MEETING 12.12.2019

"How are elections won in ancient Rome?"

On 12.12.2019 in the library of the Faculty of Law of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ”the second meeting of the Roman law club for the first semester of the school year was held. The topic was: "How are elections won in Ancient Rome?" The collection was opened by Ch. Assistant Professor Dr. Tihomir Rachev, who made a short announcement on the topic of the meeting and summarized the issues that were raised for consideration at the meeting. Dr. Rachev began by clarifying the meaning and genesis of the token "candidate", widely used in all modern languages, emphasizing its Roman roots in connection with the white toga, the so-called. toga candida, which those wishing to be elected to a certain magistrate's position must wear before the elections. Then the floor was given to part-time assistant Stoyan Ivanov, who presented the legal characteristics of the electoral process in Rome, starting his perspective by outlining the types of national assemblies during the Roman Republic, considering their competence and functions in the Roman state. The requirements for participation in the election for a magistrate's position were explained, and the peculiarities of the active suffrage in Rome were not left out - ius suffragii. Ace. Ivanov drew attention to the preparation of each candidate for the election and focused on the actions that the candidate can take in accordance with Roman law to win the election. This is mostly propaganda among voters in order to win the election. Ivanov noted that for a successful campaign, the candidate must have significant financial resources in order to pay the costs of renting premises for election campaigning near the center of social life in Rome - the forum; to pay voters who turn the election result around on election day, going around the meeting; to pay people to make the so-called programmata - a type of signs or election posters painted on the walls of buildings, many of which are preserved to this day in Pompeii. Stoyan Ivanov drew attention to the tactics of Roman candidates to meet with their constituents when recalling their previous merits, making promises, and also often organizing banquets, banquets, etc. As. Ivanov explained that members of the Roman assemblies of centuries, when a law is to be passed, have no right to rule on the substance of the bill, but must either approve or reject it as introduced by the magistrate. With regard to the election of magistrates, the vote was initially oral and expressed by Roman citizens to an official called "rogator"Who asks each voter the question that the chairman of the meeting asked at the beginning of the election day and notes the answer on a wax sign"tabula", Marking a dot against the candidate's name. Once all the voting points of each electoral group (centurion, tribe, curia) have been collected, the result is communicated to the chairman. From the II century BC. with Lex Gabinia in Rome, there is a secret ballot that is much faster and faster, with all voters in a group voting at the same time, forcing the candidates' voters to go around the whole assembly quickly.

Judge Metodi Todorov made an extremely interesting presentation with presentations of fragments by two ancient authors. The first fragment was from Titus Livius, 35.10.1 for the election of consul in 193 BC. an authentic text by a Roman author was presented to the audience, illustrating the topical issues of a real Roman election. It was interesting to the audience that one candidate was not helped by the petitions of his brother the famous Scipio Africanus, or by the efforts of the whole Cornelius family, or by the fact that the election was conducted by Consul Cornelius, or even by the Senate. best among the citizens of Rome. The next text was again from Livy 39.38, which deals with the impossibility of one person to be a candidate for two kurul positions at the same time in 184 BC. Metodi Todorov considered last a passage from Avel Helium, Attic Nights, 7.9 for the selection in 304 BC. to the scribe Gnaeus Flavius ​​for kurulen edil.

The undisputed attraction of this gathering of the circle was the second year student at the University of Sofia - Angel Mitkov, who thanks to Dr. Rachev was dressed in authentic Roman clothes as a candidate for Roman magistrate and presented a fragment of Quintus Tullius Cicero, De petitione consulatus, 11.12. With the swing and demeanor of a playful Roman orator, the young student presented the Roman author's thoughts on how a Roman magistrate should behave and what methods he should use to win the election by a majority, namely to promise, hand out money and objects. , to be able to speak convincingly in front of an audience and to convince his voters of the correctness of his statements and the qualities of his personality. The collection ended with an extremely interesting discussion, provoked by Dr. Rachev, who directed the students to discover similarities and parallels between the Roman experience in connection with the conduct of a choice and our contemporary reality. Almost all those present took part in the discussion, the most active being the second-year students Aileen Ali, Ekaterina Pavlova, Radina Vangova and others.