Alcune osservazioni sulle leges sumptuariae nel quadro delle campagne elettorali di età repubblicana

Abstract

The paper focuses on the Roman sumptuary legislation during the republican period, moving away from the traditional point of view which relates the leges sumptuariae to the crisis of the mores and the general decline of traditional values after the Punic wars. Instead, the key to understanding the sumptuary laws applied here is the euergetic activity, mainly in its practical aspects. The first part of the paper draws a clear distinction between the provisions limiting “personal luxury” and “euergetic luxury”. The second part juxtaposes the sumptuary laws and the leges de ambitu, observing the mechanisms of direct electoral bribery and indirect political influence in the end of the Republic.

Keywords

• sumptus
• banquets
• ambitus
• elections
• campaigns
• bribery