T R A U 2 V E L S , , i n Q R E / E C E -
®ns w§fg jpeyailed o a ’ ^tp^opf thp T§Wc l^B^bet, |n w^mb
the number was twenty-fpiti* T h f p l g ^ ’.o^ 4|r<A|jikn^9%>:4
unfhapely anil .unfightly, w^b: .cpm^^ej with q, period, when
dejign, wi§ I®, it$. .infancy a^ , ,®qt commonly profelTed.4 ||C
certainly among thn ojdeft -fpeqijpep^xtant of* beginnings
o f the art; furnithing an example ,of ,the jqq gh out-Iine and
proportipnlefs fketch, from which it gradually^ rofe to cqrredi;-
nefsj, preci^pn, and ft^Ime .e^prefhpni^nit^atj^g maj-hJe, and
givings to jdatues ,a, perfection- o^ibrip u®e.<jn%U.ed by. nature, $ajl.
adigqity of.afpedt fuperiqr to human.
. sT he Nymphs ywf.r^ JhppP^hjJp .pmoy-long^yi|y, but no t to
bq immortal,. They, were^.beligvgd^,to f l i g h t i^ v|g|ings qnd
fountains.. They are mefenbefer as fleeplefs,^nd^7oreaded -by
the eduh% pepplp^ '. They :w;qre Ai|qeptible o f paifiop...
Argonauts, it is related, landing op tlje fhore o f the Vroppntjs
to dine in their way. tq Chplqos, fent Ilylas, a boy, for, water,
who_ difeoyered a Jonely fouqtaip, in wl^jehgthe;nvmph&Lunkra,
Malis? and Nycljeia were preparing to dance j and thefe,^ feeing
iljj^ jwe re enamoured arid ieizing him by the hand, as hejWas
filling his vafe,,pulled him ;infu.? The deities, their jcorpartoecs
in the cave, are fuch as prefidgsj with jthem qvex jcural and paf-
toral a ffa ir s ,.J f Priapusjj^|ful^jmtgd in the place|q|*^cchr^,
he alfp was honoured where goats and fheep fed and where
bee-hiy^ flood.
T he old Athenians were ever ready -to cry put, , a grid
a goddefs ! The tyrant Pififlratus entered the .city |®j% cbalfot:
with a tall woman deeded in armour |q ^referable Minerva, and
regained the Acropolis,, which, .he had beemforced to abandon,-
by this ftratagem j the people worfhipping and believing her*: to
be the deity, whom fhe reprefentdd. The Nymphs, it was the
popular- perfuafion/ occafionally appeared j and nympholepfy is
characterized as a frenzy, which arofe. from having beheld
| * In the fourth year of Olympiad xciv j or, before Chrift 399 years. *
them.
T R A V E L S i n G R E E C E . Jf 3 .
them. Superftition difpofed the mind to adopt delufion for
tG 0m and gave to a fancied vifion the efficacy of full conviction.
The foundation was perhaps n o more than an indirect,
partial, or óbfcure view of Pome harmless girl, which had approached
the fountain on a like errand with Hylas, or was retiring
after fhe had filled her earthen pitcher.. .
A mong the facred eaves on record, onë on mount Ida in
Crete was the property ©f Jupiter, and one hy Lebadea m
Bceotia o f Trophonius. Both thefe were oracular, arid the
latter bore feme refembknee to that we have deferred. It was
formed by art,, and the mouth furróunded w » a wall. The
defeent to the landing-place was by a light and narrow ladder,
occafionally applied and removed. It was fituated op a mountain
above a groves and they related, that a fwarm of bees conduced
the perfon by whom it was firft difeovered. But the
common owners o f caves were the Nymphs, and thefe were
' fometirnes local. On Cithaeron in Bceotia, where many of the
inhabitants jvere pofefed by Nymphs called Sphragitides,
whofe cave, once alfo oracular, was on a fummit o f the mountain.
Their dwellings had getterally a well or fprmg of water ;
the former often a collection of moifture condenfed or ex-
fuding from the roof and fidesj and this, in many inftances,
being pregnant with ftony particles, concreted, and marked its
paffage by incruftation, the ground-work in all ages and countries
of idle tales framed or adopted by fuperftitious and credulous
people’ .
1 Intus aqu® dultfes, vivoqUe fdxo,
Nympharumque domus. Virg.
See Theocritus j$ v , 1 ^ , and Strabo, p. 343. Philoftraths, P* 4 “ »
tions a Nymphseum by the fea near Puteoli, in which was a well, with a n
white ftorie. The interpreter has miftratiflated the paffage. Th e author, P* 7°4.
deferibes likewife a pifture, in which a cave of Achelous an t e ymP,
jreprefented, he obferves, properly 5 the images feeming of bad one an vforrn
fhip, as injured by time, and cut by the young thoughtlefs boys of the herdfinen
and Ihepherds. ,
X T h e