Daphne

P. L. 4. 273. A place on the river Orontes, near Antioch in Syria, where there was a famous temple of Apollo. Sozomen describes it as follows: “Daphne is a suburb of Antioch, and is planted with cypre es and other trees, beneath which all kinds of flowers flourish in The branches of these trees are so thick and inter their season. laced that they may be said to form a roof rather than merely to afford shade, and the rays of the sun can never pierce through them to the soil beneath. It is made delicious and exceedingly lovely by the richne and beauty of the waters, the temperatene of the air, and the breath of friendly winds. The Greeks invent the myth that Daphne, the daughter of the river Ladon, was here changed into a tree which bears her name, while she was fleeing from Arcadia, to evade the love of Apollo. The pa ion of Apollo was not diminished they say, by this trans he made a crown of the leaves of his beloved and He afterwards fixed his residence on this spot, as being dearer to him than any other place. Men of grave temperament, however, considered it disgraceful to approach this suburb, for the position and nature of the place seemed to excite voluptuous feelings, and the substance of the fable itself being erotic, afforded a measurable impulse and redoubled the pa ions among corrupt youths. They who furnished this myth as an excuse were greatly inflamed and gave way without constraint to profligate deeds, incapable of being continent themselves, or of enduring the presence of those who were continent. Any one who dwelt at Daphne without a misformation; embraced the tree. and ungracious, and was shunned and abhorrent thing. The pagans likewise manifested great reverence for this place on account of a very beautiful statue of the Daphnic Apollo which stood here, as also a magnificent and costly temple, supposed to have been built by Seleucus, the father of Antiochus, who gave his name to the city of Antioch. Those who attach credit to fables of this kind believe that a stream flows from the fountain Castalia which confers powers of predicting the future, which is similar in its name and powers to the fountains of Delphi.” (5. 19.) Libanius gives a detailed description of this garden, part of which is as follows: ” It never has been nor will be spoken worthily concerning Daphne, unle it should come into the mind of the God and tre was regarded as callous as an abominable the Muses to sing of the place.... The beholder is dazzled by the sight of the temple of Apollo, the temple of Zeus, the Olympic stadium, the theatre of every delight, the multitude and thickne and height of the cypre es, the shady paths, the places of singing birds, the moderate breezes, the courteous men moving slowly toward banqueting halls, gardens of Alcinous, the Sicilian ch105.xhtml s 113