The Athenian Constitution   

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.

Part 64

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

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