ave to
prominent jurists the right of publicly giving opinions (_jus publice
respondendi_) by his authority on the legal merits of cases under trial. A
further encouragement was given by Hadrian's organization of his judicial
council. The great service of the jurists of the principate was the
introduction into Roman law of the principles of equity founded on a
philosophic conception of natural law and the systematic organization and
interpretation of the body of the civil law. Roman jurisprudence reached
its height between the accession of Hadrian and the death of Severus
Alexander. The chief legal writers of this period were Julian in the time
of Hadrian, Gaius in the age of the Antonines, his contemporary Scaevola,
the three celebrated jurists of the time of the Severi--Papinian, Paul and
Ulpian, all pretorian prefects,--and lastly Modestine, who closes the long
line of classic juris-consults.

*Greek literature.* If we except the brief period of the Augustan age, the
Greek literature of the principate stands both in quantity and quality
above the Latin. Even Augustus had recognized Greek as the language of
government in the eastern half of the empire, and with the gradual
abandonment of his policy of preserving the domination of the Italians
over the provincials Greeks stood upon the same footing as the Latin
speaking provincials in the eyes of the imperial government. In Rome the
Greek author received the same recognition as his Roman _confrere_. Greek
historians, geographers, scientists, rhetoricians and philosophers wrote
not only for Greeks, but for the educated circles of the whole empire. And
it was in Greek that the princeps Marcus Aurelius chose to write his
Meditations. Nor should it be forgotten that Greek was the language of the
early Christian writers, beginning with the Apostle Paul. By the opening
of the third century the champions of the new faith had begun to rank
among the leading authors of the day in the East as well as in the West.

*Plutarch (c. 50-120 A. D.) and Lucian (c. 125-200 A. D.)**.* The best
known names in the Greek literature of the principate are Plutarch and
Lucian. Plutarch's _Parallel Lives_ of famous Greeks and Romans possess a
perpetual freshness and charm. Lucian was essentially a writer of prose
satires, a journalist who was "the last great master of Attic eloquence
and Attic wit." In the realm of science, Ptolemy the astronomer, and Galen
the student of medicine, both active i