Page "Associations in Ancient Rome" Paragraph 6

Every kind of trade and business throughout the Empire seems to have had its collegium, as is shown by the inscriptions collected in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum from any Roman municipal town.

These inscriptions provide important evidence for the life and work of the lower orders of the municipales.

The primary object was no doubt still to protect the trade, but as time went on they tended to become associations for feasting and enjoyment, and more and more to depend on the munificence of patrons elected with the object of eliciting it.

How far they formed a basis or example for the guilds of the early Middle Ages is a difficult question ( see Guild ).

Eventually, the trade associations supported the individual, lost as he was in the vast desert of the empire, some little society and enjoyment in life, and the certainty of funeral rites and a permanent memorial after death.