atter definition they
adduce the name of the class, which may be supposed to be derived from
this fact, and also some votive offerings of early times; for in the
Acropolis there is a votive offering, a statue of Diphilus, bearing
this inscription:

The son of Diphilus, Athenion hight,
Raised from the Thetes and become a knight,
Did to the gods this sculptured charger bring,
For his promotion a thank-offering.

And a horse stands in evidence beside the man, implying that this was
what was meant by belonging to the rank of Knight. At the same time it
seems reasonable to suppose that this class, like the
Pentacosiomedimni, was defined by the possession of an income of a
certain number of measures. Those ranked as Zeugitae who made two
hundred measures, liquid or solid; and the rest ranked as Thetes, and
were not eligible for any office. Hence it is that even at the present
day, when a candidate for any office is asked to what class he belongs,
no one would think of saying that he belonged to the Thetes.

Part 8

The elections to the various offices Solon enacted should be by lot,
out of candidates selected by each of the tribes. Each tribe selected
ten candidates for the nine archonships, and among these the lot was
cast. Hence it is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten
candidates by lot, and then the lot is again cast among these. A proof
that Solon regulated the elections to office according to the property
classes may be found in the law still in force with regard to the
Treasurers, which enacts that they shall be chosen from the
Pentacosiomedimni. Such was Solon's legislation with respect to the
nine Archons; whereas in early times the Council of Areopagus summoned
suitable persons according to its own judgement and appointed them for
the year to the several offices. There were four tribes, as before, and
four tribe-kings. Each tribe was divided into three Trittyes [=Thirds],
with twelve Naucraries in each; and the Naucraries had officers of
their own, called Naucrari, whose duty it was to superintend the
current receipts and expenditure. Hence, among the laws of Solon now
obsolete, it is repeatedly written that the Naucrari are to receive and
to spend out of the Naucraric fund. Solon also appointed a Council of
four hundred, a hundred from each tribe; but he assigned to the Council
of the Areopagus the duty of superintending the laws, acting as before
as the guardian of the constitution in