[78] “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, falsely so called.”—1 Tim. vi. 20.
[79] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, significant of the limited duration of his kingdom.—See Daniel ii. 33, 41.
[80] Mahomet proselytized by giving to the nations which he conquered, the option of the Koran or the sword.
[81] “To deeds so dreadful could religion prompt.” The poet refers to the sacrifice by Agamemnon, the Grecian leader, of his daughter Iphigenia, with the view of appeasing the wrath of Diana.—Lucret. i. 95.
[82] He alludes to the massacre of the Huguenots, or Protestants, in France, which took place on St. Bartholomew’s day, August 24, 1572, by the order of Charles IX. and his mother, Catherine de Medici. On this occasion about 60,000 persons perished, including the Admiral De Coligny, one of the most virtuous men that France possessed, and the main stay of the Protestant cause.
[83] More generally known as “The Gunpowder Plot.”
[84] Isa. xiv. 14.
[85] Allusion is made to the “caduceus,” with which Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, summoned the souls of the departed to the infernal regions.
[86] “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”—James i. 20.
[87] He alludes to Cosmo de Medici, or Cosmo I., chief of the Republic of Florence, the encourager of literature and the fine arts.