"Art. 143. Of the _Magister Comacinus_. If the Comacine Master with his _colliganti_ (colleagues) shall have contracted to restore or build the house of any person whatsoever, the contract for payment being made, and it chances that some one shall die by the fall of the said house, or any material or stones from it, the owner of the said house shall not be cited by the _Magister Comacinus_ or his brethren to compensate them for homicide or injury; because having for their own gain contracted for the payment of the building, they must sustain the risks and injuries thereof."[2] "Art. 144. Of the engaging or hiring of _Magistri_. If any person has engaged or hired one or more of the Comacine Masters to design a work (_conduxerit ad operam dictandum_), or to daily assist his workmen in building a palace or a house, and it should happen that by reason of the house some Comacine should be killed, the owner of the house is not considered responsible; but if a pole or a stone shall kill or injure any extraneous person, the Master builder shall not bear the blame, but the person who hired him shall make compensation."[3] These laws prove that in the seventh century the _Magistri Comacini_ were a compact and powerful guild, capable of asserting their rights, and that the guild was properly organized, having degrees of different ranks; that the higher orders were entitled _Magistri_, and could "design" or "undertake" a work;--_i.e._ act as architects; and that the _colligantes_ worked under, or with, them. In fact, a powerful organization altogether;--so powerful and so solid, that it speaks of a very ancient foundation. But when and how did it originate? Was it a surviving branch of the Roman _Collegium_? a decadent group of Byzantine artists stranded in Italy? or was it of older Eastern origin? A clever logician could prove it to be all three. For the Roman theory, he could base his arguments on the Latin nomenclature of officials, and the Latin form of the churches. For the Byzantine theory, he would have the style of certain ornamentations, and the assertions of German writers, such as Müller, and Stieglitz. For the ancient Eastern theory, he might plead their Hebrew and Oriental symbolism.