The Final Fate of the Masonic Order

the matter. But Providence, which is inscrutable in its judgments, let something else happen. On November 27, 1778, in Augsburg, the Abbot Marotti is said to have explained the entire secret of Freemasonry—which, according to his claim, was based on ancient religious and church history—to Court Councilor Zwackh, and to have shared with him all the high degrees, up to those of the Scots The "Scottish" degrees (Schottengrade) refer to higher ranks in Freemasonry that go beyond the basic three levels of Apprentice, Companion, and Master.. Zwackh did not fail to immediately report his important discovery to Weishaupt, and to suggest to him a union of Illuminatism with the Masonic Order (*). Whether Zwackh was formally initiated as a Mason, or whether that conversation with Marotti took the place of an initiation; whether Weishaupt was actually admitted as a Freemason, or—which is more likely—merely feigned The original term affectirt implies pretending to have knowledge or status that one does not truly possess. knowledge of the matter and owed what he knew of Masonry solely to the reports given to him by Zwackh, his disciple, after Marotti’s discovery? All of this remains undecided (**). Enough; these two men de-

(*) In the same place, pp. 297, and 285, 303. original: ebendaselbste
(**) The author of the Critical History of the Illuminati Degrees, which is attached to the latest works of Spartacus and Philo Spartacus was the pseudonym of Adam Weishaupt, and Philo was the pseudonym of Baron Adolf von Knigge, the order's primary recruiter., is of the opinion (pp. 3–4) that Spartacus or Weishaupt became a Freemason as early as 1777, and Cato or Zwackh Cato was the pseudonym of Franz Xaver von Zwackh, a high-ranking government official and key member of the Illuminati. on November 27, 1778. As for Zwackh, regarding his initiation in the