[58] Apostolic Constitutions, VIII., vi.
[59] See the History of the Church of Constantinople and Alexandria, in the Bodleian Library.
[60] Recognitions of St. Clement, Bk. IX., Nos. 32-35.
[61] The pun is lost to readers of the English Bible. In French, as in Syro-Chaldaic and Greek and (approximately) Latin, “Peter” and “rock” are the same word. We have it in “salt-petre.”—J. M.
[62] More than a million species, on modern estimates.—J. M.
[63] As is well known, the word “virgin” is a wilful mistranslation of the text of Isaiah. “Girl” is the correct translation.—J. M.
[64] The kerubim (or “cherubim”) of the Old Testament are the winged bulls of the ancient Babylonians, of which there are two fine specimens in the British Museum.—J. M.
[65] Had Voltaire known what the modern archæologist has discovered, he would have added that the age of iron did not even dawn until some centuries after this supposed episode; and iron was not used in the East until about six centuries afterwards.—J. M.
[66] The number recognised in the Church of Rome.—J. M.
[67] The author was thinking, apparently, of Pope Alexander VI. [Note by Voltaire.]