"And the orator appointed for the time to this office shall
first repeat the orders of the commonwealth with all possible
brevity; and then, making choice of one or some part of it,
discourse thereof to the people. An oration or discourse of this
nature, being afterward perused by the Council of State, may as
they see cause be printed and published."
The Archon's comment upon the order I find to have been of
this sense:
"MY LORDS:
"To crave pardon for a word or two in further explanation of
what was read, I shall briefly show how the constitution of this
tribe or assembly answers to their function; and how their
function, which is of two parts, the former in the result or
legislative power, the latter in the supreme judicature of the
commonwealth, answers to their constitution. Machiavel has a
discourse, where he puts the question, 'Whether the guard of
liberty may with more security be committed to the nobility or to
the people?' Which doubt of his arises through the want of
explaining his terms; for the guard of liberty can signify
nothing else but the result of the commonwealth; so that to say
that the guard of liberty may be committed to the nobility, is to
say that the result may be committed to the Senate, in which case
the people signify nothing.
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