In regard to the question of the Solonian origin of the Areopagus, Gilbert, arguing from Aristotle’s account, holds[138] that the Council of the Areopagus was in existence even before Dracon’s time. ‘The great powers,’ he says, ‘which the Council of the Areopagus possessed in the government before Dracon were considerably curtailed by him ... for whereas the Areopagus before Dracon ... exercised judicial functions ... so long as Dracon’s constitution lasted, that council was merely the guardian of the laws and superintended the magistrates. Dracon transferred the judicial powers which the Areopagus previously possessed to the Ephetae and the Prytaneis.’ This account exceeds, we think, the limits of legitimate inference from the text of Aristotle.[139] We cannot even be sure that the text of Aristotle is trustworthy. The Athenians did not possess any accurate evidence in regard to their early institutions. Müller[140] rejects the view (which is also held by Schömann)[141] that Dracon interfered with the judicial functions of the Areopagus. Pollux[142] states definitely that Solon added the Council of the Areopagus to the already existing Ephetae courts. Gilbert regards this statement as a confirmation of his theory that Dracon created the jurisdiction of the Ephetae. We think it is rather a refutation of it. Plutarch apparently did not believe that an Areopagus court, as distinct from the Ephetae, existed before Solon’s time: for he thinks[143] that a so-called law of Solon which referred to persons ‘condemned by the Areopagus, by the Ephetae, or, in the Prytaneum by the Kings,’ should have read ‘those condemned for such offences as (now) belong to the Areopagites.’ We believe that there was a Council of State which was also a State court, connected with the Hill of Ares (or Areopagus), in Dracon’s time and even before it—but that it was not then distinguished from the Ephetae who, like the Spartan Gerousia, were the supreme Council of the State. When Pollux says that Solon added the council of the Areopagus to the Ephetae, he is not quite accurate. What he should have said—perhaps what he meant to say—was that Solon established a new Areopagus as distinct from what we may call the older Ephetae-Areopagus, and that he gave to this new body judicial and administrative functions. The error of Gilbert (and of Aristotle) lies in their failure to distinguish between the personnel of the old Council and that of the new Council. The old Council was composed exclusively of the old nobility, that is to say, of the Ephetae. It was a select group, within the Ephetae caste, a group, for instance, of nobles who had held executive power. The new Council which Solon created was composed of ex-‘archons’ or ex-magistrates, but the basis on which these ‘archons’ were chosen was essentially different from that on which the Ephetae were chosen. For wealth, not birth, was the qualification which was necessary for the office.