happened under Deucalion, the natives were saved on it by following the cry of wolves. On the invasion by Xerxes, some transported their families over to Achaia, but many concealed them in the mountain and in Corycium, a grotto of the nymphs. All Parnassus was renowned for sanctity, but Corycium was the most noted among the hallowed caves and places. "On. the way to the summits of Parnassus, says Pausanias, as much as sixty stadia* beyond Delphi, is a brazen image; and from thence the ascent to Corycium is easier for a man on foot, and for mules and horses.-Of all the caves, in which I have been, this appeared to me the best worth seeing. On the coasts, and by the sea-side, are more than can be numbered; but some are very famous both in Greece and in other countries.--The Corycian cave exceeds in magnitude those I have mentioned, and, for the most part, may be passed through without a light. It is sufficiently high; and has water, some springing up, and yet more from the roof, which petrifies; so that the bottom of the whole cave is covered with sparry icicles. The inhabitants of Parnassus esteem it sacred to the Corycian nymphs, and particularly to Pan. From the cave, to reach the summits of the mountain, is difficult, even to a man on foot. The summits are above the clouds, and the women, called Thyades, madden on them in the rites of Bacchus and Apollo." Their frantic orgies were performed yearly. Wheler and his company ascended Parnassus from Delphi, some on horses, by a tract between the stadium and the clefts of the mountain. Stairs were cut in the rock, with a straight *Seven miles and a half.. channel, perhaps a water-duct. In a long hour, after many traverses, they gained the top, and entering a plain turned to the right, toward the summits of Castalia, which are divided by deep precipices. From this eminence they had a fine prospect of the gulf of Corinth and of the coast; Mount Cirphis appearing beneath them as a plain, bounded on the east by the bay of Asprospitia, and on the west by that of Salona. A few shepherds had huts there. They returned to the way, which they had quitted, and crossed a hill covered with pines and snow. On their left was a lake, and beyond it a peak, exceedingly high, white with snow. They travelled to the foot of it, through a valley four or five miles in compass; and rested by a plentiful fountain called Drosonigo, the stream boiling up, a foot in diameter, and nearly as much above the surface of the ground. It runs into the lake, which is about a quarter of a mile distant to the south-east. They did not discover Corycium, or proceed farther on, but, keeping the lake on their right, came again to the brink of the mountain, and descended by a steep and dangerous tract to Racovi, a village four or five miles eastward from Delphi. It was the opinion of Wheler that no mountain in Greece was higher than Parnassus; that it was not inferior to Mount Cenis among the Alps; and that if detached, it would be seen at a greater distance than even Mount Athos. The summits are perpetually increasing, every new fall of snow adding to the perennial heap, while the sun has power only to thaw the superficies. Castalis, Pleistus, and innumerable springs are fed, some invisibly, from the lakes and reservoirs; which, without these drains and subterraneous vents, would swell, especially after heavy rain and the melting of snow, so as to fill the valleys and run over the tops of the rocks down upon Delphi, spreading wide an inundation, similar, as has been surmised, to the Deucalionéan deluge. We purposed to ascend Parnassus, hoping to find the Corycian cave; but, before we had finished at Delphi, seventeen Albanians arrived at the monastery. These belonged to a guard, which patroled on the roads. They were robust dirty savages, wearing their hair in small plaits hanging down their shoulders. In the evening they roasted a sheep, and the captain invited us to partake, and, on our making some excuse, presented us with a portion of the meat. After eating in groups, they continued their wild singing and dancing to a late hour. They slept on the ground, each with his arms by him, and some much nearer to us than was agreeable. Sultan Morat, in 1447, forced many of their nation to change their religion, and converted the churches of Albania into mosques. This set were Mahometans, descended from Christian proselytes. They were represented to us as drunken and quarrelsome, given to detestable vices, and as dangerous as the banditti, against whom they were employed. We disliked their company, and dropped our intended excursion in quest of the cave; it appearing more prudent to depart suddenly for the port of Salona, in which, as a sailor informed us, our bark was then at anchor. CHAP. LXIX. Of Cirrha-Of Amphissa-The port of Delphi-We leave Delphi-Embark. DELPHI was distant sixty stadia, or seven miles and a half, from the sea at Cirrha. This city was the Crissa of Homer, from which the Crissæan bay had its name. The port was called Chalæon, and frequented by vessels from Sicily and Italy. The people were enriched by the customs, but, besides other impieties, they imposed heavy taxes on the votaries of Apollo, who arrived there, and encroached on his boundary. War was declared, and the oracle consulted by the deputies, when the Pythia replied, that the sea must wash the domain of Apollo before the city, which was besieged, could be taken. The Cirrhaan territory was immediately consecrated by the advice of Solon, one of their generals. The town was supplied by a duct with water from the Pleistus. He intercepted the current, and infusing roots of hellebore it produced a general flux. Cirrha was demolished, and dire execrations were pronounced against any person, or power, presuming to molest the god in the enjoyment of his new possessions. The port of Cirrha was convenient for Amphissa, a principal city of the Locri Ozolæ, distant from Delphi one hundred and twenty stadia, or fifteen miles. The people seized it, recultivated the plain, and exacted from strangers even more than the Crissæans, but not with impunity. The sacred war followed, and Amphissa was destroyed. in the time of On the Cirrha continued to be the port of Delphi Pausanias. It had then a temple of Apollo. it was the Hippodrome, or course for the races. This was in the plain, then naked. plant, either fearing the curse, or knowing the soil to be unfit for trees. We left the monastery early in the morning, and, going back to the mill, descended into the vale between the Cirphis and Parnassus. Here, as we travelled along, we had fresh occasion to regard with wonder the rough and romantic situation of Delphi; the rock rising prodigiously high with precipices, some perpendicular, between us and the village, and still towering up behind; the summits intruding into the blue sky. The small stream of the Pleistus, instead of pursuing its way to Cirrha and the sea, was absorbed among the olive-trees, vineyards, and plantations. The rich vale ending, we crossed the Cirrhæan or Crissæan plain, which, as anciently, was bare. We saw the town of Salona on our right, at a distance, on a knoll or eminence. We passed over a root of Mount Cirphis, and came, after about three hours, in view of our bark, lying at anchor, with some small-craft. By the water-side was a magazine or two, and a mean custom-house, at which we waited for a boat, to convey us on board. The property of the soil is again changed, and Cirrha belongs, not to Delphi and Apollo, but to Amphissa or, as it is now called, Salona. |