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264
confulters, that he fhould no more recoverutterance at Delphi,
hut enjoined the continuance of the accuftomed offerings.
c h a p l x v i i .
Site o f Delphi— fTbe court o f the temple—-ExtinSlion o f Apollo—
Veftges-—An infcription— Other in/criptions— Cafalia.
T H E city o f Delphi was feated on a high jock, with the
oracle above it j and was in circuit fixteen ftadia or two miles.
T he natural ftrength of the place excited admiration as much as
the majefty o f the god. It was free under the Romans. Paufanias
has defiaibed it. »»Near thfeiOatrance, from Schifte was a temple in
ruins j- with one empty. A. third contained a few images-of Roman
emperors*. Beyond -thefe was the temple of Minerva ftyled Pronaaa,
becaufc after i t was the principal temple, that of Apollo,; There
the god intdrpofed to repel the Perfians. By the temple ©f tManerva
was the portio® <Jf Phylacus, an- heroum, or monument. <- ,• H is‘
fpetftre, it'W3s believed, had appeared to the -Perfians and to the
GaUls,fin armour, [huge and, tfrl. A-eourt pf the Gymnafidm
was faid to have, been, the birth-place of the wild fow* which
wounded rHfyffis. - Turning • from k to the left v and going
down * not mere than three .ftadia, Id's than half «a mile, yea
came to the ftoeattv; o f -the Pleiffusi Proceedings ap--- toi the
temple o f Apdlkn -on the right hand; was the water o f; Caftaiia,
fweet to drink. The houffes, with the fecred in^ofure-of the
temple, which overlooked the city, flood on an acclivity. , The
area or' court wkhin the wall was -large, and many ways" Were
cut, leading out of it. A Sibyl was faid» to haVefehanted her
oracles from a prominent rock above the Athenian portico.
Coming out o f the temple, the wall was on the lefty and ilfo
«the tomb of Neoptolemus, to whom the- Delphians made
yearly «Marions., Higher up was a ftone, not big, ion* which
they »poured oil daily, and upon feftivals put white wool. On
the
the way back to the temple was the fountain Caffotis, and a
wall with a paffage u p to it . The waterWas faid to run under-
groundf-'and in the fanChiary o f the temple to render women
prophetical. ' Above Caffotis was a building called Lefche, in
which the ftory of Troy was painted by Polygnotus with equal
fkill and labour. In the facred inclofure was a Theatre worthy
©f notice. Without it and above all, was a Stadium, conftru&ed
Originallylwith the ftone ofrParnafftis, which had bfeen changed
forPeiiteliC mafbleat the expenfe &f Attieus Herodcs. -■
*1 A pö*li.o, though frequently pillaged and poor in money and
pfatbj ’was: ftill1 ‘piSflhffed of an invaluable treafUre < in the offer-
•ings^ which * remained Within tfie eofor t b f his tdmple; The
^number, Variety, and beauty of thefö monuments was prodigious
* Sortie were venerable for their antiquity,* and the occa-
' lions' on which they had been dedicated. The inferiptions were
^artthenric? records, pregnant witbinformation. ■ The Greek was
here deeply ihtCrefted, pending1 the national ftory, • and viewing
his famous* »countrymen or illuftrious anceftoks. ’T he ftore appeared
inexhauftible, and the robbery o f Nero, who removed
five hundred brazen images, was rather regretted than perceived.
The holy Treafuries, thdugh empty, ferved as memorials o f the
piety and glory of the cities, which eredted them. The Athenian
pdrtico»pteferved the beaks of fliips and the brazen fhields;
trophies won in the' Peloponnefian war. A multitude o f curio-
fities was untouched. ' T he account' given o f them by Pauftnias
may con vey fome idea o f the opulence of the fpot, which indeed
was amazing even after repeated diminution.
CoNSd'ANtriNE the Great proved a more fatal enemy to
Apollo and Delphi than eithef Sytla or Nero. He removed the
facred tripod«'to adorn the Hippodrome of his new c ity ; where
thefe, with the Apollo, the ftatues of the Heliconian Males,
and the celebrated Pan dedicated by the Greek cities after the
■ war with the Medes, were extant, wheta Sozomeii wröte his
hiftory« > Aftemards ;|ulfen fent Oribafius to reftoce the temple,
M m but