The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

rival claims to a wardship; for granting inspection of
property to which another party lays claim; for appointing oneself
as guardian; and for determining disputes as to inheritances and
wards of state. The Archon also has the care of orphans and wards
of state, and of women who, on the death of their husbands, declare
themselves to be with child; and he has power to inflict a fine on
those who offend against the persons under his charge, or to bring
the case before the law-courts. He also leases the houses of
orphans and wards of state until they reach the age of fourteen,
and takes mortgages on them; and if the guardians fail to provide
the necessary food for the children under their charge, he exacts
it from them. Such are the duties of the Archon.
57
    The King in the first place superintends the mysteries, in
conjunction with the Superintendents of Mysteries. The latter are
elected in the Assembly by open vote, two from the general body of
Athenians, one from the Eumolpidae, and one from the Ceryces. Next,
he superintends the Lenaean Dionysia, which consists of a
procession and a contest. The procession is ordered by the King and
the Superintendents in conjunction; but the contest is managed by
the King alone. He also manages all the contests of the torch-race;
and to speak broadly, he administers all the ancestral sacrifices.
Indictments for impiety come before him, or any disputes between
parties concerning priestly rites; and he also determines all
controversies concerning sacred rites for the ancient families and
the priests. All actions for homicide come before him, and it is he
that makes the proclamation requiring polluted persons to keep away
from sacred ceremonies. Actions for homicide and wounding are
heard, if the homicide or wounding be willful, in the Areopagus; so
also in cases of killing by poison, and of arson. These are the
only cases heard by that Council. Cases of unintentional homicide,
or of intent to kill, or of killing a slave or a resident alien or
a foreigner, are heard by the court of Palladium. When the homicide
is acknowledged, but legal justification is pleaded, as when a man
takes an adulterer in the act, or kills another by mistake in
battle, or in an athletic contest, the prisoner is tried in the
court of Delphinium. If a man who is in banishment for a homicide
which admits of reconcilliation incurs a further charge of killing
or wounding, he is tried in Phreatto, and he makes his defence from
a boat moored near the shore. All these cases, except those which
are heard in the Areopagus, are tried by the Ephetae on whom the
lot falls. The King introduces them, and the hearing is held within
sacred precincts and in the open air. Whenever the King hears a
case he takes off his crown. The person who is charged with
homicide is at all other times excluded from the temples, nor is it
even lawful for him to enter the market-place; but on the occasion
of his trial he enters the temple and makes his defence. If the
actual offender is unknown, the writ runs against ‘the doer of the
deed’. The King and the tribe-kings also hear the cases in which
the guilt rests on inanimate objects and the lower animal.
58
    The Polemarch performs the sacrifices to Artemis the huntress
and to Enyalius, and arranges the contest at the funeral of those
who have fallen in war, and makes offerings to the memory of
Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Only private actions come before him,
namely those in which resident aliens, both ordinary and
privileged, and agents of foreign states are concerned. It is his
duty to receive these cases and divide them into ten groups, and
assign to each tribe the group which comes to it by lot; after
which the magistrates who introduce cases for the tribe hand them
over to the Arbitrators. The Polemarch, however, brings up in
person cases in which an alien is charged with deserting his patron
or neglecting to provide himself with one, and also of inheritances
and wards of state where aliens are concerned; and in fact,
generally, whatever the Archon does for citizens, the Polemarch
does for aliens.
59
    The Thesmothetae in the first place have the power of
prescribing on what days the lawcourts are to sit, and next of
assigning them to the several magistrates; for the latter must
follow the arrangement which the Thesmothetae assign. Moreover they
introduce impeachments before the Assembly, and bring up all votes
for removal from office, challenges of a magistrate’s conduct
before the