P. 254, l. 14. divide my moral qualities into four. The classical division of ancient philosophy was into four: prudence, temperance, justice, magnanimity.
P. 254, l. 16. Abstine et sustine. The Stoic formula.
P. 257. The Miracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite Perier, Pascal's niece, aged ten, was cured of lachrymal fistula on March 24, 1656, after touching the diseased part with a reliquary containing a thorn from the Saviour's crown. This was at the time that Port Royal was suffering deeply from persecution, and was considered by many a signal mark of the favour of heaven. The Jesuits did not deny the miracle, but the conclusions drawn from it.
P. 257, l. 20. those who heal by invocation of the devil. Pascal, when a child, was supposed both to have been made ill and restored to health by a witch. He desires to show that this was no miracle.
P. 258, l. 9. Believe the Church. Matt. xviii. 17.
P. 258, l. 13. Montaigne. Cf. Essais, i. 26.
P. 258, l. 23. Judæi signa petunt. 1 ad Cor. i. 22.
P. 258, l. 25. Sed plenum signis. This and the following one are not to be found. Pascal is probably citing Saint Paul from memory.
P. 258, l. 29. Sed vos non creditis. Joh. x. 26.
P. 261, l. 5. Saint Augustine. Pascal does not appear to refer to any single passage, but to the general teaching of Saint Augustine. But see especially De Civit. Dei, xxii. 9.