There was in addition a body of men called "jurist consults,"
learned in the law and able to advise, who came to be recognized as the
members of a select profession in the time of Augustus.
In the year 200 before Christ, the Cincian law was enacted, requiring
that service of the _patronus_ and the advocate should be gratuitous,
but it was soon evaded even as the Jewish laws had been. Again presents
were made to secure the skilled advocacy of men learned in the law and
acute in debate. These gifts like the Hebrew ones were paid in advance
and were called "honorariums," another term which suggests the modern
retainer. Neither an _advocatus_ nor a _patronus_ could sue for such
honorarium at law because it was a violation of law, but once paid, the
honorarium could not be recovered. Cicero boasted that he never violated
the Cincian law, but historians of his period intimate that by secret
loans and testamentary gifts his practice proved to be very profitable.
And it is certain, at least, that many of his contemporaries were made
very rich by professional remuneration.
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