Manual de campaña electoral

Quintus Tullius Cicero wrote in 64 BC. C. a letter to his older brother Marco from him as a brief treatise on how to stand for election to the consulate. Little could he imagine that this text would pass down to posterity, not only for its historical value, but also for the surprising relevance that its sound advice continues to have, beyond other ethical considerations. We find ourselves, on the one hand, before a valuable testimony on the way of conceiving an electoral campaign during the Roman Republic, which his contemporaries, with Julius Caesar at the helm, did not hesitate to take advantage of. But we also have in Quintus Tullius Cicero a kind of skillful campaign director who knows what the keys are to winning the elections, leaving the ideological debate or political programs in the background, to focus on the struggle for power and the mechanisms to achieve this, such as offering a good image, seeking support, adapting to what the public wants or attacking rivals.