Plautus, Curculio 466-482: The comic poet Plautus (early second century BCE) has an actor address the audience directly with satiric observations about people and activities in the Roman Forum:
"Now I'm going to tell you where you can find people of every kind. After this it won't call for any great exertion, whatever kind of fellow you want to meet, good or bad, honorable or the reverse. Now, for perjurers try the Comitium. Liars and braggarts, by the Shrine of Cloacina. Rich married wastrels, near the Basilica; a good supply of harlots, too, even if not in prime condition, and men who make any kind of bargain. Members of dining-clubs in the Fish Market. In the lower Forum, respectable and well-to-do citizens out for a walk. Flashier types in the middle Forum, along the Cloaca. By the Lacus Curtius, bold fellows with a tongue in their head and a bad purpose in mind - great slanderers of other people and very vulnerable to it themselves. By the Old Shops, the money changers - loans negotiated or accepted. Behind the Temple of Castor ..., - but you'd better not trust the people there." (translation adapted from Dudley, Urbs Roma 75-76)
Lucilius, 1145-51: The satirist Lucilius (late second century BCE) describes the activities in the Forum in similarly mocking terms:
"But, as it is, from morning till night, on holiday and workday, the whole commons and the senators too, all alike go bustling about in the Forum and nowhere leave it; all give themselves over to one and the same interest and artifices--namely to be able to swindle with impunity, to fight cunningly, to strive, using soft words as weapons, to act the 'fine fellow,' to lie in wait, as though all of them were enemies of all men." (translation from Warmington, Remains of Old Latin)
Livy, 39.46: The historian Livy (late first century BCE) describes the funeral of a Roman noble that took place in the Forum in 183 BCE:
"At the funeral of Publius Licinius Crassus there was a public distribution of meat, a contest between one hundred and twenty gladiators, three days of funeral games, followed by a public banquet (epulum)." (translation from Dudley, Urbs Roma 74)