406

SERPENT-TEMPLES.

river was so named from a body of people, whosettled upon its banks, and were said to be con-ducted by a serpent

An attentive perusal of Diodorus Siculus , lib.iv. s. 47, will perhaps incline the reader to ac-quiesce in the conclusion of Bryant respectingthe Colchian dragon. Diodorus himself resolvesthe legend into a story about a temple, wherethe treasure, the golden fleece, was kept underthe guardianship of Tauric soldiers. These, hecontends, were the bulls, who were associatedwith the dragon in guarding the treasure. Thedragon was their commander, an officer namedDraco. The legend is, that the golden fleecedeposited there by Phryxus , was guarded by asleepless dragon ; and bulls, breathing fire fromtheir nostrils, lay by the altar of the temple.Jason, having first subdued the bulls, compelledthem to the yoke, and ploughed up the ground ;in which, like Cadmus , he sowed serpents' 1 teeth.These teeth, becoming animated in the form ofarmed men, fought together and destroyed oneanother. He then lulled the dragon, and boreaway the fleece 2 .

The explanation of Diodorus is simple, and1 Bryant, Anal. ii. 208.

Ovid Met. 7.