4^2 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1753.
- hu3 the cities which they reprc-
JetKcd, without any di.linftion of fubordimtion, each gave two voices In the council of :he An-iphiclyoos, a privilege known by the name of \.\\.t {{ouhle Juffrage \ vvluch term, io fjequtnc in ihf ancisnt w-itings, is thus fully expIjineJ, without any jefinement or difficu!;y.
When the deputies, thus ap- pointed, appeared to execute their commiflion, they in the i^.-ft place ofiered up their folemn facrifices to ihe gods ; to Ceres, when they aiTembled at Thermopylae: when at Delphi, to Apollo, Diana, Li- tona, and Minerva : and, before they entered on their fundl'.on, each deputy was obliged to take an oath, which ^Efchines hath pre- ferved, or at lealt fome part of it; and v/hich was conceived in thefe terms :
- I fwear that I will never fub-
• vert any Amphiclyonic city ; I
• will never Hop the courfes of their
• waters, eiiher in war or peace.
- If any fuch outrages fhould be
• attempted, I will oppofe them
- by force of arms, and deflrcy
- thofe cities who may be guilty of
- fuch attempts. If any devafta-
- lions fhall be committed in the
- territory of the god ; if any fliall
• be privy to fuch offence, orenter-
- tain any defignagainft the temple;
♦ I will make ufe of my feet, my
• hands, my whcle force, to bring « the offending party to condign
• puniihmerit.'
To render this OAlb ftlll more folemn, the following awful impre- cations were fabjoined :
• If any one ftiali viokte any
• pan cf this f/Icroc cng^g'ire.nt.
- whether city, private p'rfon, or
- Country, may futh violators be.
- cbn'-xioos to the vengeance of
- Apollo, Diana, Latona, and Mi-
- nerva the provident. May their
- lands never produce their fruits ;
- may their women never bring
- forth children of the fame nature
- of their parents, but offsprings
- of an unnatural and monllrous
- kind : may they be for ever de-
' feated in war, in judicial con-
- troveriies, and in all civil tranf-
- adtions ; and may they, their fa-
» milies, and tiicir vvhoie race, be
- utterlv dcftroyed : may they ne-
- veroiFer up ?.n acceptable facrifice
' to Apollo, Diana, Latona, and ' Minerva the provident ; but may
- all their facred rites be for ever
- rejefted.'
Such was the conftitution of this famous Grecian council. As to the difputes of particular perfons, it was accounted beneath the dig- nity of the Amphidlycns to take the cognizance of them. Nor do we hear of any private man fum- moned to appear, or condemned ia this aflembly, except Ephialtes, who, when the Spartans pofleffcd themfelves of Thermopylae, under the command of Leonidas, con- duced the Perfians over the Oe- tean mountains into Greece. But all ofiences againft religion, all in- Ifances of impiety and profanation, all contefts between the Grecian Hates and cities, came under the particular cognizance of the Am- phiflyons, who had a right to de- termine, to impofe fine?, and even to levy forces, and to make war on thofe who prefumed to rebel againlt their fovereign authority.
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