408
of the temple, and the manner of its formation,by upright, equidistant stones. This incident,so violently and uselessly introduced, seems anindex to the whole fable, and identifies it asrelating to the plundering of a dracontium.
In turning over the pages of Pausanias andStrabo , we frequently meet with passages whichmay naturally be interpreted into descriptions ofOphite temples. Thus near the river Chimarrusin Argolis was a circular inclosure “ marking thespot where Pluto descended into Tartarus withProserpine .” This legend indicates the temple tobe a dracontium of which the central circle onlyremained. Other temples occur which mightadmit the same inference ; but they are for themost part too obscurely described to adduce asillustrations. I cannot, however, pass by, with-out a remark, “ the stones of Amphion,” men-tioned by Pausanias , (568,) because the legendattached to them corresponds with a traditionvery common in England, respecting the circu-lar, druidical temples :—“ The stones which lienear the tomb of Amphion (in Boeotia) are rudeand not laboured by art. They say that theywere the stones which followed the music ofA mphion A