Note 188 — Chapter XVIII · THE COURTS AND THE ORATORS. THE GREAT BATHS. THE PUBLIC PARKS AND ENVIRONS OF ROME

Very few civil cases involving merely private rights would be heard by the Emperor, although they might by his deputy, the Prætorian Præfect. Claudius sometimes seems to have sat on the tribunal, out of a pedantic sense of duty, but often falling asleep until the advocates bawled “O Cæsar!” loudly enough to wake him.