评论
打印
The year was 1776. In Bavaria, new ideals of rationalism, religious freedom, and universal human rights
在1776年的巴伐利亚，理性主义、宗教自由和世界人权的新理想
competed with the Catholic church's heavy influence over public affairs.
与天主教会对公共事务的巨大影响相抗衡。
Across the Atlantic, a new nation staked its claim for independence on the basis of these ideas.
在大西洋彼岸，一个新国家基于此发布了独立宣言。
But back in Bavaria, law professor Adam Weishaupt's attempts to teach secular philosophy continued to be frustrated.
而在巴伐利亚，法学教授亚当·魏萨普尝试讲授世俗哲学，但仍然挫折连连。
Weishaupt decided to spread his ideas through a secret society that would shine a light on the shortcomings of the Church's ideology.
魏萨普决定通过一个秘密社团来传播他的思想，这将让教会的意识形态缺点显露无疑。
He called his secret society the Illuminati.
他称该秘密团体称为光明会。
Weishaupt modelled aspects of his secret society off a group called the Freemasons.
魏萨普模仿共济会的模式，组建了其秘密社团。
Originally an elite stoneworkers' guild in the late Middle Ages,
共济会原是中世纪晚期的一个精英石匠工会，
the Freemasons had gone from passing down the craft of masonry to more generally promoting ideals of knowledge and reason.
已经从传承石工技术发展到更普遍地推广知识和理性理想。
Over time, they had grown into a semi-secret, exclusive order
随着时间的流逝，发展为半公开的排他性组织，
that included many wealthy and influential individuals, with elaborate, secret initiation rituals.
其中包括许多富有和有影响力的人，具有精心设计的秘密入会仪式。
Weishaupt created his parallel society while also joining the Freemasons and recruiting from their ranks.
魏萨普在加入共济会的同时，创建了自己的并行社团，并从他们的队伍中招募成员。
He adopted the code name Spartacus for himself, after the famed leader of the Roman slave revolt.
他使用了在罗马奴隶起义中著名领袖斯巴达克斯作为自己的代号。
Early members became the Illuminati's ruling council, or Areopagus.
早期成员组成了光明会的统治委员会。
One of these members, Baron Adolph Knigge, was also a freemason, and became an influential recruiter.
共济会成员巴伦·阿道夫·科尼格男爵是光明会成员之一，他成为了有影响力的招募者。
With Knigge's help, the Illuminati expanded their numbers, gained influence within several Masonic chapters, and incorporated Masonic rituals.
在科尼格的帮助下，光明会迅速壮大，在共济会的几个分会中赢得了声誉，并纳入了共济会的仪式。
By 1784, there were over 600 members, including influential scholars and politicians.
到1784年，已有600多名成员，其中包括有影响力的学者和政客。
As the Illuminati gained members, the American Revolution also gained momentum.
随着光明会的不断壮大，美国革命也获得了发展。
Thomas Jefferson would later cite Weishaupt as an inspiration.
托马斯·杰斐逊后来用魏萨普激励自己。
European monarchs and clergy were fearful of similar revolts on their home soil.
欧洲统治者和神职人员担心自己家乡发生类似起义。
Meanwhile, the existence of the Illuminati had become an open secret.
同时，光明会的存在已成为公开的秘密。
Both the Illuminati and the Freemasons drew exclusively from society's wealthy elite,
光明会和共济会成员都来自社会富裕精英阶层，
which meant they were constantly rubbing shoulders with members of the religious and political establishment.
这也意味着，他们一直与宗教和政治组织成员有往来。
Many in the government and church believed that both groups were determined to undermine the people's religious faith.
政府和教会的许多人认为，这两个团体决心破坏人民的宗教信仰。
But these groups didn't necessarily oppose religion -- they just believed it should be kept separate from governance.
但这些团体并不一定反对宗教--他们只是认为宗教应该与政府分开。
Still, the suspicious Bavarian government started keeping records of alleged members of the Illuminati.
尽管如此，多疑的巴伐利亚政府开始保留所谓的光明会成员的记录。
Just as Illuminati members begun to secure important positions in local governments and universities,
伴随着光明会成员开始在地方政府和大学中担任重要职位，
a 1784 decree by Duke Karl Theodor of Bavaria banned all secret societies.
巴伐利亚公爵卡尔·西奥多于1784年颁布了法令，禁止所有的秘密团体存在。
While a public ban on something ostensibly secret might seem difficult to enforce, in this case it worked.
尽管公开禁止表面秘密的东西似乎很难得以执行，但在这种情况下，却奏效了。
Only nine years after its founding, the group dissolved, their records were seized, and Weishaupt forced into exile.
成立仅九年后，该组织解散，他们的记录被没收，魏夏普被迫流亡。
The Illuminati would become more notorious in their afterlife than they had ever been in their brief existence.
光明会解散之后，比起其短暂存在时期，名声更加臭名昭著。
A decade later, in the aftermath of the French Revolution,
十年后，在法国大革命之后，
conservative authors claimed the Illuminati had survived their banishment and orchestrated the overthrow of the monarchy.
保守派作家声称光明会幸免于难，并策划推翻了君主制。
In the United States, preacher Jedidiah Morse promoted similar ideas of an Illuminati conspiracy against the government.
在美国，传教士吉迪亚·摩尔斯提出了类似想法，认为光明会阴谋反对政府。
But though the idea of a secret group orchestrating political upheaval is still alive and well today,
但是，尽管今天依然有人认为秘密组织策划了政治动荡，
there is no evidence that the Illuminati survived, reformed, or went underground.
但没有证据表明光明会得以幸存，改头换面或转入地下。
Their brief tenure is well-documented in Bavarian government records, the still-active Freemasons's records,
他们短暂的存在完好记录于巴伐利亚政府的档案中、依然活跃的共济会记录里，
and particularly the overlap between these two sources, without a whisper since.
尤其在这两项资源的交叠部分中，此后再没有任何音讯。
In the spirit of rationalism the Illuminati embraced, one must conclude they no longer exist.
基于光明会推崇的理性主义精神，只能断定他们已不复存在。
But the ideas that spurred Weishaupt to found the illuminati still spread, becoming the basis for many Western governments today.
但促使魏萨普创立光明会的思想仍在传播，成为当今许多西方政府的基础。
These ideas didn't start or end with the Illuminati
这些想法没有随着光明会而兴衰，
instead, it was one community that represented a wave of change that was already underway when it was founded and continued long after it ended.
相反，光明会是代表变革浪潮的一个社会团体，在其创立之时，变革浪潮也已形成，并且在其解散很久后，它还一直继续存在。
