Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/476

 4^2 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1753.

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.
 * hu3 the cities which they reprc-

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

' feated in war, in judicial con-
 * kind : may they be for ever de-


 * troveriies, and in all civil tranf-

» milies, and tiicir vvhoie race, be
 * adtions ; and may they, their fa-


 * utterlv dcftroyed : may they ne-

' to Apollo, Diana, Latona, and ' Minerva the provident ; but may
 * veroiFer up ?.n acceptable facrifice


 * 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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