law
lex de ambitu
the ambitus law
also: ambitus, ambitu, de ambitu
The standing law against ambitus (electoral bribery), in this period Pompey's lex Pompeia de ambitu of 52 BC; Appius Claudius Pulcher was prosecuted and acquitted under it in 50 BC (Fam. 3.11-3.12).
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 3.12 §1 the verdict in the \textit{ambitus} case
Ambitus was the crime of electoral bribery; this was the second prosecution Appius beat in 50 BC, after the maiestas charge treated in Fam. 3.11.
- For Publius Sulla §1 the common odium that attaches to canvassing
Ambitus, illegal electoral canvassing/bribery. Sulla and his colleague Autronius were convicted of it in 66 BC and lost the consulship of 65 to the men who had prosecuted them, one of whom was the elder Torquatus.
- For Publius Sulla §6 a charge of canvassing
Ambitus again: the bribery offence under which Vargunteius too had earlier been tried. Conviction barred a man from office, which is why the stakes of such trials were so high.