The first chapter introduced the central problems and themes of this book. It remains, however, to bring into sharper focus the phenomenon to be investigated. The Republican contio or public meeting had a well-defined place within a great complex of traditional political practices (Rome had no written constitution) and further took place in specific central locations in the city of Rome which, with their familiar monuments and historical associations, drew it into a symbolic context as well as a distinctive urban milieu. The chief purpose of this chapter is to sketch out these two contexts – one institutional and pragmatic, the other physical and symbolic – not merely to provide the necessary background for what is to come but also to invite reflection on the relationship between public deliberation, its material setting, and political practice. In the final part of this chapter I turn to a third kind of context, that of rhetorical theory, looking briefly at Cicero's explicit characterization of the nature of contional rhetoric, drawn partly from his essays on oratory, partly from incidental comments scattered elsewhere through his works. The main focus of attention in this book will be on actual practice and actual rhetoric as they are revealed by specimens of contional oratory and narratives of actual events; but the more theoretical descriptions collected at the end of this chapter will show what a contemporary master thought public speech was like – or, alternatively, should be like.