We are all well aware that an effective politician is one who has very good contact with the voter. However, there are behaviours that can effectively discourage a citizen from voting for a given politician. A great example of this is the story of the conversation between the Roman politician Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica and a random Roman citizen.
Scipio Nasica was a Roman politician operating in the middle of the 2nd century BCE, who had an outstanding aristocratic origin – his mother was the daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder. Interestingly, during his lifetime he received the nickname Serapion, as many believe he was similar to a certain pig seller of that name1.
Scipio Nazyka, like every politician before the elections, once wandered the streets of Rome and tried to win the support of voters by having courteous conversations with simple citizens and giving them gifts. During his walk, he accidentally encountered a man returning from work in the field, who had unusually tired and hard hands. Scipio Nasica was then supposed to ask: “By the gods, do you go on them?2“. As it turned out, a careless remarks made many simple people perceive it as mockery and Scipio did not win the election.
