Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/101

Rh Pentacosiomedimni. Lower offices were open to the next two classes, the Hippeis and Zeugitae, while the lowest class, the Thetes, could hold no office at all. For sixteen years after Cleisthenes the rule as to the Archonship remained in force, but for every other purpose the assessments were neglected. For selection of officials by lot or merit, for payment of taxes or performance of military duty, the whole people were divided into ten tribes, each containing a certain number of domes, or townships, not necessarily contiguous. Each tribe furnished (whether by lot or election) one of the nine archons or their secretary, one of the ten strategi, fifty members of the Boulè (which was thus raised to five hundred), and its quota of soldiers when an army was required—all this (except for a time in the case of the archons) without distinction as to wealth or position. The one thing a man had to show before exercising civil rights was citizenship. This was secured by the council of each deme registering every boy when he came to the age of sixteen. It was the duty of the demesmen to see that he was properly a citizen by birth, and they were liable to be fined by the Boule if they made a wrong entry. Once entered On this register a man's name could only be. removed by a "suit of alienation". The only restrictions as to eligibility to office were age (thirty years) and the necessity of passing a preliminary examination, or dokimasia, at which any one was at liberty to allege against a man any disqualification, either of birth, neglect of duties, or dishonourable conduct. Every holder of an office was also subject to an audit