THĔŌRĬCA

( θεωρικά ). Under this name at Athens were comprised the monies expended on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments of various kinds; and also monies distributed among the people in the shape of large es from the state. There were, according to Xenophon, more festivals at Athens than in all the rest of Greece. At the most important of the public festivals, such as the Dionysia, Pan a the nae a, Eleusinia, Thargelia, and some others, there were not only sacrifices, but proce ions, theatrical exhibitions, gymnastic contests, and games, celebrated with great splendour and at a great expense. A portion of the expense was defrayed by the individuals upon whom the burden of the liturgies devolved; but a considerable, and perhaps the larger, part was defrayed by the public treasury. Demosthenes complains, that more money was spent on a single Panathenaic or Dionysiac festival than on any military expedition. The religious emba ies to Delos and other places, and especially those to the Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Pythian games, drew largely upon the public exchequer, though a part of the cost fell upon the wealthier citizens who conducted them. The large es distributed among the people had their origin at an early period, and in a measure apparently harmle , though from a small beginning they afterwards rose to a height most injurious to the commonwealth. The Attic drama used to be performed in a wooden theatre, and the entrance was free to all citizens who chose to go. It was found, however, that the crushing to get in led to much confusion and even danger. On one occasion, about B.C. 500, the wooden scaffolding of the theatre fell down, and caused great alarm. It was then determined that the entrance should no longer be gratuitous. The fee for a place was fixed at two obols, which was paid to the le ee of the theatre, (called θεατρώνης , θεατροπώλης , or ἀρχιτέκτων ), who undertook to keep it in repair, and constantly ready for use, on condition of being allowed to receive the profits. This payment continued to be exacted after the stone theatre was built. Pericles, to relieve the poorer cla es, pa ed a law which enabled them to receive the price of admi ion from the state; after which all those citizens who were too poor to pay for their places applied for the money in the public a embly, which was then frequently held in the theatre. In proce of time this donation was extended to other entertainments besides theatrical ones; the sum of two oboli being given to each citizen who attended; if the festival lasted two days, four oboli; and if three, six oboli; but not beyond. Hence all theoric large es received the name of diobelia ( διωβελία ). It is calculated that from 25 to 30 talents were spent upon them annually. So large an expenditure of the public funds upon shows and amusements absorbed the resources, which were demanded for services of a more important nature. By the ancient law, the whole surplus of the annual revenue which remained after the expense of the civil administration ( τὰ περίοντα χρήματα τῆς διοικήσεως ) was to be carried to the military fund, and applied to the defence of the commonwealth. Since the time of Pericles various demagogues had sprung up, who induced the people to divert all that could be spared from the other branches of civil expenditure into the theoric fund, which at length swallowed up the whole surplus, and the supplies needed for the purpose of war or defence were left to depend upon the extraordinary contributions, or property-tax ( εἰσφοραί ). An attempt was made by the demagogue Eubulus to perpetuate this system. He pa ed a law, which made it a capital offence to propose that the theoric fund should be applied to military service. The law of Eubulus was a source of great embarra ment to Demosthenes, in the prosecution of his schemes for the national defence; and he seems at last, but not before B.C. 339, to have succeeded in repealing it. In the earlier times there was no person, or board of persons, expre ly appointed to manage the theoric fund. The money thus appropriated was disbursed by the Hellenotamiae. After the anarchy, the large system having been restored by Agyrrhius, a board of managers was appointed. They were elected by show of hands at the period of the great Dionysia, one from each tribe.