Masonic Notes And Queries.

conduct and language of their Eoman Catholic rivals . —PHILHELLENE . BOOK OE CONSTITUTIONS . The Book of Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England has been transmitted and printed for the Hellenic Lodges in Turkey under the English

jurisdiction by the Arete Lodge of Constantinople . This is a most valuable semce to the cause of Masonry in the East , and does great honour to that distinguished lo dge— PHILHELLENE .

WAS VIRGIL A EREEMASON . ¦ ' In I Virgil ' s account of ^ Eneas' descent to Tartarus , I find , among others , the following passage , ( iEneid vi ., 264 and following ) : — Di quibus imperiunr est animaruni , Uinbrseqiie silentes , Et Chaos , et Phlegeton , loca noote silentia late , Sit milii fas audita loqui ; sit numine vestro

Pandere res alta terra , et caligine mersas . The tenour of this passage aud the spirit which pervades a considerable portion of the same book , leads me to infer that P . Virgilius Maro must have been initiated in the secret arts of antiquity which are generally supposed to be akin to

modern Freemasonry . Is this view borne out by the opinions of any classical authorities ?—ENQUIRER . [ Tou are mistaken . Virgil was not a Ereemason . The vieiv entertained by several authorities that the great imitator of Homer had been initiated in the mysteries of Eleusis rests onlon conjecture .

y The chronological data I have at my disposal render it certain , that at the time vvhen our poet wrote the 6 th book of his epic song , he had long returned from his journey to Hellas ; but not one- of his biographers ventures to assert that he ever attended the Eleusinia . Even if he had clone so , that would not qualify him

as a Ereemason . Tbe mysteries of Attica had nothing whatever to do with Masonry . The Eleusinia were symbolical representations of the labours incidental to the tilling of the soil , they were taken from agriculture , and their religious foundation was Polytheism . Modern Masonry , on the contrary , derives its " symbols from the building artsfrom

, architecture ; and its religious foundation is the Christian dogma of the Trinity . Thus , mathematically speaking—Eleusinia : Masonry :: Agriculture : Architecture , or :: the polygon : the triangle , the various terms of the proportion being entirel

y different in themselves . In A . J . Valpy's small Variorum edition of Virgil ( published by Longman , Brown , Green , and Longman , 1847 ) the passage alluded to is thus explained : — 267 . Mersas . In several States of Greece , festivals had been instituted in honour of Ceres ; the most celebrated were those held

, every fifth year , in the toivn of Eleusis , on the sea coast of Attica . A succession of feasts , sacrifices , lustrations , and other public ceremonies , was accompanied by some secret rites , the admission to Avhich required previous initiation . These mysteries , aa they ivere termed , ivere looked up to with great aAve , and the disclosure of them Avas reckoned among crimes Avorthy f divine indignation .

Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum Vulgarit arcana , sub isclem Sit trabibus , fragilemque meeum Solvat phaselum . —Hor . Carm . iii ., 2 , 26—9 . Bishop Warburton imagined that Virgil had been admitted to the celebration of these mysteries , that in the present book

Masonic Notes And Queries.

lie means to give a figurative description of i . hi . S : initiation - . ' and : even to reveal the secret doctrines there inculciitecUy This hyppy thesis has given occasion to a masterly and ntts . t . , cpnvincingtract , from the pen of our great historian , in AA'hlcK , his ' reaso ; ns - are assigned for disbelieving that Virgil had any siiclnlesigh , ' , The episode , Gibbon thinks , is borroAved and , as usual , ivnprove'dJ from the Odyssey . —Misc . Works , ii ., 497—530 . ¦ " .-. ¦ ' ¦ ' - '"

It is contrary to all the teachings of history audi religion to confound the mysteries of Attica with those of Masonry ; still , they may , by Avay of analogy , be recommended as a most interesting and attractive study , and it is to be regretted that even in the most

recent ancl most excellent historical works on Preemasonry that attention is not paid to them which they so highly deserve . ( See EREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , No . 346 , page 136 ) . The compilation of a monograph on the mysteries of Egypt , Judea , and Hellas is " a consummation devoutly to be wished . "

SIMEON ' S IDEAS ON EREEMASONRY . I quote the following passage from " Eecollections of the Conversation Parties of the Eev . Charles Simeon , M . A ., " by the Eev . Abner William Broivn , M . A .,, page 326 : — "At the laying of the foundation stone of the UOAV church atDoncaster the Ereemasons

assisted with their rites ancl Masonic speeches , the clergyman closing ivith the usual prayer for such an occasion . One of the trustees protested against mixing the rites of Ereemasonry with those of the Church . Perhaps this zeal of the trustee was indiscreet . It depends on circumstances whether his

protest was not an over-nice attention to trifles . Preemasonry is foolish , but so far harmless . All mutual bonds for the promotion of love and kindness towards our fellow-creatures are good , ancl so far the Ereemasons are well ( sic ) , and , probably , their reciprocal charity is not more exclusive than that of

various sects . Their pretences to superior knowledge , and to mysteries and secrets , are ivrong—are probably nonsense . Vital religion , hoivever , may be called a kind of Preemasonry ; it has it feelings , its signs , its ways , not understood except by the true Christian . " —JOHN KINGSTON , P . Prov . G . Chap .

EREEMASONRY IN GREECE . The lodges established under Italian auspices in Greece have partaken of the disorders affecting Greek and Italian Masonry , but have latterly shown indications of a more favourable condition . There are lodgesit is statedat Athensthe Pirams

, , , , Patras , Chalcis , and Syra . At Athens there are two lodges ; one of these is said to have 135 members . Theodore Colocotronis has been lately chosen "W . M . The "W . M . of the other lodge is Spulius Aitonopoulos . At Syra the name of the lodge is the Sons of Leonidas and the W . M . is Bro . Anastasius Caravelas .

Here , as at Athens , ancl Salonika , a strong desire is expressed to adopt the English Constitutions . — PHILHELLENE .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The ' Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . THE PUBLIC MASONIC LIBEAET AT EOUEN . TO THE EDITOIt OP TIIE PREE 3 IAS 05 "s' MAGAZINE AX' *) MASONIC . IIIiBOIi . ^ DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —The Preemasons of the