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CHAP.

XLIX.

Epistles of Gre

peror,

A, D. 727.6

Two original epistles, from Gregory the second to the emperor Leo, are still extant *; and if they cannot be praised as the most perfect models of eloquence and logic, they exhibit the portrait, or goryII. to at least the mask, of the founder of the papal the em- 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 attach66 ment 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 stile 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

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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 dæmons, at a time when the true God had not manifested his person in any visible likeness. The latter

*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.

latter are the genuine forms of Christ, his mother, C H A P. and his saints, who had approved, by a crowd of XLIX. miracles, the innocence and merit of this relative worship. He must indeed have trusted to the ignorance of Leo, since he could assert the perpetual use of images, from the apostolic age, and their venerable presence in the six synods of the Catholic church. A more specious argument is drawn from present possession and recent practice: The harmony of the Christian world supersedes the demand of a general council; and Gregory frankly confesses, that such assemblies can only be useful under the reign of an orthodox prince. To the impudent and inhuman Leo, more guilty than an heretic, he recommends peace, silence, and implicit obedience to his spiritual guides of Constantinople and Rome. The limits of civil and ecclesiastical powers are defined by the pontiff. To the former he appropriates the body; to the latter, the soul: The sword of justice is in the hands of the magistrate; the more formidable weapon of excommunication is entrusted to the clergy; and in the exercise of their divine commission, a zealous son will not spare his offending father; the successor of St Peter may lawfully chastise the kings of the earth. "You assault

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us, O tyrant! with a carnal and military hand, "unarmed and naked, we can only implore the "Christ, the prince of the heavenly host, that " he will send unto you a devil, for the destruc"tion of your body and the salvation of your "soul. You declare, with foolish arrogance, I "will dispatch my orders to Rome: I will break "in

K 4

CHAP.

XLIX.

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"in pieces the image of St Peter; and Gregory, "like his predecessor Martin, shall be transported "in chains, and in exile, to the foot of the Imperial throne. Would to God, that I might "be permitted to tread in the footsteps of the holy Martin; but may the fate of Constans serve as a warning to the persecutors of the church. After his just condemnation by the bishops of Sicily, the tyrant was cut off, in "the fulness of his sins, by a domestic servant; "the saint is still adored by the nations of Scythia, "among whom he ended his banishment and his "life. But it is our duty to live for the edifica“tion and support of the faithful people; nor

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are we reduced to risk our safety on the event "of a combat. Incapable as you are of defending your Roman subjects, the maritime situation of the city may perhaps expose it to

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your depredation; but we can remove to the "distance of four-and-twenty stadia *, to the "first fortress of the Lombards, and then-you may pursue the winds. Are you ignorant that "the popes are the bond of union, the mediators "of peace, between the East and West? The eyes of the nations are fixed on our humility; " and

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* Εικοσι τεσσαρα ταδια ὑποχωρησει ὁ Αρχιερευς Ρώμης εις την χωραν της Καμπανίας, και υπαγε διωξον της ανεμες, (Epist. i. p. 664.) This proximity of the Lombards is hard of digestion. Camillo Pellegrini (Dissert. iv. de Ducatû Beneventi, in the Script. Ital. tom. v. p. 172, 173.) forcibly reckons the twenty-fourth stadia, not from Rome, but from the limits of the Roman dutchy, to the first fortress, perhaps Sora, of the Lombards. I rather believe that Gregory, with the pedantry of the age, employs stadia for miles, without much inquiry into the genuine

measme.

and they revere, as a God upon earth, the c H a p. "apostle St Peter, whose image you threaten to

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destroy *. The remote and interior kingdoms "of the West present their homage to Christ and "his vicegerent; and we now prepare to visit one of their most powerful monarchs, who de"sires to receive from our hands the sacrament of baptism. The Barbarians have submitted to the yoke of the gospel, while you alone are "deaf to the voice of the shepherd. These pious "Barbarians are kindled into rage; they thirst to avenge the persecution of the East. Abandon

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your rash and fatal enterprise; reflect, tremble, "and repent. If you persist, we are innocent of "the blood that will be spilt in the contest; may "it fall on your own head."

XLIX.

The first assault of Leo against the images of Revolt of Italy, Constantinople had been witnessed by a crowd of a.Ď.728, strangers from Italy and the West, who related, &c. with grief and indignation, the sacrilege of the emperor. But on the reception of his proscriptive edict, they trembled for their domestic deities; the images of Christ and the virgin, of the angels, martyrs, and saints, were abolished in all the churches of Italy; and a strong alternative was

proposed

* Οι άι πασαι βασιλειαι της δύσεως ως Θεον επιγειον έχεσι. † Απο της εσωτερες δυσέως τε λεγομενες Σεπτετε (p. 665.) The pope appears to have imposed on the ignorance of the Greeks; he lived and died in the Lateran; and in his time all the kingdoms of the West had embraced Christianity. May not this unknown Septetus have some reference to the chief of the Saxon Heptarchy, to Ina king of Wessex, who, in the pontificate of Gregory the second, visited Rome, for the purpose, not of baptism, but of pilgrimage? (Pagi, A. D. 689, No 2. A. D, 726, No 15.)

XLIX.

CHA P. proposed to the Roman pontiff, the royal favour as the price of his compliance, degradation and exile as the penalty of his disobedience. Neither zeal nor policy allowed him to hesitate; and the haughty strain in which Gregory addressed the emperor displays his confidence in the truth of his doctrine or the powers of resistance. Without depending on prayers or miracles, he boldly armed against the public enemy, and his pastoral letters admonished the Italians of their danger and their duty *. At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, adhered to the canse of religion; their military force by sea and land consisted, for the most part, of the natives; and the spirit of patriotism and zeal was transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in the defence of the pope and the holy images; the Roman people was devoted to their father, and even the Lombards were ambitious to share the merit and advantage of this holy war. The most treasonable act, but the most obvious revenge, was the destruction of the statues of Leo himself; the most effectual and pleasing measure of rebellion, was the with-holding the tribute of Italy, and depriving him of a power which he had recently

abused

* I shall transcribe the important and decisive passage of the Liber Pontificalis. Respiciens ergo pius vir profanam principis jussionem, jam contra Imperatorem quasi contra hostem se armavit, renuens hæresim ejus, scribens ubique se cavere Christianos, eo quod orta fuisset; impietas talis. Igitur permoti omnes Pentapolenses, atque Venetiarum exercitus contra Imperatoris jussionem restiterunt; dicentes se nunquam in ejusdem pontificis condescendere necem, sed pro ejus magis defensione viriliter decertare, (p. 156.)