[192] He alludes to the native tribes of the continent of America and the West Indies. [193] He was an Athenian philosopher, who, from the greatest superstition, became an avowed atheist. He was proscribed by the Areiopagus for speaking against the gods with ridicule and contempt, and is supposed to have died at Corinth. [194] A Greek philosopher, a disciple of Theodorus the atheist, to whose opinions he adhered. His life was said to have been profligate, and his death superstitious. [195] Lucian ridiculed the follies and pretensions of some of the ancient philosophers; but though the freedom of his style was such as to cause him to be censured for impiety, he hardly deserves the stigma of atheism here cast upon him by the learned author. [196] “It is not for us now to say, ‘Like priest like people,’ for the people are not even so _bad_ as the priest.” St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, preached the second Crusade against the Saracens, and was unsparing in his censures of the sins then prevalent among the Christian priesthood. His writings are voluminous, and by some he has been considered as the latest of the fathers of the Church. [197] “A superior nature.” [198] “We may admire ourselves, conscript fathers, as much as we please; still, neither by numbers _did we vanquish_ the Spaniards, nor by bodily strength the Gauls, nor by cunning the Carthaginians, nor through the arts the Greeks, nor, in fine, by the inborn and native good sense of this _our_ nation, and this _our_ race and soil, the Italians and Latins themselves; but through our devotion and our religious feeling, and this, the sole _true_ wisdom, the having perceived that all things are regulated and governed by the providence of the immortal Gods, have we subdued all races and nations.”—_Cic. de. Harus. Respon._ 9. [199] The justice of this position is, perhaps, somewhat doubtful. The superstitious man _must_ have _some_ scruples, while he who believes not in a God (if there is such a person), _needs_ have _none_. [200] Time was personified in Saturn, and by this story was meant its tendency to destroy whatever it has brought into existence.—_Plut. de Superstit._ x. [201] The primary motive power. [202] This Council commenced in 1545, and lasted eighteen years. It was convened for the purpose of opposing the rising spirit of Protestantism, and of discussing and settling the disputed points of the Catholic faith. [203] Irregular or anomalous movements. [204] An epicycle is a smaller circle, whose centre is in the circumference of a greater one. [205] To account for. [206] Synods, or councils. [207] At the present day called _attachés_. [208] He probably means the refusing to join on the occasion of drinking healths when taking wine. [209] Something to create excitement. [210] “The heart of kings is unsearchable.”—_Prov._ v. 3. [211] Commodus fought naked in public as a gladiator, and prided himself on his skill as a swordsman.