THE LAST MUNICIPAL ELECTION IN POMPEIL

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 11955, 6 August 1904, Page 6

THE LAST MUNICIPAL ELECTION IN POMPEIL

Among tlie most iniereeting featWM of the excavated city of Pompeii mmt fas inoluded the "grafftti," which oocar inanch numbers on the wajk of tfae Itooses and other'biding* TKf iniiiiijlii i end drawings; scratohed 1 with a> etyltn, er •crawled wttb <fei chalk or ct*rcoei, am of atl"kmd*, from the eeribbling* and rode sketches of loungers, trifien, and schoolboys to public announcements, such aa are now served by posters and newsftper advertisements. Of the immense nornber of "grmUti" whi* oin be read to-day os the -walls of Pompeii, it m computed 4hat eome fifteen {hundred refer to a municipal election, which it is thought -was in full swing when the •eruption of Vesuvius occurred the cTsi wtwimul. tlbe lated city. In a very interesting pacier on the subject, recently read before the Royal Society of Literature, the writer shows that tbe municipal botioars for which the candidates stood «m that occasion were those of »<e Aedikship and the Ihsamvirate. AU bergea»e» Itad a vote for these four magistratee, and the interest evoked by'the election may be concluded from the fact that in a city of not more than 30.000 inhabitants, so many of the citizens thought it worth while to scratch or daab their political sentknenbi where they would be sore to meet the public eye. ' Testimony to the prevailing eagerness for office is supplied by the requirement that candidates must possess-a sum equal to at least £800, and by their being prohibited from spending a penny on any. public festival or other public cause during the two yean preceding the election. A candidate was not even.allowed to ask more than nine persons to dine with him during that period. Infringement of these regulations exposed tine offender to a fine of 5000 eesttrce* (about £40). In this way it wo* sought to eliminate bribery and comption in the brave, days of old.. Then, as now, candidates had to reckon with ali sorts of sects and associations, with their test questions and. separate interests. The Pompcian aspirant to political honours had to deal with '■ numerous guilds and societies, and votaries of various deities, as well as with tbe "hooligans"-and hangers-on-, who demanded exciting public games, and other large**ea. As to tbe electioneering

"gvdS&d," one eupporter of & certain Lucretius Fronto delivers himself in a coaplet; which might be froeiy tmnakted as:— "If you want a really decent man to re"pposent you, plump for Fronto." Another public-tpirited citizen, evidently not rich in ideas, and with but meagre literary gifts, simply writes«—"Vote for Pablies

V.B. Cvirum bonum*—<i good man)." A^aj»b\ we rood:—'Troouks, vote for "and he will vote for you;" theSabinua doubtlese being a man vlu> r«an|».'-.fji bered his friends. Now and then'a m^fM polite appeal nppeare—"Gaius is a "valuable public men. - Do etect ''l»g of you." A atriking foatiu* of etectiotieering "graffiti" is that not convey* any insult or abuse. The tao& T£ virujntt of them ie a> remark te< K\ the effect that "the man who does not " for Quintus writes himeelf down an ats." , ' A l ' In these elections the married J s with a family seems to bare & decided aV \'; vantage. In case of a tie tlie married, i' , * man waa declared elected owr the lor, and the married man with a family ~ orer him who had nono. The Pompeent r'u evidently did not expect' muoh solid «m» ' ,' from the man who ehunncd Hymen. ~\ !