The Consilium as Advisory Board of the Magistrates at Rome during the Republic

Abstract

The consilium was a board of an exclusively advisory nature which was convened by magistrates. This article offers the first comprehensive review of all the consilia of all the magistrates at Rome during the Republic preserved in the literary and epigraphic sources. It addresses questions such as the composition of consilia, arguing that their composition ranged widely among senators and that equites could be present. It surveys the dynamics of the consilia, the kind of rhetoric that might have been deployed in their deliberations, their performative aspects, their logistics and the topoi ascribed to them.