Julius is very fearful of missing prayers; but he is companion of the silliest people in their most silly pleasures.
Leo has a great deal of good nature, but has concerned himself very little with religion.
Eusebius buys books of devotion, but he talks of religion, as of a matter of last concern.
Penitens was a busy prosperous tradesman, who died at 35, said if he had one year more, he could give God all devotion, as he never intended.
Calidus has traded above 30 years in a great city. He eats & drinks heartily & would say grace if he had the time.
Flavia, is generally at Church & often at Sacrament; & would be a miracle of piety, if she was half so careful of her soul as she is of her body.
Miranda, as soon as she was mistress of her time & fortune, thought how best she might fulfill God's commandments in this short life.
Except the simplest food & dress, she spends all her money on charity & all her time in prayers.
Fulvius has had a learned education, but has no religion, no devotion, & no piety. He thinks all is very well, because he is neither a priest, nor a father, & has no employment or family.
Celia is always telling you what vexations she meets with everywhere. Even though she has a good income & has nothing to torment her, but her own spirit.
Flatus is rich & in health, yet always uneasy & searching after happiness. He seeks fine clothes, social diversions, drinking, hunting etc., in turn, without finding peace.
Feliciana spends all her time in dressing fashionably & gambling & it is for this happiness that she has been deaf to the reasonings of religion.
Succus's greatest happiness is a good night's rest in bed & a good meal when he is up. All other things are a waste of time for him.
Octavius is a learned, ingenious man, well read & well travelled. When his end came, his only regret was that he did not have more time to enjoy the same life.
Eugenius, who was present, went home a new man, to devote himself wholly to God, reasoning that he never thought so highly of religion, as when he saw the learned Octavius leave this world so poorly through the want of it.
Cognatus is a sober regular clergyman, of good repute & very good at making a bargain & has earned great wealth. He keeps a curate to attend to Church duties. He is growing rich to leave a fortune to a niece, whom he has brought up in expensive finery.
Negotius is a temperate, honest man. He is always busy making money, gives moderately to charity, but has no time to thing of God.
Mundanus is an excellent man, increasing his knowledge & judgement of business. The only thing not improved is his devotion to God.
Classicus is a man of great learning, but how wise he might have been & done good to the world, if he had thought as much of devotion as of learning!
Caecus is a rich man, fond of dress & haughty to his inferiors. He would have been very religious, but that he always thought he was so.
Paternus, who brought up his only son, taught him the impermanence of this world. (the same thing which Queen Madalasa, sang in her famous lullaby.)Matilda is a fine woman, of much religion, who has three daughters. Her daughters see her great zeal for religion, but they also see her greater zeal for her complexion & finery in dress. So worldly desires got the better of the daughters.
Eusebius is a pious widow with five daughters, her estate divided equally between them. She tells them (like Madalasa), though they were all born of her body & bear their father's name, they are all pure spirits & should live simply & love God.
Lastly, Susurrus is a pious, temperate good man of great charity. But he has a prodigious failing i.e., a mighty inclination to hear & discover all the defects & infirmities of all about him. One of his well-wishers told him to go home & pray for them & he would also overcome his failing. (Incidentally Holy Mother Sarada Devi had also emphasised this.)
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