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260 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
their supposed wisdom is a shallow pretence, and that they
are in reality ignorant people.
This attack was presently followed by
a tract entitled
" I. Menapius Roseae Crucis, to wit : Objections on the part
of the unanimous Brotherhood against the obscure and un-
known writer, F. G. Menapius, and against his being
classed among the true brethren. II. A Citation of the
same person to our final Court at Schmejarien contra
Florentinus de Valentia. III. Finally, a convocation of
the R. C. Fratres to the same invisible place. By order of
the worshipful society.
Written and published by Theo-
philus Stihweighart. 1619." Here Menapius presents him-
self under another name, and poses as his own opponent.
The pamphlet contains a sort of legal process, with citation,
defence, &c. One of the arguments used against the Rosi-
crucian Fraternity, who believed in the manufacture of gold
from ignoble metals, is as follows :
" A grown up man is
a reasoning being ; so is a young boy. A cow is an un-
reasoning being ; so is a calf. But this does not prove that
the cow is a calf ; and the transmutation of ignoble metals
into gold is just as easy as to transform a cow into a calf,
of you ask why there is so little gold, it is for the same
reason that there are so few cows, namely, in the one case,
because the young calves are killed, and in the other, be-
cause the ignoble metals are not left long enough in the
earth, but are extracted by avaricious people." Menapius
is the most entertaining of the dull race of Rosicrucian
critics, but his analogical arguments are not of a convincing
nature. He concludes with an admonition to all and
several literati, nobles, merchants, peasants,
well and to do their duty.
&c. to live
Menapius, as I have said, is represented by Buhle as a