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| Constitution and development | ||||||||||
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Thecontio (pl. "contiones"; fromLatin "conventio" meaning "gathering") was an ad hoc public assembly inAncient Rome, which existed during themonarchy as well as in theRoman Republic andRoman Empire.[1] At thecontio,magistrates informed the Roman citizens on various topics related to politics. The main difference between thecontio and other public assemblies in Rome, such as thecomitia, is that the citizens who attendedcontiones were there to hear speeches and not to vote. Thecontio merely served a communicative function, offering magistrates the opportunity to give the people a report of what had been decided during asenate meeting or to discuss a proposed legislative bill (rogatio) in front of the citizens to help them make up their mind before they had to vote on it in otherassemblies.[2]
Magistrates also used thecontio as a means of self-promotion, presenting themselves as capable and honest politicians who kept the interests of the people in mind (in other words, adhered to thepopularis ideology), hoping to gain sympathy and support from the people.[3] Aside from a political assembly, the word "contio" could also refer to a type of Romanmilitary speech.
The practice of holdingcontiones is said to have started under the Roman monarchy, where theking (rex) was the only one who could summon acontio as well as the sole person who had the right to speak at this assembly. Therefore thecontio is assumed to have originated earlier than the other public assemblies in Ancient Rome, since voting assemblies did not yet exist under the monarchy.[4]
The procedure and the function ofcontiones changed in the Republic and Empire. Every magistrate, as well astribunes of the people, got the right to call acontio and address the crowd, or invite others to give a speech on a topic of the convener's choice.[5] In theory, acontio could be held anytime, on any day.[6] However,contiones were usually held on two specific occasions: after a senate meeting and when a new legislative bill (rogatio) had been proposed.
It was a common practice to hold acontio right after a senate meeting, to inform citizens about what had been discussed during the meeting and what decrees had been made. The magistrate who presided over the senate meeting decided who got to speak at thiscontio. He could choose to address the crowd himself or invite other senators to give a speech. Magistrates who were opposed to a decree that had been presented at this firstcontio, often chose to hold their owncontio a few days later, to share their different perspective.
Roman citizens could not attend senate meetings themselves, for only senators were allowed inside thecuria during those meetings. Therefore thecontio was an important source of information for citizens to who wanted to know what was going on in politics.[7]
Contiones formed anecessary step in the legislative process[citation needed] of validating new laws. When a magistrate or tribune wanted to propose a legislative bill (rogatio) which had to be validated by the voting process in thecomitia, the rules for legislative processes ordained the bill to be presented and discussed from various points of view before the people incontiones first. This allowed people to make up their minds on the bill before voting and gave supporters as well as opponents of the bill a chance to share their views and shape public opinion, either in favor of the bill or against it.[8]
The two situations described above were the most common occasions on which acontio was held, but there were several special occasions on which this assembly could be summoned as well:[9]
In theory, every Roman citizen had the right to attendcontiones.[6] The crowd at this assembly was seen as a representation of the Roman people (populus) and therefore also referred to by speakers aspopulus (orquirites).[10] However, it is generally assumed that the audience mainly consisted of citizens living within the city of Rome, for those city-dwellers had easier access to the voting assemblies in which they would vote on the bills (rogationes) that were the topic of manycontiones. They also seem to have been more willing to participate in politics than their fellow citizens from other areas.[11] Over time, two distinct theories, which try to explain the composition of the audience in more detail, have developed. One theory assumes thatcontiones were mainly attended by lower-class locals, who lived near theforum on which the assembly gathered, while the second theory states that the crowd mainly consisted of well-to-do, high class citizens.
This first theory implies that the largest part of the crowd at everycontio consisted of the same group of local shopkeepers who lived near theforum and who sometimes seem to even have closed their businesses to attend acontio. These people, sometimes called theplebs contionalis,[12] would have had the most to gain from the measures that were discussed at thecontio, such as grain distributions, and therefore they would have been the most interested to go. According to this theory, these shopkeepers were joined by other lower-class Romans who sought to escape their narrow housing conditions by hanging out in public places such as the forum. Therefore, the majority of the crowd would have consisted of lower-class Romans.[13]
A second major theory states that the audience was mainly made up of wealthy and higher-class Romans. According to this theory, regularly attendingcontiones would have been easier for these well-to-do individuals, since they had more time to spare than lower-class citizens. Moreover, these higher-class Romans would have had the education that was needed to appreciate and understand the argumentation the magistrates used in their speeches, which sometimes included complicated references to history or law. Lastly, this theory states that this class of citizens would have been the most interesting for magistrates to influence throughcontiones, since these wealthy individuals would in turn have influenced the political opinion among lower-class Romans throughpatron-client relationships.[14]
Despite the frequency with whichcontiones were held, very few of the speeches delivered are fully preserved until this day. Many contional speeches have been lost over time or have never been recorded in the first place, likely because the topics with which they dealt were not significant enough or because the speaker did not use interesting or engaging rhetorical strategies.[15]
Cicero is our main source for this type of oratory.[16][pages needed] The table below gives an overview of all of his extantcontio speeches.
| Title | Delivered in | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Pro lege Manilia | 66 BC | In support of a law proposal by C. Manilius, to assign the command in the war againstMithridates toPompey.[17] |
| De lege agraria 2 | 63 BC | Inaugural speech to the people in Cicero'sconsular year. Advising against anagrarian law proposed byRullus, a tribune of the people. (Forms a pair withDe Lege Agraria 1 in which he discusses the same topic before the senate.)[18][pages needed] |
| De lege agraria 3 | 63 BC | Short speech on a specific section of the agrarian law discussed inDe lege agraria 2.[18][pages needed] |
| In Catilinam 2 | 63 BC | Informing the people thatCatiline had fled the city after Cicero had asked him to leave in his senate speech known asIn Catilinam 1.[19] |
| In Catilinam 3 | 63 BC | Informing the people how evidence for Catiline's conspiracy was found.[20] |
| Post reditum ad quirites | 57 BC | Expressing gratitude to the people after Cicero had been allowed to return to Rome after his exile.[21] |
| Philippic 4 | 44 BC | Informing the people of the senate's decision to honor certain individuals, among whom the youngOctavian, for the actions they took againstMarcus Antonius, interpreting this as a decision to proclaim Antonius a public enemy. (This speech forms a pair withPhilippic 3.)[22] |
| Philippic 6 | 43 BC | Informing the people of the senate's decision to send an embassy to Marcus Antonius for peace negotiations.[23] |
Aside from the ones in the table above, nocontio speeches have been fully preserved. There are, however, a few other ancient sources which provide knowledge on this topic.Historiographic works, mainly those ofSallust (a 1st century BC. Roman historiographer) describe some speeches that have been held at thecontio on significant topics in Roman history.[24] Moreover, Cicero comments oncontiones in several of his works: inDe Oratore, we find some theoretical remarks on how to address this assembly (egDe Oratore 2.333–240) and hisletters to Atticus include some references to thecontio as well (egAtt. 7.8.5).[25]
Judging from the ancient source material described above, speeches delivered at thecontio seem to have shared severalrhetorical and argumentative characteristics. This list gives an overview of such common characteristics of speeches addressed to this assembly:
Aside from the political assembly, the word "contio" could also refer to a type of military speech in which a commander addressed his troops. The rules for summoningcontiones of this kind were similar to those for the political assembly: under the monarchy only the king (rex) had the right to do so; during the republicevery magistrate[dubious –discuss] received this right. They usually appointed the general as the only speaker. Militarycontiones shared the communicative character of their political counterparts: they did not serve to cast votes or make decisions. A militarycontio could be held on various occasions:[33]