Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 5

Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, vol 5

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Title: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol.
5
Author: Edward Gibbon

Release Date: November, 1996 [EBook #735] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted in November,
1996] [This file was last updated on March 29, 2002]
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AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, v5 ***

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HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 5


Chapter XLIX
: Conquest Of Italy By The Franks.


Part I.

Introduction, Worship, And Persecution Of Images. - Revolt Of Italy
And Rome. - Temporal Dominion Of The Popes. - Conquest Of Italy
By The Franks. - Establishment Of Images. - Character And
Coronation Of Charlemagne. - Restoration And Decay Of The Roman
Empire In The West. - Independence Of Italy. - Constitution Of The
Germanic Body.
In the connection of the church and state, I have considered the former
as subservient only, and relative, to the latter; a salutary maxim, if in
fact, as well as in narrative, it had ever been held sacred. The Oriental
philosophy of the Gnostics, the dark abyss of predestination and grace,
and the strange transformation of the Eucharist from the sign to the
substance of Christ's body, ^1 I have purposely abandoned to the
curiosity of speculative divines. But I have reviewed, with diligence
and pleasure, the objects of ecclesiastical history, by which the decline
and fall of the Roman empire were materially affected, the propagation
of Christianity, the constitution of the Catholic church, the ruin of
Paganism, and the sects that arose from the mysterious controversies
concerning the Trinity and incarnation. At the head of this class, we
may justly rank the worship of images, so fiercely disputed in the
eighth and ninth centuries; since a question of popular superstition
produced the revolt of Italy, the temporal power of the popes, and the
restoration of the Roman empire in the West.
[Footnote 1: The learned Selden has given the history of
transubstantiation in a comprehensive and pithy sentence: "This
opinion is only rhetoric turned into logic," (his Works, vol. iii. p. 2037,
in his Table-Talk.)]
The primitive Christians were possessed with an unconquerable
repugnance to the use and abuse of images; and this aversion may be
ascribed to their descent from the Jews, and their enmity to the Greeks.
The Mosaic law had severely proscribed all representations of the Deity;
and that precept was firmly established in the principles and practice of
the chosen people. The wit of the Christian apologists was pointed
against the foolish idolaters, who bowed before the workmanship of
their own hands; the images of brass and marble, which, had they been

endowed with sense and motion, should have started rather from the
pedestal to adore the creative powers of the artist. ^2 Perhaps some
recent and imperfect converts of the Gnostic tribe might crown the
statues of Christ and St. Paul with the profane honors which they paid
to those of Aristotle and Pythagoras; ^3 but the public religion of the
Catholics was uniformly simple and spiritual; and the first notice of the
use of pictures is in the censure of the council of Illiberis,