This brings us to the question of the Latin nomenclature. No really qualified Comacine architect is ever mentioned either in sculptured inscription, parchment deed, or in the registers of the lodges, without the prefix _Magister_, a title which Cassiodorus, for one, respected. It was not a term applied indiscriminately to all builders, like _murarius_; and we find that the subordinate ranks of stone-cutters or masons were called by the generic name of _operarius_. I take it that the word, as applied to the higher rank of the Comacine Guild, has the same value as the title of _Master_ in the old trade guilds of London, _i.e._ one who has passed through the lower rank of the schools and laborerium, and has by his completed education risen to the stage of perfection, when he may teach others. Morrona[8] gives the same definition. Judging from ancient inscriptions and documents, he says that "operator" (Latin _operarius_) is used for one who works materially; while _Magister_ signifies the architect who designs and commands. When a _Magister_ carries out his own designs, he is said to be _operator ipse magister_, as in the case of Magister Rainaldus, who designed and sculptured the façade of the Duomo at Pisa. In warlike times such as the Middle Ages, the only means by which artisans could protect their interests was by mutual protection, and hence the necessity and origin of Trade Guilds in general. The Masonic one appears to have been a universal fraternity with an earlier origin; indeed many of their symbols point to a very ancient Eastern derivation, and it is probable it was the prototype of all other guilds. Since I began writing this chapter a curious chance has brought into my hands an old Italian book on the institutions, rites, and ceremonies of the order of Freemasons.[9] Of course the anonymous writer begins with Adoniram, the architect of Solomon's Temple, who had so very many workmen to pay, that not being able to distinguish them by name, he divided them into three different classes, _novices_, _operatori_, and _magistri_, and to each class gave a secret set of signs and passwords, so that from these their fees could be easily fixed, and imposture avoided. It is interesting to know that precisely the same divisions and classes existed in the Roman _Collegium_ and the Comacine Guild--and that, as in Solomon's time, the great symbols of the order were the endless knot, or Solomon's knot, and the "Lion of Judah."