Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/61

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 41 but the Carlovingian standard was ove^thro^m by a detachment of the barbarians ; they meditated the restoration of the Greek emperors ; but the attempt was treasonable, and the succour remote and precarious. i*'-^ Their distress appeared to receive some aggravation from the death of their spiritual and temporal chiefs ; but the pressing emergency superseded the forms and intrigues of an election ; and the unanimous choice of pope [a.d. 847] Leo the Fourth ^^^ was the safety of the church and city. This pontiff was born a Roman ; the courage of the first ages of the republic glowed in his breast ; and, amidst the ruins of his country, he stood erect, like one of the firm and lofty columns that rear their heads above the fragments of the Roman forum. The first days of his reign were consecrated to the purification and removal of relics, to prayers and processions, and to all the solemn offices of religion, which served at least to heal the im- agination, and restore the hopes, of the multitude. The public defence had been long neglected, not from the presumption of peace, but from the distress and poverty of the times. As far as the scantiness of his means and the shortness of his leisure would allow, the ancient walls were repaired by the command of Leo ; fifteen towers, in the most accessible stations, were built or renewed ; two of these commanded on either side the Tiber ; and an iron chain was drawn across the stream, to im- pede the ascent of an hostile navy. The Romans were assured of a short respite by the welcome news that the siege of Gayeta had been raised and that a part of the enemy, with their sac- rilegious plunder, had perished in the waves. But the storm which had been delayed, soon burst upon victory and them with redoubled violence. The Aglabite,^^^ who reigned iv. ad, 849 in Africa, and had inherited from his father a treasure and an ^"3 One of the most eminent Romans (Gratianus, magister militum et Romani palatii superista) was accused of declaring, Quia Franci nihil nobis boni faciunt, neque adjutorium prasbent, sed magis quae nostra sunt violenter tollunt. Qua re non advocamus Grascos, et cum eis fcedus pacis componentes, Francorum regem et gentem de nostro regno et dominatione expellimus ? Anastasius in Leone IV. p. 199. 1*^ Voltaire (Hist. G^n^rale, tom. ii. c. 38, p. 124) appears to be remarkably struck with the character of pope Leo IV. I have borrowed his general expres- sion ; but the sight of the forum has furnished me with a more distinct and lively image. i**' De Guignes, Hist. G<5n^rale des Huns, tom. i. p. 363, 364. Cardonne, Hist, de I'Afrique et de I'Espagne, sous la Domination des Arabes, tom. ii. p. 24, 25. I observe, and cannot reconcile, the difference of these writers in the succession of the Aglabites. [The Aghlabid who reigned at this time was Mohammad I. (840- 856). For the succession see S. Lane-Poole, Mohamniadan Dynasties, p. 37.]