Chapter 5 - Political Alliances and Rivalries in Contiones in the Late Roman Republic

Summary

The contio was the only institutionalised venue in which a Roman orator might address the people directly. However, not everybody could speak freely in a meeting. A contio had to be convened by a magistrate, who decided who took the floor. A politician who was not a magistrate and wanted to deliver a speech to the people needed the co-operation of a magistrate willing to convene a meeting and allow him to speak (producere in contionem). On other occasions, some of the most prominent politicians were brought to a contio for the purpose of finding out their opinion on a current topic, sometimes with the intention of embarrassing or pressing them. In both cases, the custom of bringing somebody to speak in an assembly was an essential strategy and vital to an understanding of how Roman politics worked, and promoted a dialectical dynamism that allowed the plebs to obtain first-hand information on significant political debates. This paper focuses on these strategies as a means of disclosing short-term or lasting political alliances and friendships within the Roman senate and enmities and rivalries among politicians.