of the Areopagus:  both assemblies sat at night (Telfy).  There was a resemblance also in more important matters.  Like the Areopagus, the Nocturnal Council was partly composed of magistrates and other state officials, whose term of office had expired. (7) The constitution included several diverse and even opposing elements, such as the Assembly and the Nocturnal Council. (8) There was much less exclusiveness than at Sparta; the citizens were to have an interest in the government of neighbouring states, and to know what was going on in the rest of the world.—­All these were moderating influences.

A striking similarity between Athens and the constitution of the Magnesian colony is the use of the lot in the election of judges and other magistrates.  That such a mode of election should have been resorted to in any civilized state, or that it should have been transferred by Plato to an ideal or imaginary one, is very singular to us.  The most extreme democracy of modern times has never thought of leaving government wholly to chance.  It was natural that Socrates should scoff at it, and ask, ’Who would choose a pilot or carpenter or flute-player by lot’ (Xen.  Mem.)?  Yet there were many considerations which made this mode of choice attractive both to the oligarch and to the democrat:—­(1) It seemed to recognize that one man was as good as another, and that all the members of the governing body, whether few or many, were on a perfect equality in every sense of the word. (2) To the pious mind it appeared to be a choice made, not by man, but by heaven (compare Laws). (3) It afforded a protection against corruption and intrigue...It must also be remembered that, although elected by lot, the persons so elected were subject to a scrutiny before they entered on their office, and were therefore liable, after election, if disqualified, to be rejected (Laws).  They were, moreover, liable to be called to account after the expiration of their office.  In the election of councillors Plato introduces a further check:  they are not to be chosen directly by lot from all the citizens, but from a select body previously elected by vote.  In Plato’s state at least, as we may infer from his silence on this point, judges and magistrates performed their duties without pay, which was a guarantee both of their disinterestedness and of their belonging probably to the higher class of citizens (compare Arist.  Pol.).  Hence we are not surprised that the use of the lot prevailed, not only in the election of the Athenian Council, but also in many oligarchies, and even in Plato’s colony.  The evil consequences of the lot are to a great extent avoided, if the magistrates so elected do not, like the dicasts at Athens, receive pay from the state.