ancients

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

ancients
    n 1: people who lived in times long past (especially during the
         historical period before the fall of the Roman Empire in
         western Europe)

from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

ANCIENTS, English law. A term for gentlemen in the Inns of Courts who are of
a certain standing. In the Middle Temple, all who have passed their readings
are termed ancients. In Gray's Inn, the ancients are the oldest barristers;
besides which the society consists of benchers, barristers and students. In
the Inas of Chancery, it consists of ancients, and students or clerks.