742 



DELORME 



DELPHI 



property, he returned to his native country in 

 1775, and died at a village in Switzerland, July 

 16, 1806. De Lolme's principal work is The Con- 

 stitution of England ; or an Account of the English 

 Government ; in which it is compared both with 

 the Republican Form of Government and the other 

 Monarchies in Europe. It was first published in 

 French at Amsterdam in 1771 ; the English trans- 

 lation, by another hand apparently, did not appear 

 till 1775. The work, which flattered England, 

 threw no new light on the subject, long enjoyed 

 a high reputation, and reached a tenth edition 

 (with Life, 1853), but has long been superseded; 

 its author was called by Isaac D'Israeli ' the 

 English Montesquieu.' In 1772 he also published 

 anonymously in English, A Parallel between the 

 EnglisH Government and the former Government of 

 Sweden ; ten years later, his History of the Fla- 

 gellants ; in 1796 an Essay containing Strictures on 

 the Union of Scotland with England, and numerous 

 political pamphlets. In 1816 Dr Busby tried to 

 prove that De Lolme was Junius. 



Delorme. MARION, a famous Frenchwoman, 

 whose name figures too prominently in the history 

 of the 17th century. She was born 3d October 

 1613, in or near the town of Blpis, and came at an 

 early period of her life to Paris, where her great 

 beauty and brilliant wit soon gathered a group of 

 wealthy and high-born lovers round her. Even 

 the great Cardinal Richelieu was not insensible to 

 her charms, and revenged himself for her contempt 

 by causing her to be separated from the ill-fated 

 young Cinq-Mars, her love for whom was the one 

 ennobling passion of her life. Among her lovers 

 were, in succession, the Duke of Buckingham, 

 Saint-Evremond, the Due de Brissac, the Cheva- 

 lier de Grammont, and Erneri, the Superintendent 

 of Finance. During the first disturbances of the 

 Frondeurs, her house was the rallying-point of the 

 chiefs of that party, and in consequence Mazarin 

 was about to fling her into prison, when she 

 suddenly died in 1650. A curious tradition sprang 

 up in France during the next century, to the effect 

 that Marion had not died, but escaped to London ; 

 that she had married an English lord, had then 

 returned to Paris, and married first a robber-chief, 

 next a procurator of finance, and, finally, that she 

 died in 1706 ; or, according to another account, 

 even so late as 1741. Her story was treated by 

 Victor Hugo in a drama ; by Alfred de Vigny in 

 his romance Cinq Mars. See Eugene de Mire- 

 court's imaginative Confessions de Marion Delorme 

 (3 vols. 1851). 



Delos (called also in ancient times Asteria, 

 Ortygia), an island in the Grecian Archipelago, 

 the smallest of the Cyclades, is situated between 

 the islands Rhenea and Mykonus. According to 

 the mythological account it was at first a floating 

 island, but was fixed to the bottom by Zeus in 

 order that it might become a safe abode to Leto 

 for the birth of Apollo and Artemis. Its earliest 

 historical inhabitants were lonians, and it appears 

 to have been the centre of a great periodical 

 festival held in honour of Apollo, both on the 

 mainland and in the islands. In 426 B.C. Delos 

 was purified by the Athenians, all the tombs were 

 removed from it, arid it was declared pollution for 

 any birth or death to take place on it. Four years 

 after they expelled the Delians from the island. 

 After 146 B.C., Ayhen Corinth fell, Delos became 

 the seat of extensive commerce. Its sacred associa- 

 tions, its great festival, its excellent harbour, and 

 its situation in the direct route from southern 

 Europe to the coasts of Asia, all combined to 

 render it a port highly favoured by merchants. 

 So great was the traffic of Delos that it is said 

 10,000 slaves changed hands here in a single day. 



After flourishing for a considerable time, it was" 

 devastated in the Mithridatic war (87 B.C.), and 

 from this calamity it never recovered. Little more 

 than 1 sq. m. in area, it was noted for its palm- 

 trees, and also for its brass, and the brazen vessels 

 which it manufactured. The town of Delos, which 

 stood at the foot of Mount Cynthus, a granite crag 

 347 feet high, is now a mass of ruins. Still, how- 

 ever, the remains of the great temple of Apollo, 

 and of the colossal statue raised in his honour, may 

 be distinctly traced. Since 1877 extensive investi- 

 gations have been prosecuted in its ruins by 

 Homolle for the French Archaeological Institute. 



Delphi (now Kastri), an ancient Greek town 

 in Phocis, celebrated chiefly for its famous oracle 

 of Apollo, was situated about 8 miles N. of 

 an indentation in the northern shore of the Gulf 

 of Lepanto, at the southern base of Parnassus. 

 Its original name, and that by which Homer in- 

 variably speaks of it, was Pytho. It stood in the 

 centre of a district renowned for its classical 

 associations. Occupying the vale of the Pleistus, 

 it was seated in a semicircle like the area of a 

 grand natural theatre, backed towards the north 

 by two lateral spurs of Parnassus. These lateral 

 ranges extend east and west around Delphi, and 

 give rise also, from the point at which they ap- 

 proximate, to the famous fountain of Castalia, 

 the holy water of the Delphian temple. The 

 earliest inhabitants of Delphi are said to have 

 come from Lycorea, a town upon one of the slopes 

 of Parnassus, the inhabitants of which are sup- 

 posed to have been Dorians. From the Delphian 

 nobles were at first taken the chief magistrates 

 and the priests of the temple, while the Pythia or 

 priestess who delivered the oracle, at first always a 

 young maiden, but latterly always a woman not 

 younger than fifty, was usually selected from some 

 family of poor country-people. In the centre of 

 the temple was a small opening in the ground, 

 whence arose an intoxicating vapour, believed to 

 come from the well of Cassotis ; and the Pythia 

 having breathed this, sat down upon the tripod 

 or three-legged stool, which was placed over the 

 chasm in the ground, and thence delivered the 

 oracle, which, if not pronounced at first in hex- 

 ameters, was handed over to a poet, employed for 

 the purpose, who converted it into that form of 

 verse. As the celebrity of the Delphic oracle 

 increased, Delphi became a town of great wealth 

 and importance, famous not only in Hellas, but 

 also among the neighbouring nations. Here the 

 Pythian games were held, and it was one of the 

 two places of meeting of the Amphictyonic Council 

 (q.v. ). The fourth temple, though the first built 

 of stone, was destroyed by fire in 548 B.C., and 

 during the succeeding century a fifth and last one 

 was built by the Amphictyons at the cost of 300 

 talents, or 115,000. It was hexastyle, fronted 

 with Parian marble, and adorned with statu- 

 ary by Praxias and Androsthenes. In 480 B.C. 

 Xerxes sent a portion of his army to plunder the 

 temple ; but as they climbed the rugged path that 

 led to the shrine, a peal of thunder broke over- 

 head, and two huge crags tumbling from the 

 heights crushed many of the Persians to death, 

 while their comrades, struck with terror, turned and 

 fled. It was plundered by the Phocians during 

 the Sacred War, and was attacked by the Gauls 

 in 279 B.C., who were said to have been repulsed 

 like the Persians by portents. The splendour of 

 Delphi subsequently excited the rapacity of many 

 conquerors, and suffered severely by their attacks. 

 Nero carried off from it 500 bronze statues ; Con- 

 stantine also removed many of its works of art to 

 his own capital. In the time of Pliny, the number 

 of statues in Delphi was not less than 3000, and 

 within the temple for a long time stood a golden 



