From the "Breviarum ad usum fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorium in Hispania ; cum calendario praemisso." Presented by Francisco de Poias, Spanish Ambassador at the Emperors court, to Isabella of Castille, Queen of Spain and Sicily, on the occasion of the marriage (arranged by him) of the Infante Don Juan to the Archduchess Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, in April, 1497. Now in the British Museum. Additional MSS., No. 18,851.
The Legend of the Quatuor Coronati
The Legend of the Quatuor Coronati is very interesting to Freemasons because in the legend, as in the Arundel MS.a transcript of the more important portions of which followsthe Quatuor were originally four Craftsmen by name Claudius, Castorius, Simphorianus, and Nicostratus, "mirificos in arte quadrataria," which though it is translated the "art of carving," is literally "the stone-squarers art," or the art of stone-squaring. They are distinctly called "artifices," artificers, although as the legend shows us, to the four artificers are joined four milites; whilst one Simplicius, converted to Christianity by the four during the progress of events narrated by the legend, is added to the stone-squarers, making nine in all. They are declared to be Christians, "occulte," secretly. Diocletian ordered an image of Æsculapius to be made, and after a contest and dialogue with "quinque Philosophi" Simphorianus, who appears to be the leader and spokesman, adds Simplicius to the numbernow fiveand refuses, on their behalf and with their consent, to make the image. They are brought before Lampadius the Tribune, who after reference to Diocletian orders them to be stripped and beaten with scorpions, "scorpionibus mactari," and then, by Diocletians order; they were place in "loculi plumbei," leaden coffins, and cast into the Tiber.
A certain Nicodemus is said to have raised the coffins and taken them to his own house; levavit says the legend.
Two years afterwards Diocletian ordered the soldiers to pay homage to a Statue of Æsculapius, but four "Cornicularii," or wing-leaders of the city militia, refused. They were ordered to be put to death in front of the image of Æsculapius by strokes of the Plumbata, "ictu plumbatarum." and their bodies cast into the streets to the dogs, where they lay five days.
The Arundel Legend is taken from a fine MS. of the 12th century, in the British Museum. Its proper reference is Ar: MSS., 91, f. 2186. There is another copy of the legend in the British Museum, Harleian MSS., No. 2802, f 99. There is also a short notice of the Quatuor Coronati in Regius MS., 8, c, 7 f 165, of the 14th century. [p. 78-9.]