The Builder Magazine

September 1919 - Volume V - Number 9

 

ACCESSION OF SOLOMON: BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM, B.C. 1017

BY HENRY HART MILLMAN

After many weary years of travail and fighting in the wilderness and the land of Canaan, the Jews had at last founded their kingdom, with Jerusalem as the capital. Saul was proclaimed the first king; afterward followed David, the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." During the many wars in which the Israelites had been engaged, the Ark of the Covenant was the one thing in which their faith was bound. No undertaking could fail while they retained possession of it.

 

In their wanderings the tabernacle enclosing the precious ark was first erected before the dwellings for the people. It had been captured by the Philistines, then restored to the Hebrews, and became of greater veneration than before. It will be remembered that, among other things, it contained the rod of Aaron which budded and was the cause of his selection as high-priest. It also contained the tables of stone which bore the Ten Commandments.

 

David desired to build a fitting shrine, a temple, in which to place the Ark of the Covenant; it should be a place wherein the people could worship; a centre of religion in which the ark should have paid it the distinction due it as the seat of tremendous majesty.

 

But David had been a man of war; this temple was a place of peace. Blood must not stain its walls; no shedder of gore could be its architect. Yet David collected stone, timber, and precious metals for its erection; and, not being allowed to erect the temple himself, was permitted to depute that office to his son and successor, "Solomon the Wise."

 

At this time all the enemies of Israel had been conquered, the country was at peace; the domain of the Hebrews was greater than at any other time, before or afterward. It was the fitting time for the erection of a great shrine to enclose the sacred ark. Nobly was this done, and no human work of ancient or modern times has so impressed mankind as the building of Solomon's Temple.

 

 SOLOMON succeeded to the Hebrew kingdom at the age of twenty. He was environed by designing, bold, and dangerous enemies. The pretensions of Adonijah still commanded a powerful party: Abiathar swayed the priesthood; Joab the army. The singular connection in public opinion between the title to the crown and the possession of the deceased monarch's harem is well understood. (1) Adonijah, in making request for Abishag, a youthful concubine taken by David in his old age, was considered as insidiously renewing his claims to the sovereignty. Solomon saw at once the wisdom of his father's dying admonition: he seized the opportunity of crushing all future opposition and all danger of a civil war. He caused Adonijah to be put to death; suspended Abiathar from his office, and banished him from Jerusalem; and though Joab fled to the altar, he commanded him to be slain for the two murders of which he had been guilty, those of Abner and Amasa. Shimei, another dangerous man, was commanded to reside in Jerusalem, on pain of death if he should quit the city. Three years afterward he was detected in a suspicious journey to Gath, on the Philistine border; and having violated the compact, he suffered the penalty.

 

Thus secured by the policy of his father from internal enemies, by the terror of his victories from foreign invasion, Solomon commenced his peaceful reign, during which Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his figtree, from Dan to Beersheba. This peace was broken only by a revolt of the Edomites. Hadad, of the royal race, after the exterminating war waged by David and by Joab, had fled to Egypt, where he married the sister of the king's wife. No sooner had he heard of the death of David and of Joab than he returned, and seems to have kept up a kind of predatory warfare during the reign of Solomon. Another adventurer, Rezon, a subject of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, seized on Damascus, and maintained a great part of Syria in hostility to Solomon.

 

Solomon's conquest of Hamath Zobah in a later part of his reign, after which he built Tadmor in the wilderness and raised a line of fortresses along his frontier to the Euphrates, is probably connected with these hostilities. (2) The justice of Solomon was proverbial. Among his first acts after his accession, it is related that when he had offered a costly sacrifice at Gibeon, the place where the Tabernacle remained, God had appeared to him in a dream, and offered him whatever gift he chose: the wise king requesting an understanding heart to judge the people. God not merely assented to his prayer, but added the gift of honor and riches. His judicial wisdom was displayed in the memorable history of the two women who contested the right to a child. Solomon, in the wild spirit of Oriental justice, commanded the- infant to be divided before their faces: the heart of the real mother was struck with terror and abhorrence, while the false one consented to the horrible partition, and by this appeal to nature the cause was instantaneously decided.

 

The internal government of his extensive dominions next demanded the attention of Solomon. Besides the local and municipal governors, he divided the kingdom into twelve districts: over each of these he appointed a purveyor for the collection of the royal tribute, which was received in kind; and thus the growing capital and the immense establishments of Solomon were abundantly furnished with provisions. Each purveyor supplied the court for a month. The daily consumption of his household was three hundred bushels of finer flour, six hundred of a coarser sort; ten fatted, twenty other oxen; one hundred sheep; besides poultry, and various kinds of venison. Provender was furnished for forty thousand horses, and a great number of dromedaries. Yet the population of the country did not, at first at least, feel these burdens: Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.

 

The foreign treaties of Solomon were as wisely directed to secure the profound peace of his dominions. He entered into a matrimonial alliance with the royal family of Egypt, whose daughter he received with great magnificence; and he renewed the important alliance with the king of Tyre. (3) The friendship of this monarch was of the highest value in contributing to the great royal and national work, the building of the Temple. The cedar timber could only be obtained from the forests of Lebanon: the Sidonian artisans, celebrated in the Homeric poems, were the most skilful workmen in every kind of manufacture, particularly in the precious metals.

 

Solomon entered into a regular treaty, by which he bound himself to supply the Tyrians with large quantities of corn; receiving in return their timber, which was floated down to Joppa, and a large body of artificers. The timber was cut by his own subjects, of whom he raised a body of thirty thousand; ten thousand employed at a time, and relieving each other every month; so that to one month of labor they had two of rest. He raised two other corps, one of seventy thousand porters of burdens, the other of eighty thousand hewers of stone, who were employed in the quarries among the mountains. All these labors were thrown, not on the Israelites, but on the strangers who, chiefly of Canaanitish descent, had been permitted to inhabit the country.

 

These preparations, in addition to those of King David, being completed, the work began. The eminence of Moriah, the Mount of Vision, i.e., the height seen afar from the adjacent country, which tradition pointed out as the spot where Abraham had offered his son (where recently the plague had been stayed, by the altar built in the threshing-floor of Ornan or Araunah, the Jebusite), rose on the east side of the city. Its rugged top was levelled with immense labor; its sides, which to the east and south were precipitous, were traced with a wall of stone, built up perpendicular from the bottom of the valley, so as to appear to those who looked down of most terrific height; a work of prodigious skill and labor, as the immense stones were strongly mortised together and wedged into the rock. Around the whole area or esplanade, an irregular quadrangle, was a solid wall of considerable height and strength: within this was an open court, into which the Gentiles were either from the first, or subsequently, admitted. A second wall encompassed another quadrangle, called the court of the Israelites. Along this wall, on the inside, ran a portico or cloister, over which were chambers for different sacred purposes. Within this again another, probably a lower, wall separated the court of the priests from that of the Israelites. To each court the ascent was by steps, so that the platform of the inner court was on a higher level than that of the outer.

 

The Temple itself was rather a monument of the wealth than the architectural skill and science of the people. It was a wonder of the world from the splendor of its materials, more than the grace, boldness, or majesty of its height and dimensions. It had neither the colossal magnitude of the Egyptian, the simple dignity and perfect proportional harmony of the Grecian, nor perhaps the fantastic grace and lightness of later Oriental architecture. Some writers, calling to their assistance the visionary temple of Ezekiel, have erected a most superb edifice; to which there is this fatal objection, that if the dimensions of the prophet are taken as then stand in the text, the area of the Temple and its courts would not only have covered the whole of Mount Moriah. but almost all Jerusalem. In fact our accounts of the Temple of Solomon are altogether unsatisfactory. The details, as they now stand in the books of Kings and Chronicles, the only safe authorities, are unscientific, and, what is worse, contradictory.

 

Josephus has evidently blended together the three temples, and attributed to the earlier all the subsequent additions and alterations. The Temple, on the whole, was an enlargement of the tabernacle, built of more costly and durable materials. Like its model, it retained the ground-plan and disposition of the Egyptian, or rather of almost all the sacred edifices of antiquity: even its measurements are singularly in unison with some of the most ancient temples in Upper Egypt. It consisted of a propylaeon, a temple, and a sanctuary; called respectively the Porch, the holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Yet in some respects, if the measurements are correct, the Temple must rather have resembled the form of a simple Gothic church.

 

In the front to the east stood the porch, a tall tower, rising to the height of 210 feet. Either within, or, like the Egyptian obelisks, before the porch, stood two pillars of brass; by one account 27, by another above 60 feet high, the latter statement probably including their-capitals and bases. These were called Jachin and Boaz (Durability and Strength). (4) The capitals of these were of the richest workmanship, with net-work, chain-work, and pomegranates. The porch was the same width with the Temple, 35 feet; its depth 17 1/2. The length of the main building, including the Holy Place, 70 feet, and the Holy of Holies, 35, was in the whole 105 feet; the height 52 1/2 feet. (5)

 

Josephus carries the whole building up to the height of the porch; but this is out of all creditable proportion, making the height twice the length and six times the width. Along each side, and perhaps at the back of the main building, ran an aisle, divided into three stories of small chambers: the wall of the Temple being thicker at the bottom, left a rest to support the beams of these chambers, which were not let into the wall. These aisles, the chambers of which were appropriated as vestiaries, treasuries, and for other sacred purposes, seem to have reached about half way up the main wall of what we may call the nave choir: the windows into the latter were probably above them; these were narrow, but widened inward.

 

If the dimensions of the Temple appear by no means imposing, it must be remembered that but a small part of the religious ceremonies took place within the walls. The Holy of Holies was entered only once a year, and that by the High-priest alone. It was the secret and unapproachable shrine of the Divinity. The Holy Place, the body of the Temple, admitted only the officiating priests. The courts, called in popular language the Temple, or rather the inner quadrangle, were in fact the great place of divine worship. Here, under the open air, were celebrated the great public and national rites, the processions, the offerings, the sacrifices; here stood the great tank for ablution, and the high altar for burnt-offerings.

 

But the costliness of the materials, the richness and variety of the details, amply compensated for the moderate dimensions of the building. It was such a sacred edifice as a traveller might have expected to find in El Dorado. The walls were of hewn stone, faced within with cedar which was richly carved with knosps and flowers; the ceiling was of fir-tree. But in every part gold was lavished with the utmost profusion; within and without, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, in short, the whole house is described as overlaid with gold. The finest and purest that of parvaim, by some supposed to be Ceylon was reserved for the sanctuary. Here the cherubim, which stood upon the covering of the Ark, with their wings touching each wall, were entirely covered with gold.

 

The sumptuous veil, of the richest materials and brightest colors, which divided the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was suspended on chains of gold. Cherubim, palm-trees, and flowers, the favorite ornaments, everywhere covered with gilding, were wrought in almost all parts. The altar within the Temple and the table of shewbread were likewise covered with the same precious metal. All the vessels, the ten candlesticks, five hundred basins, and all the rest of the sacrificial and other utensils, were of solid gold. yet the Hebrew writers seem to dwell with the greatest astonishment and admiration on the works which were founded in brass by Huram, a man of Jewish extraction, who had learned his art at Tyre.

 

Besides the lofty pillars above mentioned, there was a great tank, called a sea, of molten brass, supported on twelve oxen, three turned each way; this was seventeen and one-half feet in diameter. There was also a great altar, and ten large vessels for the purpose of ablution, called Wavers, standing on bases or pedestals, the rims of which were richly ornamented with a border, on which were wrought figures of lions, oxen, and cherubim. The bases below were formed of four wheels, like those of a chariot. All the works in brass were cast in a place near the Jordan, where the soil was of a stiff clay suited to the purpose.

 

For seven years and a half the fabric arose in silence. All the timbers, the stones, even of the most enormous size, measuring seventeen and eighteen feet, were hewn and fitted, so as to be put together without the sound of any tool whatever; as it has been expressed, with great poetical beauty:

 

"Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric grew."

 

At the end of this period, the Temple and its courts being completed, the solemn dedication took place, with the greatest magnificence which the king and the nation could display. All the chieftains of the different tribes, and all of every order who could be brought together, assembled.

 

David had already organized the priesthood and the Levites; and assigned to the thirty-eight thousand of the latter tribe each his particular office; twentyfour thousand were appointed for the common duties, six thousand as officers, four thousand as guards and porters, four thousand as singers and musicians. On this great occasion, the Dedication of the Temple, all the tribe of Levi, without regard to their courses, the whole priestly order of every class, attended. Around the great brazen altar, which rose in the court of the priests before the door of the Temple, stood in front the sacrificers, all around the whole choir, arrayed in white linen. One hundred and twenty of these were trumpeters, the rest had cymbals, harps, and psalteries. Solomon himself took his place on an elevated scaffold, or raised throne of brass. The whole assembled nation crowded the spacious courts beyond. The ceremony began with the preparation of burnt-offerings, so numerous that they could not be counted.

 

At an appointed signal commenced the more important part of the scene, the removal of the Ark, the installation of the God of Israel in his new and appropriate dwelling, to the sound of all the voices and all the instruments, chanting some of those splendid odes, the 47th, 97th, 98th, and 107th psalms. The Ark advanced, borne by the Levites, to the open portals of the Temple. It can scarcely be doubted that the 24th psalm, even if composed before, was adopted and used on this occasion. The singers, as it drew near the gate, broke out in these words: Lift up your headset O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. It was answered from the other part of the choir, Who is the King of Glory? The whole choir responded, The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of Glory.

 

When the procession arrived at the Holy Place, the gates flew open; when it reached the Holy of Holies, the veil was drawn back. The Ark took its place under the extended wings of the cherubim, which might seem to fold over, and receive it under their protection. At that instant all the trumpeters and singers were at once to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanksgivings to the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice, with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, 2nd praised the Lord, saying: For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever, the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. Thus the Divinity took possession of his sacred edifice.

 

The king then rose upon the brazen scaffold, knelt down, and spreading his hands toward heaven, uttered the prayer of consecration. The prayer was of unexampled sublimity: while it implored the perpetual presence of the Almighty, as the tutelar Deity and Sovereign of the Israelites, it recognized his spiritual and illimitable nature. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built? It then recapitulated the principles of the Hebrew theocracy, the dependence of the national prosperity and happiness on the national conformity to the civil and religious law. As the king concluded in these emphatic terms: Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant. The cloud which had rested over the Holy of Holies grew brighter and more dazzling; fire broke out and consumed all the sacrifices; the priests stood without, awestruck by the insupportable splendor; the whole people fell on their faces, and worshipped and praised the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is forever.

 

Which was the greater, the external magnificence, or the moral sublimity of this scene ? Was it the Temple, situated on its commanding eminence, with all its courts, the dazzling splendor of its materials, the int numerable multitudes, the priesthood in their gorgeous attire, the king, with all the insignia of royalty, on his throne of burnished brass, the music, the radiant cloud filling the Temple, the sudden fire flashing upon the altar, the whole nation upon their knees ? Was it not rather the religious grandeur of the hymns and of the prayer: the exalted and rational views of the Divine Nature, the union of a whole people in the adoration of the one Great, Incomprehensible, Almighty, Everlasting Creator?

 

This extraordinary festival, which took place at the time of that of Tabernacles, lasted for two weeks, twice the usual time: during this period twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep were sacrificed (6) every individual probably contributing to this great propitiatory rite; and the whole people feasting on those parts of the sacrifices which were not set apart for holy uses.

 

Though the chief magnificence of Solomon was lavished on the Temple of God, yet the sumptuous palaces which he erected for his own residence display an opulence and profusion which may vie with the older monarchs of Egypt or Assyria. The great palace stood in Jerusalem; it occupied thirteen years in building. A causeway bridged the deep ravine, and leading directly to the Temple, united the part either of Acra or Sion, on which the palace stood, with Mount Moriah. In this palace was a vast hall for public business, from its cedar pillars called the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 175 feet long, half that measurement in width, above 50 feet high; four rows of cedar columns supported a roof made of beams of the same wood; there were three rows of windows on each side facing each other. Besides this great hall, there were two others, called porches, of smaller dimensions, in one of which the throne of justice was placed. The harem, or women's apartments, adjoined to these buildings; with other piles of vast extent for different purposes, particularly, if we may credit Josephus, a great banqueting hall.

 

The same author informs us that the whole was surrounded with spacious and luxuriant gardens, and adds a less credible fact, ornamented with sculptures and paintings. Another palace was built in a romantic part of the country in the valleys at the foot of Lebanon for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt; in the luxurious gardens of which we may lay the scene of that poetical epithalamium, (7) or collection of Idyls, the Song of Solomon. (8) The splendid works of Solomon were not confined to royal magnificence and display; they condescended to usefulness. To Solomon are traced at least the first channels and courses of the natural and artificial water supply which has always enabled Jerusalem to maintain its thousands of worshippers at different periods, and to endure long and obstinate sieges. (9)

 

The descriptions in the Greek writers of the Persian courts in Susa and Ecbatana; the tales of the early travellers in the East about the kings of Samarcand or Cathay; and even the imagination of the Oriental romancers and poets, have scarcely conceived a more splendid pageant than Solomon, seated on his throne of ivory, receiving the homage of distant princes who came to admire his magnificence, and put to the test his noted wisdom. (10) This throne was of pure ivory, covered with gold; six steps led up to the seat, and on each side of the steps stood twelve lions.

 

All the vessels of his palace were of pure gold, silver was thought too mean: his armory was furnished with gold; two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten gold were suspended in the house of Lebanon. Josephus mentions a body of archers who escorted him from the city to his country palace, clad in dresses of Tyrian purple, and their hair powdered with gold dust. But enormous as this wealth appears, the statement of his expenditure on the Temple, and of his annual revenue, so passes all credibility, that any attempt at forming a calculation on the uncertain data we possess may at once be abandoned as a hopeless task. No better proof can be given of the uncertainty of our authorities, of our imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew weights of money, and, above all, of our total ignorance of the relative value which the precious metals bore to the commodities of life, than the estimate, made by Dr. Prideaux, of the treasures left by David, amounting to eight hundred millions, nearly the capital of our national debt.

 

Our inquiry into the sources of the vast wealth which Solomon undoubtedly possessed may lead to more satisfactory, though still imperfect, results. The treasures of David were accumulated rather by conquest than by traffic. Some of the nations he subdued, particularly the Edomites, were wealthy. All the tribes seem to have worn a great deal of gold and silver in their ornaments and their armor; their idols were often of gold, and the treasuries of their temples perhaps contained considerable wealth. But during the reign of Solomon almost the whole commerce of the world passed into his territories. The treaty with Tyre was of the utmost importance: nor is there any instance in which two neighboring nations so clearly saw, and so steadily pursued, without jealousy or mistrust, their mutual and inseparable interests. (11)

 

On one occasion only, when Solomon presented to Hiram twenty inland cities which he had conquered, Hiram expressed great dissatisfaction, and called the territory by the opprobrious name of Cabul. The Tyrian had perhaps cast a wistful eye on the noble bay and harbor of Acco, or Ptolemais, which the prudent Hebrew either would not, or could not since it was part of the promised land dissever from his dominions. So strict was the confederacy, that Tyre may be considered the port of Palestine, Palestine the granary of Tyre. Tyre furnished the shipbuilders and mariners; the fruitful plains of Palestine victualled the fleets, and supplied the manufacturers and merchants of the Phoenician league with all the necessaries of life. (12)

 

(1) I Kings, i

 

(2) I Kings, xi, 23; I Chron;, viii, 3.

 

(3) After inserting the correspondence between King Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre, according to I Kings, v, Josephus asserts that copies of these letters were not only preserved by his countrymen, but also in the archives of Tyre. I presume that Josephus adverts to the statement of Tyrian historians, not to an actual inspection of the archives, which he seems to assert as existing and accessible.

 

(4) Ewald, following, he says, the Septuagint, makes these pillars not standing alone like obelisks before the porch, but as forming the front of the porch, with the capitals connected together, and supporting a kind of balcony, with ornamental work above it. The pillars measured 12 cubits (22 feet) round.

 

(5) Mr. Fergusson, estimating the cubit rather lower than in the text, makes the porch 30 by 15; the pronaos, or Holy Place, 60 by 30; the Holy of Holies, 30; the height 45 feet. Mr. Fergusson, following Josephus, supposes that the whole Temple had an upper story of wood, a talar, as appears in other Eastern edifices. I doubt the authority of Josephus as to the older Temple, though, as Mr. Fergusson observes, the discrepancies between the measurements in Kings and in Chronicles may be partially reconciled on this supposition. Mr. Fergusson makes the height of the eastern tower only 90 feet. The text followed 2 Chron., iii, 4, reckoning the cubit at 1 foot 9 inches.

 

(6) Gibbon, in one of his malicious notes, observes, "As the blood and smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient, Lightfoot, the Christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le Clere (ad loe.) is bold enough to suspect the fidelity of the numbers." To this I ventured to subjoin the following illustration: "According to the historian Kotobeddyn, quoted by Burekhardt, Travels in Arabia, p. 276, the Khalif Moktader sacrificed during his pilgrimage to Mecca, in the year of the Hegira 350, forty thousand camels and cows, and fifty thousand sheep. Barthema describes thirty thousand oxen slain, and their carcasses given to the poor. Tavernier speaks of one hundred thousand victims offered by the king of Tonquin." Gibbon, eh. xxiii, iv, p. 96, edit. Milman.

 

(7) I here assume that the Song of Solomon was an epithalamium. I enter not into the interminable controversy as to the literal or allegorical or spiritual meaning of this poem, nor into that of its age. A very particular though succinct account of all these theories, ancient and modern, may be found in a work by Dr. Ginsberg. I confess that Dr. Ginsberg's theory, which is rather tinged with the virtuous sentimentality of the modern novel, seems to me singularly out of harmony with the Oriental and ancient character of the poem. It is adopted, however, though modified, by M. Renan.

 

(8) According to Ewald, the ivory tower in this poem was raised in one of these beautiful "pleasances," in the Anti-Libanus, looking toward Hamath.

 

(9) Ewald: Gesehichte, iii, pp. 62-68; a very remarkable and valuable passage.

 

(10) Compare the great Mogul's throne, in Tavernier; that of the King of Persia, in Morier.

 

(11) The very learned work of Movers, Die Phonizier (Bonn, 1841, Berlin, 1849) contains everything which true German industry and comprehensiveness can accumulate about this people. Movers, though in such an inquiry conjecture is inevitable, is neither so bold, so arbitrary, nor so dogmatic in his conjectures as many of his contemporaries See on Hiram, ii, 326 et seq. Movers is disposed to appreciate as of high value the fragments preserved in Josephus of the Phoenician histories of Menander and Dios. Mr. Kenriek's Phoenicia may also be consulted with advantage.

 

(12) To a late period Tyre and Sidon were mostly dependent on Palestine for their supply of grain. The inhabitants of these cities desired peace with Herod (Agrippa) because their country was nourished bar the king's country (Acts xii, 20).

 

----o----

 

BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ASSISTANT EDITOR "THE FREEMASON," LONDON

 

PART IV THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES INITIATORY RITES

 

TWO important facts must be set down with regard to the Mysteries: first, the general custom of all Athenian citizens, and afterwards of all Greeks generally and many foreigners, to seek admission in the only possible manner, viz., by initiation; and, second, the scrupulous care exercised by the Eumo (1)pides to ensure that only persons duly qualified, of irreproachable, or at any rate, of circumspect character passed the portals. In the earlier days of the Mysteries it was a necessary condition that the candidates for initiation should be free-born Athenians, but, in course of time, this rule was relaxed, until eventually strangers and foreigners, slaves and even courtesans were admitted, on condition that they were introduced by a mystagogue, who was, of course, an Athenian. An interesting inscription was discovered a few years ago demonstrating the fact that the public slaves of the city were initiated at the public expense. Lysias was able without any difficulty to secure the initiation of his mistress Metanira, who was then in the service of the courtesan Nicareta. There always prevailed, however, the strict rule that no one could be admitted who had been guilty of murder or homicide, wilful or accidental, or who had been convicted of witchcraft, and all who had incurred the capital penalty for conspiracy or treason were also excluded. Nero sought admission into the Eleusinian Mysteries! but was rejected because of the many slaughters connected with his name Apollonius of Tyana was desirous of being admitted into the Eleusinian Mysteries, but the hierophant refused to admit him on the ground that he was a magician and had intercourse with divinities other than those of the Mysteries, declaring that he would never initiate a wizard or throw open the Mysteries to a man addicted to impure rites. Apollonius retorted: "You have not yet mentioned the chief of my offenses, which is that, knowing as I do, more about the initiatory rites than you do yourself, I have nevertheless come to you as if you were wiser than I am." The hierophant when he saw that the exclusion of Apollonius was not by any means popular with the crowd, changed his tone and said: "Be thou initiated, for thou seemest to be some wise man that has come here." But Apollonius replied: "I will be initiated at another time and it is (mentioning a name) who will initiate me." Herein, says Philostratus, he showed his gift of precision, for he glanced at the one who succeeded the hierophant he addressed and presided over the temple four years later when Apollonius was initiated.

 

Persons of both sexes and of all ages were initiated and neglect of the ceremony was regarded almost in the light of a crime. Socrates was reproached for being almost the only Athenian who had not applied for initiation. Persians were pointedly excluded from the ceremony. Athenians of both sexes were granted the privilege of initiation during childhood on the presentation of their father, but only the first degree of initiation was permitted. For the second and third degrees it was necessary to have arrived at full age. So great was the rush of candidates for initiation when the restrictions were relaxed that Cicero was able to write that the inhabitants of the most distant regions flocked to Eleusis in order to be initiated. Thus it became the custom with all Romans who journeyed to Athens to take advantage of the opportunity to become initiates. Even the Emperors of Rome, the official heads of the Roman religion, the masters of the world, came to the Eumolpides to proffer the request that they might receive the honour of initiation and become participants in the Sacred Mysteries revealed by the goddess.

 

While Augustus, who was initiated in the year B. C. 21, did not hesitate to show his antipathy towards the religion of the Egyptians, towards Judaism and Druidism, he was always scrupulous in observing the pledge of secrecy demanded of initiates into the Eleusinian Mysteries, and on one occasion, when it became necessary for some of the priests of the Eleusinian temple to proceed to Rome to plead before his tribunal on the question of privilege, and, in the course of the evidence to speak of certain ceremonial in connection with the Mysteries of which it was not lawful to speak in the presence of the uninitiated, he ordered everyone to leave the tribunal so that he and the witnesses alone remained. The Eleusinian Mysteries were not deemed inimical to the welfare of the Roman Empire as were the religions of the Egyptians, Jews, and ancient Britons.

 

Claudius, another imperial initiate, conceived the idea of transferring the scene of the Mysteries to Rome and, according to Suetonius, was about to put the project into execution, when it was ruled that it was obligatory that the principal scenic presentation of the Mysteries must be celebrated on the ground trodden by the feet of Demeter and where the goddess herself had ordered her temple to be erected.

 

The initiation of the emperor Hadrian took place in A. D. 125, when he was present at the Lesser Mysteries in the spring and at the Greater Mysteries in the following autumn. In September A. D. 129, he was again at Athens when he presented himself for the third degree, as is known from Dion Cassius, confirmed by a letter written by the Emperor himself, in which he mentions a journey from Eleusis to Ephesus made at that time. Hadrian is the only imperial initiate who persevered and passed through all three degrees. Since he remained at Eleusis as long as it was possible for him to do after the completion of his initiation it is not rash to assume that he was inspired by something more than curiosity or even a desire to show respect.

 

It is uncertain whether Antonin was initiated, although from an inscription it seems probable that he was and that he should be included in the list of royal initiates. Both Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, father and son, were initiated at the same time, at the Lesser Mysteries in March, A. D. 176, and at the Greater Mysteries in the following September. Septimus Severus was initiated before he ascended the throne.

 

There was, as stated, three degrees, and the ordinary procedure with regard to initiation was as follows:

 

In the flower month of spring, Anthesterion, corresponding to February-March, an applicant could, if approved, become an initiate into the first degree and participate in the Lesser Mysteries at the Eleusinion at Agra, near Athens. The ceremony of initiation into the Lesser Mysteries was much less elaborate than the ceremony of initiation into the Greater Mysteries. The candidates had to keep chaste and unpolluted for nine days prior to the ceremony, to which they came offering sacrifices and prayers and wearing crowns and garlands of flowers. Immediately prior to the celebration of the Lesser Mysteries those about to be initiated were prepared by mystagogues, the teachers selected from the families of the Eumolpides and the Keryces, and instructed in the story of Demeter and Persephone, the character of the purification necessary and the preparatory rites, the fast days, with particulars of what food could and must not be eaten, and the numerous sacrifices to be offered up under the direction of the mystagogues. Without this preparation no one could be admitted to the Mysteries. There was, however, neither secret doctrine nor dogmatic teaching in the instruction given. Revelation came through contemplation of the sacred objects displayed by the hierophant, and by the communication of mystic formulae; but the preparation demanded of the initiates, the secrecy imposed, the ceremonies at which they assisted in the dead silence of the night created a strong impression and lively hope in regard to the future life. No other cult in Greece, still less the cold Roman religion, had anything of the kind to offer. In fasting from food and drink before and after initiation the candidates attached to this voluntary privation no idea of maceration or expiation of faults: it was simply the reproduction of an event in the life of the goddess Demeter. Purity was an indispensable condition for all who would enter the temples. Bowls or vases of consecrated or holy water were placed at the entrance for the purposes of aspersion. In cases of special impurity a delay of one or more days in the preparation became necessary and unctions of oil or repeated immersions in water were administered. In the preparation of candidates for initiation, purification assumed an exceptional importance. Hence several writers have maintained that the primary aim of initiation was the acquirement of moral purity. The outward physical purity, the result of immersion prior to initiation, was but the symbol of the inward purity which should result from initiation. The duty of the mystagogues was to see that the candidates were in a state of physical cleanliness and to see that that condition was maintained throughout the ceremony. According to the inscriptions there appear to have been temples or buildings set apart for the cleansing of candidates from special impurities. After initiation into the Lesser Mysteries the neophyte was permitted to go as far as the outer vestibule of the temple. In the following autumn, if of full age, he could be initiated into the Greater Mysteries, into the second degree, that of mysta. This, however, did not entitle the recipients of that honour to join in all the acts of worship or to witness the whole of the ceremonial at Eleusis. A further year had to elapse before the third degree could be taken, before they could become epoptae, and see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears the whole of the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries were celebrated at Athens on the hill of Agra, to the right of the Stadium in a temple dedicated to Demeter and Persephone. Occasionally when the number of candidates was very large the Lesser Mysteries were celebrated twice in the year in order to give those too late for the ceremony in Anthesterion another opportunity before the Greater Mysteries were held.

 

At the next celebration of the Greater Mysteries, after having sacrificed to Demeter, the initiate received the second degree and became numbered among the mystae. The preliminary to this degree was bathing in the river Ilissus, after which the Daduchos instructed each candidate to place the left foot on the skin of an animal which had been sacrificed to Zeus, in which position the oath of secrecy was taken. Jevons, in his Introduction to the Study of Religion, says that no oath was demanded of the initiated but that silence was observed generally as an act of reverence rather than as an act of purposed concealment. There seems, however, to be conclusive evidence that an oath of secrecy was demanded and taken, at any rate, in the second and third degrees, if not in the first. Moreover, there are on record several prosecutions of citizens for having broken the pledge of secrecy they had given. Aeschylus was indicted for having disclosed in the theatre certain details of the Mysteries, and he only escaped punishment by proving that he had never been initiated and could not therefore have violated any obligation of secrecy. A Greek scholiast says that in five of his tragedies Aeschylus spoke of Demeter and therefore may be supposed in these cases to have touched upon subjects connected with the Mysteries; and Heraclides of Pontus says that on this account he was in danger of being killed by the populace if he had not fled for refuge to the altar of Dionysos and then begged off by the Areopagites and acquitted on the ground of his exploits at Marathon. An accusation was brought against Aristotle of having performed a funeral sacrifice in honour of his wife in imitation of the Eleusinian ceremonies. Alcibiades was charged with mimicking the sacred Mysteries in one of his drunken revels, when he represented the hierophant; Theodorus, one of his friends, represented the herald; and another, Polytion, that of the torch- bearer; the other companions attending as initiates and being addressed as Mystae. The information against him ran:

 

Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the ward of Laeais, accuseth Aleibiades, the son of Clinias, of the ward of Seambonis, of sacrilegiously offending the goddess Ceres and her daughter Persephone by counterfeiting their Mysteries and shewing them to his companions in his own house, wearing such a robe as the high priest does when he shows the holy things; he called himself high priest, as did Polytion, torch-bearer; and Theodorus, of the ward of Phygea, herald; and the rest of his companions he called persons initiated and Brethren of the Secret; therein acting contrary to the rules and ceremonies established by the Eumolpides, the heralds and priests at Eleusis.

 

Alcibiades did not appear in answer to the charge, was condemned in his absence and his goods were confiscated. There was quite a panic about this time B. C. 415. Many prominent citizens, Andocides included, were prosecuted. He was included in the indictment against Alcibiades. "This man," said his accuser, "vested in the same costume as a hierophant, has shown the sacred objects to men who were not initiated and has uttered words it is not permissible to repeat." Andocides admitted the charge, turned king's evidence, and named himself and certain others as the culprits. He was rewarded with a free pardon under a decree which Isotmides had issued but those whom he named were put to death or outlawed and their goods confiscated. Andocides afterwards entered the temple and was charged with breaking the law in so doing. He defended himself before a court of heliasts, all of whom had been initiated into the Mysteries, the president of the Court being the Archon Basileus. The indictment was lodged by Cephisius, the chief prosecutor, with the Archon Basileus during the celebration of the Greater Mysteries, when Andocides was at Eleusis. He was acquitted and it is asserted that Cephisius failed to obtain one-fifth of the votes of the Court, the consequence being that he had to pay a fine of 1,000 drachmae and to suffer permanent exclusion from the Eleusinian shrine.

 

Diagiras was accused of railing at the sanctity of the Mysteries of Eleusis in such a manner as to deter persons from seeking initiation and a reward of one talent was offered to any one who should kill him or two talents to anyone who should bring him alive.

 

An ancient theme of oratorical composition and one set even in the sixth century of the Christian era was:

 

The law punishes with death whoever has disclosed the Mysteries: some one to whom the initiation has been revealed in a dream asks one of the initiated if what he has seen is in conformity with reality: the initiate acquiesces by a movement of the head: and for that he is accused of impiety.

 

Every care, therefore, was taken to prevent the secrecy of the Mysteries from becoming known to all save initiates. They have, however, come to light in a great measure through the ancient writings and inscriptions. Step by step and piece by piece the diligent researcher has been rewarded by the discovery of disconnected and isolated fragments which, by themselves, supply no precise information, but, taken in the aggregate, form a perfect mosaic. Though it was strictly forbidden to reveal what took place within the sacred enclosure and in the Hall of Initiation it was permissible to state clearly the object of initiation and the advantages to be derived from the act. Not only was the breaking of the pledge of secrecy given by an initiate visited with severe, sometimes even capital, punishment, but the forcing of the temple enclosure by the uninitiated, as happened sometimes, was an offence of equally heinous character. By virtue of the unwritten laws and customs dating back to the most remote periods the penalty of death was frequently pronounced for faults not grave in themselves, but solely because they concerned religion. It was probably by virtue of those unwritten laws that the priests ordered the death of two young Arcanians who had penetrated, through ignorance, into the sacred precincts. This was in B. C. 200 and Rome made war upon Philip V of Macedonia on the complaint of the government of Athens against that king who wished to punish them for having rigorously applied the ancient laws to those two offenders, who were found guilty of entering the sanctuary at Eleusis, they not having been initiated. No judicial penalty, however, was meted out to the fanatical Epicurean eunuch, who, with the object of proving that the gods had no existence forced himself blaspheming into that part of the sanctuary into which the hierophant and hierophantide alone had the right of entry. Aelianus states that a divine punishment in the form of a disease alone overtook him. Horace declared that he would not risk his life by going on the water with a companion who had revealed the secret of the Mysteries.

 

One of the essential preliminaries to initiation into each degree was fasting. Two days prior to initiation into the second and third degrees were spent by the candidate in solitary retirement when a strict fast was observed. It was a "retreat" in the strictest sense of the word. Fasting was practised, not only in imitation of the sufferings of Demeter when searching for Persephone, but because of the danger of the contact of holy things with unholy, the clean with the unclean. Thus it was held that even to speak of the Mysteries to the uninitiated would be as dangerous as to allow such unclean persons to take part in the ceremonies. Hence the punishment meted out by the State was in lieu of, or to avert, the divine wrath which such pollution might bring on the community at large. At the entrance to the temple tablets were placed containing a list of forbidden foods. The list included several kinds of fish, including the whistle-fish, gurnet, crab and mullet. The whistle- fish and crab were held to be impure, the first because it laid its eggs through the mouth and the second because it ate filth which other fish rejected. The gurnet was rejected because of its fecundity as witnessed in its annual triple laying of eggs, but, according to some writers, it was rejected because it ate a fish which was poisonous to mankind. It is believed that other fish were forbidden but Prophyry was probably exaggerating when he says that all fish were interdicted. Birds bred at home, such as chickens and pigeons, were also on the banned list as were beans and certain vegetables which were forbidden for a mystic reason which Pausanias said he dared not reveal save to the initiated. The probable reason was that they were connected in some way with the wanderings of Demeter. Pomegranates were, of course, forbidden from the incident of the eating of the pomegranate seeds by Persephone.

 

The candidates were carefully instructed in these rules beforehand. Originally the instruction of the candidates was in the hands of the hierophant, who, following the example of his ancestor, Eumolpus, claimed the privilege of preparing the candidates as well as that of communicating to them the divine Mysteries. But the constantly increasing number of applicants made it necessary to employ auxiliary instructors, and this work was given over to the charge of the mystagogues, who prepared either one individual or a group of candidates, the hierophant reserving to himself the general direction of the instruction. In the course of the initiation ceremony certain words had to be spoken by the candidates and these were made known to them in advance, although, of course, apart from their context.

 

Admission to the second degree took place during the night between the sixth and seventh days of the celebration of the Mysteries, when they were led into the temple precincts and the second Archon opened the ceremony with prayers and sacrifices. The candidates were crowned with myrtle and on entering the building  an edifice so vast and capacious as to exceed in area the largest theatre of the period they purified themselves by immersing their hands in the consecrated water. The priests, vested in their sacerdotal garments, then came forward. During the first part of the ceremony the candidates were assembled in the outer hall of the temple, the temple proper being closed. Then a herald came forth and proclaimed: "Away from here all ye that are not purified, and whose souls have not been freed from sin." If any who were not votaries had by chance entered the precincts they now left for if discovered afterwards the punishment was death. In order to make certain that no intruders remained behind all who were present had to answer certain specified questions. Then all again immersed their hands in the consecrated water and renewed the pledge of secrecy. Next they took off their ordinary garments, and girded themselves with the skins of young does, whereupon the priests wished them joy of all the happiness their initiation would bring them and then went away. Within a few minutes the building was plunged in total darkness. Suddenly terrific peals of thunder resounded, shaking the very foundations of the temple; vivid flashes of lightning lit up the darkness and displayed fearful forms, while dreadful sighs, groans, and cries of pain resounded on all sides, like the shrieks of the condemned in Tartarus. The novices were taken hold of by invisible hands, their hair was torn, and they were beaten and thrown to the ground. At last a faint light became visible in the distance and a fearful scene appeared before their eyes. The gates of Tartarus were opened and the abode of the condemned lay before them. They could hear the cries of anguish and the vain regrets of those to whom Paradise was lost forever and could, moreover, witness their hopeless remorse. They saw, as well as heard, all the tortures of the condemned. The Furies, armed with relentless scourges and flaming torches, drove the unhappy victims incessantly to and fro, never letting them rest for a moment. Meanwhile the loud voices of the hierophant, who represented the judge of the world, was heard expounding the meaning of what was passing before them and warning and threatening the initiates. It may well be imagined that all these fearful scenes were so terrifying that very frequently beads of anguish appeared on the brows of the novices. At length the gates of Tartarus closed and the innermost sanctuary of the temple lay open before the initiates in dazzling light. In the midst stood the statue of the goddess Demeter brilliantly decked and gleaming with precious stones; heavenly music entranced their souls; a cloudless sky overshadowed them; fragrant perfumes arose; and in the distance the privileged spectators beheld flowering meads, where the blessed danced and amused themselves with innocent games and pastimes. Among others writers the scene is described by Aristophanes in The Frogs:

 

Heracles: The voyage is a long one. For you will come directly to a very big lake of abysmal depth.

 

Dionysos: Then how shall I get taken across it?

 

Heracles: In a little boat just so big; an old man who plies the boat will take you across for a fee of two oboles.

 

Dionysos: Oh dear! How very powerful those two oboles are all over the world. How did they manage to get here?

 

Heracles: Theseus brought them. After this you will see serpents and wild beasts in countless numbers and very terrible. Then a great slough and over-flowing dung; and in this you'll see lying anyone who ever yet at any place wronged his guest or beat his mother, or smote his father's jaw, or swore an oath and foreswore himself.... And next a breathing of flutes shall be wafted around you, and you shall see a very beautiful light, even as in this world, and myrtle groves, and happy choirs of men and women, and a loud clapping of hands.

 

Dionysos: And who are these people, pray?

 

Heracles: The initiated.  It was regarded as permissible to describe the scenes of the initiation, and this has been done by many writers, but a complete silence was demanded as to the means employed to realize the end, the rites and ceremonies in which the initiate took part, the emblems which were displayed, and the actual words uttered and the slightest divergence rendered the offender liable to the strongest possible condemnation and chastisement.

 

In the course of the ceremony the hierophant asked a series of questions to which written answers had been prepared and committed to memory by the candidates. Holy Mysteries were revealed to the initiates from a book called Petroma, a word derived from petra, a stone, and so called because the writings were kept enclosed between two cemented stones. The garments worn by the candidates during the initiation ceremony were accounted sacred, and equal with incantations and consecrated charms in their power to avert evils. Consequently, they were never cast off until torn and tattered. Nor was it usual, even then, to throw them away but it was customary to make them into twaddling clothes for children or to consecrate them to Demeter and Persephone.

 

Admission to the third degree took place during the night between the seventh and eighth days of the celebration of the Mysteries. This, the final degree with the exception of those called to be hierophants, was known as the degree of epoptie. Exactly in what the ceremonial consisted, save in one particular presently to be described, little is known. Hippolytus is practically the only authority for the main incident of the degree. Certain words and signs were communicated to the initiated which, when pronounced after death, were held to ensure the eternal happiness of the soul.

 

The most solemn part of the ceremony was that which has been described by some writers as the hierogamy or sacred marriage of Zeus and Demeter, although some have mistakenly referred to it as the marriage of Pluto and Proserphine. During the celebration of the Mysteries the hierophant and the hierophantide descended into a cave or deep recess and, after remaining there for a time, returned to the assembly, surrounded seemingly by flames, the hierophant displaying to the gaze of the initiated an ear of corn and exclaiming in a loud voice: "The divine Brimo has Wiven birth to the holy child Brimos: the strong has Drought forth strength."

 

"The Athenians," says Hippolytus, "in the initiation of Eleusis show to the epoptes the great, admirible, and most perfect mystery of the epoptie: an ear of corn gathered in silence." The statement is so clear as to leave no doubt whatever on the subject; indeed, it has never been called into question. The presentation of the ear of corn was part of the Mysteries of Eleusis and it was reserved for the epoptes.

 

Much has been made of this incident by many who can see no beauty in pre-Christian or non-Christian forms of religion, their comments being based mainly on a statement of St. Gregory Nazianus, who stands alone in discerning lewdness in the Eleusinian ceremonial. He says:

 

It is not in our religion that you will find a seduced Cora, a wandering Demeter, a Keleos, and a Triptolemos appearing with serpents; that Demeter is capable of certain acts and that she permits others. I am really ashamed to throw light on the nocturnal orgies of the initiations. Eleusis knows as well as the witnesses the secret of this spectacle, which is with reason kept so profound.

 

Apart from this isolated statement the Eleusinian Mysteries have not been charged as many ancient rites were with promoting immorality. In his account of the doings of the false prophet Alexander of Abountichos, Lucian describes how the impostor instituted rites which were a close parody of those at Eleusis and he narrates the details of the travesty. Among the mimetic performances were not only the Epiphany and birth of a god but the enactment of a sacred marriage. All preliminaries were gone through and Lucian says that but for the abundance of lighted torches the marriage would actually have been consummated. The part of the hierophant was taken-by the false prophet himself. From the travesty it is evident that in the genuine Mysteries in silence, in darkness, and in perfect chastity the sacred marriage was enacted and that immediately afterwards the hierophant came forth and standing in a blaze of torchlight made the announcement to the initiates. 'When came the words from the hierophant:

 

I have tasted, I have drunk "cyceon." I have taken from the cystus and after having tasted of it I placed it in the calathos. I again took it from the calathos and put it back in the cistus.

 

This formula, notwithstanding its length, became the "pass word" of the perfect initiate.

 

Dr. Jevons maintains that this ear of corn was the totem of Eleusis and this view has been adopted by M. Reinach who says:

 

We find in the texts a certain trace not only of the cult but of the adoration and the exaltation (in the Christian meaning of the word) of the ear of corn.

 

But he has omitted to quote the texts on which he relies for this assertion. It would be interesting to know why among all the plants which die and revive in the course of a year, wheat was chosen for preference, why the ear more than the grain, why it should be emphasized that it was gathered, for what reason the spectacle was reserved for the epoptae and in what manner it secures or ensures for the individual a blissful existence after death. The demonstration presupposes that the preceding rites and ceremonies were leading up to this supreme display. This practically ended the third degree save that then the epoptae were placed upon exalted seats around which the priests circled in mystic dances. The day succeeding admission into the final degree was regarded as a rigorous fast at the conclusion of which the epoptae also drank of the mystic kukeon and ate of the sacred cakes.

 

The Greeks laid great stress upon the advantages to be derived from initiation. Not only were the initiates under the protection of the State but the very act of initiation was said to assist in the spreading of good will among men, keep the soul free from sin and crime, place men under the special protection of the gods, and provide them with the means of attaining perfect virtue, the power of living a spotless life, and assure them of a peaceful death and everlasting bliss hereafter. The priests assured all who participated in the Mysteries that they would have a higher place in Elysium, a clearer understanding, and a more intimate intercourse with the gods, whereas the uninitiated would always remain in outer darkness. Indeed, in the final degree the epoptae were said to be admitted to the presence of and converse with the goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Initiates were placed under the immediate care and protection of the goddess Demeter. Initiation was referred to frequently as a guarantee of salvation conferred by outward and visible signs and by sacred formulae.

 

 According to Theo of Smyrna the full or complete initiation consisted of five steps or degrees:

 

Again, philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred ceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are five parts of initiation; the first of which is previous purgation; for neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive them, but there are certain characters who are prevented by the voice of the crier, such as those who possess impure hands and an articulate voice, since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain purgations, hut after purgation the tradition of the sacred rite succeeds. The third part is denominated inspection. And the fourth which is the end and design of inspection is the binding of the head and fixing the crown: so that the initiated may, by this means, he enabled to communicate to others the sacred rites in which he has been instructed; whether after this he becomes a torchbearer, or an interpreter of the Mysteries, or sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth which is produced from all these, is friendship with divinity, and the enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with the gods. According to Plato purification is to be derived from the five mathematical disciplines, viz., arithmetic, geometry, steretometry, music, and astronomy.

 

The fee for initiation was a minimum sum of fifteen drachmas, in addition to which there were the usual honoraria to be bestowed towards the various officiating ministers to which reference has already been made. Presumably, also, gifts in kind were made annually to the principal clergy for an inscription of the fifth century B. C. found at Eleusis reads:

 

Let the hierophant and the torch-bearer command that at the mysteries the Hellenes shall offer first-fruits of their crops in accordance with ancestral usage.... To those who do these things there shall be many good things, both good and abundant crops, whoever of them do not injure the Athenians, nor the city of Athens, nor the two goddesses.

 

The Telestrion or Hall of Initiation, sometimes called "The Mystic Temple," was a large, covered building, about 170 feet square. It was surrounded on all sides by steps which presumably served as seats for the initiated while the sacred dramas and processions took place on the floor of the hall. These steps were partly built up and partly cut in the solid rock: in latter times they appear to have been covered with marble. There were two doors on each side of the hall with the exception of the north-west where the entrance was cut out of the solid rock, a rock terrace at a higher level adjoining it. This was probably the station of those not yet admitted to full initiation. The roof of the hall was carried by rows of columns which were more than once renewed. The Hall itself did not accommodate more than 4,000 people. The building was, perhaps, more accurately designed by Aristophanes as "The house that welcomed the mystae." Strabo's phrase for it was "The holy enclosure of the mystae" and he carefully distinguishes it from the temple of Demeter. It was not the dwelling place of any god and, therefore, contained no holy image. It was built for the celebration of a definite ritual and the Eleusinian Hall of Initiation was therefore the only known church of antiquity if by that term we understand the meeting place of the congregation.

 

----o----

 

CLOSING

 

In the west at set of sun,

When the craftsmen's work is done

In the lodge;

To the westward, one by one,

Unworthy there are none

In the lodge;

And the warden pays the sum

That is due to ev'ry one,

In the lodge.

 

By the level, plumb and square,

And the aprons that we wear

When we meet,

On the level each will share

In the ancient lodgeroom there

As we act

By the plumb, you are aware

We are all upon the square,

When we part.

 

May heaven's blessings rest

On the hearts that are opprest,

Here and there;

May brotherly love prevail,

May our efforts never fail,

Is our prayer.

And in that lodge above,

Where joy and peace and love

We shall see,

The world's Redeemer there -

Our Master in the chair -

So mote it be.

 

- O. B. Slane, Illinois.

 

----o----

 

This earth would be changed into a paradise if, instead of hating, human beings loved; if, instead of speaking evil of one another, they spoke only good; if, instead of grasping and holding, they gave away. - James Stalker

 

----o----

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

BY BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN

 

THE minutes of Willamette Lodge No. 2, of Portland, Oregon, of the date of December 9th, 1853, show that Captain George B. McClellan, U.S.A., Second Lieutenant Henry C. Hodges, U.S.A., and Mr. J. F. Winter, a Civil Engineer in government employ, were initiated, passed and raised in that lodge under a dispensation issued by the Grand Master, John Elliott.

 

McClellan was a Captain of Engineers and prepared plans for most of the fortifications in that region. His work was so deeply appreciated that he was detailed to examine and report on the fortification of important parts of Europe, which work he amplified and which appeared in two volumes entitled "The Art of War in Europe," published by the government about 1860. As an engineer McClelland was at that time almost without a peer.

 

The equestrian memorial of the General, and its pedestal, are in bronze. It is situated at the intersection of Connecticut and California Avenues in Washington, D. C. The statue was modeled by Fred Monnies and is a most beautiful and splendid piece of work. It was built by authority of Congress at a cost of $50,000. The memorial was unveiled in 1906 without any ceremony whatever.

 

General McClellan commanded the Second Army Corps (the Army of the Potomac) which he organized and disciplined and which was the largest Army ever assembled up to that time. Its numbers were greatly increased, however, after General Grant had relieved General McClellan of the command.

 

General McClellan was popular not only in the Army but amongst the general public until he was nominated for the Presidency, when, as might be expected, political opponents availed themselves of the privilege of abuse. But, after nearly half a century had passed, when history had been revised and time had softened the invectives of his former opponents, Congress, in its wisdom, authorized the erection of this beautiful memorial to our modest soldier-brother, Major General McClellan.

 

----o----

 

LIFE'S STRANGENESS

 

BY BRO. H. L.HAYWOOD, IOWA

 

Now fall the evening shadows round about the trees,

And filter like a mist upon the solemn stream;

The solid rocks are touched with eerie mysteries;

The ground beneath my feet begin to sigh and dream;

The ground beneath my feet is fluttering like wings

For some unearthly touch is on these common things;

 

Is on the shrubs and grasses and on the rippled sands,

Is in the air about me and on the faded hill;

Ah, whence can be the coming of all those ghostly hands,

Which evening's twilight shadows with subtle magic fill?

Ah, whose can be those fountains behind the shadow's screen

From which is poured the glamour upon this common scene ?

 

'Tis vain to ask the "whither," 'tis vain to ask the "why";

No mortal ever guessed it, no mortal ever can;

Our lives are sunk in wonder and always will there ply

This subtle sense of magic about the soul of man.

For man hath never yet discovered once the key

Which opens to himself his own self's mystery.

 

We are compound of marbles and angels never knew

The reason for our being, the secret of our ways;

No angel ever guessed it nor ever mortal drew

From out the depths of being the reason for our days;

We are compound of shadow, of half lights, and of change,

And life is half a dreaming and whollv is it strange.

 

----o----

 

Nothing can work me damage, except myself. The harm that I sustain I carry about me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault. - St. Bernard.

 

----o----

 

MASONRY IN GENERAL

 

BY BRO. L. B. MITCHELL, MICHIGAN

 

Masonry, in general, is qualified in size,

It builds its Temples round the world where glow the kindly skies;

Where governments set boundaries, therein the Craftsman go

And rear the mystic canopies that shelter those who "know."

 

Masonry, in general, is qualified in kind

As something that is leading to and helping men to find

The Brother way that "carries on" to others yet the cheer

Who, by free will may in due form within its courts appear.

 

Masonry, in general, is qualified in soul,

Its spirit, all the world around pleads for a common goal,-

The time when nothing can divide save that which stains the heart .

When men can find each one his way, but all, within its Art.

 

Masonry, in general, is qualified in grace,

'Twould give to those who would be true their ever rightful place;

It would be tolerant to all upon the moral plane

That looks beyond and on and on to greater heights attain.

 

Masonry, in general, is qualified in heart,

It holds within its throb the key that opens to its Art,

'Tis qualified in every way, and that is saying trite

What otherwise somehow is hard to put in "black and white."

 

----o----

 

Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and the laughter abundant.

 

- Washington Irving.

 

----o----

 

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN No. 30

 

DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

 

Edited by Bro. H. L. Haywood

 

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS

 

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

 

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.

 

MAIN OUTLINE:

 

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:

 

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

 

A. The Work of the Lodge.

B. The Lodge and the Candidate.

C. First Steps.

D. Second Steps.

E. Third Steps.

 

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.

A. Clothing.

B. Working Tools.

C. Furniture.

D. Architecture.

E. Geometry.

F. Signs.

G. Words.

H. Grips.

 

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.

A. Foundations.

B. Virtues.

C. Ethics.

D. Religious Aspect.

E. The Quest.

F. Mysticism.

G. The Secret Doctrine.

 

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

 

A. The Grand Lodge.

1. Ancient Constitutions.

2. Codes of Law.

3. Grand Lodge Practices.

4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges.

5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

 

B. The Constituent Lodge.

1. Organization.

2. Qualifications of Candidates.

3. Initiation, Passing and Raising.

4. Visitation.

5. Change of Membership.

 

Division V. Historical Masonry.

 

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.

B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making.

C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.

D. National Masonry.

E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study.

F. Feminine Masonry.

G. Masonic Alphabets.

H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft.

I. Biographical Masonry.

J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

 

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

 

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Haywood, who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps" of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each installment, will be given a list of questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper.

 

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing upon the particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be presented.

 

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of the meetings and the brethren who are members of the National Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the discussions after they have read over and studied the installment in THE BUILDER.

 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

 

Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly papers in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to different brethren who may compile papers of their own from the material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

 

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

 

The lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three "live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month, either at a special meeting of the lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular meeting at which no business (except the lodge routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the study period.

 

After the lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the Chairman of the Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.

 

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

 

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper and the supplemental papers thereto.

 

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

 

2. Discussion of the above.

 

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and the supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and disposed of in the same manner. 4. Question Box.

 

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

 

Invite questions from any and all brethren present. Let them understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct their lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome all inquiries and communications from interested brethren concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to them, and the Services of our Study Club Department are at the command of our members, lodge and study club committees at all times.

 

QUESTIONS ON "THE MIDDLE CHAMBER IN SPECULATIVE MASONRY"

 

I In what light have you heretofore interpreted the existence of the "Middle Chamber" of Solomon's Temple as a literal fact or simply as a symbol ? What is Sir Charles Warren's opinion ? What is Mackey's opinion regarding it ? Do you agree with them ? If not, what reasons have you for disagreeing with them ?

 

II What is the modern biblical interpretation of the term "chamber" as used in the present connection ? How many such chambers were there in the Temple, and what were their uses ? Were they used as "paymaster's offices," or as chambers of instruction?

 

What is a "myth" ? Were our ceremonies contrived as vehicles for the conveyance of historical facts to candidates ? What thought should we continually bear in mind while pursuing our Masonic studies ?

 

III Of what is the Middle Chamber a symbol? What does it represent in the Second degree ritualism? How are we benefited by "learning" or education ?

 

What part does the Second degree occupy in Ancient Craft Masonry? Would the system have been complete without it? Have you gained a new conception of the Second degree from this section of Brother Haywood's present study paper from that which you formerly held of it ?

 

IV How were builders organized in medieval times, and for what purpose ? Why were they intrusted with signs, words and grips? Why were they called "operative" Masons?

 

Why were persons who had no connection with the building trades admitted into the Order prior to 1717? What attracted them to it? What was the result of their admittance?

 

V How does Brother MacBride describe the transition from operative to speculative Masonry?

 

What influence had the speculative element on the operative organization ?

 

What did the non-operative element undertake to do after their acceptance into the organization, according to Brother Waite ? How were Kabalistic and Rosicrucian ideas and symbolisms introduced into the Order?

 

VI What did Speculative Masonry inherit from the operatives? Was all of our philosophy and mysticism handed down from the operatives ?

 

What was the work of the operative Mason, and what were his wages? What is the work of the speculative Mason, and what are his wages?

 

Do you believe with those who claim that the race cannot be improved; that because evils of one kind and another have always existed, that they are always to remain with us? What is the mission of Masonry ?

 

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

 

Mackey's Encyclopedia:

 

Middle Chamber, p. 483.

 

THE BUILDER:

 

Vol. IV. What a Fellow Craft Ought to Know, p. 178; Symbolism of the Three Degrees, p. 267.

 

SECOND STEPS BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD

 

PART V THE MIDDLE CHAMBER IN SPECULATIVE MASONRY

 

I WHAT the Middle Chamber is a symbol, and not a bit of history, there is every evidence to show. Sir Charles Warren, while Master of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, gave expression to the opinion of the best modern scholars in saying that "There was never a Middle Chamber in the Temple. . . As the Fellow Crafts were only employed during the building of the Temple, they could not have used this chamber for the service mentioned (you will recall, reader, what this service is supposed to have been) even if it had existed.... Even if this chamber had existed they would not have been allowed to desecrate it by use as a pay office."

 

Albert Mackey, who was one of the most conservative of men, and who wrote his "Symbolism of Freemasonry" some twenty years before Brother Warren delivered his speech, took the same position. As we may read in that work, "The whole legend is, in fact, an historical myth, in which the mystical number of the steps, the process of passing to the chamber, and the wages there received, are inventions added to or ingrafted on the fundamental history contained in the sixth chapter of Kings, to inculcate important symbolic instruction relative to the principle of the Order."

 

II

 

The passage in the book of Kings to which Mackey here refers, is in the authorized version of the bible as follows: "They went up with winding stairs into the Middle Chamber." Modern biblical scholarship has shown that the term here translated "chamber" really means a "story" and that there were three such stories on one side of the Temple composed of small rooms in which the priests kept their vestments, utensils, etc. That workmen were paid their wages in this middle story, or that Fellow Crafts were there prepared for a higher grade, there is not a hint in the record to show. This account of the matter, as Mackey has said, is "an historical myth."

 

But what of it ? A myth has been defined as "philosophy in the making." It is an allegorical piece of fiction designed to convey some abstract teaching. The purpose of our ceremonies is not to furnish history but truth, and that truth is nowise affected by the accuracy or inaccuracy of the narrative behind which it is veiled. To remember this in all connections will save one from those pitfalls of literalism into which so many earlier Masonic students fell.

 

III When understood simply as a symbol, the Middle Chamber stands for that place in life in which we receive the rewards of our endeavors. This is the broadest sense of it; its narrower sense, as found in the Second degree lecture, is that it represents the wages of education, of mental culture, for learning is described as the peculiar work of the Fellow Craft. Learning stores the mind with facts, preserves one from bigotry and superstition, offers to one the fellowships of great minds, quickens perception, strengthens the faculties, gives one, in short, a masterful intellect. It is into the possession of such riches as these that the Winding Stairs of the Liberal Arts and Sciences brings a man at last.

 

We may rejoice that William Preston gave this teaching so large a place in our lectures, for without it Masonry would have been wholly inadequate as a complete system of life. Ignorance is a sin, in most cases at least, and the sooner we thus regard it the better it will be for all of us, Masons and profane. In olden days when men had so few opportunities for learning it was inevitable that the common man should be ignorant; but in these days with public schools, correspondence schools, cheap books and periodicals, and free libraries, a man who remains content with not possessing the best that has been thought and said in the world is wholly without excuse. Always and everywhere men should have in the house of life a winding stair of art and science up which to climb into a middle chamber wherein to hold converse with the good and great of all ages !

 

IV In medieval times the builders were organized into a secret fraternity composed of separate lodges for the purpose of self- protection and for preserving the secrets of the trade, and men were given words, grips and tokens on their admittance to a lodge. This fraternity had an ancient traditional history and it used its tools and trade processes as emblems and symbols whereby to teach a code of morality far above the average ethical standards of the time. This was called operative Masonry because its followers were engaged in the work of actual building.

 

At the time of the Reformation ecclesiastical building, in which the Freemasons were mostly engaged, fell into a decline and during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the operative lodges began to receive a large number of members who had no intention of engaging in practical building, but were attracted by the history and symbolism of the Order. In course of time this speculative element outnumbered the operative so that, at the Revival of 1717, Masonry became a wholly speculative body.

 

The details of this picture may be filled out by a remarkable paragraph in Brother MacBride's "Speculative Masonry" (page 124):

 

"The view we wish to consider is, that down through the Roman Collegia and the medieval craft gilds, along with certain traditions, there was probably transmitted some of the symbolism of the Ancient Mysteries, and that the great quickening of intellectual life in the sixteenth century, resulting from the social and political upheaval of the Reformation, gave new life and a more developed form to the symbolic speculative element within the old craft lodges. The mental activities of men had so long been dribbed, cabined and confined' under ecclesiastical rule that, having burst its bonds, it fairly revelled and rioted in all sorts of ways. Hence we find Cabalism, Theosophy, Alchemy and Astrology receiving attention and support from the learned scholars of the age.... The spirit of enquiry was rampant, and ill-directed as it was in many respects, it had on the whole a wonderfully stimulating effect.. Science, in all its branches, expanded and developed; literature, art, and social and political life acquired fresh vigor. It is from this period we can mark the presence of the speculative element in the old craft lodges. Our view is, that the seed of our present speculative system, lying latent in these old lodges, was quickened into life through the influence of the Reformation period and, later on, in 1717, developed into the present organized form."

 

On another page of the same work Brother MacBride gives a more specific description of the moral and symbolic germ in the craft gilds which later expanded into speculative Masonry:

 

"Taking the Old Charges and reading them over one cannot fail to be impressed with the moral precepts they contain, and how the speculative bulks over the purely operative parts. In every ease the Mason is charged first of all to be true to God, the king and to his fellows. Stealing and vice are explicitly named to be avoided. Falsehood and deceit are condemned and the general impression left after reading these ancient documents is that they are not those of a mere trades union or operative gild. There is an element in them, apart from and above the operative work, that refers to conduct and morals, and it is in this, more than anything else, that their relationship with modern Masonry shows itself. After all, what is the purpose of our speculative system but to shape life and conduct to noble ends."

 

V In the foregoing passages Brother MacBride takes the position that speculative Masonry is the expansion of a germ that lay in operative Masonry. Other writers, while holding to this, also believe that the nonoperatives, accepted during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, brought with them an entirely new element. Brother Arthur Edward Waite speaks for these writers in his little booklet "Deeper Aspects of Masonic Symbolism":

 

"The interest in operative Masonry and its records, though historically it is of course important, has preceded from the beginning on a misconception as to the aims and Symbolism of speculative Masonry. It was and it remains natural, and it has not been without its results. but it is a confusion of the chief issues. It should be recognized henceforth that the sole connection between the two arts and crafts rests on the fact that the one has undertaken to uplift the other from the material plane to that of morals on the surface, and of spirituality in the real intention.... My position is that the traces of symbolism which may in a sense be inherent in operative Masonry did not produce; by a natural development, the speculative art and craft, though they helped undoubtedly to make a possible and partially prepared field for the great adventure and experiment."

 

On another page of the same book Brother Waite contends that among the men who were accepted into the operative lodges were many "Latin-writing" scholars who brought with them ideas and symbolisms from Kabalism and Rosicrucianism. With this position Albert Pike and many other authorities are agreed.

 

Brother Waite's argument, it seems to me, does not contradict, but rather supplements Brother MacBride's position. If this be the case we may say that from operative Masonry our speculative system has received an organization, a moral element, and certain emblems and symbols derived from the building art; but there is an element of philosophy and mysticism in our ritual, in the Third degree more especially, derived from other sources.

 

VI Leaving for future articles a discussion of the mystical and philosophical element, we may examine here only the elements inherited from the operative gilds. The operative Mason used actual tools to erect structures of wood and stone; for this he received material wages. The speculative Mason uses moral, mental and spiritual forces to erect himself into a nobler manhood and society into a nobler Brotherhood; his wages consist in the enrichment of his own and his race's life.

 

These words are familiar enough to every Mason, indeed, they have become almost hackneyed and threadbare, but familiarity must not be permitted to blind us to the radical (I had almost said the revolutionary) character of this teaching. For it implies that human nature may be modified, reformed, regenerated; and the world, likewise.

 

The cry of the reactionary, the obstructionist, the ultra- conservative, has ever been, "As the world is, so it has always been, so it will ever be. Poverty, vice, ignorance these are fated things, built into the nature of the race, and can in no wise be improved." Against this position Masonry throws itself with all its weight, and contends that out of the stuff of the Present a nobler Future can be made; that a man's nature is plastic material out of which a better man can be fashioned; that the world of today is a rough quarry out of which may be hewn