[337] Forestier, op. cit., p. 61.
[338] Ibid., pp. 61–64.
[339] Forestier, op. cit., p. 64.
[340] Ibid., p. 65.
[341] Ibid.
[342] Ibid., p. 66. It was in the mind of Weishaupt to make a sort of free university out of this grade. He himself declared: “In der nächsten Klasse [i. e., Minervals], dächte ich also eine Art von gelehrter Academie zu errichten: in solcher wird gearbeitet, an Karakteren, historischen, und lebenden, Studium der Alten, Beobachtungsgeist, Abhandlungen, Preisfragen, und in specie mache ich darinnen jeden zum Spion des andern und aller. Darauf werden die Fähigen zu den Mysterien herausgenommen, die in dieser Klasse etliche Grundsätze und Grunderfordernisse zum menschlichen glückseligen Leben sind.” (Quoted by Engel from Weishaupt’s correspondence with Zwack, p. 76.) The grade Minerval is therefore to be regarded as designed to supply the opportunity par excellence for imparting the revolutionary ideas of which the founder of the order boasted. Under the direction of their superiors the Minervals were to continue the study of the humanities which they began as Novices; they were to study the works of the ancients, to prepare dissertations upon subjects in those fields to which their special talents were suited, etc.,—in a word, to show themselves worthy of membership in an academy of savants. Cf. Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, p. 216. Cf. Forestier, op. cit., p. 74. Weishaupt entertained extremely ambitious notions of a system of special libraries under the control of the order, and in which the literary and scientific productions of the order should be assembled and preserved. Cf. Der ächte Illuminat, p. 46.
[343] Forestier, op. cit., p. 66.
[344] The fantastic element in Weishaupt’s mind is well illustrated at this point. In view of the fact that he particularly sought the recruitment of youths between the ages of 15 and 20 years (cf. Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, p. 261), it is difficult to see the possibility of sustained satisfaction in such associations. We shall see later that Baron Knigge substantially modified the character of the organization in this particular. Weishaupt did not scruple to employ outright deception with reference to the reputed age and power of the order to enhance in the minds of the members the sense of the value of these secret associations. Forestier, op. cit., p. 82.
[345] Ibid., p. 66.
[346] Der ächte Illuminat, p. 94. The notion that the supreme heads of the order, whose identity of course was concealed from the members, were individuals of exceptional purity, was kept before the minds of the “illuminated” Minervals as an added incentive.