with the Areopagus, but rather with the Heliastic jurors. But he implies at least that the Ephetae continued to function as judges and that they were never confused with the Heliastic jurors. If then in Aristotle’s time the judges at the Palladium, Delphinium and Phreatto are Heliasts, we must conclude not that the Ephetae had ceased to exist, but that democracy had invaded their jurisdiction to the extent of permitting an option in the personnel of the court, though the traditional procedure of the court was maintained. We shall see that the Areopagus and the four Ephetae courts were regarded with reverential awe in the time of Demosthenes. We do not know to what period Pollux refers when he says that ‘the court of the Ephetae was regarded as a joke.’ It is probable that the Heliasts had the option of sitting in such courts, and this fact may have preserved for them at least a remnant of their old prestige. But the main cause of the reverence which these courts inspired was their traditional procedure. The King-Archon when he presided at the Areopagus laid aside his crown.[53] According to our interpretation of Aristotle, he also laid aside his crown when he sat amongst the Heliastic jurors in the Ephetae courts. This act was not a tribute paid by obsolete monarchy or aristocracy to victorious democracy. It was an act which the religious atmosphere of the Areopagus and of the Ephetae courts had enshrined in traditional custom. It was an act which fully harmonised with the solemn procedure of these courts, with their traditional nocturnal sessions, in the open air, beneath the dark sky and the cold stars. We will now quote some extracts from Demosthenes in relation to the Athenian homicide-courts: