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φpobaΛΛEΣΘAI in dio's Account of Elections Under Augustus1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

P. Michael Swan
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan

Extract

In the course of giving a brief sketch of the rule of Augustus Dio passes the following remark on the state of public elections:

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1982

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References

2 Römisches Staatsrecht 23. 2 pp. 916 ff., especially p. 918 n. 1 (= Le droit public romain 5 pp. 198 ff., especially p. 200 n. 1).

3 See, for example, Holladay, A. J., ‘The Election of Magistrates in the Early Principate’, Latomus 37 (1978), 879;Google ScholarMillar, F., The Emperor in the Roman World (31 B.C.-A.D. 337) (London, 1977), p. 301;Google ScholarPani, M., Comitia e senato: Sulla trasformazione della procedura elettorale a Roma nell'età di Tiberio (Bari, 1974), p. 48;Google ScholarLevick, B. M., ‘Imperial Control of the Elections under the Early Principate’, Historia 16(1967), 221Google Scholar n. 70, cf. p. 225; Frei-Stolba, R., Untersuchungen zu den Wahlen in der römischen Kaiserzeit (Zürich, 1967), p. 96;Google ScholarJones, A. H. M., ‘The Elections under Augustus’, in Studies in Roman Government and Law (Oxford, 1960), p.35;Google ScholarPaladini, M. L., ‘Le votazioni del senato romano nell'età di Traiano’, Athenaeum 37 (1959), 120Google Scholar f.; Tibiletti, G., Principe e magistrate repubblicani(Roma, 1953), p. 79;Google ScholarSiber, H., ‘Die Wahlreform des Tiberius’, in Festschrift Paul Koschaker (Weimar, 1939), i. 182;Google ScholarDuckworth, H. T. F., A Commentary on the Fifty-Third Book of Dio Cassius' Roman History (Toronto, 1916), p. 83.Google Scholar

4 See, for example, Dio's Roman History, trans. Cary, E., Loeb Classical Library (London, 1917), p. 249;Google ScholarThe Annals of Tacitus, ed. Furneaux, H., 12 (London, 1896), 94.Google Scholar

5 For commendare see, e.g., Suet. Iul. 41. 2; Plin. Ep. 6. 9. 1; Tac. Ann. 1. 15. 1; Ehrenberg, V. and Jones, A. H. M., Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius 2 (Oxford, 1955), no. 364, lines 10–11 (lex de imperio Vespasiani); cf. Vell. 2. 124.4. For συνιστάναι see Dio 37. 44. 3, 55. 34. 2; cf. 58. 20. 3. Cf. Plin. Ep. 2. 9,6. 6, letters of commendation (though the term commendare is not used).Google Scholar

6 Dio notes as exceptional the behaviour of Pompey in commending M. Pupius Piso Frugi to enemies as well as to friends in the consular election for 61 B.C. (37. 44. 3).

7 This is not to say that nomination can never be as partisan as commendation.

8 Along with the vote or lot (or other means of reaching a decision) and the announcement of the result. In the tabula Hebana (Ehrenberg and Jones [n. 5], no. 94a), which treats an election within an election, note (1) the list (‘tabulas dealbatas in quib. nomina candidatorum scripta sint’) (lines 20–1), (2) the voting ('suffragium ferre’, passim), and (3) the announcement (‘[pr]onuntiandum curet’ [line 46; cf. 44]).

9 Wax tablets were used as ballots. Cf. Plin. Ep. 4. 25. 1 for a perverse form of the write-in ballot under Trajan.

10 So seems usually to mean; cf. 37. 46. 4, 39. 6. 3, 49. 16. 1, 58. 12. 2.

11 cf. n. 10.

12 cf. Suet. Aug. 40. 1.

13 Among the aspirants were M. Vinicius, D.Valerius Asiaticus (Jos. AJ 19.251–2) and L. Annius Vinicianus (Dio 60. 15. 1). Cf. AJPh 91 (1970), 149–55.

14 Cassii Dionis Cocceiani Historiarum Romanarum Quae Supersunt, ed. Boissevain, U. P. (Berlin, 1895-1931), iii. 767–72.Google Scholar

15 cf. Livy 9. 38. 9–14.

16 A possible deviation from the usage described in the preceding pages is Zonaras 8. 8. 2:’ [The Carthaginians] elected (πρoυβάλλoντo) their king under the title of a yearly office and not for permanent rule’ (Cary's translation). Here πρoβάλλεσθαι means neither nominate nor commend but appoint or elect (cf. the texts in n. 22). Although the sense of Zonaras' remark no doubt derives from the now lost text of Dio, his use of Dio is in general freer than warrants confidence that he preserves the original wording here (cf. Millar, F., A Study of Cassius Dio [Oxford, 1964], p. 3;Google ScholarBüttner-Wobst, Th., ‘Die Abhängigkeit des Geschichtsschreibers Zonaras von denerhaltenen Quellen’, Commentationes Fleckeisenianae [Leipzig, 1890], p. 150).Google Scholar

17 55. 12. 4–5 (Xiph.); Millar (n. 16), pp. 40 f.

18 Dem. Cor. 149, an acid account of Aeschines’ election as pylagoros: … Aeschines Leg. 18 treats the election of Athenian ambassadors to Philip of Macedon: Cf. 20. Also Herod. 1. 98. 1.

19 But see Plut. Timol. 3. 2:. Also Plut. Dem. 14. 4.

20 Propose:e.g., P. Hermopolis 21, line 13 (A.D. 346);Lewis, N., Leitourgia Papyri (Trans. Am. Philos. Soc., n.s., 53. 9) (Philadelphia, 1963), no. 10Google Scholar (late third or early fourth century). Appoint?: e.g., P. Oxy. 1424, lines 5, 16–17 (A.D. 318). For a full discussion, Bowman, A. K., The Town Councils of Roman Egypt (American Studies in Papyrology, 11) (Toronto, 1971), pp. 54, 104–13.Google Scholar

21 Or., Migne, PG 35. 1028 B.

22 e.g. Gr. Naz. Or., Migne, PG 35. 1029B; Chron. Pasch. p. 285 = Migne, PG 92. 712B; Theodoretus, Comm. in Ezech. 33. 5 = Migne, PG 81. 1142C.

23 Nor is there a case for arguing that Dio uses in the later sense of elect or appoint. No text in the Roman History proper admits such a sense (cf. n. 16 for = appoint in a passage of Zonaras based on Dio). It is instructive to compare 53. 21. 7, and 55.34. 2, Dio's term for’ propose for office’ is distinct from his vocabulary for ‘elect’ or ‘appoint’ (see Boissevain [n. 14], v, under

24 Mason, H. J., ‘The Roman Government in Greek Sources: the Effect of Literary Theory on the Translation of Official Titles’, Phoenix 24 (1970), 159 n. 26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25 Cary's translation of men who were to hold office’ (Loeb)-is more strictly correct.

26 Dio comes to the topic of imperial commendation only in his account of A.D. 8, where he relates how Augustus curtailed his public duties with advancing years. Here he notes that Augustus was no longer attending electoral assemblies but was having notices posted commending to the plebs and populus the candidates he supported Cf. Suet. Aug. 56. 1.

27 Dio's point seems rather to be that even when Augustus left candidates to campaign κατ⋯ he took care to prevent the old-time abuses. He records Augustus' efforts in curbing election misconduct at 54. 6. 2–4, 21 B.C.; 54. 10. 1–2, 19 B.C.; 54. 16. 1, 18 B.C.; 55. 5. 3, 8 B.C.; 55. 34. 2, A.D. 7; 56.40.4.