Senate (and access to and from it) took place in this atmosphere; we know that the Senate could easily hear popular expressions from outside.5 One major consequence of this concentration in the Forum was the ideology of publicity that pervaded political life: all measures had to be carried out with the involvement of the People6 and under their scrutiny. Throughout the late Republic the merits of each candidate or legislative proposal were expressed to the People through the medium of contiones, while trials were held surrounded by a corona of spectators. Even meetings of the Senate, the one political activity conducted indoors, were made known to the People through the practice of open-door sessions, through the reports at contiones of interested magistrates, and in our period by the records of senatorial proceedings established by Caesar as consul. This political system required personal presence in order to participate; the legal importance of physical action is shown to extremes by the absurd interplay between Metellus Nepos, Thermus and Cato in 62 (Plut. Cato min. 28.1) Political violence was a common phenomenon during our period, centred around attempts to control the political activities in the Forum. The main activities of this sort were contiones (public meetings), comitia (voting assemblies) and trials. Most violence arose out of attempts to influence the outcome of these events. We can gain some insight into the actual techniques of violence if we look at the laws made to contain it, specifically the lex Plautia de vi. This measure targeted, amongst others, attempts to intimidate the Senate, or to seize or burn public buildings, or to disrupt courts, or to stockpile or carry offensive weapons in public.7 The comprehensive nature of the crimes shows that when this law was passed (probably the late 70's or early 60's) political violence had already reached a paramilitary level, with tactically significant targets. I...
