[461] The name of _Pagan_ is an injurious and ignoble term derived from the Latin _Paganus_, which signifies a rustic, a peasant. When Christianity had entirely triumphed over Greek and Roman polytheism, and when by the order of the Emperor Theodosius, the last temple dedicated to the gods of the nations had been destroyed in the cities, it was found that the people in the country still persisted a considerable time in the ancient cult, which caused them and all their imitators to be called derisively _Pagans_. This appellation, which could suit the Greeks and Romans in the fifth century who refused to submit to the dominating religion in the Empire, is false and ridiculous when one extends it to other times, and to other peoples. It cannot be said without at once offending chronology and common sense, that the Romans or Greeks of the time of Cæsar, of Alexander, or of Pericles; the Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, Indians, the Chinese, ancient or modern, were _Pagans_; that is to say, peasants disobedient to the laws of Theodosius. These are polytheists, monotheists, mythologists, whatever one wishes, idolaters perhaps, but not _Pagans_. [462] _Novum Organ._, aph. 48. [463] _De Dign. et Increm. Science_, l. iii., c. 4. [464] _Ut supra._ [465] Bacon, _de la Vie et de la Mort_; Sueton., _in Tiber._, § 66. [466] Diogen. Laërt., _in Pythag._ [467] Hierocles, _Aur. Carm._, v. 33. [468] Bacon assures, following the ancients, that the envious eye is dangerous and that it has been observed that after great triumphs, illustrious personages having been the object of an envious eye have found themselves ill-disposed for some days following (_Sylva Sylvarum_, § 944). [469] Aul. Gell., l. iv., c. 11. [470] Athen., l. vii., c. 16; Jambl., _Vitâ Pythag._, c. 30. [471] Jambl., _ibid._, c. 24. [472] Diog. Laërt., l. viii., § 9; Clem. Alex., _Pæd._, l. ii., p. 170. [473] Jambl., _ibid._, c. 21; Porphyre, _Vitâ Pythag._, p. 37; Athen., l. x., p. 418; Aul. Gell., l. iv., c. 11. [474] Diog. Laërt., l. viii., § 19. [475] Hiérocl., _Aur. Carm._, v. 32. [476] _Proverbes du Brahme Barthrovhari._ [477] _Chou-King_, ch. _Yu-Mo._ [478] On trouve ce passages dans le _Tchong-Yong_, ou Livre du Juste-Milieu; ouvrage très célèbre parmi les Chinois. [479] A la persévérance il n’est rien qui résiste: Quelques soient ses desseins, si le Sage y persiste, Nul obstacle si grand dont il ne vienne à bout: La constance et le temps sont les maîtres de tout. [480] Porphyr., _Vitâ Pythag._, p. 27. [481] _Institutes of Manu_, ch. 1, v. 5. [482] Xénophon, _Mém._, l. iv., p. 796; Plat., _in Alcib._, i.; _ibid._, _in Charm._; Pausan., l. x.; Plin., l. vii., c. 32.