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Article CliASSIOAL EEBEMASONRY, ← Page 2 of 11 →
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Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
. This was accomplished without difficulty by the first performers in this art , because they were themselves employed in the occupation which they describe . They contented themselves with painting in the simplest ' -language the external beauties of nature , and with conveying an image of that age in which men generally lived on the footing of equality—they met on the level and parted on the
square . In succeeding ages , when manners became more polished , tod the refinements of luxury were substituted in place of the simplicity of nature , men were still fond of retaining an idea of this happy period . *
Though we must acknowledge that the poetic representations of a golden age are chimerical , and that descriptions of this kind were not always measured by the standard of truth , yet it must be allowed , at the same time , that , at a period when manners were uniform and natural , the eclogue—whose principal excellence lies in exhibiting simple and lively pictures of common objects and common
characters—was brought at once to a state of greater perfection by the persons who introduced it , than it could have arrived at in a more improved and enlightened era . It was , therefore , to lyrical poetry that the philosophical axioms and moral ethics so conspicuous in Freemasonry owe their adornment . The poet in this branch of his art proposed ' a , s his nrineiDal aim , to' * " excite admiration : and his art proposedas his principal aimto excite admiration ; and his
, , mind , without the assistance of critical skill , was left to the unequal task of presenting succeeding ages with the rudiments of science . The lyric poet took a more diversified and extensive range than the pastoral poet . The former ' s imagination required a strong and steady rein to correct its vehemence and restrain its rapidity . Though ,
therefore , we can conceive without difficulty that the latter in his poetic effusions might contemplate only the external objects which were presented to him , yet we cannot so readily belieTe that the mind , in framing a theogony , or in assigning distinct provinces to the powers who were supposed to preside over nature , could , in its first essays , proceed with so calm and deliberate a pace through the fields of invention .
It will be necessary to briefly sketch over the period in Grecian history before the advent of Orpheus , that great reformer , who introduced the celebrated mysteries which were called after him , and in which so many points of resemblance are to be found in modern Freemasonry .
m 1 .-I I * . < /* y-M i % i /» . il The inhabitants of Greece , who make so eminent a figure in the records of science as well as in the history of the progression of empire , were originally a savage and lawless people , who lived in a state of war with one another , and possessed a desolate country
* Elle ne doit pas a ' en tenir a la simple representation du . vrai r < 3 el , qui rarement seroit agreeable ; elle doit s '< 51 ever jusqu ' au vraiid 6 al , qui tend h embellir le vrai , tel qu'il est dans la nature , et qui produit dans la po < 5 sie comme dans la peinture Je dernier point de perfection , etc . —" Mem . de Lit . " uhi sup .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
. This was accomplished without difficulty by the first performers in this art , because they were themselves employed in the occupation which they describe . They contented themselves with painting in the simplest ' -language the external beauties of nature , and with conveying an image of that age in which men generally lived on the footing of equality—they met on the level and parted on the
square . In succeeding ages , when manners became more polished , tod the refinements of luxury were substituted in place of the simplicity of nature , men were still fond of retaining an idea of this happy period . *
Though we must acknowledge that the poetic representations of a golden age are chimerical , and that descriptions of this kind were not always measured by the standard of truth , yet it must be allowed , at the same time , that , at a period when manners were uniform and natural , the eclogue—whose principal excellence lies in exhibiting simple and lively pictures of common objects and common
characters—was brought at once to a state of greater perfection by the persons who introduced it , than it could have arrived at in a more improved and enlightened era . It was , therefore , to lyrical poetry that the philosophical axioms and moral ethics so conspicuous in Freemasonry owe their adornment . The poet in this branch of his art proposed ' a , s his nrineiDal aim , to' * " excite admiration : and his art proposedas his principal aimto excite admiration ; and his
, , mind , without the assistance of critical skill , was left to the unequal task of presenting succeeding ages with the rudiments of science . The lyric poet took a more diversified and extensive range than the pastoral poet . The former ' s imagination required a strong and steady rein to correct its vehemence and restrain its rapidity . Though ,
therefore , we can conceive without difficulty that the latter in his poetic effusions might contemplate only the external objects which were presented to him , yet we cannot so readily belieTe that the mind , in framing a theogony , or in assigning distinct provinces to the powers who were supposed to preside over nature , could , in its first essays , proceed with so calm and deliberate a pace through the fields of invention .
It will be necessary to briefly sketch over the period in Grecian history before the advent of Orpheus , that great reformer , who introduced the celebrated mysteries which were called after him , and in which so many points of resemblance are to be found in modern Freemasonry .
m 1 .-I I * . < /* y-M i % i /» . il The inhabitants of Greece , who make so eminent a figure in the records of science as well as in the history of the progression of empire , were originally a savage and lawless people , who lived in a state of war with one another , and possessed a desolate country
* Elle ne doit pas a ' en tenir a la simple representation du . vrai r < 3 el , qui rarement seroit agreeable ; elle doit s '< 51 ever jusqu ' au vraiid 6 al , qui tend h embellir le vrai , tel qu'il est dans la nature , et qui produit dans la po < 5 sie comme dans la peinture Je dernier point de perfection , etc . —" Mem . de Lit . " uhi sup .