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speciAL
colleccioNS
OouqLas
LifcRAR?
queeN's UNiveRsirp
AT RlNQSUON
kiNQSTON
ONTARIO
CANADA
THE
ATHENIAN BALLOT
AND
SECRET SUFFRAGE
BY
THE REV. ROBERT SCOTT,
M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE,
LATE STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.
OXFORD,
PRINTED BY
S.
COLLINGWOOD, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY.
SOLD BY
J.
H.
PARKER! AND BY
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXVIII.
TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND
SAMUEL
LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD,
ETC., ETC.,
THE GRATEFUL OFFERING OF ONE
WHO
HAS HAD THE HAPPINESS
TO BE HIS PUPIL.
—
ADVERTISEMENT.
The
present inquiry owes
S. C. Denison's masterly
its
origin
to
Mr.
"Is the
pamphlet,
" Ballot a mistake?' published during the late
session.
it
During a careful examination of that part of
which bore upon my Academical pursuits
the question of the Athenian Ballot
a confusion, in
had
all
I
noticed
the authorities to which I
access, on a point
than the secrecy of this
As this pervaded
—
which involved no
mode
less
of voting.
the works of modern scholars,
as well as of the grammarians, I laid both aside,
and examined the
literature of the times
Athens had a democracy and a
was
ballot.
when
And
I
by finding that the passages thus
seemed to suggest a simple and easy
gratified
collected
account of the matter, at the same time that
they supplied a probable explanation of the
confusion which had arisen.
It
was indeed with
tioned, even
in
a
diffidence that I
trifle,
B
ques-
the opinions of those
—
:
ADVERTISEMENT.
2
German
whom
scholars to
classical literature
and archaeology owe so deep a debt. But the
sources from which they have drawn are open
to all
:
and
to
examine those sources, rather
than to accept of second-hand statements,
no-
is
thing more than the lesson which they themselves have taught us
" For out of olde feldis, as men saith,
" Cometh this nevve corn fro yere to yere
"
And
" Cometh
Whether
:
out of okle bokis, in good faith,
this nevve science that
men
lere."
the change, which seems to have taken
mode
place in the
connected,
— and
if
of voting, was or was not
so,
merely as a symptom,
lution of character
whether as a cause, or
— with the
general revo-
and constitution
at
Athens
and whether her subsequent history tends
make
to
the date of this change that at which our
of her example
imitation
should begin,
further questions, interesting to the
ters,
:
to the
for this
man
—are
of
let-
But
statesman most momentous.
very reason, that they are questions
much more
political
than literary,
I
must wholly
decline entering into them.
I
have only
to add, that a slight sketch of this
inquiry was read before the Ashmolean Society
at
Oxford
in the
month of
May
last.
have
I
since availed myself of the leisure afforded
long vacation to
reconsider the subject
;
by a
but
ADVERTISEMENT.
have as yet seen no grounds
views.
Still
however there
for
may
8
my
modifying
exist such
and
:
should they suggest themselves to any of
readers, I shall esteem
have the goodness
as
my
object
is
not
to
it
my
a favor if they will
communicate them
Oea-iv r^ia(pv\drr€iv,
me
to
but to
elicit
the truth on a point hitherto unexamined.
ROBERT SCOTT.
Balliol College,
Sept. 1838.
B 2
:
:
CHAPTER
I.
THE BALLOT.
"
Non
sat
" Divisa sunt temporibus
commode
Dave, haec."
tibi,
Terent,
WHEN people are found to argue from the Athenian
Ballot in favor of the adoption of the Ballot
among
ourselves, the relevancy of the instance will depend
upon the answers
Was
1.
the
to three questions
Athenian Ballot the same mode of
voting with that which
Was
2.
3.
Did
from
the
it
is
now advocated ?
used for the same purposes f
it
really possess the advantages anticipated
proposed system ?
It is clear that unless all three are
the affirmative, the instance
Some have
is
answered in
nugatory.
passed by the two
first
questions,
have proved that bribery and corruption,
if
not
midation, notoriously prevailed at Athens.
have disputed the second
and
;
it
officers
inti-
Others
has been demon-
strated that the time-honored republicans of
never elected
and
Athens
by the Ballot, but only used
as a means of voting in the courts of justice a
it
Politically speaking therefore,
the question
a
is
at
an end.
it
.
would seem that
But an important inquiry
See Mr. Denison's pamphlet, "Is the Ballot a mistake?"
second
Mus.
edit.
i.
1838.
425.
A
paper by Mr. G. C. Lewis in the Philol.
sq.j treats
of the same subject.
B 3
THE ATHENIAN
6
still
[CHAP.
remains for the historian and archaeologer.
It
will he noticed, that no one has discussed the prior
question,
What was
No
doubt or
is
difficulty
And
this point.
none
mode of voting by
the
Athens?
ballot at
seems to have been
the reason of this probably
felt
is,
on
that
suggested in the usual compendiums of Greek
Antiquities b
These are in general very meagre, but
.
very explicit on the subject
which one gives
is
:
and the information
transferred with perfect confidence
by being
to another, until assertion gains weight
re-
peated, and each copyist ranks as an additional and
independent authority
b The
common
following authors have been consulted, besides the
school compilations
thumskunde,
p.
347
:
Wachsmuth, Hellenische Alter-
Tittmann,
344:
i,
ii.
Platner, Process
;
.
Griechische
Verfassung,
und Klagen (who however
declines
the philological discussion, writing rather as a jurist),
in
Phil.
i
23
:
:
:
Mus.
425,
1.
Philologie, 1829,
ii.
This
2.
last
sq.:
Grashof
in Jahn's Jahrbiicher fur
160: C. F. Hermann, Political Antiqui-
work
translated into English, and
ties, §.
143.
far the
most useful Manual of the subject
c
188:
Schomann de Cop. 720. sq.
Idem de Jure Publico Graecorum, p. 283 Lewis,
Schomann, Der Attische Process,
mitiis, p.
1.
Meier und
Heffter, Atheniiische Gerichtsverfassung, p. 326. sq.:
is
Miiller (on the Eumenides,
§.
73.)
in
is
our language.
seems to have had just
such a glimpse of the truth as to mislead him his words are,
" They step to a table, on which probably two vessels, the
" brazen urn of mercy, and the wooden one of death, stood side
:
" by side, and throw their ballot into one of them unless for
" the sake of secrecy they had an ineffective ballot, as was usual
:
"
in the other Attic courts of justice."
the truth here
;
There
is
something of
but confused by the introduction of the brazen
and wooden urns
at a
time when they were unknown, and for a
purpose which, when they were known, they never
fulfilled.
—
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
7
It is not the characteristic of these times to recur
much
to original sources
with what Johnson
satisfied
learning
:
Each
of information.
calls his
'
is
mouthful' of
and as most have the same mouthful given
to them, no one
reminded that he has no more,
is
by the acquirements of
Else
his neighbour.
it
would
soon appear, that nothing but the extreme A agueness
r
of the ideas afloat on the subject prevents the
and contradictions involved
culties
diffi-
them from
in
being detected.
The present
inquiry then, which
is
rather than political, will be into the
archaeological
mode
of voting
law courts of Athens, previously to the year
in the
And
of the Thirty Tyrants (B. C. 404.)
definite limit should
cessary
:
be given to
it is
that such a
absolutely ne-
most other questions of the
for in this, as in
kind, a confusion of dates seems to have been the
source of error d
:
since statements,
which are per-
become
positively false
fectly true
of one period,
when made
of another.
Thus a
careful inquiry will
probably end in the conclusion, that the account
usually given of the Athenian system of judicial
voting
— an
account
consistent
with,
and
indeed
drawn from the writers of the fourth century B.C.
is
inapplicable
to
century previous, and in-
the
consistent with the express evidence of the contem-
porary authors.
there
however,
The
The account usually given
is,
that
was always the same general system, with,
continual
and
inexplicable
exceptions.
true one appears to be, that the different forms
(l
See Xiebuhr's Hist, of Rome,
B 4
iii.
184.
;
THE ATHENIAN
8
[CHAP.
of procedure only need to be brought to the simple
tost of
chronology.
be convenient to state
It will
briefly in the first
place what the received explanation
is,
and then to
inquire into the authorities for each statement in
And
summary given in Meier and Schbmann's very useful work, Der Attische Process*, may
detail.
the
be taken for the basis of our inquiry.
To
pass over
preliminary matter, and go at
all
once to the actual voting
"
" Votes were given
:
beans or shells of different colors
" or
black
" balls
and white pebbles
;
(Kvaiuoi, yoipivai),
or
(ylsrjipoi),
and perforated
solid
(o-7r6v$v\oi)
" T€Tpv7nnuLevai)
by
metal
(arpv-7rt]Toi,
but pebbles were used so
much
the
" most commonly, that \^^o?, ^njcpL^eaOai, were the
" general
names
" judge received
" balls (black
" with these
" urns
"
for
this
from an
kind
and white, or
KaSlo-Koi,
solid
Of
" ballot with
which he
" a sort of funnel f
and perforated)
table,
on which two
stood,
a/ui.(popeh)
one ballot into each.
" brass (-^oXkov?, Kvpios),
Each
of the court two
officer
he advanced to a
(kolSoi,
of voting.
and threw
the urns, one was of
and into
this
he dropped the
meant to vote, through
The other was of wood
really
(/07/X09).
— 723.
e
Pp. 720
f
This was wide at top, but tapered away to a tube so narrow
as only to
admit one ball
at
a time
:
Ilapofioios
x<° vTI
are tne
words of the Scholiast on Aristophanes but the poet himself
gives the most lively description of it, where he represents
:
Demos as applying it like a stomach-pump
make them disgorge their ill-gotten gear
to
ment
:
see Eq.
1
150.
to the
demagogues,
at the proper
mo-
:
I.]
BALLOT, ETC.
" (%v\ivo$, aicvpos),
and received the
" lots
"
that
;
9
ineffective bal-
those which remained in the judges'
is,
hands after the actual vote was given. The ballots
" in the brazen urn
" table,
were then poured out upon a
and accordingly
as there
was a majority of
" black or white,
&c, the question was
"
wooden urn were of course ne-
The
balls in the
decided.
" glected."
" But," they go
" one time there
" only one urn
" judge held
" are
some
on to
was
say, " it
would seem that
at
which
a different process, in
was used, and consequently every
back one of
Nay, there
his ballots.
hints of a third, in which only one ballot
" was given to each voter, but there were two urns,
" one of guilty, the other of
" in
cases
not guilty.
where property was
" several claimants, a
number
in
dispute
:
and we are
whether the voting took place with a
" single ballot, or with
" rest black."
among
of urns was used cor-
" responding to that of the litigants
" left to infer
Lastly,
one white ball and
the
all
Meier and Schomann are disposed
to take the latter opinion,
by an analogy which
is
rather questionable.
Such
and
is
it is
the account given by the archaeologers
clear that the varieties
which they speak of
are not merely in subordinate details, but such as
affect
that
the Aery essential parts of the question
becomes important
it
for each statement.
g
The
paper by
to
so
examine the authorities
Especially as nones of those,
only exception of which the author
M. Ross
:
of Leipsic, in
is
aware,
is
a short
Jahn und Seebode's Archiv fur
—
;
THE ATHENIAN
10
who have
written on the subject generally, appear
even to have been conscious of a
There
who
aJs
\r
difficulty.
a difficulty of a peculiar nature in
is
concerning Athenian law
quiries
[CHAP.
all in-
for the orators,
;
supply the chief materials, flourished at inter-
during a period of about fourscore years
with change and revolution of
too, rife
but by
—
years,
kinds
all
mass of their remains belongs
far the greatest
exclusively to the latter portion of that time, to the
age, that
we
But
of xVeschines and Demosthenes.
is,
are not justified in the inference, that whatever
was the law or the custom of that
and
in the age of Pericles
we have
Again,
had been
day,
immediate successors.
his
a host of critics and commentators,
grammarians and lexicographers b who lived
in times
,
Philologie,
so
Supplement-Band, 1832.
just at the close of his
own
350, to which he was led
p.
researches.
In so far as
goes, he advocates the chronological account which
is
M. Ross
adopted in
the text.
h
The
Scholiast on Aristophanes and Julius Pollux are the
lucida sidera, by
whose
such an inquiry as this
means of judging
here subjoined
light all
it is
seem to have
important that
KHMON KATAMHAQN
\j/T](povs
<°s
icai
kttclvto ev
to'is hiKCKTTrjpio s, 6
8e
e'xei
he
a', i. e.
pev yiihKovs
tov
rjv
,
as
yjrricpov
THNAI AABQN THN
y\rfj<PoV
Km
6 he gvXivos,
(faqo-iv
'
6 pev kv-
ApKTTOTeKrjs,
(Bergk, Comment. Ant. Comoed.
piav) povrjv n)v
Schol. Ar. Vesp. 987.
avra deiKvvai
toiovtos yap eyevero, kcu
Kal 6 xoXkovs,
hieppivrjpevov e7Ti6epa, els to avrrjv
p. 139, corrects
em
Kpar'ivos
2o(poK\rjs ev 'ivdxf, "Yarepov 8e dpfpope'is 8vo
pios
uKvpos'
K^fibs 6
KaBlecrav ev rois hiKCHTTrjpiois.
oe avrbv ev Sopois o~\oiviov rj6pbv ndke'c
napopoios x<° v!l>
Trrjpevrjv
in
for themselves, the passages referred to are
Schol. Ar. Eq. 1150.
o
As
steered.
should have the
:
Ka&KTKOV, els ov ras
i)v,
all
8vo yap ap<fiopels
Kadiea&ai.
¥H«f>ON
rjcrav,
wv
—np
rerpv-
o pev Kipios
—— —
Ballot, etc.
i.]
11
long afterwards, and whose errors are often quite
But
transparent.
would seem, that the lucky
it
accident of their writing
modern
in
their statements side
by
drawn from contemporary
side with the information
sources.
Nay, even of the extant
cides
Greek has involved
scholars in the practical fallacy of placing
though Ando-
orators,
and Lysias are most important authorities on
any question
can be
placed
fairly
Xeyopevos \a\Kovs,
Kara8iKd£ovres
before the end of the Pelo-
ov ttjv Kvpiuv
els
cnrokvovres, 6 8e
rj
Antiphon alone
like the present, yet
Kadieaav
\j/rj(pov
oi
Kadiecrav' ortore 8e irdvres 8uyj/rj(j)L(TavTO, els x<i\kovi> ku8ov
GK
kov Kadov,
T€TpvTTr)pevai,
for
G1C
?) BirjpLdpovvTo ai yprj(poi'
aneKvov 8e
8imo~rai,
fj
erepos £v\ivos, els ov ras aKvpovs
(e/c
rov ^aA-
kcu Kare8iica£ov
pev ai
Aelrai ovv avrov, iva rrjv rerpv-
ai rrXrjpeis.
n-qpevqv els rov vo~repov, rov aKvpov, Karadfi, Kai dTroikvarj rov drroXo-
yovpevov'
(paivovrai
8e
o~vvr)6a>s
ttjv
aTro8oiapd£ovo~av
yj/r)(pot
els
Kvpiov dp(popea
rov vo-repov Ka8io~KOv
eveftaXXov.
yp-rjcpov
E29* O nPOTEPOS
lb. 991. OA'
Ka^opevcov
naXovvres rov pev
AAAQ2
irpdrepov, rov 8e aKvpov varepov.
eftdXXovro'
onov
6 Kablo-Kos
ai rQ>v Kara8i-
evaXXdo~o~ei he ras ^e'tpas, Treptfpepcov ras
v8pias, Iva ayvo-qcras awoSoKipd^r) els rov vo-repov Ka8io~KOV rrjv aTTo8oKi-
pd^ovaav
els
\\rr)<pov.
pev 6 eXeov, 6
Pollux
viii.
8io~kos,
e'xivos,
yjsrjCpoov
exp<i>vro,
AYTH 'NTEY0ENI
07n'cra>,
8vo Ka8io~KOi rjaav rmv -^^(pav,
erepos 8e, 6 eprrpoaBev, Qavdrov.
16. (speaking of the
\f/T](pos,
alnep
KXeyj/v8pa,
rjO~av
o-Kevrj
\OLpivaC
TTeTTOirjpevaC
6'ieaav' Krjpbs 8e, 81
Id
viii.
123.
tttjtoV Kai Ka8ov,
\jfi'](povs
to
ai
y\rr)<poi
ku8lctkos pev ovv tcrriv dyyelov
ov Karrjeaav ai
a>
etrrjv eTridrjpa
ras yprjCpovs eyKa-
^rr](poi eiriKeipevov ra> Ka8io~Kq>.
8e el)(ov ^aX/cas 8vo, rerpvTtrjpevrjv
Krjpos eneiceiTO, 81 ov KaSiero
peas
yj/i]<pov
eiroirj-
ai 8iKaariKai,
f]
yj/rj<pos'
/cat
\cQpav
It is clear that this last extract
urpv-
avffis 8e
dp(popeis, 6 pev xoXkovs, 6 8e £vXivos' 6 pev nvpios, o 8e aitvpos'
XuXkw
k«-
Krjpos,
Koy^ai SaXdrruu' avdts 8e koI ^aX/cas
aavro Kara plpr)0~iV Kai o~7rov8v\oi 8e eicaXovvro
XoXkov
8iKao-riKd),
ndXat yap %oipivats avri
8vo
ra
8e
f'^01/.
and that from Schol. Ar. Eq.
1150, are only to be received as one testimony.
THE ATHENIAN
12
And
ponnesian war.
as his remains give ns
syllable of information
on the matter,
we have
prior to that time
[CHAP.
for
no one
any thing
to trust principally to
the poets.
It
necessary then, in limine, to protest against
is
any deference being paid to scholiasts and grammarians, beyond what
is
due to men, learned indeed,
and possessed of many treasures of ancient literature
now
irrecoverably
judgment
—always
lost,
far
but usually wanting in
removed from the times and
the manners of which they treat
—and
more than suspected of extemporising
and inventing
facts,
critical
occasionally
interpretations
from hints given
passages which they profess to illustrate.
less necessary to protest against
very
in the
Nor
is it
the assumption, that
the orators must have referred to the same state of
which Aristophanes and those of
things,
time
his
represent.
To proceed then
thorities for
"
The
u
to the examination of the au-
each assertion separately
votes ivere given
Jevent
:
by beans, or
shells,
of
dif-
colors."
Notwithstanding the " wonderful unanimity" with
which
" they do agree" in this assertion,
Mr. Denison
1
unquestionably right in wholly denying the use of
is
beans in the Athenian ballot, and in accounting for
the mistake by a confusion between the lot (/cXypos)
of Politics k and the ballot (\j^(£o?) of the law courts.
,
i
k
who
"
Is the Ballot a
Now
mistake?"
p. 62,
and App. F. (2nd
ed.)
represented by the Twelfth-night game, in which he
finds the
bean in his cake
is
Le Roi de
In
Feve.
-
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
But
is
it
he seems to think, a mere over-
not, as
Authorities are quoted for the opinion
sight.
such authorities
They are placed
!
amusement of the curious
for the
By
"
13
the margin
1
.
and white
different colors, or black
of
shells
in
but-
;
pebbles."
The
" black
and white" and the
are confessedly
mere inferences of
how
did not understand
But of
been used.
" different colors"
late writers m ,
who
they could otherwise have
more
this
That the
hereafter.
seems to
vote by pebbles was the earliest of
all,
follow from the generic use of -v^^o?,
y^rjcpl^eiv,
and
Indeed, I
am
the like, for
1
voting whatsoever".
all
The most important
in the Attischer Process
the epithet Kvaporpcog in Ar. Eq. 4
1
;
is
hut that play
is
the use of
devoted to
political, not judicial, matter, as Arjpos Uvkvittis in the very next
line
Then
proves.
there
is
Suidas, in
XfVKov Kvdfiov
ytvr), to
eTre\)/r](pi£ov
Lys. 693. on
prj 7TOT€
(payy aKopoda
p-rjBe
It is curious that
tcvdfiovs rpaycov.
it
phaselum."
i.
It
Kvdpovs peXavas, and 537
—
227,
iv.
—
For
put into the mouth
tarch
:
remark
instance, the
is
D, though
related in the words of Plu-
and things were changed before
pekaiva, quotes
and by referring
in Plut. Alcib. p. 202.
of Alcibiades,
his time. In Latin authors
there are frequent allusions niveis atrisque
•^i]<Pos
;
289, he might have been great upon
Egypt and Athens.
the connection between
m
ra tov
occurred to none of them
any one may see who examines the passages
to Virg. Georg.
—
compared with Ar.
Vetabo qui vulgarit arcanum mecum
would have been quite as appropriate, as
to quote from Horace, "
solicit
v. a!| ovpavia
oi 'AOrjvaloi,
lapillis.
Suidas,
v.
from Pisides (7th cent.)
y^rjCpov p.e\aivT)s e£e(pd>vr)(re Kpicriv.
n
Even of the decrees
(rpara
and
yjrrjfpi^ea-dai
never used for ^(pl&iv
p. 6c. 4, Schb'in.
past by
shew of hands
were used
;
Comit.
its
(xuporovia)
\j/r)(pi-
on the contrary, x flP OTOVeiv s
compounds however, are so, v. Isae.
p. 123.
:
'
THE ATHENIAN
14
where
not aware of any passage
that
guished from a
or a
shell,
Aristophanes
way
the same loose
p
"
balls, solid
These are
'
it is
were sorted according
Metal
A6t)vai(t)v
it
seems
in the time of
to
be spoken of in
But, in the absence of
.
evidence on the subject,
shells
pebble, as distin-
yoiplvai, porcelain shells,
common enough
also
quite certain
However
ball.
though the
;
is
were used
likely that these pebbles
were then
it
must mean a voting
y^t}(po?
[CHAP.
all
not probable that these
to
any difference of color.
and perforated"
distinctly
mentioned by Aristotle
in his
Tlo\iTeia% and by Aeschines in his oration
against Timarchus, but, I believe, by no earlier author.
with these that the grammarians are
It is
best acquainted.
"
Each judge had a guilty and a not guilty
" ballot, and threw one into the decisive urn,
was null"
" the other into that which
°
The
nearest
is
Ar. Vesp. 109.
tyr)(pa>v Se
but
P
tone
its
were
Beluas
pr) 8fr)deirj
noTe,
alyiakov evhov Tpeqbei,
iv
e'xoi 8iKa£eiv,
is
too light to be trusted, and besides, the x 0l P lvai
.veo-shells.
Ar. Vesp. 332
\i60v pe
ras
349- KtTT ^ Sta
>
tcov (ravihmv
33 2 ov X oiP LV ^' v o£a>v.
1 Arist. 'Ad. noX. Ivii. Ed.
hi(\.
\mtkov
1
— tov piv
pus. Aeschin.
C.
tw
\j/rj(f)oi.
<o
pera
xoipivrjs
nepuXdflv.
rj
fie
Neum. ^(pol dai x a^ Kat
av -
peo~a, at pev fjpiaeuu TfTpvnrjpevat, al be rjpiafiai
bicoKovros al TeTpvnrjpevai, tov 8i (pevyovTOs al irki)-
Timarch.
tov vopov Krjpvypa, Ta>v
Tlpapxov,
ecf>
*
f'xovarai iv
7rXr)peis'
tto'i^o-ov
xoipi'i/as dpi6povo~iv.
nXrjprjs,
p.
\j/ri<pa>i>
ortp prj.
1
r)
I.
33, 6
fie
Krjpv£
eV^pwra vpas to
£k
TeTpvmjpevrj, ora) SoKet nfTTopvtvcrdai
See also Suidas,
v.
TtTpvirrjpivoi
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
Of
the use of two urns,
dence in very early times
nidi
and the other
15
we have
;
the clearest evi-
but that one of these was
what no writer
decisive, is
who has any pretension to the name
Wachsmuth indeed follows Petit (!) in
s
1"
one
was called
kclSos
vo-repos or axvpos
referring:
:
one guilty
earliest authorities for
not guilty
stories
And
ballot,
the
and one
and Aeschines, in the
one, are Aristotle
passages above referred
the other
different.
essentially
to thing's
of classical.
mix up two
to
is
us
stating, that
7rp6repo$ or Kvptov,
but this
tells
to.
But,
"
At one
" urn,
"given
time there seems
hare been only one
to
and each judge held back one of the
to
ballots
him."
This rests only on the authority of Pollux and the
Scholiast on Aristophanes*
what
sceptical
about
it.
;
and we may be some-
For surely
ballots (this being frequently the
in full
number
thousand
of dicasts
employment) were a rather extraordinary num-
ber for the state to replace every day
(even
si,r
if
;
especially as
the metal balls are not considered) yet some
marked
difference or other
acquittal and
between the
ballots of
condemnation would, according to
scheme, always be needed.
may
It
indeed be
this
fairly
assumed, that whenever two ballots were given to
r
Hellen. Alterth.
ii.
s
Those who wish
to see
intelligant,
may
t Poll. viii.
i.
345.
how men
inteUigendo faciunt ut nihil
consult Petit. Legg. Att. p. 419. sq.
123, Schol. Ar. Eq. 1150.
—
—
:
THE ATHENIAN
16
[CHAP.
the voter, two receptacles, of some kind or other,
were prepared
them
for
with this object,
;
if
with no
other,
that a supply of ballots might remain for
future
trials.
weak invention of the
Yet, though this appears a
scholiasts,
it
grounds at
by no means follows that there were no
on which they founded their suppo-
all
There may have been
sition.
some change, although
—there probably was
their account of the
prior to the days of brazen and
is
custom
wooden ballot-boxes
an impossible one.
Again,
" In cases of disputed property as many urns ivere
" set out as there were litigants?
we
This
learn from Isaeus and
this case, of course every
Demosthenes
11
.
In
urn was equally decisive
so that this resembles the next and last class of ex-
ceptions
guilty
:
which the two urns were respectively
in
and not
guilty,
Of
to each voter.
" find
some
and only one ballot was given
mode Meier and Schbmann w
whereas Wachsmuth treats it as
this
hints,"
wholly conjectural.
Strange,
u Isae.
if,
after
Hagn. 86.
pd>V TfdeVTWV, K. T.
I,
all,
this proves to
Dem. Macart.
:
biKiHTTmv.
Vesp. 987,
rip/
is in
the
ut supra.
Terra.'
tg>i> yp-rj(pcov, eis p.ev.
6 e\env, o
But even
in the
vbpiai ^aX/eat (Is as KaBUvro al
And the last part
MS. F»av. AAAQ2
clno8oKipA£ovcrav ivtftaWov.
rjauv
1053. 3, KabicrKav
C.
w Att. Proc. p. 723 Wachsm.
Etytn. Magn. p. 482, ult. we have
^rr)(poL tq>v
be the only
Compare
6ttI(tco,
of the Scholion on Ar.
els
tov va-repov 8e Kah'io-Kov
that on
99 l,
8vo Kahia-Koi
erepos 8e, 6 ep.7rpocrdev. davdrov.
—
:
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
way of
17
balloting which can be traced at
fore the time of the Thirty Tyrants
But
it
now remains
Athens be-
!
examine those pas-
for us to
sages in the contemporary Athenian writers which give
us any information on the subject, discarding for the
time the second-hand statements of grammarians and
And
compilers.
perhaps
be convenient to
will
it
deviate from the order of time so far as to take
Aristophanes
most
first,
as
he gives the most detailed and
distinct account of the forms of
an Athenian
lawsuit.
In his Wasps, performed B. C. 422, a dog named
Labes
is
to be tried for stealing a Sicilian cheese
the whole being a political allusion to the corruption of the general Laches.
devices are employed to
All sorts of ludicrous
up the stage with the
fit
Two
properties of the Heliaea.
The
serve as ballot-boxes.
prit
goblets
(apva-ri-^oi)
infant family of the cul-
have just been brought up, to whine and howl
and yelp
in
the desperate hope of softening the
And now
heart of an inveterate dicast.
begins.
Bdelycleon
Philocleon
is
is
counsel for the prisoner
" twelve single
" one," a whole jury in his
BA. ovk ovv
;
xaXeirov ilhivai.
ld\
o3
-naTpihiov, e7u to. /3eA.r«() rpiirov
Ti]v6l \aj3(t)V Ti]v
fAV<ras
4>I.
gentlemen rolled into
own proper person x
airocpevyet bfJTa
4>I.
BA.
the struggle
\j/i](poi>,
iirl
-napa^ov kclt:6\v(tov,
<3
tov vcrrepov
itdrep.
ov brjra' KiQapi&LV yap ovk e7rtora/xat.
x
Ar. Vesp. 9S5.
C
;
THE ATHENIAN
18
BA.
[CHAP.
^f'pe vvv <re 77781 ti}v TayJ.<JTr\v irepidyoi.
,
6 irporepos
o8' <<T^
<1>I.
BA.
;
ovtos.
4>I.
airr?}
BA.
From
KairoK4\vK€V ovy^ (ko>v.
(^i]TT(jLTr]Tat,
we
this passage
distinctly learn that there
was no difference of black
rated,
between the
demnation
'vrevOtvi.
or white, solid or perfo-
but that one and the same ballot was
:
either guilty
or not guilty,
accordingly as
dropped in one urn or the other.
Take
distinct,
urn
this ballot here,
was
it
The words
and put
it
are
into that
Bdelycleon puts a ballot into his father's
there.
hand, and begs him to drop
pos, that
and con-
of acquittal
ballots
is,
it
into the
Nothing,
to acquit the prisoner.
But
seem, can be plainer.
it
let us suppose,
scarcely conceivable, that so far this
another explanation.
/caSlo-no? vcrre-
Let us suppose
would
what
is
capable of
is
for a
moment,
as the Scholiast supposed y, that the old dicast
was
asked to put one particular ballot into one particular
other ballot might remain to be
urn, that so the
afterwards put into the other urn
we
say to
what follows
and
offered to him,
Trporepos)
it
—through
?
calls
:
—what then
Philocleon takes the ballot
for
the first box
his son's sleight of
The same
y
The
culty
ballot
first
whom
which was intended to
^0os
Terpvmjpevr]
which he was determined to
note h
.
—and thus
he wished to condemn.
fall
into the
Scholiast was evidently embarrassed by the
but the
:
culprit
(KaSta-Kos
hand he drops
not into the first box, but into the second
he acquits the
shall
diffi-
was the bed of Procrustes, to
fit
every thing:
v. sup.
p. 10,
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
first
19
box, and to be guilty, was really dropped into
the second, and became not guilty.
The process then
in this play represented before
who were themselves
the eyes of thousands
practising
with only one bal-
Avas that of voting
it,
but with two boxes or urns
lot,
made
to stand
upon a table
daily
which
:
last
were
so far apart, that
one
could be distinguished as the foremost, to receive the
votes for the prosecutor, and the other as the hindmost, for such as
were
in favor of the
defendant or
prisoner.
This
is
a plain statement which
it
will
be well to
bear in mind while examining evidence of a less
Of
direct character.
this latter sort the earliest is
from the Orestean Trilogy of Aeschylus, performed
In the Eumenides the poet introduces
B. C. 458.
a formal
trial
before the Areopagus
no reason to doubt the accuracy
least) of his description.
the judges
self,
o" 'OjOecrTj/
nyi'S' eyu>
which a good deal of weight
perhaps
If there
\lst}<pov
z
a
is
essentials at
is
and says of her-
And
a circumstance to
certainly due,
difficult to ascertain its
though
exact importance.
were no other evidence on the
would be unreasonable to lay any
that for
(in
7rpo$9}'i<ro/uLai.
these expressions suggest to us
it is
and there
Here Athena admonishes
cpepeiv y^yjcpov $acalav z ,
y^rjcpov
;
stress
subject, it
on the
fact,
we never find y^t)<pov?, but always
But when it comes in addition to
-^tjcpi^ecrOai
(pepeip^.
V. 674, cf. 680, 709, 735, 742.
That is, unless more voters than one are spoken
Agam. 816, quoted below.
c 2
of, as in
THE ATHENIAN
20
other and direct testimony, then
[CHAP.
we cannot but
con-
sider this fact a strong confirmation of the opinion
that this usage of the singular
Certainly
dental, but emphatic.
the use of two ballots, but
it is
noun was not
it
acci-
does not exclude
strongly in favor of
a single one.
And
we
still
find that
more weight must attach to this, when
the usual form was not only the singular
^(pou, but the singular with the
article, rhv
b
\f/-/]<£oj/
,
equivalent to the English " one's vote."
Nor
is
the case weakened by the admission that
this phrase
remained
in
use at a time
ballots were unquestionably employed.
sition is simply, that it
when two
For our po-
must have originated
in the
employment of a single one and it seems to follow,
both that this was the earlier custom, and that it
:
was retained long enough
rency, and fix
rather
it
to give the phrase cur-
in the language.
Nay,
it
would
seem that the phenomenon of such phrases
keeping their hold at a time when they contradicted
the universal practice, absolutely requires some such
explanation.
But
to return to the
soon as the votes are
ZKfiakXtff
Eumenides of Aeschylus. As
all
&)s Ta.yj.irTa
a laxity of expression
given,
Athena
says,
Ttvyjfav iraAovs'
perfectly incredible, unless
there were two urns, into the one or other of which
b V. Ar.
Eq. 808, Vesp. 94, &c, and the orators passim :
we contrast this with the use of the dual, ro> kuSo>,
especially if
Ar.
Av.
1032,, 1053.
If
rrjv \l/rj<pou
were only "the emphatic, the
—
!
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
judges threw their vote
the
21
according to their
opinion.
But there
scription,
another passage in the same Tri-
is
though a metaphor only and not a de-
logy, which,
is still
more
explicit.
Agamemnon,
in the
play which bears his name, alludes to the vengeance
which had
in
which
it
upon Troy
fallen
as the result of a trial
had been judged by the Gods c
bLKas yap ovk airb
y\(j>aar]<i
;
6eol
kXvovtzs avhpodvr\Tas 'IAiov (pOopas
Is alp.a.T7)pbv revyos ov
tdevTO' ra
\j/rj(povs
ekirh
8'
bixopponws
ivavrCca kvtzi
xeipbs ov i:krjpovp.iv^'
7rpos?/et
where, with a plain allusion to the box of Pandora d
he says that
all
,
the Gods cast their votes into the
urn of blood, so that the opposite vase was empty
had nothing
in
it
save
It can scarcely
God had
each
Hope
be necessary to observe, that
if
voted with two ballots, there must
have been an equal number in each urn, whatever
the decision might be.
Next comes the comic poet Phrynichus, whose
play, the Muses, was performed (as we learn from
the Didascaliae) at the Lenaea, B. C. 405, being
placed second to the Frogs of Aristophanes.
"
effective ballot,"
same
then rbv nahov would surely be used with the
distinctive emphasis.
&c, where
c v.
Compare too
17
Trparrj,
the votes were taken several times.
813.
d Hesiod.
Op.
Har-
& D.
94, sq.
c 3
deurtpa
tyrjfpos,
:
THE ATHENIAN'
22
e
pocration and Suidas
fragment of
Ibov,
have preserved the following
it
b^^ov
Ti]V
\j/ri(f)OV'
6 fikv airo\vo>v ovtos, 6
a passage in
[CIIAI'.
6 KabicrKOs 8e crot
5'
which the one
cnroXXhs obi'
ballot,
and the two urns
of acquittal and condemnation, between which the
voter with his one ballot
marked out
is
to take his choice, are
as distinctly as in either
Aeschylus or
Aristophanes.
Of about
the
the same date with the last quotation
of the ten Athenian generals
trial
In the Ecclesia on that occa-
battle of Arginussae.
sion a decree
is
after the
was proposed by the violent party to
the following purport
:
" Ecclesia the accusers
" That,
whereas in the former
and prisoners had been seve-
" rally heard, the Athenians should forthwith pro-
" ceed to the vote [that
is,
that the political assembly
" should resolve itself into a judicial one]
" if the accused
were found
guilty, the
:
and
that,
punishment
" should be death."
The
violence of the effort
resolution,
less
when compared with
to
throw out
this
the slight and care-
mention which the historian makes of the formal
verdict
matter
afterwards, shews clearly
w as
r
question f
e
made
In
.
in
fact decided
And
so in our
upon
own
that
this
whole
the
preliminary
public assemblies
it
v. Kabla-Kos.
differs materially from Mr. Denison's
but it
seems required by the language of Xenopbon, of whose narrative
f
This account
the most important parts are as follow
:
:
'EkkX^o-io eyevtTo iv
fj
rcov
—
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
23
often happens, that the decisive struggle takes place
at a stage of the proceedings far short of that
which
appears to be, formally, the most important.
The
negative thus put upon a measure,
is less
if it
be negatived,
and consequently more courteous.
direct
It is
not indeed intended to assert that courtesy was the
Probably the mer-
Probably not.
object at Athens.
urged them forward to
curial spirit of the people
decide the matter on the immediate impulse
them
the feeling which had actuated
and
;
at the time,
might not be lasting enough to give them much
But, whatever the
terest in the ulterior proceedings.
cause,
it
o~rparr]ya>v
was upon
Karrjyopovv
dneXoyrjaaro
,
this decree of the political
—
8e
p,era
ov yap npovTedrj
ravra
o~<plo~i
ol
in-
assembly
(TTpaTTjym fipa\ea eKacrros
Xoyos Kara tov vopov, Kai
—
eneiQov
But the assembly is adjourned meanwhile came the
Apaturia, and people went about tricked out in mourning to
rjv
make a sensation e'vrevdev eKKhrjaiav enotovv
fiovKrj esrj-
tov
br)p.ov.
;
e's
veyKe ttjv eavrrjs
KaWi^evov
yva>p.t]v,
Karrjyopovvrcov Kara tcov
ctt parrjyaiv ,
elnovTOS, rr)v8e'
tj
Ta>v
re
Kai eKe'ivmv dnoXoyovpevcov iv
Tij
^ETreidi)
'
Kporepa
eKKkrjaia
Selvai 8e
e's
Biay^TjcpLaaadai
aKr/Koaui,
rr/v cpvkr)v eKacrrrjv
8vo i/Bplas'
ecp'
Kara
A.6r]vaiovs
eKaarr] 8e
cpvXds,
rf] (pvXfj
w'jpvKa
Krjpvrreiv, orco 8okovo~iv d8iKelv ol crrpaTrjyoi, ovk dve\6p.evoi rovs vikt)-
cravrat iv
rfj vavp.a)(ia,
vcrrepaV av 8e
is
-nporepav
ttjv
86£-a>CTiv d8iKelv,
6avdra>
8oivai, Kai rd xpr)para 8rjpoatevaai,
fyrjcf>io-ao~6ai' orco
8e
p.rj,
^rjp.icoaai, Kai rois eVSefca
k. r. e.
On
e's
rr)v
napa-
this a violent de-
bate took place, and Callixenus was threatened with impeach-
ment
for his illegal
motion
7r\r)dos e'/3oa, 8eiv6v eivai, el
XrjTai.
An amendment
:
p.r)
tov 8i
ris
8r)p.ov eviot
idcrei.
tov
ravra
eTrrjvovv'
8r)p.ov Trpdrreiv 6
to 8e
av /3ou-
was then proposed, that each should be
tried singly, according to the (so called) decree of
Canonus
:
tovtcov 8e 8ia^eipoTOVOvp.eva>v, to p.ev trparop eKpivav rr)v ~EvpvTTToXepov
(the amendment)" vnop.oaap.evov 8e MeveKXeovs, Kai irdXiv Sia^fpoTovias yevop.evr)s, eKpivav rr)v
(plcravTO
tcov
napovres
e|.
vavpa^r/cravTcov
Xen. Hellen.
rrjs
ftovXrjs.
crrpaTrjycov,
i.
7,
4
—
c 4
34.
Kai
pterct
ravra
Karetyi)-
8eKa ovrcov' dire&avov
8e
ol
.
THE ATHENIAN
24
And
that the struggle took place.
decrees of the political
Notwithstanding
agitation which
work on the
this, like all
other
assembly, was put to the
vote by show of hands.
means of
[CHAP.
the
all
had been employed to
feelings of the people,
it
was rejected.
The excitement, however, was continued, and gained
strength.
Upon some technical objection a second
was procured
division
assailants
was
;
and
in this the energy of the
successful
The assembly having thus by
itself into
a judicial court,
its
own
act resolved
was to be expected
it
that the forms of the regular courts would, as far as
was
possible,
And
be adopted.
accordingly
we
find
that the votes were taken in each tribe in two urns
No.
I.
to receive the ballots of condemnation,
No.
:
II.
for those of acquittal.
The same form then which we have hitherto invariably met with in the actual courts of justice, presents itself to our notice in this extempore one.
We
have not to inquire into the
legality of the steps
which
:
this court
they asserted
"
it
was erected
We
that the form
do
are only concerned with
the forms which they adopted
possible,
" the people had" (and
in these very words) " the right to
what they pleased."
by
;
and
which
is
it
is all
but im-
so distinctly de-
scribed by the three independent witnesses quoted
above, the form which was at once and on the spur
of the
moment adopted when an
extraordinary court
was to be erected, should have been other than the
regular form of legal proceedings.
We
now
arrive at the very close of the period
—
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
The speech
under consideration.
Agoratus, has for
its
25
of Lysias against
and
topics the violations of law
innovations upon custom which the Thirty Tyrants
had sanctioned. His anecdotes therefore are of especial
importance, whatever deductions
necessary to
it
make from
think
on account of the party-feeling and revenge-
thority,
ful
temper of his speech, (written
its
vagueness, and
that
we may
the weight of his au-
when
its
for the prosecution,)
His statement
inaccuracy".
is,
the Thirty were established, they removed
the political
trials
from the more public and legal
tribunals to the j3ov\y or senate, which that year was
filled
"
with their
Now
(when
" been
creatures
had the accused been
" courts, they
"
own
it
and he continues
;
tried in the ordinary
would have escaped
was now too
late)
" were brought before the senate.
of their
" prytanes usually
trial
sit,
:
by
this
time
your eyes had
affairs.
And
But they
this
was the
the Thirty sat where the
with two tables in front of
" them, one before the other
? It
for
;
all
opened to the sad state of
" fashion
:
may seem presumptuous
;
and the votes were to
to charge Lysias with inaccuracy
which he might be supposed to know so fully. But
he directly contradicts the statement, made by both Aristophanes
and Xenophon, that the koSLo-kos vcrrepos was the urn of acquittal.
in a matter
And
it is more easy to suppose that he is wrong, than that the
Thirty went out of their way to reverse the usual custom in so
unimportant a matter.
Nor can
the authorities be reconciled by reading Kadalpovaav
the passage cited from Lysias below
for
never used of judicial matters, except in reference to
for KaOaipoi/o-av in
nadaipa
is
the religious purifications of the courts.
a law-term at Athens.
;
Compurgation was not
THE ATHENIAN
26
"
[CHAP.
be given, not in urns, but openly on these tables,
" the one on the foremost, the other, which con"
How
demned, upon the hindmost.
" one of
them
to
be saved
There are undeniable
then was any
h ?"
here arising from
difficulties
the apparent contrast of this process with that of the
law courts
and these
;
But whatever these
least
one thing at
are,
difficulties
Nothing here
plain.
is
be examined presently.
shall
inconsistent with the
is
belief that votes were usually given with one ballot,
and two receptacles
belief confirmed.
for
Rather indeed
it.
For, as
it will
is
that
probably be granted
that shrewd politicians (however bold and unscru-
pulous they
blished
may
usages,
where no
be) do not willingly violate esta-
or even
shock general prejudices
be gained by
object is to
will
it, it
be reason-
able to suppose that, in the unimportant parts of
their
the
procedure,
Thirty would
not alter the
established mode.
Here
this part of the inquiry concludes.
believed that
h
'E;rei8i7
rolvvv ol TpiaKovra KartcrTddrjaav
yap
J>fa\e7v eovvacrde'
kovtcl elo~dyovo~iv'
,
evdicos Kplaiv rols av-
/3ovX^, 6 Se Sijpos iv ra> StKacrr^pto) iv Siy^i-
rfj
El pev ovv iv tQ> BiKacrTrjpia) (Kpivovro, pa8ia>s av
e\jrr](picraTO.
io-a>£ovTo" aTravres
en
it is
the evidence which can throw any
all
Spdcri tovtols eTTolovv iv
Xi'oi?
For
rj
fjdrj
iyvcoKores
vvv
8'
rjre
ov
kcikov
r)v
els ttjv ftovkr)v
avrovs
8e Kpuris roiavrr] iyevero, o'uiv
t)
ttoXis, iv
rr)v
Kcii
iiri.
to
ovftev
rdv rpid-
vpels avrol ini-
irraade' ol pev rpiaKovra eKaOtjvro eVt ra>v (Bddpcov, ov vvv ol 7rpvTaveis
Ka6e£ovrai' 8vo
fie
y^rjcpov
efiei
Ti6eo~6aL,
vo~repav'
fie
rpdne^at iv
rat TtpoaQev rcov
ovk eh KaSiaKovs, dXKd (pavepav
a>sr
ttjv
pev eVi
in rlvos
Agorat. p. 133-3-
rr)v
irpd)Tr)V,
rponov e'peXKe
Tr)v
TpiaKovra
em
fie
iKelo-Brjv' ti)v
rds rpani^us ravras
Kadaipovaav in\
tis avrcov cra>6r)creadai
;
rr)v
Lys.
C.
BALLOT, ETC.
I.]
light
27
upon the practice of the Athenian
courts, pre-
viously to the establishment of the Thirty Tyrants, has
And
been produced.
that evidence surely warrants
the assertion that before this event the legal
mode
of voting in the Athenian courts of law was by the
use of oxe ballot, but
two
ballot-boxes
being placed so as to distinguish No,
from No.
II. for
;
these latter
I.
for guilty,
not guilty.
would be rash
to assert, that
no instance of any
other method can be pointed out.
But none of the
It
whose works the author
scholars, with
refer to
any
;
and
own
have
inquiries
failed in
So that the account here given
detecting one.
may be
his
acquainted,
is
allowed to rest not only on the distinct
and circumstantial language of the authorities produced, but also on the absence of
testimony.
It
may
conflicting testimony
is
conflicting
all
even be remarked, that no such
is
to be expected.
For
as there
no means by which we could explain away the
direct statements
above
than utter confusion must be the
dictions
fact,
make them
cited, so as to
harmonise with a different account,
are found to exist
in
nothing
result, if contra-
a plain matter of
who
event may be
of daily occurrence, spoken of by those
perpetually witnessed
it.
A
single
variously reported without our being startled
national customs can scarcely be mistaken.
conflicting narratives of the battle of
out
less
like our trial
but
We read
Waterloo with-
much wonder; but what would become
tory, if the
;
of his-
accounts given of an every-day matter
by jury were contradictory ?
THE ATHENIAN BALLOT,
28
ETC.
[CHAP.
In the later orators, the weight of testimony
most decidedly
M. Ross
this
is
in favor of the double ballot.
Lycnrgus
1
refers to
clear that a
two
;
for
is
Indeed
thinks that they mention no other.
not strictly correct
I.
But
one passage at least in
However,
Kvpioi kciSIo-koi.
change took place.
Now
it is
the Scholiast
on Aristophanes, as quoted above, mentions that the
use of the brazen and wooden urns
aicvpos)
was an innovation.
(icvpios k<x8i<tkov kgu
If then
we admit
this,
we reject his account of the original practice,
may be readily believed, that the troublous state
while
it
of Athenian
affairs after
the Peloponnesian war af-
fected the constitution of the law-courts, and threw
into disuse the
lus,
1
custom which
is
mentioned by Aeschy-
Aristophanes, Phrynichus, and Xenophon.
Avoiv KaOMTKOiv
Keifievoiv,
toO pev 7rpoSoo"ia?,
eiveKa, ras ^T](povs (pepeadai, ras
tcis 8e
vnep da-(pa\eias.
Lycurg.
fiei>
c.
tov
Se
crwrrjplas
virep dpaardo-ecos rijs narpidos,
Leocr.
p.
169. 13.
CHAPTER
II.
SECRET SUFFRAGE.
" Die mihi
Th.
"
Hoc primum,
*
*
potin' est hie tacere?
*
*
Parm. " Plenus rimarum sum
;
hac atque
iliac
perfluo."
Terent.
If history be in truth what Bacon
sophy teaching by example
lesson of true philosophy
cally true in itself.
—
,
which
And
calls it
that
is strictly
man
and the
trifles
who mocks
minute
accuracy
is
things as in great
the lesson which
but a
and
affairs,
the so-called pedantry of carrying into
accuracy which he, as well as
torian then, and in all
:
criti-
on which their revolutions hinge,
details the
his,
philo-
has looked to
In the his-
all others, requires in greater things.
one
and
purpose on the workings of the world's
little
with
—
that only can give a
it
will
;
is
be
whose labors are connected
peremptorily demanded in small
for a small
mistake
may
vitiate
to be taught, as well as a great
less
easy of detection.
trifling error, in so far as
any error
It
is trifling,
which had well nigh made Newton throw aside
calculations,
and
lost to science the
was
his
law of gravi-
tation.
If then
it
archaeology,
were only to clear up a
difficulty in
our exertions would not be thrown
THE ATHENIAN
30
away
:
and no one could
seemed
not
all
trifling
how
ward to
soon that which
might prove important.
The
on the present occasion.
just finished,
If
toll
[CHAP.
this is
critical inquiry
finished satisfactorily, carries us on-
if
and at once.
practical matters immediately
we
But
bear in mind that the Athenians, until the
year of the Thirty Tyrants, voted in their courts of
law by putting one ballot into one of two urns,
which two urns were
set so far apart as to
be called
respectively (vo-repos, irporepos), hindmost and foremost, the question
must
at once suggest itself,
How can this be called secret suffrage f
Now whatever may be the meaning of the
ballot, it
is
certain that in itself
^(pos implies no
such thing as secrecy of suffrage.
tote
And
by pebble.
sufficient to
make
it
It
is
simply,
improbable that the word had,
such meaning conventionally.
name
absurd to deny that the
:
pebbles secretly.
for a
But
assert that because our
this ^Pjcpo?
The
the passages cited above are
during the period under discussion, acquired
secret suffrage
word
It
y^tjcpog
man may
any
would indeed be
can apply to
certainly vote with
would be equally absurd to
it
word "ballot" implies
was necessarily secret:
for a
secrecy,
man may
also vote with pebbles openly.
But, to leave off
trifling
fidently affirmed that the
was not equivalent
treated
of.
to
on words,
may be
con-
Athenian ^cpo? or Ballot
secret suffrage at the time
Not indeed but
that a certain degree of
secrecy Mas the result of the
this result
it
mode
adopted.
But
seems to have been purely accidental
;
;;
31
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
was not the object of the Ballot
as
an institution
and arose rather from the numbers who voted togethan from the manner of their voting.
ther,
That
by
was not
it
not secure
be sure
which
that
it
is
was instituted we may
mode
precisely that in
is
most certainly can never have existed.
generals k
,
says
:
in his account of the trial of the
"
Two
urns were to be set in each
" tribe to receive the ballots
:
this
was perhaps the
most expeditious mode of collecting the
On
that occasion,
it
is little
votes."
has been above remarked, that
was probably done merely
there
proved
balloting did
was not the object with
their Ballot
Mr. Thirlwall,
"
modes of
their
for the earliest
;
it
And
it.
which
a view to
essential to their Ballot
some of
the fact that
in conformity to rule.
it
But
doubt that Mr. Thirlwall has here sug-
gested the true and only original object of the Ballot
in the
lav.-
courts.
It
was
the
mode which united
the
greatest rapidity in voting with the greatest precision
as to numbers.
If
we
consider,
on the one hand, how frequent are
the allusions to secret voting in the later orators
and on the other, how indiscriminately Aristophanes
touches upon every topic, and every institution of
his time,
" Primores populi
we cannot but
arripiens,
populumque tributim,"
think that the mere negative argu-
ment of the comic
poet's silence
is
of the greatest
weight on any subject like the present.
k Hist, of Greece, iv. 132.
;
THE ATHENIAN
32
Now
throughout the whole of his extant works
the slightest hint of mystery or
we meet with not
secrecy in the
On
law-courts.
power, as he represents
dicast's
His
pudent.
Once
deed.
contrary, the
it, is
open and im-
his
impunity
he
irre-
is
not purchased by
is
the uncontrollable license of word and
it is
:
the
dicast boasts indeed that
But
sponsible.
silence
[CHAP.
he
in the Heliaea,
not found sneak-
is
ing to the ballot-box, to give a vote which he
ashamed
No
to own.
His
!
staff
his tattered robe a regal pall
between
ballot
down
his
distinction
on
!
and with the magic
:
all
It is for the rich
1
sceptre,
the king-citizen looks
fingers,
in full-blown scorn
becomes a
is
the baubles of social
and great to tremble
!
to bow themselves, not only before
Demos of Erechtheus m as a body, but
every unit which goes to make up that
them
It is for
the choleric
before
unintelligible
aggregate
!
We
have the speeches
delivered before the people by persons soupgomies
d'etre suspectes
—
,
charged with treason on the suspi-
cion of wealth, in a city where
it
seems to have been
assumed that every one must be
had any thing
1
there
n
Ar. Vesp. 575- ap ov peyaXrj tovt ear
KaTaxh vrl
29
And
to lose.
—
Cf. 518, 548,
etc.;
and
apx>) Ka\ tov ttXovtov
especially
Xen. Symp.
vol. xxiv.
452,
iv.
sq.
Av. 285.
See the description of the
sius, in Pliny,
N. H. xxxv.
allegorical painting of Parrha-
(not xxxvi.) 10.
n Lys. p. 150. 41, 155. 18, and especially 157. 30, Kai
fidrcov
who
not in the exag-
,
32, as quoted in the Quarterly Review,
also Ar.
m
',
disaffected
\6yov
<o(pe\il(Te<T6e,
Ai'crtreAei
av
fxaWov
hfiiv a7ro\f/r]<pi(Tacrdar
Tjpels e\a>p.(V ukott('lt( he e«
els
no\v yap
xpi-
7rXetco
tov napfXrj'kvdoTos XP° V0V
33
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
of the
o-erations
comedy, but
old
property and even
struggle for
actual
the
in
we
life,
them
find
pleading, not that their goods were honestly acquired,
but that they have been spent in purveying to the
amusements of the people
their own, but that
the
many
to
it
— not that
would be
confiscate
less
their
is
advantageous to
than to leave
it,
money
it
in the
stewardship of the nominal possessors.
In short, the influence of the lower orders in
their capacity of dicasts
everywhere represented by
is
Aristophanes as an undissembled
And
tyranny.
so far
and a rampant
were they from being ambitious
of power secretly exercised, that he devotes a large
part of his "
Wasps"
to prove that they
times in danger of losing the
were some-
reality, in their eager-
ness to display the outward semblance.
But though that
loting with
quires that
plain account of the form of bal-
which our authors have supplied us
we
reject the notion of secrecy
though the want of
Aristophanes adds
it
must
re-
and
:
allusion to such a thing in
all
much
weighl to our opinion
:
yet
not be dissembled that there are phrases
and passages
in the writers of the time,
which are
generally supposed to refer to and imply Secret Suffrage.
dict
If they do imply
the
other
evidence
But
remain undecided.
it,
they directly contra-
;
and the question must
if
a prior persuasion that
the sum-age was secret has
made modern
readers
too readily assume that this was their meaning,
—
<ai vvv
eya
—
—
KOivas acpeXeias
it
Tteipaaopai oXiya Kara fxiKpou TrapacrKevdcraadcu fit ras
Kai ovt
e'ya)
re nXeiovs ovtcos at a>$eX«ai
olr)(ropai,
dcpjjprjp.evos a8tKeTcr#cu
e« dr/peiio-aire.
D
Again,
p.
I
62. 40.
vp.1v
THE ATHENIAN
34
possible that their language
is
[CHAP.
may be
equally sus-
ceptible of a different interpretation.
commence then with the passage
To
quoted from Lysias.
" to the
new
" person
over the
" tables
It is
the
regulations,
" their verdict,
Thirty presided in
held by the council
trials
were placed
" balls or tokens
in front of
by which
them
were now
to receive the
to be openly depo-
way every man voted
ballot,
might see
These are not
."
who confounds
the words of a dilettante historian
with
two
the councillors declared
" sited on the board, so that the Thirty
lot
:
and which, instead of being dropped
" secretly into a box,
" which
already
stated, that, " according
and adorns an Utopian constitu-
tion with the honored
name
of Athens p.
Any
re-
mark by Mr. Thirlwall demands attention and respect.
But he seems in this passage to lay less than
due
stress
whole
—the
the trials
on the
fact
which
fact, that the
from
into the senate.
the courts
"Your
of law, and brought them
eyes," says Lysias i to the
people in the passage referred
"
to,
time 02)ened to the real state of
" the accused
" tried
key to the
the
is
Thirty had wholly removed
would have been
were by
affairs
safe,
by the ordinary tribunal."
"
:
this
and hence
had they been
The
points which
he puts prominently forward, are the removal of the
trials
from the open courts of law to a sort of Star-
chamber; and the certainty that the
result
would
o Thirlwall, Hist, of Greece, iv. 1S1.
P See Mr. Denison's pamphlet,
Xen. Memorab. i. 2, 9.
<1
v.
supra, p. 26, note h
.
p. 109,
and Append. F.
Cf.
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
have been
different, if the
35
cause had been submitted
to the citizens.
The senate was a
such bodies
all
The
1"
body
political
:
and
at
Athens
voted openly by show of hands.
object of the Thirty undoubtedly was to
who were
their ready,
mark
and who their reluctant sup-
Therefore in remodelling the forms of pro-
porters.
cedure for this
illegal affair,
they chose at once, not
the usual form of law, but that which went most directly to give
them cognisance
of each man's vote.
Those who dream about the Athenians being deprived of their secret vote, ought to remember, that
the body here spoken of (which they confound with
the courts of justice) was legally no tribunal at
but a political council
have voted by secret
legally
made
and that
:
it
To have
suffrage.
the senators vote secretly would have been as
violent an alteration of the senate's forms, as
to
is,
make them
that
it
open
Granted, that the usual
was passed by because
it
was not
for the purposes of the Thirty
follow that
was
The only difference
Mould have been more analogous to the
of judicial voting was passed by
it
it
vote on a table.
forms of the law courts.
mode
that
all,
never could
it
was
found more open
secret,
—
it
:
:
—granted,
sufficiently
still it
does not
but only that another was
only follows that the Ballot, as
then practised, was not the most effectual means
which could be devised
votes.
for giving publicity to the
Its advocates in the present
day are welcome
to the full benefit of so important a discovery.
••
Except
in
the cases specified below,
D 2
p. 40.
THE ATHENIAN
36
No
[CHAP.
attempt has been made to deny that this
Ballot involved a certain degree of secrecy, inasmuch
among
as
a great
number
of voters each individual's
vote would probably escape notice.
accidental, for any man's vote could
was of importance to do
it
so
s
But
this
was
be observed,
if
Let us take the
.
case of a county election in England, only stipulating that there shall be
book afterwards.
no publication of the
poll-
Let us suppose that a wealthy
landed proprietor attends at one polling-place to over-
awe
his tenants as they
come
to vote
and that
;
have precisely the
common
free
vote of the
courts on the one hand, and that given on
pulsion under the Tyrants' eye on the other.
all
that
yp-?)(pov
we have
at
Here we
another no such intimidation takes place.
law
com-
This
is
a right to infer from the words
(pavepav eVi ra<? rpaire^a^.
Nothing more than
a comparative secrecy and publicity
stood: for although this
is
is
to be under-
alluded to as of course
exaggerating the danger of the accused, the chief
Mr. Mitchell, on Ar. Vesp. 95, quotes Kopke, Gezetzgebung der Griechen, p. 694, as stating that an inspector was
s
placed beside the urn to see that no fraud was practised, and that
the ballot was purposely held like a pinch of snuff with the
finger
this
and thumb, that
were
so,
this
person might see that
the question would be set at rest
all
:
was
fair.
If
for not only
every man's vote could be observed, but
it was observed.
But
more than questionable. The author has been unable to
refer to Kopke's work ; but as he can find no authority for such
it is
an assertion, he suspects that there has been some misunderstanding of the allusion in Pollux to an officer
give the ballots to the dicasts.
who
stood by
to
:
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
37
reason alleged by the orator for believing that they
would have been acquitted
in the dicasteria,
is,
not
that there the votes were secret, but that there the
would have been persons who were awake to
voters
the
critical state
of
affairs.
The Thirty took another
and there arrested
all
when they
irregular step
They went
found their power sinking.
to Eleusis,
who were obnoxious
them
to
these were brought the next day before the assembly
of their Three Thousand privileged supporters
assembly, be
litical
which constitutionally gave
hands
—
as they
,
whom
it
was
votes openly by show of
the Thirty
that they should take
fit
:
" ours
you may identify your hopes and
:"
It is plain that
conclusions
;
The
for that
which was wanted was not an
is
a very different
object of the Thirty was not even to over-
TJ7 8e vcrTepaiq es
oidev
to 'QibeTov irapeKakeo~av tovs ev rw KaraAoyo)
KUTacrKeva^ppev
fjTTOi/ vp'iv
ttjv iroKiTeiav
del ovv vpds, (osrrep Kal Tipcov pe6ei-ere, ovtco
Taw ovv
.
nothing here interferes with our
onXiras Kal tovs aXKovs Imreas' dvacrTas 8e KpiTias e\e§ep'
civ8pes,
to a spot
their votes in the sight of all 1
open but an ostentatious vote, which
thing.
fears with
and having thus spoken, he pointed
where they were to give
<b
their
" wherefore," continued
you must condemn these Eleusinians, that by so
" doing
t
effect that,
fruit of all that
share of the responsibility
he, "
its
harangued to the
Critias
were reaping the
had done,
—a po-
remembered, and therefore one
it
£vvei\eypeva>v
'EXevcrifiW
rjplv ko.1 6appt]re Kal (poftrjcrOe.
(pavepav (pepeiv ttjv
yj/rjcpov.
'Qt8eiov e^amXicrpevoi
—
— Ol
rjcrav.
ko.1
8e'
'Hpe'is, e(pr],
rjplv avTois'
tQ>v Kiv8vvav peTe^eiv.
KaTa\f/rj(j)io-Teov
Aelfjas
rj
e'crrlv,
ti ^capiov, es
8e AaKaviKol (ppovpol Iv t<3
Xen. Hellen.
ii.
4. 9.
iva
ravTa
tovto e\e\evo-e
fjplo-ei
tov
THE ATHENIAN
38
awe the assembly,
sentence
:
for
in
[CHAP.
order to procure an unjust
they might themselves have condemned
the prisoners quite as legally as the Three Thousand
condemn them
could
by
nay, even
:
their
own
rules,
the senate was the place w here the conviction would
T
most
this,
most conveniently, have
regularly, as well as
taken place.
But
aim was something beyond
their
being directed at the Three Thousand them-
selves
;
and therefore, they took care
to fix every
upon the accession of these
to an act of
one's eyes
wholesale murder.
And
yet these are the only two facts recorded in
the history of the times,
the assertion of a senator,
Greece
"
—
11
,
that " the
w hich could give rise to
who is also a historian of
r
—
first
act of the Thirty Tyrants
was to overthrow the Ballot and
" vote."
It
institute the
would perhaps be harsh
to say of a
open
mem-
ber of the House of Commons, that he presumed on
the ignorance of his hearers
thing in presuming on his
u
Mr. (now
sir
way
is
own knowledge.
K.) Lytton Bulwer
:
see the Mirror of Par-
Now
what were the facts?
no proof that they " overthrew the Ballot," or in anv
liament for Session 1838,
There
but he did as bold a
;
p.
1886.
altered the forms of the regular courts, which, from the
5, seem to have gone on as usual.
proof that they did not " institute open voting,"
language of Lysias, p. 133.
There
is
inasmuch
as that, in political matters,
stitution.
What
was coeval with the contrials from
they did, was to remove certain
the law-courts where the Ballot was in use, to the political
assembly which voted by show of hands, and to place the vote
of this latter under their
Even granting
own
personal control.
that the Athenian Ballot were all that this
gentleman could wish, his statement
conception.
is
founded on an utter mis-
—
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
But how,
it
will
39
we
yet be objected, are
to ex-
plain such phrases as KpvfiSqv ^^(pl^ea-Oat and (pavepa.
~^ri<po<s ?
There
which
is
somewhat of inconsistency
is
made
of these two phrases.
on the one hand, that
^rjcpos to
vepa.
ylstjcpos
What
(pa-
naturally implies the existence of
rj
Kpv-
the arguments were reversed, and
we
as opposed to
if
sort of
(pavepa.
:
it.
^(pos disproved the
y\rt](pll^€cr6ai
open ballot
?
It
would certainly be ab-
is
:
but yet not
more absurd than the argument
commonly drawn from these unfortunate
illogical
which
secrecy,
implied a contrast with
surd as well as illogical to argue thus
more
argued
>)
KpvfiStjv
some
is
on the other, that
were to say that
while
It
Kpvfi$i]v ^^(pl^ea-Oai proves the
have been secret
(3St]v yp-tjcpo?
the use
in
or
phrases.
A
more
since both
correct view would be, that these phrases,
were unquestionably in
use,
presuppose not
only each the other as an opposite extreme, but a
mean
also,
(pavepa
which
and
is
KpvftStjv
neither the one nor the other
:
being always used emphatically,
and implying the existence of a
third kind of ^(po?,
neither so obtrusively public as the one expression
would imply, nor so utterly secret
use of the other.
It is
as to justify the
an injustice to the precision
of the Greek language to doubt that the epithet
is
them from
a
added
in
both cases,
to
distinguish
third.
Thus we are led
I.
rf
to look for
(pavepa ^rj(po? y a published vote, such as that
THE ATHENIAN
4,0
under the Thirty
find
;
[CHAP.
and such as in Thucydides w we
adopted by the oligarchs of Megara: a direct
case of personal intimidation, where those
who
over-
ruled the decision took the votes in person.
^(pos,
II. h KpvfiStiv
tainly
know
times
to have been used at
cer-
in early
imme-
the commonwealth was restored, we
diately after
find a
Athens
we
Moreover,
cases of ostracism".
in
This
secret suffrage.
law passed extending the forms which regulated
ostracism to
proceedings where, as in that, indivi-
all
dual cases were to be legislated for by what at
were called privilegia^.
glean
important
the
And from
Rome
we incidentally
that when the
this
information,
Athenians chose, for a temporary object and in an
individual
law, they
principle of
to infringe a general
case,
had recourse to
w Thucyd. iv. 74.
x It may be remarked by
secret suffrage.
the way, that the case of ostracism
does not prove secret suffrage to have formed part of the Athe-
On
nian constitution.
the contrary, ostracism was confessedly
a tyrannous anomaly, introduced to counteract the practical evils
of democracy.
engine.
But
It
were controllable,
wasted.
Had
of vindicating
of
its
was the safely -valve of the
a safety-valve
it
is
only a necessary
political
evil.
steam-
If steam
would disappear, and no power would be
the Athenian constitution possessed the means
itself,
the ostracism (which was not only a waste
power, but an infringement of
have been heard
of.
The
its
principles)
authority of Andocides
is
would never
perhaps not
great on the subject: but his denunciation of the ostracism, as
contrary to the oath of the people and the senate (p. 29. 16),
seems well grounded.
v
•
Schomann de
Comitiis, p. 127: the law runs thus,
vofxov t^elvai Beivai, iav
kisx^lols
86£-t]
Kpv^hrjv
firj
\ir\hl
tov avTov eVi nacriv ^Adrjvaiois, eav
\}/r](f)i£onevois.
Andoc.
the adoption of a citizen, Demosth.
c.
p. 12. i.
Neaer.
p.
So
eV
fifj
avhpX
r£a-
in case of
1375. 16.
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
III.
\^>j(po?,
rj
which
41
without any distinctive
we may conclude
for that very reason
at least originally
and
title,
was, or
had been, the most usual
alike
:
without parade and without disguise, neither intentionally secret nor ostentatiously public.
And
it
is
(which even from internal
this third
evidence would seem to be the oldest) which has
been proved, as
far as all the
contemporary evidence
any thing, to have been
in our reach can prove
down
use in the law courts of Athens
the Thirty Tyrants.
The
in
to the year of
precise date of that change,
which undoubtedly took place soon afterwards, cannot be more than probably determined within a few
But the secret vote is
two of the genuine
years.
in at least
distinctly alluded to
orations of Lysias
z
:
and these were spoken within a few years after the
anarchy.
This leads us to inquire what was done in the
way of
legislation
diately afterwards.
one Nicomachus, a
extraction,
vile
under the
And
man
Thirty
accordingly
it
and immeappears that
of low character and ser-
was appointed under the Thirty
to publish a revised edition of Solon's laws, three
months being
It
sion.
z
fixed
appears,
ttjv yjsrjCpov
yvmprjv iroiricrw) gains
be,) "
wise
it is
rfj
irokd
privilege has
true,
E
vperepav
fairly
made you
inde-
it
each individual's vote
but the result of your decision
commonplace enough.
rfjv
y
(pr]8
may
force if translated, (as
—
commis-
his
he was guilty
of these passages
dvai, (pavepap yap
much
" pendent of public opinion:
:
that
The former
Think not that your new
" secret
term of
moreover,
Pp. 128. 32, 145. 16.
o'Uade KpvjBbrjv
the
as
is still
public ;"
is
other-
THE ATHENIAN
42
[CHAP.
of flagrant interpolations and falsifications of these
laws, to serve the party purposes of his employers.
But
yet,
by some
unintelligible
means
or other, he
contrived to retain his extraordinary appointment
even after the commonwealth was restored, and
vir-
tually gave laws to Athens for a period of six years.
Such
sum
the
is
of this man's history, as drawn
And
from the speech of Lysias against him.
we make from
ever deductions
he furnishes us,
it
Thirty,
And
a
.
the details with which
Nicomachus was
the use which he made of
clear that
is
utterly unscrupulous as to
Solon's laws
what-
he had lent himself to the
as
some bold stroke of policy must have been
absolutely necessary, to redeem his character and to
keep
fact,
under the new state of things.
his place,
Lysias informs us of what, without being told,
we might have
suspected, that he affected extreme
While
democratical views.
the horrors of the
all
were fresh in the memories of the
cpavepa
-^>j<fio?
people,
it is
this as
a basis for his
not unlikely that he should pitch upon
own
popularity,
by proposing
so plausible a measure as secret suffrage in
a
In
all
cases
avTO> TiTTcipav prjvoiv dvaypd\j/ai tovs
Lys. p. 183. 13, Tlpoa-Tuxdev
vop.ovs tovs 'S.oXcovos, dvr'i ptv SoXcoi'os' avrbv vopodeTrjv KaTevrrjaev, avTi
8e TfTTapoov prjvwv c£(Tt] ttjv upXV v f^oirjaaTO.
SoXwj/os- vopovs (~hvp.aiv(To.
For
The powers, given by
185. 14.
e'8o£e to) Sj7/xo)
vopois xp*l°~6ai toIs 2o\a>vos
new laws
—
o'lde rjprjpevoi
irpbs tovs tnavvpovs.
of Greece,
iv.
230
vopoderai
Andoc.
sq.
p.
I
85- 4°' TOV S
—dvaypdcpovret
1
1
1
84. 10,
.
24.
if tieccssary
xpr)cr6ai 8e Kai
tos deo-pols, oisTrep e^pw/xe^a iv t<3 Trpoadtv ^poi/aT
nposberj,
p.
the decree after the expulsion
of the Thirty, include the enactment of
—
And
his deviations see also pp.
:
ApaKOV-
OTToaav 8
av
h> crdvicriv eKTi6evT<ou
See also Thirlwall, Hist,
—
43
BALLOT, ETC.
II.]
where
For
or property were at stake.
life
just in the position
where a man
lie
was
not the zeal
feels, if
of the convert, certainly the desperation of the rene-
gade.
And
perhaps he might comfort his conscience
with the fag end of a commonplace from a comedy
which, (though unsuccessful in the theatre,) had attracted considerable notice
o 2oAg)z> 6 irakcubs
and might
flatter
some years previously b
rjv (ptX6h]iJios
,
rqv (pvcnv,
himself that the modern Solon was
only acting in the spirit of his prototype.
Hence
it
is
not unlikely that Athens owed her
Secret Suffrage to this respectable person
and the son of a
but a conjecture.
this is still
one process
—
wards—
:
:
a
double
But however probable
victed forger.
Thirty
slave,
What
is
—a
traitor,
may
it
slave
a conappear,
certain, is that
always alluded to until the time of the
is
that another
is
spoken of very soon
and that the laws had been
modelled, and confessedly tampered with in the
we wish
after-
revised, re-
mean
to fix the date of the change
time.
And,
in our
event,
memory by associating it with some important
we shall find none nearer, none more conve-
nient,
none more memorable than that which
if
lowed within
the death
(at furthest) three years,
of Socrates.
b
The Clouds
of Aristophanes
THE END
;
see
v.
fol-
1
187.
ERRATUM.
P. ii,
1.
24,
and
p.
1
6, lilt., for eis
read
rfs.
'
SN&
'7
•5
'.'.
%
).
1
v
*M
>
*^.
*£#&'
•
r
A.