er,
a moment is certain to arrive when the ambitions of the leaders come
into conflict. This is the history of every revolutionary organization
during the last 150 years. It was when the inevitable climax had been
reached between Weishaupt and Knigge that "Philo" wrote to "the most
loving Cato" in the following terms:

It is not Mahomed and A. who are so much to blame for my break with
Spartacus, as the Jesuitical conduct of this man which has so often
turned us against each other in order to rule despotically over
men, who, if they have not perhaps such a rich imagination as
himself, also do not possess so much cuteness and cunning,
etc.[589]

In a further letter Philo goes on to enumerate the services he has
rendered to Weishaupt in the past:

At the bidding of Spartacus I have written against ex-Jesuits and
Rosicrucians, persecuted people who never did me any harm, thrown
the _Stricte Observance_ into confusion, drawn the best amongst
them to us, told them of the worthiness of (*), of its power, its
age, the excellence of its Chiefs, the blamelessness of its higher
leaders, the importance of its knowledge, and given great ideas of
the uprightness of its views; those amongst us who are now working
so actively for us but cling much to religiousness [_sehr an
Religiositat kleben_] and who feared our intention was to spread
Deism, I have sought to persuade that the higher Superiors had
nothing less than this intention. Gradually, however, I shall work
it as I please [_nach und nach wirke ich dock was ich will_]. If I
now were to ... give a hint to the Jesuits and Rosicrucians as to
who is persecuting them ... if I were to make known (to a few
people) the Jesuitical character of the man who leads perhaps all
of us by the nose, uses us for his ambitious schemes, sacrifices us
as often as his obstinacy requires, [if I were to make known to
them] what they have to fear from such a man, from such a machine
behind which perhaps Jesuits may be concealed or might conceal
themselves; if I were to assure those who seek for secrets that
they have nothing to expect; if I were to confide to those who hold
religion dear, the principles of the General; ... if I were to draw
the attention of the lodges to an association behind which the
Illuminati are concealed; if I were again to assoc