armed with the weapons of
the Inquisition, terrified Christian Europe with their unrelenting
persecutions. They imputed all the infidelity of the times to the
Arabian philosopher. But he was not without support. In Paris and in the
cities of Northern Italy the Franciscans sustained his views, and all
Christendom was agitated with these disputes.

Under the inspiration of the Dominicans, Averroes oceanic to the Italian
painters the emblem of unbelief. Many of the Italian towns had pictures
or frescoes of the Day of Judgment and of Hell. In these Averroes not
unfrequently appears. Thus, in one at Pisa, he figures with Arius,
Mohammed, and Antichrist. In another he is represented as overthrown by
St. Thomas. He had become an essential element in the triumphs of the
great Dominican doctor. He continued thus to be familiar to the Italian
painters until the sixteenth century. His doctrines were maintained in
the University of Padua until the seventeenth.

Such is, in brief, the history of Averroism as it invaded Europe from
Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II., it, in a less imposing
manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign bad adopted it fully. In his
"Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world,
and on the nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the
replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his
conflict with the papacy be was overthrown, and with him these heresies
were destroyed.

In Upper Italy, Averroism long maintained its ground. It was so
fashionable in high Venetian society that every gentleman felt
constrained to profess it. At length the Church took decisive action
against it. The Lateran Council, A.D. 1512, condemned the abettors of
these detestable doctrines to be held as heretics and infidels. As
we have seen, the late Vatican Council has anathematized them.
Notwithstanding that stigma, it is to be borne in mind that these
opinions are held to be true by a majority of the human race.

CHAPTER VI.

CONFLICT RESPECTING THE NATURE OF THE WORLD.

Scriptural view of the world: the earth a flat surface;
location of heaven and hell.

Scientific view: the earth a globe; its size determined; its
position in and relations to the solar system.--The three
great voyages.--Columbus, De Gama, Magellan.--
Circumnavigation of the earth.--Determination of its
curvature by the measurement of a degree and by the