Such is a full account of the various details in this fine painting of the Thasian painter. [138] So _Corayus_. The meaning and reading is very obscure. [139] See Homer’s Odyssey, xi. 287 _sq._ Neleus refused the matchless Pero’s hand to any suitor who would not bring as a wedding-present these kine of Iphiclus. [140] Odyssey, xi. 582-592. CHAPTER XXXII. Near the temple precincts is a handsome theatre. And as you ascend from the precincts you see a statue of Dionysus, the offering of the men of Cnidos. In the highest part of the city is a stadium made of the stone of Mount Parnassus, till the Athenian Herodes embellished it with Pentelican marble. I have now enumerated the most remarkable things still to be seen at Delphi. About 60 stades from Delphi on the road to Mount Parnassus is a brazen statue, and from thence it is an easy ascent for an active man, or for mules and horses to the Corycian cavern. It got its name, as I pointed out a little back,[141] from the Nymph Corycia, and of all the caverns I have seen is best worth a visit. The various caverns on sea-coasts are so numerous that one could not easily enumerate them: but the most remarkable whether in Greece or in foreign lands are the following. The Phrygians near the river Pencala, who originally came from Arcadia and the Azanes, show a round and lofty cavern called Steunos, which is sacred to the Mother of the Gods, and contains her statue. The Phrygians also, who dwell at Themisonium above Laodicea, say that when the army of the Galati harried Ionia and the neighbouring districts, Hercules and Apollo and Hermes came to their aid: and showed their chief men a cavern in a dream, and bade them hide there their women and children. And so in front of this cavern they have statuettes of Hercules and Hermes and Apollo, whom they call _The Cavern-Gods_. This cavern is about 30 stades from Themisonium, and has springs of water in it, there is no direct road to it, nor does the light of the sun penetrate into it, and the roof in most of the cavern is very near the ground. The Magnesians also at a place called Hylæ near the river Lethæus have a cavern sacred to Apollo, not very wonderful for size, but containing a very ancient statue of Apollo, which supplies strength for any action. Men made holy by the god leap down rocks and precipices unhurt, and tear up huge trees by the roots, and carry them with ease through mountain passes. But the Corycian cavern excels both of these, and through most of it you can walk without needing torches: and the roof is a good height from the ground, and water bubbles up from springs, but still more oozes from the roof, so that there are droppings from the roof all over the floor of the cavern. And those that dwell on Mount Parnassus consider it sacred to Pan and the Corycian Nymphs. It is a feat even for an active man to scale the heights of Parnassus from it, for they are higher than the clouds, and