Note 1781 — Chapter VI · PASTORAL LIFE.

The gods they principally worshiped were Pan, the Muses, and the Nymphs. To the Nymphs and Pan they sacrificed as to gods presiding over mountains, where they themselves usually wandered. Pan, moreover, was skilled in the pipe, the instrument of their race. The Muses they adored as the goddesses of poetry and music. Schol. Theoc. i. 6. In verse 12 of the same Eidyll. the Nymphs are spoken of where the office of the Muses is in contemplation, which may easily be explained. For the Muses are properly the Nymphs of those fountains which inspire poets with their lays. Cf. Voss. ad Virg. Eclog. iii. 84. By the Lydians the Muses were denominated Nymphs. Schol. Theoc. Eidyll. vii. 92. Cf. Eidyll. v. 140. Lyc. Cassand. 274. ibique Schol. et Potter. Kiessl. ad Theocrit.