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591-596] subject. It would seem that some measures were taken, and that the law was in some districts enforced; but Donatism if it died down did not become extinct. It was largely through his constant interventions in the matter of heresy that Gregory was able to establish on so firm a basis the papal authority in the exarchate of Africa. He concerned himself no less with the surviving pagans, urging Gennadius to wage war against them "not for the pleasure of shedding blood but with the aim of extending the limits of Christendom, that by the preaching of the faith, the Name of Christ should be honoured among the subject tribes." Constant in urging the secular officials to action, Gregory was still more urgent with the bishops. A continual correspondence was maintained with the African episcopate: everyone who had a grievance applied to him: no important decision was arrived at without his consent. He claimed to defend with unchanged determination "the rights and privileges of Saint Peter." Paul of Numidia applied to him for justice against the Donatists, and the patrician Gennadius, who persecuted him, bishop though he was. With stedfast persistence the pope insisted on securing the trial of the case himself, and sent the bishop back to Africa assured of the imperial protection. Almost insensibly his persistence and the moral grandeur of his character told on the independence of the imperial officials. They began to listen to his advice, and then to admit his authority; and it was soon hard to distinguish their respect for the man from their obedience to the See. And at the same time, amid the chaos of administrative disorder, the people put their trust in the Church: they took the bishops for their defenders, and most of all the Bishop of Rome. Gregory exercised the authority then bestowed upon him partly through Hilarus, whom he sent to be overseer of the patrimony of the Church, and partly through the Numidian bishop Columbus. If protest was made — as it seems to have been made by a Numidian primate Adeodatus and by Dominicus of Carthage — it was overruled: Rome, said Gregory, was the mother church of Africa, and her authority must be respected. Such a pope was one to make it respected, whether he advised and exhorted in regard to the decay of spiritual life in monasteries, or reproved administrators and judges for unjust exaction of tribute. No better illustration of the way in which the papal claims attained acceptance could be found than is afforded by the history of Africa in the time of Gregory the Great.

While Donatism died hard in Africa, nearer home the controversy of the Three Chapters was not yet concluded. In Istria the Church was in schism, for it had not submitted to the decision of East and West. Gregory invoked (with but small success) the secular arm against Severus, patriarch of Aquileia, and summoned him to Rome. The bishops of the province protested and adjured the Emperor to protect them, professing no obedience to Rome and threatening to acknowledge the ecclesiastical authority of Gaul. Maurice commanded Gregory to stay his hand, which