ABSTRACT

Political propaganda is as old, to tell the truth, as politics itself. In the distant past, when tribal chiefs imposed their will on their subjects, they transmitted the signs of it, their orders, to them by means of words or gestures, which had a fixed significance and were accompanied by encouragements or by threats of punishment for disobedience. In Greece and Rome especially, these practices attained a development corresponding to the advanced stage reached by their civilizations. The use of the first instinct as a factor of political propaganda was held in relatively slight honour in Greece; it found expression mainly in actual warfare. The use of the clamor, the battle-cry, was widespread among the Romans. They gave this shout, accompanied by trumpet blasts, at the moment of attack. The strongest form of psychological working of the Roman army on the crowd was in the "triumph" accorded to the commander of the army after a great victory.