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After all, then, the tradition that Masonry, not unlike the Masonry we now know, had
its origin
while the temple of King Solomon was building, and was given shape by the two
royal friends, may not be so fantastic as certain superior folk seem to think it How
else can we explain the fact that when the Knights of the Crusades went to the Holy
Land they came back a secret, oath-bound fraternity? Also, why is it that, through the
ages, we see bands of builders coming from the East calling themselves "sons of
Solomon," and using his interlaced triangle-seal as their emblem? Strabo, as we have
seen, traced the Dionysiac builders eastward into Syria, Persia, and even India. They
may also be traced westward. Traversing Asia Minor, they entered Europe by way of
Constantinople, and we follow them through Greece to Rome, where already several
centuries before Christ we find them bound together in corporations called Collegia.
These lodges flourished in all parts of the Roman Empire, traces of their existence
having been discovered in England as early as the middle of the first century of our
era.
II
Krause use was the first to point out a prophecy of Masonry in the old orders of
builders, following their footsteps B not connectedly, of course, for there are many
gaps B through the Dionysiac fraternity of Tyre, through the Roman Collegia, to the
architects and Masons of the Middle Ages. Since he wrote, however, much new
material has come to light, but the date of the advent of the builders in Rome is still
uncertain. Some trace it to the very founding of the city, while others go no further
back than King Numa, the friend of Pythagoras.* By any account, they were of great
antiquity, and their influence in Roman history was far-reaching. They followed the
Roman legions to remote places, building cities, bridges, and temples, and it was but
natural that Mithra, the patron god of soldiers, should have influenced their orders. Of
this an example may be seen in the remains of the ancient Roman villa at Morton, on
the Isle of Wight.**
(*See essay on "A Masonic Built City," by S. R. Forbes, a study of the plan and
building of Rome, Ar: Quatuor Corontorum, iv, 86. As there will be many references
to the proceedings of the Coronatorum Lodge of Research, it will be convenient
hereafter to use only its initials, A. Q. C., in behalf of brevity. For an account of the
Collegia in early Christian times, see Roman Life from Nero to Aurelius, by Dill (bk.
ii, chap. iii); also De Collegia, by Mommsen. There is an excellent article in Mackey's
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, and Gould, His. Masonry, vol. i, chap. I.)
(**See Masonic Character of Roman Villa at Morton, by J. F. Crease (A. Q. C., iii,
38-59).)
As Rome grew in power and became a vast, all-embracing empire, the individual man
felt, more and more, his littleness and loneliness. This feeling, together with the
increasing specialization of industry, begat a passion for association, and Collegia of
many sorts were organized. Even a casual glance at the inscriptions, under the
heading Artes et Opificia, will show the enormous development of skilled handicrafts,
and how minute was their specialization. Every trade soon had its secret order, or
union, and so powerful did they become that the emperors found it necessary to
abolish the right of free association. Yet even such edicts, through effective for a little
time, were helpless as against the universal craving for combination. Ways were
easily found whereby to evade the law, which had exempted from its restrictions
orders consecrated by their antiquity or their religions character. Most of the Collegia
became funerary and charitable in their labors, humble folk seeking to escape the dim,
hopeless obscurity of plebeian life, and the still more hopeless obscurity of death.
Pathetic beyond words are some of the inscriptions
telling of the horror and loneliness of the grave, of the day when no kindly eye would
read the forgot ten name, and no hand bring offerings of flowers. Each collegium held
memorial services, and marked the tomb of its dead with the emblems of its trade if a
baker, with a loaf of bread; if a builder, with a square, compasses, and the level.
From the first the Colleges of Architects seem to have enjoyed special privileges and
exemptions, owing to the value of their service to the state, and while we do not find
them called Free-masons they were such in law and fact long before they wore the
name. They were permitted to have their own constitutions and regulations, both
secular and religious. In form, in officers, in emblems a Roman Collegium resembled
very much a modern Masonic Lodge. For one thing, no College could consist of less
than three persons, and so rigid was this rule that the saying, "three make a college,"
became a maxim of law. Each College was presided over by a Magister, or Master,
with two decuriones, or wardens, each of whom extended the commands of the
Master to "the brethren of his column." There were a secretary, a treasurer, and a
keeper of archives, and, as the colleges were in part religious and usually met near
some temple, there was a sacrerdos, or, as we would say, a priest, or chaplain. The
members were of three orders, not unlike apprentices, fellows, and masters, or
colleagues. What ceremonies of initiation were used we do not know, but that they
were of a religious nature seems certain, as each College adopted a patron deity from
among the many then worshiped. Also, as the Mysteries of Isis and Mithra ruled the
Roman world by turns, the ancient drama of eternal life was never far away.
Of the emblems of the Collegia, it is enough to say that here again we find the simple
tools of the builder used as teachers of truth for life and hope in death. Upon a number
of sarcophagi, still extant, we find carved the square, the compasses, the cube, the
plummet, the circle, and always the level. There is, besides, the famous Collegium
uncovered at the excavation of Pompeii in 1878, having been buried under the ashes
and lava of Mount Vesuvius since the year 79 A. D. It stood near the Tragic Theater,
not far from the Temple of Isis, and by its arrangement, with two columns in front and
interlaced triangles on the walls, was identified as an ancient lodge room. Upon a
pedestal in the room was found a rare bit of art, unique in design and exquisite in
execution, now in the National Museum at Naples. It is described by S. R. Forbes, in
his Rambles in Naples, as follows:
It is a mosaic table of square shape, Axed in a strong, wooden frame. The ground is of
grey green stone, in the middle of which is a human skull, made of white, grey, and
black colors. In appearance the skull is quite natural. The eyes, nostrils, teeth, ears,
and coronal are all well executed. Above the skull is a level of colored wood, the
points being of brass; and from the top to the point, by a white thread, is suspended a
plumb-line. Below the skull is a wheel of Six Spokes, and on the upper rim of the
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