The contio (; from Latin "conventio" meaning "gathering") was an ad hoc public assembly in Ancient Rome, which existed during the monarchy as well as in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. At the contio, magistrates informed the Roman citizens on various topics related to politics. The main difference between the contio and other public assemblies in Rome, such as the comitia, is that the citizens who attended contiones were there to hear speeches and not to vote. The contio merely served a communicative function, offering magistrates the opportunity to give the people a report of what had been decided during a senate meeting or to discuss a proposed legislative bill (rogatio) in front of the citizens to help them make up their mind before they had to vote on it in other assemblies.
Magistrates also used the contio as a means of self-promotion, presenting themselves as capable and honest politicians who kept the interests of the people in mind (in other words, adhered to the popularis ideology), hoping to gain sympathy and support from the people. Aside from a political assembly, the word "contio" could also refer to a type of Roman military speech.
The practice of holding contiones is said to have started under the Roman monarchy, where the king (rex) was the only one who could summon a contio as well as the sole person who had the right to speak at this assembly. Therefore the contio is assumed to have originated earlier than the other public assemblies in Ancient Rome, since voting assemblies did not yet exist under the monarchy.
The procedure and the function of contiones changed in the Republic and Empire. Every magistrate, as well as tribunes of the people, got the right to call a contio and address the crowd, or invite others to give a speech on a topic of the convener's choice. In theory, a contio could be held anytime, on any day. However, contiones were usually held on two specific occasions: after a senate meeting and when a new legislative bill (rogatio) had been proposed.
It was a common practice to hold a contio right after a senate meeting, to inform citizens about what had been discussed during the meeting and what decrees had been made. The magistrate who presided over the senate meeting decided who got to speak at this contio. He could choose to address the crowd himself or invite other senators to give a speech. Magistrates who were opposed to a decree that had been presented at this first contio, often chose to hold their own contio a few days later, to share their different perspective.
Roman citizens could not attend senate meetings themselves, for only senators were allowed inside the curia during those meetings. Therefore the contio was an important source of information for citizens to who wanted to know what was going on in politics.
Contiones formed a of validating new laws. When a magistrate or tribune wanted to propose a legislative bill (rogatio) which had to be validated by the voting process in the comitia, the rules for legislative processes ordained the bill to be presented and discussed from various points of view before the people in contiones first. This allowed people to make up their minds on the bill before voting and gave supporters as well as opponents of the bill a chance to share their views and shape public opinion, either in favor of the bill or against it.
The two situations described above were the most common occasions on which a contio was held, but there were several special occasions on which this assembly could be summoned as well:
In theory, every Roman citizen had the right to attend contiones. The crowd at this assembly was seen as a representation of the Roman people (populus) and therefore also referred to by speakers as populus (or quirites). However, it is generally assumed that the audience mainly consisted of citizens living within the city of Rome, for those city-dwellers had easier access to the voting assemblies in which they would vote on the bills (rogationes) that were the topic of many contiones. They also seem to have been more willing to participate in politics than their fellow citizens from other areas. Over time, two distinct theories, which try to explain the composition of the audience in more detail, have developed. One theory assumes that contiones were mainly attended by lower-class locals, who lived near the forum on which the assembly gathered, while the second theory states that the crowd mainly consisted of well-to-do, high class citizens.
This first theory implies that the largest part of the crowd at every contio consisted of the same group of local shopkeepers who lived near the forum and who sometimes seem to even have closed their businesses to attend a contio. These people, sometimes called the plebs contionalis, would have had the most to gain from the measures that were discussed at the contio, such as grain distributions, and therefore they would have been the most interested to go. According to this theory, these shopkeepers were joined by other lower-class Romans who sought to escape their narrow housing conditions by hanging out in public places such as the forum. Therefore, the majority of the crowd would have consisted of lower-class Romans.
A second major theory states that the audience was mainly made up of wealthy and higher-class Romans. According to this theory, regularly attending contiones would have been easier for these well-to-do individuals, since they had more time to spare than lower-class citizens. Moreover, these higher-class Romans would have had the education that was needed to appreciate and understand the argumentation the magistrates used in their speeches, which sometimes included complicated references to history or law. Lastly, this theory states that this class of citizens would have been the most interesting for magistrates to influence through contiones, since these wealthy individuals would in turn have influenced the political opinion among lower-class Romans through patron-client relationships.
Despite the frequency with which contiones were held, very few of the speeches delivered are fully preserved until this day. Many contional speeches have been lost over time or have never been recorded in the first place, likely because the topics with which they dealt were not significant enough or because the speaker did not use interesting or engaging rhetorical strategies.
Cicero is our main source for this type of oratory. The table below gives an overview of all of his extant contio speeches.
| Pro lege Manilia | 66 BC | In support of a law proposal by C. Manilius, to assign the command in the war against Mithridates to Pompey. | |
| De lege agraria 2 | 63 BC | Inaugural speech to the people in Cicero's consular year. Advising against an agrarian law proposed by Rullus, a tribune of the people. (Forms a pair with De Lege Agraria 1 in which he discusses the same topic before the senate.) | |
| De lege agraria 3 | 63 BC | Short speech on a specific section of the agrarian law discussed in De lege agraria 2. | |
| In Catilinam 2 | 63 BC | Informing the people that Catiline had fled the city after Cicero had asked him to leave in his senate speech known as In Catilinam 1. | |
| In Catilinam 3 | 63 BC | Informing the people how evidence for Catiline's conspiracy was found. | |
| Post reditum ad quirites | 57 BC | Expressing gratitude to the people after Cicero had been allowed to return to Rome after his exile.[1] | |
| Philippic 4 | 44 BC | Informing the people of the senate's decision to honor certain individuals, among whom the young Octavian, for the actions they took against Marcus Antonius, interpreting this as a decision to proclaim Antonius a public enemy. (This speech forms a pair with Philippic 3.) | |
| Philippic 6 | 43 BC | Informing the people of the senate's decision to send an embassy to Marcus Antonius for peace negotiations. |
Judging from the ancient source material described above, speeches delivered at the contio seem to have shared several rhetorical and argumentative characteristics. This list gives an overview of such common characteristics of speeches addressed to this assembly:
Aside from the political assembly, the word "contio" could also refer to a type of military speech in which a commander addressed his troops. The rules for summoning contiones of this kind were similar to those for the political assembly: under the monarchy only the king (rex) had the right to do so; during the republic received this right. They usually appointed the general as the only speaker. Military contiones shared the communicative character of their political counterparts: they did not serve to cast votes or make decisions. A military contio could be held on various occasions: