If the business before them was great and various, they were wont to divide themselves into committees, to each of which the several causes were assigned by lot, so that no man knowing the cause he was to adjudge could be assailed with the imputation of dishonest or partial prepossession.

After duly hearing both parties, they gave their judgment with proverbial gravity and silence.

The institution of the ballot (a subsequent custom) afforded secrecy to their award--a proceeding necessary amid the jealousy and power of factions, to preserve their judgment unbiased by personal fear, and the abolition of which, we shall see hereafter, was among the causes that crushed for a while the liberties of Athens.

A brazen urn received the suffrages of condemnation--one of wood those of acquittal.

Such was the character and constitution of the AREOPAGUS.