Informal contiones could be called at any time while the sun was up,[804] with or without[805] an interval between the summons and the meeting, and in any place[806] at the pleasure of the person who convoked them. In public assemblies of every kind the people remained standing throughout the session.[807] The magistrate who was about to summon an auspicated contio repaired to the templum which he intended to occupy during the meeting.[808] After taking the auspices there, and finding the omens favorable, he ordered the crier to call the citizens.[809] His directions to this assistant were prefaced by a solemn wish that the gathering of the citizens might be well, fortunate, auspicious, and advantageous to the Roman people, the commonwealth, himself, his colleague or colleagues, and his magistracy.[810] After first issuing the summons from the templum the crier repeated it while making the circuit of the walls.[811] Meantime the presiding officer invited the senators, his colleague or colleagues, and the various other magistrates to assist him with their presence and advice.[812] The invitation was extended even to opposing tribunes;[813] and on the other hand a presiding tribune was especially anxious to secure the presence and favorable influence of patrician magistrates and of the leading men of the state.[814] When the president saw his friends about him and the people gathered, he called the contio to order,[815] and proceeded to open the meeting with a prayer.[816] In the case of a resolution to be brought before the assembly the magistrate was accustomed first to submit it to the senate, which considered the bill and perhaps suggested alterations;[817] but sometimes measures were brought into the comitia without this senatorial deliberation.[818] In the contio the presiding officer had power to exclude or to limit discussion of his proposals. Ordinarily he found it advantageous to instruct the people regarding the subject on which they were to vote; and it was for this purpose that one or more contiones were held previous to the comitia. The right to address the people belonged primarily to the presiding magistrate. Although the king enjoyed the superior right, the notion that in the regal period no private persons spoke in the assembly seems to be unwarranted.[819] The custom of the republic prescribed that the president should grant the privilege not only to his colleagues[820] but also to all the higher magistrates.[821] In some cases the invitation was extended to senators[822] and to other distinguished private persons.[823] The tribunes sometimes gave the privilege to freedmen,[824] to foreign kings,[825] and to ambassadors.[826] The early republic did not allow women to be present in political meetings;[827] but in time this severity began to relax. Livy[828] represents the elder Cato as saying that his generation permitted women to take part in affairs of state and to interfere in contiones and comitia—evidently