Roman invective (uituperatio lat.) was the rhetorical and literary genre that aimed at systematically and publicly blaming a political foe to set him aside from the whole community and turn the audience against him during judicial, forensic and deliberative speeches delivered in a judicial prosecution, in the Roman Senate or the popular assembly (contio). Consequently, Roman invective, which could be expressed through speeches, poems, epigrams, essays, political pamphlets etc., is therefore closely related to the modern notion of “character assassination”. None of the existing Roman laws forbade the use of invective, and thus it gradually became a staple part of Roman political life. Legitimate grounds for attack could include references to a person's habits, physique, birth, clothes and perceived moral defects.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Invective/.