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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.