The JMPHICTTONES. j 55 



fubjects could ever hope to derive the fmallefl: advantage. The 

 opinion which attributes this eftablilhment to the wifdom and 

 penetration of the Argive Prince, is therefore, in all refpects, 

 bafelefs and nugatory. 



Androtion, quoted by Pausanias *, appears to me to 

 have given the genuine account of the institution of this cele- 

 brated council : Avdgartoov h sv r^ Arfadi, ztyn, trvvygctQy, -a. r. X. 

 " But Androtion, in his Hiflory of Attica, tells us, that 

 " from the mod early period, deputies from the neighbouring 

 " dates aiTembled at Delphi, and that thefe deputies were, 

 " from that circumjtance called Amphidyones, and that confe- 

 " quently, in procefs of time, this became the prevailing de- 

 " nomination of that high court." However this author may 

 be miftaken in his etymology, he is certainly orthodox in 

 his opinion relating to the original of this renowned afTembly. 

 It was an original inftitution. It did not derive its primary 

 exiftence, either from Amphictyon or Acrisius, or indeed 

 from any particular perfon. It was a convention ro gf a^yj,^. 

 It exifted from the earlieft ages of antiquity. — Let us now fee 

 whether it is not poffible to give at lead fome probable account 

 of its primary erection. 



As the Hellenes h^d founded the oracle of Dodona, fo the 

 fame people, in all probability, eftablilried the oracle of Del- 

 phi. They had feen the amazing credit and fuccefs of the 

 former, and expecled the like reputation and aggrandizement of 

 the latter. The event proved, that the conjecture was founded. 

 in reafon and fagacity. The renown of the Delphic erection 

 in a fhort time eclipfed that of the fane of Dodona, The 

 Greeks, who have ever been diftinguifhed by their itch for no- 

 veltv, quickly reforted in crowds to this newly erected office. 

 In a few years, the temple became flourifhing and opulent. 

 The Delphic Pythonefs, tutored by the Hellenes : uttered her 

 myfterious predictions with fuch fuperior fagacity, that the 

 events, in many inflances, verified their divine original, or at 



u z leaft 



* Lib. x. cap. 8. p. 815. 



