Pan In Arcadia
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/pæn/; Ancient Greek: Πάν, romanized: Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring.
In Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna; he was also closely associated with Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-century Neopagan movement.
doth not the pleasantness of this place carry in it self sufficient reward for any time lost in it ? do you not see how all things conspire together to make this country a heavenly dwelling ? do you not see the grass, how in colour they excel the emerald, every one striving to pass his fellow, and yet they are all kept of an equal height ?
Sand see you not the rest of these beautiful flowers, each of which would require a man's wit to know, and his life to express ?
do not these stately trees seem to maintain their flourishing old age with the only happiness of their feat, being clothed with a continual spring, because no beauty here should ever fade ? doth not the air breathe health, which the birds, delightful both to ear and eye, do daily solemnize with the sweet consent of their voices ?
is not every Echo thereof a perfect musick ? and these fresh and delightful brooks how slowly they slide away, as loth to leave the company of so many things united in perfection ? and with sweet a murmur they lament their forced departure ? certainly, certainly, cousin, it must needs be that some goddess inhabiteth this region, who is the soul of the soil : for neither is any less than a goddess, worthy to be shrined in such a heap of pleasures : nor any less than a goddess could have made it so perfect a plat of the celestial dwellings.
Arcadia (Greek: Αρκαδία) refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness. Arcadia is a poetic term associated with bountiful natural splendor and harmony. The 'Garden' is often inhabited by shepherds. The concept also figures in Renaissance mythology. Although commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting to the progressive nature of Utopian desires.
The inhabitants were often regarded as having continued to live after the manner of the Golden Age, without the pride and avarice that corrupted other regions. It is also sometimes referred to in English poetry as Arcady. The inhabitants of this region bear an obvious connection to the figure of the noble savage, both being regarded as living close to nature, uncorrupted by civilization, and virtuous.