THE SACRED WAR.

THERE were two places in Greece which had been
set aside as sacred,—Platea, the scene of the final
defeat of the Persian invaders, and Delphi, the seat
of the great temple of Apollo, in whose oracles all
Greece placed faith, We have already seen how
little the sacredness of Platea protected it from
ruin. We have next to see how the sacredness of
Delphi was contemned, and how all Greece suffered
in consequence.

The temple of Apollo at Delphi had long been held
so inviolate that it became a rich reservoir of treas-
ures, gathered throughout the centuries. Crcesus,
the rich king of Lydia, sent thither the overflow of
his wealth, and hundreds of others paid liberally for
the promises of the priestess, until the treasures of
Delphi became a by-word in Greece. This vast
wealth was felt to be safe. The god would protect
his own. Men’s voices were deep with awe when
they told how the wrath of Apollo had overthrown
the Persian robbers who sought to rifle his holy
fane. And yet the time came when a horde of ban-
dit Greeks made the temple their prey and the hand
of the god was not lifted in its defence, nor did out-
raged Greece rise to punish the sacrilegious robbers.
This is the tale that we have next to tell, that of the
so-called Sacred War, with all it meant to Greece.

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