programma that supports a certain Gaius Cuspius Pansa for aedile (CIL
4.7129)—a notice that was painted over a number of others that are
difficult to disentangle from one another. From Matteo della Corte’s
line drawing in his 1911 excavation notebook (figure 12.1), it is clear
that the notice supporting Cuspius Pansa was the freshest when the city
was destroyed; on the basis of this and other evidence, it has been
concluded that he was standing for aedile in the elections of 79.^21 Below
it in the same black paint is a small, two-line phrase written neatly in block
letters that readsarma virumque / cano Troiae q(ui) arm[—that is, the first
four words of theAeneid, an abbreviation of the fifth (qui), and another
armato start the quotation all over again. It is difficult to be certain exactly
what relation these words have to the programmata above them, but a few
circumstances lead me to connect them at least tangentially with the one
supporting Cuspius Pansa. First, like that advertisement, they were writ-
ten in black paint. Instances of ‘‘random’’ painting in Pompeii are rare;
unlike the modern day, private or unauthorized graffiti tended to be
scratched into plaster rather than presented in the more elaborate medium
of the professional sign writers. Secondly, the words were written over
an advertisement for a certain Marcellus, who was standing for the senior
post ofquinquennalis. Although the bare cognomen makes it difficult
to identify the exact candidate, the quinquennial elections were only
held once every five years. It is possible that this notice is left over
- Franklin 1980, 61 2, with table 6; cf. 48. The situation is slightly confused by the fact
that there were actually three C. Cuspii Pansae who were active in Pompeian politics, the
candidate for aedile in 79, his father and his grandfather.CIL4.7129, however, was painted
over an advertisement for Paquius for Duovir this must be P. Paquius Proculus, who stood
for that office in 74 (Franklin 1980, 67, and table 6).
Figure 12.1M. Della Corte, drawing of CIL 4. 7129–7131.Literary Literacy in Roman Pompeii 295