The Athenian Constitution — Aristotle — John Shaqi
The Athenian Constitution
Aristotle · en
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.
Part 65