to their prefent contemplation. There is alfo an interruption in the arrangement of Dr. Musgrave's metre by Anapæsts in the mouth of Ion in the last Antiftrophe, which destroys its uniform correfpondent appearance with the preceding Strophe.

N° XV.

Verfe 224. Α' ὅλως μέσον ὀμφαλὸν γᾶς ;

Whether this Temple's fcite

216. Be the earth's center?

THE question, which the Chorus here demands of Ion, whether the Delphick Temple contained the central navel of the Earth, was of a very delicate nature: The best illuftration of it will be the tranflation of Plutarch in the opening of his differtation, "Why the Oracles had ceafed to give anfwers:" "There is an old ftory, that two Eagles or Swans, flying from the oppofite extremes of the Earth to the center, met in that very spot at Delphi in the place now called the navel: In procefs of time Epimenides the Pheftian, willing to prove the veracity of this fable, confulted the Deity, and reported this obfcure and equivocal anfwer, "There is neither "center of the Earth nor Sea; but if there be, it is known only to the Gods, and concealed from Mortals 3." Thus

66

1 Ed. Xylan. vol. II. p. 409.

3

2 See alfo the Scholiaft on the Oreftes of our Poet, (v. 331.) who mentions this ftory, and my Preliminary Effay on the Ion, (p. 12.) Thefe Eagles or Swans (fays the learned Mr. Bryant) undoubtedly relate to Colonies from Egypt and Canaan, (Anal. of Anc. Myth. vol. I. p. 378.)

3 This anfwer of the God is inaccurately cited by Mr. Bryant in his new Syftem of Ancient Mythology, as the affertion of Epimenides inftead of the oracle: "Epimenides long before had faid the fame," (Vol. I. p. 241.)

défervedly the Gods chastized this attempt to explore an old story by the touch, as one would do an ancient picture; but, continues the Philofopher, in our time, not long before the celebration of the Pythian games, during the magistracy of Calliftratus, two eminent Men met at Delphi, coming from the two oppofite boundaries of the Earth: The one was Demetrius the Grammarian, who came from Bretania, in order to return home to Tarfus, and the other Cleombrotus the Lacedemonian, who had long wandered in Egypt." This latter teft, in the opinion of the Modern reader, will be allowed to be no better than the fable of the eagles. According to Phurnutus, the reafon why the temple of Delphi was called the paños or navel of the Earth, was not on account of its central fituation; but from the dup, or divine voice, being there delivered: And the Scholiaft on the Oreftes of our Poet mentions this derivation: But the Author of the Analyfis of Ancient Mythology, in his differtation on the Omphi or worship of high places, fuppofes this hill at Delphi to have been derived from Omphi-El, or the Oracle of the Sun, which the Greeks transferred into their upands or navel: He cites this line of Euripides, as "averring that it was the precife center of the earth:" But out Poet in this paffage makes the Chorus demand it only as a question; and confequently it is no affertion, as it is printed in his book without the interrogation.

5

7

6

4 De Nat. Deor. c. 32. ed. Gale, p. 226.

Vol. I. p. 240.

7 Vol. I. p. 241.

5 V.331.

No XVI.

N° XVI.

Στέμμασί γ ̓ ἐνδυ]ός,

Verfe 226. Αμφί δε Γοργόνες.

Hence with garlands crown'd,

217. And Gorgons all around.

THIS is the immediate reply of Ion to the preceding queftion of the Chorus; and I believe it will ftrike every Reader of the Original and Tranflation, as an answer involving great obfcurity: The obvious acceptation of the former line, which naturally fuggefts itfelf at firft fight, is whether the temple of Delphi was in reality the central navel of the earth; and with this idea the reply fcarcely admits of any sense : But Dr. Mufgrave obferves, "that the question does not regard the temple itself, but a certain white ftone, which was called the navel of the earth, as appears from the testimony of Paufanias: This he imagines to have been adorned with garlands as other facred things, for the fake of securing it from the multitude; hence perhaps Sophocles called it abinov oppanov, or the navel which ought not to be touched:" The words of Paufanias' imply, that the navel under Delphi, which was made of White Stone, was afferted by the Delphians to be the identical center of the whole earth; and he adds, that Pindar 2, in one of his odes correfponds with

this

* Τὸν δὲ ὑπὸ Δελφῶν καλυμένον ομφαλόν, λίθε τιποιημένον λευκό, τῦτο εἶναι τὸ ἐν μέσῳ γῆς πάσης αὐτοὶ λέγεσιν δι Δελφοὶ, καὶ ἐν ὠδῇ τινὶ Πίνδαρος ομολογειά σφισιν ἐποίησε, (1, 10. c. 16. p. 835.

2 The paffage in Pindar, to which Paufanias here alludes, is probably loft; for though that Poet mentions in his works now preferved the oppands

H 3

five

this opinion. The Scholiaft on Lucian 3, who ridicules this difcovery of the earth's center by the flight of Eagles, also mentions, "that at Delphi on the pavement of the temple was the navel, and this they affirmed the center of the whole earth." Few Readers, I conceive, would be tempted on this evidence to acquiefce in the ingenious conjecture of Dr. Mufgrave; as here is no allufion to the ornaments of chaplets, or other devices; I proceed therefore to establish this interpretation by other hiftorical teftimony, in regard to these effential circumstances: "The fituation of Delphi, fays Strabo, is in the middle of all Græce, which is within and without the Ifthmus; and it has been fuppofed the center of the whole inhabited earth; they therefore called it the navel, inventing the fable, which is mentioned by Pindar, that two Eagles there met, fent by Jupiter, one from the Eaft and the other from the Weft; or, as others report, they were crows. He then immediately fubjoins, there is a certain navel still shewn in the temple, adorned with fillets, and upon it are two images of this fable:" Here then the exprcffion of Strabo, Telaμvos, or adorned with fillets," is the counterpart of the ςέμμασι γ' ἐνδυ]ός of Euripides, or invefted with garlands: For Taina is defined by Hefychius "," a facred chaplet, ornament, or bandage. Thus far I have thrown a clear ray of light on a paffage, never perhaps before understood by the Modern Reader, and certainly to my knowledge never

five times, there is no marked allufion to the ftone: But if it be among his remaining Odes, it is in the fourth Pythian, where he calls the Oracle Hap μέσον ομφαλόν. (ν. 131.)

3 De Salt. vol. 2. ed. Hemfter, p. 291.

4 Δείκνυται δε καὶ ὀμφαλὸς τὶς, ἐν τῷ ναῷ τελαινιωμένος, καὶ ἐπ ̓ αὐτῷ ἄι δύω εἴκος

μες το μυθῶ. (1. 9. p. 643.)

5 Στεφανοί, κοσμοί, ἢ δεσμοί ιεροί.

αι

explained.

explained. It remains however to confider the Gorgons, whom all the Commentators have paffed over in profound filence: It appears from the paffage of Strabo juft cited, that there were images of the fable on the ftone reprefenting the navel; these I apprehend were the two eagles ; for I cannot discover how the figures of the Gorgons could ever be the emblems of the fable; and confequently they were not the images of Strabo; befides the expreffion of Euripides here implies "the Gorgons all around, dupi," which would not correspond with the idea of the reprefentation on the navel, Taur: We must therefore endeavour to investigate this circumstance still further: Among the feveral images within the recess of the Delphick Temple, Paufanias mentions a Medufa fitting on the pavement, and fupporting with both her hands og fs, the prop of a ftone: Now Medufa is well known to have been the principal Gorgon; and is mentioned as such with her two fifters by Hefiod: Virgil emphatically calls her the Gorgon,

Nimbo effulgens & Gorgone fævâ.

7

(Æn. 2. v. 616.)

That there were golden eagles at Delphi appears from Pindar, who calls the Pythia the Affeflor to them,

The Scholiaft there informs us, that thefe were depofited by Jupiter in the facred inclosure of the God, in commemoration of the ftory concerning the eagles: And the Scholiaft on the Oreftes of our Author alfo mentions, that golden eagles were depofited, the emblems of the fabulous eagles, (v. 33x.) But thefe I imagine were not the fame images to which Strabo alludes.

7 Μέθεσα δε κατέχεσα ταῖς χερσὶν ἀμφιλέραις τὸν ὑποταλὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ἐδάρες καθῆται, (1. 10. c. 26. p. 864.) (Theog. v. 276.) See allo Hyginus Fab. p. 9. & Fulg. Mythol. c. 29. p. 655. ed. Van Staveren.