 What is ironic about Sias' view of those who 'cling tenaciously, and ignorantly to the old religion'?
It was a day soft and clear; a day accepted by the young, cherished by we old. I do not, of course, believe in the gods per se; still there is a grandeur in the very stones that transcends their human sculptors, and it is no wonder to me that many cling tenaciously, and ignorantly, to the old religion. And indeed it was but a moment before Melia slipped through the high grass to stand at his side. "Sias," they were saying, "the Maternite's gone." Everything has evaporated in Maternite. A man my age does not hurry in the heat of the midday sun—maddugs nenglishmin go out in the midday sun, as the ancients say, although I often wonder why—but Xeon and Melia ran all the way down to the city. They were created so long ago, indeed, that the ignorant believe them to have been constructed by the gods themselves. At such a time, many men feel impelled to make speeches, and one must not be disrespectful. Prayers and supplications were offered to the gods, priests were sent to sacrifice, and finally, as the light of the sun was falling between the pillars, the High Priest of the Maternite Machine was heard. Yet perhaps it is for the best, for those left were the most earnest and intelligent. Such it has always been from time immemorial." It is at such times that I most revere the wisdom of the ancients, who decreed seventy years the minimum age for a member of the Conclave.
 Sias' reactions to Rocsates' ideas suggest that he is ignorant in a similar way
 Sias' reactions to Rocsates' ideas suggest that he is ignorant in a similar way  Sias' refusal to adhere to any set of principles will get him imprisoned  Sias subscribes to an iteration of the same religion many of the elders do  Sias does not realize that the Conclave is ruled by that same religion