[522] Didorus xvi. 27. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας τὰς
ἐπισημοτάτας τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων ἀπέστειλεν,
ἀπολογούμενος, ὅτι κατείληπται τοὺς Δελφοὺς, οὐ τοῖς ἱεροῖς
χρήμασιν ἐπιβουλεύων, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ ἱεροῦ προστασίας ἀμφισβητῶν·
εἶναι γὰρ Φωκέων αὐτὴν ἰδίαν ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις
ἀποδεδειγμένην. Τῶν δὲ χρημάτων τὸν λόγον ἔφη πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν
ἀποδώσειν, καὶ τόν τε σταθμὸν καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἀναθημάτων
ἕτοιμος εἶναι παραδιδόναι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐξετάζειν. Ἠξίου δὲ,
ἄν τις δι᾽ ἐχθρὰν ἢ φθόνον πολέμῃ Φωκεῦσι, μάλιστα μὲν ξυμμαχεῖν,
εἰ δὲ μή γε, τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν.
In reference to the engagement taken by Philomelus, that he
would exhibit and verify, before any general Hellenic examiners,
all the valuable property in the Delphian temple, by weight
and number of articles—the reader will find interesting matter
of comparison in the Attic Inscriptions. No. 137-142, vol. i.
of Boeckh’s Corpus Inscriptt. Græcarum—with Boeckh’s valuable
commentary. These are the records of the numerous gold and
silver donatives, preserved in the Parthenon, handed over by the
treasurers of the goddess annually appointed, to their successors
at the end of the year, from one Panathenaic festival to the
next. The weight of each article is formally recorded, and the
new articles received each year (ἐπέτεια) are specified. Where an
article is transferred without being weighed (ἄσταθμον), the fact
is noticed. That the precious donatives in the Delphian temple
also, were carefully weighed, we may judge by the statement of
Herodotus, that the golden lion dedicated by Krœsus had lost
a fraction of its weight in the conflagration of the building
(Herodot. i. 50).
Pausanias (x. 2, 1) does not advert to the difference between
the first and the second part of the proceedings of Philomelus;
first, the seizure of the temple, without any spoliation of the
treasure, but simply upon the plea that the Phokians had the
best right to administer its affairs; next, the seizure of the
treasure and donatives of the temple—which he came to afterwards,
when he found it necessary for defence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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