into two portions, the first dealing with
the birth of Apollo, and the foundation of his shrine in the isle of
Delos; the second concerned with the establishment of his Oracle and fane
at Delphi. The division is made merely to lighten the considerable
strain on the attention of the English reader. I have no pretensions to
decide whether the second portion was by the author of the first, or is
an imitation by another hand, or is contemporary, or a later addition, or
a mere compilation from several sources. The first part seems to find a
natural conclusion, about lines 176-181. The blind singer (who is quoted
here by Thucydides) appears at that point to say farewell to his
cherished Ionian audience. What follows, in our second part, appeals to
hearers interested in the Apollo of Crisa, and of the Delphian temple:
the _Pythian_ Apollo.

According to a highly ingenious, but scarcely persuasive theory of Mr.
Verrall's, this interest is unfriendly. {13} Our second part is no hymn
at all, but a sequel tacked on for political purposes only: and valuable
for these purposes because so tacked on.

From line 207 to the end we have this sequel, the story of Apollo's
dealings as Delphinian, and as Pythian; all this following on detached
fragments of enigmatic character, and containing also (305-355) the
intercalated myth about the birth of Typhaon from Hera's anger. In the
politically inspired sequel there is, according to Mr. Verrall, no living
zeal for the honour of Pytho (Delphi). The threat of the God to his
Cretan ministers,--"Beware of arrogance, or . . . "--must be a prophecy
after the event. Now such an event occurred, early in the sixth century,
when the Crisaeans were supplanted by the people of the town that had
grown up round the Oracle at Delphi. In them, and in the Oracle under
their management, the poet shows no interest (Mr. Verrall thinks), none
in the many mystic peculiarities of the shrine. It is quite in
contradiction with Delphian tradition to represent, as the Hymn does,
Trophonius and Agamedes as the _original_ builders.

Many other points are noted--such as the derivation of "Pytho" from a
word meaning _rot_,--to show that the hymnist was rather disparaging than
celebrating the Delphian sanctuary. Taking the Hymn as a whole, more is
done for Delos in three lines, says Mr. Verrall, than for Pytho or Delphi
in three hundred. As a whole, the spirit of the piece is much more
Delian (Ionian) than De