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All officers connected with military service are elected by open vote. In the first place, ten Generals (Strategi), who were formerly elected one from each tribe, but now are chosen from the whole mass of citizens. Their duties are assigned to them by open vote; one is appointed to command the heavy infantry, and leads them if they go out to war; one to the defence of the country, who remains on the defensive, and fights if there is war within the borders of the country; two to Piraeus, one of whom is assigned to Munichia, and one to the south shore, and these have charge of the defence of the Piraeus; and one to superintend the symmories, who nominates the trierarchs arranges exchanges of properties for them, and brings up actions to decide on rival claims in connexion with them. The rest are dispatched to whatever business may be on hand at the moment. The appointment of these officers is submitted for confirmation in each prytany, when the question is put whether they are considered to be doing their duty. If any officer is rejected on this vote, he is tried in the lawcourt, and if he is found guilty the people decide what punishment or fine shall be inflicted on him; but if he is acquitted he resumes his office. The Generals have full power, when on active service, to arrest any one for insubordination, or to cashier him publicly, or to inflict a fine; the latter is, however, unusual.
There are also ten Taxiarchs, one from each tribe, elected by open vote; and each
commands his own tribesmen and appoints captains of companies (Lochagi). There are
also two Hipparchs, elected by open vote from the whole mass of the citizens, who
command the cavalry, each taking five tribes. They have the same powers as the
Generals have in respect of the infantry, and their appointments are also subject to
confirmation. There are also ten Phylarchs, elected by open vote, one from each tribe, to
command the cavalry, as the Taxiarchs do the infantry. There is also a Hipparch for
Lemnos, elected by open vote, who has charge of the cavalry in Lemnos. There is also a
treasurer of the Paralus, and another of the Ammonias, similarly elected.
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Of the magistrates elected by lot, in former times some including the nine Archons, were elected out of the tribe as a whole, while others, namely those who are now elected in the Theseum, were apportioned among the demes; but since the demes used to sell the elections, these magistrates too are now elected from the whole tribe, except the members of the Council and the guards of the dockyards, who are still left to the demes.
Pay is received for the following services. First the members of the Assembly receive a
drachma for the ordinary meetings, and nine obols for the 'sovereign' meeting. Then the
jurors at the law-courts receive three obols; and the members of the Council five obols.
They Prytanes receive an allowance of an obol for their maintenance. The nine Archons
receive four obols apiece for maintenance, and also keep a herald and a flute-player;
and the Archon for Salamis receives a drachma a day. The Commissioners for Games
dine in the Prytaneum during the month of Hecatombaeon in which the Panathenaic
festival takes place, from the fourteenth day onwards. The Amphictyonic deputies to
Delos receive a drachma a day from the exchequer of Delos. Also all magistrates sent to
Samos, Scyros, Lemnos, or Imbros receive an allowance for their maintenance. The
military offices may be held any number of times, but none of the others more than once,
except the membership of the Council, which may be held twice.
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The juries for the law-courts are chosen by lot by the nine Archons, each for their own
tribe, and by the clerk to the Thesmothetae for the tenth. There are ten entrances into the
courts, one for each tribe; twenty rooms in which the lots are drawn, two for each tribe; a
hundred chests, ten for each tribe; other chests, in which are placed the tickets of the
jurors on whom the lot falls; and two vases. Further, staves, equal in number to the
jurors required, are placed by the side of each entrance; and counters are put into one
vase, equal in number to the staves. These are inscribed with letters of the alphabet
beginning with the eleventh (lambda), equal in number to the courts which require to be
filled. All persons above thirty years of age are qualified to serve as jurors, provided
they are not debtors to the state and have not lost their civil rights. If any unqualified
person serves as juror, an information is laid against him, and he is brought before the
court; and, if he is convicted, the jurors assess the punishment or fine which they
consider him to deserve. If he is condemned to a money fine, he must be imprisoned
until he has paid up both the original debt, on account of which the information was laid
against him, and also the fine which the court as imposed upon him. Each juror has his
ticket of boxwood, on which is inscribed his name, with the name of his father and his
deme, and one of the letters of the alphabet up to kappa; for the jurors in their several
tribes are divided into ten sections, with approximately an equal number in each letter.
When the Thesmothetes has decided by lot which letters are required to attend at the
courts, the servant puts up above each court the letter which has been assigned to it by
the lot.
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The ten chests above mentioned are placed in front of the entrance used by each tribe,
and are inscribed with the letters of the alphabet from alpha to kappa. The jurors cast in
their tickets, each into the chest on which is inscribed the letter which is on his ticket;
then the servant shakes them all up, and the Archon draws one ticket from each chest.
The individual so selected is called the Ticket-hanger (Empectes), and his function is to
hang up the tickets out of his chest on the bar which bears the same letter as that on the
chest. He is chosen by lot, lest, if the Ticket-hanger were always the same person, he
might tamper with the results. There are five of these bars in each of the rooms assigned
for the lot-drawing. Then the Archon casts in the dice and thereby chooses the jurors
from each tribe, room by room. The dice are made of brass, coloured black or white; and
according to the number of jurors required, so many white dice are put in, one for each
five tickets, while the remainder are black, in the same proportion. As the Archon draws
out the dice, the crier calls out the names of the individuals chosen. The Ticket-hanger is
included among those selected. Each juror, as he is chosen and answers to his name,
draws a counter from the vase, and holding it out with the letter uppermost shows it first
to the presiding Archon; and he, when he has seen it, throws the ticket of the juror into
the chest on which is inscribed the letter which is on the counter, so that the juror must
go into the court assigned to him by lot, and not into one chosen by himself, and that it
may be impossible for any one to collect the jurors of his choice into any particular court.
For this purpose chests are placed near the Archon, as many in number as there are
courts to be filled that day, bearing the letters of the courts on which the lot has fallen.
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The juror thereupon, after showing his counter again to the attendant, passes through
the barrier into the court. The attendant gives him a staff of the same colour as the court
bearing the letter which is on his counter, so as to ensure his going into the court
assigned to him by lot; since, if he were to go into any other, he would be betrayed by
the colour of his staff. Each court has a certain colour painted on the lintel of the
entrance. Accordingly the juror, bearing his staff, enters the court which has the same
colour as his staff, and the same letter as his counter. As he enters, he receives a
voucher from the official to whom this duty has been assigned by lot. So with their
counters and their staves the selected jurors take their seats in the court, having thus
completed the process of admission. The unsuccessful candidates receive back their
tickets from the Ticket-hangers. The public servants carry the chests from each tribe, one
to each court, containing the names of the members of the tribe who are in that court, and
hand them over to the officials assigned to the duty of giving back their tickets to the
jurors in each court, so that these officials may call them up by name and pay them their
fee.
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When all the courts are full, two ballot boxes are placed in the first court, and a number of brazen dice, bearing the colours of the several courts, and other dice inscribed with the names of the presiding magistrates. Then two of the Thesmothetae, selected by lot, severally throw the dice with the colours into one box, and those with the magistrates' names into the other. The magistrate whose name is first drawn is thereupon proclaimed by the crier as assigned for duty in the court which is first drawn, and the second in the second, and similarly with the rest. The object of this procedure is that no one may know which court he will have, but that each may take the court assigned to him by lot.
When the jurors have come in, and have been assigned to their respective courts, the
presiding magistrate in each court draws one ticket out of each chest (making ten in all,
one out of each tribe), and throws them into another empty chest. He then draws out five
of them, and assigns one to the superintendence of the water-clock, and the other four to
the telling of the votes. This is to prevent any tampering beforehand with either the
superintendent of the clock or the tellers of the votes, and to secure that there is no
malpractice in these respects. The five who have not been selected for these duties
receive from them a statement of the order in which the jurors shall receive their fees,
and of the places where the several tribes shall respectively gather in the court for this
purpose when their duties are completed; the object being that the jurors may be broken
up into small groups for the reception of their pay, and not all crowd together and impede
one another.
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These preliminaries being concluded, the cases are called on. If it is a day for private
cases, the private litigants are called. Four cases are taken in each of the categories
defined in the law, and the litigants swear to confine their speeches to the point at issue.
If it is a day for public causes, the public litigants are called, and only one case is tried.
Water-clocks are provided, having small supply-tubes, into which the water is poured by
which the length of the pleadings is regulated. Ten gallons are allowed for a case in
which an amount of more than five thousand drachmas is involved, and three for the
second speech on each side. When the amount is between one and five thousand
drachmas, seven gallons are allowed for the first speech and two for the second; when it
is less than one thousand, five and two. Six gallons are allowed for arbitrations between
rival claimants, in which there is no second speech. The official chosen by lot to
superintend the water-clock places his hand on the supply tube whenever the clerk is
about to read a resolution or law or affidavit or treaty. When, however, a case is
conducted according to a set measurement of the day, he does not stop the supply, but
each party receives an equal allowance of water. The standard of measurement is the
length of the days in the month Poseideon.... The measured day is employed in cases
when imprisonment, death, exile, loss of civil rights, or confiscation of goods is
assigned as the penalty.
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Most of the courts consist of 500 members...; and when it is necessary to bring public cases before a jury of 1,000 members, two courts combine for the purpose, the most important cases of all are brought 1,500 jurors, or three courts. The ballot balls are made of brass with stems running through the centre, half of them having the stem pierced and the other half solid. When the speeches are concluded, the officials assigned to the taking of the votes give each juror two ballot balls, one pierced and one solid. This is done in full view of the rival litigants, to secure that no one shall receive two pierced or two solid balls. Then the official designated for the purpose takes away the jurors staves, in return for which each one as he records his vote receives a brass voucher market with the numeral 3 (because he gets three obols when he gives it up). This is to ensure that all shall vote; since no one can get a voucher unless he votes. Two urns, one of brass and the other of wood, stand in the court, in distinct spots so that no one may surreptitiously insert ballot balls; in these the jurors record their votes. The brazen urn is for effective votes, the wooden for unused votes; and the brazen urn has a lid pierced so as to take only one ballot ball, in order that no one may put in two at a time.
When the jurors are about to vote, the crier demands first whether the litigants enter a
protest against any of the evidence; for no protest can be received after the voting has
begun. Then he proclaims again, 'The pierced ballot for the plaintiff, the solid for the
defendant'; and the juror, taking his two ballot balls from the stand, with his hand closed
over the stem so as not to show either the pierced or the solid ballot to the litigants,
casts the one which is to count into the brazen urn, and the other into the wooden urn.
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When all the jurors have voted, the attendants take the urn containing the effective votes and discharge them on to a reckoning board having as many cavities as there are ballot balls, so that the effective votes, whether pierced or solid, may be plainly displayed and easily counted. Then the officials assigned to the taking of the votes tell them off on the board, the solid in one place and the pierced in another, and the crier announces the numbers of the votes, the pierced ballots being for the prosecutor and the solid for the defendant. Whichever has the majority is victorious; but if the votes are equal the verdict is for the defendant. Each juror receives two ballots, and uses one to record his vote, and throws the other away.
Then, if damages have to be awarded, they vote again in the same way, first returning their pay-vouchers and receiving back their staves. Half a gallon of water is allowed to each party for the discussion of the damages. Finally, when all has been completed in accordance with the law, the jurors receive their pay in the order assigned by the lot.
THE END.