Again, in Japan as in Europe, when feudalism was formally inaugurated, the professional class of warriors naturally came into prominence. These were known as _samurai_, meaning literally, like the old English _cniht_ (knecht, knight), guards or attendants—resembling in character the _soldurii_ whom Cæsar mentioned as existing in Aquitania, or the _comitati_, who, according to Tacitus, followed Germanic chiefs in his time; or, to take a still later parallel, the _milites medii_ that one reads about in the history of Mediæval Europe. A Sinico-Japanese word _Bu-ké_ or _Bu-shi_ (Fighting Knights) was also adopted in common use. They were a privileged class, and must originally have been a rough breed who made fighting their vocation. This class was naturally recruited, in a long period of constant warfare, from the manliest and the most adventurous, and all the while the process of elimination went on, the timid and the feeble being sorted out, and only “a rude race, all masculine, with brutish strength,” to borrow Emerson’s phrase, surviving to form families and the ranks of the _samurai_. Coming to profess great honor and great privileges, and correspondingly great responsibilities, they soon felt the need of a common standard of behavior, especially as they were always on a belligerent footing and belonged to different clans. Just as physicians limit competition among themselves by professional courtesy, just as lawyers sit in courts of honor in cases of violated etiquette, so must also warriors possess some resort for final judgment on their misdemeanors.