Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/319

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 297 the qualifications of the candidates that he accepted an oath of fideHty and confirmed the donations which had successively enriched the patrimony of St, Peter. In the frequent schisms, the rival claims were submitted to the sentence of the emperor ; and in a synod of bishops he presumed to judge, to condemn, and to punish the crimes of a guilty pontiff. Otho the First im- posed a treaty on the senate and people, who engaged to prefer the candidate most acceptable to his majesty ; i*'" his successors anticipated or prevented their choice ; they bestowed the Roman benefice, like the bishoprics of Cologne or Bamberg, on their chancellors or preceptors ; and, whatever might be the merit of a Frank or Saxon, his name sufficiently attests the interposi- tion of foreign power. These acts of prerogative were most speciously excused by the vices of a popular election. The competitor who had been excluded by the cardinals appealed to the passions or avarice of the multitude; the Vatican and the Lateran were stained with blood ; and the most powerful senators, the marquises of Tuscany and the counts of Tusculum, held the apostolic see in a long and disgraceful servitude. The Disorders Roman pontiff's of the ninth and tenth centuries were insulted, imprisoned, and murdered by their tyrants ; and such was their indigence after the loss and usurpation of the ecclesiastical patrimonies, that they could neither support the state of a prince nor exercise the charity of a priest, i"^*' The influence of two sister prostitutes, Marozia and Theodora, was founded on their wealth and beauty, their political and amorous intrigues : the most strenuous of their lovers were rewarded with the Roman mitre, and their reign !>*'' may have suggested to the r.v, pjriniter jurantes, nunquam se papam electuros aut ordinaturos, prfEter consonsum et electioneni Othonis et filii sui (Liutprand, 1. vi. c. 6, p. 472 [Hist. Ouoiiis, c. 21]). This important concession may either supply or confirm the decree of the clergy nnd people of Rome, so fiercely rejected by Baronius. Pagi, and Muratori (a.D. 964), and so well defended and explained by St. Marc (Abr^gi^, torn. ii. p. 808-816, tom. iv. p. 1167-1185). Consult that historical critic, and the Annals of Muratori, for the election and confirmation of each pope. '■""The oppression and vices of the Roman church in the xth century are strongly painted in the history and legation of Liutprand (see p. 440, 450, 471-476, 479, tVc. ), and it is whimsical enough to observe Muratori tempering the invectives of Baronius against the popes. But these popes had been chosen, not by the cardinals, but by lay-patrons. '■'"'rhe time of pope Joan (/a/n'ssa Joanna) is placed somewhat earlier than Theodora or Marozia ; and the two years of her imaginary reign are forcibly in- serted between Leo IV. and Benedict IIL But the contemporary Anastasius indissolubly links the death of Leo and tlie elevation of Benedict (illico, mox, p. 247), and the accurate chronology of Pagi, Muratori, and Leibnitz fixes both events to the year 857.