Liber was the Latin for ?free,? as in our liberty, liberal, etc. When the Romans gave a slave his freedom he was called libertus, so that in Roman history a libertine was a freed-man. In theology a libertine came to mean one who holds loose views, a freethinker; in morality, a licenticus person, one who flouts moral laws. Whether the early Masons used ?libertine? to mean a ?freethinker? or a licentious man, is a point that has never been decided?; in practice, they probably used it in both senses. |
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