Page:Roman public life (IA romanpubliclife00greeiala).pdf/444

 speeches and verbal decisions of the Emperor as did not fall under the competence of the other officials.

(v.) The Consilium.—The consilium of the Princeps was merely a renewed manifestation of that eternal principle of Roman public life which directed that a magistrate should seek advisers. A council was necessary for public confidence, but an imperial consilium was originally no part of the constitution of the Principate. Tiberius imitated Augustus in seeking advice before coming to a decision on important matters; yet when he sat as a high court of criminal jurisdiction, his board of assessors could be described as consisting of a "few friends." The board may have become more determinate in succeeding reigns, but the first Princeps whom we hear of as giving it a definite organisation was Hadrian. That Emperor, we are told, when he held a court of justice, summoned as his advisers jurisconsults approved by the Senate. It is only a judicial council that is here described, and there is nothing to show that these legal experts were necessarily consulted on administrative matters. The basis, however, was laid for a permanent council of state, and the consiliarii Augusti of this period became a definite and salaried class. They included both senators and equites, and some bore the title jurisperiti. Others may not have been gifted with special knowledge of the law, and may have been employed in cases where general ability or experience may have been of more value than juristic training. Actual jurisdiction was not, however, the only