[801] P. 470.
[802] Cic. Sest. 50. 107 f.; Red. in Sen. 10. 26; Pis. 15. 34.
[803] P. 259 f.
[804] Livy xxxix. 17. 4 f.; Plut. Aem. 30; Pseud. Sall. Declam. in Cat. 19; cf. the Twelve Tables, in Censorin. 24. 3.
[805] Livy xlii. 33. 2.
[806] Besides the Forum or Comitium (Dion. Hal. ix. 41. 4) it sometimes met in the Area Capitolina (Cic. Frag. A. vii. 49; Livy xxxiii. 25. 6; xxxiv. 1. 4), or in the Circus Flaminius (Livy xxvii. 21. 1; Cic. Att. i. 14. 1; Sest. 14. 33). In general, see Liebenam, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iv. 1151; Karlowa, Röm. Rechtsgesch. i. 380.
[807] Cic. Flacc. 7. 16 (contrasting the sitting contio of the Greeks); Brut. 84. 289; Leg. Agr. ii. 5. 13; Acad. Pr. 47. 144; Tusc. iii. 20. 48; Orat. 63. 213. But probably the contio in the Flaminian circus was seated; Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 396, n. 3.
[808] P. 107, 110. Although the tribune of the plebs did not auspicate their assemblies, they like other magistrates occupied a templum during the meeting; Livy ii. 56. 10.
[809] Censoriae Tabulae, in Varro L. L. vi. 86. For the summons by the consul, see the Commentaria Consularia, ibid. 88; and by the quaestor, Commentarium Anquisitionis of M. Sergius, ibid. 91.
[810] Varro, L. L. vi. 86.
[811] Censoriae Tabulae, in Varro, L. L. vi. 87: “Praeco in templo primum vocat, postea de moeris item vocat;” cf. 90 f.; Livy xxxix. 32. 11; Cic. Fam. vii. 30. 1.
[812] Documents, in Varro, L. L. vi. 86, 91.
[813] Livy xxv. 3. 17; Cic. Sest. 50. 107 f.
[814] Caesar, a praetor and friend of the presiding tribune, sat with him on the porch of the temple of Castor and Pollux—used on that occasion as the speaker’s platform; Plut. Cat. Min. 27; Cic. Vatin. 10. 24: “In rostris, in illo, inquam, augurato templo ac loco ... quo auctoritatis exquirendae causa ceteri tribuni pl. principes civitatis producere consuerunt.”
[815] Documents, in Varro, L. L. vi. 88, 91; cf. 93.
[816] Livy xxxix. 15. 1: “Consules in rostra escenderunt, et contione advocata cum solemne carmen precationis, quod praefari, priusquam populus adloquantur, magistratus solent, peregisset consul, ita coepit: Nulli umquam contioni, quirites, tam non solum apta sed etiam necessaria haec sollemnis deorum comprecatio fuit.” The prayer was made at the opening of elective as well as of deliberative assemblies (Cic. Mur. 1; Plin. Paneg. 63) by plebeian as well as by patrician magistrates; (Cic.) Herenn. iv. 55. 68. Every speech addressed to the people began with a prayer; Serv. in Aen. xi. 301; Cic. Caecil. 13. 43; Gell. xiii. 23. 1; Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 390, n. 2.
[817] P. 430, 439.
[818] Caesar first brought his agrarian bill before the senate; and calling on the senators one after another by name to say whether they found any fault with it, he promised to amend it or to drop it altogether, if any clause proved unsatisfactory to any member. As the senators would not debate the merits of the proposal, but did all they could to delay its consideration, he offered the bill to the assembly without their consent; and for the remainder of his consulship he brought no more bills before the senate, but referred them directly to the people; Dio Cass, xxxviii. 2-4; cf. p. 148.
[819] Dion. Hal. v. 11. 2; Plut. Popl. 3. Besides the king it was supposed that the interrex and the tribunus celerum alone were competent; Dion. Hal. iv. 71. 6; 75. 1. The ancient writers seem to have been brought to this conception by a desire to contrast the despotism of the monarchy with the liberty of the republic. But according to Livy, i. 16. 5 ff., and Cicero, Rep. ii. 10. 20 (cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 200, n. 6) Proculus Julius, a private person, made a speech in a contio of the regal period; and in judicial assemblies speaking by private persons was necessary; cf. Livy i. 26. For the general usage in the primitive European assembly, see p. 169.
[820] In presenting his agrarian bill to the people Caesar first called on his colleague, despite the fact that the latter was known to be opposed to the measure; Dio Cass. xxxviii. 4. 1.
[821] Commentarium Anquisitionis, in Varro, L. L. vi. 91. Clodius, tribune of the plebs, brought forward the two consuls into the Flaminian circus, where they gave their sanction and formal approval of all the tribune had been saying against Cicero; Cic. Sest. 14. 33. On this occasion the consul Piso condemned Cicero’s consulship for its cruelty; Cic. Pis. 6. 14; Red. in Sen. 6. 13. In 44 Cannutius, a tribune of the plebs, introduced into a contio the consul Mark Antony, who spoke regarding the assassins of Caesar; Cic. Fam. xii. 3. 2. Earlier instances are Livy iii. 64. 6; iv. 6. 1 f. A tribune brought the augurs into a contio, to ask of them information concerning the auspices; Cic. Dom. 15. 40.
[822] Although the senators were invited to sit on the platform (Comm. Anq. in Varro, L. L. vi. 91), speaking by them was exceptional; in the assembly they were no more than eminent private persons; Dio Cass, xxxviii. 4. 4; cf. ch. 5.
[823] E.g. Cic. Att. iv. 1. 6: “Habui contionem. Omnes magistratus praesentes praeter unum praetorem et duos tribunos dederunt.” In a certain contio a tribune asked Scipio Aemilianus what he thought of the conduct of Ti. Gracchus; Val. Max. vi. 2. 3. At the suggestion of the consul Piso, Fufius, a tribune, brought Pompey upon the platform and asked his opinion as to the selection of jurors for a particular case; Cic. Att. i. 14. 1; cf. Ascon. 50. The tribune M. Servilius invited Cicero to speak in a contio in support of C. Cassius (Cic. Fam. xii. 7. 1), and it was in response to an invitation of another tribune, P. Appuleius (Phil. vi. 1), that he delivered the sixth Philippic. Other references to tribunician invitations are Cic. Att. xiv. 20. 5; Dio Cass. xlv. 6. 3.
[824] Ascon. 38.
[825] Sall. Iug. 33 f.
[826] The Rhodian ambassadors were introduced by the tribune Antony to the senate (Polyb. xxx. 4. 6), as the context (cf. § 8) indicates, not as Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 313, n. 1, supposes, to the people. There is no question, however, as to the right of a magistrate to bring such persons before the popular assembly.
[827] Val. Max. iii. 8. 6: “Quid feminae cum contione? Si patrius mos sevetur, nihil.” The lex Horatia, which is alleged to have granted the Vestal Gaia Taracia among many honors the right to give testimony [Gell. vii (vi). 7. 1-3], and which is assigned by Cuq (Inst. jurid. d. Rom. i. 255; and in Daremb. et Saglio, Dict. iv. 1145) to the consul Horatius, 509, is a myth (Lange, Röm. Alt. ii. 608), though doubtless in the course of the republic laws of the kind were occasionally passed, the language of which might be quoted by the annalists (Gell. l. c.). The rule that women were intestabiles is proved by such exceptions.
[828] XXXIV. 2. 11.
[829] Frag. 83. 8.
[830] III. 8. 6.
[831] Appian, B. C. iv. 32-4; see also p. 326.
[832] Livy xlv. 21. 6; 36. 1.
[833] Livy xlv. 36; cf. the statement of Dion. Hal. x. 41. 1, that on a certain occasion the crier invited all who wished to speak. These two passages are credible, notwithstanding the doubt expressed by Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 395, n. 2, if we regard the general invitation as a concession on the part of the presiding magistrate rather than as a right of the people.
[834] P. 136.
[835] Plut. Q. R. 63.
[836] Quint. Inst. viii. 3. 3: “Qui bona paterna consumpserit, ne contionetur.”
[837] (Cic.) Herenn. i. 11. 20; cf. Lex Bant. (133-118 B.C.) in CIL. i. 197. 2 f.
[838] Such a grant in Alexandria Troas, mentioned by CIL. iii. 392, Mommsen (Röm. Staatsr. i. 201, n. 3) believes to have been in imitation of Roman usage.
[839] Varro, Rer. hum. xxi, in Gell. xiii. 12. 6.
[840] Ibid.; cf. Val. Max. iii. 7. 3: “C. Curiatius tr. pl. productos in contionem consules compellebat ut de frumento emendo referrent.” Mommsen’s interpretation (Röm. Staatsr. ii. 313, n. 2), that the tribunes could not summon the consuls but could compel them to speak when present, is not altogether satisfactory. The comment of Gellius (§ 7 f.: “Huius ego iuris, quod M. Varro tradit, Labeonem arbitror vana tunc fiducia, cum privatus esset, vocatum a tribunis non isse. Quae, malum, autem ratio fuit vocantibus nolle obsequi, quos confiteare ius habere prendendi? Nam qui iure prendi potest, et in vincula duci potest”) supports the view given above in the text. A magistracy might afford some degree of protection, but on the principle enunciated by Gellius the tribune, who had the power to arrest a consul, was in a position practically to compel him to appear at a public meeting. As further examples of the president’s power to force speaking, Cato, a tribune of the plebs, compelled the keepers of the Sibylline books to come before the people in contio and declare the prophecy; Dio Cass. xxxix. 15. 4; cf. also Cic. Vatin. 10. 24; Att. ii. 24; Plut. Cic. 9; Dio Cass. xxxvi. 44. 1.
[841] P. 146.
[842] P. 145, n. 3.
[843] Dio Cass. xxxviii. 2-5.
[844] Cic. Att. ii. 24. 3: “Caesar, is qui olim praetor cum esset, Q. Catulum ex inferiore loco iusserat dicere, Vettium in rostra produxit;” Vatin. 10. 24: “Cum L. Vettium ... in contionem produxeris, indicem in rostris, in illo, inquam, augurato templo ac loco collocaris, quo auctoritatis exquirendae causa ceteri tribuni pl. principes civitatis producere consuerunt.”
[845] Dio Cass. xxxix. 34. 2; Plut. Cat. Min. 43.
[846] Or as Foster translates, “about the distressing condition of the times.”
[847] Dio Cass. xxxix. 34; Plut. ibid.
[848] Cic. Imp. Pomp. 24. 69.
[849] Livy x. 8. 12.
[850] Ibid. xxxiv. 4. 20.
[851] Dio Cass. xxxix. 35. 1.
[852] Ibid.
[853] Livy ii. 56. 9: “Quirites, ... crastino die adeste.”
[854] Commentaria Consularia, in Varro, L. L. vi. 88: “Impero qua convenit ad comitia centuriata.”
[855] Livy ii. 56. 12: “Si vobis videtur, discedite, quirites.”
[856] Preparatory to voting, the plebeian tribune Laetorius ordered the removal of all, including patricians, who were not to vote; Livy ii. 56. 10: “Submoveri Laetorius iubet praeterquam qui suffragium ineant.”
[857] In the case referred to in the note above, some of the young patricians stood their ground and refused to give way before the viator; § 11; cf. Dion. Hal. ix. 48. Again on other occasions the patricians when ordered refused to withdraw before the voting (cf. Livy iii. 11. 4), from which we may infer that the right to attend the comitia presided over by tribunes was claimed by the patricians but denied them by the tribunes. The word used in these passages to designate the removal of the unqualified is “submovere.” In Livy xxv. 3. 16 (cf. Cic. Flacc. 7. 15) “tribuni populum summoverunt” has reference to the adjournment of the people to their voting divisions, and probably also to the exclusion of those who had no right to vote; cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 390, n. 1.
[858] Acclamation was retained as a regular form of voting by the army; p. 202; cf. Bernhöft, Röm. Königsz. 153.
[859] Philochorus, 79 b, in Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. i. 396. The condemnation of the generals who fought at Arginusae was voted in the same way; Xen. Hell. i. 7. 9.
[860] Cf. Schröder, Deutsche Rechtsgesch. 16.
[861] It is interesting in this connection that in the Homeric assembly the heralds (κήρυκες), who were a sacerdotal class, kept order; cf. Il. ii. 97 f. In the German assembly the priests with coercive power maintained quiet; Tac. Germ. ii. 3; Schröder, Deutsche Rechtsgesch. 22 f. The Irish assemblies were of religious origin, and maintained some religious features till after the introduction of Christianity; Ginnell, Brehon Laws, 42, 44.
[862] They excluded on the one hand comitia for religious purposes presided over by a political magistrate—for instance, the comitia centuriata under the censor for the lustrum (p. 141)—and on the other the meetings of the people under pontifical presidency for secular business, such as an appeal to the comitia from the pontifical imposition of fines (cf. Livy, xl. 42. 9), the meeting of the plebs under the supreme pontiff for the election of plebeian tribunes after the fall of the decemvirate (Cic. Cornel. in Ascon. 77; Livy, iii. 54. 5, 11), and the meeting of seventeen tribes for the election of sacerdotes. In the three exceptional instances last mentioned the comitia are tributa, which are never calata.
[863] Kindred words are calendae, Calabra, calator. As late as Plautus (Pseud. 1009; Merc. 852; Rud. 335) a common use of calatores was to designate slave messengers; cf. Fest. ep. 38; Corp. Gloss. Lat. ii. 95. 42: δοῦλοι δημόσιοι. This use became obsolete, but the word continued to apply to certain assistants of the sacerdotes; Serv. in Georg. i. 268; Corp. Gloss. Lat. ii. 96. 3; iv. 214. 1; v. 275. 1; 595. 34, 63; 563. 66; CIL. vi. 712, 2053. 5; 2184-90, 3878; x. 1726; also the inscr. recently discovered in the Forum; cf. Holzapfel, in Jahresb. f. Altwiss. 1905. 263, 265 ff.; Warren, in Am. Journ. of Philol. xxviii (1907). 249-72. In all the known instances they were freemen, often freedmen; Saglio, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. i. 814. For other citations, see Samter, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iii. 1335 f. They correspond to the lictors of the magistrates.
[864] Varro, L. L. v. 13: “Nec curia Calabra sine calatione potest aperiri.”
[865] Saglio, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. i. 814; Humbert, ibid. i. 1375. But the comitia curiata were convoked by lictors according to Gell. xv. 27. 2: “Curiata (comitia) per lictorem curiatum calari, id est convocari”; Theophilus, Paraphr. Inst. ii. 10. 1. Possibly the lictor curiatius (or curiatus; CIL. iii. 6078) should in this case be identified with the calator.
[866] Labeo, in Gell. xv. 27. 1 f.: “Calata comitia esse, quae pro collegio pontificum habentur aut regis aut flaminum inaugurandorum causa; eorum autem alia esse curiata, alia centuriata.” From this statement we learn that the calate assemblies for inaugural purposes were organized either in curiae or in centuries. As “comitia” connotes organization (p. 135), we may be sure that in all calata comitia the people stood in their voting groups. On the centuriate comitia calata, see p. 156.
[867] Varro, L. L. v. 13; vi. 27; Fest. ep. 49; Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 9 f.; Fast. Praenest. Kal. Ian., in CIL. i.² p. 231; Jordan, Top. d. Stadt Rom, I. ii. 51; Rubino, Röm. Verf. 245, n. 1; Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 398 f.; Hülsen, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iv. 1821.
[868] Humbert, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. i. 1376.
[869] He may have appointed a priestly substitute for such functions.
[870] Livy xxii. 57. 3: “Scriba pontificis, quos nunc minores pontifices adpellant.” That he acted in behalf of the college is proved by Varro, L. L. vi. 27 (note below).
[871] Varro, L. L. vi. 27: “Primi dies mensium nominati Kalendae, quod his diebus calantur eius mensis nonae a pontificibus, quintanae an septimanae sint futurae in Capitolio in curia Calabra”; Hemerol. Praenest. Ian. 1, in CIL. i.² p. 231: “Hae et (aliae pri) mae calendae appellantur, quia (eorum pri) mus is dies est quos pont(i)fex minor quo(vis anni) mense ad nonas sin(gulas currere edicit in capi)tolio in curia cala(bra)”; Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 9 f.: “Pontifici minori haec provincia delegabatur, ut novae lunae primum observaret aspectum visamque regi sacrificulo nuntiaret. Itaque sacrificio a rege et minore pontifice celebrato idem pontifex calata, id est vocata in Capitolium plebe iuxta curiam Calabram ... quot numero dies a Kalendis ad Nonas superessent pronuntiabat.” Serv. in Aen. viii. 654 and Plut. Q. R. 24 are inexact, and still more confused is Lyd. Mens. iii. 7; cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 39, n. 1. In the opinion of Mommsen the announcement on the calends was not to an assembly, but was merely preparatory to the assembly on the nones; but the words of Macrobius (vocata ... plebe) clearly indicate a gathering of the people on that day.
[872] Varro, L. L. vi. 13, 28; Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 12; cf. Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 109 and n. 1. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 40, n. 2, warns us against confusing “this unorganized contio” with the comitia calata, which are always organized in curiae or in centuries. Labeo, in Gell. xv. 27. 1, states, however, that calata comitia were held for the inauguration of the king and priests. If for this occasion the purely passive assembly was organized in voting divisions, there can be no reason for doubting that it was organized also on the occasion in question, when it met in the assembly-place of the calata comitia—a place which could not be opened sine calatione—and its convocation was designated by “calare” not “vocare.” It is significant that the phrase “calata contio” is never used. Mommsen gives no authority or reason for his assumption; cf. Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 398; Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 111; Marquardt, Röm. Staatsv. iii. 283, 323; Wissowa, Relig. u. Kult. d. Römer, 440, for the view here maintained that the assembly for hearing the calendar was calata.
[873] Macrob. Sat. i. 15. 9.
[874] For the inauguration of the flamen Dialis, see Gaius i. 130; iii. 114; Ulpian, Frag. 10. 5; Livy xxvii. 8. 4; xli. 28. 7; the flamen Martialis, Livy xxix. 38. 6; xlv. 15. 10; Macrob. Sat. iii. 13. 11; the flamen Quirinalis, Livy xxxvii. 47. 8; cf. Wissowa, Relig. u. Kult. d. Römer, 420, n. 3. The inauguration of augurs probably took place in their own college.
[875] For the inauguration of the rex sacrorum, see Livy xxvii. 36. 5; xl. 42. 8. Livy’s description of the inauguration of Numa (i. 18. 6-9) probably follows the historical usage in the case of the rex sacrorum.
[876] Serv. in Aen. vi. 859.
[877] Aust, Relig. d. Römer, 130.
[878] Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 307, n. 1. This is the only function discovered for the calata comitia centuriata, mentioned by Labeo, in Gell. xv. 27. 2. The origin of the inauguration must have preceded that of the centuriate assembly; it must therefore have taken place for a time in some other form of meeting. Kübler, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. iii. 1331, objects to this interpretation but finds nothing better.
[879] Cic. Brut. 1 (of an augur); Phil. ii. 43. 110 (of a flamen); Leg. ii. 8. 21 (of sacerdotes); Macrob. Sat. iii. 13. 11 (of the flamen Martialis); Livy. i. 18. 6 (of the king).