eir vain superiority of reason and knowledge.

[Footnote 1901: This incomplete enumeration ought to be increased by the
names of several Pagans converted at the dawn of Christianity, and whose
conversion weakens the reproach which the historian appears to support.
Such are, the Proconsul Sergius Paulus, converted at Paphos, (Acts
xiii. 7--12.) Dionysius, member of the Areopagus, converted with several
others, al Athens, (Acts xvii. 34;) several persons at the court of
Nero, (Philip. iv 22;) Erastus, receiver at Corinth, (Rom. xvi.23;)
some Asiarchs, (Acts xix. 31) As to the philosophers, we may add Tatian,
Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Hegesippus, Melito, Miltiades,
Pantaenus, Ammenius, all distinguished for their genius and
learning.--G.]

We stand in need of such reflections to comfort us for the loss of some
illustrious characters, which in our eyes might have seemed the most
worthy of the heavenly present. The names of Seneca, of the elder and
the younger Pliny, of Tacitus, of Plutarch, of Galen, of the slave
Epictetus, and of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, adorn the age in which
they flourished, and exalt the dignity of human nature. They filled with
glory their respective stations, either in active or contemplative life;
their excellent understandings were improved by study; Philosophy had
purified their minds from the prejudices of the popular superstition;
and their days were spent in the pursuit of truth and the practice of
virtue. Yet all these sages (it is no less an object of surprise than of
concern) overlooked or rejected the perfection of the Christian system.
Their language or their silence equally discover their contempt for the
growing sect, which in their time had diffused itself over the Roman
empire. Those among them who condescended to mention the Christians,
consider them only as obstinate and perverse enthusiasts, who exacted an
implicit submission to their mysterious doctrines, without being able
to produce a single argument that could engage the attention of men of
sense and learning. [191]

[Footnote 191: Dr. Lardner, in his first and second volumes of Jewish
and Christian testimonies, collects and illustrates those of Pliny
the younger, of Tacitus, of Galen, of Marcus Antoninus, and perhaps of
Epictetus, (for it is doubtful whether that philosopher means to speak
of the Christians.) The new sect is totally unnoticed by Seneca, the
elder Pliny, and Plutarch.]

It is at least doubtful