CONTĬO, a contraction for _conventio_, that is, a meeting, or a _conventus_. In the technical sense, however, a contio was an assembly 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 addressed to the people in an assembly, and that in a loose mode of speaking, contio denotes any assembly of the people. CONTŬBERNĀLES (σύσκηνοι), signified originally men who served in the same army and lived in the same tent. The word is derived from _taberna_ (afterwards _tabernaculum_), which was the original name for a military tent, as it was made of boards (_tabulae_). Each tent was occupied by ten soldiers (_contubernales_), with a subordinate officer at their head, who was called _decanus_, and in later times _caput contubernii_. Young Romans of illustrious families used to accompany a distinguished general on his expeditions, or to his province, for the purpose of gaining under his superintendence a practical training in the art of war, or in the administration of public affairs, and were, like soldiers living in the same tent, called his _contubernales_. In a still wider sense, the name _contubernales_ was applied to persons connected by ties of intimate friendship, and living under the same roof; and hence, when a freeman and a slave, or two slaves, who were not allowed to contract a legal marriage, lived together as husband and wife, they were called _contubernales_; and their connection, as well as their place of residence, _contubernium_. CONTŬBERNĬUM. [CONTUBERNALES.] CONVĔNĪRE IN MĂNUM. [MATRIMONIUM.]