Crisis of Mores and / or Crisis of the Social Structure? Observations on Euergetism and Roman Republican Legislation in the Context of Electoral Corruption

Abstract

The paper intends to investigate the social crisis in the Late Republic, focusing on the mechanisms to obtain influence over the voting in the comitia. Starting from the dissolution of the clientela system after the II s. BC, the study analyzes the sumptuary legislation and the legislation de ambitu in order to observe the new ways of attracting the favor of the people which the Roman politicians had to develop. Particular attention is given to the rhetoric of the cura morum, used as a cover for the attempts to control the electoral competition.