Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 5 | Page 9

of the two Gregories
against their lawful sovereign. ^29 They are defended only by the
moderate Catholics, for the most part, of the Gallican church, ^30 who
respect the saint, without approving the sin. These common advocates
of the crown and the mitre circumscribe the truth of facts by the rule of
equity, Scripture, and tradition, and appeal to the evidence of the Latins,
^31 and the lives ^32 and epistles of the popes themselves.
[Footnote 26: Theophanes. (Chronograph. p. 343.) For this Gregory is
styled by Cedrenus . (p. 450.) Zonaras specifies the thunder, (tom. ii. l.
xv. p. 104, 105.) It may be observed, that the Greeks are apt to
confound the times and actions of two Gregories.]
[Footnote 27: See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 730, No. 4, 5; dignum
exemplum! Bellarmin. de Romano Pontifice, l. v. c. 8: mulctavit eum
parte imperii. Sigonius, de Regno Italiae, l. iii. Opera, tom. ii. p. 169.
Yet such is the change of Italy, that Sigonius is corrected by the editor
of Milan, Philipus Argelatus, a Bolognese, and subject of the pope.]
[Footnote 28: Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem aut
Julianum, id fuit quia deerant vires temporales Christianis, (honest
Bellarmine, de Rom. Pont. l. v. c. 7.) Cardinal Perron adds a distinction
more honorable to the first Christians, but not more satisfactory to
modern princes - the treason of heretics and apostates, who break their
oath, belie their coin, and renounce their allegiance to Christ and his
vicar, (Perroniana, p. 89.)]

[Footnote 29: Take, as a specimen, the cautious Basnage (Hist. d'Eglise,
p. 1350, 1351) and the vehement Spanheim, (Hist. Imaginum,) who,
with a hundred more, tread in the footsteps of the centuriators of
Magdeburgh.]
[Footnote 30: See Launoy, (Opera, tom. v. pars ii. epist. vii. 7, p. 456 -
474,) Natalis Alexander, (Hist. Nov. Testamenti, secul. viii. dissert. i. p.
92 - 98,) Pagi, (Critica, tom. iii. p. 215, 216,) and Giannone, (Istoria
Civile Napoli, tom. i. p. 317 - 320,) a disciple of the Gallican school In
the field of controversy I always pity the moderate party, who stand on
the open middle ground exposed to the fire of both sides.]
[Footnote 31: They appeal to Paul Warnefrid, or Diaconus, (de Gestis
Langobard. l. vi. c. 49, p. 506, 507, in Script. Ital. Muratori, tom. i. pars
i.,) and the nominal Anastasius, (de Vit. Pont. in Muratori, tom. iii. pars
i. Gregorius II. p. 154. Gregorius III. p. 158. Zacharias, p. 161.
Stephanus III. p. 165.
Paulus, p. 172. Stephanus IV. p. 174. Hadrianus, p. 179. Leo III. p. 195.)
Yet I may remark, that the true Anastasius (Hist. Eccles. p. 134, edit.
Reg.) and the Historia Miscella, (l. xxi. p. 151, in tom. i. Script. Ital.,)
both of the ixth century, translate and approve the Greek text of
Theophanes.]
[Footnote 32: With some minute difference, the most learned critics,
Lucas Holstenius, Schelestrate, Ciampini, Bianchini, Muratori,
(Prolegomena ad tom. iii. pars i.,) are agreed that the Liber Pontificalis
was composed and continued by the apostolic librarians and notaries of
the viiith and ixth centuries; and that the last and smallest part is the
work of Anastasius, whose name it bears. The style is barbarous, the
narrative partial, the details are trifling - yet it must be read as a curious
and authentic record of the times. The epistles of the popes are
dispersed in the volumes of Councils.]

Chapter XLIX
: Conquest Of Italy By The Franks.


Part II.
Two original epistles, from Gregory the Second to the emperor Leo, are
still extant; ^33 and if they cannot be praised as the most perfect
models of eloquence and logic, they exhibit the portrait, or at least the
mask, of the founder of the papal monarchy. "During ten pure and
fortunate years," says Gregory to the emperor, "we have tasted the
annual comfort of your royal letters, subscribed in purple ink, with your
own hand, the sacred pledges of your attachment to the orthodox creed
of our fathers. How deplorable is the change! how tremendous the
scandal! You now accuse the Catholics of idolatry; and, by the
accusation, you betray your own impiety and ignorance. To this
ignorance we are compelled to adapt the grossness of our style and
arguments: the first elements of holy letters are sufficient for your
confusion; and were you to enter a grammar-school, and avow yourself
the enemy of our worship, the simple and pious children would be
provoked to cast their horn-books at your head." After this decent
salutation, the pope attempts the usual distinction between the idols of
antiquity and the Christian images. The former were the fanciful
representations of phantoms or daemons, at a time when the true God
had not manifested his person in any visible likeness. The latter