obey the call were subject to a fine, and six magistrates called lexiarchs were appointed, whose duty it was to take care that the people attended the meetings, and to levy fines on those who refused to do so. With a view to this, whenever an assembly was to be held, certain public slaves (Σκύθαι or τοξόται) were sent round to sweep the agora, and other places of public resort, with a rope coloured with vermilion. The different persons whom these ropemen met, were driven by them towards the ecclesia, and those who refused to go were marked by the rope and fined. An additional inducement to attend, with the poorer classes, was the μισθὸς ἐκκλησιαστικός, or pay which they received for it. The payment was originally an obolus, but was afterwards raised to three. The right of attending was enjoyed by all legitimate citizens who were of the proper age (generally supposed to be twenty, certainly not less than eighteen), and not labouring under any _atimia_, or loss of civil rights.--In the article BOULÉ it is explained who the prytanes and the proedri were; and we may here remark, that it was the duty of the proedri of the same tribe, under the presidency of their chairman (ὁ ἐπιστάτης), to lay before the people the subjects to be discussed; to read, or cause to be read, the previous bill (τὸ προβούλευμα) of the senate, without which no measure could be brought before the ecclesia, and to give permission to the speakers to address the people. The officers who acted under them, were the crier (ὁ κήρυξ), and the Scythian bowmen.--Previous, however, to the commencement of any business, the place was purified by the offering of sacrifices, and then the gods were implored in a prayer to bless the proceedings of the meeting. The privilege of addressing the assembly was not confined to any class or age among those who had the right to be present: all, without any distinction, were invited to do so by the proclamation, Τίς ἀγορεύειν βούλεται, which was made by the crier after the proedri had gone through the necessary preliminaries, and laid the subject of discussion before the meeting; for though, according to the institutions of Solon, those persons who were above fifty years of age ought to have been called upon to speak first, this regulation had in later times become quite obsolete. The speakers are sometimes simply called οἱ παρίοντες, and appear to have worn a crown of myrtle on their heads while addressing the assembly. The most influential and practised speakers of the assembly were generally distinguished by the name of ῥήτορες. After the speakers had concluded, any one was at liberty to propose a decree, whether drawn up beforehand or framed in the meeting, which, however, it was necessary to present to the proedri, that they might see, in conjunction with the _nomophylaces_, whether there was contained in it anything injurious to the state, or contrary to the existing laws. If not, it was read by the crier;