Contio
(erroneously spelt
Concio). A contraction for
conventio; that is, a meeting, or
conventus. In a loose
mode of speaking it denotes any popular assembly, even among non-Romans, and any speech or
harangue addressed to such an assembly; hence the common phrase
contionem
habere means indifferently “to hold a meeting” and “to
make a speech.”
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Military Contio. (Roman coin.)
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Written speeches are also sometimes called
contiones. In the
technical sense, however, a contio was an assembly of the Roman people convened regularly
(
per praeconem) by a magistrate or a
sacerdos
publicus. A general in the field by virtue of his
imperium could
summon his troops as often as he pleased to hear what he had to say to them (
adlocutio), and what he said before the assembled army was
pro
contione (Sall.
Iug. 8).
