vate creed of his bishops; and the boldest Iconoclast CHAP. might assault with a secret horror, the monuments of XLIX. popular devotion, which were consecrated to the honour of his celestial patrons. In the reformation of the sixteenth century, freedom and knowledge had expanded all the faculties of man; the thirst of innovation superseded the reverence of antiquity, and the vigour of Europe could disdain those phantoms which terrified the sickly and servile weakness of the Greeks.

of the ima

A. D. 726

The scandal of an abstract heresy can be only pro- Their perclaimed to the people by the blast of the ecclesiastical secution trumpet; but the most ignorant can perceive, the most ges and torpid must feel, the profanation and downfal of their monks, visible deities. The first hostilities of Leo were direct-775. ed against a lofty Christ on the vestibule, and above the gate, of the palace. A ladder had been planted for the assault, but it was furiously shaken by a crowd of zealots and women: they beheld, with pious transport, the ministers of sacrilege tumbling from on high, and dashed against the pavement; and the honours of the ancient martyrs were prostituted to these criminals, who justly suffered for murder and rebellion". The execution of the Imperial edict was resisted by frequent tumults in Constantinople and the provinces: the person of Leo was endangered, his officers were massacred, and the popular enthusiasm was quelled by the strongest efforts of the civil and military power. Of the Archipelago, or Holy Sea, the numerous islands were filled with images and monks: their votaries abjured, without scruple, the enemy of Christ, his mother, and the saints; they armed a fleet of boats and gallies, displayed their consecrated banners, and boldly steered for the harbour of Constantinople, to place on the throne a new favourite of God and the people. They depended on the succour of a miracle; but their miracles were inefficient against the Greek fire; and, after the defeat and conflagration of their fleet, the naked islands were abandoned to the clemency or justice of the conqueror. The son of Leo, in the first year of his reign, had un

barrassed between the interest of a protestant and the duty of an orthodox divine.

21 The holy confessor Theophanes approves the principle of their rebellion, bu xvevo un (p. 339.) Gregory II. (in Epist. i. ad Imp. Leon. Concil. tom. viii. p. 661. 664.) applauds the zeal of the Byzantine women who killed the Imperial officers.

VOL. VI.

Y

CHAP. dertaken an expedition against the Saracens : during XLIX. his absence, the capital, the palace, and the purple, were occupied by his kinsman Artavasdes, the ambitious champion of the orthodox faith. The worship of images was triumphantly restored: the patriarch renounced his dissimulation, or dissembled his sentiments; and the righteous claim of the usurper was acknowledged, both in the new, and in ancient, Rome. Constantine flew for refuge to his paternal mountains ; but he descended at the head of the bold and affectionate Isaurians; and his final victory confounded the arms and predictions of the fanatics. His long reign was distracted with clamour, sedition, conspiracy, and mutual hatred, and sanguinary revenge: the persecution of images was the motive, or pretence, of his adversaries; and, if they missed a temporal diadem, they were rewarded by the Greeks with the crown of martyrdom. In every act of open and clandestine treason, the emperor felt the unforgiving enmity of the monks, the faithful slaves of the superstition to which they owed their riches and influence. They prayed, they preached, they absolved, they inflamed, they conspired; the solitude of Palestine poured forth a torrent of invective: and the pen of St. John Damascenus22, the last of the Greek fathers, devoted the tyrant's head, both in this world and the next23. I am not at leisure to examine how far the monks provoked, nor how much they have exaggerated, their real and pretended sufferings, nor how many lost their lives or limbs, their eyes, or their beards, by the cruelty of the emperor. From the chastisement of individuals, he proceeded to the abolition of the order; and, as it was wealthy and useless,

22 John, or Mansur, was a noble Christian of Damascus, who held a considerable office in the service of the caliph. His zeal in the cause of images exposed him to the resentment and treachery of the Greek emperor; and on the suspicion of a treasonable correspondence, he was deprived of his right hand, which was miraculously restored by the Virgin. After this deliverance, he resigned his office, distributed his wealth, and buried himself in the monastery of St. Sabas, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. The legend is famous; but his learned editor, father Lequien, has unluckily proved that St. John Damascenus was already a monk before the Iconoclast dispute (Opera, tom. i. Vit. St. Joan. Damascen. p. 10-13. et. Notas ad loc.)

23 After sending Leo to the devil, he introduces his heir-To μlagov auT8 γέννημα, και της κακίας αυτό κληρονομος εν διπλω γενομενος (Opera Damascen. tom. i. p. 625.) If the authenticity of this piece be suspicious, we are sure that in other works, no longer extant, Damascenus bestowed on Constantine the title of stop Μωαμεθς Χρισομαχον μισάγιον (tom. i. p. 306.)

XLIX.

his resentment might be stimulated by avarice and jus- CHAP. tified by patriotism. The formidable name and mission of the Dragon, his visitor-general, excited the terror and abhorrence of the black nation: the religious communities were dissolved; the buildings were converted into magazines, or barracks: the lands, moveables, and cattle, were confiscated; and our modern precedents will support the charge, that much wanton or malicious havock was exercised against the relics, and even the books, of the monasteries. With the habit and profession of monks, the public and private worship of images was rigorously proscribed; and it should seem, that a solemn abjuration of idolatry was exacted from the subjects, or at least from the clergy, of the Eastern empire25.

The patient East abjured, with reluctance, her sacred State of images; they were fondly cherished, and vigorously Italy. defended, by the independent zeal of the Italians. In ecclesiastical rank and jurisdiction, the patriarch of Constantinople and the pope of Rome were nearly equal. But the Greek prelate was a domestic slave under the eye of his master, at whose nod he alternately passed from the convent to the throne, and from the throne to the convent. A distant and dangerous station, amidst the Barbarians of the West, excited the spirit and freedom of the Latin bishops. Their popular election endeared them to the Romans: the public and private indigence was relieved by their ample revenue; and the weakness or neglect of the emperors compelled them to consult, both in peace and war, the temporal safety of the city. In the school of adversity the priest insensibly imbibed the virtues and the ambition of a prince; the same character was assumed, the same policy was adopted, by the Italian, the Greek, or the Syrian, who ascended the chair of St. Peter; and, after the loss of her legions and provinces, the genius and fortune of the popes again restored the supremacy of Rome. It is

24 In the narrative of this persecution from Theophanes and Cedrenus, Spanheim (p. 235-238.) is happy to compare the Draco of Leo with the dragoons (Dracones) of Louis XIV. and highly solaces himself with this controversial pun.

25 Προγραμμα γαρ εξέπεμψε κατα πασαν εξαρχίαν την υπο της χειρος αυτό, παντας υπογράψαι και ομνύναι ; τα αθετήσαι την προσκύνησιν των σεπτών εικόνων (Damascen. Op. tom. i. p. 625). This oath and subscription I do not remember to have seen in any modern compilation.

CHAP. agreed, that in the eighth century their dominion was XLIX. founded on rebellion, and that the rebellion was pro

duced, and justified, by the heresy of the Iconoclasts; but the conduct of the second and third Gregory, in this memorable contest, is variously interpreted by the wishes of their friends and enemies. The Byzantine writers unanimously declare, that, after a fruitless admonition, they pronounced the separation of the East and West, and deprived the sacrilegious tyrant of the revenue and sovereignty of Italy. Their excommunication is still more clearly expressed by the Greeks, who beheld the accomplishment of the papal triumphs; and as they are more strongly attached to their religion than to their country, they praise, instead of blaming, the zeal and orthodoxy of these apostolical men". The modern champions of Rome are eager to accept the praise and the precedent: this great and glorious example of the deposition of royal heretics, is celebrated by the cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine27; and if they are asked, why the same thunders were not hurled against the Neros and Julians of antiquity? they reply, that the weakness of the primitive church was the sole cause of her patient loyalty. On this occasion, the effects of love and hatred are the same; and the zealous protestants, who seek to kindle the indignation, and to alarm the fears, of princes and magistrates, expatiate on the insolence and treason of the two Gregories against their lawful sovereign. They are defended only by the moderate Catholics, for the most part, of the Gallican

26 Και την Ρωμην σον πάση Ιταλία της βασιλειας αυτε απέςησε, says Theophanes (Chronograph. p. 343.) For this Gregory is styled by Cedrenus ανής αποστολικός (p. 450.) Zonaras specifies the thunder, αναθηματι συνοδικώ (tom. ii. I. xv. p. 104, 105.) It may be observed, that the Greeks are apt to confound the times and actions of two Gregories.

27 See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A. D. 730, No. 4, 5.: dignum exemplum! Bellarmin, de Romano Pontifice, 1. v. c. 8.: mulctavit eum parte imperii. Sigonius, de Regno Italiæ, 1. iii. Opera, tom. ii. p. 169. Yet such is the change of Italy, that Sigonius is corrected by the editor of Milan, Philippus Argelatus, a Bolognese, and subject of the pope.

28 Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem aut Julianum, id fuit quia deerant vires temporales Christianis (honest Bellarmine, de Rom. Pont. I. v. c. 7.) Cardinal Perron adds a distinction more honourable 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 (Perroniani, p. 89.)

29 Take as a specimen, the cantious Basnage (Hist. de l'Eglise, p. 1350, 1351.) and the vehement Spanheim (Hist. Imaginum), who, with an hundred more, tread in the footsteps of the centuriators of Magdeburgh.

church, who respect the saint, without approving the CHAP. sin. These common advocates of the crown and the XLIX. mitre circumscribe the truth of facts by the rule of equi

ty, scripture, and tradition; and appeal to the evidence of the Latins, and the lives32 and epistles of the popes themselves.

II. to the

Two original epistles, from Gregory the second to the Epistles of emperor Leo, are still extant; and if they cannot be Gregory praised as the most perfect models of eloquence and emperor, logic, they exhibit the portrait, or at least the mask, of A. D. 727. 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 let❝ters, subscribed in purple ink, with your own hand, "the sacred pledges of your attachment to the orthodox "ereed 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 igno❝rance 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 en"ter a grammar-school, and avow yourself the enemy "of our worship, the simple and pious children would

66

30 See Launoy (Opera, tom. v. pars ii. epist. vii. p. 456-474), Natalis Alexander (Hist, Nov. Testamenti, secul. viii. dissert. i. p. 92–96), Pagi (Critica, tom. iii. p. 215, 216), and Giannone (Istoria Civile di 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.

31 They appealed to Paul Warnefrid, or Diaconus (de Gestis Langobard. 1. 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 (I. xxi.p. 151. in tom. i. Script. Ital.), both of the ixth century, translate and approve the Greek text of Theophanes.

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 apostolical 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.

33 The two epistles of Gregory II. have been preserved in the Acts of the Nicene Council (tom. viii. p. 651-674). They are without a date, which is variously fixed, by Baronius in the year 726, by Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. vi. p. 120), in 729, and by Pagi in 730. Such is the force of prejudice, that some papists have praised the good sense and moderation of these letters.