Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome WewouldbegintogainasenseofthemiddlerepublicanRomancommu-
nityifweweretorelatetothisVarro’scomment(LL,,Loebtrans.):‘‘The
LexPlaetoriadeclaresthatthistimealsoshouldbe‘last’atwhichthepraetor
[better ‘the herald,’praeco?] in the Comitium has announced to the people
the‘endofthesession.’’’ThesceneisthereforetheComitium,andtheobli-
gationlaiddowninthelawisforthepraetortobeavailabletogivejustice
tothePeoplealldayuntilduskfalls.
Howwasthatmomenttobedetermined?Itmightwellbeanoffenceto
thepopularsenseofjusticeifapraetorcouldleaveofhisownvolition,be-
foreanaggrievedlitigantwereheard.Theevidencepreservedbyantiquarian
sources,whoseresurrectionanddeploymentisoneofthegreatservicesof
themodernschoolof Italianarchaeology,givesawonderfulsenseof loca-
tion and of the role of public action, in the open, in front of the crowd,
inthearchaiccommunity.Irelyhere,aswillbeevident,onF.Coarelli,Il
Foro romanoII(),inmyviewtheessentialworkforunderstandingthe
politicalstructureoftheRepublicasasocialsystem—asystemofinteraction
betweenpeople,inthemostconcretesense.
HowtheendofthedaywasdeterminedintheearliestRepublicisasob-
scureaseverythingelseaboutthatperiod.Butinandthefollowingyears
themonumentalizationoftheComitiumandForumbegan,notmerelywith
theRostra,butwiththeMaeniana,orspectators’galleries,abovethetabernae
(shops), and the erection of theColumna Maeniato thewest of the Comi-
tium.Allthreewererecordedashavingbeentheworkoftheconsulof,
C.Maenius,eitherafterhiscaptureofAntiuminthatyear,orascensorin
.There was now an agreed and simple means of determining both the
middayand nightfall: anaccensus(a herald,praeco, presumably) of the con-
suls proclaiming (pronuntiante) midday when, looking out from the Curia,
hesawtheSunbetweentheRostraandtheGraecostasis;sunsetwaswhen
hesawtheSunbetweentheColumna MaeniaandtheCarcer(thealignments
aremarkedintheplaninCoarelli,Il Foro romanoII,).Intherapidlydevel-
opingRomeofthefirsthalfofthethirdcenturythatproceduremusthave
beguntoseemsomewhatprimitiveandarbitrary.So,accordingtoVarro,in
theconsulshipofM.Valerius(Maximus)Messala,..,ahorologiumtaken
inthecaptureofCatanewasinstalledonacolumnneartheRostra.Infact
itwasinaccurate,butwasusedfornearlyacenturyuntilthecensorsof
erectedabetterone.Butneithersolvedtheproblemofcloudydays,finally
overcomewhenthenextcensors(of)putupawaterclock.Thewhole
storyistoldbyPlinytheElder(NH,–),andisaperfectmirrorofthe
evolutionofRomeinthisperiod.