Why did Clodius shut the shops? The rhetoric of mobilizing a crowd in the Late Republic

Russell, A.

Abstract

When Publius Clodius ordered Rome’s tabernae to be shut for one of his meetings in 58, he was not only trying to gather a crowd by forcing tabernarii onto the street. Shutting the shops was a symbolic move alluding to the archaic iustitium and to the actions of Tiberius Gracchus. It allowed Clodius to claim both that his meeting was vital to the safety of the res publica and that he (and not Cicero) had the support of the entire Roman people, including the lowliest.

Citation

Russell, A. (2016). Why did Clodius shut the shops? The rhetoric of mobilizing a crowd in the Late Republic. Historia, 65(2), 186-210

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 12, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 12, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Journal: Historia
• Print ISSN: 0018-2311
• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 65
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 186-210
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1434374
• Publisher URL: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/fsv/histori/2016/00000065/00000002/art00004