110
They were not content with taking this oath, but they added an imprecation and a mighty curse concerning this; for it stands thus written in the curse : If any one should violate this, it says, whether city or private man, or tribe, let them be under the curse, it says, of Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronaea.
111
The curse goes on: That their land bear no fruit; that their wives bear children not like those who begat them, but monsters; that their flocks yield not their natural increase; that defeat await them in camp and court and market-place, and that they perish utterly, themselves, their houses, their whole race; And never, it says, may they offer pure sacrifice unto Apollo, nor to Artemis, nor to Leto, nor to Athena Pronaea, and may the gods refuse to accept their offerings.
112
As a proof of this, let the oracle of the god be read; hear the curse; call to mind the oaths that your fathers swore together with all the other Amphictyons. The Oracle [Ye may not hope to capture town nor tower, Till dark-eyed Amphitrite’s waves shall break And roar against Apollo’s sacred shore.]The oracle given in the MSS. is evidently not the one that Aeschines cited. Some ancient editor has inserted it, finding it in Pausanias’ account of these events.Paus. 10.7.6
113
The Oaths. The Curse
113
This curse, these oaths, and this oracle stand recorded to this day; yet the Locrians of Amphissa, or rather their leaders, most lawless of men, did till the plain, and they rebuilt the walls of the harbor that was dedicate and accursed, and settled there and collected port-dues from those who sailed into the harbor and of the deputiesSee on Aeschin. 3.115. who came to Delphi they corrupted some with money, one of whom was Demosthenes.