Political Power in Mid-Republican Rome Rostra, adorned with various ancient statues, theVolcanal,with the Lapis
Niger,theficusRuminalis,andbesideitthestatueoftheShe-wolfandthe
TwinserectedbytheOgulniiin.Inthesameperiod,thatoftheSamnite
wars,therewereerectedontheinstructionsof PythianApollothestatues
of PythagorasandAlcibiades,respectivelythewisestandbravest(?)ofthe
Greeks;thestatueslasteduntilSulla’senlargementoftheCuria(Pliny,NH
,).Itwasalmostcertainlyalsointhesameperiodthattherewaserected
thestatueofMarsyas.Theargumentsforitsoriginatthispointarenomore
thancircumstantial,asarethoseforthebeliefthatitalreadysymbolizedlib-
erty:therepresentationofthestatueondenariiofL.(Marcius)Censor(inus)
of..;astatueofMarsyasfromtheForumoftheLatincolonyofPaestum,
,heldtobeanimitationoftheonealreadyerectedinRome;apossible
association,aswithlaterprovincialstatuesof Marsyas,orLiberPater,with
libertas;andapossiblecandidateasthededicatorinanancestorofCensori-
nus,namelyC.MarciusRutilus,tribuneoftheplebs,consul,oneof
thefirstplebeianaugursundertheLexOgulnia,andcensorinand.
SeeM.Torelli,Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs(),–;
Coarelli,ForoII,–;T.P.Wiseman,‘‘SatyrsinRome,’’JRS():,
onp..Itshould,however,benotedthatM.H.Crawford,RRCI(),
–,rejectsanyconnectionwithpopularisideology.
Contrastwithall(muchmorethansketchedhere)thatweknowoftheCo-
mitiumandthesurroundingareahowlittleanysourcehastosayoftheCuria
itself.Weknow,ofcourse,thatitwasthere,onthenorthsideoftheComi-
tium,anditisnotunlikelythatacomparablerelationshipofComitiumand
CuriawascreatedwhenLatincolonieswerefounded;seeC.Krause,‘‘Zum
baulichenGestaltdesrepublikanischenComitiums,’’Röm. Mitt.():,
esp.–;F.Coarelli,Il Foro romanoI(),–.Butitseemstometo
beonlyatCosa()thatthisparallelisatallclear.Itis,moreover,notorious
howlittleanyofoursourceshavetosayaboutthesize,shape,internaldis-
position,internalorexternaladornment,orsymboliccharacteroftheCuria
Hostilia.We ought also to pose a question which is more puzzling than it
appearsatfirstsight.WhydidtheSenatemeetinabuilding,andunderaroof,
atall?ForeveryotherpublicfunctionoftheRomancommunitytookplace
intheopenair(thereisnoRepublicanevidencefortheuseofthebasilicas
forjurycourts).
ThefactthatthesiteofalegitimatemeetingoftheSenatehadtobean
inauguratedtemplumdidnotofitselfimplythatithadtobea‘‘temple’’with
walls and a roof, though of course the majority of the regular alternative
meetingplacesoftheSenatewere(thetemplesofCapitolineJuppiter,Castor