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58 Mass Oratory and Political Power
Temple of Castor at the southeast corner of the Forum was used frequently,
especially by tribunes, for the contio that immediately preceded legislation
by the tribal assembly, a development whose chronology is probably broadly
consistent also with the increasing use of that temple for senatorial meetings
in that period.85 In a reconstruction dating to the first half of the second
century, the original front row of columns of the pronaos and presumably a
frontal staircase had been removed, while the front of the temple platform
was brought forward to form a vertical wall facing the Forum, access to
which was provided by stairs on each side. When the temple was again
restored in 117 by L. Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus to commemorate his
victory over the Dalmatians, the older tribunal, used perhaps originally for
the censors’ viewing of the “passage of the Knights” (transvectio equitum),
was greatly expanded, to a width of some 21 m and depth of 7 m, rising
as we have seen some 2.5 to 4.3 m above the level of the Forum; this
alone would point to expanded use of the podium already at this time,
probably at least for legislative votes and the contio that would immediately
precede them.86 Presumably also those contiones that immediately followed
meetings of the Senate in the Temple of Castor in order to convey an account
of their proceedings to the People will also have been addressed from this
a prelude to a legislative vote of the tribes to abrogate Gaius Gracchus’ laws (Oros. 5.12). Since
Capitoline contiones seem typically to have been part of the legislative procedure of the tribes, the
migration of tribal legislation to the Forum around the middle of the century suggests that even
Minucius’ assembly was a late exception, perhaps born of a concern to secure the area against the
Gracchans (cf. Plut. C. Gracch. 13.3; similarly, Thommen 1995: 366). The nature of Tiberius Gracchus’
final assembly is too problematic to enter into this debate (Taylor 1963: 51–69; contra, Badian
1972: 720–21). Ulrich 1994: 60–72, tries to work out the confused and confusing topographical
details.
85 For senatorial meetings, see Bonnefond-Coudry 1989: 80–90, and Cic. Verr. 2.1.129 – whose claim
is, however, not corroborated by the record of specific cases (see the tables in Bonnefond-Coudry,
pp. 32–47). On the use of the temple for contiones, Ulrich 1994: 81–107 offers an excellent synthesis,
although reference should be made also to the final publication of the Danish excavations of the
temple in Nielsen and Poulsen 1992 (cf. I. Nielsen, LTUR i.242–45); Cerutti 1998: 292–305 deals
with the podium, but his interpretation of Cicero’s charges that Clodius had actually removed its
steps takes rhetorical invective too literally. The attractive emendation of Cic. Mil. 91 (see chap. 1,
n. 5) would add a further known contio before the Temple of Castor in 52, not listed by Pina Polo.
86 The earliest certain evidence for the use of the temple podium for legislation (and thus, its preceding
contio) appears to date to 62 (Plut. Cat. Min. 26–29), but App. B Civ. 1.64 probably attests to such
use as early as 87 (Pina Polo 1989: p. 284, no. 223) and the most straightforward interpretation of
the ambiguous reference to a templum in Cic. De or. 2.197 would take it back to 103 (cf. Pina Polo,
pp. 281–82, no. 208). The lex latina tabulae Bantinae of the very late second century lays down
that magistrates should swear to uphold its terms [pro ae]de Castoris palam luci in forum vorsus,
presumably on the podium (Roman Statutes, no. 7, line 17; not, I should think, on the steps of the
temple, as stated there, p. 207; cf. Nielsen and Poulsen 1992: 55); it is tempting to conclude that
this location was chosen because the law had originated there (Nielsen and Zahle 1985: 26, n. 59). If
so, it would be the earliest evidence for comitia at the temple. On the Metellan temple, see Nielsen
and Poulsen 1992: 80–117. There is no evidence that the podium was fitted with rostra (p. 113; so too
Coarelli 1985: 309). Transvectio equitum: Mommsen 1887: iii.493–95; Scullard 1981: 164–65.

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