and birth always was a critical criterion in the days of the aristocracies,

是否是贵族出身总是最终的评判标准
you would have aristocracies

出身贵族
who would have the practical,

你就有实际的权力
the de facto control of things.

去掌控一切事物
Well, by definition, an aristocracy

根据定义贵族是复数形式
is plural not singular, so how do you make

而不是单数形式
decisions in an aristocracy?

那贵族怎么做出抉择呢
The answer, typically, is a council.

通常来说是通过议会
I use the word council, the Greek word is boulē,

我用了议会这个词在希腊语里是boulē
and not assembly,

而不是公民大会
which in Greek comes to be called ecclesia,

公民大会在希腊语里是ecclesia
because an ecclesia is

因为ecclesia代表了