The consilium principis (advisers to the princeps) was a council created by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, in the latter years of his reign to control legislation in the deliberative institution of the Senate.
The consilium principis had a foundation in imperial Roman government until the time of Emperor Diocletian (284–305 AD).
Scullard reinforces this notion saying "In one important way he made the Senate more efficient and at the same time, more amenable to his own wishes: he established a senatorial standing committee."
The passage in Dio Cassius illuminates the councils position in the government of Rome: Dio 56.28.2 (AD 13)[2] 'He also asked for twenty counselors on account of his age, which did not permit him to go to the senate-house any longer except on rare occasions; previously it seems he had associated himself with fifteen advisors for six months at a time.
The body, by the reign of Constantine the Great, became the sacrum consistorium and was recognized as an independent department of the imperial government.