DAP 
and the tranquil ae was devoted to Bacchus and Venus, 
to health and joy, to lusury and love. With regard to 
voluptuous paises and enjoyment, it was fo infamous 
that “ Daphnicls moribus vivere;’? z.¢. to live after the 
manners of Daphne, became a proverb, exprefiing the moft 
luxurious and diffolute mode of living ; and all that had any 
refpe&t for modefty and virtue avoided the place. The 
foldier and the philofopher wifely fhunned the temptations 
of this fenfual paradife, where pleafure affuming the charac- 
ter of religion, eae see, diffolved the firmnefs of manly 
virtue. Caffius, the Roman general, when he came to An- 
tioch, prohibited his foldiers, by public proclamation, and 
under penalty of being cafhiered, from vifiting Daphne, that 
they might not be corrupted by its luxury and debaucheries. 
Neverthelefs the groves of Daphne continued for many ages 
to attraét the veneration of natives and ftrangers; the pri- 
vileges of the holy ground were enlarged by the munificence 
tch of eagernefs and impatience. 
siticipatd the grateful pomp of viGtims, of libation, and of 
ncenfe ; a long proceffion of youths and virgins, clothed in 
white cobs, the fymbols of their innocence; and the tumul- 
tuous concourle of an innumerable people. In his time there 
was an oracle at Daphne, which was deftroyed by the Chrif- 
tian emperors: and Julian complained, that inftead of heca- 
tombs of fat oxen, facrificed by the tribes of a wealthy city 
to their tutelar deity, he found only a fingle goofe, provided 
at the expence of a prieft, the pale and folitary inhabitant of 
this decayed temple. The altar was deferted, the oracle 
had been filenced, and the holy ground was profaned by the 
introduction of Chriftian and funereal rites. 
After Babylas, a bifhop of Antioch, who died in prifon in 
the perfecution of Decius, had refted near a century in his 
grave, his body, by the order of Cafar Gallus, was tranf- 
ported into the midft of the grove of Daphne. magnifie 
cent church was ere&ted over his remains ; a portion of the 
facred lands was ufurped for the maintenance of the clergy, 
and for the burial of the Chriftians of Antioch; and the 
priefts of Apollo retired, with their affrighted and indignant 
as another revolution feemed to reftore 
St. Babylas was de- 
w buildings were added to the mouldering 
edifice, which had been raifed by the piety of Syrian kings. 
Julian was anxious to deliver the oppreffed deity from the 
odious prefence of the dead and living Chriftians ; the bodies 
church 
return of the fa triumph ; 
infult on the religion of the eae aha exerted his pride 
to diffemble his refentment. 
minated the proceffion that 
Babylas, the temple of 
hafty a& was blamed by 
real or affeGted soi, that the imprudent zeal of his 
DAP 
aa el would tarnifh his reign with the difgrace of pere 
fecution. Gibbon’s Hiftory, vol. iv 
ye Foomai in of, a fountain of Judza, in the tribe 
of Naphtali. According to Steph. Byz. there was a town 
called Daphne in Lycia——A fea-port on the Euxine fea had 
alfo this name. 
Darune, in Mythology, a nymph with whom Apollo is 
{aid to have had an amour. Whilit he was in purfuit of hers 
it is faid that fhe was transformed into a laurel. 
is faid to be derived from Aa@ovew, voco, becaufe the laurel 
makes a crackling noife while it burns. The fable of the 
amours of Apollo and Daphne, is thus accounted for by 
Banier. Some prince, called Apollo, on account of his love 
of the belles lettres, falling in lave with Daphne, the daugh- 
ter of Peneus, king of Theffaly, and baa one day in pura 
{uit of her, the young princefs died upon the banks of a 
river in fight of her lover. Some laurels fpringing up o 
that {pot gave rife to her metamorphofis; or rather the fs 
mology of Daphne’s name, which in Greek imports a laurel, 
was the foundation of the fable 
LEON, in Medicine, Aabrsrcuioy (from daun, 
the day-tree, aud srsxsoy, oil), /aurinum, or oil of bay. This 
is prepared of the berries, when full ripe and ready to fall off, 
by boiling them in water; by which they tranfmit through 
their hufks a fat fubftance, which, after compreffing the 
berries with the hand, is taken off with fhells. Some, after 
they have in{piffated oil of unripe olives with cyperus, juncus 
odoratus, and calamus, caft therein the tender leaves of the. 
ay, and boil them together; and others add the berries, 
until it {mells fufficiently ftrong ; and fometimes ftyrax and 
myrrh are mixed with them. ‘The mountainous and broad- 
leaved bay is the fitteft for the preparation of this oil, which 
is beft of its — when recent, of a green colour, very bitter 
and acrimonio 
DAPHNE ‘PHORIA, Aadmnosic, in Antiquity, a noven~ 
nial feftival, celebrated by the Beeotians in honour of 
pou) 
Tat t this eae a globe of brafs was fet upon a branch of 
olive, from w ung feveral other {mall globes; the firft 
or bi ; the oe fomewhat lefs 
fented t moon; and the reft, the ftars. 
Crowns which Secale ae globes pointed out the bls 
of the year. ig » with all its ornaments, wa 
ried about in proceffion : a young an who held feat 
in his hand a laurel-bough, and thence had the name 
“* Daphnephoros.”? This youth, according to Paufanias 
Beeot.), was to be chofen out of the beft families, ard to 
well-formed, vigorous, an 
DAPHNOMA m dava, laurel, and ail 
Ww 
e or 
leaves of laurel were ae Siewed, in order to communicate 
the gift of prophe 
DA US, in ae Geography, a part of the canal of 
Conftantinople, at the diftan o ftadia ee this city, 
dia 
and 40 fladia from the Paine “Ce a. rer 0, a town 
r Con 
ene eau by the Bail as en ed 
or Juftinian.—Alfo, baths in Sicily, near Syracufe.—Alfo, 
a fea-port of Ethiopia, on the een ulf.—Alfo, a town 
of the Opuntian Locrians, fituated on the fea-coaft, near 
the frontiers which feparated the Opuntians from the Epic- 
nemidian Locrians. It formerly belonged to the Phoczans. 
—Alfo, a river of Afia ees, in Caria. 
DAPHNUSA, 
