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This constitution, therefore, they drew up for the future, but the following to be in force in the present crisis: 'The Council to consist of four hundred members according to the ancestral regulations, forty from each tribe taken from a preliminary list of any persons over thirty years of age that the members of the tribe may elect. These to appoint the officials, and to draft a proposal about the form of oath to be taken, and to take action about the laws and the audits and other matters as they may think good. [2] And to follow any laws that may be enacted about the affairs of state, and not to have powers to alter them nor to enact others. The election of the Generals for the time being to be made from among all the Five Thousand, and the Council as soon as it is appointed to hold a review under arms and elect ten men to the post, and a secretary for them, and those elected to hold office for the ensuing year with autocratic powers, and to consult with the Council about any matter if they require. [3] And also to elect one Master of the Horse and ten Tribe-commanders; and for the future the Council to conduct the election of these according to the procedure enacted. And none of the other officials except the Council and the Generals, nor anybody else, to be allowed to hold the same office more than once. And for the future, in order that the Four Hundred may be divided into the four lists,1 when each division takes its turn to form the Council with the rest, let the Hundred Men divide them into sections.'
1 Cf. Aristot. Ath. Pol. 30.3.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 20, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1952.
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