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)

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.