§ 2 The Choregi
The next point to consider is the nomination of the choregi, who provided the choruses. In the case of the dithyrambic contests, which were tribal in character, the choregi were appointed by the separate tribes, the appointment taking place one month after the last festival.208 But as the drama had no connexion with the tribal system, the dramatic choregi were taken indiscriminately from the general mass of citizens. They were nominated by the archon in charge of each festival immediately after his accession to office in July.209 This, at any rate, was the original system. But about the middle of the fourth century a change was made in the case of the comic choregi. Their appointment was transferred from the archon to the tribes.210 Ten choregi were required every year, and each tribe had to supply one. By this innovation the election of the comic choregi was assimilated to that of the dithyrambic. But the change was a mere piece of administrative detail, and had no further significance. The comic contests remained, as before, independent of the tribal arrangement, and the name of the tribe never appears in the records of the contests.211
The choregia was one of the public burdens which had to be undertaken in turn by the richer citizens. Any man of sufficient wealth might be called upon after he had reached the age of twenty, though no one under the age of forty could be choregus to a boys’ chorus.212 The order was fixed by law. But a citizen of unusual generosity and ambition might volunteer for the office out of his proper turn. The defendant in one of the speeches of Lysias tries to favourably impress the jury by explaining to them that he has supplied eight choruses in nine years, in addition to such burdens as the war-tax and the trierarchy.213 Sometimes, however, there was a difficulty in finding, even among those who were liable, a sufficient number of rich men to fill the office. This was especially the case towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, when there had been long and heavy drains upon the resources of the state.214 Accordingly in 406 it was found necessary to lighten the burden. A law was passed that, each dramatic chorus at the City Dionysia should be provided by two choregi instead of one, thus diminishing the cost to individuals by half. This law was only intended as a temporary expedient. It was not applied to the Lenaea215; and even at the City Dionysia it was repealed in the course of the next fifty years.216
The institution of the choregia lasted till nearly the end of the fourth century.217 But about the year 318 it was abolished, and a new system adopted in its place.218 The providing of the choruses was now undertaken by the state, and an officer called the Agonothetes was elected annually to carry out the arrangements. This official had the general management of the musical and dramatic contests, and had to perform all the duties which had previously fallen to the choregi, and even to erect the tripods and other memorials of victory.219 Though assisted by contributions from the state, he had to bear the greater part of the expenses himself, and was always chosen on account of his wealth.220 At this time the cost of the tragic and comic choruses would not be very great, as the choral part of the drama had begun to disappear. But there were other expenses connected with the dramatic choregia, all of which he would have to meet. The change of system was no doubt rendered necessary by the circumstances of the time and the dearth of rich citizens. But it must have robbed the festivals of much of their interest. In former days the keenness of the rivalry between the individual choregi had contributed largely to the vitality of the contests. All this source of excitement was now lost by the substitution of a single all-powerful official. The name of the Agonothetes occurs frequently in inscriptions during the third century. After this date there is no mention of any further changes till about the first century A.D., when there seems to have been a sort of antiquarian revival, and an attempt was made to reintroduce the old choregi.221 But the Agonothetes was still retained as general manager of the competitions.
When the archon had selected the poets who were to exhibit, and had made up his list of the choregi who were to supply the choruses, the next thing necessary was to arrange choregi and poets together in pairs. Each choregus had one poet assigned to him, for whose chorus (or choruses) he was responsible. The process of pairing was a matter of great importance to the competitors. A choregus who obtained an inferior poet would be severely handicapped in the contest; and a poet who was joined to a mean and parsimonious choregus would be equally unfortunate. If the arrangement had been left to the magistrate, it would have given numerous opportunities for corruption and favouritism. The Athenians, as usual, evaded this difficulty by the use of the lot.
There is, indeed, no definite information as to the manner in which the assignment was carried out in the case of tragic and comic choruses. But in the case of the dithyrambic choruses there are full accounts of the manner in which similar arrangements were made; and it will not be difficult, from the analogy of these proceedings, to form a fairly clear conception of the proceedings in regard to tragedy and comedy. Some time before the festival a meeting of the ecclesia was held, at which the distribution took place under the superintendence of the archon. The proceedings were quite public, and any Athenian citizen who wished could be present. The choregi first drew lots for order of choice, and then each chose his own flute-player. The choregus who had obtained the privilege of choosing first selected the flute-player whom he considered to be the best of the ten. So they went on till all the flute-players were chosen. The scene was a lively one. The success of the choregus, and in consequence the success of his tribe, depended to a certain extent upon his luck in getting a good or bad flute-player. Hence the whole process was followed with the greatest interest by the crowds of spectators present. As each lot was drawn, the result was greeted with expressions of triumph or disappointment by the partisans of the different choregi.222 The above information is derived from the account given by Demosthenes, in the speech against Meidias, of the preliminary arrangements for the dithyrambic contests. Nothing is there said about the choice or assignation of the poets. Probably in this contest only old dithyrambs were reproduced, and there were no poets to be assigned. That such was often the case is proved by inscriptions.223 But when the contest was with original dithyrambs, and poets were required, they seem to have been allotted to the choregi in much the same manner as the flute-players. The defendant in one of the speeches of Antiphon says that, when he was choregus to a chorus of boys at the Thargelia, the poet Pantacles was assigned to him by lot224.