It is true there is no documentary evidence to prove the continuous existence of the _Collegia_ from Roman to mediæval times, or to show that the Roman college, which removed to Comum, was identical with the Comacine Guild which emerged from the darkness which shrouds the history of those early times;--there is, however, such evidence as can be derived from the similarity of the institutions, in their aims and constitutions. In the latter institution even the title of _Magister_ was retained, though the use of the term was no longer limited to the president of the body, every competent and fully instructed member of the society was admitted to the order of _Magistri_,[102]--possibly because these members formed the governing body--and the president became a Grand Master. The members generally were called _Liberi muratori_--Freemasons--because they were not subject to the sumptuary and other laws which regulated the work and pay of ordinary workmen.[103] Comum, which possessed all the privileges of a Roman _municipium_, stood at the head of Lacus Larii--the Lake of Como--on the northern shores of which, from Como to the island of Comacina, P. Strabo and C. Scipio settled Greek colonies, which Julius Cæsar added to and consolidated. The names of villages on these shores of the lake are still some guide to its extent and limits. Comum was made the chief seat of the colony. After the fall of the Empire, this Romano-Greek colony seems to have withstood the attacks of the barbarians, and preserved its independence for a long time. At the time of the invasion of Italy by the Longobards, the whole of the northern end of the lake was in the hands of the imperial (Byzantine) party, and it was not until the year 586 that the island of Comacina fell into the hands of the Longobard King Autharis, though the lake and country northwards of the island seem to have still continued under imperial rule. The country around Comum, therefore, remained in comparative quiet, and if much progress in art was not possible, there at least it did not become altogether degenerate.