Reputation Brokers: Existimatio and Popular Participation in Roman Politics

Roman senators relied on brokers from lower social strata to foster their reputation— existimatio or fama , in Latin. Existimatio was a major consideration for candidates and for politicians deciding whom to support in elections and at court. Well-connected information brokers among Rome's non-elite thus gained considerable power by spreading the reputations of politicians. The need for constant positive existimatio and the need to maintain the Senate as the central organ in civic life thus created opposing forces as the Senate policed the way senators interacted with brokers and regulated organizations through which brokerage occurred while requiring the brokerage to grow their reputations.