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.