Theocritus himself_ calls him _the Muses Darling_: and to this Opinion of _Diodorus Siculus Polydore Virgil_ readily assents. But _Mnaseas_ of _Patara_ in a discourse of his concerning _Europa_, speaks thus of a Son of _Pan_ the God of Sheapards: _Panis Filium Bubulcum à quo & Bucolice canere:_ Now Whether _Mnaseas_ by that _Bubulcum_, means only a _Herds-man_, or one skilled in _Bucolicks_, is uncertain; but if _Valla's_ {11} judgment be good, tis to be taken of the latter: yet _Ælian_ was of another mind, for he boldly affirms that _Stesichorus_ called _Himeræus_ was the first, and in the same place adds, that _Daphnis_ the Son of _Mercury_ was the first Subject of _Bucolicks_. Some ascribe the Honor to _Bacchus_ the President of the _Nymphs, Satyrs_, and the other Country Gods, perhaps because he delighted in the Country; and others attribute it to _Apollo_ called _Nomius_ the God of Sheapards, and that he invented it then when he served _Admetus_ in _Thessaly_, and fed his Herds: For, tis likely, he to recreate himself, and pass away his time, applied his mind to such Songs as were best suitable to his present condition: Many think we owe it to _Pan_ the God of Sheapards, not a few to _Diana_ that extreamly delighted in solitude and Woods; and some say _Mercury_ himself: of all which whilst _Grammarians_ prattle, according to their usual custome they egregiously trifle; they suffer themselves to be put upon by Fables, and resign their judgment up to foolish pretentions, but things and solid truth is that we seek after. As about the Author, so concerning the place of its Birth there is a great dispute, some say _Sparta_, others _Peloponesus_, but most are for _Sicily_.