Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/355

 CHRONICLE.] invited the Lombards to come and make themselves masters of Italy. John, pontiff of the Roman church, built and consecrated the church of the Apostles Philip and James, which his predecessor Pelagius had begun.

A.M. 4536 [585].

Tiberius Constantine reigned 7 years. Gregory who was at first the nuncio at Constantinople, and afterwards bishop of Rome, wrote an exposition of the book of Job, and in the presence of Tiberius, convicted Entychius, bishop of Constantinople, of doctrinal error in the matter of the resurrection; insomuch that the emperor condemned to the flames that prelate's book, as destructive of the articles of our faith. For this Eutychius taught, that in the glorious resurrection, our bodies will be impalpable, and more subtle than air; which is opposed to what our Lord said, "Touch and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." The Lombards, under their king Alboin, invaded Italy, spreading famine and death through the whole land, and besieged and sacked the city of Rome.

A.M. 4557 [606].

Maurice reigned 21 years. Hirminigild, son of Levigild, king of the Goths, for his indomitable constancy in adhering to the catholic faith, was stripped of the ensigns of dignity by his father, who was an Arian, and thrown into prison laden with fetters, where at length, on the holy night of our Lord's resurrection, he was put to death by a blow on the head with an axe, and thus entered, a king and martyr, the heavenly in exchange for an earthly kingdom. His brother Richard, who succeeded his father in the kingdom, and ruled over the whole of the Gothic nations, embraced the catholic faith at the instance of Leander, bishop of Seville, who had been the instructor of his brother. Gregory, pontiff of Rome, and a distinguished doctor of the church, in the