Hia f^vaats and prieite the na&ejig&ft tintais, which
were facrificed to him ; and the riches o f his temple were pro*
verbial even before the war of Troy. .
T he temple o f Apollo, it is related, was at firfl a kind of
cottage covered with boughs of laurel ; but he was. early prox
vided with a better habitation. An edifice o f Bone was ereâed
by Trophonius and Agamede v fo h ic h fubfifted. about feven,
hbndrèdi year® dndt was>Kburned in the year fix hundred and,
thirty .fix after, the taking of Troy, and five hundred fortyrçighî
before; Öbrift.?;Iti&meotioaeddn the hymn, to Apollp, aforibed
to Homeidju AtoopulentiandBiuBriods. faraBy*' c|ll©d ASötósepc
nnitian, which bad; fled^rQo» Athens and the tyrant Hippias,
contracted with the depUtiesiforithebuildifigiJ^f a new temple,
and lexcaeedeébi their tdgreeqoènt. The front was railed vSith
Parian marblévrjipfteàd of the Bone called Porus*; which re-»
fomMcd itria whitenefs, but was not fo heavy. A QosinthiaB
was the architedt.- This tenaplefoideforibed by Paufaniasj rT b §
pediments.were adorned with Dianas and ;TAtona, aftd; Apfifllps
and the i Mu%i$ the fetting ofoPheehus or the - Stift ^ with
Bacchus, and the women called Thyades. The architraves
were decorated with golden armour ; bucklers fulpended by the
Athenians after-the battle of Marathon, and BBldS JsjtofiïÂPth
thfe Gauls under Rrennus,. In the pbrticorwere iftfofjbpd the
celebrated, maxima* o f the feven ; fages o f Greece« There was
ari image! of Hoöiér, and in the-.ftgll was an altar ofoNepfomf»
with flatnes of the Fates, and o f Jupiter and Apollo, who wore
furnamed; Leaders of- gim , Fates. Near tjie , hearth ,feffore, the
altar, at which Neoptolemus the fon of Achilles was flain;by,.a
prieB/ flood the iron chair o f Pindar. In the fanjftuaryiWfas aft
image of Apollo gilded. The inclofore rwaStof great extent»
and. ^filieid'. With Treafnries, in which many cities, had*jooift»
fecrateB ! tenths, *©f Jipail j taken § in war, and with the -pubfls
danaftioni.of ïreijöwnedïflaïesiin various ages. ft/was the gmftd
repofitory of antient Grëèce, in which the labours of the
fculptor and Batuary, gods, heroes, and illufirious perlons, were
feen
feen colledted and arranged; the inequalities'of the area or
aedfrity* contributing to a full difplay of the noble affemblage, *
I t is obferved by Strabo that great riches, though the pro-
pdriy of a gqd, ,are not eafily focured. Several attempts to rob
A p& o are on record. Neoptolemus was (lain, while lacrificing,
on" fufpicion. Xerxes divided his army at Panopeus, and proceeded;
with the main body through Bcfeotia into Attica» while a
party, beeping Parnaflusfon the right, advanced along.Schifte to
Belphi, but was taken with a panic, ^ s ?neabiillium, and fled.
This • monarch, it is related, was* as weft apprised of the con*
tents of the temple and the fumptuous offerings of Halyattes
and Crcefus as of the' effe&s-whichdibvhad left behind in his
own palace. The divine hoard was foiled by. the Phocenfians
nftder Phifomelus, andi dilfipated; in a dong war With *he> Am-
phidtyons. The Gauls experienced a receptioaJKkbfhat of the
PerfianS»’ and manifefted fimilar difmay:aftd faperBition;! Sylla,
wanfing^oney ter pay Sis army/ fent to borrow- from the holy
t¥^fury,:- and when his meffenger would have frighten ed: him/
by* reporting a prodigy, that the found’ of a harp had been heard
Bbm within the fan<ftuary, replied/it wasiJaiigii that the god
was happy to oblige him.
, P P P P trade o f Apollo, after il had flourished for a long period,
Wia aMifted by the male pradbfoes o i f&m£ concerned id thb
^ytnerlirp, who werd 't<®^^«fhftbej^.andcoimip»«|Hy and
ruhidd ^ ©header o f their principal. T h e ! temple in the
time of Strabo Was reduced to extreme poverty, but the offerings,
which remained, were very numerous. Apollo was filent,
CXbepb fdme efforts at intervals m regain his-lbB credit.; Nero
attempted1 to drive himi as it Were by violence, from the cavern;
billing men at the mouth and polluting it with blood * but he
lingered on"aild would riofc entirely forfakclt. Anfwers were
reported "as given by him afterwards; but not without fufpicion
of forgery. An oracle of Apollo at another place informed the
c o n fu lte r s *