The Council

That the Lord Protector for the time being shall be assisted with a Council.

That such persons as shall be of the Council before they shall take their trust upon them shall take a solemn oath for the faithful discharge of their duty in that employment;

That the persons who shall be of the Council shall be such as shall be nominated by the said Lord Protector, and approved by the Parliament.

From Megara he informed the Council that if immunity were granted him, he was prepared not only to lodge an information with regard to the Mysteries—as one of the participants, he would reveal the names of his companions—but he would also tell what he knew of the mutilation of the Hermae.

The Council adjourned for a private consultation and in the course of it gave orders for our arrest and close confinement.

He gave a list of forty-two persons whom he claimed to have recognized, and at the head of the forty-two appeared Mantitheus and Apsephion who were members of the Council and present at that very meeting.

These are scrutinized first in the Council of Five Hundred, except the secretary;

and if anyone dug up or broke off a sacred olive, the Council of the Areopagus tried him, and if it condemned anyone, they punished him with death.

The Council formerly had authority to fine, imprison, and put to death.

May the assembly, the army, and the council protect you — the wise daughters of Prajāpati.

May the assembly and the council both protect me — Prajāpati's two daughters of one mind.

The assembly hall (sabhā), the tribal assembly (samiti), the army (senā), and the liquor (surā) all moved forth after him.

During the first presidency, namely, that of the Pandionid Tribe, and on the eleventh day of that presidency, it was moved by Epicrates that, in order that the sacrifices may be offered, that provision may be adequate, and that any lack of funds for the Panathenian Festival may be made good, the Presidents of the Pandionid Tribe do tomorrow set up a Legislative Committee, and that such Legislative …

and then, when there was no subterfuge left by which you could be kept out of your money, this man Timocrates, with the most insolent contempt of the whole proceeding, proposes this law,—a law by which he robs the gods of their consecrated treasure and the city of her just dues, invalidates the judgements pronounced by the Council, the Assembly, and the Courts of Justice, and has given free licenc …

If any person make petition to the Council or to the Assembly in respect of any sentence of a Court of Justice or of the Council or of the Assembly, if the person who has been fined himself make petition before he has paid the fine, an information shall lie against him in the same manner as when a person sits on a jury being indebted to the treasury;

But what I said, that I loved you before too, before I had taken sufficient trial of your disposition — now at least I swear to you by all the gods that I, for my part, judge the council not only worthy of honour and friendship, but also marvel at your strength and your truthfulness and your freedom.

Yet I should have wished that, just as in the councils and the assemblies one may hear many encomia, so too in the market-place and the other gatherings.

But when you blame the council, the presidents, the men you yourselves have chosen, do you not blame yourselves?

for the law which he framed violates the oath of the People and Council.

Indeed when I secretly communicated to the Council a proposal which would be of the very greatest service to this city if carried into effect, and proved as much clearly and conclusively to the members present, such of my present critics as were among my audience found it as impossible as anyone else to show by argument that any of my statements was incorrect;

Instead, directly they learned of my arrival, certain of the Four Hundred sought me out, arrested me, and brought me before the Council.

But the services which I am about to render, which I have, in fact, already begun to render, have been revealed in secret to only five hundred of you [,to the Council, that is to say];

For a while after the arrival of the boys I had no time to look after them in person, as I happened to be engaged in suits against Aristion and Philinus, and was anxious to lose no time after the impeachment in sustaining my charges in a just and proper manner before the Council and the general public.

What accusation would they hesitate to bring, what court would they hesitate to mislead, what oaths would they feel any compunction in breaking, after taking thirty minae, as they have, from the Poristae, the Poletae, the Practores, and the clerks attached to them, to bring me into court, after driving me from the Council-chamber, and after swearing oaths so solemn, all because during my Prytany I …

But the prosecution, who were perfectly familiar with the laws concerned and could see that I was a member of the Council and used the Council-chamber —why, in that very chamber itself stands a shrine of Zeus the Councillor and Athena the Councillor, where members offer prayers as they enter;

The decree, he will urge, is invalid because it is merely a provisional resolution, and the law provides that resolutions of the Council shall be in force for one year only;

That is why, at every meeting, the crier pronounces a commination, not upon those who have been misled, but upon whosoever makes a misleading speech to the Council, or to the Assembly, or to the Court.

You know there is a law making death the penalty for anyone who breaks his promise to the Assembly or one of the Councils or law-courts.

For Solon, who imposed this method, did not think it right that while the junior archons, who are appointed by lot to administer the laws, undergo two scrutinies before entering on office, one in the Council and a second in the law-courts before you, the laws themselves, which regulate their official acts and all other civic duties, should be passed at haphazard to meet some emergency, and should …

To pass over other incidents, when the Council was in session and was investigating the murder, Meidias came in and cried, Don’t you know the facts of the case, Councillors?

This man, then, is so impious, so abandoned, so ready to say or do anything, without stopping for a moment to ask whether it is true or false, whether it touches an enemy or a friend, or any such question, that after accusing me of murder and bringing that grave charge against me, he suffered me to conduct initiatory rites and sacrifices for the Council, and to inaugurate the victims on behalf of …

We, Lysimachus of Alopece, Demeas of Sunium, Chares of Thoricus, Philemon of Sphetta, Moschus of Paeania, know that at the date when the indictment was presented to the Council charging Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, with the murder of Nicodemus, Meidias, who is now being tried at the suit of Demosthenes, for whom we appear, came before the Council and stated that Aristarchus, and no one else, w …

he was subsequently released with certain other criminals by the Eleven, all of whom you publicly condemned to death, and, having been again denounced to the Council as a malefactor, he absconded and did not appear to answer the charge, and for seventeen years after this he never came near Athens, and only returned on the death of Nicostratus.

That I am speaking the truth you will learn from the decrees which the Council passed concerning her.

and finally, the members of the Council, who will attest that Patrocles was the accuser.

These officials referred the matter to the Council;

but his accusers, having united the Council and having made the public speakers subservient to themselves, again revived the matter and suborned informers.

And then do you, Teisias, his brother-in-law and a member of the Council in the time of the Thirty Tyrants, have the hardihood to rake up old grudges against those of the other side, and are you not ashamed to be violating the terms of the amnesty which permits you to reside in the city, nor do you even reflect that, whenever the decision shall be made to exact punishment for past crimes, it is yo …

For instance, is there anyone who is ignorant that Pythodorus, called “the shop-keeper,” whose words and acts are all in Pasion’s interest, last year opened the voting-urns and removed the ballots naming the judges which had been cast by the Council?

When I disputed this claim and demanded that the ship put to sea, those who make a business of blackmail so influenced the Council that at first I almost was put to death without a trial;

And yet when a man who, for petty gain and at the peril of his life, has the effrontery to open secretly the urns that had been stamped by the prytanes and sealed by the choregi, urns that were guarded by the treasurers and kept on the Acropolis, why should there be surprise that men, who hoped to make so great a profit, falsified an insignificant written agreement in the possession of a foreigner …

The Council thus became neutral ground on which the conflicting interests of King and baronage might be discussed and compromised.

The new position and powers of Parliament logically involved a corresponding alteration in the position and powers of the smaller but more permanent council or Concilium Ordinarium (the future Privy Council).

as the Council scrutinises the cavalry and the horses, so she was to make sure that everything was in good condition: