"ſellors of the people; and that which is proper for counſellors is firſt to debate, and afterwards to give advice in the buſineſs whereon they have debated; whence the decrees of the ſenate are never laws, nor ſo called—ſenatus conſulta; and theſe, being maturely framed, it is their duty to propoſe to the people: wherefore the ſenate is no more than the debate of the commonwealth. But to debate is to diſcern, or put a difference between things, that, being alike, are not the ſame; or it is ſeparating and weighing this reaſon againſt that, and that reaſon againſt this; which is dividing.
"The ſenate then having divided, who ſhall chooſe? Aſk the girls; for if ſhe that divided muſt have choſen alſo, it had been little worſe for the other, in caſe ſhe had not divided at all, but kept the whole cake to herſelf; in regard that, being to chooſe too, ſhe divided accordingly.
"Wherefore, if the ſenate have any further power than to divide, the commonwealth can never be equal. But, in a commonwealth conſiſting of a ſingle council, there is no other to chooſe than that which divided: whence it is, that ſuch a council fails not to ſcramble, that is, to be factious; there being no dividing of the cake, in that caſe, but among themſelves: nor is there any other remedy, but to have another council to chooſe. The wiſdom of the few may be the light of mankind; but the intereſt of the few is not the profit of mankind, nor of a commonwealth: wherefore, ſeeing we have granted intereſt to be reaſon, they muſt not chooſe, leſt they put out their light. But as the council dividing conſiſts of the wiſdom of the commonwealth, ſo the aſ-
