Oceana: The Model of the Commonwealth of OCEANA.

WHEREAS my Lord Archon being from Moses and Lycurgus the first legislator that hitherto is found in history to have introduc’d or erected an intire commonwealth at once, happen’d, like them also, to be more intent upon putting the same into execution or action, than into writing; by which means the model came to be promulgated or publish’d with more brevity and less illustration than is necessary for their understanding who have not bin acquainted with the whole procedings of the council of legislators, and of the prytans, where it was asserted and clear’d from all objections and doubts: to the end that I may supply what was wanting in the promulgated epitome to a more full and perfect narrative of the whole, I shall rather take the commonwealth practically; and as it has now given an account of it self in som years revolutions (as Dicearchus is said to have don that of Lacedemon, first transcrib’d by his hand som three or four hundred years after the institution) yet not omitting to add for proof to every order such debates and speeches of the legislators in their council, or at least such parts of them as may best discover the reason of the government; nor such ways and means as were us’d in the institution or rise of the building, not to be so well conceiv’d, without som knowlege given of the engins wherwithal the mighty weight was mov’d. But thro the intire omission of the council of legislators or workmen that squar’d every stone to this structure in the quarrys of antient prudence, the proof of the first part of this discourse will be lame, except I insert, as well for illustration as to avoid frequent repetition, three remarkable testimonys in this place.

The first is taken out of the commonwealth of Israel: So Moses hearken’d to the voice of (Jethro) his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people; tribuns, as it is in the vulgar Latin; or phylarchs, that is, princes of the tribes, sitting upon twelve thrones, and judging the twelve tribes of Israel: and next to these he chose rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fiftys, and rulers of tens, which were the steps and rise of this commonwealth from its foundation or root to its proper elevation or accomplishment in the sanhedrim, and the congregation, already open’d in the preliminarys.

The second is taken out of Lacedemon, as Lycurgus (for the greater impression of his institutions upon the minds of his citizens) pretended to have receiv’d the model of that commonwealth from the oracle of Apollo at Delphos, the words wherof are thus recorded by Plutarch in the life of that famous legislator: ‘When thou shalt have divided the people into tribes (which were fix) and obas (which were five in every tribe) thou shalt constitut the senat, consisting, with the two kings, of thirty counsellors, who, according as occasion requires, shall cause the congregation to be assembled between the bridg and the river Gnacion, where the senat shall propose to the people, and dismiss them without suffering them to debate.’ The obæ were linages into which every tribe was divided, and in each tribe there was another division containing all those of the same that were of military age; which being call’d the mora, was subdivided into troops and companys that were kept in perpetual disciplin under the command of a magistrat call’d the polemarch.

The third is taken out of the commonwealth of Rome, or those parts of it which are compris’d in the first and second books of Livy, where the people, according to the institution by Romulus, are first divided into thirty curias or parishes, wherof he elected (by three out of each curia) the senat, which from his reign to that of Servius Tullus proposed to the parishes or parochial congregations; and these being call’d the comitia curiata, had the election of the kings, the confirmation of their laws, and the last appeal in matters of judicature, as appears in the case of Horatius that kill’d his sister; till in the reign of Servius (for the other kings kept not to the institution of Romulus) the people being grown somwhat, the power of the curiata was for the greater part translated to the centuriata comitia instituted by this king, which distributed the people according to the cense or valuation of their estates into six classes, every one containing about forty centurys, divided into youth and elders; the youth for field-service, the elders for the defence of their territory, all arm’d and under continual disciplin, in which they assembl’d both upon military and civil occasions. But when the senat propos’d to the people, the horse only, wherof there were twelve centurys consisting of the richest sort over and above those of the foot enumerated, were call’d with the first classis of the foot to the suffrage; or if these accorded not, then the second classis was call’d to them, but seldom or never any of the rest. Wherfore the people after the expulsion of the kings, growing impatient of this inequality, rested not till they had reduc’d the suffrage as it had bin in the comitia curiata to the whole people again: but in another way, that is to say, by the comitia tributa, which thereupon were instituted, being a council where the people in exigencys made laws without the senat; which laws were call’d phlebiscita. This council is that in regard wherof Cicero and other great wits so frequently inveigh against the people, and somtimes even Livy, as at the first institution of it. To say the truth, it was a kind of anarchy, wherof the people could not be excusable, if there had not, thro the courses taken by the senat, bin otherwise a necessity that they must have seen the commonwealth run into oligarchy.

The manner how the comitia curiata, centuriata or tributa, were call’d, during the time of the commonwealth, to the suffrage, was by lot: the curia, century, or tribe, whereon the first lot fell, being stil’d principium, or the prerogative; and the other curiæ, centurys or tribes, whereon the second, third, and fourth lots, & c. fell, the jure vocatæ: From henceforth not the first classis, as in the times of Servius, but the prerogative, whether curia, century, or tribe, came first to the suffrage, whose vote was call’d omen prærogativum, and seldom fail’d to be leading to the rest of the tribes. The jure vocatæ in the order of their lots came next: the manner of giving suffrage was, by casting wooden tablets, mark’d for the affirmative or the negative, into certain urns standing upon a scaffold, as they march’d over it in files; which for the resemblance it bore, was call’d the bridg. The candidat or competitor, who had most suffrages in a curia, century, or tribe, was said to have that curia, century, or tribe; and he who had most of the curiæ, centurys, or tribes, carry’d the magistracy.

These three places being premis’d, as such upon which there will be frequent reflection, I com to the narrative, divided into two parts, the first containing the institution, the second the constitution of the commonwealth; in each wherof I shall distinguish the orders, as those which contain the whole model, from the rest of the discourse, which tends only to the explanation or proof of them.

In the institution or building of a commonwealth, the first work (as that of builders) can be no other than fitting and distributing the materials.

The materials of a commonwealth are the people; and the people of Oceana were distributed by casting them into certain divisions, regarding their quality, their age, their wealth, and the places of their residence or habitation, which was don by the insuing orders.

The first ORDER distributes the people into freemen or citizens, and servants, while such; for if they attain to liberty, that is, to live of themselves, they are freemen or citizens.

This order needs no proof, in regard of the nature of servitude, which is inconsistent with freedom, or participation of government in a commonwealth.

The second ORDER distributes citizens into youth and elders (such as are from 18 years of age to 30, being accounted youth; and such as are of 30 and upwards, elders) and establishes that the youth shall be the marching armys, and the elders the standing garisons of this nation.

A commonwealth whose arms are in the hands of her servants, had need be situated (as is elegantly said of Venice by Contarini) out of the reach of their clutches; witness the danger run by that of Carthage in the rebellion of Spendius and Matho. But tho a city (if one swallow makes a summer) may thus chance to be safe, yet shall it never be great; for it Carthage or Venice acquir’d any fame in their arms, it is known to have happen’d thro the mere virtue of their captains, and not of their orders: wherefore Israel, Lacedemon, and Rome intail’d their arms upon the prime of their citizens, divided (at least in Lacedemon and Rome) into youth and elders; the youth for the field, and the elders for defence of the territory.

The third ORDER distributes the citizens into horse and foot by the cense or valuation of their estates; they who have above one hundred pounds a year in lands, goods, or monys, being oblig’d to be of the horse; and they who have under that sum, to be of the foot. But if a man has prodigally wasted and spent his patrimony, he is neither capable of magistracy, office, or suffrage in the commonwealth.

Citizens are not only to defend the commonwealth, but according to their abilitys, as the Romans under Servius Tullus (regard had to their estates) were som inrol’d in the horse centurys, and others of the foot, with arms injoin’d accordingly; nor could it be otherwise in the rest of the commonwealths, tho out of historical remains, that are so much darker, it be not so clearly probable. And the necessary prerogative to be given by a commonwealth to estates, is in som measure in the nature of industry, and the use of it to the public. The Roman people, says Julius Exuperantius, were divided into classes, and tax’d according to the value of their estates. All that were worth the sums appointed were imploy’d in the wars; for they most eagerly contend for the victory, who fight for liberty in defence of their country and possessions. But the poorer sort were pol’d only for their heads (which was all they had) and kept in garison at home in time of war: for these might betray the armys for bread, by reason of their poverty; which is the reason that Marius, to whom the care of the government ought not to have bin committed, was the first that led ’em into the field; and his success was accordingly. There is a mean in things; as exorbitant riches overthrow the balance of a commonwealth, so extreme poverty cannot hold it, nor is by any means to be trusted with it. The clause in the order concerning the prodigal is Athenian, and a very laudable one; for he that could not live upon his patrimony, if he coms to touch the public mony, makes a commonwealth bankrupt.

The fourth ORDER distributes the people according to the places of their habitation, into parishes, hundreds, and tribes.

For except the people be methodically distributed, they cannot be methodically collected; but the being of a commonwealth consists in the methodical collection of the people: wherfore you have the Israelitish divisions into rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fiftys, and of tens; and of the whole commonwealth into tribes: the Laconic into obas, moras, and tribes; the Roman into tribes, centurys, and classes; and somthing there must of necessity be in every government of the like nature; as that in the late monarchy, by countys. But this being the only institution in Oceana (except that of the agrarian) which requir’d any charge or included any difficulty, engages me to a more particular description of the manner how it was perform’d, as follows.

A thousand surveyors commissionated and instructed by the lord Archon and the council, being divided into two equal numbers, each under the inspection of two surveyors general, were distributed into the northern and southern parts of the territory, divided by the river Hemisua, the whole wherof contains about ten thousand parishes, som ten of those being assign’d to each surveyor: for as to this matter there needed no great exactness, it tending only (by shewing whither every one was to repair, and wherabout to begin) to the more orderly carrying on of the work; the nature of their instructions otherwise regarding rather the number of the inhabitants, than of the parishes. The surveyors therfore being every one furnish’d with a convenient proportion of urns, balls and balloting boxes (in the use wherof they had bin formerly exercis’d) and now arriving each at his respective parishes, began with the people, by teaching them their first lesson, which was the ballot; and tho they found them in the beginning somewhat forward as at toys, with which (while they were in expectation of greater matters from a council of legislators) they conceiv’d themselves to be abus’d, they came within a little while to think them pretty sport, and at length such as might very soberly be us’d in good earnest: wherupon the surveyors began the institution included in

The first ORDER, requiring, That upon the first Monday next insuing the last of December, the bigger bell in every parish throout the nation be rung at eight of the clock in the morning, and continue ringing for the space of one hour; and that all the elders of the parish respectively repair to the church, before the bell has don ringing; where dividing themselves into two equal numbers, or as near equal as may be, they shall take their places according to their dignitys (if they be of divers qualitys) and according to their seniority (if they be of the same) the one half on the one side, and the other half on the other, in the body of the church: which don, they shall make oath to the overseers of the parish for the time being (instead of these the surveyors were to officiat at the institution or first assembly) by holding up their hands, to make a fair election according to the laws of the ballot, as they are hereafter explain’d, of such persons, amounting to a fifth part of their whole number, to be their deputys, and to exercise their power in manner hereafter explain’d, as they shall think in their consciences to be fittest for that trust, and will acquit themselves of it to the best advantage of the commonwealth. And oath being thus made, they shall procede to election, if the elders of the parish amount to one thousand by the ballot of the tribe (as it is in due place explain’d) and if the elders of the parish amount to fifty or upwards, but within the number of one thousand, by the ballot of the hundred (as it is in due place explain’d). But if the elders amount not to fifty, then they shall procede to the ballot of the parish, as it is in this place, and after this manner explain’d. The two overseers for the time being shall seat themselves at the upper end of the middle ally, with a table before them, their faces being towards the congregation: and the constable for the time being shall set an urn before the table, into which he shall put so many balls as there be elders present, wherof there shall be one that is gilded, the rest being white; and when the constable has shaken the urn, sufficiently to mix the balls, the overseers shall call the elders to the urn, who from each side of the church shall com up the middle ally in two files, every man passing by the urn, and drawing out one ball; which if it be silver, he shall cast into a bowl standing at the foot of the urn, and return by the outward ally on his side to his place. But he who draws the golden ball is the proposer, and shall be seated between the overseers, where he shall begin in what order he pleases, and name such as (upon his oath already taken) he conceives fittest to be chosen, one by one, to the elders; and the party nam’d shall withdraw while the congregation is ballotting his name by the double box or boxes appointed and mark’d on the outward part, to shew which side is affirmative and which negative, being carry’d by a boy or boys appointed by the overseers, to every one of the elders, who shall hold up a pellet made of linen rags between his finger and his thumb, and put it after such a manner into the box, as tho no man can see into which side he puts it, yet any man may see that he puts in but one pellet or suffrage. And the suffrage of the congregation being thus given, shall be return’d with the box or boxes to the overseers, who opening the same, shall pour the affirmative balls into a white bowl standing upon the table on the right hand, to be number’d by the first overseer; and the negative into a green bowl standing on the left hand, to be number’d by the second overseer: and the suffrages being number’d, he who has the major part in the affirmative is one of the deputys of the parish: and when so many deputys are chosen as amount to a full fifth part of the whole number of the elders, the ballot for that time shall cease. The deputys being chosen are to be listed by the overseers in order as they were chosen, except only that such as are horse must be listed in the first place with the rest, proportionable to the number of the congregation, after this manner: