Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Popular Politics at Rome 

abouttheexcessivepower(potentia)ofPompeyandCrassusandwasmetwith
roarsofapprovalfromthepeople.^72 Healsobroughtthesetwoinpersonbe-
foreapublicmeeting,andquestionedthemastowhethertheyintendedto
standfortheconsulship—‘‘themany,’’accordingtoPlutarch,‘‘biddingthem
answer,’’^73 thatis,shoutingoutthattheywantedananswer.ToCicerothis
sortofdialoguewiththecrowdwasadangerousinnovationwhichwasall
tooliketheuncontrolledlicenceofGreekdemocracies—aswasthescandal-
ousideaofthepopulacebeingabletodebatethingssittingdown,apointon
whichhespeaksatlengthinhisspeechindefenceofFlaccus.^74 Thushewrites
ofAppiusClaudiusPulcher,thebrotherofClodius,andpraetorin:^75

Thatpraetor,inthefashionnotof hisfather,grandfather,andgreat-

grandfather, but of mere Greeks, used to interrogate the crowd at a

publicmeetingonthesubjectofmyself,asking‘‘didtheywishmeto

berestored’’?—andwhenhewasansweredbythehalf-deadvoicesof

somehiredhackswouldproclaimthattheRomanpeoplesaidno.

Itwouldbepossibletogoonwithmanymoreexamplesofspeechesbefore
thepeople,andreactionsfromthem,speecheswhichmightcontinueupto
thelastmomentbeforepeopledividedintotheirtribalvotingunitstovote
onalaw.^76 Thenotioncurrentinmodernbooksthattherewasnodebateat
meetingsoftheRomanpeopleisapuretechnicality,whichdistinguishesthe
voting process itself from the highly politicised public meetings (contiones)
whichprecededit.Wewouldunderstandlaterepublicanpoliticsmuchbetter
if we took the content of what Antonius said to the people in December
oftheyearasseriouslyasCicerodid.Antonius,itmayberecalled,had
denouncedthepublicroleofPompeythroughouthiscareer;hadprotested
aboutimpropercondemnationsinthecourts;andhadthreatenedcivilwar.
Four days later a written text of the speech was being studied by Cicero,
overkilometresawayinFormiae.Ifwepaidequallycloseattentionto
theactualwordsaddressedtothesovereignpeopleinRome,wewouldbe
betterplacedtounderstandthenatureof Romanpolitics,theevolutionof
therepublicanempire,andthatverydirectrelationshipbetweenspeakerand
crowdwhichplayedsofundamentalapartintheworkingsoftherepublican
system.Thatitcontinuedtodosowasonelegacy,amongmanyothers,of

. Val.Max.,,.

. Plut.,Pomp..

. Cic.,Flacc.–.

. Cic.,Sest..

. SeeAsconius,ed.Clark,.