quindecemviri

A trick this, invented probably by Tarquin himself, to impose upon the people; and to find in the Sybil's leaves whatever the government might require. However this was, he chose proper persons to keep them, who, though but two at first, were afterwards increased to fifteen, under the name of Quindecemviri.

Oliver Goldsmith - Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome : to which is prefixed an introduction to the study of Roman history, and a great variety of valuable information added throughout the work, on the manners, institutions, and antiquities of the Romans; with numerous biographical and historical notes; and questions for examination at the end of each section. : By Wm. C. Taylor.

Subsequently Sulla made the number fifteen, which continued as the official number from that time on, so that the priesthood is ordinarily called the Quindecemviri, even when one of the older periods is referred to. The real control of the books however lay in the hands of the Senate.

Jesse Benedict Carter - The Religion of Numa: And Other Essays on the Religion of Ancient Rome

They were first created BC. 198, to attend to the epulum Jovis, and the banquets given in honour of the other gods, which duty had originally belonged to the pontifices. Julius Caesar added three more, but that alteration did not last. They formed a collegium, and were one of the four great religious corporations at Rome with the pontifices, the augures, and the quindecemviri. Smith, Diet, Ant. v.

Marcus Tullius Cicero - The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4