This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
[3] Then he appoints three Chorus-leaders for the tragedies, the wealthiest men among all the Athenians; and formerly he used also to appoint five for the comedies, but these are now returned by the Tribes. Afterwards he receives the Chorus-leaders nominated by the Tribes for the men's and boys' competitions and the comedies at the Dionysia and for men and boys at the Thargelia1 (for the Dionysia one for each tribe, for the Thargelia one for two tribes, which take turns to supply them), and deals with their claims for substitution by exchange of property,2 and brings forward their claims to exemption on the ground of having performed that public service before, or of being exempt because of having performed another service and the period of exemption not having expired, or of not being of the right age (for a man serving as Chorus-leader for the boys must be over forty). He also appoints Chorus-leaders for Delos and a Procession-leader for the thirty-oared vessel that carries the youths.3
1 A festival in May, at which there were competitions of cyclic choruses and a procession (5).
2 A citizen appointed to one of these expensive public offices could challenge another as better able to afford it, and the man challenged could only escape undertaking the office by exchanging estates with the challenger.
3 For the festival at Delos see Aristot. Ath. Pol. 54.7; boys' choruses went from Athens.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 20, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1952.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com