Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

L8

AMBITUS.

courage them before battle, or on other occa-
sions. On coins we frequently find a figure
of an imperator standing on a platform and
addressing the soldiers below him. Such
coins bear the epigraph adlocvtio.

Allocutio. (Coin of Gulb;i.)

ALUA or IIALOA (aAua, dtAwa), an Attic
festival, but celebrated principally at Eleusis,
in honour of Demeter and Dionysus, the in-
ventors of the plough and protectors of the
fruits of the earth.

ALTARE. [Ara.]

ALUTA. [Calckus.]

ALYTAE (aAurai), persons whose business
it was to keep order in the public games.
They received their orders from an alytarches
^aAurapxis), who was himself under the di-
rection of the agonothetae, or hellenodicae.

AMANUENSIS, or AD MANUM SERVUS,
a slave, or freedman, whose office it was to
write letters and other things under his mas-
ter's direction. The amanuenses must not
be confounded with another sort of slaves,
also called ad manum serri, who were always
kept ready to be employed in any business.

AMARYNTIIIA, or AMARYSIA (ifxapvv-
6ia or dfxapuo-ia), a festival of Artemis Ama-
rynthia or Amarysia, celebrated, as it seems,
originally at Amarynthus in Euboea, with
extraordinary splendour, but also solemnised
in several places in Attica, such as Athmone.

AMBARYALIA. [Arvales Fratres.]

AMBITUS, which literally signifies " a
going about," cannot, perhaps, be more nearly
expressed than by our word canvassing. After
the plebs had formed a distinct class at Rome,
and when the whole body of the citizens had
become very greatly increased, we frequently
read, in the Roman writers, of the great
efforts which it was necessary for candidates
to make in order to secure the votes of the
citizens. At Rome, as in ever}' community
into which the element of popular election
enters, solicitation of votes, and open or
secret influence and bribery, were among the

means by which a candidate secured his elec-
tion tc the offices of state. The following
are the principal terms occurring in th?
Roman writers in relation to the canvassing
for the public offices :—A candidate was calico
petitor; and his opponent with reference to
him competitor. A candidate (candidatus)
was so called from his appearing in the
public places, such as the fora and Campus
Martius, before his fellow-citizens, in a
whitened toga. On such occasions the can-
didate was attended by his friends [deduc-
tores), or followed by the poorer citizens
[sectatores), who could in no other manner
show their good will or give their assistance.
The word assiduitas expressed both the con-
tinual presence of the candidate at Rome and
his continual solicitations. The candidate,
in going his rounds or taking his walk, was
accompanied by a nomenclator, who gave him
the names of such persons as he might meet;
the candidate was thus enabled to address
them by their name, an indirect compliment,
which could not fail to be generally gratifying
to the electors. The candidate accompanied
his address with a shake of the hand (pren-
satio). The term benignitas comprehended
generally any kind of treating, as shows,
feasts, &c. The ambitus, which was the
object of several penal enactments, taken as
a generic term, comprehended the two species
—ambitus and laryitiones (bribery). Liber-
alitas and benignitas are opposed by Cicero,
as things allowable, to ambitus and largitio,
as things illegal. Money was paid for votes ;
and, in order to insure secrecy and secure
the elector, persons called interpretes were
employed to make the bargain, seguestres to
hold the mcney till it was to be paid, and
divisorcs to distribute it. The offence of
ambitus was a matter which belonged to the
judicia publica, and the enactments against
it were numerous. One of the earliest,
though not the earliest of all, the Lex Cor-
nelia Baebia (b.c. 181) was specially directed
against largitionc Those convicted under
it were incapacitated from being candidates
for ten years. The Lex Cornelia Fulvia
(b.c. 159) punished the offence with exile.
The Lex Acilia Calpurnia (b.c. 67) imposed
a fine on the offending party, with exclusion
from the senate and all public offices. The
Lex Tullia (b.c. 63), passed in the consulship
of Cicero, in addition to the penalty of the
Acilian law, inflicted ten years' exsilium on
the offender ; and, among other things, for-
bade a person to exhibit gladiatorial shows
(gladiatores dare) within any two years in
which he was a candidate, unless he was re-
quired to do so, on a fixed day, by a testator's
will. Two years afterwards the Lex Aufidia