He could therefore lay hands on a man, and once the tribune touched him, the man was held to be in the magistrate's power, and bound to obey him.

This rule extended even to those who were within hearing of his voice; any one, even a patrician or consul, who heard the tribune's voice was compelled to obey him.

In this case it is clear that the voice and spoken words were held to be concrete, and to share in the sanctity attaching to the body.

[120] When primitive man could not think of a name as an abstraction but had to think of it as an actual part of the body and life of the person or visible object to which it belonged, it will be realised how impossible it was for him during a long period to conceive of any abstract idea, which was only a word without visible or corporal reality.
58.

The soul or spirit.
Thus he could not at first have had any conception of a soul or spirit, which is an unseen thing.