What is indeed astonishing, in the light of the republican tradition
and the theorizing it had generated, is the total absence of debate in
the early years of representative government about the use of lot in
the allocation of power. The founders of representative systems did
not try to find out what other institutions might be used in
conjunction with lot in order to correct its clearly undesirable
effects. A preliminary screening, along the lines of the Florentine
squittinio, aiming to obviate the selection of notoriously unqualified
individuals, was never even considered. One could also argue that
by itself lot gives citizens no control over what magistrates do once
in office. However, a procedure for the rendering of accounts,
coupled with sanctions, would have provided some form of
popular control over the magistrates' decisions; such a solution was