Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 49

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[49]

Question 49.

Wherefore was it a custom among the candidates for magistracy to present themselves in their togas without tunics, as Cato tells us?

Solution. Was it not that they should not carry money in their bosoms to buy votes with? Or is it that they preferred no man as fit for the magistracy for the sake of his birth, riches, or honors, but for his wounds and scars; and that these might be visible to them that came about them, they came without tunics to the elections? Or, as by courteous behavior, supplication, and submission, so by humbling themselves in nakedness did they gain on the affections of the common people?

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 49 focus

[49] διὰ τί τοὺς παραγγέλλοντας ἀρχὴν ¹ ἔθος ἦν ἐν ἱματίῳ τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἀχίτωνας, ὡς Κάτων ἱστόρηκε;

πότερον ἵνα μὴ δεκάζωσιν ἀργύριον ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ κομίζοντες;

276d ἢ μᾶλλον ὅτι τοὺς ἀξίους ἄρχειν οὐ γένεσιν οὐδὲ χρήμασιν οὐδὲ δόξαις ἀλλὰ τραύμασι καὶ ὠτειλαῖς ἔκρινον; ὅπως οὖν ταῦτα καθορῷτο τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, ἀχίτωνες ἐπὶ τὰς παραγγελίας ² κατῄεσαν;

ἢ καθάπερ τῷ δεξιοῦσθαι καὶ παρακαλεῖν καὶ ὑποπίπτειν, οὕτω τῇ γυμνότητι ταπεινοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐδημαγώγουν;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 49 focus

[49] διὰ τί τοὺς παραγγέλλοντας ἀρχὴν ¹ ἔθος ἦν ἐν ἱματίῳ τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἀχίτωνας, ὡς Κάτων ἱστόρηκε; πότερον ἵνα μὴ δεκάζωσιν ἀργύριον ἐν 25 276d τῷ κόλπῳ κομίζοντες, ἢ μᾶλλον ὅτι τοὺς ἀξίους ἄρχειν οὐ γένεσιν οὐδὲ χρήμασιν οὐδὲ δόξαις ἀλλὰ τραύμασι καὶ ὠτειλαῖς ἔκρινον; ὅπως οὖν ταῦτα καθορῷτο τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, ἀχίτωνες ἐπὶ τὰς παραγγελίας ² κατῄεσαν; ἢ καθάπερ τῷ δεξιοῦσθαι καὶ παρακαλεῖν καὶ ὑποπίπτειν, οὕτω τῇ γυμνότητι ταπεινοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐδημαγώγουν;

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 49 focus

[49] Why was it the custom for those canvassing for office to do so in the toga without the tunic, as Cato has recorded?¹

Was it in order that they might not carry money in the folds of their tunic and give bribes?

Or was it rather because they used to judge candidates worthy of office, not by their family nor their wealth nor their repute, but by their wounds and scars? Accordingly that these might be visible to those that encountered them, they used to go down to their canvassing without tunics.

Or were they trying to commend themselves to popular favour by thus humiliating themselves by their scanty attire, even as they do by hand-shaking, personal appeals, and fawning behaviour?

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 49

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 49.

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