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the temple of Apollo, on the right hand, was the water of Castalia, sweet to drink. The houses, with the sacred inclosure of the temple, which overlooked the city, stood on an acclivity. The area, or court, within the wall, was large, and many ways were cut, leading out of it. A Sibyl was said to have chaunted her oracles from a prominent rock above the Athenian portico. Coming out of the temple, the wall was on the left, and also the tomb of Neoptolemus, to whom the Delphians made yearly oblations. Higher up was a stone, not big, on which they poured oil daily, and upon festivals put white wool. On the way back to the temple was the fountain Cassotis, and a wall with a passage up to it. The water was said to run underground, and, in the sanctuary of the temple, to render women prophetical. Above Cassotis was a building called Lesche, in which the story of Troy was painted by Polygnotus, with equal skill and labour. In the sacred inclosure was a theatre worthy of notice. Without it and above all, was a stadium, constructed originally with the stone of Parnassus, which had been changed for Pentelic marble, at the expense of Atticus Herodes.

Apollo, though frequently pillaged, and poor in money and plate, was still possessed of an invaluable treasure in the offerings, which remained within the court of his temple. The number, variety, and beauty of these monuments was prodigious. Some were venerable for their antiquity, and the occasions on which they had been dedicated. The inscriptions were authentic records, pregnant with information. The Greek was here deeply interested, perusing the national story, and viewing his famous countrymen, or illustrious ancestors. The store appeared inexhaustible, and the robbery of Nero, who removed five hundred brazen images, was ra

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ther regretted than perceived. The holy treasuries, though empty, served as memorials of the piety and glory of the cities which erected them. The Athenian portico preserved the beaks of ships, and the brazen shields, trophies won in A multitude of curiosities was unthe Pelponnesian war. touched. The account given of them by Pausanias may convey some idea of the opulence of the spot, which indeed was amazing, even after repeated diminution.

Constantine the Great proved a more fatal enemy to Apollo and Delphi than either Sylla or Nero. He removed the sacred tripods to adorn the Hippodrome of his new city; where these, with the Apollo, the statues of his Heliconian Muses, and the celebrated Pan, dedicated by the Greek cities after the war with the Medes, were extant, when Sozomen wrote his history. Afterwards Julian sent Oribasius to restore the temple; but he was admonished, by an oracle to represent to the emperor the deplorable condition of the place. "Tell him the well built court is fallen to the ground. Phoebus has not a cottage, nor the prophetic laurel, nor the speaking fountain (Cassotis); but even the beautiful water is extinct."

We passed by many broken sarcophagi, or stone coffins, when we approached the monastery. Higher up, on the righthand, was a square ruin with a small door-way, perhaps the basement of the monument of Phylacus. The masonry is of the species termed Incertum. Some vestiges of temples are visible; and above them, in the mountain-side, are sepulchres, niches with horizontal cavities for the body, some covered with slabs. Farther on is a niche cut in the rock, with a seat, intended, it seems, for the accommodation of travellers wearied with the rugged track, and the long ascent.

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CHMOLE,

MUSEUM

On a part smoothed is engraved a large cross. The monastery is on the site of the gymnasium. Strong terrace walls and other traces of a large edifice remain. In the wall of the church was a marble, inscribed, AIAKIAAXAIPE Ecides, farewell; and on another, within an olive crown,

ΟΔΗΜΟΣΟΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣ

ΠΥΘΙΟΙΣ.

In the pavement within was a long inscription, the letters effaced. We found also several architectural fragments. The village is at a distance. Castalia is on the right hand as you ascend to it, the water coming from on high, and crossing the road; a steep precipice, above which the mountain still rises immensely, continuing on in that direction. The village consists of a few poor cottages of Albanians, covering the site of the temple and oracle. Beneath it, to the south, is a church of St. Elias, with areas, terrace walls, arches, and vestiges of the buildings once within the court. The concavity of the rock, in this part, gave to the site the resemblance of a theatre. Turning to the left hand, as it were toward the extremity of one of the wings, you come again to sepulchres hewn in the rock, and to a semicircular recess, or niche, with a seat as on the other side. Higher up than the village is the hollow of the stadium, in which were some seats and scattered fragments.

At the village we searched for a piece of wall, of the masonry, termed Incertum, from which Mr. Wood had copied several inscriptions. We discovered a stone of it, containing, besides some other lines, a decree in honour of an Athenian living in Ætolia, the sacred herald of the Amphyctions; giving him from the god a crown of laurel, with various pri

vileges, one of which is precedence at the games. The letters were fair, but with gaps between them, the surface appearing as eaten by time, and resembling honeycomb, of a white colour. This, it is likely, was the stone called Porus. A specimen of it may be seen in the collection of marbles at Oxford. The remnant of wall was probably a portion of the cell of the temple, which fronted the road from Cas

talia..

Higher up, within the village, is a piece of ancient wall, concealed from view by a shed, which it supports. The stone is brown, rough, and ordinary, probably that of Parnassus. On the south side are many inscriptions, with wide gaps between the letters, which are negligently and faintly cut; all nearly of the same tenor, and very difficult to copy. They register the purchase of slaves, who had entrusted the price of their freedom to the god; containing the contract between Apollo and their owners, witnessed by his priests and by some of the archons. This remnant seems to be part of the wall before Cassotis; as above it is still a fountain, which supplies the village with excellent water, it is likely, from the ancient source..

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The water of Castalia, from which the Pythia and the poets, who versified her answers, were believed to derive a large share of their inspiration, descends through a cleft of Parnassus; the rock on each side high and steep, ending in two summits, of which one was called Hyampeia, and had beneath it the sacred portion of Autonous, a local hero as distinguished as Phylacus. From this precipice the Delphians threw down the famous Esop. By the stream, within the cleft, are small broken stairs leading to a cavity, in which is water, and once perhaps up to the top. Grooves have been

cut, and the marks of tools are visible on the rock; but the current, instead of supplying a fountain, now passes over its native bed, and hastens down a course deep-worn, to join the Pleistus. Close by, at the foot of the eastern precipice, is a basin, with steps on the margin, once, it is likely, the bath used by the Pythia. Above, in the side of the mountain, is a petty church dedicated to St. John, within which are excavations resembling niches, partly concealed from view by a tree. The water is limpid, and exceedingly cold. Returning from the village in the evening, I began to wash my hands in it, but was instantly chilled, and seized with a tremor, which rendered me unable to stand or walk without support. On reaching the monastery, I was wrapped in a garment lined with warm fur, and, drinking freely of wine, fell into a most profuse perspiration. This incident, when Apollo was dreaded, might have been embellished with a superstitious interpretation. Perhaps the Pythia, who bathed in this icy fluid, mistook her shivering for the god.

CHAP. LXVIII.

Of Mount Parnassus-The Corycian cave-Wheler's journey on Mount Parnassus--Remarks-Some Albanians arrive at the monastery.

PARNASSUS was the western boundary of Phocis, and stretching northward from about Delphi toward the Etæan mountains, separated the western Locri from those, who possessed the sea-coast before Euboea. It was a place of refuge to the Delphians in times of danger. In the deluge, which