News of Pan's death came to a man named Thamus, a pilot of a ship bound for Italy by way of Paxi. As Thamus was sailing along in the Aegean on a quiet evening, he heard a loud voice announcing that "Great Pan is dead". This announced the end of Paganism; Pan with his pipes, the god of the natural, had yielded to the God of the supernatural. The story is told by a character in Plutarch's dialogue "On why oracles came to fail". When the boat Thamus was piloting came opposite Palodes, and there was neither wind nor wave, from the stern, looking toward the land, he said the words as he heard them: "Great Pan is dead". Even before he had finished there was a great cry of lamentation, not of one person but of many, mingled with exclamations of amazement. As many persons were on the vessel, the story was soon spread abroad in Rome, and Thamus was sent for by Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius became so convinced of the truth of the story that he caused an inquiry and investigation to be made about Pan, and the scholars, who were numerous at this court, conjectured that he was the son born of Hermes and Penelope, based on the mystical conclusion that the numerological value of the name Pan equates to 131, the number of lovers reputedly entertained by Penelope.