Cohors amicorum
Cohors amicorum is a Latin term, literally meaning "cohort of friends". The notion cohort is to be taken not in the strict, military sense (primarily the constitutive unit of a Roman legion; circa battalion), but indicated a fairly large number; accordingly, friend is to be taken in a loose sense, rather as in "amicus curiae"; compare the Hellenistic aulic title "philos [basilikos]". The 'company' remained at least as a social notion, if now very informal, and seems to have existed with other persons of high rank, such as imperial princes.