Demosthenes Against Leptines 22

1. As there was a list of 300 citizens qualified for the προεισφοράand of 1200 for the trierarchy, we may perhaps assume a list of 600 for the regular services. At the rate of 60 a year, it would take 10 years to work through the list, if the contributors were called upon strictly in rotation by the officials of their respective tribes. Therefore the outside estimate of 30 additional contributors, rendered available by abolishing the immunities, would provide only 3 more each year; i.e. 3 citizens out of 60 would be relieved annually. In case of a real shortage of qualified contributors, Demosthenes would prefer the adoption of the system, first instituted for the trierarchy in 357, whereby the 1200 were divided into 20 companies ( συμμορίαι) of 60 each, further subdivided into syndicates ( συντέλειαι), each responsible for one ship. This was the system reformed at a later date by Demosthenes himself.