CONTĬO

a contraction for conventio , that is, a meeting, or a convent us . In the technical sense, however, a contio was an a embly of the people at Rome convened by a magistrate for the purpose of making the people acquainted with measures which were to be brought before the next comitia, and of working upon them either to support or oppose the measure. But no question of any kind could be decided by a contio, and this constitutes the difference between contiones and comitia. Still contiones were also convened for other purposes, e.g. of persuading the people to take part in a war, or of bringing complaints against a party in the republic. Every magistrate had the right to convene contiones, but it was most frequently exercised by the consuls and tribunes, and the latter more especially exercised a great influence over the people in and through these contiones. A magistrate who was higher in rank than the one who had convened a contio, had the right to order the people to disperse, if he disapproved of the object. It should be remarked, that the term contio is also used to designate the speeches and harangues addre ed to the people in an a embly, and that in a loose mode of speaking, contio denotes any a embly of the people.