some selected persons were locked up in a room near the place
of election, so contrived that they could neither see nor be seen, but
could only hear the noise of the assembly without; for they decided
this, as most other affairs of moment, by the shouts of the people. This
done, the competitors were not brought in and presented all together,
but one after another by lot, and passed in order through the assembly
without speaking a word. Those who were locked up had writing-tables
with them, in which they recorded and marked each shout by its loudness,
without knowing in favor of which candidate each of them was made, but
merely that they came first, second, third, and so forth. He who was
found to have the most and loudest acclamations was declared senator
duly elected.

When he perceived that his more important institutions had taken root in
the minds of his countrymen, that custom had rendered them familiar and
easy, that his commonwealth was now grown up and able to go alone, then,
as Plato somewhere tells us the Maker of the world, when first he saw it
existing and beginning its motion, felt joy, even so Lycurgus, viewing
with joy and satisfaction the greatness and beauty of his political
structure, now fairly at work and in motion, conceived the thought
to make it immortal too, and as far as human forecast could reach, to
deliver it down unchangeable to posterity. He called an extraordinary
assembly of all the people, and told them that he now thought everything
reasonably well established, both for the happiness and the virtue of
the state; but that there was one thing still behind, of the greatest
importance, which he thought not fit to impart until he had consulted
the oracle; in the meantime, his desire was that they would observe the
laws without even the least alteration until his return, and then he
would do as the god should direct him. They all consented readily, and
bade him hasten his journey; but, before he departed, he administered
an oath to the two kings, the senate, and the whole commons, to abide by
and maintain the established form of polity until Lycurgus should
come back. This done, he set out for Delphi, and, having sacrificed
to Apollo, asked him whether the laws he had established were good and
sufficient for a people's happiness and virtue. The oracle answered that
the laws were excellent, and that the people, while it observed them,
should live in the height of renown. Lycurgus took the oracl