225 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
225 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
![]() |
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII March, 1935 No.3
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
THAT ANCIENT SQUARE
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
by: Unknown
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
What one symbol is most typical of Freemasonry as a whole? Mason and
|
|||
|
non-Mason alike, nine times out of ten, will answer, <20>The Square!<21>
|
|||
|
Many learned writers on Freemasonry have denominated the square as
|
|||
|
the most important and vital, most typical and common symbol of the
|
|||
|
ancient Craft. Mackey terms it <20>one of the most important and
|
|||
|
significant symbols.<2E> McBride said:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>-In Masonry or building, the great dominant law is the law of the
|
|||
|
square.<2E> Newton<6F>s words glow: <20>Very early the square became an
|
|||
|
emblem of truth, justice and righteousness, and so it remains to this
|
|||
|
day, though uncountable ages have passed. Simple, familiar,
|
|||
|
eloquent; it brings from afar a sense of wonder of the dawn, and it
|
|||
|
still teaches a lesson we find it hard to learn.<2E> Haywood speaks of:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Its history, so varied and so ancient, its use, so universal.<2E>
|
|||
|
MacKensie:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>An important emblem - passed into universal acceptance.<2E> In his
|
|||
|
encyclopedia, Kenning copied Mackey<65>s phrase. Klein reverently
|
|||
|
denominates it <20>The Great Symbol.<2E> I Kings, describing the Temple,
|
|||
|
states that <20>all the doors and the posts were square.<2E>
|
|||
|
It is impossible definitely to say that the square is the oldest
|
|||
|
symbol in Freemasonry; who may determine when the circle, triangle or
|
|||
|
square first impressed men<65>s minds? But the square is older than
|
|||
|
history. Newton speaks of the oldest building known to man: <20>- A
|
|||
|
prehistoric tomb found in the sands at Hieraconpolis, is already
|
|||
|
right angled.<2E>
|
|||
|
Masonically the word <20>square<72> has the same three meanings given the
|
|||
|
syllable by the world: (1) The conception of right angleness - our
|
|||
|
ritual tells us that the square is an angle of ninety degrees, or the
|
|||
|
fourth of a circle; (2) The builder<65>s tool, one of our working
|
|||
|
tools, the Master<65>s own immovable jewel; (3) That quality of
|
|||
|
character which has made <20>a square man<61> synonymous not only with a
|
|||
|
member of our Fraternity, but with uprightness, honesty and
|
|||
|
dependability.
|
|||
|
The earliest of the three meanings must have been the mathematical
|
|||
|
conception. As the French say, <20>it makes us furiously to think<6E> to
|
|||
|
reflect upon the wisdom and reasoning powers of men who lived five
|
|||
|
thousand years ago, that they knew the principles of geometry by
|
|||
|
which a square can be constructed.
|
|||
|
Plato, greatest of the Greek philosophers, wrote over the porch of
|
|||
|
the house in which he taught: <20>Let no one who is ignorant of
|
|||
|
geometry entry my doors.<2E> Zenocrates , a follower of Plato, turned
|
|||
|
away an applicant for the teaching of the Academy, who was ignorant
|
|||
|
of geometry, with the words: <20>Depart, for thou has not the grip of
|
|||
|
philosophy.<2E> Geometry is so intimately interwoven with architecture
|
|||
|
and building that <20>geometry, or Masonry, originally synonymous terms<6D>
|
|||
|
is a part of most rituals. The science of measurements is concerned
|
|||
|
with angles, the construction of figures, the solution of problems
|
|||
|
concerning both, and all the rest upon the construction of a right
|
|||
|
angle, the solutions which sprang from the Pythagorean Problem, our
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid,<2C> so prominent in the Master<65>s
|
|||
|
Degree.
|
|||
|
The ancient Greek name of the square was <20>gnomon,<2C> from whence comes
|
|||
|
our word <20>knowledge.<2E> The Greek letter <20>gamma<6D> formed like a square
|
|||
|
standing on one leg, the other pointing to the right - in all
|
|||
|
probability derived from the square, and <20>gnomon,<2C> in turn, derived
|
|||
|
from the square which the philosophers knew was at the root of their
|
|||
|
mathematics.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Democritus, old philosopher, according to Clement of Alexandria, once
|
|||
|
exulted: <20>In the construction of plane figures with proof, no one
|
|||
|
has yet surpassed me, not even the Harpedonaptae of Egypt.<2E>
|
|||
|
In the truth of his boast we have no interest, but much in the
|
|||
|
Harpedonaptae of Egypt. The names means, literally, <20>rope
|
|||
|
stretchers<EFBFBD> or <20>Rope fasteners.<2E> In the Berlin museum is a deed,
|
|||
|
written on leather, dating back to 2,000 B.C. which speaks of the
|
|||
|
work of rope stretchers; how much older rope stretching may be, as a
|
|||
|
means of constructing a square, is unknown, although the earliest
|
|||
|
known mathematical hand-book (that of Ahmes, who lived in the
|
|||
|
sixteenth or seventeenth Hyskos dynasty in Egypt, and is apparently a
|
|||
|
copy of a much older work which scholars trace back to 3400 B.C.),
|
|||
|
does not mention rope stretching as a means of square construction.
|
|||
|
Most students in school days learned a dozen ways of erecting one
|
|||
|
line perpendicular to another. It seems strange that any other
|
|||
|
people were ever ignorant of such simple mathematics. Yet all
|
|||
|
knowledge had a beginning. Masons learn of Pythagorean<61>s
|
|||
|
astonishment and delight at his discovery of the principle of the
|
|||
|
Forty-seventh Problem. Doubtless the first man who erected a square
|
|||
|
by stretching a rope was equally happy over his discovery.
|
|||
|
Researchers into the manner of construction of pyramids, temples and
|
|||
|
monuments in Egypt reveal a very strong feeling on the part of the
|
|||
|
builders for the proper orientation of their structures.
|
|||
|
Successfully to place the building so that certain points, corners or
|
|||
|
openings might face the sun or a star at a particular time, required
|
|||
|
very exact measurements. Among these, the laying down of the cross
|
|||
|
axis at a right angle to the main axis of the structure was highly
|
|||
|
important.
|
|||
|
It was this which the Harpedonaptae accomplished with a long rope.
|
|||
|
The cord was first marked off in twelve equal portions, possible by
|
|||
|
knots, more probably, by markers thrust into the body of the rope.
|
|||
|
The marked rope was then laid upon the line on which a perpendicular
|
|||
|
(right angle) was to be erected. The rope was pegged down at the
|
|||
|
third marker from the from one end, and another, four markers further
|
|||
|
on. This left two free ends, one three total parts long, one five
|
|||
|
total parts long. With these ends the Harpedonatae scribed two semi-
|
|||
|
circles. When the point where these two met, was connected to the
|
|||
|
first peg (three parts from the end of the rope, a perfect right
|
|||
|
angle, or square, resulted.
|
|||
|
Authorities have differed and much discussion has been had, on the
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>true form<72> of the Masonic square; whether a simple square should be
|
|||
|
made with legs of equal length, and marked with divisions into feet
|
|||
|
and inches, or with one keg longer than the other and marked as are
|
|||
|
carpenter<EFBFBD>s squares today. Mackey says:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>It is proper that its true form should be preserved. The French
|
|||
|
Masons have almost universally given it with one leg longer than the
|
|||
|
other, thus making it a carpenter<65>s square. The American Masons,
|
|||
|
following the delineations of Jeremy L. Cross, have, while generally
|
|||
|
preserving the equality of length in the legs, unnecessarily marked
|
|||
|
its surface with inches, thus making it an instrument for measuring
|
|||
|
length and breadth, which it is not. It is simply the <20>trying
|
|||
|
square<EFBFBD> of a stonemason, and has a plain surface, the sides embracing
|
|||
|
an angle of ninety degrees, and it is intended only to test the
|
|||
|
accuracy of the sides of a stone, and to see that its edges subtend
|
|||
|
the same angle.<2E>
|
|||
|
Commenting on this, the Editor of <20>the Builder<65> wrote (May, 1928):
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>This is one of the occasions when this eminent student ventured into
|
|||
|
a field beyond his own knowledge, and attempted to decide a matter of
|
|||
|
fact from insufficient data. For actually, there is not, and never
|
|||
|
has been, any essential difference between the squares used by
|
|||
|
carpenters and stone workers. At least not such difference as Mackey
|
|||
|
assumes. He seems to imply that French Masons were guilty of an
|
|||
|
innovation in making the square with unequal limbs. This is rather
|
|||
|
funny, because the French (and the Masons of Europe generally) have
|
|||
|
merely maintained the original form, while English speaking Masonry,
|
|||
|
or rather the designers of Masonic jewels and furnishings in English
|
|||
|
speaking countries, have introduced a new form for the sake,
|
|||
|
apparently, of its greater symmetry. From medieval times up till the
|
|||
|
end of the eighteenth century, all representations of Mason<6F>s squares
|
|||
|
show one limb longer than the other. In looking over the series of
|
|||
|
Masonic designs of different dates it is possible to observe the
|
|||
|
gradual lengthening of the shorter limb and the shortening of the
|
|||
|
longer one, till it is sometimes difficult to be certain at first
|
|||
|
glance if there is any difference between them.
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>There is absolute no difference in the use of the square in
|
|||
|
different crafts. In all the square is used to test work, but also
|
|||
|
to set it out. And a square with a graduated scale on it is at times
|
|||
|
just as great a convenience for the stonemason as for the carpenter.
|
|||
|
When workmen made their own squares there would be no uniformity in
|
|||
|
size or proportions, and very few would be graduated, though
|
|||
|
apparently this was sometimes done. It is rather curious that the
|
|||
|
cut which illustrates this article in Mackey<65>s Encyclopedia actually
|
|||
|
show a square with one limb longer than the other.<2E>
|
|||
|
It is to be noted that old operative squares were either made wholly
|
|||
|
of wood, or of wood and metal, as indeed, small try squares are made
|
|||
|
today. Having one leg shorter than the other would materially reduce
|
|||
|
the chance of accident destroying the right angle which was the tools
|
|||
|
essential quality . . So that authorities who believe our equal
|
|||
|
legged squares not necessarily <20>true Masonic squares<65> have some
|
|||
|
practical reasons for their convictions.
|
|||
|
It is of interest to recall McBride<64>s explanation of the <20>center<65> as
|
|||
|
used in English Lodges, and the <20>point within a circle,<2C> familiar to
|
|||
|
us. He traces the medieval <20>secret of the square<72> to the use of the
|
|||
|
compasses to make the circle from which the square is laid out.
|
|||
|
Lines connecting a point, placed anywhere on the circumference of a
|
|||
|
circle, to the intersection with the circumference cut by a straight
|
|||
|
line passing through the center of the circle, forms a perfect
|
|||
|
square. McBride believed that our <20>point within a circle<6C> was direct
|
|||
|
reference to this early operative method of correcting the angles in
|
|||
|
the wooden squares of operative cathedral builders, and that our
|
|||
|
present <20>two perpendicular lines<65> are a corruption of the two lines
|
|||
|
which connect points on the circle.
|
|||
|
The symbolism of the square, as we know it, is also very old; just
|
|||
|
how ancient, as impossible to say as the age of the tool or the first
|
|||
|
conception of mathematical <20>square-ness.<2E> In 1880 the Master of
|
|||
|
Ionic Lodge No. 1781, at Amot, China, speaking on Freemasonry in
|
|||
|
China said:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>From time immemorial we find the square and compasses used by
|
|||
|
Chinese writers to symbolize precisely the same phrases of moral
|
|||
|
conduct as in our system of Freemasonry. The earliest passage known
|
|||
|
to me which bears upon the subject is to be found in the Book of
|
|||
|
History embracing the period reaching from the twenty-fourth to the
|
|||
|
seventh century before Christ. There is an account of a military
|
|||
|
expedition where we read:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>Ye Officers of government, apply the Compasses!<21>
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>In another part of the same venerable record a Magistrate is spoken
|
|||
|
of as: <20>A man of the level, or the level man.<2E>
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>The public discourses of Confucius provide us with several Masonic
|
|||
|
allusions of a more or less definite character. For instance, when
|
|||
|
recounting his own degrees of moral progress in life, the Master
|
|||
|
tells us that only at seventy-five years of age could he venture to
|
|||
|
follow the inclinations of his heart without fear of <20>transgressing
|
|||
|
the limits of the square.<2E> This would be 481 B.C., but it is in the
|
|||
|
words of the great follower, Mencius, who flourished nearly two
|
|||
|
hundred years later, that we meet with a fuller and more impressive
|
|||
|
Masonic phraseology. In one chapter we are taught that just as the
|
|||
|
most skilled articifers are unable, without the aid of the square and
|
|||
|
compasses, to produce perfect rectangles or perfect circles, so must
|
|||
|
all men apply these tools figuratively to their lives, and the level
|
|||
|
and the markingline besides, if they would walk in the straight and
|
|||
|
even paths of wisdom, and keep themselves within the bounds of honor
|
|||
|
and virtue. In Book IV we read:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>The compasses and Square are the embodiment of the rectangular and
|
|||
|
the round, just as the prophets of old were the embodiment of the due
|
|||
|
relationship between man and man.<2E>
|
|||
|
In Book IV we find these words:
|
|||
|
<EFBFBD>The Master Mason, in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the
|
|||
|
compasses and the square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of
|
|||
|
wisdom must also make use of the compasses and the square.<2E>
|
|||
|
In the <20>Great Learning,<2C> admitted on all sides to date from between
|
|||
|
300 to 400 years before Christ, in Chapter 10, we read that a man
|
|||
|
should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should
|
|||
|
do unto him: <20>this,<2C> adds the writer, <20>is called the principle of
|
|||
|
acting on the square.<2E>
|
|||
|
Independently of the Chinese, all peoples in all ages have thought of
|
|||
|
this fundamental angle, on which depends the solidity and lasting
|
|||
|
quality of buildings, as expressive of the virtues of honesty,
|
|||
|
uprightness and morality. Confucius, Plato, the Man of Galilee,
|
|||
|
stating the Golden Rule in positive form, all make the square an
|
|||
|
emblem of virtue.
|
|||
|
In this very antiquity of the Craft<66>s greatest symbol is a deep
|
|||
|
lesson; the nature of a square is as unchanging as truth itself. It
|
|||
|
was always so, it will always be so. So, also, are those principles
|
|||
|
of mind and character symbolized by the square; the tenets of the
|
|||
|
builder<EFBFBD>s guild expressed by a square. They have always been so,
|
|||
|
they will always be so. From their very nature they must ring as
|
|||
|
true on the farthest star as here.
|
|||
|
So will Freemasonry always read it, that its gentle message perish
|
|||
|
not from the earth!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|