The "Bribe" value of an anceint coin

[basemetal]

We've all seen the dicussions of the "value" of an ancient coin.  How much would it buy?
Well, I don't know if there's literature extant on this, but the question is:
How much did it cost:
To elevate your son above the plebian class?
To get legal charges dismissed?
To buy an audience with the emperor, or with someone who could "get it done" for you ...meaning larger things like a monopoly on trade with an obscure foreign provence?
Or just to get to speak to the emperor. The modern version would be Michael Jackson meeting the Pope. He did. The propaganda value.
To perhaps have officials look the other way while you imported foreign wine in violation of the emperor's edicts?
To buy a particluar office?
To have the water continue to be supplied to your villa even though officials have declared a drought?
All these things.
Unless ridiculed for an unanswerable question, I anticipate the discussion.

[Rupert]

Basemetal, one thing I like about you is how you ask the questions that are of interest for everybody, even though we may not be able to answer them. No reason to ridicule you, though. There is a saying in German:
"Ein Narr fragt mehr als sieben Weise antworten können", meaning
"One fool asks more questions than seven wise men can answer", which IMHO ridicules not the fool but the "wise men" who are so often at their wit's end.
We might however be able to get some information about this for Roman times. Aren't there some famous speeches of Cicero or so against corrupt people? These should contain some information.

Rupert

[Bacchus]

Have you just been reading the 'Falco' series of novels by Lindsay Davis?  Pretty much all these issues are touched on - though, of course that is fiction and no help whatsoever - but the coincidence is uncanny.

Malcolm

[Ardatirion]

Basemetal, you should get a title for your humor! I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but I am sure that a close reading of Pliny should be able to answer a few of the questions. (He's so petulant! How in the hell did Trajan ever put up with him?)

[GMoneti]

I think one of the most blatant cases of bribery was the auctioning of the Imperial throne by the Praetorian Guard for Didius Julianus's 25,000 sestertii per soldier, versus Sulpicianus' 20,000.  But bribery of the military is well known, and I suppose that is not what you're asking.  On the more "civilian" scale of bribery, I found this footnote attached to Suetonius' Twelve Caesars:

Even the severe censor was biassed by political expediency to sanction a system, under which what little remained of public virtue, and the love of liberty at Rome, were fast decaying. The strict laws against bribery at elections were disregarded, and it was practised openly, and accepted without a blush. Sallust says that everything was venal, and that Rome itself might be bought, if any one was rich enough to purchase it. Jugurth, viii. 20, 3.

It's number 42 here: http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/TwelveCaesars/footnotes.htm

Basemetal, I think all the things you've listed happened regularly then, just as they do now.  Whether it was money or political favors, bribery took many forms at different levels of society.  I for one am pretty familiar with that system, coming from a place like that. 

[basemetal]

Adatrion:

The kindest title through some of history has been "Jester" a kind word for another title: "Foole"
Many times the holder of this title also exhibited mental abberations, physical deformities (remember Domitian and his microcephallic dwarf), and many times the "foole" figuratively  occupied the place of the lamb in those "lion and lamb laying together" displays seen in some places and times.  It's startling tableau,  but it's never mentioned that the lamb has to be frequently replaced.

On further thought, given that bribery is generally unregulated,  the going price for a bribe would vary tremendously depending on the greed, intelligence, need for money, and the chances of getting caught.
The price of a legal charge dismissed in Rome was probably different than in the provinces.  Lol: 'Sigh, things are so expensive in the city. How is one to live?"