Lex Roscia Theatralis
Lex Roscia Theatralis carried by the tribune L. Roscius Otho, B.C. 67: it assigned to the Equites the fourteen rows of seats in the theatre next to those of the senators, who sat in the orchestra, to which apparently (Vell. 2.32, 3) they had a kind of prescriptive right (Liv. Epit. 99; D. C. 36.25; Cic. pro Murena, 19, 40; ad Att. 2.19; Juv. 14.324; Hor. Epod. 4.16). This provision was re-enacted by the Lex Julia theatralis. The statute also seems to have assigned seats in the theatre to persons who had lost their property, whether by their own fault or by misfortune (decoctores), Cic. Phil. 2.18, 44. The law caused some popular disturbances when Cicero was consul, which he allayed by a speech (ad Att. 2.1; Plut. Cic. 13).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.