through the vale which separates Parnassus from Mount Cirphis. The ancient city of Delphi was probably em. bellished with many of the graces of architecture; but its retired and difficult position must have precluded it from ever having been of much extent, or from being very numerously inhabited. Yet, even to this point, retired and inaccessible as it appears, a conflux of votaries annually thronged from distant regions to propitiate the presiding Deity: ancient history bears ample testimony to his power and influence. The decisions of the tripod have been able to control the decrees of councils, to arrest the march of armies, and suspend the fall of empires. According to Plutarch, the spring was the season of consultation; later in the year the god was supposed to transfer his patronage to the altars of the Hyperboreans. The temple is stated to have been four times destroyed and renewed: the original structure was extremely simple, but the increasing affluence of the treasury gave to every succeeding edifice a proportionate increase of splendour. Pausanias, who wrote towards the close of the second century, speaks of the building which existed in his time; it was erected by order of the Amphictyons, from the plan of a Corinthian architect, and the expense defrayed by the voluntary offerings of the people. Of the astonishing collection of art and riches, which were deposited and arranged in the sanctuary, some idea may be formed from the plunder of Nero, who is related to have taken away not less than five hundred brazen statues, the loss of which was scarcely perceived. The opulence of the shrine attracted, in different ages, the avidity of successive conquerors; but it was reserved for the Emperor Constantine to complete its destruction, by the removal of the prophetic tripods. The decline and total ruin of the town was the natural and necessary consequence. In our ramble round the village we found a few mutilated and half-effaced inscriptions, containing scarcely any entire word. Massive fragments of walls are discernible in a variety of places; and however difficult to particularize the edifices of which they formed a part, it is impossible not to be struck with the grandeur of their ruins. A Greek monastery is on the scite of the gymnasium: evident traces of an extensive building still remain, although the exact limits are not easily definable. The stadium, according to Pausanias, adjoined the temple of Apollo, which was situated against the rock, immediately above the town: of this every vestige has perished. The theatre is also so completely destroyed, that its position cannot be ascertained. The hippodrome was near the river. The Pythian solemnities were originally confined to contests in music and poetry, the prize being awarded to whoever produced the best poem in honour of Apollo; they were subsequently extended, to comprise foot-races, and several of the combats celebrated at Olympia; in which the victor was crowned with a wreath of laurel. Latterly, the horse and chariot races were added; but the nature of the ground must have inevitably rendered these a very subordinate exhibition. The unfavourable state of the weather prevented our ascending the summit of Parnassus, and any successful attempt to explore the Corycian cave: the atmosphere, which had for some time been bright and glowing, became on a sudden obscured by a mist, which completely shut out every distant object. The view from the highest point of the mountain comprehends, most probably, the gulf of Corinth, and much of the beautiful scenery on the adjacent coast. LETTER XV. Thebes, May 7th. WE left Delphi for Lebadea between eight and nine the day before yesterday, with the declared intention of diverging towards Daulis, so as to pass the junction of the three roads, "Where the unhappy Theban slew his father 1!" By some unaccountable oversight,—or from the total disappearance of every vestige to indicate its situation, -we mistook the route, and were ultimately compelled to abandon the research as fruitless. Yet the directions of Pausanias are extremely explicit: "If," says he, "on quitting Daulis, you take the road for Delphi, and proceed straight forwards, you will pass 1 ΙΟΚΑΣΤΗ. Καὶ τὸν μὲν ὥσπερ γ ̓ ἡ φάτις ξένοι ποτὲ (Οιδιπ. Τυρ. ν. 734.) ΟΙΔΙΠΟΥΣ. Καὶ ποῦ ἐσθ ̓ ὁ χῶρος οὗτος, οὗ τόδ ̓ ἦν πάθος ; ΙΟΚΑΣΤΗ. Φωκὶς μὲν ἡ γῆ κλήζεται· σχιστὴ δ ̓ ὁδός Ες ταυτὸ Δελφῶν κἀπὸ Δαυλίας ἄγει. (v. 751.) |