Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

320 SECRET SOCIETIES744 . Thirteen, The.-To Balzac's fertile imagination weare indebted for the book entitled Lee Treize, the fictitiousstory of a society of thirteen persons who during . the FirstEmpire bound themselves by fearful oaths, and for objectsthe author dare no more reveal than the names of themembers, mutually to support one another . The work consistsof three tales, the first being the most interesting forus, since it pretends to record the stormy career of Ferragus,one of the associates, and chief of the Devorants spokenof in the French Workmen's Unions (369). A society ofthirteen (not secret) has recently been founded in London,in imitation, I assume, of a society formed in 1857 atBordeaux for the same purpose 'as the London one, namely,by force of example to extirpate the superstition regardingthe number thirteen, of which very few persons know theorigin . In the ancient Indian pack of cards, consisting ofseventy-eight cards, of which the first twenty-two havespecial names, the designation of card x iii . i s " Death," andhence all the evil influences ascribed to that number !745 . Tobaccological Society.-When in 531 Theodora froma ballet girl had become the wife of the Emperor Justinian I .,she wished to be surrounded by philosophers, especially theexpounders of Pythagoras . But for once the philosophersstood on their dignity, and declined imperial patronage .This led to their persecution, and the closing of their schoolsand academies ; they were not allowed to hold meetings .But Pythagoreans must meet, hence they met in secret, firstin a ruined temple of Ceres on the banks of the Ilissus, andafterwards in an octagonal temple, built by one of them, atthe foot of Mount Hymettus. They called themselves Pednosophers,which in a philologically incorrect manner theyinterpreted as meaning " Children of Wisdom . For theirsymbol they adopted the anemone, which flower was said tohave sprung from the blood of Adonis, wounded by a wildboar-so philosophy arose afresh from philosophy persecutedby superstition . At first women and children were admitted,but they were told part only of the secret, whatever ,it was . The sign was crossing the arms on the breast, sothat the index finger touched the lips . The sacred wordwas theus-theos, "Hope in God ." The chief of the Orderwas known to but a few members by his real name ; to therest he passed under a pseudonym . - There were differentdegrees in the Order, which perpetuated itself until 1672 invarious countries, England included . In this year CharlesII . prohibited all secret societies, and the Pednosophers