Asinius Pollio in Vergil Eclogue 8

not require membership in the Areopagos.21 These provided administrative and political experience for aspiring public figures.22 Others, those who craved merely the prestige associated with holding one of the archonships and could bear the financial burden, probably held them later in life.23 In conclusion, there is abundant evidence from the late third to early first centuries, and it strongly suggests that no individual could ordinarily be archon more than once. The Athenians of the late Hellenistic period were clearly following in this a traditional practice which goes back at least to the late fourth century, the time of the Athenaion Politeia. For the time before Aristotle, there exists no convincing argument that matters were different.24