CHAPTER XVII
THE PILGRIM BEHOLDS THE ESTATE OF PRIESTHOOD
(The Pagans.)
And they lead me through certain passages, and we come to a market-place in which stood a multitude of churches and chapels built in divers shapes, and crowds were entering them, and then again leaving them; and we step into the one that was nearest, and behold, there were in every direction engravings and casts of men and women, also of divers animals, birds, reptiles, trees and plants; everything also was full of pictures of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and even of most vexatious devils. Now of those who entered, each one chose what pleased him, knelt before it, kissed it, incensed it, and sacrificed to it. But what appeared to me wondrous was the concord among these men; for though each one indeed performed his devotion differently, they yet permitted this, and peacefully allowed each one to retain his opinion (a thing that I saw not afterwards elsewhere). But then a certain stinking smell overcame me, so that terror seized me, and I hurried forth.
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