The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

he
possesses an ancestral Apollo and a household Zeus, and where their
sanctuaries are; next if he possesses a family tomb, and where;
then if he treats his parents well, and pays his taxes, and has
served on the required military expeditions. When the examiner has
put these questions, he proceeds, ‘Call the witnesses to these
facts’; and when the candidate has produced his witnesses, he next
asks, ‘Does any one wish to make any accusation against this man?’
If an accuser appears, he gives the parties an opportunity of
making their accusation and defence, and then puts it to the
Council to pass the candidate or not, and to the law-court to give
the final vote. If no one wishes to make an accusation, he proceeds
at once to the vote. Formerly a single individual gave the vote,
but now all the members are obliged to vote on the candidates, so
that if any unprincipled candidate has managed to get rid of his
accusers, it may still be possible for him to be disqualified
before the law-court. When the examination has been thus completed,
they proceed to the stone on which are the pieces of the victims,
and on which the Arbitrators take oath before declaring their
decisions, and witnesses swear to their testimony. On this stone
the Archons stand, and swear to execute their office uprightly and
according to the laws, and not to receive presents in respect of
the performance of their duties, or, if they do, to dedicate a
golden statue. When they have taken this oath they proceed to the
Acropolis, and there they repeat it; after this they enter upon
their office.
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    The Archon, the King, and the Polemarch have each two assessors,
nominated by themselves. These officers are examined in the
lawcourt before they begin to act, and give in accounts on each
occasion of their acting.
    As soon as the Archon enters office, he begins by issuing a
proclamation that whatever any one possessed before he entered into
office, that he shall possess and hold until the end of his term.
Next he assigns Choregi to the tragic poets, choosing three of the
richest persons out of the whole body of Athenians. Formerly he
used also to assign five Choregi to the comic poets, but now the
tribes provide the Choregi for them. Then he receives the Choregi
who have been appointed by the tribes for the men’s and boys’
choruses and the comic poets at the Dionysia, and for the men’s and
boys’ choruses at the Thargelia (at the Dionysia there is a chorus
for each tribe, but at the Thargelia one between two tribes, each
tribe bearing its share in providing it); he transacts the
exchanges of properties for them, and reports any excuses that are
tendered, if any one says that he has already borne this burden, or
that he is exempt because he has borne a similar burden and the
period of his exemption has not yet expired, or that he is not of
the required age; since the Choregus of a boys’ chorus must be over
forty years of age. He also appoints Choregi for the festival at
Delos, and a chief of the mission for the thirty-oar boat which
conveys the youths thither. He also superintends sacred
processions, both that in honour of Asclepius, when the initiated
keep house, and that of the great Dionysia-the latter in
conjunction with the Superintendents of that festival. These
officers, ten in number, were formerly elected by open vote in the
Assembly, and used to provide for the expenses of the procession
out of their private means; but now one is elected by lot from each
tribe, and the state contributes a hundred minas for the expenses.
The Archon also superintends the procession at the Thargelia, and
that in honour of Zeus the Saviour. He also manages the contests at
the Dionysia and the Thargelia.
    These, then, are the festivals which he superintends. The suits
and indictments which come before him, and which he, after a
preliminary inquiry, brings up before the lawcourts, are as
follows. Injury to parents (for bringing these actions the
prosecutor cannot suffer any penalty); injury to orphans (these
actions lie against their guardians); injury to a ward of state
(these lie against their guardians or their husbands), injury to an
orphan’s estate (these too lie against the guardians); mental
derangement, where a party charges another with destroying his own
property through unsoundness of mind; for appointment of
liquidators, where a party refuses to divide property in which
others have a share; for constituting a wardship; for determining
between