[818] Caesar first brought his agrarian bill before the senate; and calling on the senators one after another by name to say whether they found any fault with it, he promised to amend it or to drop it altogether, if any clause proved unsatisfactory to any member. As the senators would not debate the merits of the proposal, but did all they could to delay its consideration, he offered the bill to the assembly without their consent; and for the remainder of his consulship he brought no more bills before the senate, but referred them directly to the people; Dio Cass, xxxviii. 2-4; cf. p. 148.
[819] Dion. Hal. v. 11. 2; Plut. Popl. 3. Besides the king it was supposed that the interrex and the tribunus celerum alone were competent; Dion. Hal. iv. 71. 6; 75. 1. The ancient writers seem to have been brought to this conception by a desire to contrast the despotism of the monarchy with the liberty of the republic. But according to Livy, i. 16. 5 ff., and Cicero, Rep. ii. 10. 20 (cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 200, n. 6) Proculus Julius, a private person, made a speech in a contio of the regal period; and in judicial assemblies speaking by private persons was necessary; cf. Livy i. 26. For the general usage in the primitive European assembly, see p. 169.
[820] In presenting his agrarian bill to the people Caesar first called on his colleague, despite the fact that the latter was known to be opposed to the measure; Dio Cass. xxxviii. 4. 1.
[821] Commentarium Anquisitionis, in Varro, L. L. vi. 91. Clodius, tribune of the plebs, brought forward the two consuls into the Flaminian circus, where they gave their sanction and formal approval of all the tribune had been saying against Cicero; Cic. Sest. 14. 33. On this occasion the consul Piso condemned Cicero’s consulship for its cruelty; Cic. Pis. 6. 14; Red. in Sen. 6. 13. In 44 Cannutius, a tribune of the plebs, introduced into a contio the consul Mark Antony, who spoke regarding the assassins of Caesar; Cic. Fam. xii. 3. 2. Earlier instances are Livy iii. 64. 6; iv. 6. 1 f. A tribune brought the augurs into a contio, to ask of them information concerning the auspices; Cic. Dom. 15. 40.
[822] Although the senators were invited to sit on the platform (Comm. Anq. in Varro, L. L. vi. 91), speaking by them was exceptional; in the assembly they were no more than eminent private persons; Dio Cass, xxxviii. 4. 4; cf. ch. 5.
[823] E.g. Cic. Att. iv. 1. 6: “Habui contionem. Omnes magistratus praesentes praeter unum praetorem et duos tribunos dederunt.” In a certain contio a tribune asked Scipio Aemilianus what he thought of the conduct of Ti. Gracchus; Val. Max. vi. 2. 3. At the suggestion of the consul Piso, Fufius, a tribune, brought Pompey upon the platform and asked his opinion as to the selection of jurors for a particular case; Cic. Att. i. 14. 1; cf. Ascon. 50. The tribune M. Servilius invited Cicero to speak in a contio in support of C. Cassius (Cic. Fam. xii. 7. 1), and it was in response to an invitation of another tribune, P. Appuleius (Phil. vi. 1), that he delivered the sixth Philippic. Other references to tribunician invitations are Cic. Att. xiv. 20. 5; Dio Cass. xlv. 6. 3.
[824] Ascon. 38.
[825] Sall. Iug. 33 f.
[826] The Rhodian ambassadors were introduced by the tribune Antony to the senate (Polyb. xxx. 4. 6), as the context (cf. § 8) indicates, not as Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 313, n. 1, supposes, to the people. There is no question, however, as to the right of a magistrate to bring such persons before the popular assembly.
[827] Val. Max. iii. 8. 6: “Quid feminae cum contione? Si patrius mos sevetur, nihil.” The lex Horatia, which is alleged to have granted the Vestal Gaia Taracia among many honors the right to give testimony [Gell. vii (vi). 7. 1-3], and which is assigned by Cuq (Inst. jurid. d. Rom. i. 255; and in Daremb. et Saglio, Dict. iv. 1145) to the consul Horatius, 509, is a myth (Lange, Röm. Alt. ii. 608), though doubtless in the course of the republic laws of the kind were occasionally passed, the language of which might be quoted by the annalists (Gell. l. c.). The rule that women were intestabiles is proved by such exceptions.