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272
HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
munis et Generalis Reformatio had any connection with the
Rosicrucians, or not,
it is evident from the documents
about which there is no doubt or question, and particularly
from the " Fama Fraternitatis," that they believed a
general revolution to be at hand, and that they would
be concerned therein.
A posthumous tract of Michael Maier was published in
1624 by one of his personal friends, who explicitly states
that he is ignorant whether the departed alchemist, who so
warmly and gratuitously
defended the cause of the Rosi-
crucians, was ever received into their number, but
that it is certain he was a Brother of the Christian Re-
ligion, or a Brother of the Kingdom of Christ. This statement
may simply mean that he was a Christian and a man
of God, or, on the other hand, it may signify that he was a
member of the Christian Fraternity of Andreas. However
this may be, two Latin tracts, being translations from the
German made by the same friend of Maier,
posthumous pamphlet
ft
follow the
of the alchemist. The first is a
colloquy on the Society by personages respectively
called Quirinus, Polydorus, Tyrosophus, Promptutus, and
Politicus. The second is an " Echo Colloquii "
by Benedict
Hilarion, who professes to write " Mandato superiorum/'
to represent the order, and to be himself a Rosicrucian.
There are two mottoes on the title page of this work the
one is per angusta ad augusta, the other
Augustis, Augusta, viis petit ardua virtus,
Non datur, ad ccelum currere lata via.
The writer refers in a kindly manner to the propagandist
labours of Michael Maier, and assures the anonymous but
illustrious Tyrosophus that his Rosicrucian apologies were
not written in vain, and hints broadly that he was at