THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

spirit, alive to the glory of the world and all that charms the soul
and sense of man, yet seeing past these; rich and significant thought
so closely wedded to emotion that each seems either. Other books not to
be omitted are his slender volume of aphorisms, _Steps to the Crown_,
his _Life of Saint-Martin_, and his _Studies in Mysticism_; for what he
touches he adorns.
[52] Even the _Jewish Encyclopedia_, and such scholars as Zunz, Graetz,
Luzzatto, Jost, and Munk avoid this jungle, as well they might,
remembering the legend of the four sages in "the enclosed garden:" one
of whom looked around and died; another lost his reason; a third tried
to destroy the garden; and only one came out with his wits. See _The
Cabala_, by Pick, and _The Kabbalah Unveiled_, by MacGregor.
[53] Acts 17:26-28.
THE COLLEGIA
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_This society was called the Dionysian Artificers, as Bacchus was
supposed to be the inventor of building theaters; and they
performed the Dionysian festivities. From this period, the Science
of Astronomy which had given rise to the Dionysian rites, became
connected with types taken from the art of building. The Ionian
societies ... extended their moral views, in conjunction with the
art of building, to many useful purposes, and to the practice of
acts of benevolence. They had significant words to distinguish
their members; and for the same purpose they used emblems taken
from the art of building._
--JOSEPH DA COSTA, _Dionysian Artificers_
_We need not then consider it improbable, if in the dark centuries
when the Roman empire was dying out, and its glorious temples
falling into ruin; when the arts and sciences were falling into
disuse or being enslaved; and when no place was safe from
persecution and warfare, the guild of the Architects should fly
for safety to almost the only free spot in Italy; and here, though
they could no longer practice their craft, they preserved the
legendary knowledge and precepts which, as history implies, came
down to them through Vitruvius from older sources, some say from
Solomon's builders themselves._
--LEADER SCOTT, _The Cathedral Builders_
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CHAPTER V