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This happens in army camps, when all of a sudden the horses and the men are startled, for no apparent reason.
Women used to celebrate customary rites for Pan by shouting. And Menander in Dyskolos [says]: "one must not approach this god in silence."[1]
Or because they attributed to Pan things [that happen] for no reason; for example, the enemy seems to attack; and [the soldiers] pick up their weapons in the commotion, form ranks, and attack one another.
In the Epigrams: "Charikles on the headland dedicated this tawny hairy goat that has just grown a beard to crag-loving Pan."[2]
This happens during war, as Theodoros the Rhodian general says in his memoirs: "at such times it is best to stay by the weapons and keep calm"; and he himself would run around shouting and giving the order through his servants that everyone was to stay in their tents fully armed.[3]
And [there is a] proverb.[4]

*panikw=| dei/mati: tou=to gi/netai e)pi\ tw=n stratope/dwn, h(ni/ka ai)fni/dion oi(/ te i(/ppoi kai\ oi( a)/nqrwpoi e)ktaraxqw=si, mhdemia=s ai)ti/as profanei/shs. tw=| de\ *pani\ ei)w/qeisan o)rgia/zein ai( gunai=kes meta\ kraugh=s. kai\ *me/nandros e)n *dusko/lw|, siwph=| fhsi tou/tw| tw=| qew=| ou) dei=n prosie/nai. h)\ o(/ti ta\ a)/neu ai)ti/as tw=| *pani\ a)neti/qesan: doca/zetai ga\r polemi/wn e)/fodos ei)=nai: kai\ a)nalamba/nontes o(/pla u(po\ taraxh=s, a)nqista/menoi a)llh/lois ma/xontai. e)n *)epigra/mmasi: *pani\ filoskope/lw| la/sion para\ prw=na *xariklh=s knako\n u(phnh/tan to/nd' a)ne/qhke tra/gon. tou=to gi/netai peri\ tou\s pole/mous: *qeodw/rou tou= *(rodi/wn strathgou= e)n u(pomnh/masi le/gontos, o(/ti kra/tisto/n e)stin e)n toi=s toiou/tois kairoi=s me/nein e)pi\ tw=n o(/plwn kai\ th\n h(suxi/an e)/xein: au)to/s te periqe/wn e)bo/a kai\ dia\ tw=n u(phretw=n parh/ggeile me/nein e)n tai=s skhnai=s kaqwplisme/nous a(/pantas. kai\ paroimi/a.

For the headword phrase see Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.78.4; Jewish War 5.93 and 295; and cf. e.g. Pausanias 10.23.10.
[1] Menander, Dyskolos 433-4 -- cited here from the scholia to Aristophanes, Lysistrata 2.
[2] Greek Anthology 6.32.3-4 (Agathias Scholasticus); cf. iota 387, pi 2954. Find further excerpts from this epigram at delta 1107, kappa 1850, and lambda 717.
[3] Theodorus and his work (Jacoby registers them as FGrH 230 F1) are otherwise not securely attested; and the source of this material as a whole is unidentifiable.
[4] What precisely this refers to is unclear. There is nothing of relevance in the paroemiographers.

David Whitehead (supplied notes; augmented keywords; cosmetics) on 14 December 2002@10:49:15.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaking; raised status) on 13 August 2013@07:12:05.
Catharine Roth (coding, deleted link) on 22 September 2013@02:13:37.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 21 May 2016@09:38:05.
David Whitehead (expanded a note) on 19 June 2016@05:36:51.
Catharine Roth (tweaked note) on 20 January 2019@02:18:06.
Ronald Allen (added cross-references n.2) on 26 August 2023@11:59:25.

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