There are also ten Commissioners of Games (Athlothetae), elected by
lot, one from each tribe. These officers, after passing an examination,
serve for four years; and they manage the Panathenaic procession, the
contest in music and that in gymnastic, and the horse-race; they also
provide the robe of Athena and, in conjunction with the Council, the
vases, and they present the oil to the athletes. This oil is collected
from the sacred olives. The Archon requisitions it from the owners of
the farms on which the sacred olives grow, at the rate of
three-quarters of a pint from each plant. Formerly the state used to
sell the fruit itself, and if any one dug up or broke down one of the
sacred olives, he was tried by the Council of Areopagus, and if he was
condemned, the penalty was death. Since, however, the oil has been paid
by the owner of the farm, the procedure has lapsed, though the law
remains; and the oil is a state charge upon the property instead of
being taken from the individual plants. When, then, the Archon has
collected the oil for his year of office, he hands it over to the
Treasurers to preserve in the Acropolis, and he may not take his seat
in the Areopagus until he has paid over to the Treasurers the full
amount. The Treasurers keep it in the Acropolis until the Panathenaea,
when they measure it out to the Commissioners of Games, and they again
to the victorious competitors. The prizes for the victors in the
musical contest consist of silver and gold, for the victors in manly
vigour, of shields, and for the victors in the gymnastic contest and
the horse-race, of oil.