Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-21
Ponspeian Election
Notices.

Hrom the New York Times)
Pompeii has been dug up more or
less since 174S: scientifically since
1853. OF the thousands of Ameri-
can visitors who have been there,
| few have stopped to thirk that un-
| der the northeastern half. of which
! they see only one street and the
| amphitheater, excavations have been
| going on since 1911 that are said.
| rightly or wrongly, to have resulted
In discoveries even more interesting
than their predecessors. The pub
| lie has been shut out. The Rome
correspondent of the London Times
describes some of the new finds"
Some Of us will dote less, perhaps.
on the discovery OF NEUROLOGICAL
paintings, so common in Pompeli,
the large paintings of the IL Penates
or Guardians of the City, Fortune
with a Cornucopia, Venus, the pa
troness of the place, standing in
quadriga drawn by four elephants.
and SO on. than on the hot-drink
bar whose walls are covered with
election notices inviting citizens to
vote for Lollius for Duumvir, say
street commissioner and inspector Of
temples.
These election notices are of the
commonest, to be sure. Sometimes
they are in black. but usually in red,
letters on the walls. They are a form
of nomination. petition. primary.
They seem curiously contemporary,
like those pictures Of women riding
astride in early Cretan palaces. The
nomination papers are short, the
shortest in. three words, not to be
translated so concisely. Crafts may
be said to represent our conventions.
Thus. 1.-The BARRIERS nominate Trebius
for Aedile," commissioner of public
works. "All the goldsmiths" nomi-
nate c. Cuspius Pansa for the same
office. The garlic dealers come out
strong in their recommendation
The fruiterers are always hanging
their circulars on the outer wall.
Why were they so urgent? Did they
need 'pulf' with the Duumvir?
Did they want their damaged goods
to be overlooked by a friendly eye?
Once they associate with themselves
a presumably noted parsonage: "All
the fruiterers with Helvius Prscus
nominate M. Helconius Vestalis for
Duumvir."
Ball players. dyers, fishermen.
cloak cutters, muleteers even Car
lyle's symbol Of res. sctability, the
gigmen, recommend their candidates.
Primus, the fuller, polls his work
men: "Primus and his people (cum
suls) are for the election of G. |
Helvius Sabinus as Aedile." An
early and common eulogy of ''our
candidate" is v. b., virum bonum
"a good man." One young reformer
IS AN honest young man." OF today |
Is the platform, so to speak, of a |
candidate who aerarium conservabit, |
Will be the watchdog of the treasury. |
me ca me. ca the principle in
politics Is beautifully illustrated:
"Proculus, make Sabinus an Aedile.
and he'll make you one" Loveliest |
OF all the political posters in the CITY
Of Venus Is this: His sweetheart
0ittle souD is working to elect
Claudius Duumvir." Lucky Claudius.
with such canyasser!
The ironists and the parodists
took advantage of the poster for
mulas to carry on their campaign
Of detraction. THE sneak thieves
demand the election of Vatia as
Aedile." So do "all the alI-night
guzzlers and all the sleepyheads"
so there were pasquinades before
Pasquino, and the Pompeians had
their fun in politics. Indeed, their
politics wasn't very seri-
GUS. Offices came high. There can
nave been little competition, though
more than a hundred candidates are
The successful nominees
must have liked to get these "spon-
o u demonstrations" these
countless carefully engineered "trib-
utes' from admiring fellow citizens.
IN office they had to give back the
tribute most extensively. furnishing
the iree arena games with butcheries
or beasts and men. those hunters
win cloak and sword fighting tigers
that we see on bas-reliefs. those
sladlators, present in all attitudes all
over the place. often rudely sketched
oy boys. Lollius and his compeers
PAID high and gave a good show. II
won't do for the goth century TO nut
On on any airs Of superior virtue over
these soft Campanians.
Modern legislators pay differently
put the cost is greater; they pay in
doles, subsidies, wage raising bills
Ill sorts OF special aims and bonuses
ana bounties and miscellaneous IA
Vors TO a class" than can manifest
Or pulldoze artfully enough. The
hodern offices and the modern bread
INC ma SHOWS come high. mighty high.
we mustn't be unjust to Lollius and
lhat buried city whose election ad-
'erusements are immortal