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[WIP] Running for election in ancient Rome
🕑 Added 2020-10-06 18:05:42 +0000 UTCWe are working on an episode which will cover the process of how one would go about running for election in the Roman Republic. Below is an excerpt from the script:
Launching the Campaign
Ok, so you want to launch your political campaign, what do you need? As in modern times the first thing to do would be 1) build up your political and financial capital and 2) announce your candidacy.
The first step involved establishing a network of support and building up a campaign war chest. Doing so would be substantially easier for those with existing wealth and power. They had vast numbers of pre-established supporters as a part of their clientela and often had large funds to draw from. To illustrate this fact, I would point out that in the roughly 260 year period from 298 to 32 BC, just 7 Roman families were responsible for winning 30% of all consular elections. Yet even if the elite were the only ones with a real shot at winning, there was significant competition between them. Thus candidates spent a good amount of time negotiating with other powerful figures for political and financial support. In the words of Quintus Cicero, it was important to “remind everyone in your debt that they should repay you with their support”. People like the famed Pompey Magnus might even make a habit of acting as a bank for candidates, loaning them money in return for expected favors.
This could go on for any number of years in the runup to an election. Such was the amount of money that candidates borrowed during this period that they could go into ruinous financial debt. However it was a gamble that many were willing to take given just how much money they could make back while in office which could amount to millions or even billions of dollars in modern times.
The second step of launching the campaign would be to announce your candidacy. As the election drew closer, political hopefuls would take a small break from fundraising to register with election officials. This meant presenting yourself to the consul, praetor, or tribune who would be in charge of announcing the names of the candidates to the voters on election day. In addition, a candidate would don the toga candida. This was a white toga which was further bleached with chalk as a symbolic representation of a politician's purity without any blemishes or taint of corruption. For anyone who knew anything about Roman politics, such a suggestion was laughable. But either way the concept of the toga candida still had a lasting impact and would go on to serve as the root for the English word “candidate”.
Ok so at this point you’ve launched your campaign, now what?...
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