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An Enquiry into an Origin of Honour; and the Usefulness of Christianity in War by Bernard Mandeville
page 80 of 173 (46%)
they ever any Ensign of Honour, Power or Authority, which they could
depend upon, unless it had first been granted, or confirm'd and
ratify'd, by the See of _Rome_.

Hor. I take the _Insignia_, which the Proconsuls and Proprietors had in
the different Provinces of the _Roman_ Empire, and which _Pancirolus_ has
wrote of so amply, to have been much after the Nature of Coats of
Arms.

Cleo. Those _Insignia_ belong'd to the Office; and a Governour could
only make Use of them, whilst he was in it: But hereditary Coats of
arms, that were given to particular Men or Societies, by Way of Reward
for Services perform'd, were never known; and Heraldry it Self had no
Existence, before the Pope's Supremacy had been acknowledged by the
Christian World. And if we consider the fine Opportunities, which the
most idle and indolent, the most insignificant and unworthy of the
Society, often meet with from this Invention of valuing themselves
upon Actions that were perform'd several Ages before they were born,
and bespeak a Merit which they know in their Consciences that they are
destitute of; if, I say, we consider what I have now mention'd, we
shall be forc'd to confess, that, of all Arts and Sciences, Heraldry
has been the most effectual to stir up and excite in Men the Passion
of Self-liking, on the finallest Foundation; and daily Experience
teaches us, that Persons of Education and Politeness can taste no
Pleasure in any Thing at Home or Abroad, at Church or the Play-House,
where the Gratification of this Passion is entirely excluded. Of all
the Shews and Solemnities that are exhibited at _Rome_, the greatest and
most expensive, next to a Jubilee, is the Canonization of a Saint. For
one that has never seen it, the Pomp is incredible. The Stateliness of
the Processions, the Richness of Vestments and sacred Utensils that
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