than with laymen of any degree. They piqued themselves upon their
title of _Clerici_, and added the epithet of _Vagi_. We shall see in
the sequel that they stood in a peculiar relation of dependence upon
ecclesiastical society.

According to tendencies prevalent in the Middle Ages, they became a
sort of guild, and proclaimed themselves with pride an Order. Nothing
is more clearly marked in their poetry than the _esprit de corps_,
which animates them with a cordial sense of brotherhood.[9] The same
tendencies which prompted their association required that they should
have a patron saint. But as the confraternity was anything but
religious, this saint, or rather this eponymous hero, had to be a
Rabelaisian character. He was called Golias, and his flock received
the generic name of Goliardi. Golias was father and master; the
Goliardi were his family, his sons, and pupils. _Familia Goliae_,
_Magister Golias_, _Pueri Goliae_, _Discipulus Goliae_, are phrases to
be culled from the rubrics of their literature.

Much has been conjectured regarding these names and titles. Was Golias
a real person? Did he give his own name to the Goliardi; or was he
invented after the Goliardi had already acquired their designation? In
either case, ought we to connect both words with the Latin _gula_, and
so regard the Goliardi as notable gluttons; or with the Provençal
_goliar_, _gualiar_, _gualiardor_, which carry a significance of
deceit? Had Golias anything to do with Goliath of the Bible, the great
Philistine, who in the present day would more properly be chosen as
the hero of those classes which the students held in horror?

It is not easy to answer these questions. All we know for certain is,
that the term Goliardus was in common medieval use, and was employed