CHAP. II
the two poems woven together in the Homeric Hymn is as trans-
parent in meaning as the earher. In both Phoibos journeys gradually
westward ; in both riches and glory are promised to those who will
receive him. But the bribe is held out in vain to the beautiful
fountain Telphoussa, near whose waters Phoibos had begun to lay
the foundations of a shrine. By warnings of the din of horses and of
cattle brought thither to watering she drove him away, and Phoibos
following her counsel betook himself to Parnassos, where Trophonios
and Agamedes raised his world-renowned home. It is at this point
that the author of the hymn introduces the slaughter of the worm or
dragon to account for the name Pytho, as given to the sanctuary from
the rotting of its carcase in the sun;[1] and thence he takes ApoUon
back to Telphoussa, to wTcak his vengeance on the beautiful fountain
which had cheated him of a bright home beside her glancing waters.
The stream was choked by a large crag, the crag beetling over
Tantalos, which he toppled down upon it, and the glory departed
from Telphoussa for ever.
Phoibos Delphinios. It now remained to find a body of priests and servants for his Delphian sanctuary, and these were furnished by the crew of a Cretan ship sailing with merchandise to Pylos. In the guise of a dolphin Phoibos urged the vessel through the waters, while the mariners sat still on the deck in terror as the ship moved on without either sail or oar along the whole coast of the island of Pelops. As they entered the Krisaian gulf a strong zephyr carried them eastward, till the ship was lifted on the sands of Krisa. Then Apollon leaped from the vessel like a star, while from him flew sparks of light till their radiance reached the heaven, and hastening to his sanctuary he showed forth his weapons in the flames which he kindled. This done, he hastened with the swiftness of thought back to the ship, now in the form of a beautiful youth, with his golden locks flowing over his shoulders, and asked the seamen who they were and whence they came. In their answer, which says that they had been brought to Krisa against their will, they address him at once as a god, and
- ↑ The word is connected by Sophoklês not with the rotting of the snake but with the questions put to the oracle. The latter is the more plausible conjecture; but the origin of the word is uncertain, as is also that of Apollôn, of which Welcker (Griechische Goitterlehre, i. 460) regards Apollôn as the genuine form, connecting it in meaning with the epithets (
Greek characters), and others. This, however, is probably as doubtful as the derivation which connects Plioibos with (Greek characters), light. By Professor Max Müller the latter name is identified with the Sanskrit Bhava, a word belonging to the same family with the Greek (Greek characters), the Latin fui, and the English be. Phoibos is thus the living God.
no more water, and spat no more fire.' I think it impossible not to see in this description a spring-tide thunderstorm."—Gould, Werewolf, p. 172.
