Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

126 CABLE
CADUCEUS
authors, was very analogous in spirit and design
to that of the Third Degree of Freemasonry
.
Many persons annually resorted to Samothrace
to be initiated into the celebrated mysteries,
among whom are mentioned Cadmus,
Orpheus, Hercules, and Ulysses . Jamblichus
says, in his Life of Pythagoras, that from those
of Lemnos that sage derived much of his wisdom
. The mysteries of the Cabiri were much
respected among the common people, and
great care was taken in their concealment .
The priests made use of a language peculiar
to the Rites .
The mysteries were in existence at Samothrace
as late as the eighteenth year of the
Christian era, at which time the Emperor
Germanicus embarked for that island, to be
initiated, but was prevented from accomplishing
his purpose by adverse winds .
Cable Tow. The word "tow" signifies,
properly, a line wherewith to draw . Richardson
(Dict.) defines it as " that which tuggeth,
or with which we tug or draw ." A cable tow
is a rope or line for drawing or leading . The
word is purely Masonic, and in some of the
writers of the early part of the last century we
find the expression" cable rope ." Prichard so
uses it in 1730. The German word for a cable
or rope is kabeltau, and thence our cable tow is
probably derived .
In its first inception, the cable tow seems to
have been used only as a physical means of
controlling the candidate, and such an interpretation
is still given in the Entered Apprentice's
Degree . But in the Second and Third
degrees a more modern symbolism has been
introduced, and the cable tow is in these
grades supposed to symbolize the covenant by
which all Masons are tied, thus reminding us
of the passage in Hosea (xi . 4), "I drew them
with cords of a man, with bands of love ."
Cable Tow's Length . Gfidicke says
that, "according to the ancient laws of Freemasonry,
every brother must attend his Lodge
if he is within the length of his cable tow ."
The old writers define the length of a cable
tow, which they sometimes called "a cable's
length," to be three miles for an Entered Apprentice
. But the expression is really symbolic,
and, as it was defined by the Baltimore
Convention in 1842, means the scope of a
man's reasonable ability .
Cabul. A district containing twenty cities
which Solomon gave to Hiram, King of Tyre,
for his assistance in the construction of the
Temple . Clark (Comm .) thinks it likely that
they were not given to Hiram so that they
should be annexed to his Tyrian dominions,
but rather to be held as security for the money
which he had advanced . This, however, is
merely conjectural . The district containing
them is Placed by Josephus in the northwest
part of Galilee, adjacent to Tyre . Hiram does
not appear to have been satisfied with the gift ;
why, is uncertain. Kitto thinks because they
were not situated on the coast . A Masonic
legend says because they were ruined and
dilapidated villages, and in token of his dis-
satisfaction, Hiram called the district Cabul.
The meaning of this word is not known . Josephus,
probably by conjecture from the context,
says it means "unpleasing ." Hiller
(Onomast .) and, after him, Bates (Dict .) suppose
that X17: is derived from the particle :,
as, and ~ :, nothing. The Talmudic derivation
from CBL, tied with fetters, is Talmudically
childish. The dissatisfaction of Hiram
and its results constitute the subject of the
legend of the degree of Intimate Secretary in
the Scottish Rite .
Cadet-Gassicourt, Charles Louis . The
author of the celebrated work entitled Le
Tombeau de Jacques Molay, which was published
at Paris, in 1796, and in which he attempted,
like Barruel and Robison, to show
that Freemasonry was the source and instigator
of all the political revolutions which at
that time were convulsing Europe . Cadet-
Gassicourt was himself the victim of political
persecution, and, erroneously attributing his
sufferings to the influences of the Masonic
Lodges in France, became incensed against
the Order, and this gave birth to his libelous
book . But subsequent reflection led him to
change his views, and he became an ardent
admirer of the Institution which he had formerly
maligned. He sought initiation into
Freemasonry, and in 1805 was elected as
Master of the Lodge 1'Abeille in Paris . He
was born at Paris, January 23, 1769, and died
in the same city November 21, 1821 .
Cadmillus. The youngest of the Cabiri,
and as he is slain in the Cabiric Mysteries, he
becomes the analogue of the Builder in the
legend of Freemasonry .
Caduceus. The Caduceus was the magic
wand of the god Hermes . It was an olive staff
twined with fillets, which were gradually converted
to wings and serpents. Hermes, or Mercury,
was the messenger of Jove. Among his
numerous attributes, one of the most important
was that of conducting disembodied
spirits to the other world, and, on necessary
occasions, of bringing them back . He was
the guide of souls, and the restorer of the dead
to life. Thus, Horace, in addressing him, says :
"Unspotted spirits you consign
To blissful seats and joys divine,
And powerful with your golden wand
The light unburied crowd command ."
Virgil also alludes to this attribute of the
magic wand when he is describing the flight of
Mercury on his way to bear Jove's warning
message to .news :
"His wand he takes ; with this pale ghost he calls
From Pluto's realms, or sends to Tartarus'
shore."
And Statius, imitating this passage, makes
the same allusion in his Thebaid (i., 314), thus
translated by Lewis :
"He grasps the wand which draws from hollow
graves,
Or drives the trembling shades to Stygian
waves ;
With magic power seals the watchful eye
In slumbers soft or causes sleep to fly ."