The Roman Collegia.

and liable to suppression by the magistrates at any time if considered noxious to the power and safety of the State . The actual body was called Collegium , " Incorporatio , " Universitas , Consilium . In the original division of the trades , etc ., there were nine " Collegia , " and the " Fabri " included the workers in wood , stone , and metal . Later there was a distinct " Collegium Architectorum" and the Collegium Dendrophorum and

, the Collegium Fabrum were amalgamated . There are allusions to members of the Collegium as " Lapicida ? , " but , so far no early use of " Latomus " has been discovered . It seems to have been originally "Latomos , " from the Greek . Hence the word Latomus is , seemingly , monkish and mediaeval . An early use of it may , however , yet be found . We said there were allusions in the Roman Laws to the Collegia .

We find in the Digests , for example , " Permissum est eis , res habere communes , arcam oommunem , actorem , syndicum , " etc . The place of the meeting was called Curia , or Phretrium , or Collegium , and the meetings were held in temples , private houses , or the collegiate halls , to which " Scholaa" were attached , where the " Alumni , " or disciples , or children , or apprentices , were taught .

There seems to have been only one lawful Collegium of the same trade in the same town ; ancl if a member belonged to two he was to select the one which he preferred . If the College broke up the law provided as follows : " Sed permittitur eis , cum dissolvuntur , pecunias communes si quas habent , dividere , pecuniamque , etc ., partiri . " This law still prevails in English Masonry . To a certain Neratius Priscus is attributed the well known saying , " Tres facinnt Collegium : " " Et hoc magis sequendum est , " is the commentary upon it .

When the college got together it had a common " area " or chest ; it had certain paid brethren ; serving brethren , Janitores , Viatores , Apparitores , with different duties ; and they seem to have paid a monthly subsidy to the Collegium , called " ' Eranos , " . and hence they were termed Eranistas . _ This word betrays their Greek origin ' , as "Eranos" in Greek meant a contribution in money , or a donation in money , or mutual to a common club or society .

Eranos also had the meaning of a society or club , and Eranistes was a paying member of a sodality . In the Roman Collegia the members were buried at the expense of the _ Collegium , ancl received passports and letters—perhaps the " tessera ? hospitalitatis "—when they travelled , and claimed the "jus sodalitiEe" and the "jus hospitalitatis" whatever these were .

, They had as officers Questores , Censores , Tabularii , Scriba ? , Scribe perpetui ( secretaries for life ) . They hacl also Pontifices , Judices , Haruspices , Curatores , ancl , Ave fear , even " Servi" or slaves attached to the Collegia . They had also Proctiratores , Curatores , and Syndici . They hacl also heads or presiding officers termed Quinquennales , because supposed to be held for five years . We also find they had Duumviri

Quinquennales , whatever their exact offices may have been . They had . also Patroni and Patrona ? . They had the Magistri , Decuriones , Centuriones , being divided seemingly into Decurias and Oenturias , and , as we before observed , Matronas , who were probably the wives of the members . They had honorary members , termed honorati allecti , and honorary lady members called honoratas allectae .

The members themselves of the Collegia were termed Collega ? , Incorporati , Collegiati , and Jupiter , in their temples , was even called "Jupiter Sodalitius . " We find also the word " corpus " as alluding to the Collegia or union of Collegia , and it is very remarkable that these old Roman terms have clung to all our Masonic , collegiate , ancl academical arrangements in England . They were also called Sodales , ancl their body a Sodalitium , as the old law runs—2 B'