Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/303

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 281 they power to abolish his government of Rome ? The title of patrician was below the merit and greatness of Charlemagne ; and it was on!^ by reviving the Western empire that they could pay their obligations or secure their establishment. By this decisive measure they would finally eradicate the claims of the Greeks ; from the debasement of a provincial town, the majesty of Rome would be restored ; the Latin Christians would be united under a supreme head, in their ancient metro- polis ; and the conquerors of the West would receive their crown from the successors of St. Peter. The Roman church would acquire a zealous and respectable advocate ; and, under the shadow of the Carlovingian power, the bishop might exer- cise, with honour and safety, the government of the city.'J^ Before the ruin of paganism in Rome, the competition for a coronation wealthy bishopric had often been productive of tumult andmagneas Til mi 1 1 1 • emperor of bloodshed, ihe people was less numerous, but the tmies were Rome and of, ^ ^ 1 , ,. P ^ the West. more savage, the prize more important, and the chair oi ht. ad. soo, Peter was fiercely disputed by the leading ecclesiastics who aspired to the rank of sovereign. The reign of Hadrian the First '•'•^ surpasses the measure of past or succeeding ages ; -'^ the walls of Rome, the sacred patrimony, the ruin of the Lombards and the friendship of Charlemagne, were the trophies of his fame ; he secretly edified the throne of his successors, and dis- played in a narrow space the virtues of a great prince. His memory was revered ; but in the next election, a priest of the [a.d. 795] Lateran (Leo the Third) was preferred to the nephew and the favourite of Hadrian, whom he had promoted to the first dignities of the church. Their acquiescence or repentance disguised, above four years, the blackest intention of revenge, till the day •'2 Fontanini considers the emperors as no more than the advocates of the church (advocatus et defensor S. R. E. See Ducange, Gloss. Lat. torn. i. p. 97). His antagonist, Muratori, reduces the popes to be no more than the e.xarchs of the emperor. In the more equitable view of Mosheim (Institut. Hist. Eccles. p. 264, 265) they held Rome under the empire as the most honourable species of iief or benefice — premuntur nocte caliginosa ! 9^ His merits and hopes are summed up in an epitaph of thirty-eight verses, of which Charlemagne declares himself the author (Concil. torn. viii. p. 520). Post patrem lacrynians Carolus h;ec carmina scripsi. Tu mihi dulcis amor, te modo plango pater Nomina jungo simul titulis, clarissime, nostra Adrianus, Carolus, rex ego, tuque pater. The poetry might be supplied by Alcuin ; but the tears, the most glorious tribute, can only belong to Charlemagne. •'■•Every new pope is admonished — " Sancte Pater, non videbis annos Petri," twenty-five years. On the whole series the average is about eight years — a short hope for an ambitious cardinal.