SATYR. In ancient Greek mythology the satyrs were spirits, half-human half-bestial, that haunted the woods and mountains, companions of Pan and Dionysus. Fancy represented them as strongly built, with flat noses, pointed ears, and the tails of horses or goats. They were a roguish and wanton but faint-hearted folk, lovers of wine and women, ever roaming the wild to the music of pipes and cymbals, castanets and bagpipes, dancing with the nymphs or pursuing them, striking terror into men, whose cattle they killed and whose women they made love to. In the earlier Greek art they appear as old aud ugly, much like wild apes; but in later art, especially in works of the Attic school, this savage character is softened into a more youthful and graceful aspect. There is a famous statue supposed to be a copy of a work of Praxiteles, representing a graceful satyr leaning against a tree with a flute in his hand. In Attica there was a species of drama known as the Satyric drama; it parodied the legends of gods and heroes, and the chorus was composed of satyrs. Euripides’s play of the Cyclops is the only extant example of this kind of drama. The symbol of the shy and timid satyr was the hare. In some districts of modern Greece the spirits known as Calicantsars offer points of resemblance to the ancient satyrs; they have goats’ ears and the feet of asses or goats, are covered with hair, and love women and the dance. The herdsmen of Parnassus believe in a demon of the mountain who is lord of hares and goats....