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On this page: Ambloseos Graphe – Ambrosia – Ambubaiae – Amburbium – Amentum – Amictorium – Amictus

AMBITUS.

in whole or in part. Another Lex Julia de Am-bitu was passed (b. c. 8 ; Dion Cass. Iv. 5) ap­parently to amend the law of b. c. 18. Candidates were required to deposit a sum of money before canvassing, which was forfeited if they were con­victed of bribery. If any violence was used by a candidate, he was liable to exile (aquae ct ignis interdictio).

The popular forms of election were observed during the time of Augustus. Under Tiberius they ceased. Tacitus (Annul, i. 15) observes: — " The comitia were transferred from the campus to the patres," the senate.

While the choice of candidates was thus partly in the hands of the senate, bribery and corruption still influenced the elections, though the name of ambitus was, strictly speaking, no longer appli­cable. But in a short time, the appointment to public offices was entirely in the power of the em­perors ; and the magistrates of Rome, as well as the populus, were merely the shadow of that which had once a substantial form. A Roman jurist, of the imperial period (Modestinus), in speaking of the Julia Lex de Ambitu, observes, " This law is now obsolete in the city, because the creation of magistrates is the business of the princeps, and does not depend on the pleasure of the populus ; but if any one in a municipium should offend against this law in canvassing for a sacerdotium or magistratus, he is punished, according to a senatus consultum, with infamj’, and subjected to a penalty of 100 aurei." (Dig. 48. tit. 14!)

The laws that have been enumerated are pro­bably all that were enacted, at least all of which any notice is preserved. Laws to repress bribery were made while the voting was open ; and they continued to be made after the vote by ballot was introduced at the popular elections by the Lex Gabinia (b. c. 139). Rein observes ‘that "by this change the control over the voters was scarcely any longer possible ; and those who were bribed could not be distinguished from those who were not." One argument in favour of ballot in modern times has been that it would prevent bribery ; and probably it would diminish the practice, though not put an end to it. But the notion of Rein that the bare fact of the vote being secret would in­crease the difficulty of distinguishing the bribed from the unbribed is absurd ; for the bare know­ledge of a man’s vote is no part of the evidence of bribery. It is worth remark that there is no in­dication of any penalty being attached to the receiving of a bribe for a vote. The utmost that can be proved is, that the dwisores or one of the class of persons who assisted in bribery were punished. (Cic. pro Plancio, c. 23, pro Murena^ c. 23.) But this is quite consistent with the rest i the briber and his agents were punished, not the bribed. When, therefore, Rein, who fefefs to these two passages under the Lex Tullia, says : " Even those who received money from the can­didates, or at least those who distributed it in their names, were punished," he couples two things together that are entirely of a different kind. The proposed Lex Aufidia (Cic. ad Alt. i. 16) went so far as to declare that if a candidate promised money to a tribe and did not pay it, he should be unpunished ; but if he did pay the money, he should further pay to each tribe (annually ?) 3000 sesterces as long as he lived. This absurd proposal was not carried ; but it shows clearly

AMICTUS.

enough that the principle was to punish the briber only.

The trials for ambitus were numerous in the time of the republic. A list of them is given by Rein. The oration of Cicero in defence of L. Murena, who was charged with ambitus, and that in defence of Cn. Plancius, who was tried under the Lex Licinia, are both extant. (Rein, Criminal-recht der Romer, where all the authorities are col­lected ; Cic. Pro Plancio, ed. Wunder.) [G. L.]

AMBLOSEOS GRAPHE (an€do<rws -f)). [abortio.]

AMBROSIA (a,[ji.€p6<na), festivals observed in Greece, in honour of Dionysus, which seem to have derived their name from the luxuries of the table, or from the indulgence of drinking. According to Tzetzes on Hesiod (Op. et D. v. 504) these festivals were solemnized in the month of Lenaeon, during the vintage. (Etym. M. s. v. Arjvaitbv, p. 564. 7. ; G. E. W. Schneider, Ueber das Attisclie Theater- wesen, p. 43 ; K. F. Hermann, Lelirb. d. gottesdienstl. Alterth. d. GriccJim, § 58. n. 7.) [L. S.]

AMBUBAIAE, female musicians from Syria, who gained their living by performing in public, at Rome, especially in the Circus. Their name is derived from the Syrian word abub or anbub, a flute. Their moral condition was that which females of their class generally fall into. The Bayaderes of India will perhaps give the best idea of what they were. (Hor. Sat. i. 2. 1, with Hein- dorf’s Note; Juvenal, iii. 62 ; Suet. Ner. 27 J Priapeia, 26 ; Petron. Ixxiv. 13.) [P.S.J

AMBURBIUM, or AMBURBIA’LE, a sa­crifice which was performed at Rome for the purifi­cation of the city, in the same manner as the ambarvalia was intended for the purification of the country. The victims were carried through the whole town, and the sacrifice was usually per­formed when any danger was apprehended in con­sequence of the appearance of prodigies, or other circumstances. (Obseq. De Prodig. c. 43 ; Apul. Metamorph. iii. ab init. p. 49, Bipont. ; Lucan. i. 593.) Scaliger supposed that the amburbium and ambarvalia were the same ; but their difference is expressly asserted by Servius (ad Virg. Ed. iii. 77), and Vopiscus (amburbium celebratum, ambar­valia promissa ; Aurel. c. 20).

AMENTUM. [hasta.]

AMICTORIUM, a linen covering for the breasts of women, probably the same as the stro-phium. [strophium.] (Mart. xiv. 149.) In later times it seems to have been used in the same sense as Amictus. (Cod. Theod. 8, tit. 5. s. 48.)

AMICTUS, AMI’CULITM. The verb amicire is commonly opposed to induere, the former being applied to the putting on of the outer garment. the chlamys, pallium;, laena, or toga (l^nov^ <pa-pos*) ; the latter, to the putting on of the inner gar­ment, the tunica (xir(^v}’ In consequence of this distinction, the verbal nouns, amictus and indutus, even without any further denomination of the dress being added, indicate respectively ^.the outer and the inner clothing. (See Tibull. i. 9. 13. ; Corn. Nep. Oimon., 4, Dat. 3. § 2 ; Virg. Aen. iii. 545, v. 421, compared with Apoll. Rhod. ii. 30.) Some­times, however, though rarely, amicire and induere are each used in a more general way, so as to refer to any kind of clothing.

In Greek amicire is expressed by e<

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