Examines the clash between political systems and political action as the Roman Republic disintegrated.

Introduction Catherine Steel, Christa Gray and Henriette van der Blom; Part I. Modes of Political Communication: 1. Aristocratic dignity and indignity in republican public life Alexander Yakobson; 2. Political communication in the Late Roman Republic: semantic battles between optimates and populares? Claudia Tiersch; 3. Political participation and the identification of politicians in the Late Roman Republic Cristina Rosillo López; 4. Gods, change and civic space in late republican oratory Anna Clark; Part II. Political Alliances: 5. Political alliances and rivalries in contiones in the Late Roman Republic Francisco Pina Polo; 6. Theophanes of Mytilene, Cicero and Pompey's inner circle Federico Santangelo; 7. The garden and the forum: epicurean adherence and political affiliation in the Late Republic Cas Valachova; 8. Cato, Pompey's third consulship, and the politics of Milo's trial Kit Morrell; Part III. Institutions in Theory and Practice: 9. Falsifying the auspices in Republican politics Lindsay Driediger-Murphy; 10. When the senators became 'the best' Guido Clemente; 11. Private knowledge and public image in Roman elections: the case of the 'Pro Murena' Ayelet Haimson Lushkov; 12. The 'wrong' meetings? Some notes on the linked usage of the terms coetus and contiones in the political language of the Roman Republic Roman M. Frolov; 13. Servilia's Consilium: rhetoric and politics in a family setting Harriet Flower; Part IV. Memory and Reputation: 14. Like father, like son? The dynamics of family exemplarity and ideology in (fragmentary) Republican oratory Evan Jewell; 15. Good fortune and the public good: disputing Sulla's claim to be Felix Alexandra Eckert; 16. Gaius Verres troubleshooter Martin Stone.