Delphin at us

Lit. Oliv. (8) 7. 245. The Dauphin ate, one of the old provinces of France, between Provence and Savoy. Delphos (Delphi, Pythian Vale). P. L. 517; 1. P. R. 530; 10. 1. Nativity 178; Ad Rous. 59; 458; 2 Defens. 6. 269. (See also Pythian Fields.) A town in Phocis, famous for its oracle of Apollo. Milton’s words “steep” and ” cliff ” probably refer to the steep cliffs rising above Delphi. The word “hollow” {Nativity 178) may refer to the cave or subterranean chamber which formed the inner part of the shrine (Ovid calls it “antrum” in Met. 3. 14), or chasm from which arose intoxicating vapors (Diodorus which had caused the place to be chosen for the oracle; or. perhaps Milton, when he wrote to the 16.6), With hollow shreik the steep of Delphos leaving, had in mind the words of Strabo about Delphi, “a rocky place, shaped like a theatre, having at the highest point the fane and the city” (9. 3. 3), and intended to expre the effect produced upon the voice in a rocky amphitheatre, rather than in cave or chasm, as would be the case if the first conjectures are correct. The birth of the monster Python, apparently at Delphi (P. L. 10. 530), where it was killed by Apollo, is described by Ovid. {Met. 1. 416-51.) See Wales. 117