In the fifteenth car, which had the natural and true appearance of a
shady forest counterfeited with much artifice, and was drawn by two
great white he-goats, was seen coming the rubicund Pan, the God of
forests and of shepherds, in the form of an old and horned Satyr,
crowned with foliage of the pine, with the spotted skin of a panther
across the body, and in the hands a great pipe with seven reeds and a
pastoral staff. At the foot of the car were seen walking some other
Satyrs and some old Sylvan Gods, crowned with fennel and lilies, and
holding some boughs of cypress in memory of the beloved Cyparissus.
After these, likewise, were seen coming two Fauns crowned with laurel,
and each with a cat upon the right shoulder; and behind them the wild
and beautiful Syrinx, beloved by Pan, who, flying from him, is said to
have been transformed by the Naiad sisters into a tremulous and musical
reed. Syrinx had in her company the other Nymph, Pitys, likewise beloved
by Pan; but since the wind Boreas was also and in like manner enamoured
of her, it is believed that out of jealousy he hurled her over a most
cruel rock, whereupon, being all shattered, it is said that out of pity
she was transformed by Mother Earth into a beautiful pine, from the
foliage of which her lover Pan used, as has been shown above, to make
himself a gracious and well-beloved garland. Then after these was seen
coming Pales, the revered custodian and protectress of flocks, dressed
as a gentle shepherdess, with a great vessel of milk in the hands, and a
garland of medicinal herbs; and with her the protectress of herds, by
name Bubona, in a similar pastoral dress, with an ornate head of an ox
that made a cap for her head; and Myiagrus, the God of flies, dressed in
white, with an infinite multitude of those importunate little creatures
about his head and his person, with a garland of spondyl, and with the
club of Hercules in his hand; and Evander, who first taught men in
Italy to make sacrifices to Pan, adorned with royal purple and the royal
head-band, and with the royal sceptre in his hand, concluded with
gracious pomp the last part of that pastoral, indeed, yet pleasing and
most fair company.
SIXTEENTH CAR, OF PLUTO AND OF PROSERPINE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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