上句见：Day85
The Story of Philosophy的第86句：第1章Plato第1节The Context of Plato第7段第3句：

No doubt this attack on democracy reflected the rise of a wealthy minority at Athens which called itself the Oligarchical Party, and denounced democracy as an incompetent sham. In a sense there was not much democracy to denounce; for of the 400,000 inhabitants of Athens 250,000 were slaves, without political rights of any kind: and of the 150,000 freemen or citizens only a small number presented themselves at the Ecclesia, or general assembly, where the policies of the state were discussed and determined. Yet what democracy they had was thorough as never since the general assembly was the supreme power; and the highest official body, the Dikasteria, or supreme court, consisted of over a thousand members (to make bribery expensive), selected by alphabetical rote from the roll of all the citizens. No institution could have been more democratic, nor, said its opponents, more absurd.
浙江大学译本：但是，他们享有的民主确实是历史上最为彻底的，因为全体大会象征的是至高无上的权力；而作为最高行政机构的民众法庭，或称最高法庭，成员超过一千（目的是使行贿耗资成本巨大），是按照全体公民登记在册的名字字母顺序依次筛选出来的。

解析

一反前一句对雅典的“民主”的批评，高度赞扬了其彻底性、选择随机性及公平性。
1、Yet what democracy they had was thorough
彻底性：雅典的“民主制”最彻底，最全面的。
thorough：including every possible part or detail全面的，绝对的。
But their paper is the most thorough.但他们的报告是最全面彻底的。

2、as never since the general assembly was the supreme power;
最高权力机构：公民大会。
never since：可以理解为“自那以后从未出现过”，在比较中强调雅典的“民主制”最具实践性。

3、and the highest official body, the Dikasteria, or supreme court, consisted of over a thousand members (to make bribery expensive),
陪审法庭：上千人组成，所以贿赂成本高。
Dikasteria是古希腊城邦雅典的民主政制中的一个司法机构，即陪审法庭。

4、selected by alphabetical rote from the roll of all the citizens.
陪审员来源：按自由民名单进行机械式选择而定，这样确保选拔过程的随机性和公平性。
rote：the process of learning something by repeating it many times without thinking about it or fully understanding it机械，死记硬背
For years, we've known that play-based learning is far superior to rote memorization. 长久以来，我们都知道寓教于乐比死记硬背效果要好很多。
roll：an official list of names名单；名册
Falling rolls could lead to smaller class sizes. 名单人数减少可以使班级规模小一些。

然而他们所拥有的民主制是最彻底的，因为从来没有公民大会拥有如此至高无上的权力；作为他们的最高行政政制陪审团或者最高法院，成员有上千名（这样让贿赂变得昂贵），同时这些官员是所有自由民名册按字母顺序机械地选出的。

雅典的民主制有我们现在所想达到的优点，那就是绝对的权利，以及代表的随机性及普遍性。使腐败及权力滥用得以扼杀。