The ordinary life of Christians everywhere abounds in these Varieties of sillin~ess, and they are readily permitted and encouraged by priests who are not unaware of the profit to be made thereby. Meanwhile, if some disagreeable wiseacre were to get up and interrupt with a statement of the true facts: "You won't do badly when you die if you've been good in your lifetime. You'll redeem your sins only by adding hatred for wrong-doing, tears, vigils, prayers, fasts, and a change in your whole way of living to the small suni you've already paid. The saint will protect you if you'll try to imitate his life" - if, I repeat, your wise man starts blurting out these uncomfortable truths, you can see how he'll soon destroy the world's peace of ~nind and plunge it into confusion.

In the same company belong those who lay down such precise instructions in their lifetime for the funeral ceremonies they want that they even list in detail the number of candles, black cloaks, singers and hired mourners the~ wish be there, as if it were possible for~some awareness of this to return to them, or the dead would be ashamed to be joined by a corpse which didn't haye a splendid burial. They might be newly elected officials planning a public or banquet, such is their zeal.⁸⁰