Everyone needed rest, especially when they grew old and no longer had the energy they once did. All the more, they wanted a peaceful life.
The advantage of heredity was that a certain kind of monopoly on power could be passed down generation after generation, until the dynasty changed or the family occupying that monopoly lost in political struggle.
Sieyès himself was unmarried and had no collateral relatives to inherit his position as President of the Senate. Making Senate seats hereditary was really a way to win over the other senators, but once those senators obtained hereditary rights, how many of them would continue listening to him?
The Senate originally had 500 seats. After the Coup of 18 Brumaire, the constitution stipulated that its seats would be reduced to eighty: sixty would be selected first, and two more added each year thereafter. Yet when the Senate last voted to decide the list of members stepping down on its own, the motion passed by forty-six votes to thirteen—a total of only fifty-nine votes. Since it was a motion proposed by Sieyès himself, he did not vote. In other words, the Senate's membership had not increased by two annually as required by the constitution.
There was only one cake. Naturally, the fewer people there were to divide it, the more each person got. Some of the senators removed from the Council of Five Hundred had been assigned to the Legislative Body, while others had gone to the Council of Five Hundred, with 300 and 100 members respectively. The Council of Five Hundred could discuss draft laws but had no right to vote, while the Legislative Body could vote but had no right to debate. The Council of Five Hundred could convey its opinions to the Legislative Body, but comparatively speaking, it was