——Ὁ δ’ ἐπήυξατο φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων,
Ἐνταυθοῖ νῦν πύθεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ βωτιανείρη.
——Sic inde precatus Apollo est:
Putrescas tellure jacens campoq; feraci.
And from hence were the Pythian Games instituted:
Neve operis famam posset delere vetustas,
Instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos
Pythia perdomitæ serpentis nomine dictos.
Though, if we will believe Natalis Comes and some others, it was not a Serpent or Dragon that Apollo slew, but a man whose name was Python, and his sirname Draco, and from that Victory Apollo was called Pythius, and those that kept his Oracle at Delphos were called Pythios vates, Pythian Priests, or Diviners of Python. So that all that can be gathered from hence is, that to have the Spirit of Python, was to undertake such Divinations, as the Priests used at the Pythian Oracle at Delphos, and that was no more in truth and effect, but Cheaters and Impostors.
De defect. Oracul. mihi. p. 691.