Another set of officers is concerned with the maintenance of
religion priests and guardians see to the preservation and repair of
the temples of the Gods and to other matters of religion. One office
of this sort may be enough in small places, but in larger ones there
are a great many besides the priesthood; for example,
superintendents of public worship, guardians of shrines, treasurers of
the sacred revenues. Nearly connected with these there are also the
officers appointed for the performance of the public sacrifices,
except any which the law assigns to the priests; such sacrifices
derive their dignity from the public hearth of the city. They are
sometimes called archons, sometimes kings, and sometimes prytanes.
These, then, are the necessary offices, which may be summed up as
follows: offices concerned with matters of religion, with war, with
the revenue and expenditure, with the market, with the city, with
the harbors, with the country; also with the courts of law, with the
records of contracts, with execution of sentences, with custody of
prisoners, with audits and scrutinies and accounts of magistrates;
lastly, there are those which preside over the public deliberations of
the state. There are likewise magistracies characteristic of states
which are peaceful and prosperous, and at the same time have a
regard to good order: such as the offices of guardians of women,
guardians of the law, guardians of children, and directors of
gymnastics; also superintendents of gymnastic and Dionysiac
contests, and of other similar spectacles.
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