used on more than one historical occasion for purposes for which they were not designed.533 But we have seen that the Tribunal Aurelium was built with a permanent platform and steps, which were probably of stone or marble; and the tribunal of the Comitium may have been similarly constructed.1

The subsellia were especially the advocates' seats. Hence a subselliis esse was equivalent to being an advocate, or, as we say, at the bar (Cic. in Caecil. div. 15.); a subselliis se in otium conferre, to retire from the bar. (Cic. de Orat. ii. 38.) But, as in our own courts, room was probably made in the subsellia, and even in the seats of the clerks of the court, for respectable visitors. (Cic. Brut. l. c.)

533 Fecerisne ante Rostra pontem continuatis tribunalibus, per quem consul . . . ad necem duceretur. Cic. in Vatin. 9. (Note 547.)

Populus, duce Sex. Clodio scriba, corpus P. Clodii in Curiam intulit, cremavitque subselliis et tribunalibus et mensis et codicibus librariorum, quo igne et ipsa Curia flagravit, et item Basilica Porcia, quae erat ei iuncta, ambusta est. Ascon. argum. ad Cic. pro Mil. Confestimque circumstantium turba vulgulta arida et cum subselliis tribunalia ... congessit (ad funus Caesaris). Sueton. Jul. 84. (Note 571.)

The several tribunals placed in the basilicas appear to have been distributed in their areas like the older tribunals in the open Forum, and not to have occupied separate rooms. See p. 45.

CHAP.

IV.

CHAPTER V.

THE ROSTRA.

CHAP. V. THE several Rostra of the Comitium and Forum have been already mentioned in treating of the localities in which they were placed. But in order to gain a clear idea of the relation of these monuments to one another, and of the part played by each in the history of the Forum, some connected account of them is required.

Conciones held in the

of the

The old meeting-place of the citizens of Rome Comitium. was doubtless the Comitium. It was here that the conciones were assembled at which the measures proposed by the magistrates were recommended Suggestum to the people.533 But it is not known at what period Comitium. a fixed platform was first erected for the use of orators. Some such monument probably existed in very remote times, since as early as B.C. 438 the statues of the ambassadors killed by the Fidenates are said by Livy to have been placed at the Rostra; and, though the name of Rostra seems to be applied to it by anticipation, there is no reason why the suggestum should not have been already on the site which it occupied when within Cicero's recollection these statues were still before it.1

533

Dionys. ii. 50; iv. 38; vi. 67; vii. 17; xi. 39. (Note 455.) See before, pp. 146, 148, 162.

4

Legatorum, qui Fidenis caesi sunt, statuae publice in Rostris positae sunt. Liv. iv. 17.

Rex Veientium quatuor legatos populi Romani Fidenis interemit,

adorned

tra.

a temple.

In the year B.C. 338, when the Latin towns were CHAP. V. subjugated under the consulship of Camillus and Suggestum Maenius, some of the rostra or beaks of the ships with rostaken from the Antiates were used to adorn the suggestum. The number of beaks so used seems to have been six. The platform was thenceforth known by the name of Rostra.535 This monument The Rostra was consecrated by augury, and was appropriated to the use of the higher magistrates, who in early times were themselves inaugurated. Cicero speaks of it as an act of profanation when the tribune Vatinius produced the informer Vettius upon the Rostra, that inaugurated temple, to which former tribunes had only invited the chiefs of the state to give authority to their proposals. A special interest in the Rostra appears to be here ascribed to the tribunes, who are represented by Livy as using them for a tribunal.'

6

quorum statuae in Rostris steterunt usque ad nostram memoriam. Cic. Phil. ix. 2.

535 Naves Antiatium partim in navalia Romae subductae, partim incensae, rostrisque earum suggestum in foro extructum adornari placuit, Rostraque id templum appellatum. Liv. viii. 14.

....

Extant et parta de Antio spolia, quae Maenius in suggestu fori capta hostium classe suffixit, si tamen illa classis, nam sex fuere rostratae; sed hic numerus illis initiis navale bellum fuit. Florus. i. 11. Antiquior columnarum (celebratio), sicut C. Maenio, qui devicerat priscos Latinos, eodemque in consulatu in suggestu rostra devictis Antiatibus fixerat anno urbis ccccxvI. Plin. N. H. xxxiv. 11. 6 Cum L. Vettium . . . in concionem produxeris, indicem in Rostris, in illo inquam augurato templo ac loco, collocaris, quo auctori⚫tatis exquirendae causa ceteri tribuni plebis principes civitatis producere consuerunt, ibi tu indicem Vettium, etc. Cic. in Vatin. x. 24. Liv. viii. 14. (Note 535.)

1 Liv. xxxviii. 51. (Note 545.) Val. Max. ix. 5, 2. (Note 421.)

CHAP. V.

Site of the first Ros

tra.

Cicero says that M. Antonius the orator, whose head was affixed to the Rostra when he was put to death by order of Marius, had adorned the same Rostra during his censorship (B.C. 97) with manubiae imperatoriae, the fruits apparently of his Cilician victories, which gained him a triumph five years before.538

The site of these first Rostra has been described in a previous chapter. They were upon the Comitium, and were entered from it, but were so placed with reference to the remaining part of the Forum that the speech, which was primarily addressed to the aristocratic body in the former, could also be heard by a plebeian Posture of audience in the latter. In later times it became the custom for orators to address their harangues to the larger assembly. This alteration of posture indicated a material change in the constitution of Rome. According to Cicero, C. Licinius Crassus, tribune of the plebs, B.C. 145, was the first to turn in the direction of the Forum, but Plutarch ascribes the innovation to C. Gracchus.4

the orators.

40

538 Iam M. Antonii in his ipsis Rostris, in quibus ille rempublicam constantissime consul defenderat, quaeque censor imperatoriis manubiis ornarat, positum caput illud fuit, a quo erant multorum civium capita servata. Cic. de Orat. iii. 3.

9 Pulsus e Rostris (frater meus) in Comitio iacuit. Cic. p. Sext. 35. See before, p. 150.

40 Is (C. Licinius Crassus) primum instituit in forum versus agere cum populo. Cic. de Amicit. 25. A passage of Varro, which has given rise to much controversy, seems to allude to the same change.

2

under con

Senate.

The Rostra were in front of the Curia, and so CHAP. V. near to that building as almost to touch it.5 They Rostra must therefore have been close to the steps which trol of the led to its principal entrance. This position was, no doubt, chosen for the convenience of the Senate, who made use of the Rostra for announcing and recommending their decisions to the assembled people. They would also in this position be more immediately under the control of the Fathers of the State. Their relation to the Senate in this respect is noticed by Cicero, who says that the Curia watches and besets the Rostra to punish indiscretion and temper duty. The actual possession of the Rostra was a matter of importance in a moment of political excitement, and Dionysius, in illustrating the influence of the patria potestas among the Romans, speaks of it as a familiar thing for a son, however eminent his public position, to be dragged by his father from Eiusdem gentis C. Licinius, tribunus plebis cum esset post reges exactos CCCLXV., primus populum ad leges excipiundas in septem iugera forensia e Comitio eduxit. Varro de Re Rust. i. 2. 9.

Τοῦτον τὸν νόμον εἰσφέρων τά τε ἄλλα λέγεται σπουδάσαι διαφερόντως, καὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πάντων δημαγωγῶν πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον ἀφορώντων καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Κομίτιον, πρῶτον τότε στραφεὶς ἔξω π ρὸς τὴν ἀγορὰν δημηγορῆσαι, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὕτω ποιεῖν ἐξ ἐκείνου, μικρᾷ παρεγκλίσεὶ καὶ μεταστάσει σχήματος μέγα πρᾶγμα κινήσας, καὶ μετενεγκὼν τρόπον τινὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐκ τῆς ἀριστοκρατίας εἰς τὴν δημοκρατίαν. Plut. C. Gracch. 5. 541 Τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τοτὲ κειμένοις ἐμβόλοις. Diodor. Sic. xii. 26. Asconius ad Cic. pro Mil. 5. (Note 551.)

2 See before, p. 151.

3 Speculatur atque obsidet Rostra, vindex temeritatis et moderatrix officii, Curia. Cic. pro Flacco, 24.