The lives of the popes from the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ to the accession of Gregory VII

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THE LIVES OF LHbE POPES.

The Ancient and Modern Library of Theological Literature.

THE

LIVES OF THE POPES

FROM THE TIME OF OUR

SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST

TO THE

ACCESSION €O9P GREGORY: VIL

WRITTEN ORIGINALLY IN LATIN

BY

H TLAEIINA

NATIVE OF CREMONA

AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

EDITED BY THE REV. W. BENHAM, B.D. 5 F.S.A.
RECTOR OF ST EDMUND'S, LOMBARD STREET

LONDON
GRIFFITH FARRAN & CO. LIMITED

NEWBERY HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD.

CONTEN TES.

PAGE
BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE . . . ‘ . ix
GENERAL INTRODUCTION . . . 4 ; xv
St Peter the Apostle, czrca 33-68 ; ; I
St Linus, c7ca A.D. 68-78. . ; : IO
St Cletus, czvca 78-91 : I2
St Clemens, cca A.D. 91-100 . ^ ; I5
St Anacletus . ; : : : á 17
St Evaristus, czc2 A.D. 100-109. . : ; ^ 19
St Alexander I., c¢vca A.D. 109-119 . : i : 21
St Sixtus I., cZzca A.D. 119-129 n ; ; ; 22
St Telesphorus, A.D. 129-139 ; j A : 24
St Hyginus, A.D. 139-143 . , : à 26
St Pius L, A.D. 143-157 ^ ; : 27
St Anicetus, A.D. 157-168 ‘ 29
St Soter, A.D. 168-177 ; 4 A 31
St Eleutherius, A.D. 177-192 à . . 33
St Victor L, cZrca A.D. 192-202 . 35
St Zephyrinus, czca A.D. 202-219 à : 36
St Calistus I., A.D. 219-223 . : 38
St Urbanus I., A.D. 223-230 . ; j : ; 31
St Pontianus, A.D. 230-235 . : : A ; 43
St Anterus, A.D. 235-236 ? : : : 45
St Fabianus, A.D. 236-249 . > : A à 47
St Cornelius, A.D. 251-252 . : à ^ : 48
SbhEUCHS I, A.D. 289-253 —. —. ; : ; 50
St Stephanus I., A.D. 253-257 : à 52
St Sixtus II., A.D. 257-258 : : ‘ 53
St Dionysius, A.D. 259-269 ‘ , > ^ 55
St Felix L, A.D. 269-275 A ‘ i 4 56
St Eutychianus, A.D. 275-283 : . e . 57
St Caius, A.D. 283-296 : . 3 58
St Marcellinus, A.D. 296-304 : . . é 60

vi Contents.

St Marcellus, A.D. 308-310
St Eusebius, A.D. 310 À
St Melchiades, A.D. 311-314.
St Sylvester, A.D. 314-336
Marcus I., A.D. 336-337 i
Julius L, A.D. 337-352
Liberius I., A.D. 352-366
Felix II., A.p. 386 . °
Damasus I., A.D. 367-384 .
Siricius I., A.D. 385-398
Anastasius I., A.D. 399-402 .
Innocentius L., A.D. 402-417
Zosimus, A.D. 417-418
Bonifacius I., A.D. 419-422
Caelestinus I., A.D. 422-432 .
Sixtus III, A.D. 432-440

Leo I. the Great, A.D. 440-461
Hilarius I., A.D. 461-468 .
Simplicius I., A.D. 468-483
Felix III., A.D. 493-492
Gelasius I., A.D. 492-496
Anastasius II, A.D. 496-498 .
Symmachus I., A.D. 498-514
Hormisda I., A.D. 514-523
John I., A.D. 523-526
FelixIV., A.p. 526-530
Boniface II., A.D. 530-532
John II., A.D. 532-535
Agapetus I., A;D. 535-556
Sylverius, A.D. 536-537
Vigilius L, A.D. 537-555
Pelagius L, A.D. 555-560
John III, A.D. 560-573
Benedict I., A.p. 574-578
Pelagius II., a.p. 578-590

Gregory I. the Great, A.D. 590-604 .

Sabinian I., A.D. 604-606
Boniface IIL, A.D. 607-608 .
Boniface IV., A.p. 608-615 .
Deus-Dedit I., A.D. 615-618.
Boniface V., A.D. 618-62 5
Honorius 1., A.p. 625-638
Severinus I., A.D, 640

John IV., A.p. 640-642
Theodorus L, a.p. 642-649 ,
Martin I., A.D. 649-655 .
Eugenius I., A.D. 655-657 .

^ * . . e > . e e .

155

Contents. . vii

Vitalianus L, A.D. 657-672 . 3 ‘ : : 156

- Adeodatus L, A.D. 672-676 . x ; . 158
Donus L, A.D. 676-678 . ‘ ‘ à . . 160
Agatho L , A.D. 678-682 i à ; : i 161
Leo II., A.D. 682- 683 , ; : p Tarte 163
Benedict II., A.D. 683-685 . Í : ; : 164
John V., A.D. 685-686 , ; ; : : 166
Conon 1. , A.D. 686-687 ‘ ; 4 à : 167
Sergius ÉL A.D. 687-701 ; ; i : i 168
John VI., g^ D. 702-705 à 4 : ; . 172
John VIL, A.D. 705-707 ‘ e : : ; 173
Sisinnius, "A.D. 935 . : / i , 175
Constantine I., A.D. 708- 716. . : i p US
Gregory IL, A.D. 216431... . : ‘ ? 178
Gregory IIT., A.D. 731-741 . é F s ; 183
Zacharias I., "AD, 741-752 . i : ; i 186
Stephen II., "A.D. 202057 à . P i 189
Paul I., 757- -767 1 à : i : 192
Stephen IV., A.D. 768- ^p rl ; ‘ é 194
Adrian I., A. D. 772-795 à , : , p 198
Leo III., 795-816 i i à ‘ : i 204
Stephen V., A.D. 816-817. í i ; , 209
Paschal I., A.D. 817-824 ' ^ ^ ; í 210
Eugenius IL, A.D. 824-827 . : 3 . í 212
Valentine IL, A.D. 827 ‘ é : . : 213
Gregory IV., A.D. 827-844 . à i , : 214
Sergius, A.D. 844-847 ‘ í ] : i 218
Leo IV., A.D. 847-855 i : : : ; 220
John VIL. i E D . i 224
Benedict III, A.D. 855- 858 . á 3 L : 225
Nicolas I. [the Great], A.D. 858-867 . é : 227
Hadrian IL, A.D. 867-872 ©. | . : D 230
John VIII., "A.D. 872-882. ‘ . : . 232
Martin D A.D. 882-884 à i i : : 233
Hadrian IIL, A.D. 884-885 . 234
Stephen VI., A.D. 885-891 : 1 235
Formosus, A.D. 891-896 ‘ i 236
Boniface VI., A.D. 896 J ' 237
Stephen VII., A.D. 896-897 . à ; 237
Romanus, A.D. 897-898 : ; 239
Theodorus II., A.D. 898 ‘ ‘ $ i 239
John IX., A.D. 898-900 x ’ s 240
Benedict IV., A.D. 900-903 ; . . 241
Leo V., A.D. 903 : . ‘ . A : 242
Christopher, A.D. 903 ‘ e . . . 242 .
Sergius III., A.D. 904-911 Rh e : : 243

Anastasius IIL, A.D. QII -913 " kl . 244

~~

Landus, A.D. 914 : .
John X., A.D..914-928 .
Leo VI., A.D. 928-929 ‘
Stephen VIII., A.D. 929-931 .
John XI., A.D. 931-936

Leo VII., A.D. 936-939
Stephen IX., A.D. 939-942
Martin III., A.D. 942-946 .
Agapetus II., A.D. 946-955
John XII., A.D. 955-963
Benedict V., A.D. 963

Leo VIII., A.D. 964-965

John XIII., A.D. 965-972
Benedict VI, A.D. gn 974 .
Boniface VII.

Domnus II., A.D. 974- 975
Benedict VIL, 975-983

John XIV., A.D. 983-984
John XV., A.D. 985-996
Gregory V., A.D. 996-999
John XVI., A.D. 996 . :
Sylvester IL A.D. 999-1003 .
John XVIL,. A.D. 1003 ;
John XVIII. A.D. 1003-1009
Sergius IV. A.D. 1009-1012 .
Benedict VIII., A.D. 1012-1024
John XIX., A.D. 1024-1033 .
Benedict IX., 1033-1044
Sylvester III, 1044 .
Gregory VI., 1044-1046
Clement II., A.D. 1046-1048 .
Damasus II., A.D. 1048

Leo IX., A.D. 1048-1054
Victor II., A.D. 1055-1057
Stephen IX., A.D. 1057-1058
Benedict X., A.D. 1058-1059 .
Nicolas II., A.D. 1059-1061 .
Alexander II., A.D. 1061-1073

APPENDIX—Chronological Table

viii Contents.

256
257

271
272

276
277

280

282

BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE.

nf pu author of the following work was born in 1421 at a

little village between Mantua and Cremona, called
Piadena (Latin Platina) His family name was Sacchi,
but he changed it to Platina, after his birthplace. There
is a difference of opinion with regard to his Christian
name; some writers saying that it was Baptista, others
that it was Bartholomew. Vossius has dealt with the ques-
tion at some length in his work “ De Aistoricis Latinis,"
and, on substantial reasons, has decided for Bartholomew.
In his early youth he was trained as a soldier, and later ©
studied science for some years. At last he went to Rome,
recommended by Cardinal Vessarion to Pope Pius IL, and
through the influence of his patron he obtained successively
several posts; in 1464, the important one of Abbreviator, the
duties of which consisted of drawing up Papal bulls or briefs.
When he had been installed but a few months, Pius II. died,
and Paul IL, his successor, changed all the officials. He had
an idea, probably correct, that the Court of Abbreviators was
the promoter of much corruption, so he determined to restrict
the powers they possessed, and fixed their number at seventy,
all of them being tried men, safe to carry out his commands.
The indignation of those that had been deprived of their office
was great, and they chose Platina, as being the most distinguished
of their number, to plead their cause. He argued that the office
was theirs for life, when once appointed, and that it was not in
the power of the Pope to dismiss them at will, and he more-
over threatened that if he would give them no redress, they
would submit the question to the decision of the Rota. To

A

, b

* Biographical Preface.

which Paul II. answered, * Do you talk of bringing us before
judges, as if you did not know that the law is settled in our
breast? If you talk in that way, all shall be dismissed. I care
not; I am Pope, and can, at my good pleasure, rescind or confirm
the acts of others." Platina, not to be daunted, told the Pope
by letter that he and his colleagues would apply to the Princes
of Europe, against his treatment of them. The only answer
vouchsafed to him was an announcement that the Pope had
ordered his imprisonment, on a charge of treason. He was
kept in chains for four months, at the end of which time he
was released through the intercession of Cardinal Gonzoga.
After their dissolution the Abbreviators used often to meet at
the Roman Academy, for the airing of their grievances, and
they thought to take vengeance on the Pope, by holding up
‘the priesthood to ridicule. At first the Pope took no notice,
but during the Carnival of 1468, rumours reached him that
they were conspiring with the Emperor to create à new
schism, and he caused Platina and several others to be
seized. Pomponius Laetus, the founder of the Academy, and
in reality a simple-minded scholar, was soon released, but
Platina was kept in prison for more than a year. This mode
of life did not suit one who had been accustomed to compara-
tive ease and luxury, and very soon he was ready to submit
unconditionally, so long as the Pope would give him his
liberty. In the letters which he wrote at that time, such
sentences as this occur, “I undertake, that if I hear anything,
even from the birds as they fly past, which is directed against
your name and safety, I will at once inform your Holiness,
by letter or messenger. I entirely approve your proceedings
for restraining and reproving the license of the scholars; it
is the duty of the chief shepherd to preserve his flock from
all danger and disease.” He wrote also to several of the
cardinals, to urge them to use all the influence they possessed
with the Pope, and promised that from that time forth, his
pen should be entirely devoted to the promotion of the
Church’s welfare. He was released, but Paul never called on

Biographical Preface. xi

him to fulfil his promise, and till the accession of Sixtus
IV., Paul’s successor, he lived in obscurity. Sixtus IV.
appointed him superintendent of the Vatican Library, and
he died holding that office in 1481. At the time of his
appointment the library contained about 2500 volumes. His
salary was one hundred and twenty ducats a year, and
the three sub-librarians each received twelve ducats. Their
position appears to have been most humble, merely that
of servants; among the records it is told how one of
them, named Salvatus, was in such a state of destitution
that he was presented with new clothes. At the same time
they were all learned men, and have left several works of
merit behind them. Most of the works were secured by
chains, especially in the room used by the general public.
There were two other rooms, one for the reception of private
papers and archives, and one used only by the Pope and
- cardinals. Bibliography was still in its infancy, and it is in-
teresting to trace the gradual improvements made in the
drawing up of the catalogue. From the first the names were
arranged in alphabetical order, but the first letter of the
Christian name was always given the precedence. Platina
died of the plague. He is said to have written his own
epitaph as follows :—“ Quisguts es, si pius, Platinam et suos ne
vexes ; anguste jacent et soli volunt esse.” Of his writings, by
far the most important is his ** History of the Papacy,” which
he wrote at the request of Sixtus, and published at Venice in
1479. He drew freely from the writings of his predecessors,
and with them makes many statements which cannot be proved.
As he draws near to his own time the historical value of his
book becomes greater, the source of the last portion, from
Eugene IV. to Paul IL, being his own personal experi-
ence. In his biography of the latter he pays off many old
scores of vengeance. Paul II., however, had been dead some
years, and the only harm caused by his biased judgment was
that subsequent generations have formed erroneous ideas of
Paul’s real character. For the most part he criticises the state

EH — : Biographical Preface.

of the Papacy as it was in his own time with great severity,
yet he sometimes plays the part of a flatterer. He displays
a genuine love of truth, though in the case of Paul II.
he gives vent to personal hatred. His history of Mantua,
beginning with the foundation of the town, and continued till
the year 1464, is a book of great rarity. His other works
treat chiefly of philosophy.

The translation here offered to the reader was first published
in 1685 by Sir Paul Rycaut, who states that he does not know
by whom the translation was made, but it was delivered to
him by the bookseller. He was so convinced of its value and
usefulness that he has not only published it, but has continued
it up to his own time. The rest of Platina's work, com-
prising the history of the Papacy during the period of its
highest power and pretensions, will form a second volume of
this present series.

Platina's work is unquestionably very valuable. It will be
seen that in his earliest lives he treads on uncertain ground,
and a good many of his statements will not bear the light of
close investigation. But it must be remembered that historical
criticism was hardly born into the world when he wrote, and
he depended, as did many chroniclers besides, on traditional
stories rather than on documentary evidence. Whereas he
gives us the dates of St Peter’s occupation of the see, and of
the accession of his immediate successors, we know that later
writers of his own communion dismiss such details into the
limbo of guesses or confused tradition. But when we emerge
into the light of authentic history, Platina shows every disposi-
tion to be candid and accurate, and as he passes on he is
often remarkably vivid and interesting in his presentation of
details.

In the following edition his text has been left unaltered
with two exceptions. One passage only has been omitted, as
containing matter coarser than meets our present ideas of good
_ taste. It does not bear on the history at all. And manifest
clerical errors and misprints have been corrected. In other

Biographical Preface. xiii

respects, where I am satisfied that Platina’s statements are
incorrect, or where they are open to question, I have left
them alone, and simply challenged them in foot-notes which
are printed within square brackets ; and I have endeavoured
in the introduction to give a general idea of the period of
which he treats. The dates adopted are taken from the
Roman Catholic writer, Dr Milner, as now accepted by the
Roman Church.

W. BENHAM.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

mb early history of the Roman Church is obscure. We

are not told in the Bible by whom it was founded ; when |
St Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans he had not himself
visited the city. The tradition that St Peter was martyred
there is a very old one, and is so well authenticated that,
except for controversial reasons, it would probably never
have been questioned.! But the dates confidently given by
some Roman Catholic historians are certainly not proved by
any historical evidence, while there is much which goes
directly in disproof. And for many years there is a dark-
ness upon the history of the Roman Church. St Jerome
says that the greater part of the Latins regard Clement
as second after Peter, though many put Linus and Ana-
cletus between them. It will thus be understood, that
not only the life of St Peter as given by Platina, but
those of his successors during the first century, are tradi-:
tionary and of little value. The Roman Church, like the
greater part of early Christendom, was a Greek colony, and
the Epistle of St Paul to it was certainly written in Greek.
The first Latin Christian writer, Tertullian, was not a Roman,
but an African. The Roman bishops in early time were
so obscure, that during the whole period of the heathen
persecutions there was no great mind among them, and after-
wards for a long period not a single doctor; the first is Leo
the Great. Cardinal Newman uses this fact as an argument
in favour of the infallibility. (See his * Apologia,” pp. 407-
409). ‘The first emergence of the Roman bishops from the

1 See Smith's * Bible Dictionary,” s.v. ** Peter,” p. 805.

Xvi General Introduction.

obscurity is seen in the Paschal Controversy, A.D. 157
Anicetus and Polycarp are clearly discernible figures, and
from that time onwards we are standing on firmer ground. A
work of Hippolytus in the beginning of the third century
is the principal source of our knowledge of the Roman
bishops up to his time. But they were still men of little
weight until the Empire became Christian. As the Empire
declined in strength under the blows which were struck
upon it by the fierce nations from the north, the Popes
became more important. As paganism died and Christianity
established itself, they were as monarchs over their domain,
and Monasticism still further strengthened their position.
Rome was in the year 411 sacked by the Goths, and emerged
from that catastrophe a Christian city. Before the century
ended Pope Leo the Great was the most important man in
Italy. ‘The Western Empire was tottering to its fall, the
East too was feeble; never was the ancient city in greater
strait ; it needed one who could consolidate Western Chris-
tendom, and unite it against the heretical Goths and
Lombards who were gathering against it. In 452 the fierce
Attila, *the scourge of God,” having desolated North Italy,
was preparing to descend on Rome. The coward Emperor
fled. Then Pope Leo went forth to Attila’s camp, and by his
eloquence turned the barbarian back.

And now the claims to the successorship of St Peter make
themselves heard. From earliest times the ecclesiastical
divisions had followed the civil divisions of the Empire, and
thus the bishops of capital cities were known as metropolitans,
and presiding at synods of the bishops and clergy of their
own province, came to be looked upon in Church affairs as
the representatives of the provinces generally. When Con-
stantine divided the Empire into dzoceses, each consisting of
several provinces, the bishop of the chief city in each diocese
received the title of Avimate, and the most eminent of the
primates were called patriarchs. Such were the bishops of
Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioci, Rome, Constantinople. The

General Introduction. xvii

patriarchate of Rome included the vigorous western world,
that which was rising while the elder ones were declining in
influence, and this at the outset gave a vast importance to
the Roman see. The State acknowledgment of Christianity
gave the bishops of Rome fresh influence year by year,
since their opinions and assistance were asked for by other
bishops, and the emperors needed their help and support in
the difficulties that beset them. This growing influence was
recognised and resented by the Easterns, and at the Council
of Sardica, held in 345 to endeavour to end the Arian contro- -
versy, there was an open rupture. On the alleged ground that
the Western bishops had usurped undue authority, the Easterns
withdrew from the Council, and opened one of their own in
Thrace under the presidency of the patriarch of Antioch.
But they were unequal to the growing strength of their rivals,
and the Sardican council, in their absence, passed canons,
giving to the Bishop of Rome appellate jurisdiction in
the case of any bishop who disapproved of the acts of his
synod. He was not to decide the case himself, but to say
whether there ought to be a new trial, in which case he was
to send legates to sit with the judges. But, as Robertson
shows, while this greatly increased the Roman power from
that time onward, it is also a proof that such power was then
conferred, and did not previously exist (Ch. Hist. i. 304).
Nevertheless the Bishop of Rome grew into the habit of
quoting the canons of Sardica as if they were those of Nicza.
In the pontificate of Siricius, the Bishop of Tarragona in
Spain applied for advice, and the result was the first papal
* Decretal" At first the Decretals were written in the name
of the Synod of Rome, but afterwards they ran in the name
of the Pope alone, and the tone changed from that of brotherly
advice to command. ‘The next step was the change of the
nature of claim. The power of the Empire was declining, the
traditions of the august city were great as ever. No longer
on the ground of imperial dignity was the claim to supremacy
grounded, but on Christ’s charge to St Peter. This claim

xviii General Introduction.

was first made: by Pope Innocent L, who laid it down as a
principle that all churches should follow the usages of Rome.
Yet he appears to have limited the claim to those of the
West—Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily—on the plea that these
had been founded by St Peter or the emissaries of his
successors. Innocent’s successor, Zosimus, went further, and
proclaimed the authority of the Apostolic see to be such that
no one might dare to question its decisions, and that the
successors of St Peter were to be regarded as holding an
authority equal to that of the apostle himself. Pope Leo the
Great, as we have already noted, was the representative, through
the circumstances of his time, of the imperial dignity of old
Rome. And in consequence he became the true founder of
the medizval papacy in its uncompromising strength. Cir-
cumstances not unlike Leo's were those of Pope Gregory I.
The Western Empire had quite disappeared, Italy was
nominally under an exarch or lieutenant who resided at
Ravenna, and it fell not to him but to the Pope to provide
for the feeding and protection of the citizens. . What Attila
had been to Leo the Lombards were now to Gregory. But,
moreover, the Popes had become great land holders ; * the
patrimony of St Peter," as their estates were called, were
situated not only in Italy but in other countries. "This property
was managed by agents, whose influence with the sovereign of
the countries they lived in was great; and thus the personal
power of the Pontiffs still grew.

A great change had by this time come over the position of
the Church. It was no longer the religion of the Roman
world, but also of the Teutonic. The races which had
destroyed the ancient Empire and were to play so large a part
in the foundations of modern Europe, had been Arians. They
were now orthodox. And meanwhile the old Roman letters
and arts were almost extinct. For many a long year literature
had no place; the only writers were the monks and school-
men, and their only subject theological discussions. For
Monasticism having been introduced into. the West had

General Introduction. xix

received a strong impulse from St Benedict and was increasing
mightily. |

The Iconoclastic controversy in the eighth century brought
the Popes and the Eastern Emperors into collision. The
Emperor, against whom public opinion in his own country
unmistakably set, had to give way, and the Pope was the
stronger for the struggle. And now as the nations of modern
Europe began to emerge from the ruins of the old Roman
Empire, the claim of the Pope to be a judge of temporal
matters was for the first time made and allowed. Pipin,
Mayor of the Palace under Childeric, the last of the feeble
Meerwing kings, asked Pope Zachary whether the nominal
power should not be in the hands of the real holder. The
answer was in the affirmative, and the Meerwing race gave
place to the Karlings. As a matter of fact, the question
was one of casuistry, laid before the chief religious judge of
the Church. But the opportunity was taken of declaring
that hereby was confessed the Pope's right to depose
sovereigns.

Controversy hangs round the great event which ushers in
the ninth century, the restoration of the Western Empire under
Charles the Great, commonly known as Charlemagne. He
was crowned in St Peter's by Pope Leo III. in the year 800.
One side declares that he was so by the will of the Pope, who
thus had the power of raising men to monarchy, the other,
that the Pope was but the voice of the popular will (see
Milman ii. 206). The title of the new Empire thus founded,
and which lasted unbroken, though its splendour waned, until
1806, was significant of the idea on which that foundation
rested. It was **The Holy Roman Empire.” “In that day,”
says Mr Bryce, “as through all the dark and middle ages, two
forces were striving for the mastery. The one was the instinct
of separation, disorder, anarchy, caused by the ungoverned
impulses and barbarous ignorance of the great bulk of man-
kind; the other was that passionate longing of the better
minds for a formal unity of government, which had its histori-

xx General Introduction.

cal basis in the memories of the old Roman Empire, and its
most constant expression in the devotion to a visible and
Catholic Church. . . . The act [of coronation] is conceived
of as directly ordered by the Divine providence, which has
brought about a state of things that admits but of one issue,
an issue which king, priest, and people have only to recognise
and obey ; their personal ambitions, passions, intrigues, sinking
and vanishing in reverential awe at what seems the immediate
interposition of heaven." From the first Charles regarded his
sway as of a distinctly sacred character. He summoned and
sat in councils (presiding even when Papal legates were
present) appointed bishops, settled small details of church
discipline in his capitularies, regulated the monasteries, re-
stricted the clergy to spiritual duties, even admonished the
Pope to obey the canons. Among his intimate friends he
chose to be called by the name of David, signifying thereby
that he presided over the kingdom of God on earth. ~ But his
might belonged more to his personal character than to his
Empire. At his death all this temporal and ecclesiastical
supremacy crumbled to pieces, and as the various portions of
the Empire became possessions of great nobles, so the spiritual
supremacy and much of the temporal fell to the clergy. Two
great forgeries which were put forth at this period did much to
help the Papal claims. "The one was the so-called ** Donation
of Constantine," alleging that that Emperor had conferred on
Pope Sylvester the right of wearing a golden crown, that he
had endowed the see with the Lateran Palace, with the City of
Rome, with the whole of Italy. Probably the Lateran story
was true ; the rest were all fictions purporting to date from A.D.
330, but really invented about the middle of the ninth century,
and believed in until the fifteenth. The other was the Forged
Decretals. Some real ones had been gathered early in the
seventh century by Isidore of Seville; about A.D. 840 these
false ones were put forth, very skilfully arranged, and purport-
ing to go back to Apostolic days. They aimed at exalting
the Pope’s power, and also at asserting clerical rights against

General Introduction. xxi

the oppressions of the Emperors. That they were forgeries is
now admitted by Roman Catholics, but their influence for
some centuries was very strong.

Of course this power of the Pope’s was not unfrequently put
to a righteous use, and the civilised world recognised then, as
it does still, that the medieval Papacy was a great agency for
good. It defended the peoples against the power of monarchs,
who but for it would have been cruel tyrants. When Lothair
II., in 858, wished to divorce his wife, a Frankish National
Council obsequiously sanctioned the proceeding, but Pope
Nicholas I. firmly and successfully opposed him. The
righteousness of the cause sufficed to sanction any irregularity
or want of just title.

But now clouds began to gather over the Papacy, and the
tenth century is a dark and dismal age. Under the disorders
which accompanied the disintegration of the empire of Charles,
the Popes became degraded into slaves of the fierce barons of
the Romagna. The sombre picture which Platina draws of
the morals and character of the Pontiffs is proved by all con-
temporary history not to be over-coloured. Italy was in a
terrible state. As the Karling power came to an end, she
aimed at freeing herself from the German thraldom, and to
name her own king, but there was no spirit among the people
brave or great enough to take the lead. There were rival
claimants who made war upon each other, but without such
general support as enabled any one to rule. Pope succeeded
Pope with such rapidity as to awaken the worst suspicions.
Yet in the North this period is not without bright features.
While the Saracens were threatening Europe and acquiring
almost absolute command of the Mediterranean, the fierce
Northmen were settling down, embracing Christianity, laying
the foundations of power, exercised on the whole nobly, and
themselves sending missionaries to the heathen Prussians on
the Baltic. The greatest of English Kings, Alfred, was restor-
ing peace to his country, and laying the foundations of English
greatness, learning, and literature.

x

xxii General Introduction.

Europe in general knew little and cared little for the miser-
able intrigues which went on in the Papal city, the Pontificate
so often won, and again vacated, by murder; and yet no one
questioned. the spiritual monarchy of the men who thus
succeeded. Not even the nobles and people of Rome, but
the soldiers and the rabble were the electors of the vicar of
Christ. The exception to this was when some profligate
woman nominated him, or he bought the see. The Trans-
alpine powers at length interfered, foreign ecclesiastics were for
nearly a century seated on the Papal throne, and only thus was
the see delivered from the hatred and contempt of mankind.

Meanwhile, agencies were at work, begun in antipathy to
the crimes and ungodliness at Rome, and threatening to break
up Christendom into sects. They were kept down by the
strong arm of ecclesiastical and temporal power, but were not
extinguished, and in the course of years showed themselves
again with increased force. But two controversies had arisen,
which were destined to have most serious and lasting effects
upon Christendom. The first was the quarrel between the
East and the West. We can trace antipathies almost from
the beginning, jealousy between Greece and Rome, questions
about Monasticism, about the time for keeping Easter, about
ritual. But the first clear breach arose out of Iconoclasm, the
decrees of the Emperor Leo III. (“the Isauarian”) against
images, A.D. 730. A quarrel about the conversion of Bulgaria
in the following century increased the existing ill-feeling, the
Patriarch of Constantinople alleging that the Pope of Rome
had intruded into his dominion. The breach was patched
up, not healed. But the crisis came through the famous
Filiogue, the addition by the Western Church to the words
of the Nicene Creed, Qui ex Patre procedit. After long
disputing, and even for a while the disuse of the addition,
the Western Church once more revived it, and in 1053 Pope
Leo IX. excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople,
and with him all who refused it. The Patriarch, Michael
Cerularius, invited legates from the Pope to Constantinople,

- General Introduction. xxiii

to negotiate for peace. ‘They came accordingly, but it was
to lay the Pope's sentence on the altar of St Sophia (June
16, 1054). The Patriarch retorted the excommunication, and
the breach was complete.

The second great controversy was within the Western
Church, and concerned the presence of Christ in the Holy
Eucharist. 'The name of Paschasius Radbertus, Abbot of
Corbie (A.D. 844-851) is associated with the first promulgation
of the doctrine of Transubstantiation. The most eminent
Frankish churchmen combated his views, headed by Ratram-
nus, another monk of Corbie. A yet more uncompromising
opponent, who seems to have made the sacrament a commemo-
rative ordinance only, was John Scotus Erigena. We need
not add that the view of Radbert has come to be the doctrine
of the Roman Church. Bishop Ridley declared that he was
induced to abandon it through reading the reply of Ratramnus,
The history of this great controversy will be found at-length.
and told with characteristic power and eloquence, in Minas
* Latin Christianity," Book vi. ch. ii.

Toward the end of the period before us, the dark clouds which
had rested so long on the Papal see began to break. The Em-
peror Henry III. (1039-1056), was one of the most vigorous of
rulers, raising the Holy Roman Empire to the zenith of its power,
and bent on reforming the ghastly abuses of the Church. The
Romans, sickened with the disorders and crimes around them,
joyously welcomed him when he came among them; there
never was any monarch so popular there as he, and Pope Leo
IX. was his nominee. It was on the occasion of his election
that Hildebrand, afterwards to become so famous, first comes
into notice. When at length, after being the means of nomin-
ating four Popes in succession, he saw fit to accept the see
himself, he had acquired sufficient power to revolutionise the
Papacy, and to start a new order of things.

IE te
tet ae

Bese ER f Es
YORE ESTP E

The Lives of the Popes.

-

‘ST PETER THE APOSTLE.
Circa 33-68.

FTER the death and resurrection of Christ, and the com-
pletion of the days of Pentecost, the disciples received
the Holy Ghost : and being filled with the spirit, they published
the wonderful works of God in divers tongues, though most of
them, especially Peter and John, were looked upon as utterly -
illiterate men. Their manner of living was measured by the
common good ; none of them challenged any propriety in any-
thing ; and whatsoever religious oblation was laid at their feet,
they either divided it between themselves for the supply of the
necessities of nature, or else distributed it to the poor. These
disciples had each of them his province assigned to him: to
St Thomas was allotted Parthia, to St Matthew /Ethiopia, to
St Bartholomew India on this side Ganges, to St Andrew
Scythia, and. Asia to St John, who after a long series of toil
and care, died during his abode at Ephesus. But to St Peter,
the chief of the apostles, were assigned Pontus, Galatia,
Bithynia and Cappadocia ; who being by birth a Galilean, of
the city of Bethsaida, the son of John, and brother of Andrew
the apostle, sat first in the Episcopal see of Antioch for
seven years in the days of Tiberius. :

This emperor was son-in-law and heir to Augustus, and for
the space of twenty-three years his administration of the
government had so much of change and variety in it, that we
cannot reckon him altogether a bad, or absolutely a good
prince. He was a man of great learning, and weighty elo-

A

^

2 The Lives of the Popes.

quence; his wars he managed not in person, but by his
lieutenants, and showed a great deal of prudence in suppress-
ing any sudden commotions, Having by arts of flattery
enticed several princes to his court, he never suffered them
to return home again ; as particularly among others, Archelaus
of Cappadocia, whose kingdom he made a province of the
empire. Many of the senators were banished, and some of
them slain by him. C. Asinius Gallus the pleader, son of
Asinius Pollio, was by his order put to death with the most
exquisite torments ; and Vocienus Montanus Narbonensis, one
of the same profession, died in the Baleares, where Tiberius
had confined him. Moreover historians tell us, that his bro-
ther Drusus was poisoned at his command. And yet upon ©
occasion he exercised so much lenity, that when certain pub-
licans and governors of provinces moved him to raise the
public taxes, he gave them this answer, * that a good shepherd
does indeed shear, but not flay his sheep."

Tiberius dying, C. Casar, who, with a jocular reflection
upon his education in the camp, had the surname of Caligula,!
succeeded him in the empire ; he was the son of Drusus (son-
in-law to Augustus) and nephew to Tiberius; the greatest
villain in the world, and one who never did any worthy action
either at home or abroad. His avarice put him upon all
manner of oppression ; his lust was such that he did not for- ,
bear to violate the chastity of his own sisters ; and his cruelty
was so great, that he is reported oftentimes to have cried out,
* Oh! that all the people of Rome had but one neck!” At
his command all who were under proscription were put to
death ; for having recalled a certain person from banishment,
and enquiring of him what the exiles did chiefly wish for, —the
man imprudently answering, that they desired nothing more
than the death of the emperor—he thereupon gave order that
every man of them should be executed. He would often com-
plain of the condition of his times, that they were not rendered
remarkable by any public calamities, as those of Tiberius had
been, in whose reign. no less than twenty thousand men
had been slain by the fall of a theatre at Tarracina. He ex-
pressed so much envy at the renown of Virgil and Livy, that
he was very near taking away their writings and images out of
all the libraries ; the former of whom he would censure as a
man of no wit and little learning, the latter as a verbose and

! Caliga signifying a common soldier's hose, — Ep.

St Peter the Apostle. 3

negligent historian ; and it was his common bye-word concern-
ing Seneca, ‘‘ That his writings were like a rope of sand.”
Agrippa, the son of king Herod, who had been cast into
prison by Tiberius for accusing Herod, was by him set at
liberty, and made king of Judea ; while Herod himself was
confined to perpetual banishment at Lyons. He caused him-
self to be translated into the number of the gods, and ordered
the setting up his image in the temple of Jerusalem. At last he
was assaulted and slain by some of his own officers, in the third
year and tenth month of his empire. Among his writings
were found two rolls or lists, one of which had a dagger, the
other a sword stamped upon it for a seal ; they both contained
the names and characters of certain principal men, both of
the senatorian and equestrian order, whom he designed to
slaughter. ‘There was found likewise a large chest filled with
several sorts of poisons, which being at the command of
Claudius Ceesar not long after thrown into the sea, it is reported
that the waters were so infected thereby, that there died abund-
ance of fish, which the tide cast up in vast numbers upon the
neighbouring shores.

I thought good to give this account of these monsters of
men, that thereby it might the better appear, that God could
then have scarce forborne destroying the whole world, unless
He had sent His Son and His Apostles, by whose blood
mankind, though equal to Lycaon in impiety, was yet redeemed
from destruction. In their times lived that St Peter, whom
our Saviour (upon his acknowledgment of Him to be the
Christ), bespake in these words, ** Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven ;” and, **'Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church ; and I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the power of
binding and loosing.” This apostle being a person of most
unwearied industry, when he had sufficiently settled the
churches of Asia, and confuted the opinion of those who main-
tained the necessity of circumcision, came into Italy in the
second year of Claudius, ~

This Claudius, who was uncle to Caligula, and had been
all along very contumeliously treated and buffooned by his
nephew, being now Emperor, making an expedition into
Britain, had the island surrendered up to him,—an enterprise
which none before Julius Csesar, nor any after Claudius, durst

A2

4 The Lives of the Popes.

undertake: he also added the Isles of Orkney to the Roman
Empire. He banished out of the city of Rome the seditious J ews,
and suppressed the tumults of Judaea, which had been raised by
certain false prophets. And while Cumanus was appointed by
him Procurator of Judzea, there were crushed to death in the
. porches of the Temple of Jerusalem during the days of un-
leavened bread, to the number of thirty thousand Jews. At
the same time, also, there was a great dearth and scarcity of
provision throughout the wholé world ; a calamity which had
been foretold by Agabus the prophet. Being secure of any
hostilities from abroad, he finished the aqueduct that had
been begun by Caligula, whose ruins are yet to be seen in the
Lateran. He attempted also to empty the Lake Fucinus,
being prompted thereto by the hope of getting not only hon-
our and reputation, but profit and advantage by it; since
there was a certain person who proffered to undertake that
work at his own private charge, upon condition that the land
when it was drained might have been granted to him for his
reward. The mountain being partly undermined, partly cut
through, the length of three miles, the passage was at the end
of eleven years with much ado finished, there being no less than
thirty thousand labourers continually employed in it. It was
he likewise that made the harbour of Ostia, by drawing an arm
of the sea on each hand, and so breaking the violence of the
waves ; a work, the footsteps of which are not to be seen at
this day without wonder. Having put to death his wife
Messalina for adultery, he afterwards, against all law both
human and divine, married Agrippina the daughter of his
brother Germanicus, by whom, in the fourteenth year of his
Empire, he was poisoned with mushrooms prepared by her for
that purpose.

In his time St Peter came to Rome, the principal city of the
world ; both because he judged it a seat best accommodated
to the Pontifical dignity, and because likewise he understood
that Simon Magus, a Samaritan, had planted himself there,
who by his sorceries had so far seduced the people, that they
believed him to be a god. For his statue had been already
erected at Rome, between the two bridges, with this Latin
inscription, *.Szziuni Deo Sancto,” ie,to “Simon the Holy
God." This man while he stayed in Samaria, pretended faith
in Christ so far as to obtain baptism from Philip one of the
seven deacons, which afterwards abusing to ill ends, he laid

St Peter the Apostle. 5

the foundation of diverse heresies. ‘To him was joined one
Sebene, a shameless strumpet, who was his companion and
partner in villany. To such a height of impudence did this
lewd fellow arrive that he challenged St Peter to work miracles
with him; and particularly he undertook to raise to life a
dead child, which indeed at first seemed somewhat to move
at his charms; but it being manifest presently that the
child nevertheless continued dead still, at St Peter’s com-
mand in the name of Jesus, it immediately arose. Simon
being enraged hereat, proffered, as a further trial which
of them. was the more holy man and more beloved of
God, to fly from the Capitol to the Aventine in the sight
of all the people, provided Peter would follow him. While
he was yet flying, at the prayer of Peter, who with hands
lifted up to. heaven, beseeched God not to suffer so great a
multitude to be deluded with magical arts, down he fell and
broke his leg, with grief of which misadventure he not long
after died at Aricia, whither his followers had conveyed him
after this foul disgrace. From him the heretics called
Simoniaci had their original, who pretended to buy and sell
the gift of the Holy Ghost, and who asserted the creation to
proceed from a certain superior power, but not to be from God.

After this, St Peter applying himself both by preaching and
example to the propagating of the Word of God, was by the
Christian Romans earnestly desired that John, surnamed Mark,
who was his son in baptism, and a person of a most approved
life and conversation, might be employed by him in writing a
Gospel. St Hierom saith, that he being a priest in Israel,
a Levite according to the flesh, after his conversion to the
Christian faith, wrote his Gospel in Italy, showing what he
owed to his own parentage and extraction and what to Christ.
Which Gospel, as we now have it, was approved by the testi-
mony of St Peter. Being afterwards sent into Egypt, as Philo
the Jew a famous writer tells us, after that by preaching and
writing he had well formed the Alexandrian Church, being a
man very eminent both for his life and learning, in the eighth
year of the Emperor Nero, he died and was buried at Alex-
andria, in whose place succeeded Anianus.

The year before died James, surnamed Justus, the brother
of our Lord, being the son of Joseph by another wife, or, as
some will have it, sisters son to Mary, Christ's mother.
Hegesippus, who lived near the Apostles' times, affirms of him

6 The Lives of the Popes.

that he was holy in his mother’s womb, that he drank neither
wine nor strong drink, nor ever tasted flesh, that he neither
shaved, nor bathed, nor anointed himself, nor ever wore any
other but linen garments. He was often accustomed to enter
into the Holy of Holies, where he continued so incessantly in
his prayers for the welfare of the people, that his knees were
grown hard and callous like those of camels. But Festus
leaving the government of Judzea, before Albinus his successor
arrived there, the High Priest Ananus, the son of Ananus,
requiring James publicly to deny Christ to be the Son of God,
upon his refusal he gave order he should be stoned to death ;
who, after he had been thrown down headlong from a pinnacle
of the Temple, continuing yet half alive, and with hands
stretched forth towards heaven praying for his persecutors, was
at last killed outright with a blow of a fullers club. Josephus
reports him to have been a. man of so great sanctity, that it was
the general belief that his murder was the cause of the de-
struction of Jerusalem. This is that James, whom our Lord
appeared to after His resurrection, and to whom, having
blessed bread and broken it, He said, * Brother, eat thy bread,
because the Son of man is risen." He presided over the
church of Jerusalem thirty years, that is, to the seventh year
of Nero. His sepulchre with an inscription, hard by the
temple from which he had been cast down, was yet in being
in Hadrian's time.

It is evident likewise that Barnabas, by birth a Cypriot,
surnamed Joses, a Levite, died before St Peter's martyrdom.
He being chosen together with Paul an apostle of the Gentiles,
wrote only one epistle of matters concerning the Church, and
that too is reckoned apocryphal There happening to be a
difference between him and Paul, occasioned by Mark a
disciple, he, accompanied by the said Mark, went to Cyprus,
where preaching the faith of Christ he was crowned with
martyrdom. Paul, first called Saul, was descended of the tribe
of Benjamin, of a town of Judea, called Giscalis ; which being
taken in war by the Romans, he with his parents removed
to Tarsus, a city of Cilicia! And being sent thence to Jeru-
salem to study the law, he had his education under the
learned Gamaliel. After this, he became a persecutor of

l'This is the story mentioned by St Jerome, but independently of its

contradicting Acts xxii. 3, it is improbable in itself. See Smith's
** Dictionary of the Bible,” s.v. ‘* Paul,” note, p. 731.—ED,

St Peter the Apostle. 7

the Christians, and was present and assistant at the death
of St Stephen the protomartyr. But as he was going to
Damascus, being wonderfully converted to the faith, he be-
came a chosen vessel; and took the name of Paul, from a
pro-consul of Cyprus, whom he had converted to Christianity.
After this he, together with Barnabas, having travelled through -
divers cities, upon his return to Jerusalem, was by Peter, John,

and James, chosen an apostle of the Gentiles! In the twenty-
fifth year after the death of Christ, which was the second of
the Emperor Nero, he, with his fellow-captive Aristarchus,
was as a free denizen sent bound to Rome; where continuing
the space of two years under very little confinement, he was
daily engaged in disputation with the Jews. Being at length
set at liberty by Nero, he both preached and wrote many
things. We have at this day fourteen of his epistles ; one to
the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians,
one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the
Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to
Titus, and one to Philemon ; that to the Hebrews is generally
said to be his, though because of the difference of style and
phrase from the rest, it is uncertain whether it were so or not ;
and there have been anciently divers who have entitled it,
some to Luke, some to Barnabas, some to Clemens. St Peter
also wrote two general epistles, though the latter is by many
denied to be his for the same reason of the difference of style.
But being so taken up with prayer and preaching, that he
could not attend any other great variety of business, he con-
stituted two bishops, viz, Linus and Cletus, who might
exercise the sacerdotal ministry to the Romans and other
Christians. ‘The holy man applying himself entirely to these
things, gained thereby so great and universal a reputation, that
men were ready to worship him asa god. ‘The Emperor Nero
being displeased hereat, began to contrive his death ; where-
upon St Peter, with the advice of his friends, that he might
avoid the Emperor's envy and rage, departed out of the city
by the Via Appia ; and at the end of the first mile he travelled,
to use the words of Hegesippus, meeting with Christ in the
way, and falling down and worshipping Him, he said, * Lord
whither goest Thou?” to whom Christ replied, *Igoto Rome
to be crucified again." "There is yet remaining a chapel built
on the same place where these words were spoken. Now St

! This is not quite compatible with Gal. ii, 7-9. —E.

^

8 The Lives of the Popes.

Peter believing this saying of our Saviour to relate to his own
' martyrdom, because Christ might seem to be ready to suffer
again in him, went back to the city, and forthwith consecrated
Clemens a bishop, and in these words recommended to him
his chair, and the Church of God: “I deliver to thee the
same power of binding and loosing which Christ left to me;
do thou, as becomes a good pastor, promote the salvation of
men both by prayer and preaching, without regard to any
hazard of life or fortune.” Having set these things thus in
order, at the command of Nero, in the last year of his empire,
he was put to death together with St Paul, though the kinds
of their punishment were different. For St Peter was crucified
with his head towards the ground, and his feet upwards, for so
he desired it might be, saying, that he was unworthy to under-
go the same kind of death with his Saviour. He was buried
in the Vatican, in the Via Aurelia, near Nero’s Gardens, not
far from the Via Triumphalis which leads to the temple of
Apollo. He continued in the see twenty-five years. But St
- Paul being on the same day beheaded, was interred in the Via
Ostiensis, in the thirty-seventh year after the death of Christ.
This is confirmed by the testimony of Caius the historian, who
in a disputation against one Proculus a Montanist has these
words: ‘‘I,” says he, * can shew you the victorious ensigns of
the apostles ; for you cannot pass the Via Regalis that leads
to the Vatican, nor the Via Ostiensis, but you will find the
trophies of those heroes that established this church :” where
certainly he refers to these two St Peter and St Paul In the
forementioned gardens of Nero, were reposited the ashes of a
multitude of holy martyrs. Fora fire happening in the time
of Nero, which raging for six days together, had wasted a
great part of the city, and devoured the substance of many
wealthy citizens, the blame of all which was laid upon the
Emperor, he, as Tacitus tells us, being very desirous to quell
the rumour, suborned false witnesses to accuse, and lay all the
blame of that calamity upon the Christians. Whereupon so
great a number of them were seized and put to death, that it
is said the flame of their empaled bodies supplied the room of
lights for some nights together. "There are those who say this
fire was kindled by Nero, either that he might have before his
eyes the resemblance of burning Troy, or else because he had
taken offence at the irregularity of the old houses, and the
narrowness and windings of the streets ; neither of which are

St Peter the Apostle. 9

improbable of such a man as he, who was profligately self-
willed, intemperate, and cruel, and in all respects more lewd
and wicked than his uncle Caligula. For he put to death a
great part of the senate, and also without any regard to
decency would in the sight of the people sing and dance in
the public theatre. His dissolute luxury was such, that
he made use of perfumed cold baths, and fished with golden
nets, which were dragged with purple cords. Yet he took
such care to concea all these vices in the beginning of his
empire, that men had generally great hopes of him. For
being put in mind to sign a warrant according to custom
for the execution of one that was condemned to die, *how
glad," says he, *should I be that I had never learnt to
write" He was very sumptuous in his buildings both in
the city and elsewhere ; for the baths called by his name, and
the Aurea Domus, and the Portico three miles long, were
finished by him with wondrous magnificence; besides which
he was at a vast expense to make the haven at Antium,
at the sight of which I myself not long since was wonderfully
pleased. I return to his cruelty, which he exercised towards
his master Seneca, towards M. Annceus Lucanus the famous
poet, towards his mother Agrippina, and his wife Octavia, to-
wards Cornutus, the philosopher, Persius's master, whom he
banished towards Piso, and in a word towards all those who
were in any reputation among the citizens. In the end, he so
highly provoked the rage and hatred of the people against
him, that most diligent search was made after him to bring
him to condign punishment ; which punishment was, that be- .
ing bound, he should be led up and down with a gallows
upon his neck ; and being whipped with rods to death, his
body should be thrown into the river Tiber. But he making
his escape four miles out of the city, laid violent hands upon
himself in the country house of one of his freemen, between
the Via Salaria, and Nomentana, in the thirty-second year of
his age, and of his reign the fourteenth.

10 The Lives of the Popes.

ST LINUS.
Circa A.D. 68-78.

Se US, by nation a Tuscan, his father's name Herculeanus,

was in the chair from the last year of Nero to the times
of Vespasian, and from the consulship of Saturninus and Scipio,
to that of Capito and Rufus.

In this space of time there were no less than three
emperors, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, each of them reigning
but a very little while.

Galba, a person descended of the most ancient nobility,
being created emperor by the soldiers in Spain, as soon as he
heard of the death of Nero, came immediately to Rome. But
rendering himself obnoxious to all men by his avarice and
sloth, through the treachery of Otho, he was slain at Rome
near Curtius's lake in the seventh month of his reign ; together
with Piso a noble youth whom he had adopted for his son.
He was doubtless a man, who before he came to the empire,
was very eminent in the management both of military and
civil affairs ; being often consul, often proconsul, and several
times general in the most important wars. "That which makes
me speak this in his praise, is the learning of M. Fabius
Quintilianus, whom Galba brought with him out of Spain to
Rome.

Otho, a man of better extraction by his mother's than by
his father's side, who while he led a private life was very loose
and effeminate, as being a great and intimate friend of Nero's,
in the midst of tumults and slaughters, as I hinted before, in-
vaded the empire. But being engaged in a civil war against
Vitellius, who had been created emperor in Germany, though
he got the better in three small skirmishes, one at the Alps,
another at Placentia, the third at Castor, yet losing the day
in the last and most considerable, which was at Bebriacum, he
thereupon fell into so deep a melancholy, that, in the third
month of his empire he stabbed himself.

Vitellius, concerning whose extraction there are different
opinions, coming to Rome, and obtaining the empire, soon
degenerated into all manner of lewdness, cruelty and gluttony,
being used to make several meals in a day, and some of them
to such an height of luxury, that there have been at one supper
no less than two thousand fishes, and seven thousand fowl

St Linus. II

served upto histable. But having intelligence that Vespasian,
who had been created emperor by the army in Judaea, was
advancing with his legions, he at first determined to quit the
empire ; yet being afterwards encouraged by those about him,
he took up arms, and forced Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, with
his Flavian soldiers into the Capitol ; which being set on fire,
they were all burnt. Hereupon being surprised by Vespasian,
and having no hope of pardon left him, he hid himself in a
private chamber in the palace, from whence he was most
ignominiously dragged and carried naked through the Via
Sacra to the Scale Gemoniz, where being quartered he was
thrown into the river Tiber.

During this time Linus was successor to St Peter, though
there are some who place Clemens here, and wholly leave out
Linus and Cletus, who yet are sufficiently confuted not only
by history, but also by the authority of St Hierom, who tells
us, that Clemens was the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter,
for Linus was accounted the second, and Cletus the third,
notwithstanding that most of the Romans immediately after
Peter reckon Clemens. To whom, though St Peter had as
it were by will bequeathed the right of succession, yet his
modesty was so great that he compelled Linus and Cletus to
take upon them the pontifical dignity before him, lest any
ambition of pre-eminence might be of ill example to after
ages. This Linus by commission from St Peter, ordained that
no woman should enter the church but with her head veiled.
Moreover, at two ordinations which he held in the city, he made
eighteen presbyters and eleven bishops. In his time lived
Philo, a Jew of Alexandria, in whose writings there is so much
wit and judgment, that, from the likeness there appears be-
tween them, he deserved to have it proverbially said, either
Plato does Philonize, or Philo does Platonize. By his learning
and eloquence he corrected the rashness of Apion, who had
been sent ambassador from the Alexandrians with complaints
against the Jews. While he wasat Rome, in the time of Claudius,
he contracted an acquaintance with St Peter, and thereupon
wrote several things in praise of the Christians. Josephus also
the son of Mattathias, a priest at Hierusalem, being taken
prisoner by Vespasian, and committed to the custody of his
son Titus, till that city was taken, coming to Rome during the
pontificate of Linus, presented to the father and the son seven

1 This is mere fable. Philo died soon after A, D, 40. -- ED.

^

12 The Lives of the Popes.

books of the Jewish war, which were laid up in the public
library, and the author himself, as a reward for that perfor-
mance, had most deservedly a statue erected to him, He wrote
likewise twenty-four other books of antiquities, from the begin-
ing of the world to the fourteenth year of the emperor
Domitian. As for Linus himself, though he had gained a
mighty reputation by the sanctity of his life, by his power of
casting out devils and raising the dead, yet was he put to death
by Saturninus, the consul, whose very daughter he had dis-
possessed, and was buried in the Vatican near the body of St
Peter, on the twenty-first day of September, when he had sat
‘in the Pontifical See eleven years, three months, and twelve
days. There are some who affirm that Gregory Bishop of
Ostia, did, according to a vow which he had made, remove the
body of this holy bishop to that place, and solemnly inter it
in the Church of St. Laurence.

Ü rin

51 CLETUS.
Circa 18-91.

LETUS, born in Rome in the Vicopatrician! region, son
of 7Emilianus, through the persuasion of Clemens, un-
willingly took upon him the burden of the pontificate, though
for his learning, life, and quality, he was a person of very great
| esteem and authority among all that knew him. He lived in
the time of Vespasian and Titus, from the seventh consulship
of Vespasian, and the fifth of Domitian, to the consulate of
Domitian and Rufus, according to Damasus.

Vespasian, as I said before, succeeding Vitellius, committed
the management of the Jewish War, which had been carrying
on two years before, to his son Titus, which he, within two
years after, with great resolution finished. For all Judza being
conquered, the city Hierusalem destroyed, and the temple
levelled to the ground, it is reported that no less than six
hundred thousand Jews were slain ; nay, Josephus, a Jew, who
was a captive in that war, and had his life given him because
he foretold the death of Nero, and that Vespasian should in

! One of the divisions of the City of Rome, answering to one of our
wards in London. —Ep.

St Cletus, 13

a short time be Emperor, relates that eleven hundred thousand
perished therein by sword and famine, and that a hundred
thousand were taken prisoners, and publicly exposed to sale,
Nor will it seem improbable, if we consider that he tells us this
happened at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when
they came from all parts of Judzea to Jerusalem, as into a pub-
lic prison ; and especially on the day of the Passover, upon
which they crucified Christ: being now to undergo the de-
served punishment, both of their frequent revolts from the
Roman government, and also of their villany and perfidious-
ness in putting to death the innocent Jesus. Upon this victory
over the Jews, the father and son were honoured with a tri-
umph, both riding in the same chariot, and Domitian upon a
white horse following them. ‘The monuments of this triumph
remain still in the Via Nova, where are to be seen engraven
the candlesticks and the tables of the old law that were taken
out of the temple and triumphantly brought away. Yet Ves-
pasian exercised so much humanity towards the Jews, even when
they were conquered, that for all those whom he found among
them remaining of the House of David, as being of royal
descent, he had a very good esteem. And indeed he always
used his power with great moderation, being of so mild and
merciful a temper, as to discharge even traitors with no other
than a verbal correction, and to slight the discourses of insolent
and talkative people, and in general to be forgetful of faults
and injuries. He was looked upon as too much inclined to .
avarice, and yet he used no oppression for the getting of
money, and what he had he employed in bounty and magnifi-
cence. For he both finished the Temple of Peace adjoining
to the Forum, that had been begun by Claudius, and began
that amphitheatre, a part of which is yet to be seen with
admiration. He had so great an opinion of the bravery and
merit of his son Titus, that upon occasion of certain tumults,
raised by some ambitious men who aspired to the empire, he
said publicly, ‘‘ That either his son, or no man, would be his
successor in the empire. And good ground he had to say
so, for that Titus, both for his courage and integrity, was
accounted the darling and delight of mankind. He was
endued with an eloquence excellently suited to the times of
peace, and with a courage to those of war; he was very merci-
ful to offenders, and so kind and bountiful to all, that he never
denied any man anything. Upon which occasion when some

14 The Lives of the Popes.

of his friends took the liberty to find fault with him as too pro-
fuse, he told them, ‘‘ It was not fit that any man should depart
sad out of the presence of a prince.” And remembering at a
certain time that he had not conferred any benefit in a whole
day, he thereupon cried out to those about him, ** My friends,
I havelosta day." Never any emperor was superior to him in
magnificence ; the amphitheatre, together with the baths near
adjoining, being perfectly completed and dedicated, and an
hunting of five thousand wild beasts exhibited by him. He
recalled from exile Mursonius Rufus, a famous philosopher,
and was much pleased with the conversation of Asconius
Poedianus, a most learned man. He died in the second year
of his empire, and was carried to his sepulchre with so great
and universal a lamentation, as if every man had lost a father.

There are some who write that Cletus succeeded Linus in
the second year of Vespasian, who held the empire ten years.
Whether that were so or no, itis certain that Cletus was a most
holy and good man, and that he left nothing undone that might
contribute to the enlargement and increase of the Church of
God. In his time lived Luke, a physician of Antioch, one
extraordinarily well skilled in the Greek language, a follower
of St Paul the Apostle, and his constant attendant and com-
panion in his travels. He penned the gospel, which is com-
mended by St Paul, and which St Paul for a good reason calls
his gospel He wrote also the Acts of the Apostles, being
. himself an eye-witness of them. He lived eighty-four years,
was married in Bithynia, and buried at Constantinople, whither
his bones, together with those of Andrew the Apostle, were, in
the tenth year of Constantius, conveyed out of Achaia. At
the same time likewise Philip returning out of Scythia, which,
by his example and preaching he had kept stedfast in the
faith for twenty years together, into Asia, died at Jerusalem.
As for Cletus himself, having settled the Church as well as the
times would bear, and ordained, according to St Peter's com-
mand, twenty-five presbyters, he was crowned with martyrdom
in the reign of Domitian, and buried near the body of St
Peter in the Vatican, April 27. There were many other
martyrs about the same time, among whom is reckoned Flavia
Domitilla, sisters daughter to Flavius Clemens the consul,
who was banished into the island Pontia for the profession of
Christianity. Cletus sat in the chair twelve years, one month,
eleven days ; and by his death the see was vacant twenty days.

S£ Clemens. 15

ST CLEMENS.
Circa A.D. 91-100.

LEMENS, born in Rome, in the region of Mons Coelius,
his fathers name Faustinus, lived in the time of
Titus’s successor Domitian, who was more like to Nero or
Caligula than to his father Vespasian or his brother, yet at
the beginning of his empire he kept within some tolerable
bounds, but soon after he broke out into very great enormities
of lust, idleness, rage, and cruelty ; crimes which brought
upon him so great an odium, as almost entirely defaced the
memory and renown of his father and brother. Most of the
nobility he put to death, whereof most were by his order
assassinated in the places whither he had banished them. He
was so industriously idle as to spend the time of his privacy
and retirement in killing flies with a bodkin; for which
reason, when a certain person coming out of his presence was
asked, whether any one were with Cesar, he answered merrily,
* No, not so much as a fly.” He arrived to such a height of
folly and arrogance, as to expect divine honours, and com-
manded that in all discourses and writings concerning him,
the title of Lord and God should be given him. He was the
second from Nero that raised a persecution against the
Christians. Moreover, he gave order that all those of the
lineage of David among the Jews, should by interrogatories
and racking them to confession, be diligently searched after,
and being found, utterly destroyed and extinguished. In the
end, the divine vengeance overtaking him, he was in the
fifteenth year of his empire stabbed to death in the palace by
his own servants. His body was carried out by the common
bearers, and ingloriously buried by Philix at her country house
in the Via Latina.

Clemens was now (as I have said) the fourth Bishop of
Rome from St Peter, Linus being accounted the second, and
Cletus the third, though the Latins generally reckon Clemens
next after Peter; and that he was designed so appears from
his own letter to James, Bishop of Jerusalem, wherein he
gives him the following account of that matter: “ Simon Peter
being apprehensive of his approaching death, in the presence
of several brethren, taking hold of my hand, This," says he,
“is the person, whom having been my assistant in all affairs

-

16 The Lives of the Popes.

since I came to Rome, I constitute Bishop of that city ; and
when I showed my willingness to decline so great a burden,
he expostulated with me in this manner, ‘ Wilt thou consult
only thine own convenience, and deny thy assistance to the
poor fluctuating Church of God when it is in thy power to
steer it?’” But he being a person of wonderful modesty, did
freely prefer Linus and Cletus to that dignity before hitnself
undertook it. He wrote in the name of the Roman Church
a very useful epistle to the Corinthians, not differing in
style from that of the Hebrews, which is said to be St Paul's.
This epistle was formerly read publicly in several churches ;
there is another bearing his name which the ancients did not
think authentic; and Eusebius in the third Book of his
History, does find fault with a long disputation between St
Peter and Apion, said to be written by our Clement. It is
certain that John the Apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of
James, lived to this time, who was the last penman of the
Gospel, and confirmed what had been before written by
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The reason why he wrote last is
said to be that he might confront and defeat the heresy of the
Ebionites, who impudently denied Christ to have had a being
before His birth of the Blessed Virgin ; and accordingly we
find him very particular in demonstrating the divinity of our
Saviour. He wrote several other things, and among the rest
his Revelation, during his banishment into the island Patmos
by Domitian; who being afterwards slain and his acts for
their excessive severity rescinded by the Senate, he returned
to Ephesus in the time of Nerva, where he continued till the
reign of Trajan, supporting the churches of Asia by his
counsel and writings, till at last being worn out with age he
rested in the Lord the sixty-eighth year after the Passion of
Christ. Our Clemens by his piety, religion, and learning
made daily many proselytes to Christianity ; whereupon P.
Tarquinius the High-priest, and Mamertinus the city Preefect,
stirred up the emperor against the Christians, at whose
command Clement was banished to an island, where he found
near two thousand Christians condemned to hew marble in
the quarries. In this island there being at that time a great
scarcity of water, which they were forced to fetch at six miles'
distance, Clement going to the top of a little hill hard by,
sees there a lamb, under whose right foot flowed miraculously
a plentiful spring, with which all the islanders were refreshed,

St Anacletus. 17

and many of them thereupon converted to the Christian faith.
At which Trajan, being enraged, sent some of his guards,
who threw Clement into the sea, with an anchor tied about
his neck.! But his blessed body was not long after cast
on the shore, and being buried at the place where this miracu-
lous fountain had sprung up, a temple was built over it.
This is said to have happened September the fourteenth, in
the third year of the Emperor Trajan. He was in the chair
nine years, two months, and ten days. He divided the wards
of the city among seven notaries, who were to register the
acts of the martyrs; and at the ordinations which he held
according to custom in the month of December, he made ten
presbyters, two deacons, and fifteen bishops. By his death
the see was vacant two-and-twenty days.

—o
ST ANACLETUS.?

Jy e Mr Tus, an Athenian, son of Antiochus, was suc-
cessor to Clement in the time of Trajanus. This
Trajan’s predecessor, Nerva Cocceius, was an excellent person
both in his private and public capacity, just and equal in ali
his proceedings, and one whose government was very advan-
tageous to the republic. "Through his procurement the acts
of Domitian being repealed by decree of the Senate, multi-
tudes thereupon returned from banishment, and several by
his bounty had the goods of which they had before been
plundered, restored to them. But being now very old, and
drawing near to the time of his death, out of his care of the
public weal, he adopted Trajan, and then died in the sixteenth
month of his reign, and of his age the seventy-second year.
Trajan himself, a Spaniard, surnamed Ulpius Crinitus,
coming to the empire, surpassed the best of princes in the
glory of his arms, the goodness of his temper, and the modera-
tion of his government. He extended the bounds of the
empire far and wide, reduced that part of Germany beyond
the Rhine to its former state, subdued Dacia, and several
other nations beyond the Danube ; recovered Parthia; gave a
1 This story is probably not older than the ninth century. —Ep.

? The modern historians make him identical with Cletus. But all is
uncertain at this period. —Ep.

^

18 The Lives of the Popes.

king to the Albanians ; made provinces beyond the Euphrates
and Tigris ; overcame and kept Armenia, Assyria, Mesopo-
tamia, Silesia, Ctesiphon, and Babylon; and proceeded as
far as the borders of India, and the Red Sea, where he left a
fleet to infest those borders.

The ecclesiastical laws and constitutions of Anacletus were
as follows, viz.: l'hat no prelate or other clerk should suffer
his beard or hair to grow long ; that no bishop should be or-
dained by less than three other bishops; that the clergy should
be admitted into holy orders in public only ; and that all the
faithful should after consecration communicate or be put out of
the Church. By this means the Christian interest so increased,
that Trajan, fearing lest the Roman state might be impaired
thereby, gave allowance to a third persecution of the Chris-
tians, in which multitudes were put to death, and particularly
Ignatius, the third bishop of the Church of Antioch after St
Peter. Who being taken and condemned to suffer by wild
beasts, as he was carried to Rome by his guards, whom he
called his Ten Leopards, he all along in his passage encour-
aged and confirmed the Christians, by discourse with some,
and by epistle to others ; declaring his readiness to suffer in this
manner: * Come cross, come beasts, come, rack, come the
torture of my whole body, and the torments of the devil upon
me, so I may enjoy Christ" And upon the occasion of his
hearing the lions roar, ‘‘Corn,” says he, “I am, let me be
ground by the teeth of these beasts, that I may be found fine
bread.” He died in Trajan's eleventh year, and his bones
were afterwards buried in the suburbs of Antioch. But
Plinius Secundus, who was then governor of that province,
being moved with compassion to see so many executed,
wrote to the Emperor Trajan, informing him that incredible
numbers of men were daily put to death, who were persons of
an unblameable life, and who in no point transgressed the
Roman laws, save only that before daybreak they would sing
hymns to Christ their God, but that adulteries and the like
crimes were disallowed and abominated by them. Hereupon
Trajan gave order, that the magistrates should not make
search after theChristians, but only punish those who voluntarily
offered themselves. During this persecution Simeon, the
kinsman of our Lord, son of Cleophas and bishop of Jerusalem,
was crucified in the hundred and twentieth year of his age.
These things which we have spoken of were acted in the time

St Evaristus. 19

of this bishop and not of Cletus, as Eusebius in the third book
of his history would have it; for Damasus makes out that
Cletus and Anacletus differed both as to their country and
manner of death—Cletus being a Roman, and suffering under
Domitian, but Anacletus an Athenian, and suffering under
Trajan. Our Anacletus having erected an oratory to St Peter,
and assigned places of burial for the martyrs distinct from
those of other men, and at one Decembrian ordination made
five presbyters, three deacons, and six bishops; upon his
martyrdom the see was vacant thirteen days, after he had sat
in it nine years, two months, and ten days.

re iiie 4) — RLS

STI EVARISTUS.
Circa A.D. 100-109.

PHAR LUE. by birth a Grecian, his father a Jew, named

Juda, of the holy city of Bethlehem, lived in the time of
Trajan, a prince whom I take delight to mention, because of
his singular justice and humanity ; who behaved himself so
acceptably towards all men, that, as far as the times of
Justinian, the usual acclamation of the people at the creation
of an emperor was this: ‘“‘ Let him be more prosperous than
Augustus and better than Trajan.” He was of a temper so
courteous and condescending in visiting the sick, in saluting
his friends, in keeping festivals, and being present at colla-
tions to which he was invited, that the fault which some found
with him for that very reason, gave the occasion of that
worthy noble saying of his, “ That a prince ought to be such
to his subjects as he desires they should be to him.” He
impartially distributed honours, riches, and rewards to all that
deserved well; never oppressed any man to fil his own ex-
chequer ; granted advantageous immunities to poor cities;
repaired the highways, and made the passages of rivers secure ;
made a high large mole at the haven of Ancona, to break the
violence of the waves ; and indeed neither acted nor designed
anything in his whole life but what tended to the public good.
Having gained such renown both in war and in peace, he
died of a flux at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, in the eighteenth
year and sixth month of his reign. _ His bones were afterwards

^

20 The Lives of the Popes.

* conveyed to Rome, and there buried in an urn of gold in
the Forum which he himself had built, under the winding pillar
of a hundred and forty feet high, which is yet to be seen.

But we return to Evaristus, who, as Damasus tells us,
divided the city of Rome among the presbyters into parishes ;
ordained that seven deacons should attend the bishop when-
ever he preached, to be witnesses of the truth of his doctrine ;
and moreover, that the accusation of a layman should not be
admitted against a bishop. He held Decembrian ordinations,
at which he made six presbyters, two deacons, and five bishops.
In his time lived Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, an auditor of
John, a person who'took not so much delight in the records
of the ancient disciples of our Lord, as in the living conversa-
tion of Aristion and John the elder. And it is manifest, from
the order he observes in setting down the names of these two
after the mention of almost all the apostles, that the John
whom he places among the apostles was a distinct person
from this John the aged, whom he reckons after Aristion.
He was certainly a very learned man, and followed by many,
as particularly Irenzus, Apollinarius, Tertullian, Victorinus
Pictaviensis, and Lactantius Firmianus. Now also Quadratus,
a disciple of the apostles, did by his industry and courage
support the Church of God as much as might be in such
dangerous times. For when Hadrian, who now passed the
winter at Athens, and was admitted a priest to the goddess
Eleusina, began to persecute the Christians, Quadratus with
his own hand presented to him a very honest and rational
book of the excellence of the Christian religion. "The like
did Aristides, an Athenian philosopher, converted to Chris-
tianity ; who at the same time with Quadratus, presented to
Hadrian a treatise, containing an account of our religion.
The effect of which apologetics was, that Hadrian being con-
vinced of the injustice of putting the Christians to death
without their being heard, wrote to Minutius Fundanus, the
proconsul of Asia, ordering that no Christian should be
executed, unless his guilt were proved by a credible witness.
As for our Evaristus, some tell us that he was martyred in the
last year of Trajan; but they are more in the right, who are
of opinion that he suffered under Hadrian before his being
reconciled to the Christians. For he was in the chair nine
years, ten, months, two days, and was buried in the Vatican,
near the body of St Peter, October 27th. The see was then
vacant nineteen days.

St Alexander F, 2I

ST ALEXANDER I.
Circa A.D. 109-119.

LEXANDER, a Roman, son of Alexander, a person of
wisdom and gravity far exceeding his years, held the
pontificate in the time of 7Elius Hadrianus.

This Hadrian, who was son to Trajan's cousin-german, at his
first coming to the empire proved an enemy to the Christians,
but afterwards (as shall be said anon), upon knowledge of
their religion and devotion, became very kind and propitious
to them. From the great benefits which the Roman State
received by his government, he was called the Father of his
country, and his wife had the title of Augusta. He was ex-
cellently well skilled both in the Roman and Greek languages,
made many laws, erected a goodly library at Athens, being
mightily pleased with the learning and conversation of Plutarch,
Sixtus, Agathocles, and Oenomaus the philosopher; and at
the request of the Athenians, compiled laws for them accord-
ing to the model of Draco and Solon. Being admitted to the
Eleusinian mysteries, he was very bountiful to the citizens of
Athens, and repaired their bridge broken down by an inun-
dation of the river Cephisus. He built also a bridge at
Rome, called by his own name, remaining to this day, and a
stately sepulchre in the Vatican near the river Tiber, which
. the popes now make use of for a citadel. Moreover, he made
'that most sumptuous and stately villa, now called Old Tiber,
to the several parts of which he gave the names of provinces
and the most celebrated parts of the world. Coming to
Pelusium, he was at great expense in adorning. Pompey's
Tomb, and in Britain he built a wall of sixty miles to sever
the Romans from the natives. And because Septicius Clarus,
the captain of his guards, and Suetonius Tranquillus, his
secretary, with several others, had without his leave conversed
somewhat more familiarly with his Empress Sabina than the
reverence of a court admitted of, he removed them all and
put others into their offices.

But to return to our Alexander. He was the first who for
the remembrance of Christ's passion, at the communion
added those words, Qui pridie quam pateretur to the
clause, Zoc est corpus meum. He ordained likewise that the
holy water (as it is called), mixed with salt and consecrated

22 The Lives of the Popes.

by prayer, should be kept in churches and in private houses,
as a guard against evil spirits. Moreover, he instituted that
water should be mingled with the wine, at the consecration of
the elements, to signify the union of Christ with His Church ;
and that the host should not be of leavened bread, as was
formerly used, but of unleavened only, as being the more
pure, and by which all occasion of cavilling would be taken
away from the Ebionite heretics, who were very much ad-
dicted to Judaism. In his time lived Agrippa Castor, who
learnedly and effectually confuted the books which Basilides
the heretic wrote against the Holy Gospel; exposing to
derision his prophets, Barcabas and Barthecab, and his great
god Abraxas, names invented by him to amuse and terrify the
ignorant. ‘This Basilides died at that time when the Christians
were very much persecuted and tormented by Cochebas, the
head of the Jewish faction. But Hadrian soon repressed the
pertinacity of this rebel and the whole nation of the Jews, by
an almost incredible slaughter of them ; and then commanded
that no Jew should be suffered to enter Jerusalem, permitting
only Christians to inhabit that city, and having repaired the
walls and buildings of it, he called it after his own name,
fElia ; Marcus being, after the expulsion of the Jews, chosen
the first Gentile bishop of it. In the time of this bishop also
Sapphira of Antioch, and Sabina, a Roman lady, suffered
martyrdom for the faith of Christ ; and Favorinus, Paleemon,
Herodes Atheniensis and Marcus Byzantius were famous
. rhetoricians. Our Alexander having at three Decembrian
ordinations made five presbyters, three deacons, five bishops,
was, together with his deacons Euentius and Theodulus,
crowned with martyrdom, on the third day of May, and buried
in the Via Nomentana, where he suffered, seven miles from
the city. He was in the chair ten years, seven months, two
days. After his death the see was vacant twenty-five days.

0

ST SIXTUS I.
Circa A.D. 119-129.

IXTUS, a Roman, the son of Pastor, or as others will
have it, of Helvidius, held the Pontificate in the time of
Hadrian, to the consulship of Verus and Anniculus.

St Sixtus I. 23

Which Hadrian is reckoned in the number of the good
emperors, upon the account of his liberality, splendour,
magnificence, and clemency ; an eminent instance of the last
of which good qualities was this, that when a servant ran
madly upon him with his sword, he took no farther notice of
the action than to order him a physician to cure his frenzy.
He visited the sick twice or thrice in a day ; at his own charge
he repaired Alexandria when it had been ruined by the
Romans; he rebuilt the Pantheon in Rome, and made
aromatic presents to the people. Being at the point of
death, he is said to have uttered these verses :

** Animula, vagula, blandula,
Hospes, comesque corporis,
Que nunc abibis zn loca,
Pallidula, rigida, nudula ?
Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos."

He died of a dropsy in the two-and-twentieth year of his
reign, and was buried at Puteoli, in Cicero's Villa.

Sixtus, out of his care of the Church, ordained that the
elements and vessels of the altar should not be touched by
any but the ministers, but especially not by women ; and that
the corporal, as it is called, should be made of linen cloth
only, and that of the finest sort. That no bishop who had
been cited to appear before the apostolic see, should at his
return be received by his flock, unless he brought with him
letters communicatory to the people. At the celebration he
instituted the hymn, *Holy, holy, holy Lord God of
Sabaoth." Anciently the office of the communion was per-
formed in a plain manner, and unclogged with human mix-
tures. St Peter, after consecration, used the paternoster ;
James, Bishop of Jerusalem, added some rites; Basil more,
and others more still. For Celestine brought in the Zzzroitus
of the mass, Gregory the Ayz/e LEletson, Telesphorus Zhe
Glory be to God on High, Gelasius the First the CoZ/eczs, and
Hierom the Epistle and Gospel The A4Z/e/wa was taken
from the Church of Jerusalem, the Cveed was instituted by
the Council of Nice; Pelagius introduced the Commemora-
tion of the Dead, Leo the Third the Zzcezse, Innocent the
First the Azss of Peace, and Sergius ordered the Agnus Dei to
be sung. During the time of Sixtus, the persecution being so
sharp that few had courage enough to own the profession of
Christianity, and the Christian Gauls desiring a bishop, to

^

24 The Lives of the Popes.

them he sends Peregrine, a citizen of Rome, who, having
confirmed them in the faith, at his return suffered martyrdom
in the Via Appia, at the place where Christ appeared to Peter
as he was leaving the city. His body was by the faithful
carried into the Vatican, and buried near St Peter. Aquila,
also by birth a Jew of Pontus, who with his wife Priscilla had
been banished by the edict of Claudius, is said by some to
have lived till this time; he was the second translator of the
Old Testament, after the seventy who lived in the time of
Ptolomy Philadelphus. As for Sixtus, having at three
Decembrian ordinations made eleven presbyters, eleven
deacons, and four bishops, he was crowned with martyrdom,
and buried in the Vatican near St Peter, having been in the
chair ten years, three months, and one-and-twenty days.
Upon his death the see was vacant only two days.

Sia

ST TELESPHORUS.
A.D. 129-139.

ELESPHORUS, a Grecian, the son of an anchorite, lived
in the time of Antoninus Pius. |
This emperor was by his father's side a Cisalpine Gaul, and
together with his sons, Aurelius and Verus, he ruled twenty-
two years and three months, with so much moderation and
clemency that he deservedly gained the name of Pius, and
Father of his country. He was never severe or rigorous
towards any man in the recovery of his own private debts, or
the exaction of public taxes, but would sometimes wholly
remit them by burning the bonds of his debtors. What shall
I need say more of this prince, who in the opinion of all
good men was for religion, devotion, humanity, clemency,
justice, and modesty, equal to Numa Pompilius himself.
When the river Tiber had by an inundation much impaired
many private and public buildings, he was at vast expense to
assist the citizens in restoring the city to its former state
again. Moreover, it was he who carried on those prodigious
works which appear to this day, for improving the havens of
Tarracina and Gaeta; and I believe that the famous winding
pilar, from which the principal ward of the city is deno-
minated, was built at his charge.

. St Telesphorus. : 25

As for our Telesphorus, he ordained that a Quadragesimal
Fast should be observed before Easter; and that on the Feast
of the Nativity of our Lord there should be three masses:
one at midnight, at which time Christ was born in Bethlehem ;
another at break of day, when he was discovered to the shep-
herds; the third at that hour wherein the light of truth and
our redemption shone in the world (Ze, when our Saviour
was crucified),—whereas at other times the celebration of the
mass was forbidden till the third hour, or between the hours
of nine and twelve o'clock, the time when, as St Mark tells
us, he was fastened to the cross. He also appointed that the
hymn, **Glory be to God on High," should be sung before
the sacrifice. In his time Justinus, a philosopher of Neapolis,
a city of Palestine, who laboured successfully in the defending
of Christianity, presented to Antoninus and his sons a book
which he had written against the heathens; and held a
dialogue with Tryphon, a principal Jew. He wrote also very
warmly against Marcion, who, adhering to the heresy of Cerdo,
affirmed that there were two gods, the one good, the other
just, as two contrary principles of creation and goodness. He
opposed likewise Crescens the cynic, as a person gluttonous,
fearful of death, given over to luxury and lust, and a blas-
phemer of Christ. But being at length by this man's
treacherous practices betrayed, he suffered in the cause of
Christianity. Eusebius, writing of this cynic, allows him only
to have been a vain-glorious pretender, but not a philosopher.
At the same time the Valentinian heretics prevailed, who
were the followers of one Valentinus, a Platonist ; and held
that Christ took nothing of the body of the Virgin, but passed
clean through her, as through a pipe. Now also Photinus,
Bishop of Lyons, a man of singular learning and piety, as
Isodore tells us, suffered martyrdom with great resolu-
tion, being ninety years old. Telesphorus, having at four
Decembrian ordinations made fifteen presbyters, eight
deacons, thirteen bishops, died a martyr, and was buried in
the Vatican near Saint Peter. He was in the chair eleven
years, three months, twenty-two days. By his death the see
was vacant seven days.

26 The Lives of the Popes. ;

ST HYGINUS.

A.D. 139-143.

YGINUS, an Athenian, son of a philosopher, succeeded
Telesphorus, during the empire of Antoninus Pius,
whose extraordinary merit compels me to add something
farther in his praise, before I come to give an account of
Hyginus. He was so far from the vanity of valuing himself
upon the glory of his arms, that he made it his business -
rather to defend the provinces of the empire, than to increase
them ; and had often that saying of Scipio in his mouth, that
he had rather save one citizen than destroy a thousand
enemies: being herein of a quite contrary temper to that of
Domitian, who, from a consciousness of his own cruelty, did
so hate and fear a multitude, that he would expose the Roman
army to the fury of its enemies, on purpose that it might
return home thinner and less formidable. Moreover, Pius
was so famous for his justice, that several princes and nations
did at his command cease their hostilities, making him the
arbitrator of their differences, and standing to his determina-
tion as to the justice of their pretensions. For these admir-
able qualities, the Romans, after his much lamented death,
in honour to his memory, appointed cirque-shows, built a
temple, and constituted a Flamen, with an order called by
his name.

At this time Hyginus prudently settled and confirmed the
several orders and degrees of the clergy; and ordained the
solemn consecration of churches, the number of which he
would not have increased or diminished without leave of the
metropolitan or bishop. He forbade also that the timber or
other materials prepared for the building any church should
be converted to profane uses; yet allowing that, with the
bishop’s consent, they might be made use of towards the
erecting any other church or religious house. He likewise
ordained that at least one godfather or one godmother should
be present at baptism ; and that no metropolitan should con-
demn or censure any bishop of his province, until the cause
were first heard and discussed by the other bishops of the
province; though some make this latter an institution of
Pelagius, not Hyginus. In his time lived Polycarp, a disciple
of St John the Apostle, and by him made Bishop of Smyrna ;

St Pius f. 27

the most celebrated man for religion and learning in all Asia.
He, coming to Rome, reduced to the orthodox faith multitudes
who had been seduced into the errors of Marcion and
Valentinus ; the former of which by chance meeting him, and
asking whether he knew him, Polycarp answered, that he
knew him to be the first-born of the devil. For this heretic
denied the Father of our blessed Saviour to be God the
Creator, who by His Son made the world. But afterwards, in
the time of M. Antoninus and L. Aurelius Commodus, who
raised the fourth persecution, Polycarp was burnt at Smyrna
by order of the proconsul. Melito, also an Asian, Bishop of
Sardis, and a disciple of Fronto the orator, presented to
M. Antoninus a book written in defence of the Christian
doctrine. "Tertullian highly extols his parts, and says that
most of the Christians looked upon him as a prophet. More-
over, Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, wrote a book against the
heresy of Hermogenes, who asserted an uncreated eternal
matter, co-eval to God himself. As for Hyginus himself,
having deserved well of the church, and at three Decembrian
ordinations made fifteen presbyters, five deacons, six bishops,
he died, and was buried in the Vatican, by St. Peter, January
11. He wasin the chair four years, three months, four days.
The see was then vacant four days.

ines (JES LL,
Si FILIUS E
A.D. 143-157.

IUe an Italian of Aquileia, son of Ruffinus, lived to the

time of M. Antoninus Verus, who, together with his
brother, L. Aurelius Commodus, jointly exercised the Govern-
ment nineteen years.

These two princes undertook a war against the Parthians,
and managed it with such admirable courage and success,
that they had the honour of a triumph decreed to them. But
not long after Commodus dying of an apoplexy, Antoninus
was sole emperor; a person who so excelled in all good
qualities, that it is more easy to admire than to describe him ;
for both because from his very youth no change of his fortune
made any alteration. in his mind or his countenance, and
because it is hard to determine whether the sweetness of his

28 The Lives of the Popes.

natural temper, or the knowledge he learnt from Cornelius
Fronto, were more conspicuous in him; he deservedly gained:
the surname of Philosopher. And indeed (as Capitolinus
tells us) he was often wont to use that saying of Plato, that
then the world would be happy, when either philosophers were
princes, or princes would be philosophers. He was so great
a lover of learning, that even when he was emperor he would
be present at the lectures of Apollonius the philosopher, and
Sextus Plutarch’s nephew; and he set up the statue of his
tutor Fronto in the Senate House as a testimony of the
honour he had for him.

At this time Pius maintained a strict friendship and
familiarity with Hermas, who wrote the book called “ Pastor ;”
in which book he introduces an angel in the form of a shep-
herd, who commanded him to persuade all Christians to keep
the feast of Easter on a Sunday, which Pius accordingly did.
Moreover, he ordained that every convert from the Cerinthian
heresy should at his reception be baptized. At the request
of Praxedes, a devout woman, he dedicated a church at the
baths of Novatus to her sister, St Pudentiana ; to which he
himself made several donations, oftentimes celebrated mass
in it, and built a font which he blessed and consecrated, and
at which he baptized a great number of proselytes. He also
appointed a punishment upon those who were negligent in
handling the body and blood of Christ. If through the
priest’s carelessness any of the cup had fallen upon the
ground, he was to undergo a penance of forty days; if it fell
upon the altar, of three days ; if upon the altar-cloth, of four
days; if upon any other cloth, of nine days. Whithersoever
it fell, he was to lick it up if he could; if not, the board or
stone to be washed or scraped, and what of it could be re-
covered thereby either burnt or laid up in the sacrarium. In
his time, Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia, was much
esteemed, who wrote an excellent apology for Christianity,
and presented it to Antoninus the second. He wrote also
against the Montanists,! who, with their two fanatic prophet-
esses, Priscilla and Maximilla, pretended that the descent of
the Holy Ghost was not upon the apostles, but themselves ;
an opinion which they had learned from their leader Montanus.
At this time also, the learned Tatianus was in good reputation,

1 This is wrong. The Montanists did not appear until some years after
this pope’s death.— Ep.

S£ Anicetus. 29

so long as he swerved not from the doctrine of his master,
Justin Martyr; but afterwards being puffed up with a
great conceit of himself, he became the author of a new
heresy, which being propagated by one Severus, the fol-
lowers of it were from him called Severians. They drank
no wine, ate no flesh, rejected the Old "Testament, and
believed not the Resurrection. Moreover, Philip, bishop
of Crete, now published an excellent book against Marcion
and his followers, whose errors were the same with those
of Cerdo. Musanus also wrote a book against the heretics
called Encratitee, or the Abstemious, who agreed in opinion
with the Severians, looking upon the marriage rites as filthy
and unclean, and condemning those meats which God hath
given for the use of mankind. But to return to Pius, having
at five Decembrian ordinations made nineteen presbyters,
twenty-one deacons, ten bishops, he died, and was buried in
the Vatican, near St Peter, July 11. He was in the chair
thirteen years, four months, three days ; and by his death the
see was vacant thirteen days.

0 ———

ST ANICETUS.
A.D. 157-168.

JA NIEPEUS, a Syrian, the son of one John de Vicomurco,
lived in the time of Antoninus Verus, concerning whom
we have spoken in the life of Pius.

Which Antoninus, though he were a great philosopher, yet
neglected not the pursuit of military glory. For, together
with his son, Commodus Antoninus, he did with great courage
and success gain a victory and a triumph over the Germans,
Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmate. At his first enterprising
this war, his exchequer being so low that he had not money .
to pay his soldiers, he exposed to public sale in the Forum
Trajani all the furniture of his palace, and all the jewels of -
his empress. But afterwards returning home victoriously, to
those who were willing to restore the goods they had bought,
he refunded what they paid for them, but used no force
against those who refused to relinquish their bargains. Upon
this victory, he was very liberal to all who had done any good
service to the public: to some provinces he remitted their

30 The Lives of the Popes.

accustomed tribute; he caused to be publicly burnt in the
Forum the writings by which any man was made a debtor to
the exchequer; and by new constitutions moderated the
severity of the old laws. By this means he became so much
the darling of the people, that any man had a particular
brand of infamy set upon him who had not Antoninus’
effigies in his house.

Anicetus, that the reputation of the Church might not
suffer by the extravagancy of a few men, ordained that no
clergyman should, upon any pretence, wear long hair; and
that no bishop should be consecrated by fewer than three
of the same order (a constitution which was afterwards con-
firmed by the Council of Nice); and that at the consecration
of a metropolitan, all the bishops of the province should be
present. Moreover, he ordained (as Ptolemy tells us) that no
bishop should implead his metropolitan but before the primate
or the see apostolic (this being also a constitution which was
afterwards confirmed by the Council of Nice, and several suc-
ceeding bishops of Rome) ; and that all archbishops should
not be called primates, but only those of them who have a
particular title to that denomination; the primates having
also the style of patriarchs, whereas the others are simply -
archbishops or metropolitans. In his time, Hegesippus was
a great defender of the Christian faith; who, as an imitator
of their manner of speaking, of whose lives he had been a
diligent observer, in a very plain, unaffected style, wrote a
history of ecclesiastical affairs from the passion of our Lord
to the age in which He lived. He says of himself that he
came to Rome in the time of Anicetus, whom he calls the
tenth bishop from St Peter, and that he stayed there to the
time of Eleutherius, who had been deacon to Anicetus. He
inveighed much against idolators for building sumptuous
monuments and temples to the dead ; as particularly Hadrian,
the emperor, who, in honour to his darling Antinous, had in-
stituted solemn games and prizes at the city, which he built
and called by his name Antinoe, and also erected a temple,
and appointed priests for his worship. Some say that Diony-
sius lived in the pontificate of Anicetus ; but writers are in this
place very confused in their chronology, some placing Pius
first, others Anicetus, and so they are in their histories too.
However, in a history of things so remote, and of which,
through the negligence of the ancients, we have so slender an

St Soter. 3I

account, it will be better to say something of the matters
themselves, though it be some time before or after they were
transacted, than altogether to pass them by in silence. As
for Anicetus, having at five Decembrian ordinations made
nineteen presbyters, four deacons, nine bishops, he received
a crown of martyrdom, and was buried in the sepulchre of
Callistus, in the Via Appia, April the 17th. He was in the
chair eleven years, four months, and three days ; and by his
death the see was vacant seventeen days.

0
ST SOTER.
A.D. 168-177.

i abge a Campanian of Fundi, son of Concordius, lived
in the time of L. Antoninus Commodus.

This Commodus was (as Lampridius plays upon his name)
very incommodious and hurtful to all his subjects; being in
nothing like his father, save that he also, thanks to the
Christian soldiers for it, fought successfully against the Ger-
mans. In that war, when the army of Commodus was in
great straits for want of water, it is said that at the prayers of
the Christian legion, God supplied and refreshed the Romans
with rain from heaven, and at the same time destroyed the
Germans with thundershot.! The truth of which the Em-
peror himself testified by his letters. But at his return to
Rome, he utterly renounced all virtue and goodness, and
shamefully gave himself up to all manner of luxury and un-
cleanness. He used, in imitation of Nero, to combat with the
gladiators, and oftentimes encountered with wild beasts in the
amphitheatre ; many of the senators he put to death, and
those especially whom he observed to be more conspicuous
for extraction or merit.

Soter, diverting his mind from the contemplation of this
wretched scene of things to the care of ecclesiastical affairs,
decreed that no deaconess should touch the altar-cloth, or put
the incense upon the censer at the time of celebration. There
is extant an epistle of his concerning that matter, written to the

l'This legend, which has been abandoned, at least in the above form,
by modern historians, is generally attributed to the reign not of Commodus,
but of his father Marcus Aurelius, See Robertson, i. 28.-—Ep.

-

32 The Lives of the Popes,

bishops of Italy. He ordained likewise that no woman should
be accounted a lawful wife, but she whom the priest had form-
ally blessed, and whom her parents had with the usual Christian
solemnities given to her husband. This constitution he made
to remove the danger and scandal that was incident to new-
married persons from the juggling magical tricks of lewd
fellows. Indeed, Gratian ascribes this decree to Evaristus,
but whose due it is I leave the reader to judge, for it matters
not much whether it be attributed to the one or the other.
During the pontificate of Soter, as Eusebius tells us, lived.
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, a person of so great parts and
industry, that he instructed not only the people of his own
city and province, but also by his epistles the bishops of other
cities and provinces. For being thoroughly acquainted with
the writings of St Paul, he could the more easily keep others
within the bounds of their duty by the authority which his
learning and sanctity had gained him. Theodotion also, an
Asian, scholar to Tatianus, wrote several things in defence of
our religion ; and in particular he very handsomely exposed
Apelles the heretic, for worshipping a God whom he professed
he did not know ; for he denied Christ to be truly a God, and
affirmed Him to be only in appearance a man. Some say that
the Cataphrygian heresy was at this time set on foot by Mon-
tanus. Moreover, Clemens, a presbyter of Alexandria and
master to Origen, was now a great writer ; among other things
he was author of S¢vomata (* Miscellanies "), Aypotyposets
. (* Outlines"), Pedagogos (‘The Instructor"), and a popular
address, * What rich man issaved?" ‘There are some who make
Pinytus, a person of admirable eloquence ; Oppian, a famous
poet, who wrote the Halieutics or books concerning fishes ;
and Herodian, the grammarian— contemporaries to our Bishop
Soter; who having at five Decembrian ordinations made eight
presbyters, nine deacons, eleven bishops, he died and was
buried in the Via Appia, in the Sepulchre of Calistus. He
was in the chair nine years, three months, twenty-one days.
And the see was vacant twenty-one days.

St Eleutherius. 33

ST ELEUTHERIUS.
A.D., 177-192.

Bor TEATS, a Grecian of Nicopolis, son of Habun-

dius, lived also in the reign of L. Antoninus Commodus,
for whose flagitious life the city of Rome smarted sorely ;
for in his time the Capitol, being fired with lightning, together
with the famous library which had cost the ancients so much
care in collecting, was consumed ; nor did the neighbouring
houses escape the same calamity. Not long after, another fire
broke forth, in which the temple of Vesta, the palace, and a
good part of the city were burnt to the ground. He was of
so rash and freakish a humour that he caused the head ofa
vast colossus to be taken off, and that of his own statue to be
placed in room of it ; and in imitation of Augustus, he would
needs have a month of his own name, ordering December to
be called Commodus. But these things were soon changed
after his death, and himself adjudged an enemy to mankind,
such an hatred and detestation did all men entertain of his
villanies. He was strangled in the twelfth year and seventh
month of his reign.

Eleutherius, soon after his entrance upon the pontificate,
received a message from Lucius, king of Britain, wherein he
expressed a desire that he and his subjects might become
Christians. | Hereupon Eleutherius sends Fugatius and
Damianus, two very religious men, to that island to baptize
the king and his people. ‘There were at that time in Britain
twenty-five heathen priests called Flamens, and among them
three styled Archflamens, in the place of which, as Ptolemy
says, were constituted three archbishops—the ancient Church
being wont to fix patriarchs there, where in the time of Gen-
tilism Protoflamens had been seated. Furthermore, Eleu-
therius ordained that no person should superstitiously abstain
from any sort of meat which was commonly eaten; and that
no clergyman should be degraded before he were legally found
guilty of the crime laid to his charge—following herein the
example of our Saviour, who so patiently bore the fault of
Judas, being not yet convicted, though really guilty, that what-
soever he acted in the meantime, by virtue of his apostleship
remained firm and valid. He also prohibited the passing
sentence against any person accused, unless he were present

B

34 The Lives of the Popes.

to make his defence, which was afterwards confirmed by
Damasus and the pontifical laws. In his pontificate the
Church enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and Christianity was
wonderfully propagated in the world, but especially at Rome,
where many of the best quality, with their wives and children,
received the faith and were baptized. Only Apollonius,
a great orator, was now a martyr, having first in the
Senate made an excellent speech in favour of Christianity, the
doing of which was then a capital crime. Apollonius being
dead, several heresies very much prevailed. For the sect of
the Marcionites was divided into several parties; some of
them owning but one principle, or God, others two, others
three, thereby utterly undermining the credit of the prophets
and other discoverers of revealed religion. Moreover, Florinus
and Blastus set up new figments against the truth, asserting
God to be the author of all kinds of evil, in contradiction to
that text, that “‘every thing which God made was good.”!
Opposite to these were the Quotiliani, who denied God to be
the author of any kind of evil, in equal contradiction to that
other text, * I the Lord create evi."? Some are of opinion
that Galen of Pergamus, the famous physician, and Julian, the
great lawyer, and Fronto, the rhetorician, lived at this time ;
though whether they did or no, in so great a confusion of
time and story, I shall neither affirm nor deny. But I dare be
confident concerning Modestus and Bardesanes, the former
of which wrote against Marcion, the latter against Valentinus,
being now as strenuous an opposer, as he had been formerly
a zealous follower, of that heretic. St Hierom, upon the
perusal of his books, translated out of the Syriac language ~
into Greek, affirms this Bardesanes to have been a wonder-
fully brisk ingenious writer ; ‘ And if,” says he, ‘‘ there be so
much smartness in the translation, how much more shall we
judge to be in the original?” As for Eleutherius, having at
three Decembrian ordinations made twelve presbyters, eight
deacons, fifteen bishops, he died and was buried near St
Peter in the Vatican, May 26. He was in the chair fifteen
years, three months, two days, and the see was vacant five
days. |

1 Gen. Isaiah xlv.

St Victor f 35

ST VECTUON T
Circa A.D. 192-202.

ICTOR, an Asian, son of Felix, was, as I believe, in
the time of ZElius Pertinax, which ZElius, being
seventy years of age, was from the office of city - preefect
created emperor by a decree of the Senate. Being after-
wards desired to declare his lady Augusta, and his son
Casar, he refused both, saying it was enough that he him-
self was emperor against his will. But undergoing the
reproach of that unprincely vice, covetousness, being so
sordid as to cause the half of a lettuce or artichoke to be
served up to his table, he was without any opposition slain
in the palace by Didius Julianus in the sixth month of
his reign. This is that Julian! who made the perpetual
edict, and who in the seventh month after his coming to the
empire was vanquished and slain in a civil war by Severus
at Pons Milvius.

Victor, out of his care of the affairs of the Church, decreed,
that according to a former constitution of Eleutherius, as
Damasus tells us, Easter should be kept upon the Sunday,
which fell between the fourteenth and twenty-first day after
the phasis or appearance of the moon in the first month.
Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea Palestinz, was obedient to
this decree, and wrote against those who observed that feast,
as the Jews did their Passover, always upon the fourteenth
day of the moon, whatever day of the week it happened to
be. But Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, very hotly declaimed
against this constitution, stiffly contending that, according to
ancient custom, it ought to be celebrated precisely on that day
on which the Jews kept their Passover. For he maintained
that herein he followed the example of St John the apostle,
and others, the ancients. We, says he, observe the exact day,
neither anticipating nor protracting it. Thus did Philip, who
died at Hierapolis ; thus did John, who leaned on our Lord's
bosom ; thus did Polycarp, Thraseas, Melito, and Narcissus,
Bishop of Jerusalem. Hereupon some tell us, that a council
was held in Palestine, at which were present Theophilus,
Irenzeus, Narcissus, Polycarp, Bacchylus, all bishops of great
note in Asia. But the whole matter was afterwards referred

! A mistake. The author of the perpetual edict in the reign of Hadrian
was Salvius Julian, a different person altogether, — Ep,

B2

36 The Lives of the Popes.

to the Council of Nice, in which it was decreed that Easter -
should be kept on the Sunday following the fourteenth day
of the moon, to avoid all appearance of Judaising. Victor
also ordained that, in cases of necessity, proselytes might at
their desire be baptized in any kind of water or at any time
of the year. During his pontificate there flourished many
learned men. As, for instance, Appion, who wrote the
* Hexaémeron,” or account of the six days’ work of creation ;
Paulus Samosatenus,! who, together with Theodotus, held our
Saviour to have been a mere man ; Sixtus, who wrote of the
resurrection ; and Arabianus, who published several treatises of
Christian doctrine. Now also one Judas wrote a chronology
to the tenth year of Severus the emperor ; wherein yet he is
guilty of a mistake in asserting that Antichrist would come in
his time—an error into which I suppose him to have fallen
from the observation he had made of the cruelty and other
vices of the age, which he saw now grown to such a height,
that he thought Almighty God could not bear with mankind
any longer. By which very thing Lactantius and St Austin
themselves were after deceived. Our Victor, having first
written some books concerning religion, died and was buried
near St Peter in the Vatican, whose feast we observe on the
28th day of July. He was in the chair ten years, three
months, ten days, and the see was vacant twelve days.

0

ST ZEPHYRINUS.
Circa A.D. 202-219.

EPHYRINUS, a Roman, son of Habundius, lived in
the time of Severus the emperor, who, being by birth

an African, of the town of Leptis, upon the death of
Julian succeeded in the empire, and took the surname of
Pertinax. He was first an officer of the exchequer, then
a colonel in the army, till, by several steps, he advanced
himself to the dignity of imperator. He was of a very
frugal temper. The cruelty of his nature was heightened by
the many wars he had been engaged in ; and he exercised
great valour in defending, and great care in governing, his
subjects. He was eminent not only for his skill in arms, but

1 He lived considerably later, being made Bishop of Samosata about
A.D, 260.—ED.

St Zephyrinus. 37

in letters too, taking very much delight in the study of philo-
sophy. He conquered the Parthians and Adiabeni, and made
Arabia Interior a province of the Roman empire. For this
achievement he triumphed, and upon the arch erected to him
in the Capitol he was styled Parthicus Arabicus and Adiabeni-
cus. Moreover, he adorned the city with public buildings.
For he made those which from his own name are called the
Severian Baths, and erected the famous Septizonium-—that
part of which noble pile that is now remaining, hardly escaped
being pulled down some years ago by order of Pope Paul the
second, to make the best of the stones.

But Bishop Zephyrinus, being more intent upon ecclesiasti-
cal than secular affairs, decreed, that’every deacon and priest
should be ordained in the presence of the faithful, both clergy
and laity ; which was afterwards confirmed in the council of
Chalcedon. He decreed likewise, that the wine at the com-
munion should not be consecrated, as had been before used,
in a wooden chalice, but in glass. ‘Though this constitution
was altered in following times ; wherein order was given that
it should neither be in wood, because of its sponginess,
whereby some of the sacrament might soak into it; nor of
glass, because of its brittleness, and the danger of its being
broken ; nor of any ordinary coarse metal, by reason of the ill
taste it might contract from it; but only in vessels of gold or
silver, or at least of pewter ; as appears in the canons of the
councils of Triburia and Reims. He also ordained that all
Christians of fourteen years of age should communicate every
year upon Easter Day, which in aftertimes Innocent the
Third extended not only to communion, but confession too.
He commanded likewise, that no bishop being accused by his
patriarch, or primate, or metropolitan, should have sentence
passed against him but by the authority of the see apostolic.
Lastly, he ordained that when the bishop celebrated, all his
presbyters should be present. In his time flourished
Heraclius, who wrote a comment upon the apostle ; Maximus,
who in a large book decided the great controversy of this age
(viz., concerning the author of evil and the original of matter) ;
Candidus, who composed an Hexaémeron ; and Origen, who
in the tenth year of Severus Pertinax, a great persecution
being raised against the Christians, and his father Leonidas
put to death for his religion, whom he himself, being yet a
youth, did very much confirm in his constancy and resolution,

38 The Lives of the Popes.

was left with his mother, a widow, and six brethren, in a very
low condition—all his father’s estate being confiscated,
because they owned Christ to be the true God. Hereupon
he was forced to teach a grammar school to get a livelihood *
for himself and his relations ; and among others he had for
his scholar Plutarchus, who afterwards became a martyr.
Not long after applying himself wholly to religion, he under-
took the office of a catechist or preacher. He was a person
of very great parts and skilled in all languages and kinds of
learning. He was wonderfully temperate and abstemious as
to meat and drink and all other things ; imitating the poverty
of Christ, and for many years walking barefoot ; and, more-
~ over, in his younger days he made himself an example of that
passage in the gospel, “There be Eunuchs which have made
themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake."!
Many were so encouraged in religion by his pattern, that they
did with great constancy lay down their lives for Christianity,
and particularly a woman named Potamiena, who was put to
death by pouring scalding pitch upon her head. As for
Zephyrinus, having at four Decembrian ordinations made
thirteen presbyters, seven deacons, thirteen bishops, he died
in the time of Severus, and was buried in the Via Appia, not
far from the sepulchre of Calistus, August the 26th. He was
in the chair seventeen years, seven months, ten days ; and the
see was vacant six days.

0

ST CALISTUS I.
A.D. 219-223.

ALISTUS, an Italian of Ravenna, son of Domitius,
lived in the time of Severus, an emperor whose
fortune changed with his mind; for no sooner did he ,
raise the fifth persecution against the Christians, but
he was presently exposed to a multitude of dangers, and
engaged in several wars: on the one side by Piscennius
Niger, who was the cause of great commotions in Syria ;
on the other by Clodius Albinus, whom yet he vanquished
with great slaughter in Gaul. But passing over from
thence into Britain, being deserted of his friends, and accom-

1 Matt, xix, 12.

St Calistus I. 39

panied only with calamities, he died at York in the fifth year
of his empire, leaving behind him two sons, Bassianus and
Geta ; the latter of which was looked upon and put to death
as a public enemy, both because of his abominably dissolute
life, but especially because he had with his own hand slain
Papinian, the great asylum of the civil law. But Bassianus,
receiving from the Senate the name of Antoninus, became
possessed of the empire and took the surname of Caracalla,
from a kind of long vests which he bestowed by way of largess
among the people. He was of a nature more cruel than his
father, and so impotently vicious, that there was no kind of
villany which he was not guilty of. He is said to have slain
his brother Geta, and to have married his own step-mother.
He left behind him nothing great and magnificent to per-
petuate his memory, save only the Antoninian Baths (which
bore his name as being begun by him, but were indeed
finished by the emperor Alexander Severus), and the causeway
he made in the Via Nova. He made it capital for any to
wear amulets about their necks for the cure of quartan or
tertian agues. But at length undertaking a war against the
Parthians, he was surprised by his enemies between Edessa
and Charre, and stabbed, in the seventh year of his reign, as
he was alighting off his horse to ease nature.

But during the most confused state of things and under the
government of the most dissolute emperors, Calistus was not
at all diverted from his purpose of establishing a solemn fast
three times in the year, to be observed on the Sabbath or
Saturday, particularly to implore a blessing upon the fruits of
the earth, corn, wine, and oil, viz, in the fourth month, the
seventh, and the tenth, beginning the year according to the
custom of the Jews. Though afterwards he changed his
opinion, and appointed it at the four seasons of the year, viz.,
spring summer, autumn, and winter; at which times in
succeeding ages holy orders were conferred, which before was
used to be only in the month of December. He also
ordained that accusations against clergymen should not be
admitted of in any court if the informers were either infamous,
or liable to just suspicion, or avowed enemies of the accused.
Moreover, he adjudged those to be heretics who maintained
that priests, after they were once convicted of any notorious
crime, were not to be restored to their former dignity, though
they showed never so great signs of their repentance. Damasus

| 40 The Lives of the Popes.

tells us that he built St Mary’s Church in Trastevere; but
I cannot imagine that of his founding to be the magnificent
vast one which continues there at this time, since in those
days of frequent persecution all things were carried secretly,
and the Christians had only small chapels, and those private
and hidden, and for the most part underground. He likewise
built a burial-place, called by his own name, in the Via Appia,
at the very place where the ashes of a multitude of martyrs
had been formerly reposited; so that the reader must not
think it strange that we have already said of several that they
were buried in the Cemetery of Calistus, though it had not
that name till now. I myself with some of my friends have
religiously been to view it, wherein the ashes and bones of
the martyrs are yet to be seen, and oratories and chapels in
which the Christians privately communicated, when through
the edicts of some emperors they could not do it publicly.
In his time lived Tertullian, an African, the son of a
Proconsular centurion, whom St Hierom reckoned next to
Victor and Apollonius, the principal of the Latin writers. He
was a man of excellent parts, and wrote a multitude of books.
I have seen (saith Hierom) at Concordia, a little town in Italy,
one Paul, who said, that when he was very young he was at
Rome acquainted with St Cyprian’s amanuensis, who assured
him that St Cyprian never passed a day without the reading of
Tertullian. But having continued half his life-time a presbyter

at Rome, through the envy and reproaches of the Roman
clergy he afterwards turned Montanist, and wrote several
pieces against orthodox doctrine, particularly those * de
Pudicitia,” *de Monogamia,” and “de Jejuniis.” He also com-
posed six books against Apollonius. At the same time like-
wise Origen flourished, and did great service for the Church.
For he opposed the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted our
Saviour to be a mere man, the son of Joseph and Mary, and
pressed the observation of Mosaical rites ; both which errors
were maintained by Symmachus. Moreover, by his learning
he brought over to the orthodox faith one Ambrosius, who
had been (as Eusebius tells us) a Valentinian, or (as Hierom
will have it) a Marcionite; to whom, with Protoctetus, a
presbyter, he dedicated his book ‘‘de Martyrio.” Porphyry,
that violent opposer of Christianity, and who was Origen’s
professed adversary, cannot yet sometimes forbear commend-
ing him, calling him the most learned and prince of

St Urbanus I. 41

philosophers, acknowledging that he was profoundly skilled
in Platonism, and finding no fault in him but his being a
Christian. St Hierom himself says that he wrote six thousand
volumes ; though that father and St Austin too tell us that
he was erroneous in most of them, and particularly in his
book on First Principles entitled wep! &pyov; yet Pamphilus
the martyr, and Eusebius, and Ruffinus, a priest of Aquileia,
appear very much in his praise and defence. As for Calistus,
having at five Decembrian ordinations made sixteen presbyters,
four deacons, eight bishops, he was crowned with martyrdom,
and was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius, in the Via
Aurelia, three miles distant from the city, October r4. He
. was in the chair four years, ten months, ten days. The see
was then vacant six days.

0

ST URBANUS I.
A.D. 223-230.

RBANUS, a Roman, son of Pontianus, was Bishop of
Rome in the time of the Emperor M. Aurelius
Antoninus, A.D. 223.

This Antoninus, supposed to be the base son of Caracalla,
coming to Rome, and being advanced to the empire not
without an universal expectation of good from him, took the
name of Heliogabalus from the sun, so called by the
Phoenicians, to which he built a temple and was himself a
priest of it. But he led a life so contrary to the hopes and
opinion men bad entertained of him, that he has left no other
memory of himself than that of his exorbitant villanies and
all kinds of debauchery. For he violated the chastity of the
Vestal virgins, made his palace no better than a stews, and in
a rage commanded Sabinus, a man of consular dignity (and
to whom Ulpian, the famous civilian wrote) to be immediately
put to death. He conferred all places of trust and honour
upon the vilest of men, with whom he was wont sometimes to
make himself sport after this manner: he would make them
lie down with him at supper, but it should be upon large
bellows, which being raised and distended, they would all of
a sudden tumble down under the table. He had such a loud
and indecent way of laughing, that in a full theatre his voice

42 The Lives of the Popes.

might be heard above all the company. He was the first
among the Romans who wore velvet, and used tables and
other utensils of silver. When some of his friends advised
him to beware that by his luxury he did not reduce himself to
want; * Can I do better,” says he, * than to make myself my
own and my wife's heir?" He was once so extravagantly
freakish as to cause a collection to be made of ten thousand
pound weight of spiders, from whence he pretended an
estimate might be taken of the bigness of the city of Rome;
and to get together ten thousand mice, and as many weazels,
and rats. These mad pranks by degrees rendered him so con-
temptible in the eyes of all men, that himself and his mother
were both slain in military tumult. It is said that some
Syrian priests having told him that he should undergo a
violent death, he thereupon fairly provided himself of a
decent scarlet silken halter to do his own work withal. He
died in the fourth year of his reign, at the same time when the
city of Nicopolis in Palestine (formerly called Emmaus) was
built—Africanus, the historian and chronologer, undertaking
an embassy to promote that affair.

Urban, who lived in the time of this monster, not of
Dioclesian (as some would have it), by his eminent piety and
learning proselyted multitudes to the Christian faith ; and
among others, particularly Valerianus, an excellent person, and
contracted to St Cecilia, with his brother Tiburtius, both
. which afterwards suffered martyrdom with great constancy of
mind ; as did also the espoused virgin herself, in her father’s
house, which was at her request consecrated and made a
church by Urban. The same Urban also ordained that the
Church might receive estates in land or houses, given and
bequeathed to her by any of the faithful, but that the revenues
of them should not be any one’s property, but for the common
good be distributed among the whole clergy, to every one his
share—a constitution long since antiquated through the
covetousness and rapacity of following ages. Some attribute
to him the distinction of the four stated annual times of
fasting, or Ember-weeks, which through men’s ignorance were
before kept very confusedly. In his time lived Tryphon, one
of Origen’s disciples, remarkable for the book he composed
concerning the red heifer in Deuteronomy. Minutius Felix,
also a famous pleader at Rome, wrote a dialogue, in which he
introduces a Christian and a heathen disputing; besides

St Pontianus, 43

another book against the mathematicians, of which Lactantius
makes mention. Moreover, Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem,
at this time founded the famous library there, by which he
has gained so great a reputation. As for Urban himself,
having at five Decembrian ordinations made nine presbyters,
five deacons, nine bishops, he received a crown of martyrdom,
and was buried in the cemetery of Pretexatus, in the Via
Tiburtina ; having been in the chair seven years, ten months,
twelve days ; and the see was vacant thirty days.

——(———

ST PONTIANUS.
A.D. 230-235.

| cgi a Roman, son of Calphurnius, lived in the

time of the Emperor Alexander, in the year nine hun-
dred and seventy-four from the building of Rome, and the year
of our Lord two hundred and thirty.

But between the reign of Heliogabalus and Alexander there
are reckoned three other emperors, Macrimus, Diadumenus,
and Albinus—whose names I intended to have left out, not
only because they governed but a very little while, but chiefly
because they did nothing memorable: only Albinus became
notorious to posterity for his gluttony, eating, if we may
believe the authority of Cordus, an hundred large peaches,
ten choice melons, five hundred dried figs, and four hundred
oysters at one meal. But to pass by these monsters of men,
I come to Alexander, a singular pattern of virtue, who being
created emperor by the Senate and the army, immediately
applied himself to the settling of the commonwealth, which
had been very much impaired by the miscarriages of former
princes. To which end he made use of Julius Frontinus, a
very learned man, and Ulpian and Paul, two excellent
civilians, as assistants and coadjutors in that affair. He was
so upright in all his dealings, that no man could ever com-
plain of any injury received from him ; and so far removed
from any kind of vanity or ostentation, that he appeared but
once in the costly robes belonging to his office, while he was
consul All those who in their addresses to him were
sneakingly obsequious in their carriage, or affectedly com-
plaisant in their words, he would reject as fawning fellows :

^

44 The Lives of the Popes.

for he was so wise and discerning that no man could impose
upon him; one instance of which was his proceeding with
Turinus, to whom, for his taking bribes upon the pretence
of his being the emperors mighty favourite, he allotted this
remarkable punishment: that being bound to a stake in the
Transitory Forum, a place of greatest concourse, and the most
public thoroughfare, he should be suffocated with smoke—the
common crier in the meantime proclaiming these words, “ He
that sold smoke, is punished with smoke.” Though his mother
Mammea, as she was a woman, had a great love for money,
yet he was altogether above it; and for jewels he slighted
them as feminine trifles, being often wont to say that in Virgil
(whom he called the Plato of the poets), there were more and
more precious gems to be found. The revenue which arose
from bawds, and whores, and catamites, he forbade to be laid
up in the sacred treasury, and judged it more fit to be assigned
to the defraying some public charge, as the repairing of the
theatre, the cirque, the amphitheatre, and the stadium. Having
after great search gotten a collection of the images of famous
men, he caused them to be put up in the Transitory Forum; and
likewise finished and beautified those which are at this time
called the Antonian Baths, having been begun by Antoninus
Caracalla. He had it in his design to acknowledge our Saviour
to be a God, and build a temple to Him, and did actually set
up the effigies of Christ, and Abraham, ‘and Orpheus in his
. domestic chapel. Being renowned for so many excellent
qualities, and created emperor while he was very young, he
immediately engaged in a war against the Persians, and
bravely vanquished the king Xerxes. In reforming the
military discipline he was so strict that he cashiered some
whole legions at once ; which severity of his was the occasion
of his being slain in a ‘tumult of the soldiers at Mentz.
Pontianus being now Bishop of Rome, at the instigation of
the idol priests both he and Philip, a presbyter, were at the
emperor’s command transported from the city of Rome to the
island Sardinia, much about that time when Germanus, a
presbyter of Antioch, and Beryllus, a bishop of Arabia, were
converted to the faith by Origen. ‘The heresy of Beryllus
was his denial that Christ had any being before His incarna-
tion. He wrote some small pieces, and particularly certain
epistles, in which he returns thanks to Origen for his sound
doctrine. There is extant likewise a dialogue between them,

Gr Ces

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St Anterus. 45

wherein Origen convicts Beryllus of heresy. As for Origen
himself, he was a person of so great wit and learning that
seven amanuenses, taking their turns, were scarce sufficient
for him. He had also as many ‘transcribers and young
women well skilled in writing, all of which he wearied
out with the copiousness and fertility of his inventions.
Being sent for from Antioch to Rome by Mamma, the
pious emperors mother, he was in great esteem with her,
and having. fully instructed her in the Christian faith,
he returned to Antioch. But Pontianus, having suffered
diverse calamities and severe torments for the faith of Christ,
at length died in Sardinia, his body being afterwards at the
request of the whole clergy brought back with great veneration
to Rome by Bishop Fabian, and interred in the Via Appia in
the cemetery of Calistus. At the ordinations which he held

twice in the month of December, he made six presbyters, five

deacons, and six bishops. He was in the chair five years,
five months, two days ; and from his martyrdom the see was
vacant ten days.

epe irt

ST ANTERUS.
A.D. 235-230.

NTERUS, a Grecian, the son of Romulus, was made

bishop of Rome in the time of Maximine; who A.U.c.

987, having fortunately managed the war in Germany, was

elected emperor by the army without any authority of the
Senate.

He was a man of a mighty stature, being about eight feet
high ; and had a foot of such a magnitude, that it is since be-
come proverbial, when men talk of a tall silly fellow, to say,
* He needs Maximine’s hose.” His wife's bracelet served him
only for a ring ; and his appetite was so large, that he would
drink a rundlet of nine gallons of wine at a sitting. He raised
the sixth persecution against the Christians, but in the third
year of his reign, himself, together with his son Maximine, was
slain by Pupienus at Aquileia, a city which he besieged, and so
an end was put to his life and that persecution together ; by
which means Mamma, a Christian lady, and the famous
Origen, the blood of both which he very much thirsted for,

46 The Lives of the Popes.

escaped his cruelty. It is reported, that during this siege of
Aquileia, when their bowstrings failed, the women of the city
supplied that want with their hair ; for which reason, in honour
to those matrons, the Senate dedicated a temple to Venus
the Bald.

Anterus was the first who, for the sake of one Maximus a
martyr, ordained that the acts of the martyrs diligently searched
after should be committed to writing by certain notaries ap-
pointed for that purpose, and being written should be deposited
in the treasury of the church, that so the memory of good men
might not perish with their lives. He ordered likewise that
no bishop should be translated from his first bishopric to an-
other for his private need or benefit, but only for the sake of
the flock committed to him, and by the leave of the supreme
bishop—a constitution which at this day is made void by
common practice; for now the prelates being intent upon
their own profit and pleasure, are always looking out for a
fatter ; not that they are at all inquisitive how they may feed a
larger flock, but the great enquiry is, how much any see may
be made worth yearly. There is very little discourse among
them concerning the care of souls, but very much concerning
the increase of their revenues, that thereby they may be able to
keep more horses, and have a greater retinue of useless lubberly
servants. In his time flourished Julius Africanus, an eminent
writer, who, as Eusebius tells us, founded a famous library at
Cesarea. This Julius, in the reign of M. Aurelius Antoninus,
undertook an embassy for the rebuilding the city of Emmaus,
which, as I have already said, was afterwards called Nicopolis.
He wrote also an epistle to Origen, showing that the story of
Susanna was. not received among the Jews: against whom
Origen afterwards penned a large epistle upon that argument.
At this time likewise flourished Geminus, a presbyter of the
Church of Antioch, and Heraclas, patriarch of the Church of
Alexandria. As for Anterus himself, having consecrated only
one bishop, he suffered martyrdom, and was interred in the
cemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia, on the 3rd of January.
He was in the chair one year, one month, twelve days, and
the see was then vacant thirteen days.

St Fabianus. 47

ST FABIANUS.
A.D. 236-249.

ABIANUS, a Roman, the son of Fabius, continued from
the reign of Gordianus and Philip to that of the
Emperor Decius. Gordianus getting the empire, and having
given a mighty defeat to the Parthians, in his return home
to triumph was slain by the two Philips. His chief commenda-
tion was, that he is reported to have had sixty-two thousand

books in his Library.

Philip, a.U.c. 997, having brought home his army out
of Syria into Italy, reigned, together with his son, whom he
joined to him as a partner in the empire, five years. He was
the first Christian emperor, and it is said of him that he never
presumed to goto the holy mysteries before he had confessed.!
After the third year of his reign, the thousandth year from the
building of the city being completed, he caused to be cele-
brated the secular games, which were wont to be repeated
every hundredth year. "They were first instituted by Valerius
Poplicola after the expulsion of the kings, and had their name
from the Latin word secu/um, which signifies the space of an
hundred years. But by the fraud of Decius, both the Philips
were slain : the father at Verona, the son at Rome.

Fabianus distributed the several regions of the city among
the seven deacons, by whom the Acts of the Martyrs written
by the notaries were to be collected and digested, for the
example of others who professed the faith of Christ. He also
built monuments in the cemeteries for the honour of the
martyrs. Further, he ordained, that every year at some sac-
rament the chrism or holy oil should be new consecrated, and
the old burnt in the church. In his time sprang up the
Novatian heresy. For Novatianus, a presbyter of the city
of Rome, out of an eager desire of being bishop, put all things
into a great disorder, that the pontificate might not come into
the hands of Cornelius, who was successor to Fabianus.
Having separated himself from the Church, he gave to him-
self and his followers the denomination of the Pure; and
denied that apostates, though truly penitent, ought to be re-

! It is very unlikely that Philip was a Christian, See Smith's Dict, of
Christian Biography s.v. ** Philip." Platina has quite mistaken the story

about the Confession. There was a legend that he was refused the com-
munion on one occasion until he had made amends for a specific crime, —Eb,

-

48 The Lives of the Popes.

ceived into the Church. Upon this occasion a Council of
sixty bishops, as many presbyters, and several deacons, was
held at Rome, in which the opinion of Novatianus was con-
demned as false, for that according to the example of our
Saviour, pardon is to be denied to no man that repents. At
the same time Origen opposed the heretical doctrine of certain
persons, who affirmed that the souls of men died with their
bodies, and were both together to be raised again at the
resurrection ; as also that of the Helchesaites, who altogether
rejected the Apostle St Paul, and asserted, that though a man
in his torments should outwardly deny Christ, yet he might be
free from guilt, provided his heart were upright. The same
author wrote against Celsus an Epicurean, who opposed the
Christians, and sent letters concerning religion to the Emperor
Philip and his wife Severa, and wrote also many things con-
cerning the order of faith to Fabianus. Alexander, Bishop of
Cappadocia, having, from a desire to see the holy places, made
a journey to Jerusalem, was there compelled by Narcissus,
bishop of that city, and now grown old, to be his assistant in
the administration of that bishopric. But the persecution
under Decius growing hot, at the same that Babylas suffered
martyrdom at Antioch, he being carried to Caesarea, was there
put to death for the faith of Christ. As for Fabianus (con-
cerning whom it is commonly believed, that, when inquiry
was made for a successor to Anterus, a dove lighted upon his
head in the same shape with that which descended upon the

head of Jesus at Jordan) he received a crown of martyrdom,

after that at five ordinations, which he held in the month of
December, he had ordained twenty-two presbyters, seven
deacons, eleven bishops; and was interred in the cemetery of
Calistus in the Via Appia, Jan. the 19th. He was in the
chair thirteen years, eleven months, eleven days, and by his
death the see was vacant six days.

——— (Oo

ST CORNELIUS.
‘A.D. 251-252.
ORNELIUS, a Roman, the son of Castinus, lived in the

times of the Emperor Decius, who being born at Buda
in Hungary, upon the death of the two Philips, assumed the

St Cornelius. 49

empire, proving a bitter enemy to the Christians, be-
cause those Philips had been favourers of their religion. But
having with his son Caesar reigned only two years, he was so
suddenly cut off by the Goths, that not so much as his dead
body was ever found—a just judgment upon him who, rais-
ing the seventh persecution, had put to death a multitude of
most holy men.

During the pontificate of Cornelius, whose judgment was,
that apostates upon their repentance ought to be received,
Novatus irregularly ordained Novatianus and Nicostratus ;
upon which occasion the confessors who had fallen off from
Cornelius, being of the same opinion with Maximus the
presbyter, and Moyses, reconciled themselves to the Church
again, and thereby gained the name of confessors indeed.
But, not long after, these heretics pressing hard upon him,
Cornelius is banished to Centumcelle; to whom Cyprian,
Bishop of Carthage, being himself imprisoned, wrote letters,
by which he came to understand both the calamity of his
friend and the confirmation of his own exile. There are
extant also other epistles of Cyprian to Cornelius, full of
religion and piety, but the choicest of them is accounted to
be that wherein he accuses and condemns Novatus, a certain
disciple of his. Concerning the same heresy, Dionysius Bishop
of Alexandria, who had been scholar to Origen, wrote to
Cornelius; and in another epistle reproves Novatian for
having deserted the communion of the Roman Church, and
pretending that he was forced against his will to take the
pontificate upon him ; to whom he thus replies: * That thou
wert,” says he, * O Novatian, chosen to that dignity against
thy will, will appear when thou dost voluntarily leave it."
Cornelius, before he went into banishment, at the instance of
Lucina, a holy matron, by night removed the bodies of St
Peter and St Paul out of the public burial places, where
they seemed to be less secure. That of St Paul was by Lucina
herself deposited in ground of her own in the Via Oxiensis,
near the place where he suffered ; and that of Peter was by
Cornelius laid near the place where he also was martyred, not
far from the Temple of Apollo. But when Decius came to
understand that Cornelius had received letters from Cyprian,
he caused him to be brought from Centumcelle to Rome;
and in the Temple of Tellus, the city prefect being present,
he thus expostulated with him : * Are you," says he, * resolved

^

50 The Lives of the Popes.

- to live thus contumaciously, that neither regarding the gods,
nor fearing the commands and threatening of princes, you
keep a correspondence tending to endanger the public weal?”
To whom Cornelius replied, ‘That the letters which he re-
ceived and returned, were only concerning the praises of
Christ, and the design of the redemption of souls, but con-
tained nothing in them tending to the diminution of the
empire.” At this Decius, being enraged, gave order that the
holy man should first be scourged with a kind of whips that
had small globes of lead fastened to the end of them; that
afterwards he should be carried to the Temple of Mars to pay
adoration to his image, and upon his refusal so to do, that he
should be put to death. ‘The good man, as they were leading
him to punishment, disposed of what he had to Stephen the
archdeacon ; and afterwards, upon the 5th of May, was
beheaded. Lucina, with some of the clergy, buried his body
by night in a grotto of hers in the Via Appia, nor far from the
cemetery of Calistus. There are some who write that the
bishop suffered under Gallus and Volusianus, but I rather give
credit to Damasus, who affirms Decius to have been the
author of his martyrdom. Cornelius held two ordinations
in the month of December, in which he made four presbyters,
four deacons, seven bishops. He sat in the chair two years,
three days; and by his death the see was vacant thirty-five
days.

PN REREERAS

9T LULIUS ELE
A.D. 252-253.
p utis by birth a Roman, his father's name Porphyrius,
was chosen bishop when Gallus Hostilianus was
emperor.

Gallus associated to himself in the Government his son
Volusianus, in whose time there arose so great a plague to
revenge the cause of Christianity, that there were few families,
much less cities and provinces, which had not their share in
the public calamity. But while Gallus and Volusianus were
engaging in a civil war against ZEmilianus, who had attempted
an alteration of the government, they were both killed at
Terani, before they had completed the second year of their
empire. A‘milianus, a person of obscure birth, was slain

St Lucius I,’ 51

ere he had possessed his usurped power three months ; and
soon after Valerianus and Gallienus were chosen emperors—
the former by the army in Rhetia and Noricum, the latter at
Rome by the Senate. Their government proved very per-
nicious to the Roman State by means of their own pusil-
lanimity and the cruelty they exercised against the Christians.
For both the Germans had marched forward as far as Ravenna,
laying all waste wherever they came with fire and sword ;
and also Valerianus himself, making war in Mesopotamia, was
taken prisoner by the Parthians and forced to live in the most
ignominious servitude, for Sapor, king of Persia, made use
of him for a footstool when he got up on horseback—a
punishment which justly befell him for this reason, that as
soon as he was seized of the empire, he was the eighth from
Nero who commanded that the Christians should be put to
tortures, be made to worship idols, or upon their refusal be
put to death. Gallienus, being terrified by this manifest judg-
ment of God, suffered the Christians to live quietly. But it
was now too late, for by the Divine permission, the barbarians
had already made inroads upon the Roman borders, and
certain pernicious tyrants arose, who overthrew at home
what was left undestroyed by the foreign enemy. Gallienus
hereupon leaves the care of the public, and spending his time
very dissolutely at Milan, was there slain.

Lucius, upon the death of Volusianus, being released from
banishment, at his return to Rome ordained that every
bishop should be accompanied wherever he went with two
presbyters and three deacons, as witnesses of his life and.
actions. In his time suffered St Cyprian, who was first a
professor of rhetoric, and afterward, as St Hierom tells us,
at the persuasion of Cezecilius, the presbyter, from whom he
took his surname, becoming a Christian, he gave his estate to
the poor. Having been first ordained a presbyter, and then
Bishop of Carthage, he was put to death under Gallus and
Volusianus. His life and martyrdom were excellently well
written by Pontius, a presbyter, and his companion in exile.
And it ought not to be forgotten that Cyprian, before he died,
was reconciled to the opinion of the Church of Rome, that
heretics were not to be rebaptized, but to be received without
any further ceremony than that of imposition of hands—a
matter about which there had been formerly a great contro-
versy between him and Cornelius. But to return to Lucius;

^

52 The Lives of the Popes.

before his martyrdom, which he suffered at the command of
Valerianus, he delivered up his ecclesiastical power to
Stephanus, the archdeacon. He conferred holy orders thrice
in the month of December, ordaining four presbyters, four
deacons, seven bishops. He was interred in the cemetery of
Calistus in the Via Appia, August the 25th. He was in the
chair one year, three months, three days; and by his death
the see was vacant thirty-five days.

O———-

ST STEPHANUS I.

A.D. 253-257.

Serien a Roman, the son of Julius, was chosen

bishop when the Roman Empire seemed to be utterly
ruined, and particularly at the time when Posthumus exer-
cised his usurped power in Gallia, though not without great
advantage to the public, for he governed very well ten
years together, freed the country from hostility, and re-
stored that province to its ancient form. But being
afterwards killed at Mentz in a tumult of the soldiers,
Victorinus succeeded him, who was indeed an excellent
soldier, but being excessively incontinent and adulterous,
was slain at Cologne.

Stephanus, applying himself to the regulation of the Church,
ordained that the priests and other ministers should not use
their sacred vestments anywhere but in the church, and
during the performance of divine offices ; lest otherwise they
should incur the punishment of Belshazzar, king of Babylon,
for touching the holy vessels with profane hands. Concern-
ing the rebaptization of those who returned to the faith, he
was of the same judgment with Cornelius, his predecessor,
and thought it by no means lawful to communicate with those
who rebaptized them ; whereupon Dionysius, who had formerly
concurred in opinion about the matter with those of Carthage
and the East, both his and their sentiments of it being now
altered, writes to Stephen, and encourages him from the
assurance that both the Asian and African Churches were
now reconciled to the judgment of the Roman see concerning
it About the same time Malchion, a presbyter of Antioch,
a person of extraordinary eloquence, became very useful to

St Sixtus IT. 53

the Church of God in writing against Paulus of Samosata, the
bishop of that place, who endeavoured to revive the opinion
. of Artemon, affirming Christ to have been a mere man, and
that he had no existence till he was conceived by the Virgin
Mary,—an opinion which, being afterwards condemned in the
Council of Antioch by general consent, this Malchion, in the
name of the synod, wrote a large epistle to the Christians con-
cerning it. As for Stephanus, when he had by his example
and persuasion converted a multitude of Gentiles to Christian-
ity, being seized by Gallienus, as some say, or else by those
who upon the edict of Decius were appointed to persecute the
Christians, he himself, together with many others his pro-
selytes, was hurried away to martyrdom ; and having suffered,
he was interred in the cemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia,
August the 2nd, after that he had at two Decembrian ordina-
tions made six presbyters, five deacons, three bishops, He
was in the chair four years, five months, two days; and the
see was vacant two and twenty days. |

——— J ——

ST SIXTUS II.
A.D. 257-258.

no p AA an Athenian philosopher, became a Christian,
the Decian and Valerian persecution yet continuing.

But it will not be foreign to our present purpose to go on,
as we have begun, to give some account of the other tyrants,
till we come to the true successor. Victorinus therefore being
slain in Gallia, Tetricus, a senator, being at that time governor
of Aquitain, was in his absence chosen emperor by the
soldiers. But while these things are transacting in Gallia,
Odenatus overcomes the Persians, defends. Syria, and seizeth
Mesopotamia as far as Ctesiphon.

At this time in Ptolemais, anciently called Barce, a city of
Pentapolis, there was broached a doctrine, full of blasphemies
against God the Father, and against Christ, whom it denied
to be the Son of the Most High God and the first-born of
every creature, and against the Holy Ghost, whose being it
disowned. ‘The assertors of it were called Sabellians, from
Sabellius, the author of this perverse sect. What shall I say

54 The Lives of the Popes.

of that carnal opinion of Cerinthus?! who affirmed, that
Christ should personally reign upon the earth a thousand
years (from whence by the Greeks he was called a Chiliast).
Being himself a man of unbounded lust and luxury, he
feigned a great plenty of delicious viands and a great variety
of beautiful women to be the principal ingredients of the
happiness of that kingdom. Of the same opinion likewise
was Nepos, a bishop of some parts of Egypt, who affirmed
that the saints were to reign with Christ on the earth, in the
highest enjoyment of all sensual delights and pleasures (from
whom his brutish followers were called Nepotiani). Sixtus
had it some time in his mind to baffle and suppress these
opinions, but being accused for preaching the faith of Christ
contrary to the emperor’s edict, he was taken and led to the
Temple of Mars, where he must either offer sacrifice to the
idol, or, upon his refusal, be put to death. As he was going
forth to punishment, Laurence, his archdeacon, thus bespake
him :—“ Whither art thou going, O my father, without thy
son? whither, O best of bishops, art thou hastening without
thy attendants?” ‘To whom Sixtus answered, ‘I do not
forsake thee, O my son; there are yet greater conflicts behind
which thou art to undergo for the faith of Christ : within three ©
days, thou, as a dutiful deacon, shalt follow me, thy bishop ;
in the meantime, if thou hast any stock lying by thee, dis-
tribute it all to the poor.” On the same day with Sixtus,
which was the eighth of August, there were executed six
deacons, viz, Felicissimus, Agapetus, Januarius, Magus,
Innocentius, Stephanus. And on the third day after, August
the tenth, the same Lawrence, with Claudius the subdeacon,
and Severus the presbyter, and Crescentius the reader, and
Romanus the door-keeper, were all put to death together,
though with several kinds of tortures; among which it is said
that Laurence was broiled upon a gridiron. "Vincentius, who
had been scholar to Sixtus, being gone into Spain, could not
be present at this martyrdom. Sixtus, during his pontificate
having at two Decembrian ordinations made four presbyters,
seven deacons, two bishops, his body was interred in the
cemetery of Calistus, in the Via Appia. ‘The other martyrs
lay in the cemetery of Pretextatus, in the Via Tiburtina.
Sixtus sat in the chair two years, ten months, twenty-three
days. And the see was vacant thirty-five days.

1 Our author seems here to be confused in his dates. Cerinthus was
a contemporary of St John. —Ep.

POO ME ee a ee E

St Dionysius. 55

ST DIONYSIUS.
A.D. 259-269.

THONYOHES whose original Damasus could not trace,

being of a monk advanced to the pontifical dignity,
forthwith allotted to the several presbyters in the city of
Rome their several churches and cemeteries, and to others
elsewhere distributed their respective parishes and dioceses,
that so every one might be confined within his own bounds
and limits.

His contemporary emperor I take to have been Claudius,!
who, when by consent of the senate he had undertaken the
government, made war upon, and with incredible slaughter
defeated the Goths, who had for fifteen years together wasted
Illyricum and Macedonia. Hereupon it was decreed by the
senate, that in the council-house a golden shield, in the Capitol
a golden statue, should be erected to his honour. But falling
sick at Sirmium, he died before the second year of his empire
was completed. Upon his death, Quintillus, his brother, was
straightway chosen emperor by the army—a person of
singular moderation, and the only man who deserved to suc-
ceed his brother; but he also governed a very little time, being
slain in the seventeenth day of his reign.

During the pontificate of Dionysius, Paulus of Samosata,
deserting the orthodox faith, revived the heresy of Artemon.
This Paul, being made bishop of Antioch in the room of
Demetrianus, behaved himself with excessive haughtiness and
affectation ; for as he passed along he affected to read and
dictate letters, a great throng of attendants going before and
following him ; so that for the sake of his arrogance, multi-
tudes were very strongly prejudiced against the Christian
religion. But had they lived in our times, wherein pride and
pomp, not to say luxury itself, are at their height, what would
they think to see prelates led on by so many young sparks,
and brought up by a crowd of presbyters, all mounted upon
high-fed and gay-trapped horses? Certain I am they would
abhor and execrate them, and say, that they were false and
hypocritical pretenders to the religion of the blessed Jesus.
But I return to Paul, whom I may more securely reprove.

!Tt was Gallienus. Claudius did not attain the purple until the last
year of Dionysius. -—Eb,

3

56 The Lives of the Popes.

He was highly self-opinionated and ambitious, and denied our
Saviour’s eternal generation, or that he had a being till his
conception of the blessed Virgin. For this reason, at the
council of Antioch, he was publicly condemned by the consent
of all the bishops that were present; but especially by the
sentence of Gregory, Bishop of Cesarea, a most holy man who
was present at the council, and afterwards suffered martyrdom
for the faith of Christ. Malchion, also a presbyter of Antioch,
disputed and wrote much against this Paul, for the reason that
I have already mentioned. Dionysius himself could not be at
this council because of his great age, but of all the transactions
there he had full intelligence given him by Maximus, Bishop
of Alexandria. Dionysius dying, was buried in the cemetery
of Calistus ; after that at two Decembrian ordinations he had
made twelve presbyters, six deacons, seven bishops. He sat
in the chair, ten years, two months, four days; and the see
was vacant six days.

ST FELIX L
A.D. 269-275.

ELIX, a Roman, son of Constantinus, lived in the time
of Aurelianus, who came to the empire A.U.C. 1027,
and being an excellent soldier, gained a great victory over the
Goths at the river Danube. From thence passing into Asia, at
a place not far from Antioch, by the terror of his name rather
than by fighting, he overcame Zenobia, who from the time that
her husband, Odenatus, had been slain, was possessed of the
Eastern Empire. Her he led in triumph, together with
Tetricus, by his defeating of whom at Chalons, Gallia was
again recovered. Yet by the humanity and clemency of
Aurelianus, Zenobia lived all her time very honourably in the
city, from whom the Zenobian family in Rome derives its
original; and Tetricus being saved, was afterwards made
governor of the Lucani. The emperor now applying himself
to works of peace, repaired the Temple of Apollo and the walls
of the city with great magnificence. But not long after, raising
the ninth persecution against the Christians, the Divine ven-
geance meeting with him, he was slain at a small fort between
Constantinople and Heraclea, called Zenophrurium.

St Eutychianus. $7

Felix, out of the great regard he had to the honour of the
martyrs, ordained that upon their account masses should be
celebrated yearly ; and that the sacrifice of the mass should be
celebrated by no other persons but such as were in holy orders,
and in no places but such as were consecrated—cases of
necessity being always excepted. But if through the age or
loss of records it were doubtful concerning any church whether
it had been consecrated or no, he commanded that it should
be consecrated anew ; saying, that nothing could properly be
said to be repeated, of which it is uncertain whether ever it
were once done at all. During his pontificate, one Manes, a
Persian, had the impudence to profess himself to be Christ,
and that he might gain the greater credit to his imposture, he
associated to himself twelve disciples. But as that Manes was
detested and abhorred for his pride and blasphemy, so
Anatolius, the Bishop of Laodiczea, was as much extolled and
magnified for his religion and learning. At the same time also
Saturninus, relying upon the assistance of his army, enterprised
the building of a new Antioch ; but when it appeared that he
designed to invade the empire too, he was slain at Apameea.
Felix, after that at several Decembrian ordinations he had
made nine presbyters, seven deacons, five bishops, suffered
martyrdom, and was buried in the Via Aurelia, May the 3oth,
in a church which he had built, two miles distant from the
city. He sat in the chair six years, three months, fifteen days ;
and the see was vacant seven days.

Hp

ST EUTYCHIANUS.
A.D. 275-283.

UTYCHIANUS, a Tuscan, his father’s name Maximus,
was in the time of the emperor Aurelianus, who being
slain, was succeeded by Tacitus, a man who both for his
valour and justice, was certainly very fit for government, but
he was slain in Pontus in the sixth month after he came
to the empire ; as was also his successor Florianus in Tarsus,
before he had reigned three months.
Eutychianus ordained that the fruits of the earth, as beans
and grapes, &c., should be blessed upon the altar; and also
that no persons should bury the martyrs in any but purple

-

58 ; The Lives of the Popes.

vestments, unless with his knowledge and leave. Some write
that in his time Dorotheus the eunuch flourished, a man
questionless of very great skill in the Greek and Hebrew
languages, and with whose learning it is said the Emperor
Aurelianus was wonderfully delighted. For in the beginning
of his reign he was such a favourer of the Christians that he
severely censured the sect of Paulus of Samosata. But being
afterwards corrupted by evil counsels, and, as hath been said,
raising a persecution against the Christians, having sent des-
patches concerning that affair to the several governors of
provinces, he was cut off by the Divine hand. Eusebius, when
he was young, was an auditor of Dorotheus at his expositions
of Scripture.: At this time also Anatolius an Alexandrian,
Bishop of Laodicea, a man of great learning, wrote several
excellent things in mathematics and divinity, and was very
severe against the Manichzan heresy which then very much
prevailed. These Manichees, to their other errors, brought in
two substances, the one good, the other evil, and held that
souls flowed from God as from a fountain. The Old Testa-
ment they altogether disowned, and received but some parts
of the New.

Eutychianus, after that at several ordinations he had con-
secrated fourteen presbyters, five deacons, nine bishops, was
crowned with martyrdom, and buried in the cemetery of
Calistus, July the 25th. He sat in the chair one year, one
month, one day ; and by his death the see was vacant eight
days. 'There are some who say he lived in the pontificate
eight years, ten months ;* but I rather give credit to Damasus,
who is the author of the former assertion.

0
ST CAIUS.
A.D. 283-296.

AIUS, a Dalmatian, the son of Caius, a kinsman of the
Emperor Diocletian, lived in the times of Probus, Carus,

and Carinus.
Probus, a person renowned for military skill, having under-
taken the government, was very successful in recovering Gallia
that had been possessed by the barbarians. He also van-

1 They are correct according to Milman (i. 15). —ED.

St Cazus. 59

quished Saturninus, who was attempting to usurp the Empire
in the east, and Proculus and Bonosus at Cologne. But this
valiant and just man was notwithstanding slain in a tumult of
the soldiers at Sirmium, in the sixth year of his reign. After
whom Carus Narbonensis entered upon the Empire, and held
it two years. He having admitted his two sons, Carinus and
Numerianus, to a share in the government, and having in the
Parthian War taken Celzenze and Ctesiphon, two famous cities,
was. in the camp slain by a thunderbolt. Numerianus, who
was returning with his father, was murdered by the fraud of
his father-in-law, Arrius Aper. But Carinus, a person most
dissolutely lewd, was overcome after a sharp and doubtful
engagement by Diocletian in Dalmatia; and at length suffered
the just punishment of his villanies.

Caius stated the several orders in the Church by which, as
by certain steps and degrees, the clergy were to rise to the
Episcopal dignity. These were the door-keeper, the reader,
the exorcist, the acolythus, the sub-deacon, the deacon, the
presbyter, and the bishop. He also, as Fabianus had done
before him, allotted several regions to the deacons, who were
to register and compile the acts of the martyrs. He ordained,
likewise, that no laic should commence a suit of law against
a clergyman, and that no pagan or heretic should have power
to accuse a Christian. In his time lived Victorinus, Bishop
of Poictiers, who wrote diverse commentaries on the Scrip-
tures, and was very sharp and severe against the heresies
then prevailing, though he had greater skill in the Latin
than the Greek tongue, as Hierom will have it, who tells us
that the sense of his writings was great, but the style mean.
Pamphilus, also a presbyter, and the intimate friend of
Eusebius, bishop of Cesarea, was so eagerly greedy of divine
learning, that with his own hand he transcribed a great part
of Origen’s books; which books Eusebius affirms himself to
have seen in the library of Cesarea, with as great satisfaction
as if he had gained the riches of Croesus. The same Pam-
philus wrote the defence of Origen, as Eusebius himself also
did not long after. |

But in the reign of Diocletian, there arising against the
Christians a persecution sharper than ever was before, Caius
lay a long time concealed in certain grottoes and vaults under-
ground; but being at length discovered and taken from
thence by the persecutors, together with his brother, Gabinius,

60 The Lives of the Popes.

and his niece, Susanna, he was crowned with martyrdom, and
buried in the cemetery of Calistus, in the Via Appia, April
the 22nd. Some write that Lucia, Agatha, and Agnes be-
came martyrs not long after. Caius sat in the chair thirteen
years, four months, twelve days; in which time, at four several
Decembrian ordinations, he made twenty-five presbyters, eight
deacons, five bishops ; and by his death the see was vacant
eleven days.

0

ST MARCELLINUS.
A.D. 296-304.

ARCELLINUS, a Roman, the son of Projectus, was, in
the times of Diocletian, a Dalmatian of obscure birth,
and Maximian.

Diocletian being elected Emperor by the army in A.D.
284, slew that Aper who had murdered Numerian. But a
commotion arising in Gallia, which was a sedition rather than
a war, thither Diocletian sent Maximianus Herculeus, by
whom the peasants were soon quelled. But wars breaking
out on every side, Diocletian not being able singly to bear
the shock of so many dangers, associated Maximian as his
colleague by the name of Augustus, and Constantius and
Galefius under them by the name of Caesars. Maximian, after
that Carausius was killed by the treachery of Alectus, in ten
years’ time made himself master of Britain. And Constantius,
after one unsuccessful engagement in Gallia, renewing the fight
a second time, slew several thousand Germans who were
mercenaries there, and thereby restored peace to that pro-
vince. In the meantime Diocletian took Alexandria, which,
being bravely defended by Achilleus, held out a siege of
eight months, and gratified his soldiers with the plunder of
it But Galerius having behaved himself gallantly in two
fights against Narseus, was at length routed between Galietium
and Carre; and his forces being scattered and lost in that
unfortunate battle, he was forced to fly to Diocletian, who
received him with such disdain, that it is said he suffered him ~
in his imperial habit to run on foot several miles before his
chariot. Maximian, being nettled at so foul a disgrace, under-
took the war afresh, and in the end became victorious.

St Marcellinus. 61

Affairs being thus settled, Diocletian in the east, and Maxi-
mian Herculeus in the west, commanded that the churches
should be destroyed, and the Christians tortured and put to
death; and so raised the tenth persecution, which lasted
longer, and was more vehement and bloody than any before.
For now Bibles were publicly burnt ; all Christians who were
in any office ignominiously cashiered ; servants who continued
constant to their profession cut off of all hope of being ever
made free, and the Christian soldiers compelled either to offer
up sacrifice to idols, or else to lay down their arms and their
lives together, by an imperial edict publicly affixed in the
forum. ‘This edict, a certain person being so hardy as to
pull down and tear in pieces, he was thereupon ordered to be
flayed and to have vinegar mixed with salt poured upon his
raw flesh till he died; which he patiently endured, being con-
firmed and encouraged in his sufferings by Dorotheus and
Gorgonius, two very eminent men. At the same time the
royal palace at Nicomedia happening to be on fire, the
emperor groundlessly suspecting it to be caused by the Chris-
tians, commanded multitudes of them to be put to the sword,
and several others to be thrown alive into the flames. "The
same severity was exercised against them in Mitylene, Syria,
Africa, Thebais, and Egypt, by the several governors of those
provinces ; and in Palestine and Tyre great numbers of them
were exposed to be devoured by wild beasts. Indeed, there
was no kind of torment could be invented which the Chris-
tians did not undergo. Some had their flesh scraped and torn
off with potsherds; to others, sharp reeds were thrust
under their nails, and to the women run into their bodies.
A certain city in Phrygia was set on fire and burnt to the
ground, because the citizens, who were kept constant to the
faith by Adauctus, a pious Roman, refused to offer sacrifice to
idols. In the end their inhuman tormentors came to such a
height of cruelty, that they would first burn out their eyes
with searing-irons, and then wreak the remainder of their fury
and rage against them. At this time were also put to death
for the profession of Christianity, Anthimus, Bishop of Nico-
media; and Lucianus, the learned presbyter ‘of Antioch ; and
Pamphilus of Cesarea ; and Phileeas, an Egyptian, and Bishop
of 'Thmyis—this last being beheaded because he had written
a book in praise of the martyrs, and had courage enough to
tell his unjust judges their sin. I need not enumerate more

62 The Lives of the Popes.

instances, since Damasus affirms that there were no less than
seventeen thousand persons of both sexes who suffered
martyrdom through the several provinces in the space of
thirty days. I shall not mention those who were banished to
the islands, or condemned to work in the mines or melting-
houses, or to dig sand, or to hew stones, or to other the like
kinds of servitude, whose numbers were almost infinite.

But our Marcellinus, being carried to the heathen sacrifices,
and his tormentors, with menaces, urging him to offer, he being
overcome with fear, submitted to their importunities, and
joined with them in their idolatries. But not long after, a
council of a hundred and eighty bishops being held at Sin-
uessa, a city of Campania, thither goes Marcellinus, clothed
in sackcloth, with all the marks of a humble penitent, and
beseeches them to inflict upon him the just punishment of his
cowardice and inconstancy. Yet, in so numerous a council,
there was not a man who would pass any sentence against
him, they all agreeing that he had lapsed only after the same
manner that St Peter himself did, and that by his tears and
sorrows he had already sufficiently suffered for his fault. To
Rome returns Marcellinus, full of zeal, hastens to Diocle-
tian, and boldly reproves him for causing him to sacrifice
to false gods. Hereupon, by Diocletian’s order, he was
forthwith led to execution, together with Claudius, Cyrinus,
and Antoninus, three other assertors of Christianity. As he
went along, he admonished Marcellus his presbyter, not to
submit to the command of Diocletian in matters appertaining
to religion; and forbade him to suffer his body to be buried,
saying that, since he had denied his Saviour, he was unworthy
of the least acts of humanity—though, indeed, by Dio-
cletian’s order, the bodies of all these four martyrs lay unburied
in the highway the space of thirty-six days. Afterwards, at
the command of St Peter the Apostle, who appeared to Mar-
cellus in a dream, they were buried in the Via Salaria, in
the cemetery of Priscilla, near the body of St Crescention,
May the 27th. After so long a series of miseries, God at
length, as Eusebius words it, opened his eyes, and, to free the
Christians from such a plague, so wrought upon Diocletian’s
mind that he voluntarily resigned the empire and retired to a
private life. And he compelled Maximian, his partner in the
government, to do the same. He was as violent a persecutor
as himself, who, some years after, was afflicted with divers

St Marcellinus. 63

diseases, and after incessant torment was smitten with dis-
traction, and haunted with the reflections on his guilt.
It is the judgment of Eusebius that this calamity befell
the Christians by God's permission, as a just punish-
ment for the great corruption of manners which the liberty
and indulgence which they before enjoyed had occasioned
among them all in general, but especially among the clergy,
to the hypocrisy of whose looks, the fraud of their words, and
the deceit of their hearts, the Divine justice deigned to give
a check by this persecution. Indeed, the envy, pride, ani-
mosity, and hatred with which they strove among themselves,
was grown to such a height that it seemed rather a contention
between haughty tyrants than humble churchmen ; and having
forgotten all true Christian piety, they did not so much per-
form as profane the Divine offices. But what calamity shall
our presaging minds prompt us to expect in our age, in which
our vices have increased to such a magnitude that they have
scarce left us any room for God’s mercy. It would be to no
purpose for me to mention the great covetousness of the
clergy, especially of those who are in authority ; their lust,
their ambition, their pomp, their pride, their idleness, their
ignorance of themselves and of the doctrine of Christianity,
their little piety, and that rather feigned than true, and their
great debauchery, so great that it would be abominable even
in the profane (for so they superciliously call the laity) ; this
I say, it would be to no purpose for me to tell, since they
themselves do avow their sins so openly that one would think
they judged vice to be a laudable quality; and expected to
gain reputation by it. The Turk (believe me, though I wish
I may prove a false prophet)—the Turk is coming whom we
shall find a more violent enemy to Christianity than Dio-
cletian or Maximian. He is already at the gates of Italy ;
while we idly and supinely wait the common ruin, every one
consulting rather his own private pleasure than the public de-
fence. I come now again to Marcellinus, whom I would to
God we might at last imitate, and return to a better mind.
For he, as I said before, finding his error in falling away from
his profession, came to himself, and did with great constancy
suffer martyrdom for the sake of Christ; after that, at two
Decembrian ordinations, he had made four presbyters, two
deacons, five bishops. He was in the chair nine years, two
months, fifteen days; and by his death the see was vacant
till 308. à

64 The Lives of the Popes.

ST MARCELLUS.
A.D. 308-310.

PUT ARCBLLUS, a Roman, of the region called Via Lata,
the son of Benedict, was in the chair from the time
of Constantius and Galerius to Maxentius ; for Diocletian
and Maximian, having laid down their authority, Con-
stantius and Galerius undertook the government and divided
the provinces between them. Illyricum, Asia, and the East
fell to the share of Galerius ; but Constantius, being a person
of very moderate desires, was contented with only Gallia
and Spain, though Italy also was his by lot. Hereupon
Galerius created two Caesars, Maximinus, whom he made
governor of the East, and Severus, to whom he intrusted
Italy, he himself holding Illyricum, as apprehending that the
most formidable enemies of the Roman State would attempt
their passage that way. Constantius, a man of singular meek-
ness and clemency, soon gained the universal love of the
Gauls, and the rather for that now they had escaped the danger
they had been in before from the craft of Diocletian, and the
cruelty of Maximian. But in the thirteenth year of his reign,
he died at Vork in England, and by general consent of all
men was placed in the number of the gods.

Marcellus being intent upon the affairs of the Church, and
having persuaded Priscilla, a Roman matron, to build at her
own charge a cemetery in the Via Salaria, constituted twenty-
five titles or parishes in the city of Rome for the more advan-
tageous and convenient administration of baptism to those
Gentiles who daily in great numbers were converted to the
faith, having a regard likewise to the better provision which
was thereby made for the sepultures of the martyrs. But
Maxentius, understanding that Lucina, a Roman lady, had
made the Church her heir, was so incensed thereat, that he
banished her for a time, and, seizing Marcellus, endeavoured
by menaces to prevail with him to lay aside his Episcopal
dignity and renounce Christianity ; but finding his commands
despised and slighted by the good man, he ordered him to be
confined to a stable, and made to look after the Emperor's
camels and horses. Yet this ignominious usage did not so
discourage the good bishop, but that he kept constantly to
stated times of prayer and fasting, and though he was now dis-

St Eusebius. 65

abled in person yet he neglected not by epistle to take due
care for the regulating of the churches. But before he had
been there nine months, his clergy by night rescued him from
this loathsome restraint; whereupon Maxentius, being yet
more enraged, secured him the second time, and condemned
him to the same filthy drudgery again, the stench and nastiness
of which at length occasioned his death. His body was buried
by Lucina in the cemetery of Priscilla in the Via Salaria on
the sixteenth of January. In time following when Christianity
flourished, a church was built upon the ground where this
stable stood, and dedicated to St Marcellus, which is to be
seen at this day. We read, moreover, that Mauritius, together
with his whole legion of Christian soldiers, suffered themselves
to be tamely cut off near the river Rhone; to whom may be
added Marcus, Sergius, Cosmas, Damianus, with multitudes
more who were slain in all places. Marcellus being in the
chair two years, six months, twenty-one days, at several
Decembrian ordinations made twenty-six presbyters, two
deacons, twenty-one bishops; and by his death the see was
vacant twenty days.

[

———

ST EUSEBIUS.
A.D. 310.

Be eee ius, a Grecian, son of a physician, entered upon the
pontificate when Constantius and Maxentius were Em-
perors.

For Constantius (called Chlorus from his paleness) dying,
Constantine, his son by Helena, whom he afterwards divorced
to marry the daughter of Maximian, was with universal consent
made. Emperor of the West. But the Pretorian Guards at
Rome in a tumultuary manner declared for Maxentius, son to
Maximian, and gave him the title of Augustus. . Hereupon
Maximian himself, being raised to some hopes of recovering
the Empire, left his retirement in Lucania and came to
Rome, having by letter endeavoured to persuade Diocletian
to do the same. To suppress these tumults, Galerius sent
Severus with his army, who besieged the city, but being de-
serted by the treachery of some of his soldiers who favoured
Maxentius pretensions, was forced to fly to Ravenna, and

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66 The Lives of the Popes.

there slain. And Maximian himself did very narrowly escape
the revenge of his son Maxentius, who eagerly sought his
father’s life for endeavouring by promises and bribes to gain
the good-will of the soldiers for himself. So Maximian went
into Gaul to Constantine, and gave him his daughter Fausta
in marriage. But afterwards he laid a design to ensnare and
circumvent him too, till his plot being discovered by Fausta,
who revealed the whole matter to her husband, he betook
himself to flight, but was taken and put to death at Marseilles,
thereby suffering the just punishment of his villanies ; or, as
others tell us, he laid violent hands upon himself.

During the pontificate of Eusebius, on the third of May, the
Cross of our Saviour was found, and very much adorned, and
had in great veneration by Helena, Constantine’s mother ;
Judas also, who found it, was baptized, and his name being
thereupon changed, was afterwards called Cyriacus. Eusebius
admitted heretics to the communion of the Church upon
their retractation by the imposition of hands only. More-
over he ordained that no laics should commence a suit
against a bishop. In his time lived Lactantius Firmianus, a
scholar of Arnobius, who being a Professor of Rhetoric at Nico-
media, and discontented that he had so few scholars in a city
of Greece, he thereupon betook himself to writing, wherein he
became so excellent that he gained a reputation next to that of
Cicero himself. He wrote many things, but his works that are
. chiefly extant, are those against the heathens, concerning the
creation of man, and the anger of God. In his old age he was
tutor to Constantine's son, Cesar Crispus, in Gallia. Eusebius
also, bishop of Cesarea in Palestine, a partner with Pamphilus
in the diligent search after divine learning, wrote a vast num-
ber of books ; particularly those ** On the preparation of the
Gospel ;" an Ecclesiastical History ; against Porphyry, a vio-
lent opposer of the Christians; six apologies for Origen; and
three books of the life of Pamphilus the martyr, whose name
he added to his own for a surname, as a testimony of the
strict friendship there had been between them. But our
Eusebius, the bishop of Rome, having at one Decembrian or-
dination made thirteen presbyters, three deacons, fourteen
bishops, died at Rone, and was buried in the cemetery of
Calistus, in the Via Appia, October the 2nd. He sat in the
chair six months ; and by his death the see was vacant one
day.

St Melchiades. 67

ST MELCHIADES.
A.D. 311-314.

M ELCHIADES, an African, was co-temporary with Max-

entius, Maximin, and Licinius a Dacian, who for his
being an excellent soldier, was admitted by Galerius to a
partnership in the empire.

These being sensible that Constantine was well beloved and
highly esteemed by all men, did for that reason seem less
enraged against the Christians. Yet Maxentius sent his
soldiers about with private instructions to massacre all they
could secretly meet with ; and taking delight in magic, at the
performance of the hellish rites belonging to that black art,
he would send for great-bellied women,-especially Christians,
and rip them up for the sake of their unborn infants, whose
ashes he made use of in his sorceries, thereby showing that
tyranny might be supported and kept up even by villany.
Maximin also exercised the like rage and cruelty in the East,
giving rewards and preferments to the professors and teachers
of witchcraft and sorcery ; and being himself very much in-
clined to give credit to auguries and divinations, became the
more bitterly incensed against the Christians, because they
despised such superstitions. He commanded likewise, that
the decayed idolatrous temples should be repaired, and
sacrifices offered to the gods in them after the ancient manner.
Against them Constantine advancing with his army, gained so
perfect a victory over Maxentius at Pons Milvius, that his
grief at being so shamefully defeated, caused him to forget the
snares which himself had laid, and so passing over a bridge
which he had deceitfully contrived to entrap his enemies, he
himself with the greatest part of his guards was drowned in the
river. Constantine having both by sea and land overcome
his sister's husband Licinius, forced him at Nicomedia to yield
himself, and to live privately at Thessalonica ; a confinement
which he justly deserved, because having apostatised from the
faith merely through envy, he had been a grievous persecutor
of the Christians for the good-will they bare to Constantine.
As for Maximin, he became manifestly the object of Divine
vengeance; his bowels and entrails being on a sudden so
swollen and putrified, that there appeared no difference between
him and a putrid carcase ; worms in great abundance breeding

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68 : The Lives of the Popes.

in his flesh, and rottenness with intolerable stench overspread-
ing his body. ‘This dreadful punishment had been long
called for by his wicked practices; for he had forbidden the
Christians to assemble at the sepulchres of the martyrs, and
had given out that at Antioch an image had spoke and pro-
claimed aloud, that the Christians must be banished out of
the cities, when indeed they were certain knavish priests
whom himself had suborned, who from their adjoining private |
recesses had uttered these words; and moreover, he had
distributed rewards through the several provinces to the idol-
priests who were active against the Christians. But at length
the physician plainly telling him the danger of his condition,
the tyrant began to relent, and by a public edict forbade all
persons to molest or injure the Christians, and suffered them
to enjoy their liberty. But this forced repentance stood him
in no stead; for having been a long time afflicted with
grievous pain and disease, at last died this cruel and incon-
stant man, who had been sometimes an encourager, some-
times a persecutor of the Christians. During these calamities,
multitudes of Christians were put to death, and particularly
Dorothea, a most virtuous and beautiful virgin, who chose
rather to die than to yield to the tyrant's lust. Sophronia also
having been oftentimes solicited by Maxentius, like the noble
Lucretia, slew herself to avoid the danger her chastity was in
from him.

Melchiades ordained, that no Christian should keep a fast
upon a Sunday or a "Thursday, because those days were so ob-
served and kept by the pagans ; and the Manichean heresy
being at that time very prevalent in the city of Rome, he made
several constitutions concerning oblations. These things being
settled, he was by Maximin's order crowned with martyrdom ;
as were also Peter, bishop of Alexandria ; Lucianus, a presbyter
of Antioch, a man eminent for piety and learning ; Timothy,
a presbyter of Rome, and divers others both bishops and
priests. Melchiades was buried in the cemetery of Calistus,
in the Via Appia, December the roth. During his pontifi-
cate, he did at one ordination make seven presbyters, six
deacons, twelve bishops. He sat in the chair four years,
seven months, nine days; and by his death the see was
vacant seventeen days.

St Sylvester. 69

ST SYLVESTER.
A.D. 314-336.
B a Roman, the son of Ruffinus, was bishop
in the time of Constantine, 270 dom. 314.

Under this prince the Christians, who had been continually
harassed by tyrants, began to have some respite. For Con-
stantine was equal to the best of princes in all endowments
- of body and mind, very desirous of military glory, successful
in war, and yet freely granting peace to them who asked it.
When his other great affairs permitted, he took very much
delight in the study of the arts: by his bounty and goodness
he gained the love of all men ; many good laws he enacted,
repealed those that were superfluous, and moderated those
that were too rigorous. Upon the ruins of Byzantium he
built a city of his own name, and endeavouring to make it
equal in stateliness of buildings to Rome herself, he ordered it
to be called New Rome, as appears from the inscription under
his statue on horseback.

This great prince, well weighing and considering all things,
when he came to understand the excellence of the Christian
religion, how it obliges men to be moderate in their enjoy-
ments, to rejoice in poverty, to be gentle and peaceable,
sincere and constant, &c., he thereupon heartily embraced it ;
and when he undertook any war, bore no other figure on his
standard but that of the cross, the form of which he had seen
in the air as he was advancing with his forces against Maxen-
tius, and had heard the angels near it saying to him, 'E» rovrw
vina—* by this do thou overcome ;” which accordingly he did,
freeing the necks of the people of Rome and the Christians
from the yoke of tyranny, and particularly defeating Licinius,
who had expelled the Christians from city and camp, and
persecuted them with banishment, imprisonment, and death
itself ; exposing some of them to the lions, and causing others to
be hung up and cut to pieces limb by limb like dead swine.

Sylvester, having so potent and propitious a prince on his
side, left the mountain Soracte, whither he had been ban-
ished by the tyrants, or, as some say, had voluntarily retired,
and came to Rome, where he soon prevailed with Coristan-
tine, who was before well inclined towards the Christians, to
be now very zealous in deserving well of the Church, For as

70 The Lives of the Popes.

a particular testimony of the honour he had for the clergy,
he allowed to the bishops of Rome the use of a diadem of gold
set with precious stones. But this Sylvester declined, as not
suiting a person devoted to religion, and therefore contented
himself with a white Phrygian mitre. Constantine being
highly affected with Sylvester’s sanctity, built a church in the
city of Rome, in the gardens of Equitius, not far from
Domitian’s baths, which bore the name of Equitius till the
time of Damasus. Upon this church the munificent emperor
conferred several donations of vessels, both of gold and silver,
and likewise very plentifully endowed it.

While these things were transacting at Rome, at Alexandria
a certain presbyter, named Arius (a man more remarkable for
his person, than the inward qualifications of his mind, and
who sought more eagerly after fame and vain-glory than after
truth), began to sow dissension in the Church. For he
endeavoured to separate the Son from the eternal and
ineffable substance of God the Father, by affirming that there
was a time when He was not; not understanding that the
Son was co-eternal with the Father, and of the same substance
with Him, according to that assertion of His in the gospel,
“JT and My Father are one. Now, Alexander, Bishop of
Alexandria, having in vain attempted to reclaim Arius from
this his error, by Constantine’s appointment, and at his great
charge, a general Council was called at Niczea, a city of
Bithynia, at which three hundred and eighteen bishops were
present. The debates on either side were long and warm.
For divers persons subtile at arguing, were favourers of Arius,
and opposers of the simplicity of the Gospel ; though one of
these, a very learned philosopher, being inwardly touched by
the Divine Spirit, all on a sudden changed his opinion, and
immediately embraced the sound and orthodox doctrine
which before he had pleaded against. At length the matter
being thoroughly discussed in the Council, it was concluded
that the Son should be styled dmoodcics, z.e., acknowledged to
be of the same substance with the Father. Of those who
were of Arius’s opinion, affirming the Son of God to be
created, not begotten of the very Divinity of the Father, there
were seventeen. But Constantine, coming to understand the
truth of the controversy, confirmed the decree of the Council,
and denounced the punishment of exile to those who contra-
dicted it. Hereupon Arius with only six more were banished,

St Sylvester. 71

the rest of his party coming over to the orthodox opinion.
In this Council the Photinians were condemned, who had
their name from Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium,! who, taking up
the heresy of the Ebionites, held that Christ was conceived
of Mary by the ordinary way of generation ; as were like-
wise the Sabellians, who affirmed that the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost were but one Person. In this Council also, the
bishops, according to custom, gave in bills of complaint to
Constantine, wherein they accused each other, and desired
justice from him ; but the good emperor burnt all their accu-
sations, and told them, that they must stand or fall by the
judgment of God only, and not of men. In this Council
moreover it was decreed, that no person who, upon pretence
of allaying the heat of his lust, had castrated himself, should
be admitted into holy orders ; that no new proselyte, without
a very strict examination, should be ordained, and being so,
that it should not be lawful for him to associate with any
other women than his mother, or sister, or aunt ; that none
should be promoted to the order of a bishop, unless by all, or
at least by three, bishops of the province; and that one bishop
should not receive any person, whether clerk or laic, who
stood excommunicated by another. It was decreed likewise,
and that very sacredly, to prevent all oppression, that there
should be a Provincial Synod held every year, whither any
who thought themselves injured by the bishop might appeal ;
and I cannot see why this wholesome institution should be
abolished by the prelates of our age, unless it be because they
dread the censures of the pious and orthodox. It was decreed
also, that they who in time of persecution fell away before they
were brought to the torture, should from thenceforward con-
tinue five years among the catechumens. Finally, it was
decreed, that no bishop should upon the account of ambition
or covetousness leave a smaller church for a greater—a canon
which is quite laid aside in our days, wherein with eager
appetites, like hungry wolves, they all gape after fatter
bishoprics, using all importunities, promises, and bribes to
get them. The constitutions of Sylvester himself were
reckoned these that follow, viz. : That the holy oil should be
consecrated by the bishop only ; that none but bishops should

1 This seems to be inaccurate. Photinus developed his heresy some-
what later. He was repeatedly condemned, and in 351 was deposed by a
synod held in his own city.—-ED.

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72 The Lives of the Popes.

have the power of confirmation, but a presbyter might anoint
any person baptized upon the occasion of imminent death.
That no laic should commence a suit against a clergyman ;
that a deacon, while he is doing his office in the church,
should use a cope with sleeves ; that no clergyman should
plead for others or for himself before a secular judge. That
a presbyter should not consecrate the elements upon a pall of
silk or dyed cloth, but only upon white linen, for the nearer
resemblance of the fine white linen in which the body of
Christ was buried. He also fixed the several degrees in the
orders of the Church, that every one might act in his own sphere,
and be the husband of one wife. But Constantine being desir-
ous to promote the Christian religion, built the Constantinian
church (called the Lateran), which he beautified and enriched
with several great donations, the ornaments and endowments
which he conferred upon it being of a vast value. Among
other things, he set up in it a font of porphyry stone, that part
of it which contains the water being all silver; in the middle
of the font was placed a pillar of porphyry, on the top of
which stood a golden lamp, full of the most precious oil,
which was wont to burn in the night during the Easter
solemnities. On the edge or brink of it stood a lamb of
pure gold, through which the water was conveyed into it; not
far from the lamb was the statue of our Saviour, of most pure
silver. On the other side stood the image of John Baptist, of
silver likewise, with an inscription of these words, “Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” There
were, besides, seven hearts placed round about it, and pouring
water into it. For the maintenance of this font he gave
several estates in land and houses. Moreover, Constantine,
.at the motion of Sylvester, built and dedicated a church to St
Peter, the chief of the apostles, in the Vatican, not far from
the temple of Apollo, where he very splendidly deposited the
body of that apostle, and covered his tomb over with brass
and copper. This church, likewise, he magnificently adorned,
and very largely endowed. ‘The same emperor, also at the
instance of Sylvester, built a church, which he enriched and
endowed as he had done the former, in the Via Ostiensis, in
honour to St Paul, whose body he entombed after the same
manner with that of St Peter; by his order also, a church
was built in the Sessorian Atrium, by the name of St Cross of
Jerusalem, wherein he deposited a part of the holy cross,

St Sylvester. 73

which was found out by his mother, Helena, a lady of in-
comparable piety and devotion, who, being prompted thereto
partly by the greatness of her own mind and partly by visions
in the night, went to Jerusalem to seek after the cross upon
which Christ was crucified. To find it was a very difficult
task, because the ancient persecutors had set up the image of
Venus in the same place, that so the Christians might by
mistake worship her instead of their Saviour. But Helena,
being animated with zeal, proceeded on to dig and remove
the rubbish, till at last she found three crosses lying con-
fusedly one among another; on one of which was this in-
scription, in three languages, ‘‘ Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews.” Macarius, the bishop of that city, was at first mistaken
in his opinion as to which was the right ; but at length all doubt
concerning it was removed by an experiment upon the body
of a dead woman, who was raised to life at the application of
the true one. From the sense of so great a miracle, Constan-
tine published an edict, forbidding any malefactor to be from
thenceforward punished by crucifixion. Helena, having first
built a church upon the ground where this cross was found,
returned, and brought the nails with which our Saviour’s body
was fastened to it, as a present to her son. Of one of those
nails he caused to be made the bit of the bridle with which he
managed the horse he used in war, the other he wore on the
crest of his helmet, and the third he threw into the Adriatic
Sea, to suppress the rage and tempestuousness of it. That
part of the cross which the devout lady brought along with
her in a silver case, set with gold and precious stones, was
_placed in this Sessorian Church, to which Constantine was
very liberal and munificent. Some tell us that the Church of
St Agnes was built at Constantine’s command, upon the
request of his daughter Constantia, and a font set up in it,
where both his daughter and his sister of the same name
were baptized, and which in like manner he largely presented
and endowed. The same emperor built also the Church of
St Laurence without the walls, towards which he was not
wanting to express his usual beneficence. Moreover, in the
Via Lavicana he built a church to the two martyrs, Mar-
cellinus the presbyter, and Peter the exorcist ; not far from
which he built a stately monument in honour to his mother,
whom he buried in a sepulchre of porphyry. This church
also received signal testimonies of his exemplary bounty.

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74 The Lives of the Popes.

Besides these churches in the city of Rome, he built several
others also elsewhere. At Ostia, not far from the port, he
built a church in honour to St Peter and Paul the blessed
apostles, and John Baptist; near Alba he built a church
peculiarly dedicated to John Baptist; at Capua, also, he
built in honour to the apostles, that which they called the
Constantinian Church,—all which he enriched as he had done
the former. At Naples he built another, as Damasus tells us,
but it is uncertain to whom he dedicated it. And that the
clergy of New Rome also might be sharers in the emperor's
munificence, he built likewise two churches at Constantinople,
one dedicated to Irene, the other to the apostles, having
first quite destroyed the Delphic Tripods, which had been the
occasion of a great deal of mischief to superstitious people,
and either demolished the pagan temples or else transferred
them to the use and benefit of the Christians. Besides all
the foregoing instances of Constantine’s munificence, he
distributed moreover, among the provincial churches and
the clergy, a certain tribute or custom due to him from the
several cities, which donation he made valid, and perpetuated
by an imperial edict. And that virgins and those who con-
tinued in celibacy, might be enabled to make wills, and so to
bequeath by testament something to the clergy (from whence
I believe the patrimony of the church to have received a great
increase), he repealed a law which had been made for the
propagating of mankind, by which any person was rendered
incapable of entering upon an estate who had lived unmarried
till five-and-twenty years of age—a law upon which the
princes had founded their jus ¢rium liberorum, the right or
privilege of having three children, of which they often took
advantage against those who had no issue. All these things
are exactly and fully delivered to us by Socrates and Sozomen,
the historians. In the time of Sylvester flourished several
persons of extraordinary note, by whose labour and industry
many countries and nations were converted to Christianity,
and particularly by the preaching of Julianus, Frumentius,
and Edisius, whom certain philosophers of Alexandria had
carried thither. The Iberi also, a remote people, were
brought to the knowledge and belief of Christianity by a certain
captive woman, through the assistance and persuasion of their
king Bacurius. At this time likewise, the authority of Antony,
the holy hermit, did much towards the reformation of man-

—

Marcus I, 25

kind; Helena did oftentimes, both by letter and messengers,
recommend herself and her sons to his prayers. He was by
country an Egyptian; his manner of living, severe and
abstemious, eating only bread and drinking nothing but
water, and never making any meal but about sunset; a man
wholly rapt up in contemplation. His life was written at
large by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. As for Sylvester
himself, having at seven Decembrian ordinations made forty-
two presbyters, thirty-six deacons, sixty-five bishops, he died,
and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the Via Salaria,
three miles distant from the city, on the last day of December.
He was in the chair twenty-three years, ten months, eleven
days ; and by his death the see was vacant fifteen days.

——— (0 ee

MARCUS I

A.D. 336-337.

ARCUS, a Roman, son of Priscus, lived also in the reign
of Constantine the Great, concerning whom historians
differ in their writings.

For some affirm that Constantine, towards the latter end of
his reign, recalled Arius from banishment, and became a
favourer of his heresy through the persuasion of his sister, who
always insisted that it was nothing but envy that had caused
his condemnation. These I believe to be deceived by the
nearness of their names, and so to ascribe that to the father
which was the act of the son. For it is not probable that that
wise prince, who had all along before disapproved of the Arian
opinion, should now begin to incline to it in that part of his
age wherein men are usually most judicious and discerning.
They write moreover, that Constantine was baptized by
Eusebius, an Arian, Bishop of Nicomedia. But that this is a
mistake appears both from the Emperor’s great bounty towards
the orthodox, and also from that stately font upon that occa-
sion erected with wonderful magnificence at Rome ; at which,
after he had been successful in expelling the tyrants, he, with
his son Crispus, were instructed in the faith, and baptized by
Sylvester. They who are of the other opinion tell us that
Constantine deferred so great an affair till the time that he
might come to shy river Jordan, in which he had a great de-

-

76 The Lives of the Popes.

sire to be baptized, in imitation of our Saviour; but that in an
expedition against the Parthians, making inroads upon Meso-
potamia, in the thirty-first year of his reign, and of his age the
sixty-sixth, he died on the way at Nicomedia, before he could
reach the river Jordan for the purpose he designed, and was
there baptized at the point of death. But let these men con-
found and perplex the matter as they please, we have reason to
believe, according to the general opinion, that Constantine, who
had so often overcome his enemies under the standard of the
Cross, who had built so many churches to the honour of God,
who had been present at holy councils, and who had so often
joined in devotion with the holy fathers, would desire to be for-
tified against the enemy of mankind by the character of bap-
tism as soon as ever he came to understand the excellence of
our religion. I am not ignorant what Socrates and Sozomen
and most other writers say concerning it, but I follow the
truth, and that which is most agreeable to the religion and
piety of this excellent prince. The vulgar story of his having
been overspread with leprosy, and cured of it by baptism, with
a previous fiction concerning a bath of the blood of infants
before prescribed for his cure, I can by no means give credit
to, having herein the authority of Socrates on my side, who
affirms that Constantine, being now sixty-five years of age,
fell sick, and left the city of Constantinople to go to the hot
baths for the recovery of his health, but speaks not a word
concerning any leprosy. Besides, there is no mention made of
|. dt by any writer, either heathen or Christian, and certainly, had
there been any such thing, Orosius, Eutropius, and others who
have most accurately written the memoirs of Constantine,
would not have omitted it. One thing more concerning this
great prince is certain, viz., that a blazing star or comet of
extraordinary magnitude appeared some time before his death.

Marcus, applying himself to the care of religion, ordained
that the Bishop of Ostia, whose place it is to consecrate the
Bishop of Rome, might use a pall. He appointed likewise
that upon solemn days, immediately after the Gospel, the
Nicene creed should be rehearsed with a loud voice both by
the clergy and people. He built also two churches at Rome,
one in the Via Ardeatina, in which he was buried, the other
within the city: these churches Constantine presented and
endowed very liberally. In the time of this Emperor and
Bishop lived Juvencus, a Spaniard of noble birth and a pres-

Julius I. 77

byter, who in four books translated almost verbatim into hexa-
meter verse the four Gospels; he wrote also something con-
cerning the sacraments in the same kind of metre. Our
Marcus having at two Decembrian ordinations made twenty-
five presbyters, six deacons, twenty-eight bishops, died, and
was buried in the cemetery of Balbina, in the Via Ardeatina,
October the 5th. He was in the chair one year, eight months,
twenty days ; and by his death the see was vacant twenty days.

—— 9 ————

TYULTUS S.

A.D. 337-352-

ULIUS, a Roman, the son of Rusticus, lived in the time of
Constantius, who, sharing the Empire with his two breth-
ren, Constantine and Constans, reigned twenty-four years.

Among the successors of Constantine the Great is sometimes

reckoned Delmatius Casar his nephew, who was certainly a
very hopeful young gentleman, but was soon cut off ina tumult
of the soldiers, though by the permission, rather than at the
command of Constantius. In the meantime the Arian heresy
mightily prevailed, being abetted by Constantius, who com-
pelled the orthodox to receive Arius. In the second year of
his reign, therefore, a council was called at Laodicea, a city of
Syria, or, as others have it, at Tyre. Thither resorted both the
Catholics and Arians, and their daily debate was, Whether
Christ should be styled 4moodsog, of the same substance with the
Father, or no. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, asserted it,
and pressed hard upon them with his reasons and arguments
for it; which when Arius found himself not able to answer, he
betook himself to reproach and calumny, accusing the holy
man of sorcery, and to procure credit to his charge, producing
out of a box the pretended arm of Arsenius, whom he falsely
asserted that Athanasius had killed, and was wont to make use
of that dead arm in his incantations, Hereupon Athanasius
was violently run down and condemned by the Emperor, but
. making his escape he lay concealed in a dry cistern for six
years together without seeing the sun; but being at length
discovered by a certain servant maid, when his enemies were
ready to seize him, by Divine admonition he fled to the Em-
peror Constans, who by menaces compelled his brother Con-

78 The Lives of the Popes.

stantius to receive him again. In the meantime, Arius, as he
was going along in the streets, attended with several bishops
and multitudes of people, stepping aside to a place of ease-
ment, he voided his entrails into the privy, and immediately
died, undergoing a death agreeable to the filthiness of his life.

Our bishop, Julius, having been very uneasy amidst this
confusion of things, at length, after ten months’ banishment,
returns to Rome ; especially having received the news of the
death of Constantine the younger, who, making war upon his
brother Constans, and fighting unwarily near Aquileia, was
there slain. But notwithstanding the present face of things,
Julius desisted not from censuring the Oriental bishops, and
especially the Arians, for calling a council at Antioch without
the command of the Bishop of Rome, pretending it ought not
to have been done without his authority, for the pre-eminence
of the Roman above all other churches. To which they of
the east returned this ironical answer ; ‘‘ That since the Christian
princes came from them to the west, for this reason their
Church ought to have the preference, as being the fountain
and spring from whence so great a blessing flowed." But
Julius, laying aside that controversy, built two churches, one
near the Forum Romanum, the other in that part of the city
beyond Tiber. He erected also three cemeteries—one in the
Via Flaminia, another in the Via Aurelia, the third in the Via
Portuensis. He constituted likewise, that no clergyman
should plead before any but an ecclesiastical judge. He ap-
pointed likewise, that all matters belonging to the Church
should be penned by the notaries or the protonotary, whose
office it was to commit to writing all memorable occurrences.
But in our age most of them (not to say all) are so ignorant,
that they are scarce able to write their own names in Latin,
much less to transmit the actions of others. Concerning their
morals, I am ashamed to say anything, since panders and
parasites have been sometimes preferred to that office. During
the reign of Constantine and Constantius, Marcellus, Bishop
of Ancyra, was a man of considerable note, and wrote several
things, particularly against the Arians. Asterius and Apol
linarius wrote against him, and accused him of the Sabellian
heresy, as did likewise Hilarius, whom while Marcellus is con-
futing, his very defence shows him to be of a different opinion
from Julius and Athanasius. He was opposed likewise by
Basilius, Bishop of Ancyra, in his book “De Virginitate,”

Liberius I. 79

which Basilius, together with Eustathius, Bishop of Sebastia,
were the principal men of the Macedonian party. About this
time also, Theodorus, Bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, a person
of terse and copious eloquence, was a considerable writer, as
particularly appears by his commentaries upon St Matthew,
St John, the Psalms, and Epistles. As for Julius himself,
having at three Decembrian ordinations made eighteen pres-
byters, three deacons, nine bishops, he died, and was buried
in the Via Aurelia, in the cemetery of Calepodius, three miles
from the city, August the 12th. He sat in the chair fifteen
years, two months, six days, and by his death the see was
vacant twenty-five days.!

— BLE

LIBERIUS I.
A.D. 352-366.

IBERIUS, a Roman, the son of Augustus, lived in the
times of Constantius and Constans.

For Constantine, as I said before, engaging unadvisedly in
a war against his brother Constans, was therein slain. And
Constans himself, having fought with various success against
the Persians, being forced by a tumult in the army to join
battle at midnight, was at last routed, and designing after-
wards to make an example of his seditious soldiers, was by the
fraud and treachery of Magnentius slain at a town called
Helena, in the seventeenth year of his reign, and the thirtieth
of his age.

Constans being dead, the old firebrands of the Arian
heresy began afresh to make head against Athanasius. For in
a council held at Milan, all those that favoured Athanasius
were banished. Moreover, at the council of Ariminum,
because the subtle, crafty eastern prelates were too hard at
argument and disputation for the honest well-meaning bishops
of the west, it was thought good to let fall the debate for a

! In this Pontificate was held the Council of Sardica, in Illyria, attended
by 100 western and 76 eastern bishops. Its object was to decide some
disputed questions in the Arian controversy, and to reconcile the breach
which that controversy had caused between the eastern and western
churches. "The result, however, was not successful, for the alienation was
made stronger. ——Ep.

80 The Lives of the Popes.

time; the Orientalist denied Christ to be of the same sub-
stance with the Father. This because Bishop Liberius did at
first oppose, and because he refused to condemn Athanasius
at the Emperor's command, he was banished by the Arians,
and forced to absent from the city for the space of three years.
In which time the clergy, being assembled in a synod, in the
place of Liberius made choice of Felix, a presbyter, an ex-
cellent person, and who, immediately after his choice, did in
a convention of forty-eight bishops excommunicate Ursatius
and Valens, two presbyters, for being of the Emperor's opinion
in religion.! Hereupon, at their request and importunity,
Constans recalls Liberius from exile: who being wrought
upon by the kindness of the Emperor, though he became, as
some tell us, in all other things heretical, yet in this particular
tenet was on the orthodox side, that heretics returning to
the Church ought not to be rebaptized. It is said that Libe-
rius did for some time live in the cemetery of St Agnes with
Constantia, the Emperor's sister, that so through her assistance
and intercession he might procure a safe return to the city ;
but she being a Catholic, and apprehending he might have
some ill design, utterly refused to engage in it. At length
Constantius, at the instance of Ursatius and Valens, deposed
Felix, and restored Liberius. Upon which there arose so
fierce a persecution, that the presbyters and other clergy were
in many places murdered in their very churches. Some tell
us that they were the Roman ladies at a circus show, who by
their entreaties obtained of the Emperor this restoration of
Liberius, who, though he were of the Arian opinion, yet was
very diligent in beautifying consecrated places, and particularly
the cemetery of St Agnes, and the church which he built
and called by his own name, near the market-place of
Livia. During these calamitous times lived Eusebius, Bishop

1 All this portion of the history is more than doubtful. By Milner, as
well as by Milman and Robertson, Felix II., who was placed in the see
in place of Liberius, is reckoned as an anti-pope. Athanasius calls him a
monster and a minister of Antichrist. He is said by Milman to have been
elected by three eunuchs, who styled themselves **the people of Rome."
Some ancient authorities, whilé condemning his usurpation, declare, as
Platina does, that he adhered to the Nicene creed ; others, that he was
an Arian. * The cause of the recall of Liberius is very differently given by
other authors, viz., that while on one hand, all except the Arians refused
to attend the communicn of Felix; on the other, Liberius made conces-

sions which the Emperor accepted.—See Robertson's ** Church History,”
i. 227 ; and Milman, i. 62, —Ep.

Liberius I. 81

of Emissa, who wrote very learnedly and elegantly against
the Jews, Gentiles, and Novatians. ‘Triphyllius, also bishop
of Ledra or Leutheon, in Cyprus, wrote a large and exact
commentary upon the Canticles Moreover, Donatus an
African (from whom the sect of the Donatists are denominated)
was so industrious in writing against the Catholic doctrine,
that he infected almost all Africa and Judza with his false
opinions. He affirmed the Son to be inferior to the Father,
ànd the Holy Spirit inferior to the Son, and rebaptized all
those whom he could pervert to his own sect. Several of his
heretical writings were extant in the time of St Hierom, and
particularly one book on the Holy Spirit, agreeing exactly with
the Arian doctrine. And that the Arians might neglect no
ill arts of promoting their opinions, Asterius, a philosopher of
that faction, at the command of Constantius, compiled divers
commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, the gospels,
and the psalms, which were diligently read by those of that
party to confirm them in their persuasion. Moreover, Lucifer,
Bishop of Cagliari, together with Pancratius the presbyter, and
Hilarius the deacon, were sent in an embassy from the
bishop to the emperor; and being by him banished for
refusing to renounce the Nicene, under the name of the
Athanasian faith, he wrote a book against Constantius, and
sent it to him to read. But, notwithstanding this provocation,
he lived till the time of Valentinian. It is said also, that
Fortunatus, Bishop of Aquileia, had been tampering with
Liberius just before his banishment, and endeavouring to
bring him over to the Arian heresy. Serapion likewise, who
for his great parts had deservedly given him the surname of
Scholasticus, compiled an excellent book against Manichzeus,
nor could all the menaces of the emperor make him desist
from the open confession of the truth ; but on the contrary,
hoping to have rendered Constantius more favourable to
Athanasius the Great (so called from the constant and
unwearied opposition which he always kept up against pagans
and heretics) into his presence he boldly goes, nor did the
threats of so great a prince cause him to stir one step back-
ward from his constancy and resolution. As for Liberius,
having at two ordinations, held in the city of Rome, made
eighteen presbyters, five deacons, nineteen bishops, he dieu
and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the Via

82 The Lives of the Popes.

: Salaria, April the 23rd. He sat in the chair fifteen years, three
months, four days ; and by his death the see was vacant six
days.

EEUIX Il!
A.D. 356.

ELIX the Second, a Roman, the son of Anastasius, was
Bishop of Rome in the reign of Constantius, who by

the death of Constans, slain by Magnentius, becoming now sole
emperor, sent into Gallia to suppress a sedition arisen there, his
cousin-german Julian, whom he had created Cesar; who in
a short time, by his great valour and conduct, reduced both
the Gauls and Germans; whereby he gained so much the
affections of the army, that by universal consent they made
him emperor. At the news of this, Constantius, who was
engaged in a war with the Parthians, suddenly strikes up a
truce with them, and forthwith marches forward to oppose
Julian; but in his march being seized with an apoplexy, he
died between Cilicia and Cappadocia, at a town called
Mopsocrene, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, and of his
age the forty-fifth. The physicians were of opinion that the
excessive grief and anxiety of mind which the rebellion of
Julian had brought upon him, was the occasion of that fatal
distemper to him. He was (excepting always the case of the
Christians, against whom he was unjust and cruel) a person of
so great moderation and clemency, that, according to the
ancient custom, he deserved an apotheosis. Upon his first
undertaking the government, at his entering triumphantly by
the Via Flaminia into the city of Rome in his golden chariot,
he did with wonderful condescension take notice of and
salute the citizens that went out to meet him, affirming that
of Cyneas, the ambassador of Pyrrhus, to be true, that he saw
at Rome as many kings as there were citizens. In one thing
only he was the occasion of laughter to the people, viz., that
as he passed through the lofty gates of the city, and the stately
triumphal arches, though he were a man of very little stature,

1 See preceding note.

Felix II. | 83

yet as though he feared to hit his head against the tops of them,
he bowed it down low, like a goose stooping as she goes in at
a barn door. Being conducted to view the rarities of the
city, and beholding with admiration the Campus Martius, the
sepulchre of Augustus Caesar, adorned with so many statues
of marble and brass, the Forum Romanum, the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus, the baths, the porticoes, enlarged like so
many provinces, the amphitheatre, built with Tiburtine stone
of so vast a height that a man's eye could scarce reach to the
top of it, the Pantheon, built with stately arches, of a wonder-
ful altitude, the temple of peace, Pompey's theatre, the great
cirque, the Septizonium of Severus, so many triumphal arches,
so many aqueducts, so many statues erected here and there
throughout the city for ornament; beholding all this, I say,
he at first stood astonished, and at length declared, that
certainly Nature had laid out all her stock upon one city. At
the sight of the famous horse of brass set up by Trajan, he
desired of Hormisda, an excellent workman whom he had
brought along with him, that he would make such another for
him at Constantinople, to whom Hormisda replied that the
emperor ought then to build such another stable (meaning the
city of Rome): The same Hormisda being asked by Con-
stantius what he thought of the city of Rome, returned an
answer becoming a philosopher, that all which pleased him in
it was, that he understood that there also men were wont to
die.

Felix, who, as we have said, was put into the place of
Liberius by the orthodox (though Eusebius and St Hierom,
which I much wonder at, affirm it to have been done by the
heretics), presently after his entrance upon the pontificate
pronounces Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, a
heretic, and rebaptized by Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, in
a little town called Aquilo, not far from Nicomedia. And
hereby may be discovered the error of those who accuse
Constantine the Great himself of this heresy—an imputation
which certainly, as appears by history, neither ought nor can
be fastened upon that great prince and great favourer of the
Christian religion. While this great contention which we
have spoken of between Liberius and Felix lasted, the Arian
heresy branched itself into two factions. For on the one
side Eunomis (from whom they were called Eunomians), a
man leprous both in body and mind, and who had a falling-

84 The Lives of the Popes.

sickness as well within as without, affirmed that in all things
the Son was unequal to the Father, and that the Holy Spirit
had no community of essence with the Father or the Son.
On the other side, Macedonius, whom the orthodox had
made Bishop of Constantinople before he became erroneous
in his opinions, was renounced by the Arians, for holding the
Son to be equal with the Father, though he uttered the same
blasphemies against the Holy Spirit that themselves did. It
is said that Felix held a council of forty-eight bishops, in
which it was decreed that all bishops should attend in person
at every General Council, or else by letter give a good account
why they could not; which decree was afterwards renewed in
.the Council of Carthage. In his time lived Acacius, for his
having but one eye called Monophthalmus, Bishop of Cesarea
in Palestine, who wrote largely upon Ecclesiastes, and who
by his fair speech and swimming carriage had gained such an
ascendant over Constantius that he himself undertook to
appoint Felix, an Arian, to be bishop in room of Liberius.
'This St Hierom tells us, though I much marvel at it, since,
as we have already said, it is evident that Felix was a
Catholic, and a constant opposer of the Arians. At length,
after Felix had done all that in him lay for the propagation
and defence of the true faith, he was seized by his enemies,
and together with many orthodox believers, was slain and
buried in a church which he himself had built in the Via
Aurelia, two miles from the city, November the 2oth.! He was
in the chair only one year, four months, two days, through
the means of a sedition raised by Liberius (whom I have in-
serted into the number of bishops, more upon the authority
of Damasus, than for any deserts of his own).

l'This is very doubtful. Modern Roman Catholic historians reject the
story of the massacre, though Gibbon accepts it. But Felix escaped and
lived for eight years longer in peaceful obscurity. By some curious over-
sight his name stole into the Roman martyrology. See a curious note in
Milman i. 62. —ED.

Damasus I. 85

DAMASUS L
A.D. 367-384.

| aaa a Spaniard, son of Antonius, lived in the

reign of Julian! who was certainly an extraordinary
person, if we regard his fitness either for civil or military
affairs. He had his education under Eubulus the sophist, and
Libanius the philosopher, and made such proficiency in the
liberal arts, that no prince was his superior in them. He had
a capacious memory, and a happy eloquence, was bountiful
towards his friends, just to foreigners, and very desirous of .
fame. But all these qualities were at last sullied by his per-
secution of the Christians, which yet he managed more
craftily than others had done; for he did not persecute at
first with force and torture, but by rewards, and honours, and
caresses, and persuasions. He seduced greater numbers of
them than if he had exercised any manner of cruelties against
them. He forbade the Christians the study of heathen authors,
and denied access to the public schools to any but those who
worshipped the Gentile gods. Indeed, he granted a dis-
pensation to one person, named Prohzresius, a most learned
man, to teach the Christians publicly; but he with disdain
refused to accept of that indulgence. He prohibited the con-
ferring military offices upon any but heathens, and ordered
that no Christians should be admitted to the government or
jurisdiction of provinces, upon pretence that the laws of their
religion forbade them the use of their own swords. He openly
opposed and banished Athanasius, at the instigation of his
sorcerers and soothsayers, with whose arts he was wonderfully
pleased—they complaining to him that Athanasius was the
cause why their profession was in no greater esteem. Ata
certain time, as he was sacrificing to Apollo at Daphne, in the
suburbs of Antioch, near the Castalian fountain, and no
answers were given him to those things concerning which he
enquired ; expostulating with the priests about the cause of
that silence, the devils replied, that the sepulchre of Babylas
the martyr, was too near, and therefore no responses could be
given. Hereupon Julian commanded the Galileans, for so he
called the Christians, to remove the martyr’s tomb further off.

1 He dived certainly, but he was not elected to the papacy until the
reign of Gratian.— ED.

^

86 The Lives of the Popes.

This they applied themselves to with wondrous exultation and
cheerfulness, but rehearsing at the same time that of the
Psalmist, * Confounded be all they that serve graven images,
that boast themselves of idols.” They hereby so heightened
the rage of Julian, that he forthwith commanded multitudes
of them to be put to death, which he did not before intend.
I much wonder that Julian should act after this manner,
having had before experience of the vanity of diabolical arts.
For entering once into a cave in company with a magician,
and being sorely affrighted when he heard the demons howl,
in the surprise he used the sign of the cross, at which the
demons immediately fled. Upon this, telling his companion
that certainly there must needs be something miraculous in
the sign of the cross, the sorcerer made him this answer,
**''hat indeed the demons themselves did dread that kind of
punishment.” By this slight account of the matter Julian
became more obstinate than before, so strangely was he ad-
dicted to magical allusions, though he had formerly, to decline
the displeasure of Constantius, feignedly embraced the
Christian religion, publicly read the Holy Scriptures, and built
a church in honour to the martyrs. Moreover, this emperor,
on purpose to spite the Christians, permitted the Jews to
rebuild their temple at Jerusalem, upon their declaring that
they could not sacrifice in any other place. By which con-
cession they were so mightily puffed up, that they used all their
endeavours to raise it more magnificently than the former. But
- while they were carrying on the work, the new fabric fell down
in an earthquake, by the fall of which multitudes of the Jewswere
crushed to death, and the prophesy a second time verified,
“That there should not be left one stone upon another.” On
the following day the very iron tools with which the workmen
wrought were consumed by fire from heaven ; a miracle by
which many of the Jews were so wrought upon that they be-
came proselytes to Christianity. After this Julian undertakes
an expedition against the Persians, of whom he had intelli-
gence that they were endeavouring a change in the govern-
ment; but before he set forth, he spared not to threaten
what havoc he would make among the Christians at his re-
turn. But having vanquished the enemy, and returning
conqueror with his army, though in some disorder, he died
of a wound given him near Ctesiphon. Whether he received
it from any of his own men or from the enemy, is uncertain ;

Damasus I. 87

though some tell us, that he was pierced through with an arrow
sent no man knew from whence, as also that when he was just
expiring, with his hand lifted up to heaven, he cried out,
**''hou hast overcome me, O Galilean,” for so in contempt he
was wont to call our Saviour, the Galilean, or the carpenter’s
Son ; upon which was grounded that answer of a young man
to Libanius, the sophist, asking him by way of derision, “ What
he thought the carpenter’s Son was doing ;” to whom the
youth replied, ‘‘That he was making a coffin for Julian,” a
witty and prophetic reply ; for soon after his saying so, Julian’s
dead body was coffined up and brought away. We are told
that this emperor had once been in holy orders, but that
afterwards he fell away from the faith, for which reason he is
commonly called the Apostate, He died in the twentieth
month of his reign, and in the thirty-second year of his age.

Him Jovinian succeeded, who being voted emperor by the
army, refused to own that title, till they should all with a loud
voice confess themselves Christians. This they having done,
and he having commended them for it, he took the government
upon him, and freed his army out of the hands of the barbar-
ous, with no other composition but that of leaving Nisibis, and
part of Mesopotamia, free to Sapor the Persian king. But
in the eighth month of his reign, whether from some crudity
upon his stomach, as some will have it, or from the faint and
suffocating steam of burning coals, as others, or by what means
soever, certain it is that he died suddenly.

Damasus being chosen to the pontificate, was soon rivalled in
that dignity by Ursicinus a deacon, whose party having as-
sembled themselves in a church, thither also Damasus’s friends
resorted, where the competition being managed not only by
vote, but by force and arms, several persons on both sides
were slain in the very church. But not long after the matter
was compromised, and by the consent both of the clergy and
people, Damasus was confirmed in the bishopric of Rome, and
Ursicinus was made Bishop of Naples. But Damasus being
afterwards accused of adultery, he made his defence in a
public council, wherein he was acquitted and pronounced in-
nocent, and Concordius and Calistus, two deacons, his false
accusers, were condemned and excommunicated. Upon
which a law was made, “ That if any man did bear false wit-
ness against another, he was to undergo the same punishment
that the person accused should have done if he had been

-

88 The Lives of the Popes.

guilty.” The affairs of the church being at length settled,
Damasus, taking great delight in study, wrote the lives of
all the Bishops of Rome that had been before him, and
sent them to St Hierom. Notwithstanding which, he ne-
glected not to increase the number of churches, and to add
to the ornaments. of Divine worship. For he built two -
churches, one near Pompey's theatre, the other at the tombs
in the Via Ardeatina, and in elegant verse wrote the epitaphs
of those martyrs whose bodies had been buried, to perpetuate
their names to posterity. He also dedicated a marble table
with an inscription to the memory of St Peter and St Paul at
the place where their bodies had once lain. Moreover, he
enriched the church which he had built in honour of St Lau-
rence, not far from Pompey's theatre, with very large donations.
He ordained likewise, that the psalms should be sung alter-
nately in the church, and that at the end of every psalm the
&loria patri should be added. And whereas formerly the Sep-
tuagint only had been in vogue, Damasus first gave authority
to Hierom's translation of the Bible, which began to be read
publicly, as also his psalter faithfully rendered from the Hebrew,
which before, especially among the Gauls, had been very
much depraved. He commanded also, that at the beginning
of the mass the confession should be used as it is at this day.
But having at five ordinations made thirty-one presbyters,
eleven deacons, sixty-two bishops, he died and was buried
with his mother and sister in the Via Ardeatina, in the church
built by himself, December the 11th. He sat in the chair
seventeen years, three months, eleven days ; and by his death
the see was vacant twenty-one days.!

0

SIRICIUST
A.D. 385-398.
IRICIUS, a Roman, son of Tiburtius, lived in the time
of Valentinian, who, for his being a Christian, had
been very unjustly dealt withal, and cashiered from a
considerable command in the army by Julian. But upon
the death of Jovinian, being by the universal consent

1 During this pontificate the great council of Constantinople was held,
A.D, 381.—ED.

Szrictus f. 89

of the soldiers elected emperor, he admitted his brother
Valens his colleague in the Empire,‘ and assigned to him
the government of the east. Afterwards, in the third
year of his reign, at the persuasion of his wife and her mother,
he created his young son Gratian Augustus. And whereas
one Procopius had raised a sedition and set up for himself :
at Constantinople, him with his adherents the emperor very
suddenly overthrew and put to death.

But Valens having been baptized by Eudoxius, an Arian
bishop, and becoming a bigoted heretic, presently fell to
persecuting and banishing the orthodox, especially after the
death of Athanasius, who, while he lived, was a mighty support
to the Christian state for forty-six years together. Lucius,
also another heretical bishop, was extremely violent and out-
rageous against the orthodox Christians ; nor did he spare so
much as the Anchorites and Eremites, but sent parties of
soldiers to invade their solitudes, who either put them to death
or else sent them into exile. Amongst this sort of men, they
who at that time had the greatest esteem and authority were
the two Macarii in Syria, the disciples of Anthony, one of
which lived in the upper, the other in the lower desert ; as
also Isidorus, Panucius, Pambus, Moses, Benjamin, Paulus
Apheliotes, Paulus Phocensis, and Joseph in Egypt. While
Lucius was intent upon the banishment of these men, a certain
inspired woman went about crying aloud, that those good men,
those men of God, ought by no means to be sent into the
islands. Moreover, Mauvia, queen of the Saracens, having by
frequent battles very much impaired the Roman forces, and
harassed their towns on the borders of Palestine and Arabia,
refused to grant the peace which they desired at her hands,
unless Moses, a man of most exemplary piety, were conse-
crated and. appointed bishop to her people. This Lucius
willingly assented to; but when Moses was brought to him, he
plainly told him, that the multitudes of Christians condemned
to the mines, banished to the islands, and imprisoned through
his cruelty, did cry loud against him, and that therefore he
would never endure the imposition of his polluted hands.
Hereupon, certain bishops being recalled from exile to conse-
crate him, he was presented to the queen, and thereby a peace
concluded. But Valens and Lucius continued still to wreak
their fury against the orthodox, though Valens was rendered
somewhat more favourable towards them by the letters of

-

90 The Lives of the Popes.

Themistius, the philosopher. Athanaricus also, king of the
Goths, exercised very great cruelty against those of his people
who were Christians, many of whom suffered martyrdom for
their religion.

In the meantime, Valentinian, by his valour and conduct,
subdued the Saxons and Burgundians. But while he was
making preparations for war against the Sarmatians, who had
spread themselves through the two Hungaries, he died at a little
town called Brigio, through a sudden effusion of blood. At
this time the Goths, being driven out of their own country,
had possessed themselves of all Thrace; against them Valens
marches with his army (having first, though now too late, re-
called from exile the bishops and monks, and forced them
to serve in the war with him), but his army was utterly routed,
and himself burnt in an obscure cottage, — an overthrow
which proved very fatal to the Roman Empire and all
Italy.

While these things were transacting, Siricius ordained that
those monks whose life and manners were approved of, should be
capable of admission into any ecclesiastical office, from the low-
est to the highest, even the Episcopal dignity itself. That the
several degrees of holy orders should not be conferred at once,
but at certain distancesof time. Moreover, he forbade the Mani-
chees who lurked in the city, the communion of the faithful; but
withal provided that upon their repentance and return to the
orthodox faith, they should be received into the Church, upon
condition they would undertake a monastic course of living,
and devote themselves to fasting and prayer all their life ;
upon which, if it appeared that their conversion were sincere,
they might, at the approach of death, receive the blessed
sacrament as their vzaticum. He ordained likewise, that
none but a bishop should have power to ordain a presbyter ;
that whosoever married a widow, or second wife, should be
degraded from his office in the church, and that heretics, upon
their repentance, should be received with only the imposition
of hands. In his time lived Hilarius, Bishop of Poictiers,
who wrote twelve books against the Arians, and one against
Valens and Ursatius ; but not long after he died at Poictiers.
Victorinus, also an African, who had once been a professor of
rhetoric at Rome, but afterwards, being very ancient, was
converted to Christianity, wrote several books after the
dialectic manner against Arius. Moreover, Gregorius Beeticus,

Szricius f. OI

Bishop of Illiberis, wrote at this time divers tracts, showing
the excellence of the Christian religion. But Photinus, a
Galatian, the scholar of Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, endeav-
oured now to revive the heresy of Ebion, who held Christ to be
a mere man, born in the ordinary way of generation. Being
banished by the Emperor Valentinian, he wrote divers treatises,
and especially against the Gentiles, Didymus of Alexandria,
who had been blind from his very childhood, and thereby
utterly ignorant of the first rudiments of learning, became yet
afterwards in his old age so great a proficient in those arts
which most require the assistance of sight, particularly in logic
and geometry, that he wrote some excellent treatises in the
mathematics. He published also commentaries on the psalms,
and the gospels of Matthew and John, and was a great opposer
ofthe Arians. Moreover, Optatus, an African, Bishop of Mela,
compiled six books against the Donatists; and Severus
Aquilius, a Spaniard, who was kinsman to that Severus to
whom Lactantius penned two books of epistles, wrote one
volume, called * Catastrophe." As for our Siricius, having
settled the affairs of the Church, and at five ordinations made
twenty-six presbyters, sixteen deacons, thirty-two bishops, he
died and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the Via
Salaria, February 22. He was in the chair fifteen years,
eleven months, twenty days; and by his death the see was
vacant twenty days.

The Emperor Gratian was a young prince of eminent piety,
and so good a soldier, that in an expedition against the Ger-
mans, who were now harassing the Roman borders, he did
at one battle at Argentaria cut off thirty thousand of them,
with very little loss on his own side. Returning from thence
to Italy, he expelled all those of the Arian faction, and
admitted none but the orthodox to the execution of any ecclesi-
astical office. But apprehending the public weal to be in great
danger from the attempts of the Goths, he associated to him-
self, as a partner in the government, Theodosius, a Spaniard,
a person eminent for his valour and conduct, who, vanquish-
ing the Alans, Huns, and Goths, re-established the Empire
of the east, and entered into a league with Athanaricus, king
of the Goths, after whose death and magnificent burial at
Constantinople, his whole army repaired to "Theodosius, and
declared they would serve under no other commander but
that good emperor. In the meantime, Maximus usurped the

92 The Lives of the Popes.

empire in Britain, and passing over into Gaul, slew Gratian at
Lyons, whose death so terrified his younger brother, Valen-
tinian, that he forthwith fled for refuge to Theodosius in the
east. Some are of opinion that those two brethren owed the
calamities which befell them to their mother Justina, whose
great zeal for the Arian heresy made her a fierce persecutor of
the orthodox, and especially of St Ambrose, whom, against
his will, the people of Milan had at this time chosen their
bishop. For Auxentius, an Arian, their late bishop, being
dead, a great sedition arose in the city about choosing his
successor. Now Ambrose, who was a man of consular
dignity and their governor, endeavouring all he could to quell
that disorder, and to that end going into the church, where
the people were in a tumultuary manner assembled, he there
makes an excellent speech tending to persuade them to peace
and unity among themselves, which so wrought upon them,
that they all with one consent cried out, that they would
have no other bishop but Ambrose himself. And the event
answered their desires ; for being as yet but a catechumen, he
was forthwith baptized, and then admitted into holy orders,
and constituted Bishop of Milan. That he was a person of
great learning and extraordinary sanctity, the account which
we have of his life, and the many excellent books which he
wrote, do abundantly testify.

—_ 0 ——=~

ANASTASIUS I.

A.D. 399-402.

NASTASIUS, a Roman, the son of Maximus, was made
Bishop of Rome in the time of Arcadius and Honorius,
the sons of Theodosius.

Our Anastasius decreed that the clergy should by no means
sit at the singing or reading of the holy Gospel in the church,
but stand bowed, and in a posture of veneration ; and that no
strangers, especially those that came from the parts beyond the
seas, should be received into our holy orders, unless they could
produce testimonials under the hands of five bishops. Which
latter ordinance is supposed to have been occasioned by the
practice of the Manichees, who, having gained a great esteem
and authority in Africa, were wont to send their missionaries

Anastasius I, 93

abroad into all parts, to corrupt the orthodox doctrine by the
infusion of their errors. He ordained, likewise, that no per-
son infirm of body, or maimed, or defective of any limb or
member, should be admitted into holy orders. Moreover, he
dedicated the Crescentian Church, which stands in the second
region of the city, in the Via Marurtina. The pontificate of
this Anastasius, as also that of Damasus and Siricius, his pre-
decessors, were signalised not only by those excellent em-
perors, Jovinian, Valentinian, Gratian, and "Theodosius, but
also by those many holy and worthy doctors, both Greek and
Latin, that were famous in all kinds of learning. Cappadocia,
as Eusebius tells us, brought forth Gregory Nazianzen and
Basil the Great, both extraordinary persons, and both brought
up at Athens. Basil was a Bishop of Cesarea of Cappadocia,
a city formerly called Mazaca. He wrote divers excellent
books against Eunomius, one concerning the Holy Ghost, and
the orders of a monastic life. He had two brethren, Gregory
and Peter, both very learned men, of the former of which
some books were extant in the time of Eusebius. Gregory
Nazianzen, who was master to St Hierom, wrote also many
things, particularly in praise of Cyprian, Athanasius, and
Maximus the philosopher; two books against Eunomius, and
one against the Emperor Julian, besides an encomium of
marriage and single life in hexameter verse. By the strength
of his reasoning and the power of his rhetoric (in which he
was an imitator of Polemon, a man of admirable eloquence),
he brought off the citizens of Constantinople from the errors
with which they had been infected. At length, being very
aged, he chose his own successor, and led a private life in the
country. Basil died in the reign of Gratian, Gregory of
Theodosius. About the same time flourished Epiphanius,
Bishop of Salamine, in Cyprus, a strenuous oppugner of all
kinds of heresies; as did also Ephrem, a deacon of the
Church of Edessa, who composed divers treatises in the
Syrian language, which gained him so great a veneration that
in some churches his books were publicly read after the
Holy Scriptures. Anastasius, having at two Decembrian
ordinations made eight presbyters, five deacons, ten bishops,
died, and was buried April 28. He was in the chair three
years, ten days ; and by his death the see was vacant twenty
one days. |

94 : The Lives of the Popes.

INNOCENTIUS I.
A.D. 402-417.

aerate dai an Alban, son of Innocentius, was bishop

in part of the reign of Theodosius, who, with great con-
duct and singular despatch, overcame the usurper Maximus,
and at Aquileia, whither he had fled, retaliated upon him the
death of Gratian,—a fate which the good Bishop Martinus
had foretold to Maximus himself, when he was going, against
all right and justice, to invade Italy, having drained Britain
of its military forces, and left it an easy prey to the Scots and
Picts. Moreover, Theodosius, relying wholly upon the
Divine aid, in a very short time defeated not only Andra-
gatius, Maximus's general, and Victor his son, but Argobastus
and Eugenius, two other usurpers; which was the occasion of
that strain of the poet Claudian upon this Emperor's success :

O nimium dilecte Deo, tibi militat ether,
Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti!

Englished :

Darling of Heaven, with whom the skies combine,
And the confederate winds in battle join !

He was not only a great soldier, but a very pious and devout
man, as appears by his carriage upon the repulse he found at
" the Church of Milan; for, being forbidden entrance by
Ambrose the bishop of it, till he should have repented of a
certain crime committed by him, he so well resented the
bishop's plain dealing with him, that he frankly gave him
thanks for it, and completed his course of penance for the
fact that had been the occasion of it. By his Empress
Flaccila he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. Being
once in a great transport cf rage against the citizens of
"Thessalonica for their having killed a soldier, or, as others
say, a magistrate of his, all the clergy of Italy were scarce
able to keep him from destroying the whole city upon that
provocation. But afterwards coming to himself, and under-
standing the matter better, being convinced of his error, he
both bewailed the fact which he had only willed, but not
executed, and also made a law that the punitive decrees of
princes should be deferred for three days, that so they might

Innocentius f. 95

have space left for compassion or retraction. It is reported
of him that, when at any time he was in a sudden heat of
anger, he would force himself to repeat over distinctly all the
letters of the alphabet, that so in the meantime his anger
might evaporate. It is said also that he contracted a great
friendship with one John, an Anchorite, whose advice he
always used, both in war and peace. But in the fiftieth year
of his age he died at Milan.

Innocentius, improving the opportunity of such a peaceable
state of affairs and so propitious a prince, made several con-
stitutions concerning matters of the Church. He appointed
that every Saturday should be a fast, because our blessed
Saviour lay in the grave, and His disciples fasted on that day.
He made certain laws concerning the Jews and pagans, and
for the regulation of monks. By the consent of Theodosius
he banished from the city and confined to a monastic life the
Cataphrygian heretics of the gang of Montanus, Priscilla, and
Maximilla. Moreover, he condemned the heresy of Pelagius
and Coelestinus, who preferred free-will before the Divine
grace, and asserted, that men by their own natural strength
were able to perform the laws of God; against whom St
Austin wrote largely. But Pelagius persisting obstinately in
his opinions against all conviction, went into Britain and
infected the whole island with his errors, being assisted by
Julian, his companion and confederate in that wicked design.
He also consecrated the church of Gervasius and Protasius,
erected and beautified at the cost of a lady named Vestina,
whose goods and jewels, bequeathed by will, were sold accord-
ing to a just appraisement, and employed to that purpose.
This church was endowed with several estates both in houses
and land within and without the city, and the cure of it, and
that of St Agnes, given to Leopardus and Paulinus, two
presbyters. In his time lived Apollinarius, Bishop of
Laodicea (from whom the Apollinarians had their name and
original), a man vehement and subtle at disputation; who
maintained, that our Saviour at His incarnation took only a
body, not a soul; but being pressed hard with arguments to
the contrary, he at length granted that He had indeed an
animal soul but not a rational one, that being supplied by His
divinity,—an opinion which had been before exploded by
Damasus and Peter, Bishop of Alexandria. But Martianus,
Bishop of Barcelona, a man eminent for his chastity and :

96 The Lives of the Popes.

eloquence, was very orthodox in matters of faith, and a great
opposer of the Novatian heresy. Cyril also, Bishop of
Jerusalem, who before had been several times deposed and
as often restored, at length, under Theodosius the Emperor,
held his episcopal dignity peaceably and without interruption
eight years together, and became a great writer! ^ Euzoius,
who in his youth had been co-disciple to Gregory Nazianzen
at Cesarea, under Thespesius the rhetorician, took a vast
deal of pains in amending and rectifying the corrupted copies
of the works of Origen and Pamphilus, and was himself a
considerable author. At the same time Hieronymus, a pres-
byter living in Bethlehem, was a very successful propagator of
Christianity, as appears by his writings. Now also the Synod
of Bordeaux condemned the doctrine of Priscillian, a
heresy patched up out of the tenets of the Gnostics and
Manichees, of whom we have spoken above. Our Inno
centius, having at four ordinations made thirty presbyters,
twelve deacons, fifty-four bishops, died and was buried July
the 28th. He sat in the chair fifteen years, two months,
twenty-five days ; and by his death the see was vacant twenty-
two days.

——0
ZOSIMUS.
A.D. 417-418.

OSIMUS, a Grecian, his fathers name Abraham, lived
during the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, who suc-
ceeded their father Theodosius, in the Empire.

These divided the government between them, Arcadius
ruling in the east, and Honorius in the west, though
Theodosius had left them to the tuition of three of his
generals, who, as their guardians and protectors, were to
manage affairs in their minority ; Ruffinus in the east, Stilico
in the west, and Gildo in Africa. But they, moved with
ambition and a thirst after greatness, and not doubting to get
the advantage of the young princes, set up every one for him-

! Cyril of Jerusalem died in 386. During the pontificate of Innocent
I. died St Chrysostom, A.D. 407. Platina places him in the next pope-

dom. The sacking of Rome by Alaric took place in the pontificate of
Innocent I. —E»p.

Zosimus f. 07

self. Against Gildo, who was engaged in a rebellion in
Africa, his injured and incensed brother, Mascezel, is sent
with an army, and soon defeats and puts him to flight,
who not long after died, either through grief or by poison.
And Mascezel himself, being so puffed up with this. success,
that he falls into a great contempt of God and cruelty towards
men, is killed by his own soldiers. ^ Ruffinus also, who
endeavoured to possess himself of the empire of the east, is
surprised and punished by Arcadius. At this time Rhada-
guisus, King of the Goths, invaded Italy, and laid all waste
with fire and sword wherever he came; but, by the Roman
army, under the command of Stilico, he was vanquished and
slain on the mountains of Fiesol. Him Alaricus succeeded,
whom Stilico, to work his own ambitious designs, very much
countenanced and assisted, when he might have conquered
him. But in the end, Alaricus being now at Polentia, on his
way to Gaul, part of which Honorius had granted to him and
' his followers to inhabit, had disturbance given him by one
Saul, a Hebrew by birth and religion, whom Stilico to the
foul breach of articles had sent with a party for that purpose.
It was an easy matter to surprise and disorder the Goths, who
little suspected any such practices, and were peaceably cele-
brating the feast of Easter. But the day following, Alaricus
engaging with them slew Saul, and made a universal slaughter
of his men, and then changing his former course towards
Gaul, moves against Stilico and the Roman army. These he
overcame, and then after a long and grievous siege, takes the
city of Rome itself, A.U.C. 1163, A.D. 411. Notwithstanding
this success, Alaricus exercised so much moderation and
clemency, that he commanded his soldiers to put as few to
the sword as might be, and particularly to spare all that
should fly for refuge to the churches of St Peter and St Paul.
After three days plunder he leaves the city (which had
suffered less damage than was thought, very little of it being
burnt) and marches against the Lucani and Bruti, and
having taken and sacked Cosenza, he there dies. Whereupon
the Goths with one consent made his kinsman, Athaulphus,
his successor; who, returning to Rome with his army, was so
wrought upon by the Emperor Honorius's sister, Galla
Placidia, whom he had married, that he restrained his soldiers
from committing any further outrages, and left the city to its
Own government. He had it certainly once in his purpose to
D

98 The Lives of the Popes.

have razed to the ground the then city of Rome, and to have
built a new one which he would have called Gotthia, and
have left to the ensuing emperors his own name, so that they
should not any longer have had the title of Augusti, but
Athaulphi. But Placidia not only brought his mind off from
that project, but also prevailed with him to enter into a league
with Honorius and Theodosius the Second, the son of
Arcadius.

Zosimus, notwithstanding all these disturbances, made
several ecclesiastical constitutions ; allowed the blessing of
wax-tapers on the Saturday before Easter in the several
parishes; forbade the clergy to frequent public drinking-
houses (though allowing them all innocent liberty among
themselves), or any servant to be made a clergyman, because
that order ought to consist of none but free and ingenuous
persons. Whereas now, not only servants and bastards, but
the vile off-spring of the most flagitious parents are admitted
to that dignity, whose enormities will certainly at long-run
prove fatal to the Church. It is said that Zosimus at this
time sent Faustinus, a bishop, and two presbyters of the city,
to the council of Carthage, by them declaring that no debates
concerning ecclesiastical affairs ought to be managed any-
where without permission of the Church of Rome. During
his pontificate lived Lucius, a bishop of the Arian faction, who
wrote certain books upon several subjects. Diodorus also,
Bishop of Tarsus, during his being a presbyter of Antioch,
was a great writer; following the sense of Eusebius, but not
able to reach his style for want of skill in secular learning.
Tiberianus likewise, who had been. accused together with
Priscillian, wrote an apology to free himself from the suspicion
of heresy. Evagrius, a man of smart and brisk parts, trans-
lated into Latin “The Life of St Anthony,” written in Greek
by Athanasius. Ambrosius of Alexandria, a scholar of Didy-
mus, wrote a large volume against Apollinarius. At this time
flourished those two famous bishops, Theophilus of Alexandria,
and John of Constantinople, for the greatness of his eloquence
deservedly surnamed Chrysostom,! who so far prevailed upon
Theodorus and Maximus, two co-disciples of his, that they
left their masters, Libanius the rhetorician, and Andragatius
the philosopher, and became proselytes to Christianity. This
Libanius, lying now at the point of death, being asked

1 See note on p. 96.—ED.

Bonifacius I. 99

whom he would leave successor in his school, made answer,
that he desired no other than Chrysostom, were he not
a Christian. At this time the decrees of the council of
Carthage, being sent to Zosimus, were by him confirmed, and
thereby the Pelagian heresy condemned throughout the
world. Some tell us that Petronius, Bishop of Bononia, and
Possidonius, an African bishop, had now gained a mighty
reputation for sanctity ; that Primasius wrote largely against
the heresies to Bishop Fortunatus ; and that Proba, wife to
Adelphus the proconsul, composed an historical poem of our
Saviour’s life, consisting wholly of Virgilian verse, though
others attribute the honour of this performance to Eudoxia,
Empress of Theodosius the younger. But certainly the most
learned person of the age he lived in was Augustinus, St
Ambrose's convert, Bishop of Hippo in Africa, a most strenu-
ous defender of the Christian faith, both in discourse and
writing. As for Zosimus, having ordained ten presbyters,
three deacons, eight bishops, he died, and was buried in the
Via Tiburtina, near the body of St Laurence the martyr,
December 26th. He sat in the chair one year, three months,
twelve days, and by his death the see was vacant eleven days.

O

BONIFACIUS I.
A.D. 419-422.

ES GAGm a Roman, son of Jucundus, a presbyter, was
bishop in the time of Honorius.

At this time a great dissension arose among the clergy, for
though Boniface was chosen bishop in one church of the city
by one party, yet Eulalius was elected and set up against
him by a contrary faction in another. This, when Honorius,
who was now at Milan, came to understand, at the solicita-
tion of his sister Placidia, and her son Valentinian, they were
both banished the city. But about seven months after
Boniface was recalled, and confirmed in the pontifical dignity.

In the meantime, Athaulphus dying, Vallias was made king
of the Goths, who, being terrified by the judgments inflicted
on his people, restored Placidia, whom he had always used
very honourably, to her brother Honorius, and entered into
a league with him, giving very good hostages for the con-

D 2

100 The Lives of the Popes.

firmation of it ; as did also the Alanes, Vandals, and Suevians.
This Placidia Honorius gave in marriage to Constantius,
whom he had declared Casar, who had by her a son named
Valentinian; but she being afterwards banished by her
brother, went into the East with her sons Honorius and
Valentinian.

Our Boniface ordained that no woman, though a nun, should
touch the consecrated pall or incense : and that no servant or
debtor should be admitted into the clergy. Moreover, he
built an oratory upon the ground where St Felicitas the martyr
was buried, and very much adorned her tomb. During his
pontificate flourished divers famous men, especially Hierom,
a presbyter, son of Eusebius, born at a town called Stri-
don, seated in the confines of Dalmatia and Hungaria, but
demolished by the Goths. It is not to my purpose to rehearse
how great benefit the Church of God reaped from his life and
writings, since he is known to have been a person of extraor-
dinary sanctity, and his works are had in so great honour and
esteem, that no author is more read by learned men than he.
He died at Bethlehem on the last day of September in the
ninety-first year of his age. Besides him there were also
Gelasius, successor to Euzoius in the bishopric of Caesarea
Palestinze, a man of excellent parts ; Dexter, son of Pacianus,
who compiled an history inscribed to St Hierom; Amphi-
lochius, who wrote concerning the Holy Ghost in an elegant
style; and Sophronius, commended by St Hierom for his
learned book of the ** Destruction of Serapis." It is said also
that at this time Lucianus, a presbyter, directed by a divine
revelation, found out the sepulchres of St Stephen the proto-
martyr, and Gamaliel, St Paul's master, of which he gave an
account to all the churches by an epistle in Greek, which was
afterwards translated into Latin by Abundus, a Spaniard, and
sent to Orosius. Some likewise tell us that John Cassianus
and Maximine, two very learned men, lived in this age ; but
though it be doubtful of them, it is not so concerning Eutro-
pius, St Austin's scholar, who, in a handsome style, epitomised
the Roman history, from the building of the city to his own
times ; and who, moreover, wrote to his two sisters, recluses,
concerning chastity, and the love of religion ; to whom we
may add Juvenal, the Bishop of Constantinople, and Heros,
a disciple of St Martin, the wrongfully deposed Bishop of
Arles, both men of great reputation for sanctity. As for

Celestinus I. IOI

Boniface himself, having at one ordination made thirteen
presbyters, three deacons, thirty-six bishops, he died October
25th, and was buried in the Via Salaria, near the body of St
Felicitas the martyr. He sat in the chair three years, eight
months, seven days. Boniface being dead, some of the clergy
recalled Eulalius, but he either, through indignation at his
former repulse, or from contempt of worldly greatness, disdained
the revocation, and died the year following. The see was
then vacant nine days.

0

CAELESTINUS I.
A.D. 422-432.

E ome, a Campanian, lived in the times of Theo-

dosius the younger. This Theodosius, upon the death
of that excellent prince Honorius, creates the son of his aunt
Placidia, Valentinian, Caesar, and commits to his charge the
Western Empire, who, being immediately, by the universal
consent of all Italy acknowledged their emperor, and actually
entering upon the government at Ravenna, was wonderfully
prosperous in subduing the enemies of the Roman state, and
particularly John the usurper. In the meantime the Vandals,
Alemans and Goths, a barbarous and savage people, passing
over out of Spain into Africa, under the conduct of their king
Gensericus, not only miserably depopulated and harassed that
province with fire and sword, but also corrupted the Catholic
faith there with the mixture of Arianism, and banished some
orthodox bishops ; during which troubles St Augustine, Bishop
of Hippo, died in the third month of the siege of that city,
August 28th, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. The
Vandals having taken Carthage, sailed to Sicily, and made the
like havoc in that island ; as also did the Picts and Scots in
the island of Britain. In this extremity the Britains implored
the aid of Aetius, a patrician and a famous soldier, but he not
only denied them his assistance, but having other ambitious
designs to carry on, solicited the Huns to invade Italy. The
Britains being thus deserted by Aetius, call over the Saxons or
English to their help, whom they soon found more their
enemies than assistants ; for being in a little time overrun by
them, they lost both their country and their name. While

-

102 The Lives of the Popes.

these things were transacting, Theodosius, dying at Constan-
tinople in the twenty-seventh year of his and his uncle
Honorius’s reign, Bleda and Atilla, two brothers, kings of the
Huns, invading Illyricum, laid waste and burned all places to
which they came.

Notwithstanding our Ceelestine ordained several rites apper-
taining to divine worship, as that, besides the epistle and
gospel before the Mass, the Psalms of David should be sung
by all alternately. Martinus Cassinas tells us, that the Psalm
Judica me Deus, ** Give sentence with me, O God, and defend
my cause," &c., which is used at the beginning of the sacrifice,
was introduced by him ; as likewise the Gradual is ascribed to
him. Many other ecclesiastical constitutions he made, to be
seen in the archives of the Church. He also dedicated and
enriched the Julian church. At this time Nestorius, Bishop
of Constantinople, endeavoured to sow a new error in the
Church, asserting that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary a
mere man, and that the Divinity was conferred upon him of
merit. To this impious doctrine Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria,
and our Celestine, opposed themselves very strenuously.
For in a synod of two hundred bishops, held at Ephesus,
Nestorius himself, and the heresy denominated from him,
together with the Pelagians, who were great favourers of the
Nestorian party, were by universal consent condemned in
thirteen canons levelled against their foolish opinions. More-
over, Celestine sent Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, into Eng-
land to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and reduce the inhabi-
tants to the orthodox faith; and Palladius, whom he had
made a bishop, to the Scots, who desired to be instructed in
the Christian religion. And indeed it cannot be denied but
that, by his endeavours and the industry of those whom he
employed to that purpose, a great part of the west were con-
verted to Christianity. It is said that at this time the devil
assumed human shape, and pretended himself to be Moses,
and imposed upon a multitude of Jews, by undertaking to
conduct them out of the island of Crete into the land of
promise through the sea, as upon dry land, in imitation of
the ancient miracle wrought for that people at the Red Sea.
Many of them followed this false Moses, and perished in the
waters, those only being reported to have been saved who
presently owned Christ to be the true God. Our Celestine
having, at three Decembrian ordinations, made _ thirty-two

Sixtus ITT. 103
presbyters, twelve deacons, sixty-two bishops, died, and was
buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the Via Salaria, April
6th. He sat in the chair ten years, ten months, seventeen
days, and by his death the see was vacant twenty-one days.

—— ——()

SIXTUS IIL

A.D. 432-440.

IXTUS the Third, à Roman, son of Sixtus, lived in the
time of Valentinian, who, being governor of the Western
Empire, entered into a league with Gensericus, king of the
Vandals, whom he permitted to inhabit part of Africa, confin-
ing themselves within certain boundaries agreed upon between
them. Genseric being afterwards instigated by the Arians,
became very zealous in propagating their errors, and violently
persecuted the orthodox bishops. And Valentinian going to
Constantinople, and there marrying Theodosius’s daughter,
the Vandals in the meantime, under Genseric’s conduct, retook
and sacked Carthage in the five hundred and eighty-fourth year
since its first being in the hands of the Romans. While these
things were transacting in Africa, Attila, King of the Huns, not
contented to have invaded the two Hungaries, miserably
harasses Macedonia, Mysia, Achaia, and the Thraces; and
then, that he might have no sharer in the kingdom, puts to
death his brother Bleda. Soon after, his growing ambition
prompts him to endeavour the gaining of the western Empire;
and therefore getting together in a very little time a great army,
he begins his march upon that design. ‘Phis Aetius having
intelligence of, forthwith sends ambassadors to Toulouse to
King Theodoric to strike up a peace, with whom so strict a
league was concluded, that they both jointly engage in the
war against Attila, at a common charge and with equal forces.
The Romans and Theodoric had for their auxiliaries the
Alanes, Burgundians, Franks, Saxons, and indeed almost
all the people of the west. At length Attila comes upon them
in the fields of Catalonia, and battle is joined with great
valour and resolution on either side. The fight was long and
sharp ; a voice being overheard, none knowing from whence it
came, was the occasion of putting an end to the dispute. In
this engagement were slain on both sides eighteen thousand

104 The Lives of the Popes.

men, neither army flying or giving ground. And yet it is said
that Theodoric, Father of King Thurismond, was killed in
this action.

Sixtus had not long enjoyed the pontificate before he was
publicly accused by one Bassus ; but in a synod of fifty-seven
bishops he made such a defence of himself, that he was by
them all with one consent acquitted. Bassus, his false accuser,
was, with the consent of Valentinian and his mother Placidia,
excommunicated and condemned to banishment, but with this
compassionate provision, that at the point of death the Viaticum
of the blessed sacrament should not be denied him ; the for-
feiture of his estate was adjudged, not to the Emperor, but the
Church. It is said that in the third month of his exile he died,
and that our Bishop Sixtus did with his own hands wrap up
and embalm his corpse, and then bury it in St Peter’s church.
Moreover, Sixtus repaired and enlarged the church of the
Blessed Virgin, which was anciently called by the name ot -
Liberius, near the market place of Livia, then had the name
of St Mary at the manger, and last of all was called St Maries
the Great. That Sixtus did very much beautify and make
great additions to it, appears from the inscription on the front
of the first arch in these words, Xystus Episcopus Plebi Dei;
for, according to the Greek orthography, the name begins with
X and y, though by custom it is now written Sixtus with S and
i To this church this bishop was very liberal and munificent;
among other instances adorning with porphyry stone the ambo
. or desk where the gospel and epistles are read. Besides what
he did himself, at his persuasion the Emperor Valentinian also
was very liberal in works of this nature. For over the Con-
fessory of St Peter, which he richly adorned, he placed the
image of our Saviour in gold set with jewels, and renewed those
silver ornaments in the Cupola of the Lateran Church which
the Goths had taken way. Some are of an opinion that in
his time one Peter, a Roman presbyter, by nation a Sclavonian,
built the Church of St Sabina upon the Aventine, not far from
the monastery of St Boniface, where St Alexius is interred.
But I rather think this to have been done in the pontificate of
Ceelestine the first, as appears from an inscription in heroic
verse, yet remaining, which expresses as much. Jt is said also,
that at this time flourished Eusebius of Cremona and Philip,
two scholars of St Hierom, both very elegant writers, as also
Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, a man of great learning and elo-

Leo I. the Great. 105

quence, and Hilarius, Bishop of Arles, a pious man, and of no
mean parts. Our Sixtus having employed all his estate in the
building and adorning of churches, and relieving the poor,
and having made twenty-eight presbyters, twelve deacons, fifty-
two bishops, died, and was buried in a vault in the Via Tibur-
tina, near the body of St Laurence. He was in the chair eight
years, nine days, and by his death the see was vacant twenty-
two days.

LEO I. THE GREAT
A.D. 440-461.

EO, a Tuscan, son of Quintianus, lived at the time when
Attila, having returned into Hungary from the fight of
Catalonia, and there recruited his army, invaded Italy, and first
set down before Aquileia, a frontier city of that province, which
held out a siege of three years. Despairing hereupon of suc-
cess, he was just about to raise the leaguer, when observing the
storks to carry their young ones out of the city into the fields,
being encouraged by this omen, he renews his batteries, and
making a fierce assault, at length takes the miserable city,
sacks and burns it, sparing neither age nor sex, but acting agree-
ably to the title he assumed to himself of being God’s scourge.
The Huns having hereby gained an inlet into Italy, overrun all
the country about Venice, possessing themselves of the cities,
and demolishing Milan and Pavia. From hence Attila march-
ing towards Rome, and being come to the place where the
Menzo runs into the Po, ready to pass the river, the holy
Bishop Leo, out of a tender sense of the calamitous state of
Italy and of the city of Rome, and with the advice of Valen-
tinian, goes forth and meets him, persuading him not to pro-
ceed any further, but to take warning by Alaricus, who, soon
after his taking that city, was, by the judgment of God,
removed out of the world. Attila takes the good bishop’s
counsel, being moved thereunto by a vision which he saw, while
they were discoursing together, of two men (supposed to be St
Peter and St Paul) brandishing their naked swords over his
head, and threatening him with death, if he were refractory.
Desisting therefore from his design, he returns into Hungary,

106 The Lives of the Popes.

where not long after he was choked with his own blood vio-
lently breaking out at his nostrils, through excess of drinking.

.Leo returning to the city, applies himself wholly to the de-
fence of the Catholic faith, which was now violently opposed
by several kinds of heretics, but especially by the Nestorians
and Eutychians. Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople,
affirmed the blessed Virgin to be mother, not of God, but of
man only, that so he might make the humanity and divinity of
Christ to be two distinct persons, one the son of God, the other
the son of man. But Eutyches, Abbot of Constantinople, that
he might broach an heresy in contradiction to the former,
utterly confounded the divine and human nature of Christ,
asserting them to be one, and not at all to be distinguished.
This heresy being condemned by Flavianus, bishop of Con-
stantinople, with the consent of Theodosius, a synod is called
at Ephesus,! in which Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, being
president, Eutyches was restored, and Flavianus censured.
But Theodosius dying, and his successor Marcianus, proving
a friend to the orthodox doctrine, Leo calls a council at
Chalcedon, wherein by the authority of six hundred and thirty
bishops, it was decreed as an Article of Faith, that there are
two natures in Christ, and that one and the same Christ is
God and man; by which consequently, both Nestorius and
Eutyches, the pestilent patron of the Manichees, were con-
demned. Moreover, the books of the Manichees were
. publicly burnt; and the pride and heretical opinions of Dios-
corus discountenanced and suppressed. In the meantime,
Valentinian being treacherously murdered, Maximus usurps
the empire, and against her will marries Eudoxia, the widow
of Valentinian. Upon this occasion, the Vandals being called
out of Africa, Genseric being their leader, force their entrance
into the city of Rome, throw the body of Maximus, who had
keen killed in the tumult by one Ursus, a Roman soldier, into
the river Tiber, plunder and burn the city, pillage the churches,
and refuse to hearken to Bishop Leo begging them whatever
spoils they carried away only to spare the city itself. and the
temples. However, on the fourteenth day from their entrance
into Rome they left it, and taking away with them Eudoxia
and her daughter, with a great number of other captives, they
returned into Africa. Leo being now very intent upon making

1 This is that known by the name of the Robber Council, from the
violence used there, —Ep.

Leo I. the Great. 107

good the damages sustained from this people, prevailed upon
Demetria, a pious virgin, to build upon her own ground in the
Via. Latina, three miles from the city, a church to St Stephen ;
and did the same himself in the Via Appia in honour of St

Cornelius. The churches which had been in any part ruined,
J he repaired, and those of the sacred vessels belonging to them
which had been bruised and broken, he caused to be mended,
and those which had been taken away to be made anew ;
moreover, he built three apartments in the churches of St John,
St Peter, and St Paul; appointed certain of the Roman clergy,
whom he called Cubicularii, to keep and take charge of the
sepulchres of the Apostles ; built a monastery near St Peter’s ;
introduced into the canon of the mass the clause [oc sanctum
sacrificium, this holy sacrifice, &c., arid ordained that no re-
cluse should be capable of receiving the consecrated veils,
unless it did appear that she had preserved her chastity spot-
less for the space of forty years. But while the good man was
employed in these things, there started up ofa sudden the heresy *
of the Acephali, so-called because they were a company of foolish,
undisciplined schismatics, or, if it be not a quibble, because
they wanted both brains and head. These men decried the
council of Chalcedon, denied the propriety of two substances
in Christ, and asserted that there could be but one nature in
one person. But our Leo abundantly confuted their absurd
doctrines in his elegant and learned epistles written to the
faithful upon that argument. Men of note in his time were
Prosper of Aquitain, a learned man, and Mamertus, bishop of
Vienne, who, as it is said, was the first that appointed pro-
cessionary supplications, or litanies, upon the occasion of the
frequent earthquakes with which Gaul was at that time very
much afflicted. To conclude, Leo, having ordained eighty-one
presbyters, thirty-one deacons, and eighty-one bishops, died,
and was buried in the Vatican, near St Peter, April the roth.
He sat in the chair twenty-one years, one month, thirteen
days, and by his death the see was vacant eight days.

108 The Lives of the Popes.

HILARTUS I
A.D. 461-468.

ILARIUS, a Sardinian, the son of Crispinus, continued
in the chair till the time of the Emperor Leo, who
being chosen Emperor upon the death of Marcianus, creates
his son, of his own name, Augustus. During his reign the
Roman State suffered very much by reason of certain ambi-
tious men, who endeavoured to get the government into their
own hands. And Genseric, the Vandal king, being tempted
with so fair an opportunity, sails out of Africa into Italy with
design to gain the empire for himself. Leo having intelligence
hereof, sends Basilicus a patrician, with a mighty fleet, to the
assistance of Anthemius, the emperor of the west. These
two, with joint force and courage, meet Genseric near Popu-
lonia, and force him to an engagement at sea, in which being
‘routed with a great slaughter of his men, he was glad to make
an inglorious flight into Africa again. In the meantime,
Ricimer, a Patrician, having on the mountains of Trent con-
quered Biorgus, king of the Alanes, and being puffed up with
that victory, was purposed to attempt the city of Rome, had
not Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, made him and Anthemius
friends.
Hilary, notwithstanding this confused state of things, did
.not neglect the care of ecclesiastical affairs, for he ordained
that no bishop should choose his own successor (a constitution
which belongs as well to all other ecclesiastical degrees as that
of Episcopacy); he also made a decretal which he dispersed
throughout Christendom ; and wrote certain epistles concern-
ing the Catholic faith, by which the three synods of Nice,
Ephesus, and Chalcedon were confirmed, and the heretics
Eutyches, Nestorius, and Dioscorus, with their adherents, con-
demned. In the baptistry of the Lateran church he built
three oratories, which were adorned with gold and precious
stones, their gates of brass covered with wrought silver ; those
he dedicated to St John Baptist, St John Evangelist, and
St Cross. In the last of these was reposited some of the wood
of the cross, enclosed in gold and set with jewels, and a golden
agnus upon a pillar of onyx. He added moreover ‘the
oratory of St Stephen, built two libraries adjoining, and
founded a monastery. I shall not here recite the almost

Simplicius 1. 109 |

numberless donations which he made to several churches of
gold, silver, marble, and jewels. Some tell us that Germanus,
bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of Troys, lived in his
time, both great supporters of the Christian cause, which
was now very much undermined by the endeavours of
the Gentiles and Pelagians. Gennadius, also bishop of
Constantinople, did great service to the church by the
integrity of his life and the excellency of his parts and
learning. During the pontificate of our Hilary, Vic-
torinus of Aquitain, a famous arithmetician, reduced the
Easter account to the course of the moon, far out-doing
Eusebius and Theophilus, who had attempted it before him.
And among those that flourished at this time, by some is
reckoned Merline, the famous English bard, concerning whom
we are told more than enough. As for Hilary himself, having
performed the duty of a good bishop, both in building and
adorning of churches, and also in teaching, admonishing, cen-
suring, and giving alms where need required, and having also
ordained twenty-five presbyters, five deacons, twenty-two
bishops, he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of St
Laurence, near the body of Bishop Sixtus. He sat in the
chair seven years, three months, ten days, and by his death
the see was vacant ten days.

Ü

SIMPLICIUS I.
A.D. 468-483.

IMPLICIUS, son of Castinus, born at Tivoli, was bishop

during the reigns of Leo the second, and Zeno.

For Leo the first falling sick, makes choice of Leo the
second, son of Zeno Isauricus, and his own nephew by
Ariadne, his sister, to be his successor, who, not long after
being seized by a violent distemper, and apprehending himself
to be at the point of death, leaves the empire to his father
Zeno. In the meantime Odoacer, invading Italy with a great
army of his Heruli and Turingians, conquers and takes
prisoner, Orestes, a noble Roman, near Pavia, and then causes
him to be put to death in the sight of his whole army at
Placentia. Hereupon Zeno, pitying the calamitous state of

1 He died in 348.—See under Celestine..—Eb.

110 The Lives of the Popes.

Italy, speedily sends Theodoric, king of the Goths, a man
whom he had before very much esteemed, with a mighty force
to oppose him, who, having in a pitched battle, not far from
Aquileia, near the river Sontio, overcome Odoacer's captains, -
and having oftentimes the like success against Odoacer him-
self, at length he besieged him three years together in Ravenna,
and reduced him to that extremity, that, with the advice of
John, the bishop of that city, he consented to admit Theodoric
as his partner in the empire. But the day following both
Odoacer and his son were contrary to promise and agreement
slain, by which means Theodoric possessed himself of the
government of all Italy without any opposition.

In the meantime Simplicius dedicated the churches of St
Stephen the protomartyr, on Mons Ccelius, and that of St
Andrew the apostle, not far from St Maries the Great, in
which there appear to this day some footsteps of antiquity,
which I have many a time beheld with sorrow for their neglect, —
to whose charge such noble piles of building now ready to fall
are committed. That this church was of his founding appears
by certain verses wrought in mosaic work which I have seen in
it. He dedicated also another church to St Stephen, near the
Licinian Palace, where the Virgin’s body had been buried.
He also appointed the weekly waitings of the presbyters in
their turns at the churches of St Peter, St Paul, and St Laur-
ence the martyr, for the receiving of penitents, and baptising
of proselytes. Moreover, he divided the city among the pres-
byters into five precincts or regions; the first of St Peter,
second, St Paul, third, St Laurence, fourth, St John Lateran,
fifth, St Maria Maggiore. He also ordained that no clergy-
man should hold a benefice of any layman, a constitution
which was afterwards confirmed by Gregory and other Popes.
At this time the Bishop of Rome’s primacy was countenanced
by the letters of Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople! and
Timothy, a learned man, in which they beg him to censure
Peter Mongus (* the stammerer"), Bishop of Alexandria, an
asserter of the Eutychian heresy. Which was accordingly
done, but with proviso, that he should be received into the
communion of the church again, if within a certain time prefixed
he retracted his errors. Some say, that during his pontificate
lived Remigius, Bishop of Reims, who (as history tells us)
baptised Clodoveus, the French king. Now also Theodorus,

1 See the next note, p. 112. —Ep.

Felix HI. — III

Bishop of Syria wrote largely against Eutyches, and compiled
ten books of ecclesiastical history in imitation of Eusebius
Caesariensis. At this time almost all Egypt was infected with
the heretical doctrine of Dioscorus, concerning whom we have
already spoken ; and Huneric, King of the Vandals, a zealot
for the Arian faction, raised a persecution against the orthodox
Christians in Africa. Upon this, Eudoxia, niece to Theodo-
sius, a Catholic lady, and wife to Huneric, left her heretical
husband upon pretence of à pilgrimage to Jerusalem to per-
form a vow which she had made; but upon so long a journey,
the effect of which proved intolerable to the tenderness of her
sex she there soon died. It is said that at this time were found
the bones of the prophet Elisha, which were carried into Alex-
andria, as also the body of St Barnabas the apostle, together
with the gospel of St Matthew, written with his own hand. As
for Simplicius himself, having by his constitutions and dona-
tions very much promoted the interest-of the Church of Rome,
and having at several ordinations made fifty-eight presbyters,
eleven deacons, eighty-six bishops, he died, and was buried
in St Peter's church on the second day of March. He was
in the chair fifteen years, one month, seven days, and by his
death the see was vacant twenty-six days.

ie € (or —

FELIX III.

A.D. 483-492.
ELE by birth a Roman, son of Felix a presbyter, was
bishop from the time of Odoacer, whose power in Italy
lasted fourteen years, till the reign of Theodoric, who,
though he made Ravenna the seat of the empire, yet the
city of Rome was much indebted to his bounty. For he
rebuilt the sepulchre of Octavius, exhibited shows to the
people according to ancient custom, repaired the public build-
ing and churches, and indeed neglected nothing that became a
good and generous prince. And to confirm and establish the
empire, he married Andefleda, daughter of Clodoveus, King
of France, and gave in marriage his sister to Huneric, king of
the Vandals, and one of his daughters to Alaric, king of

the Visigoths, and the other to King Gondibate.

Felix, now fully understanding that Peter the Stammerer, the

112 The Lives of the Popes.

Eutychian, who had been banished for his heretical opinions
upon the complaint and at the desire of Acacius, was by the
same Acacius recalled from exile, suspected that there was
a private agreement between them, and therefore excommun-
icated them both by the authority of the Apostolic see, which
was confirmed in a Synod of the orthodox.! But three
years after, the emperor Zeno testifying that they were penitent,
Felix sends two bishops, Messenus and Vitalis, with full
power, upon enquiry into the truth of their repentance, to
absolve them. ‘These legates arriving at the city Heraclea,
were soon corrupted with bribes, and neglected to act

1 This is not very accurately stated. The emperor Zeno, with the assist
ance of Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, put forth in the year 482 the
Henoticon (**bond of Union”), a document intended, by comprehen-
siveness of statement, to reconcile the various parties that were divid-
ing the church. But it did not satisfy the Nestorians or Eutychians, and
Pope Felix IIL., who succeeded to the Roman Popedom next year, indig-
nantly repudiated it, declaring that the emperor was taking upon him to
make articles of faith. He further wrote to Acacius charging him with
having expelled the lawful bishop of Alexandria, John Palaia, in order to
put the Eutychian Peter in his place. Acacius replied that Felix had been
misinformed by John, and that Peter was both duly chosen and orthodox.
There is no evidence of Zeno's certificate of his ** penitence.” Thereupon
Felix sent his two legates, and they were induced, whether by fair or foul
means, to assent to Acacius's action. This was a very critical moment be-
tween the east and west. The primacy of the Roman Pontiffs had come
to be recognised, as the bishops of the chief city of the world, and they had
begun since the days of Innocent I. to rest their claims on the purely re-
- ligious ground of their succession from St Peter. But the Bishops of Con-
stantinople had not admitted such a claim, and Acacius, who was watching
the gradual downfall of the western empire, saw, in imagination, Constan-
tinople rising to the foremost place, and himself as Primal Pontiff. Hence
he assumed the title for Constantinople of ** Mother of all Christians and
of the Orthodox Religion." Pope Simplicius had protested, but his pro-
test is lost. There was therefore a good deal of bitterness already existing
when this new quarrel arose. Felix on the return of Messenus and Vitalis
not only excommunicated them, but Acacius. He was encouraged thus
to flout the imperial authority by the successes of Odoacer in the west,
though he did not venture to include Zeno, the prime mover, in his ban,
but instead even addressed him in terms of adulation. One of the monks of
Constantinople who was on the Roman side, audaciously pinned the Pope's
sentence upon the robe of Acacius as he was proceeding to the altar to
celebrate holy communion. Acacius calmly proceeded with the service un-
til the due moment arrived, when he suddenly turned, and in a calm but
ringing voice uttered a counter ban against Felix. The schism lasted forty
years ; neither party would give way ; the great eastern patriarchs of
Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, continued in communion with Acacius,
and he held his see until his death, —Ep.

Gelasius f. 113

according to their commission. Whereupon Felix, out of a
just indignation, having first called a council upon that
occasion, excommunicates them too, as Simoniacs and be-
trayers of the trust reposed in them, though Messenus, who
confessed his fault, and begged time to evince the sincerity of
his repentance, had it accordingly granted him. The same Felix
also built the church of St Agapetus, near that of St Laurence,
and ordained that churches should be consecrated by none
but bishops. It is said that at this time Theodorus, a Greek
presbyter, wrote against the heretics a book of the Harmony of
the Old and New Testaments ; and some reckon among the
men of note in this age, the learned and famous divine John
Damascene, who wrote the Book of Sentences, imitating there-
in Gregory Nazianzene, Gregory Nyssene, and Didymus of
Alexandria, and compiled also certain treatises of medicine, in
which he gives an account of the causes and cure of diseases,
Our Felix, having at two Decembrian ordinations made twenty-
eight presbyters, five deacons, thirty bishops, died, and was
buried in the church of St Paul. He sat in the chair eight
years, eleven months, seventeen days; and by his death the
see was vacant five days, :

—— (Qi

GELASTUSL
A.D. 492-496.

E SIUS, an African, son of Valerius, was bishop of

Rome at the time when Theodoric made war upon his
wife's father, Clodoveus, the French king, for that he had slain
his daughters husband, Alaric, king of the Visigoths, and
seized Gascoigne. They were both allied to him by marriage ;
but the cause of Alaric seemed to him the more just, and
therefore he preferred his son-in-law before his father-in-law.
And gaining the victory over the French in a very important
battle, he recovers Gascoigne, and undertakes the present
government of it till Almaric, the son of Alaric, should come
to age. The same Theodoric to his conquest of Italy added
that of Sicily, Dalmatia, Liburnia, Illyricum, Gallia Narbo-
nensis, and Burgundy. He also walled round the city of Trent,
and to secure Italy from a foreign invasion, upon the frontiers

II4 The Laves of the Popes.

* of it, near Aosta, placed the Heruli, whose king, being yet a
minor, he made his adopted son.

Gelasius in the meantime condemns to banishment all the
Manichees that should be found in the city, and causes their
books to be publicly burnt near St Mary's Church. And.
being satisfied of the repentance of Messenus, who had given
in his retractation in writing, at the request of the synod he
absolved him, and restored him to his bishopric. But having
intelligence that several murders and other notorious outrages
were committed in the Greek churches by the factious followers
of Peter Mongus and Acacius, he forthwith sends his legates
thither, with commission to excommunicate for ever all those
who did not immediately recant their errors’; a new and unusual
severity, whereas the primitive church was wont to wait long
in hopes that separatists would at length return to her bosom.
At this time John, Bishop of Alexandria, an orthodox prelate,
and who had been very much persecuted by these seditious
people, fled for refuge to the Bishop of Rome, who very
kindly and courteously received him. The churches which
Gelasius consecrated were, that of St Euphemia the martyr
in Tivoli, that of'St Nicander and Eleutherius in the Via
Labicana, and that of St Mary in the Via Laurentina, twenty
miles from Rome. He had a great love and honour for the
clergy, and was very liberal and charitable to the poor. He
delivered the city of Rome from many dangers, and particu-
. larly from that of dearth and scarcity. He composed hymns in
imitation of St Ambrose, published five books against Eutyches
and Nestorius, and two against Arius, made very elegant and
grave orations, and wrote weighty and learned epistles to his
friends of the household of faith ; all which works of his are at
this time to be seen in the public libraries. Some tell us that he
excommunicated Anastasius, successor to Zeno in the eastern
empire, for favouring Acacius and other heretics ; which is an
argument as clear as the sun, that the Bishop of Rome has
power to excommunicate any prince who is erroneous in the
faith, if he continue refractory after admonition. The same
course likewise he took with the Vandals and their king, who,
being infected with the Arian heresy, proved now very cruel
and barbarous persecutors of the orthodox. At the beginning
of his pontificate lived Germanus and Epiphanius, the latter
Bishop of Pavia, the former of Capua ; men who by the authority
which the sanctity — their lives had gained them, and by their

Anastasius I. 115

humble and obliging deportment, wrought so much upon the
minds of the barbarous invaders, that afflicted Italy fared the
better for their sakes. At the same time also, Lannociatus,
Abbot of Chartres, with Aurelianus and Mezentius of Poictiers,
persons of great piety and learning, gained so much ground in
Gaul, that they persuaded Clodoveus the French king, and his
queen, Crocildis, to become Christians, and to undertake the
protection of the Catholic faith throughout their dominions ;
though some attribute this honour to Remigius, as hath been
already said. Gelasius, having ordained thirty-two presbyters,
two deacons, sixty-seven bishops, died, and was buried in St
Peter’s Church, November 21st. He was in the chair four
years, eight months, seventeen days ; and by his death the see
was vacant seven days

Q———

ANASTASIUS II.
A.D. 496-498.

NASTASIUS the Second, a Roman, son of Fortunatus,
was contemporary with the Emperor Anastasius. At
which time Thorismund, king of the Vandals, shut up the
churches of the orthodox clergy, and banished one hundred
and twenty bishops into the Island of Sardinia. It is reported
also that one Olympius, an Arian bishop, having publicly in
the baths at Carthage declared his detestation of the doctrine
of the Trinity, was immediately smitten, and his body burnt
with three flashes of lightning. And when Barbas, another
bishop of the same faction, was going to baptize a certain
person in this form of words: ** Barbas baptizeth thee in the
name of the Father, by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost," it is
said the water disappeared ; which miracle so wrought upon
the man who was to be baptized, that he immediately came
over to the orthodox.

It was this Bishop Anastasius, as some writers tell us, who
excommunicated the Emperor Anastasius for favouring
Acacius; though afterwards being himself seduced by the
same heretic, and endeavouring privately to recall him from
exile, he thereby very much alienated the minds of his
clergy, who for that reason, and also because, without the
consent of the Catholics, he communicated with Photinus, a

116 The Lwes of the Popes.

deacon of Thessalonica, and an assertor of the Acacian heresy,
withdrew themselves from him. It is generally reported that,
the Divine vengeance pursuing him for this apostasy, he died
suddenly ; and some say that the particular manner of his
death was that, going to ease nature, he purged out his bowels
into the privy. In his time Fulgentius an African, Bishop of
Ruspz, though he were among the other orthodox bishops of
Africa banished into Sardinia by Thorismund, yet neglected
nothing that might contribute to the propagating of the
Catholic faith, whether by exhortation, preaching, or ad-
monition. He likewise published several books of the
Trinity, of free-will, and the rule of faith; and, besides
the several elegant and grave homilies he made to the people,
he wrote against the Pelagian heresy. The learned Hegesippus
also, who composed monastical constitutions, and in an
elegant style wrote the life of St Severinus the abbot, was at
this time very serviceable to the Church. Moreover, Faustus,
a Gallican bishop, was now a considerable writer ; but among
all his works, the most in esteem was his tract against Arius,
wherein he maintains the persons in the Trinity to be co-
essential. He wrote also against those who asserted any
created being to be incorporeal, demonstrating both by
the judgment of the fathers, and from the testimonies of
holy writ, that God only is purely and properly incorporeal.
But I shall here conclude the pontificate of Anastasius, who,
.at one Decembrian ordination, having made twelve presbyters
and sixteen bishops, was buried in St Peters Church, No-
vember roth. He satin the chair one year, ten months, twenty-
four days ; and by his death the see was vacant four days.

O

SYMMACHUS L

A.D. 498-514.

YMMACHUS, a Sardinian, son of Fortunatus, succeeded
Anastasius, though not without great controversy, and
after a long bandying of two contrary factions. For, while
one part of the clergy choose Symmachus in the Church of St
John Lateran, another part of them in St Maria Maggiore
make choice of one Laurence; whereupon the senate and
people of Rome, being divided into two parties, the dissension

Symmachus I. 117

rose to such a height that, to compromise the business, a
council was by mutual consent called at Ravenna, where the
whole matter being discussed in the presence of Theodoric, he
at length determined on the side of Symmachus, and con-
firmed him in the pontificate, who by a singular act of grace
made his very competitor, Laurence, Bishop of Nocera. Yet,
about four years after, some busy and factious clergymen,
being countenanced and assisted by Festus and Probinus, two
of the senatorian order, set up for Laurence again; upon
which King Theodoric was so highly displeased, that he sends
Peter, Bishop of Altino, to Rome, to depose them both and
possess himself of the chair. But Symmachus called a synod
of a hundred and twenty bishops, wherein, with great presence
of mind, he purged himself of all things laid to his charge,
and by a general suffrage obtained the banishment of Laurence
and Peter, who had occasioned all this mischief. Hereupon,
so great a sedition arose in the city that multitudes both of
the clergy and laity were slain in all parts, not so much as
the monastic virgins escaping. In this tumult Gordianus,
a presbyter, and a very good man, was killed in the Church of
St Peter ad Vincula; nor had an end been put to slaughter
here, had not Faustus, the consul, in compassion to the
clergy, appeared in arms against Probinus, the author of
So great a calamity.

After this, the Christians having some small respite, Clod-
oveus, banishing the Arian heretics, restores the orthodox,
and constitutes Paris the capital city of his kingdom.

Symmachus at this time expelled the Manichees out of the
city, and caused their books to be burned before the gates of
St John Lateran. Several churches he built from the ground,
and several others he repaired and beautified. That of St
Andrew the apostle, near St Peter’s, he entirely built, enrich-
ing it with divers ornaments of silver and gold; and he
adorned St Peter’s itself and its portico, with chequered
marble, making the steps of ascent into it more and larger
than they were before. Moreover, he erected Episcopal
palaces. He built also the church of St Agatha, the martyr,
in the Via Aurelia, and that of St Pancrace. He repaired
and adorned with painting the cupola of St Paul’s, and built
from the foundations the church of St Sylvester and St Martin,
the altars of which he very richly adorned. He made also the
steps that lead into the church of St John and St Paul, and

| 118 The Lives of the Popes.

enlarged St Michael’s. He built from the ground the ora-
tories of Cosmus and Damianus, being assisted in that work
by Albinus and Glaphyras, two men of principal note. Be-
sides this, near the churches of St Peter and St Paul, he
built two hospitals, making provision of all things necessary
for the poor who should dwell in them. For he was in all
respects very charitable, and sent supplies of money and
clothes to the bishops and other clergy in Africa and Sardinia,
who had suffered banishment for the profession of the true
religion. He repaired the church of St Felicitas, and the
cupola of that of St Agnes, which was decayed and almost
ready to fall. He also at his own charge redeemed multitudes
of captives in several provinces. He ordained that on
Sundays, and the birthdays! of the martyrs, the hymn, * Glory
be to God on High," should be sung, and, indeed, left
nothing undone which he thought might tend to the glory of
Almighty God. In his time Gennadius, Bishop of Marseilles,
a great imitator of St Augustine, did good service to the
Church. He wrote one book against heresies, wherein he
shows what is necessary to every man in order to his salva-
tion, and another de vzris Z//ustribus, in imitation of St Hierom.
As for Symmachus, having at several ordinations made ninety
presbyters, sixteen. deacons, one hundred and twenty-two
bishops, he died, and was buried in St Peters Church, July
the 19th. He sat in the chair fifteen years, six months,
3 cosi. days; and by his death the see was vacant seven

ays.

0

HORMISDA LI
A.D. 514-523.
Sy Bigridgeesier the son of Justus, born at Frusino, lived in
the time of Theodoric and Anastasius, as far as to the
consulship of Boethius and Symmachus.

These two, upon suspicion of designing against his govern-
ment, were by Theodoric at first banished, and afterwards
. imprisoned. Boethius, during his confinement, wrote several
things extant to this day, and translated and made com-
mentaries upon the greatest part of Aristotle's works. He

1 The days on which they suffered were anciently so called.—Eb.

Flormisda T, II9

was thoroughly skilled in the mathematics, as his books of
music and arithmetic clearly demonstrate. But at length
both he and Symmachus were put to death by the order of
Theodoric. Some tell us that the cause of Boethius's suffer-
ings was the zeal he showed in opposing the Arians, who were
favoured by Theodoric, but I think the former opinion to be
more probable.

Hormisda, with the advice of Theodoric, held now a pro-
vincial synod at Rome, in which the Eutychians were again
condemned by universal consent. He also sent letters and
messengers to John, Bishop of Constantinople, admonishing
him to renounce that heresy, and to believe there are two
natures in Christ, the divine and human. But John continued
refractory, trusting to the interest he had with the Emperor
Anastasius, who not long after was struck dead by a thunder-
bolt, which was believed to be a just judgment upon him,
both for his patronising so pernicious a heresy, and especially
for his ill-usage of the legates sent to him by Hormisda,
whom, contrary to the law of nations, he treated very con-
tumeliously, and sent them home in a shattered leaky vessel,
ordering them to return directly into Italy without touching at
any shore in Greece. It is said that he bid them tell the
bishop that he must know it to be the part of an emperor to
command, not to obey the dictates of the Bishop of Rome or
any other. These legates were Euodius, Bishop of Pavia;
Fortunatus, Bishop of Catina; Venantius, a presbyter , of
" Rome; and Vitalis, a deacon. Anastasius, dying in the
twenty-seventh year of his reign, Justin, a patron of the
Catholic faith, succeeds him, who forthwith sends ambassa-
dors to the Bishop of Rome, to acknowledge the authority of
the apostolic see, and to desire the bishop to interpose his
ecclesiastical power for the settling the peace of the Church.
Whereupon Hormisda, with the consent of Theodoric, sends
Germanus, Bishop of Capua; John and Blandus, presbyters ;
and Felix and Dioscorus, deacons, his legates to Justin, by
whom they were received with all imaginable expressions and
testimonies of honour and respect—John, the Bishop of Con-
stantinople, with multitudes of the orthodox clergy, and other
persons of principal note, going forth, in compliment to meet
them and congratulate their arrival. But the followers of
Acacius, dreading their coming, had shut themselves up in a
very strong church, and upon consultation what to do, sent

-

120 The Lives of the Popes.

messengers to the emperor, declaring that they would by no
means subscribe to the determination of the apostolic see, —
unless an account were first given them why Acacius was ex-
communicated. But Justin soon forced them out of the
church and city, too; and Hormisda dealt in the same
manner with the ‘Manichees, who began to spring up afresh
in Rome, whose books he caused to be burned before the
gates of St John Lateran.

About this time Thorismund, king of the Vandals, dying in
Africa, his son Hilderic, whom he had by the captive daughter
of Valentinian, succeeded him in the kingdom. He inherited
none of his father’s errors, but following the counsel of his
religious mother, recalled all the Catholics whom Thorismund
had banished, and permitted them the free exercise of their
religion. At this time also several rich presents were sent to
Rome for the ornament of the churches there by Clodoveus,
king of France, and Justin, the emperor. King Theodoric
also richly adorned the church of St Peter ; nor was Hormisda
himself behind these princes in bounty and munificence to
the Church. Having settled things according to his mind,
and ordained twenty-one presbyters, fifty-five bishops, he
died, and was buried in St Peter’s Church, August the 6th, in
the consulship of Maximus. He sat in the chair nine years,
eighteen days; and by his death the see was vacant six days.

Q

JOHN I.
A.D. 523-526.

OHN, by birth a Tuscan, son of Constantius, was in the
chair from the consulship of Maximus to that of Olybrius,
in the time of King Theodoric and the Emperor Justin,

who, out of his great zeal for the orthodox faith, and that he
might utterly extinguish the name of heretics, banished the
Arians, and gave their churches to the Catholics. This was
so highly resented by Theodoric, that he sends John himself
with Theodorus and the two Agapeti, his ambassadors to
Justin, to advise him to restore the Arians, or upon his
refusal to let him know that he would pull down all the
Catholic churches in Italy. These ambassadors were at first
. very kindly and honourably received. But having given an

John f. i21

account of their embassy, and finding Justin wholly averse
to grant what they desired, they betook themselves to tears
and prayers, humbly beseeching him to prevent the ruin of
Italy and all the orthodox Christians in it; by which means
the good prince was prevailed upon to recall the Arians, and
to grant them a toleration. Some write that it was in this
bishop's time that Symmachus and Boethius were brought
back from exile, imprisoned, and slain by the cruelty and rage
of Theodoric. However, certain it is that they were put to
death by Theodoric’s order ; and it matters not much whether
it were in the pontificate of Hormisda or John. Which
John, returning from Constantinople, Theodoric was so
highly incensed against him for his agreement with the
Emperor Justin both in faith and manners, that it was a
chance that he had not taken away his life immediately ; but
throw him into prison he did at Ravenna, where, through
stench and nastiness and want of necessary provision, the
good man at length died—a cruelty for which the Divine
vengeance sorely punished Theodoric not long after, for he
died suddenly of a fit of an apoplexy, and his soul (if you
will take the word of a devout hermit who reported it) was
cast into the flames of the Island Lipara.

Theodoric was succeeded in the kingdom by his daughter,
Amalasuntha, with her son, Athalaric, whom she had by her
husband, Eucherius ; a woman who with a prudence above
her sex, rectified her father’s ill decrees, restored the con-
fiscated estates of Boethius and Symmachus to their children,
and caused her son to be instructed in all kinds of good
literature, though she were herein opposed by the Goths, who
cried out that their king was not to be bred a scholar but a
soldier. Much about this time died Justin, being very aged,
leaving the empire to his sister’s son, Justinian; and Clodoveus,
king of France, leaving four sons his successors in that
kingdom. Persons of note and esteem at this time were
Benedict of Nursia, who settled among the Italians the rules
and canons of the monastic life; and Bridget, a devout virgin
of Scotland, and John, presbyter of Antioch, who wrote much
against those that held that Christ should be worshipped in
one nature only. To these Isidore adds one Cyprignius, a
Spanish bishop, who wrote elegantly upon the Apocalypse.

Our John, before he went to Constantinople, had repaired
three cemeteries—namely, that of Nereus and Achilleus in

122 The Lives of the Popes.

the Via Ardeatina, that of the martyrs St Felix and St Adauctus,
and that of Priscilla. He also adorned the altar of St Peter’s
with gold and jewels. He likewise brought with him from
Constantinople, a paten of gold, and a chalice of gold set
with precious stones, the presents of the Emperor Justin ; but
these I suppose to have been lost together with his life. At
several ordinations he consecrated fifteen bishops. It is said
that his body was brought from Ravenna to Rome, and buried
in St Peter’s Church, July the 27th, Olybrius being then
consul. He sat in the chair two years, eight months ; and by
his death the see was vacant fifty-eight days.

0
FELIX IV.
A.D. 526-530.

ELIX the Fourth, a Sammite, the son of Castorius, lived
in the time of the Emperor Justinian, whose General
Belisarius was victorious over the Persians, and passing into
Africa, by his singular courage and conduct subdued and almost
quite rooted out the Vandals, whose King Gelimer he took
prisoner, and brought him home with him in triumph. About
this time Amalasuntha, having a long time lived very uneasily
with her malcontented Goths, and having buried her way-
ward and unruly son, Athalaric, associates her kinsman
."Dlheodatus in the government. This Theodatus was so great
4 proficient in Greek and Latin learning, that he wrote an
elegant history of his own times, and was thoroughly skilled
in the Platonic philosophy. And though he were not naturally
of an active martial temper, yet at the desire of Amalasuntha
he undertook a war against the Burgundians and Alemanni,
and managed it very successfully.

Felix, in the meanwhile being careful of the affairs of
the Church, excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople
for heresy, and built in the Via Sacra, near the Forum
Romanum, the church of St Cosmus and Damianus, as
appears from the verses yet remaining, wrought in mosaic
work. He also re-built the church of St Saturninus in the
Via Salaria, which had been consumed by fire. Some write
that in this age lived Cassiodorus, who while he was a senator
wrote several things in politics, and when he became a monk

Boniface Ll. 123

composed a comment upon the psalms. It is said also that
Priscian of Cesarea, the famous grammarian, now wrote his.
book of grammar. Arator, likewise a sub-deacon of Rome,
translated the gospels into hexameter verse; and Justinian,
Bishop of Valence, was had in great esteem for what he
preached and wrote concerning the Christian faith. As for
Felix himself, having ordained fifty-five presbyters, four
deacons, twenty-nine bishops, he died, and was buried in St
Peter's Church, October the 12th. He was in the chair four
years, two months, thirteen days; and by his death the see was
vacant three days.

————— (o

BONIFACE II.

A.D. 530-532.

pe aae the Second, a Roman, son of Sigismund, was
J also in the time of Justinian, a prince whose vast parts
and learning qualified him for that great work which, for the
public good, he undertook, of collecting and methodising the
scattered Roman laws, and retrenching those which were
useless and superfluous. Yet herein he made use of the
advice and assistance of John, a patrician, Trebonianus,
Theophilus, and Dorotheus, men of great learning and
authority. With their help an immense number of near two
thousand volumes of decrees, made from the building of the
city to this time, confusedly heaped together, were digested
under their respective titles into fifty books, which are some-
times called Digests, and sometimes Pandects, because they
contain the whole civil law. He made also an epitome of the
laws in four books, which go under the name of Institutes, or
Justinian’s Code. Moreover, some tell us that Justinian
wrote certain books concerning the incarnation of our Lord,
and that at his own charge he built the temple of St Sophia,
than which there is not a more noble and magnificent pile of
buildings in the world.

In his reign Boniface was made bishop ot Rome, though
not without some opposition ; for the clergy being divided,
one party of them chose Dioscorus into the place of Felix
deceased. ‘The contention about this matter lasted twenty-
eight days, but the death of Dioscorus put an end to the

124 The Lives of the Popes.

controversy. Things being quiet, Boniface applied himself to
the settling of the Church, and decreed that no bishop should
appoint his own successor, which was afterwards confirmed by
several following bishops of Rome. He decreed also, that upon
the decease of any bishop of Rome, another should be chosen
to succeed him, if it might be, within three days, to prevent
any bandying or dissension which might be occasioned by
delay! He ordained likewise, that the clergy should be
separated and placed distinct from the laity at the time of
celebration. At the same time many of the Roman nobility
were so wrought upon by the sanctity of Benedict, that they
retired to Mount Cassino and became monks there ; among
whom the more eminent were Maurus and Placidius. Other
men of note and esteem were Dionysius Exiguus, famous
for the extraordinary skill and judgment which he showed in
his Paschal Cycle ; Facundus, whose writings against certain
Eutychians then springing up, were very much commended ;
and Martin, who by his preaching and writings converted
the people of Soissons from the Arian heresy to the truth.
But Boniface having sat in the pontifical chair two years, two
days, died, and was buried in St Peters Church. The see
was then vacant two months.

———()———-—-—

JOHN IL.

A.D. 532-535.

OHN the Second, a Roman, son of Projectus, lived in the
time of Justinian, and soon after his entrance upon the
pontificate condemned Anthemius, an Arian bishop; some

say that he had been Bishop of Constantinople. Justinian,
to show his respect to the Roman see, sent Hypatius and
Demetrius, two bishops, to Rome, both to compliment John
in his name, and to make to St Peter's Church several rich
presents. During this émbassy, Mundus, Justinian's general,
took the strong city of Salona, and gained a victory over the
Goths, though not without great loss on the conquering side.
For Mundus himself, together with his son, a valiant and

1 He went further, and arranged that each Pope, during his lifetime,

should nominate his successor, and he carried out his extraordinary mea-
sure, for his successor was his nominee. —ED,

Agapetus I, 125

brave young gentleman, was slain in that engagement ; the
news of which misfortune was extremely laid to heart by
Justinian, he having always had a great value for that leader’s
courage and fidelity. Our bishop John, of whom historians
say very little, having at one ordination made fifteen presby-
ters, twenty-one bishops, died, and was buried in St Peter’s
Church, May 27th. He sat in the chair two years, four
months ; and by his death the see was vacant six days.

0

AGAPETUS I.

A.D. 535-536.

GAPETUS, a Roman, son of Gordianus, a presbyter of
the church of St John and St Paul, being created
bishop by Theodatus, was by him forthwith sent to the
Emperor Justinian, who was highly incensed against that king
for his having first banished Amalasuntha, the mother of
Athalaric, into the island of the Lake of Bolsena, and after-
wards caused her to be put to death there. For she was a
woman so well acquainted with Greek and Latin learning,
that she durst engage in disputation with any professed
scholar. Moreover, she was so thoroughly skilled in the
languages of all the barbarous invaders of the Roman empire,
that she could discourse any of them without an interpreter.
Her death Justinian so highly resented, that he threatened to
make war upon Theodatus for that reason. Hereupon
Agapetus was sent to him, who being received with great
honour and affection, and having obtained the peace he was
sent to sue for, he was then practised with to confirm the
‘Eutychian opinions. But Justinian finding that the good
man utterly detested any such proposal, from desiring and
requesting he fell to threats and menaces. Upon which
Agapetus told him, that he should have been glad to be sent
to Justinian, a Christian prince, but that he found a Diocle-
tian, an enemy and persecutor of Christians. By this bold-
ness of speech, and God's appointment, Justinian was so
wrought upon that he embraced the Catholic faith, and having
deposed Anthemius, Bishop of Constantinople, who patron-
ised the Eutychian heresy, put into his place Menas, one of
the orthodox, who was consecrated by Agapetus himself.

126 The Lives of the Popes.

But not long after Agapetus died at Constantinople, and his
body being wrapped up in lead was conveyed to Rome, and
buried in St Peters Church. He sat in the chair eleven
months, twenty-one days ; and by his death the see was vacant
one month, twenty-nine days.

— ——

SYLVERIUS.

A.D. 536-537.

d a Campanian, son of Bishop Hormisda, was

chosen Bishop of Rome at the command of Theodatus,
though till this time the emperors-only, not the kings, had
interposed their authority in that matter. But the menaces
of Theodatus prevailed, who had threatened to put to death
every man of the clergy who would not subscribe his name to
the choice of Sylverius.

For this reason, and that he might also revenge the death
of Amalasuntha, Justinian sends Belisarius, a patrician, with
an army into Italy. In his passage thither he first put in at
Sicily, and brought that island to the emperor's devotion. In
the meantime Theodatus dying, and the Goths having chosen
themselves a king against the will of Justinian, Belisarius
quits Sicily that he might deliver Italy from the tyranny of
the Goths. Coming into Campania, and the city of Naples
refusing to obey the emperor's summons, he took it by storm
and plundered it, putting to the sword all the Goths that
were in garrison there, and a great part of the citizens, carry-
ing away their children and what other spoil they could lay
their hands on. The soldiers pillaged the very churches,
violated the chastity of cloistered virgins, and committed all.
the outrages which are wont to be acted by an enraged vic-
torious enemy. Marching hastily from thence with his army'
to Rome, and entering the city by night, he struck such a
terror into the Goths who defended it, that they all left the
gates and the walls and fled to Ravenna. But Belisarius
apprehending that Vitiges might surprise him with a mighty
force, which he should not be able to fight in open field, with
all possible despatch fortified the city with trenches and bul-
warks where occasion was for them. Soon after Vitiges,
according to his expectation, coming towards him with a

Sylverius. 127

mighty army, for it consisted of a hundred thousand men,
Belisarius, who had not above five thousand, thought it best
to keep within the city. Vitiges encamped between two
aqueducts, the one of which ran towards the Via Latina, the
other towards the Via Prenestina, and both met five miles
from the city. And that the city might not be supplied with
water, he cut off all the conduits and conveyances, which
were fourteen. Moreover, he sent part of his army who
possessed themselves of the port, and thereby reduced the
Romans to the double calamity of war and famine,

In the meantime, at the motion of Vigilius, a deacon and
surrogate of Rome, the Empress Theodora laid her com-
mands, joined with threatenings, upon Sylverius, to banish
Menas from Constantinople, and to restore Anthemius, who,
as we have said, had been deposed for patronising the
Eutychian heresy. Which, when he refused to do, she writes
to Belisarius, ordering him to depose Sylverius, and to put
Vigilius into his place. But Belisarius being wholly taken
up with the defence of the city, left that affair to the
management of his wife, Antonina, who, upon the depositions
of certain witnesses suborned by Vigilius, attesting that
Sylverius had a design to betray the city into the hands of the
Goths, not only compelled him to quit the pontificate and to
enter into a monastic life, but also banished him to the Island
Pandataria, where he died, not without the reputation of
having been a very holy man. It is said that at this time
the Gauls despatched messengers to Benedict, desiring him to
send to them any one of his disciples to instruct them in the
rules of the monastic life. Upon which Benedict sent Maurus,
who, by his own example, instructed them in a good and
happy course of living, and also set up several monasteries
among them. Vigilius, at the desire of the Roman clergy,
in pursuance of Antonina’s determination, was created Bishop
of Rome. Sylverius, after his possession of the chair one
year, five months, and twelve days, died, as we have already
said, in Pandataria, and was buried June the 2oth.! Upon
his death the see was vacant six days.

1 There was a strong suspicion that he was murdered.—Eb.

128 The Lives of the Popes.

VIGILIUS 73.

A.D. 537-555.

ES a Roman, his father a man of consular dignity,

was likewise in Justinian’s reign created Bishop of
Rome, in whose time a fifth synod was held at Constanti-
nople against Theodorus and other heretics, who held that
the Blessed Virgin brought forth man only, not God-man ; in
this synod therefore it was decreed that the Blessed Virgin
should be styled Gsoróxoc, Z.e., the mother of God.

Belisarius had now defended the city one whole year and
nine days, and having in this time received fresh supplies of
men, he resolved to march out and to engage the enemy in a
pitched battle. But Vitiges, distrusting his own force, sets
fire to his tents, and hastens by great marches to Ravenna.
Belisarius with all possible speed follows him, and entering
the city, takes Vitiges himself prisoner with all his family and
a great part of his nobles; and having recovered almost all
Italy, in the fifth year from his arrival there, he carries them
with him to Constantinople. The same Belisarius, with in-
credible expedition, quelled the Moors, who were harassing
Africa, and out of the spoils of that victory he made two very
rich presents to St Peters Church in Rome. He built also
two hospitals for strangers at his own charge, one in the Via
Lata, the other in the Via Flaminia ; and founded the monas-
~ tery of St Juvenalis at a town called Orta, endowing it with
an estate in land for the maintenance of the monks in it.

At this time Theodora was earnest with Vigilius to come
to Constantinople, and according to his promise, to restore
Anthemius. But Vigilius denies the doing it, for that unjust
promises are not to be performed, and he was of opinion that
the proceedings of Agapetus and Sylverius against that heretic
were legal, and that therefore their acts were by no means to
be made void by him. "Theodora being hereat enraged, with
the assistance of some of her creatures at Rome, causes Vigilius
to be impleaded upon two accusations: one, that he had
fraudulently procured the banishment of Sylverius ; the other,
| that by his order a certain youth had been beaten to death by
his nephew Vigilius, son of Asterius, the consul. And that he
might not escape with impunity she sends one Anthemius to
Rome, with instructions to bring Vigilius by force to her, if he

Vigilius I. 129

refused to make his appearance. He, coming to Rome, in
pursuance of his commission, seized the bishop in the church
of St Cecilia, as he was, according to custom, distributing gifts
to the people upon his birthday; and being assisted by some
Romans, conveys him to Constantinople. It is said that at
Vigilius’s passage down the River Tiber, the people followed
him with curses, pelting him with sticks and stones, and par-
ticularly using this exprobration, ‘‘ Mischievous hast thou been
to the city of Rome, and may mischief go along with thee.”
Being arrived at Sicily, by the permission of those who had him
in custody, he ordained several persons, and among them Am-
pliatus a priest, and Valentinus a bishop, who were to have the
inspection of the clergy and Church of Rome in his absence.
Coming near Constantinople, Justinian with a great retinue
went out to meet him, and they both entered the city together,
the clergy going before them, as far as the temple of St Sophia.
Theodora had now opportunity to tamper with Vigilius, and
persuade him to the performance of his promise. But he told
her that he had rather suffer the greatest punishment in the
world than change his resolution in the case. She, therefore,
and her attendants, beginning to menace him, and he saying
that he was come to a Diocletian, not as he thought to Jus-
tinian, was thereupon so roughly handled and beaten that
it almost cost him his life. And flying from their rage to the
church of St Euphemia, not far distant, he was from thence
dragged by certain rude people, who put a halter about his
neck, and led him like a common rogue publicly through the
city till the evening. After this he was imprisoned, and forced
for some time to live upon nothing but bread and water, which
yet he bore with so much patience and temper, that he would
often say that he had deserved worse than all this, and was not
yet punished according to his demerits. Those of the clergy
who had accompanied him from Rome were some of them
banished, others condemned to dig in the mines. But at the
request of the Romans, who had now a better opinion of him,
and upon the importunity of Narses, whom Justinian had sent
to Rome to oppose the Goths, Vigilius, and all the others who
were confined, had liberty granted them to return into Italy.
But in their passage thither, being come as far as Syracuse in
Sicily, Vigilius, who had outlived so many calamities and
troubles, died there of the stone, and his body was carried to
Rome, and buried in the church of St Marcellus, in the Via
: E

130 The Lives of the Popes.

Salaria. He lived in the pontificate at Rome and elsewhere
seventeen years, six months, twenty-six days ; and by his death
the see was vacant three months, five days.

eee

PRERLAGIUS.I.

A.D. 555-560.

ELAGIUS, a Roman, lived in the time when Totilas, King

of the Goths, advancing with a great army from Treviso,
overran and spoiled Italy in such a manner, that from his sa
vage cruelty he was called God's Scourge. Coming as far as
Mount Cassino, in his way to Campania, though he were in
the habit of a common soldier, yet he was discovered by St
Benedict, who spared not by threatening of Divine vengeance
to terrify him from raging so furiously against the Christians.
Moving thence towards Abruzzo he dismantled Beneventum,
besieged Naples, took Cumze, where yet he exercised an ex-
traordinary respect and civility towards the Roman women
whom he found in it, permitting them to go to Rome to their
friends without any violence or rudeness offered to them. After
this having taken Naples, and made himself master of all that
part of Italy which lies towards Sicily, he marches to Rome ;
and having first seized the port, by which supplies should come
to the city, he reduced them to such extremity for want of pro-
visions, that some were forced to feed upon man's flesh. At
. length, forcing his entrance at the gate which leads to Ostia, he
possessed himself of the city, which, having plundered, he set
on fire. Some tell us that Totilas designed to save the build-
ings of the city, and sent messengers about by night to publish
his pleasure in that particular, but his orders therein were not
obeyed. Justinian having intelligence of these proceedings,
speedily despatches Narses, the eunuch, with a great army into
Italy. It is said that this Narses was at first a bookseller, but
being advanced to an office near the Emperor’s person,
Justinian, finding him to be a man of great merit, raised him
to the dignity of a patrician. And, indeed, in all the accom-
plishments of religion, and virtue, and clemency, and generos-
ity, and sweetness of temper, he was a most exemplary and
extraordinary person. Narses, with the addition of some auxili-
ary forces from Alboinus, King of the Lombards, advances

Pelagius I. I3I

against the Goths, routes them, and makes a great slaughter in
the pursuit of them. — Totilas lost his life ingloriously at Bris-
sillo, and Theias, who was chosen king in his stead, though he
behaved himself bravely, yet was slain by Narses not far from
Nocera. And thus both the name and power of the Goths
were extinct together, in the seventy-second year after that
their King Theodoric first entered Italy. Not long after died
Justinian, in the fortieth year of his reign ; a prince worthy to
have his memory perpetuated to all posterity, and who, accord-
ing to the custom of preceding emperors, deserves the addi-
tional titles of Alemanicus, Gotthicus, Vandalicus, Persicus,
Africanus, though he only advised, but did not act, in the suc-
cessful expeditions made against those nations.

Pelagius, in the midst of these disturbances not neglecting
the affairs of the Church, ordained that heretics and schis-
matics might be suppressed by the secular power, when they
would not be reclaimed by reason and argument. Being
accused that he was the occasion of the calamities that befell
Vigilius, as having a greater interest with Justinian than
Vigilius had, in the sight of the clergy and people, he laid
his hand upon the Cross and the Gospel, and by a solemn
oath purged himself from that charge. Narses, coming to
Rome, made a procession from the church of St Pancras to
St Peter's, with thanksgiving for his late success ; and set him-
self with all possible application to repair the damage which
the city had received by the Goths. In conjunction with
Pelagius, he ordained that no person should be admitted to
any holy orders or ecclesiastical dignity by the way of canvass-
ing or bribery. Pelagius, making his notary, Valentinus, a
very religious person, treasurer of the Church, begins the build-
ing of the church of St Philip and St James. Some tell us
that the learned monk, Cassiodorus, who had been first consul,
then a senator, and afterwards renouncing all human greatness,
embraced a monastic life, lived to this time ; and that Victor,
Bishop of Capua, now wrote a book concerning Easter, in
which he particularly discovered the mistakes of Dionysius,
the Roman abbot, who had, with little care and skill, com
posed a Paschal Cycle. Moreover, Sabinus, Bishop of Canosa,
and Gregory, Bishop of Langres, and Vedastus, a scholar oi
St Remigius, and Bishop of Arras, were ornaments to the Pon-
tificate of Pelagius; and Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, who
had been put to death by Totilas, was canonised. Pelagius,

E 2

132 The Lives of the Popes.

having at two Decembrian ordinations made twenty-six pres-
byters, eleven deacons, thirty-nine bishops, died, and was
buried in St Peters. He was in the chair five years, ten
months, twenty-eight anys The see was then vacant twenty-
six days. |

——Ó(Q——
PIENE
A.D. 560-573.

OHN the Third, the son of Anastasius, descended of a noble
family, lived in the time of Justin, who succeeded Jus-
tinian, but was in nothing like him. For he was covetous,

lewd, rapacious, a contemner of God and men to such a
degree, that his vices made him frantic; so that his wife
Sophia managed all affairs till the time of Tiberius the
Second. This woman, being prompted thereto by some
envious persons who hated Narses, recalls him out of Italy in
these reproachful words, *' That she would have the eunuch
come home and spin.” ‘This he very highly resenting, as well
he might, returns answer, *'That he would spin such a web,
as none of his enemies should ever be able to unweave.”
And he was as good as his word; for he presently sends and .
invites Alboinus, King of the Lombards, with all his people,
then possessed of Pannonia, to come and seat themselves in
the more plentiful country of Italy Alboinus, complying
with the proposal of Narses, and entering Italy with a vast
number of men with their wives and children, first possesses
himself of Friuli and Marca Trivigiana ; thence passing into
Insubria, he takes and sacks Milan, and at length makes him-
self master of Pavia, after it had held out a siege of three
years, Being thus flushed with victory, he goes to Verona,
which he constitutes the capital city of his kingdom, where,
being once at an entertainment over-heated with wine, he
compelled his wife, Rosamund, to drink out of a cup which he
had made out of her own father’s skull, whom he himself had
slain. Now, there was in Alboinus’s army one Helmechild,
a very handsome young gentleman, and an excellent soldier ;
and who was Rosamund’s particular favourite. Him she dis- -
courses privately, and by proposing to him the hopes of suc-
ceeding in the kingdom, prevailed with him to murder

John LI. 133

Alboinus. But they were both so hated for the fact by the
Lombards, that they not only failed of their hopes, but were
glad to fly for protection to Longinus, the Exarch of Ravenna,
where, not long after, they poisoned each other, and died
together. At this time Italy, by reason of the incursions
which the barbarous nations made into it, was in a very cal-
amitous state, which had been portended by prodigies and
apparitions of flaming armies in the air, and also by an ex-
traordinary inundation of the river Tiber, which had very
much damaged the city of Rome.

In the meantime our John repaired the cemeteries of the
saints, and finished the church of St Philip and St James
which had been begun by Vigilius, and drew Narses, who had
been an avowed enemy to the Romans for their ill opinion of
him and their misrepresenting him to the Empress Sophia,
from Naples to Rome, where he not long after died, and his
body was conveyed in a coffin of lead to Constantinople. In
such a confusion of things, the State of Italy must needs cer-
tainly have been utterly ruined, if some eminently holy men
had not supported and propped up the tottering nation.
Among others, Paul, Patriarch of Aquileia, and Felix, Bishop
of Treviso, interceded successfully with Alboinus, when he
first entered Italy, in the behalf of the inhabitants. Moreover,
Fortunatus, a person of extraordinary learning and eloquence,
very much civilised and polished the Gauls by his books and
example, compiling a treatise of government, inscribed to
their king, Childebert, and writing in an elegant style the “Life
of St Martin.” Some write that at this time lived Germanus,
Bishop of Paris, a person of wonderful piety, who kept the
kings of France within the bounds of their duty to such a
degree, that each strove to excel the other in religion and
piety, in goodness and clemency. So prevalent is the example
of a good pastor, such an one as Germanus was, in whom they
saw nothing but what was worthy of their imitation. After
this one further remark,—that in our John's time, the Armen-
ians were converted to Christianity, —I shall say no more of
him, but that having been in the chair twelve years, eleven
months, twenty-six days, he died, and was buried in St Peter's.
Upon his death the see was vacant ten months and three days.

134 The Lives of the Popes.

BENEDICT I.

A.D. 574-578.

ENEDICT, a Roman, the son of Boniface, lived in the
time of Tiberius the Second, whom Justin had adopted,

and appointed his heir to the empire—an honour which he well
deserved, as being a person adorned with all the princely
accomplishments of clemency, justice, piety, religion, wisdom,
resolution, and unshaken fortitude. Among his other virtues
he was eminent for his bounty and liberality towards all,
especially the poor, and God supplied him in an extraordinary
manner for it. For walking once hastily in his palace, and
spying the figure of the cross upon one of the marble stones
in the pavement, that it might not be trampled under foot, he
devoutly caused it to be removed from thence, and laid up in
a more decent and honourable place. At its taking up there was
found under it another stone with the same figure on it, and
thena third, under which he discovered such a vast heap of gold
and silver as was requisite to furnish and maintain his large
bounty, a great part of which treasure he distributed to the
poor. It is said also that he had brought to him out of Italy
a great estate which Narses had got there, which in like man-
ner he employed in liberality and munificence. To Childe-
bert, the French king, who had sent ambassadors to him,
besides the other presents that he made, which were very con-
siderable, he sent certain medals of gold, of very great weight,
on the one side of which were the effigies of the Emperor, with
this inscription, * Tiberii Constantini perpetuo Augusti ;" on
the other side was a chariot with its driver, and this inscrip-
tion, * Romanorum Gloria.” And to complete his successes,
the army which he had sent against the Persians, returning
victoriously, brought away with twenty elephants so vast a
booty as no army had ever done in any expedition before.
Thus signally was he rewarded for his good services to man-
kind in general, for his religion towards God our Saviour,
and for his beneficence, particularly to the people of Rome,
whom he not only protected and defended from their enemies
as much as could be by his arms, but also at the prayers and
intercession of our bishop, Benedict, whom he had a wonder-
ful love and esteem for, he delivered them from dearth and
famine by sending a supply of corn out of Egypt. For

Pelagius IT. 135

the Lombards, by a long and tedious war, had so harassed
Italy far and wide that from their devastations there arose a
great want and scarcity of all things. While things went thus
in Italy, John, Bishop of Constantinople, by reading, disputing,
writing, admonishing, and teaching, kept the Oriental Church as
much as might be right in the faith, though he met with many
opposers therein. The same did also the equally learned
and eloquent Leander, Bishop of Toledo, or as others think,
of Seville, who wrote several treatises both to confirm the
orthodox doctrine and to confute the Arian heresy, which,
like a contagious pestilence, the Vandals, driven out of Africa by
Belisarius, had brought with them into Spain. As for Benedict,
some write that he, laying sadly to heart the calamities which
now befel Rome and all Italy, died of grief, after he had been
in the chair four years, one month, twenty-eight days. The
see was then vacant two months, ten days.

0 ——

PELAUCIUS TI.

D. 578-590.

aus, a Roman, son of Vinigildus, was from the

time of Tiberius to that of his son-in-law, the Emperor
Mauritius, to whom, though he were a Cappadocian, yet the
empire was committed, upon the account of his great courage
and ability ii the management of affairs. At this time the
Lombards having, after the death of Alboinus, for twenty
years been governed by dukes, make Autharis their king,
whom they also called Flavius, a name which was afterwards
used by all the kings of Lombardy. But Mauritius, endeavour-
ing to drive the Lombards out of Italy, hires Childebert, the
French king, to engage in a war against them ; who forthwith
raising a great army of Gauls and Germans, fights Autharis,
but with great loss is discomfited. The Lombards being
flushed and heightened by this victory, marched on as far as to
the Straits of Sicily, possessing themselves all along of the
cities of Italy, and at length besieging for a long time Rome
itself, of which certainly they had made themselves masters,
had they not been driven from its walls by the great rains
which fell so violently and incessantly, and made such an

136 The Lives of the Popes.

inundation, that men looked upon it as a second Noah’s
flood.

This was the only cause why Pelagius was made Bishop of
Rome without the consent of the Emperor, the city being so
closely besieged that none could pass to know his pleasure
therein. For at: this time the Roman clergy’s election of a
bishop was not valid unless they had the Emperor’s approba-
tion. Hereupon Gregory, a deacon, a man of great piety and
learning, was sent to Constantinople to appease the Emperor ;
where, having effected what he came for, he neglected not to
employ his time and parts, but both wrote books of morals
upon Job, and also at a disputation in the presence of the
Emperor himself, he so baffled Eutychius, Bishop of Con-
stantinople, that he was forced to retract what he had written
in a book of his concerning the Resurrection, in which he
asserted that our bodies in that glory of the Resurrection
should become more thin and subtle than the wind or air, and
so not tangible. Which is contrary to that of our Saviour,
* Handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as
you see Me have” (Luke xxiv.). As for Pelagius, having, at
the request of the citizens of Rome, recalled Gregory, turned
his father's house into an hospital for poor old men, and en-
tirely built the cemetery of Hermes the martyr, and the church
of Laurence the martyr, he died of the pestilence, which at
that time was very epidemical throughout Europe, after he
had been in the chair twelve years, two months, ten days, and
was buried in St Peters in the Vatican. The see was then
vacant six months, twenty-eight days.

————— fd

GREGORY I. THE GREAT.
A.D. 590-604.

REGORY, a Roman, son of Gordianus, one of the
senatorian order, was against his will unanimously
chosen Bishop of Rome, A.D. 590. Now because, as I have
already said, the consent of the Emperor was required herein,
he despatches messengers with letters, beseeching Mauritius
that he would not suffer this election of the clergy and people
of Rome to stand good. ‘These letters were intercepted and
torn by the city prefect, and others written, by which the

Gregory I. the Great. 137

Emperor was requested to confirm him who was by universal
suffrage thus chosen. ‘There could nothing be more pleasing
and acceptable to the Emperor than the news of this choice,
for the conversation of Gregory, while he was at Constan-
tinople, had been very grateful to him, and moreover he had
christened his son. Mauritius therefore speedily sends word
back to Rome, that he did confirm the election of Gregory,
and that in such a fluctuating state of things they should
compel that holy man to undertake the government of the
Church. He therefore, not consulting his own inclination,
but the benefit of mankind, and the honour of God, which,
as he was a most devout and religious man, he had ever pre-
ferred before all other things, without any regard to riches, or
pleasures, or ambition, or power, takes the burden of the
pontificate upon him. And he behaved himself so well in it,
that no one of his successors down to our times has been his
equal, much less his superior, either for sanctity of life or for
diligence in managing affairs, or for his learning and writings.
He composed a book of the sacraments ; wrote commentaries
upon Ezekiel and, as I have already said, upon Job, and
homilies upon the gospels; four books in dialogue, and that
which he called the ** Pastoral,” to John, Bishop of Ravenna,
concerning the way of governing the Church. Moreover, he
. introduced several rites, and made several additions to the
offices of the Roman Church ; and particularly he first in-
stituted the greater Litanies or Processions, and appointed a
great part of the Stations.! And that the good man might
not in anything be wanting to the Church, he held in St
Peter's a synod of twenty-four bishops, wherein he took away
many things which might prove pernicious, and added many
which might be beneficial to religion. He also sent into
England, Augustine, Melitus, and John, and with these
divers other monks, all persons of approved lives, by whose
preaching the English were then first entirely converted to
Christianity. By his means likewise the Goths returned to
the union of the Catholic Church. We are told by some
writers, that Gregory sent his dialogues concerning morals to

! Our author does not mention his labours for the emancipation of slaves,
nor his great improvements in music, which have caused his name to be
perpetuated till the present day in the title **Gregorian Chant." Nor does
he allude to the unfavourable feature in the great Pontiff's life, his base
ves of the Emperor Phocas for his brutality to his predecessor, Maurice.
—ED.

-

138 The Lives of the Popes.

Theudelinda, Queen of the Lombards, by the reading of
which she might smooth and polish the rugged temper of her
husband, Autharis, and bring him to a better sense of religion
and morality. She was an excellent lady, und a zealous
Christian, and not only built the church of St John Baptist at
Monza, a town ten miles distant from Milan, but also
furnished it with vessels of gold, and liberally endowed it.

It is said that at the time when Hermenigild was put to
death by his father, Leovigild, King of the Goths, because he
professed the Catholic faith, the seamless coat of Christ, which
fell by lot to one of the soldiers, was found in the city Zaphat,
laid up in a marble chest there; Thomas being then Bishop of
Jerusalem, John Bishop of Constantinople, and Gregory Bishop
of Antioch. In the meantime Mauritius, having in Tuscany
and Terra di Lavoro, by his General, Romanus the Exarch,
gained the better of the Lombards, who from a confidence
grounded upon their former successes were now degenerated
into all manner of vice, makes a law, that no person who had
listed himself in the Roman army should be at liberty to
withdraw and take upon him a religious life till either the war
were ended or the man himself maimed or disabled. Gregory
being moved hereat, admonishes him not to oppose the
religion of that God by whose bounty he had been raised from
a very mean condition to the highest degree of dignity.
Moreover, John, Bishop of Constantinople, having in a synod
which he held, procured himself to be styled the Ecumenical,
4c, universal bishop, and Mauritius hereupon requiring
Gregory to yield obedience to John; he, being a person of
great courage and constancy, returns answer, that the power
of binding and loosing was committed to Peter and his
successors, not to the bishops of Constantinople, and there-
fore warns him to desist from provoking the wrath of God
against himself, by being too busy in sowing dissension in the
Church. But Mauritius, not content with the mischief he had
done already, recalls his soldiers who were in Italy, and
encourages the Lombards to assault the Romans, without any
regard to the league they had entered into with them. Here-
upon Agilulphus, moving from Lombardy, and laying waste all
Tuscany through which he passed, infests and very much
annoys the city of Rome one whole year; in which time
Severus, Bishop of Aquileia, becoming heretical, was the
occasion of many evils. For, after his death, the patriarchate

Gregory I. the Great. 139

of Aquileia was divided into two: Agilulphus, King of the
Lombards, constituting John of Aquileia, and our Gregory,
Candianus of Grado, bishops to the people of Friuli. But
Agilulphus, quitting all hopes of gaining the city, raises the
siege, and returns to Milan. Mauritius now began to treat
Gregory more respectfully, but it proceeded not from a
voluntary but forced repentance; he having heard that a
certain person in the habit of a monk, with a drawn sword in
his hand, had proclaimed aloud in the market-place of Con-
stantinople, that the Emperor should in a short time die by
the sword. The same was confirmed to him by a dream of
his own, in which he saw himself, his empress, and their
children murdered. And accordingly, not long after, the
soldiers, being discontented for want of pay, create Phocas,
who was a centurion in the army, emperor, and assassinate
Mauritius, in the nineteenth year of his reign. But Gregory,
having added what ornaments he could to the churches in
Rome, and dedicated by the name of St Agatha the martyr,
the church of the Goths in Suburra, built by Fl. Ricimerius,
a man of consular dignity, converted his father’s house into a
monastery, wherein he received and entertained strangers,
and supplied with meat and drink the poor which from
all parts flocked to it. He was certainly a person every
way praiseworthy, whether we regard his life and con-
versation, or his learning, or his abilities in things both
divine and human. Nor ought we to suffer him to be
censured by a few ignorant men, as if the ancient stately
buildings were demolished by his order, upon this pretence
which they make for him, lest strangers coming out of
devotion to Rome should less regard the consecrated places,
and spend all their gaze upon triumphal arches and monu-
ments of antiquity. No such reproach can justly be fastened
upon this great bishop, especially considering that he was a
native of the city, and one to whom, next after God, his
country was most dear, even above his life. It is certain that
many of those ruined structures were devoured by time, and
many might, as we daily see, be pulled down to build new
houses ; and for the rest, it is probable that for the sake of
the brass used in the concavity of the arches, and the
conjunctures of the marble or other square stones, they
might be battered and defaced not only by the barbarous
nations, but by the Romans too, if Epirotes, Dalmatians,

140 The Lives of the Popes.

Pannonians, and other sorry people, who from all parts of the
world resorted hither, may be called Romans. Now, Gregory
having used all means to establish the Church of God, died in
the second year of the Emperor Phocas, having been in the
chair thirteen years, six months, ten days; and, the loss of
him being lamented by all men, was buried in St Peter's,
March 12, By his death the see was vacant five months,
nineteen days.

—M (J eee

SABINIAN I.
A.D. 604-606.

STANS Gregory's successor, deserved not to have
the place of his nativity remembered, being a person of
mean birth and meaner reputation, and one who violently
opposed the great things which his predecessor had done.
Particularly, there being a great scarcity during his pontificate,
and the poor pressing him hard to imitate the pious charity of
Gregory, he made them no other answer but this, that Gregory
was a man who designed to make himself popular, and to that
end had profusely wasted the revenues of the Church. Nay,
the illmatured wretch arrived to such a degree of rage and
envy against Gregory, that he was within a very little of
causing his books to be burned. Some tell us that Sabinian
was, at the instigation of some Romans, thus highly incensed
against Gregory because he had mutilated and thrown down
the statues of the ancients which had been set up throughout
the city ; but this is a charge as dissonant from truth as that
of his demolishing the old fabrics, concerning which we have
spoken in his life; and considering the antiquity of these”
statues, and the casualties which might befall them, and the
designs which men's covetousness or curiosity might have
upon them, it is fairly probable that they might be mangled or
lost, without Gregory's being at all concerned therein. But to
go on with Sabinian, it was he who instituted the distinction
of canonical hours for prayer in the church, and who ordained
that tapers should be kept continually burning, especially in
the church. of St Peter. Some tell us that, with the consent
of Phocas, a peace was now made with the Lombards, and
their king Agilulphus's daughter who had been taken captive

Bontface ITT. 141

in the war, restored to him. At this time appeared divers
prodigies portending the calamities which ensued. A bright
comet was seen in the air; at Constantinople a child was
born with four feet; and at the Island Delos were seen two
sea-monsters in human shape. Some write that in the ponti-
ficate of Sabinian, John, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Latin-
ianus, Bishop of Carthage, both persons famous for piety and
learning, did wonderfully improve the dignity of those
churches. Moreover, Severus, a very learned man and an
intimate friend of Latinianus, wrote very much against
Vincent, Bishop of Saragossa, who had fallen off to the Arian
heresy; he also wrote to his sister a book concerning
virginity, entitled * Aureolus.” But Sabinian, having been in
the chair one year, five months, nine days, died, and was
buried in the church of St Peter. By his death the see was
vacant eleven months, twenty-six days.

ween

BONIFACE III.
A.D. 607-608.

ONIFACE the Third, a Roman, with much ado obtained

of the Emperor Phocas, that the see of St Peter the
apostle should by all be acknowledged and styled the head of
all the churches ; a title which had been stickled for by the
Church of Constantinople, through the encouragement of
some former princes, who asserted that the supremacy ought
to reside there, where the seat of the empire was. But the
Roman bishops alleged that Rome, of which Constantinople
was but a colony, ought to be accounted the chief city of the
empire, since the Greeks themselves in their writings styled
their prince 73v ’Pwydsov ’Avroxpdropa—i.e., the Emperor of
the Romans ; and the Constantinopolitans, even in that age,
were called Romans, not Greeks. Not to mention that
Peter, the chief of the apostles, bequeathed the keys of the
kingdom of heaven to his successors, the bishops of Rome,
and left the power which God had given him not to Con-
stantinople, but to Rome. This only I say, that several
princes, and particularly Constantine, had granted to the
Roman see only, the privilege of calling and dissolving
councils, and of rejecting or confirming their decrees. And

142 The Lives of the Popes.

does not a Church which has with so much integrity and
constancy baffled and exploded all manner of heresies, as the
Roman see hath done, deserve, think you, the preference of
others? ‘The same Boniface, in a synod of seventy-two
bishops, thirty presbyters, and three deacons, ordained that,
upon pain of excommunication, no person should succeed in
the place of any deceased pope or other bishop till at least
the third day after the death of his predecessor; and that
whoever should by bribes, or by making of parties and
interests, endeavour to raise themselves to the popedom
or any other bishopric should undergo the same penalty.
He decreed likewise that the choice of any bishop should be
by the clergy and people, and that the election should then
stand good when it were approved by the civil magistrate,
and when the pope had interposed his authority in these
words, “We will and command,”—an institution in part
very necessary, for our times especially, so many corruptions
daily creeping in. For it is probable that, the election being
free, the clergy and people will choose, and the magistrate
approve of no other than such an one as deserves and is fit
to be governor in the Church. Though (if I may speak it
without offence to any that are good) the truth is, multitudes
do now aspire to the dignity of bishops, not as they ought
to do for the sake of the public good, but that they may
satisfy their own covetousness and ambition. For the great
question is, what any bishopric is worth-—not how great a
flock there is to take the charge of. But enough of this:
I return to Boniface, whose decrees, as it appears, were ex-
tinct with his life. He died in the ninth month of his ponti-
ficate, and was buried in the church of St Peter. The see
was then vacant one month, six days.

ED NUNT, W aes

BONIFACE IV.
A.D 608-615.

Eo gue the Fourth, born in Valeria, a city of the

Marsi, the son of John a physician, obtained of the
Emperor Phocas, the Pantheon, a temple so called because it
was dedicated to Cybele and all the gods, and having cast out
all the heathen images that were in it, he consecrated it on

Boniface IV. 143

May the rath, in honour of the blessed Virgin and all the
martyrs; whereupon it was afterwards called St Maria
Rotunda, and Virgo ad Martyres.

At this time the Persians, under the conduct of their king,
Chosroés, making an irruption into the Roman provinces,
and having routed Phocas’s army, possess themselves of
Jerusalem, profane and pillage the churches of the Chris-
tians, carry away the wood of our Saviour’s cross, and take
captive Zacharias, the holy patriarch of that city. Hereupon
Phocas, falling into contempt with all men, but especially the
senate, was deprived of his empire and life by Heraclius,
general of the forces and governor of the provinces of Africa.
Now also Caganus, King of the Avares, forcing his entrance
through Pannonia and Illyricum into Italy, was so much too
hard for the Lombards, that he was very near making himself
master of the province itself, and through the treachery of
Romilda, who was enamoured of him, he did actually take
Friuli, and sacked it in such a manner that scarce any foot-
steps of it were left remaining. While things went thus in
Italy, John, Bishop of Girone, proved a great defence to
Christianity, both by his preaching and writings. He, being a
Goth, born at Portugal, so soon as he came to tlie years of
discretion travelled to Constantinople, and parted thence so
well skilled in Greek and Latin learning that, at his return
into Portugal, he was able easily to baffle the Arian heresy
which very much prevailed there. For this reason he was by
the heretics confined in Barcelona. But afterwards, upon the
death of King Lemungildus, who countenanced those heretics,
he came back into his own country, and both wrote very
much concerning the Christian religion, and also founded a
monastery, and prescribed rules of living, which the monks
thereof were to guide themselves by. Eutropius, also Bishop
of Valentia, was now by his learning and example very instru-
mental to keep the Spaniards sound in the faith. Moreover,
Columbanus, an abbot, a very holy man, by descent a Goth,
coming first out of Scotland into Burgundy, built there the
stately monastery of Luxeuil ; and thence passing into Italy,
built another fair one at Bobbio. Pope Boniface, that he
might not be behindhand in this matter with either of them,
converted his father's house into a monastery, and gave his
estate for the maintenance of the monks in it. But not long
after he died, having been the chair six years, eight months,

144 The Lives of the Popes.

seventeen days, and was buried in the church of St Peter, in
atime of dearth, pestilence, and great inundation of waters.
By his death the see was vacant seven months, twenty-five
days.

ey, een

DEUS-DEDIT I.
A.D. 615-618. _

EUS-DEDIT, a Roman, son of Stephen a sub-deacon,

being unanimously chosen to the pontificate, proved a

great lover and encourager of the clergy. It is reported that

he was a person of so great sanctity, that meeting with a man

who had a leprosy, he cured him of that disease with a kiss.

He ordained that the son should not marry any woman to
whom his father had been godfather.

At this time Heraclius with a great army recovered several
provinces which the Persians had possessed themselves of,
dismounted and slew their general in a single combat, van-
quished their king, Chosroés, and took his son prisoner,
whom having first christened, he released and sent home
again. Entering Persia, he took a strong tower in which
Chosroés's treasure lay, part of which he distributed among
his soldiers, and assigned another part for the repairing of
the churches which the Persians had pillaged and spoiled.
Returning to Jerusalem with seven elephants loaded with
other great booty, he brought along with him the cross of our
blessed Saviour, which the Persians had taken away, and laid
it up in the place where it was before. Those of the Persians
whom he had taken prisoners, he suffered to return into their
own country. After this, being arrived at Constantinople,
and taking delight in study, he applied himself to astrology.
But yet this great emperor, against all law both divine and
human, married his own sisters daughter, and to add one
crime to another, as is usual when men once become guilty,
he falls off to the Eutychian heresy. ‘This happened at the
time when Anastasius, a Persian, being converted to Christi-
anity, and having entered upon a monastic life, was seized by
his own countrymen, and suffered martyrdom for the sake of
his religion ; whose body was afterwards conveyed to Rome
and deposited in the monastery of St Paul. It is said that at

Boniface V. 145

this time Sisebert, King of the Goths, reduced several cities
of Spain which had revolted to the Romans, and that by tor-
ment he forced all the Jews which he discovered in his king-
dom to profess the belief of Christianity. This, it is reported,
he did at the request of Heraclius, who had been forewarned
to beware of the circumcised; but yet afterwards, he being
not sufficiently careful to prevent his fate, was crushed by the
Saracens, who observed circumcision. ‘Thus things went in
the East, nor did the West want its assertors of the Christian
faith. For Arnulphus, Bishop of Metz, by his piety and
prudence, kept Dagobert, the French king, within the bounds
of his duty ; being therein assisted by Amandus, an excellent
person, and a vigorous defender of the Christian religion.
Among the Spaniards, Isidore, Bishop of Seville, successor to
Leander, wrote several things very beneficial to the state of
Christianity ; particularly, of the Chief Good, of Famous Men,
of Grammar and Etymology, a History from Adam to the
times of Heraclius, the Lives of several saints, the History of
the Lombards, and a short Cosmography. Some say that this
Isidore was a German, though the Spaniards lay claim to him ;
but whatever countryman he were, it is certain that he was a
most excellent person, both for his great learning and his
greater sanctity.

As for Deus-dedit, the time of whose pontificate, besides
what we have already mentioned, was rendered remarkable
by an earthquake, and a scab so near approaching to a leprosy,
that it deformed men beyond each other's knowledge, he died
in the third year and twenty-third day of his being in the
chair, and was buried in the church of St Peter, November
the 8th. By his death the see was vacant one month, sixteen
days.

0

BONIFACE V.
A.D. 618-625.

ONIFACE the Fifth, a Campanian, his father’s name John,
was chosen Pope at the time when Eleutherius, a patri-

cian, being sent by Heraclius to Rome, and having revenged
the death of John, the late Exarch of Ravenna, usurped the
kingdom of Italy. But on his way to Rome he was put to death
by his own soldiers, and his head sent to Constantinople ;

146 The Lives of the Popes.

: upon which Isaac of Constantinople, another patrician,
was made exarch in his stead. Theudelinda now, after the
death of her husband Agilulphus, governing together with her
son the kingdom of the Lombards very prudently and justly,
maintained a peace between her people and the Italians for
ten years together, made several presents and donations to
several churches, and endowed them with lands for the better
maintenance of the clergy belonging to them. In the twelfth
year of Heraclius, Mahomet, an Arabian, as some will have
him, or as others, a Persian, descended of a noble family, his
father a Gentile, his mother a Jewess, was the author of so
much mischief to the Christian state, that I am afraid lest his
sect should utterly extinguish the remains of Christianity,
especially in our age, wherein we are grown listless and
inactive, and stand still tamely expecting our own ruin. His
sect prevails and increases now more than ever ; all Asia and
Africa, and a great part of Europe is subject to Mahometan
princes ; the Turks press hard upon us by sea and land, that
they may ferret us like coneys out of these burrows in Europe.
In the meantime we sit idly, looking upon one another, as if
the whole state of Christianity were not at all in danger. The
clergy expect that so important and necessary a war should be
undertaken by the laity. The laity expect that the clergy should
expend their money to bear the charge of a war for the defence
of religion, and not put it to worse uses, as most of them are
. wont to do, laying out their stock gotten by alms and martyrs’
blood upon huge, large vessels of massive gold and silver,
while themselves in the meantime carry it arrogantly towards
men, are contemners of God, whom they serve only for gain,
and are not at all solicitous for the time to come. But I
return to Mahomet, a man of so wily a temper and so sharp
a wit, that having long conversed among the Christians, and
acquainted himself with all the sects that had been before
him, he introduced a new kind of superstition, which has,
as we see, almost rooted out Christianity. Moreover, having
got together a great army of Arabians, he was so hardy as to
encroach upon the borders of the Roman empire, but Heraclius
soon put a stop to his motion, having by promises and bribes
prevailed with his soldiers to make a revolt from him.

As for Pope Boniface, he was a person of singular humanity,
clemency, and obliging deportment towards all men, and
neglected no part of the duty of a good bishop. He ordained,

Honorius I. 147

that criminals who fled for refuge to churches, should not be
taken thence by force; that the acolythi should not meddle
with the relics of the martyrs, that belonging to presbyters
and sub-deacons; and that in every place those who were
guilty of sacrilege should be excommunicated. He built
and dedicated the cemetery of St Nicomedes, and was in an
extraordinary manner liberal and munificent towards those of
the clergy who led exemplary lives. At this time Gallus, a
scholar of St Columbanus, lived so devoutly, that he deserved
to be canonised a saint even in his lifetime. Eustachius, the
abbot, followed his example, and so did St Aurea, in honour
to whom Eligius built a nunnery. It is said also, that at this
time one Basilius was very famous for his life and learning,
and in both equal to Isidore himself. Our Boniface having
been in the chair seven years, ten days, died, and was buried
in the church of St Peter. By his death the see was vacant
thirteen days.

———, so

HONORIUS I.
A.D. 625-638.

TISSPRITS, a Campanian, son of Petronius, a man of

consular dignity, entered upon the pontificate at the
time when Theudelinda died, and her son Adalwaldus was
deposed, Ariwaldus being made king in his stead. At which
time Heraclius, who had been victorious over the Persians,
was very urgent to have all the Jews who were subjects to the
empire baptized. Hereupon the Saracens and Arabians
taking up arms, A.D. 623, gained such a victory over Heraclius’s
army, that they rendered that successful man the most un-
fortunate. ‘This was done under the conduct of Mahomet,
who pretending himself to be the great prophet of God, and
deluding the Asians and Africans by magical arts, put such
vigour into the people who embraced his new religion, that he
was very near to have ruined the empire; having taken
Alexandria and several important cities of Syria and Cilicia.
He had for his followers the Saracens, so called from Sarah,!

1 This is the derivation of the word adopted by medizval authors, but
it is probably erroneous. It seems to be now agreed that the word is
from Sharkeya (Arab.): ‘‘ eastern people,” corrupted by the Greeks into
Sarakenoi.—ED,

148 The Lives of the Popes.

Abraham’s lawful wife, as if they were the only legitimate suc-
cessors and heirs of the Divine promise. ‘The crafty man
herein followed the example of Jeroboam, who prescribed
distinct rules of worship to his tribes, that they might not be
subject to the Jewish Government. The same also after-
wards did the Greeks who dissented from the Catholics, not
only for the sake of religion but empire, upon the score of
which they followed the errors of the Nestorians, Jacobites,
and Ebionites. But in the end their pertinacity reduced
them to that pass, that their religion and government were
dissolved together, and they brought into the vilest servitude.
But Mahomet (as we see in the Koran), that he might separate
his disciples as far as possible from Christianity, in composing
his laws followed the example of several heretics, and especi-
ally the Nestorians ; collecting here and there, and reducing
into one body, many things repugnant to the law of Moses
and the Gospel. It is said that at. this time Heraclius, dis-
trusting his own strength, struck up an inglorious peace with
the Saracens, and that being imposed upon by the arts of
Pyrrhus, patriarch of Constantinople, and Cyrus, bishop of
Alexandria, he fell off to the heresy of the Monothelites, a
sect so called from their asserting one Will only in Christ.
But these seducers, at the instance of Honorius, who was very
diligent to reclaim Heraclius, were afterwards banished.!
And Honorius having now some respite from other cares, by
. his learning and example proved a great reformer of the clergy.
The church of St Peter he covered with brass taken out of the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus ; repaired that of St Agnes in

Our author has passed lightly over a very awkward and difficult
fact in the Papal history, namely, that Pope Honorius distinctly
pronounced himself in favour of the Monothelite heresy, in his
Ecthesis, or ‘‘ Exposition of the Faith,” issued in 639. His successor,
John IV., condemned it, and it was finally anathematised at the sixth
General Council held at Constantinople in 680. The difficulty of re-
conciling this fact with the Vatican decree (1870) of Papal infallibility is
admitted by Roman writers. See Robertson's learned note (Ch. Hist.,
ii. 54), and a very candid discussion of the question in Addis and Arnold's
** Catholic Dictionary," s.v. ** ZZonorzus." The writers, after discussing the
various attempts which have been made to explain the discrepancy, come to
the conclusion, though with a good deal of hesitation, that if Honorius
had enforced his own belief on the Church and threatened excommuni-
cation on those who rejected it, it would be impossible to reconcile this
with the Vatican decree, but that as he did not do so, he cannot be held
to have spoken ex cazAed7a. —Ep.

Severinus f. 149

the Via Nomentana, as appears by an inscription in verse
therein, and likewise that of St Pancras in the Via Aurelia ;
built those of St Anastasius, St Cyriacus, seven miles from
Rome in the Via Ostiensis, and St Severinus in Tivoli; all
which he made very stately, and adorned with gold, silver,
porphyry, marble, and all manner of ornamental workmanship.
He repaired also the cemetery of St Marcellinus and St Peter
in the Via Labicana, and was at the charge of building other
churches besides those before mentioned. Moreover, he
ordained that every Saturday a procession with litanies should
be made from St Apollinaris to St Peter's. But having been
in the chair twelve years, eleven months, seventeen days, he
died, and was buried in the church of St Peter, October the
12th. By his death the see was vacant one year, seven
months, eighteen days.

—— 1)

SEVERINUS I.
A.D. 640.

EVERINUS, a Roman, son of Labienus, being chosen in
the place of Honorius deceased, was confirmed therein

by Isaac, Exarch of Italy, the election of the clergy and
people being at this time reckoned null and void without the
assent of the emperors or their exarchs. Now Isaac having
made a journey to Rome upon the occasion of confirming this
Pope, that he might not lose his labour, fairly sets himself to
plunder the Lateran treasury, being assisted in that attempt
by several citizens, though he were resisted for a time, but in
. vain, by the clergy of that church,the principal of which he
afterwards banished. The ground of this action was Isaac's
resentment that the clergy alone should grow rich, without
contributing to the charge of the wars, especially at a time
when the soldiers were reduced to the greatest want and ex-
tremity. Part of the spoil he distributed among the soldiers,
part he carried away with him to Ravenna, and of the rest he
made a present to the emperor. "Those of the Saracens who
had been listed by Heraclius being discontented for want
of pay, marched into Syria, and made themselves masters of
Damascus, a city subject to the empire. Then joining with
the other Arabians, and being furnished with provisions and

-

150 The Lives of the Popes.

arms, and heated by Mahomet’s zeal, they overran Phoenicia
and Egypt, and put to the sword all those who refused to
subscribe to their government and Mahomet’s religion. Ad-
vancing thence against the Persians, and having slain Hormisda,
the Persian king, they ceased not to commit all manner of
outrages upon that people, till they had entirely reduced them
to subjection. But Heraclius, having intelligence of what
work these Saracens made, especially upon their taking of
Antioch, and fearing that they might possess themselves of
Jerusalem itself (which they not long after did), took care to
have the cross of our Saviour conveyed to Constantinople,
that it might not again come into the hands of the Agarens
(for so the Greeks in contempt call the Arabians, as descend-
ing from Agar, Abraham’s servant). Mahomet dying at Mecca
in 632, was succeeded by rulers called Cadiphs, t.e., successors.
The first was Abu-bekr. The fourth, Ali, was disowned by
some, and thus the Caliphate became divided. It is said also,
that to complete the calamities of the Roman empire, Sisebert,
king of the Goths, did at this time recover out of the hands
of the Romans all the cities of Spain; and so a period was
put to the Roman government in that country.

As for Severinus, who was a person of extraordinary piety
and religion, a lover of the poor, kind to those in affliction,
liberal to all, and in adorning of churches very munificent,
having been in the chair two months, he died, and was buried
in St Peters Church, August the 2nd. The see was then
vacant four months, twenty days.

JOHN IV.
A.D. 640-642.

OHN the Fourth, a Dalmatian, son of Venantius, entering
upon the pontificate, forthwith expressed a wonderful
compassion, in employing the remainder of the treasury

of the Church which Isaac had left behind him, for the
redemption of a multitude of Istrians and Dalmatians who had
been taken captive. In the meantime, Rhotaris, who suc-
ceeded Ariwaldus in the kingdom of Lombardy, though he
were a person eminent for justice and piety, yet became a

John IV. I5I

favourer of the Arians, and permitted that in every city of his
kingdom there should be at the same time two bishops of
equal authority, the one a Catholic, and the other an Arian.
He was a prince of great parts, and reduced the laws, which
memory and use alone had before retained, methodically in-
to a book which he ordered to be called the Edict. His
excellence in military skill appeared in that he made himself
master of all Tuscany and Liguria, with the sea-coast as far as
Marseilles. But in the sixth year of his reign he died, and
left the kingdom to his son Rhodoaldus. It is reported that
a certain priest entering by night into the church of St John
Baptist, and there opening the tomb in which the body of
Rhotaris lay, robbed it of all the things of value with which
the bodies of kings are wont to be interred. Hereupon John
Baptist, a saint to whom Rhotaris had been in his lifetime
very much devoted, appeared to the priest, and threatened
him with death if he ever entered his church again. The
like happened even in our times to Cardinal Luigi, Patriarch
of Aquileia, whose sepulchre was broken open and pillaged
by those very men whom he himself had enriched and raised
from a mean condition to the sacerdotal dignity. Rhodoaldus,
entering upon the government of the kingdom, marries Gundi-
berga, the daughter of Queen ‘Theudelinda, who, imitating her
mother’s devotion, built and richly adorned a church in
honour to St John Baptist at Terracina, in like manner as
Theudelinda had done at Monza. But Rhodoaldus being
taken in adultery, was slain by the husband of the adultress.
Successor to him was Aribertus, son of Gudualdus, and
brotherjof Queen Theudelinda. He built our Saviour's chapel
at Pavia, and very much beautified and plentifully endowed it.

Pope John fearing now lest the bodies of Vincentius and
Anastasius might sometime or other be violated by the bar-
barous nations, took care to have them safely conveyed to
Rome, and with great solemnity deposited them in the
oratory of St John Baptist, near the baptistery of the Lateran.
We are told that in his pontificate Vincentius, Bishop of
Beauvais, and Muardus, Archbishop of Rheims, were in great
esteem for their learning and sanctity. Moreover, Regin-
ulpha, a French lady, was very eminent for piety, and
Renaldus, Bishop of Trajetto, famous for his life and miracles.
Jodocus also was not inferior to any of these, who though he
were the son of a king of the Britons, yet despising worldly

152 The Lives of the Popes.

greatness, became for some time a hermit, and died at
length in an obscure village. Pope John having been in the
chair one year, nine months, nine days, died, and was buried
in the church of St Peter, October the 12th. ‘The see was
then vacant one month, thirteen days.

———()——

THEODORUS I.
A.D. 642-649.

HEODORUS, a Grecian, son of Theodorus, a bishop,
born at Jerusalem, was no sooner in the chair but he

applied himself like a good bishop to all those things which -

he thought might tend to the advancement of the Christian
religion ; being a person obliging to all men, but extraordi-
narily bountiful to the poor.

At this time Heraclius died of a dropsy in the thirtieth year
of his reign, having a little before made Theodorus, surnamed
Calliopa, his exarch in Italy, in the place of Plato deceased.
Heraclius was succeeded by his son Constantine, who in the
fourth month after his coming to the empire was poisoned by
the procurement of his step-mother Martina and her son
Heracleon, whom, it is said, Pyrrhus the patriarch prompted
to commit that villany. Heracleon, upon the death of his
brother, takes upon him the’ government, at that time par-
ticularly when Cyrus, Sergius, and Pyrrhus reviving the heresy
of the Acephali, maintained the opinion of one only nature in
Christ, one operation, and one wil. Among these, Pyrrhus,
hearing of the death of Heraclius, and being very desirous to
return out of Africa, whither he had been banished, into his
own country, coming to Rome and making a hypocritical
retractation of his errors, was restored by Theodorus, and
received from him a form of belief. But he lost his life before
he could accomplish the end which he sought to compass by
such ill means. For the senate and people of Constantinople,
being acquainted with the cause of Constantine's death, first
seized Martina and Heracleon, and having cut off his nose,
and cut out her tongue, banished them both; then appre-
hending Pyrrhus, who endeavoured to make his escape, they
put him to death. Constantius, the son of Constantine who
had been thus treacherously murdered, they create emperor ;

Martinus f. | 153

and instead of Pyrrhus make Paul their bishop ; whom yet
Theodorus deprived for being in the like kind heretical, his
pertinacity therein being favoured by Constantius, who was
unadvisedly fallen into the same heresy. But the Pope laying
aside this controversy, and applying himself to other cares,
caused the bones of the martyrs Primus and Felicianus to be
removed out of a sandy grotto in the Via Nomentana to Rome,
where he deposited them in the church of St Stephen the
proto-martyr, sparing no cost in ornaments both of silver and
gold upon their tomb. He also built and adorned a church
in the Via Flaminia, as likewise two oratories, one near the
Lateran Church dedicated to St Sebastian, the other in the
Via Ostiensis to Eupolus the martyr. Having finished these
things, and been in the chair six years, five months, eighteen
days, he died, and was buried in St Peter's, May the r4th.
The see was then vacant fifty-two days.

peu dc

MARTIN L
A.D. 649-655.

ARTIN the First, born at Todi, son of Fabricius,
succeeding Theodorus, forthwith despatches his legates
to Constantinople, to admonish Paul to quit his errors, and
at length to return into the way of truth. But he not only
disobeyed the Pope's commands, but also, being countenanced
therein by Constantius, offered great indignities to those leg-
ates, and then banished them into several islands. Martin,
highly resenting this usage, calls a synod of a hundred and five
bishops at Rome, wherein he renews the condemnation of Cyrus
of Alexandria, Sergius, and Pyrrhus, and excommunicates and
deprives Paul the patriarch with the bitterest anathemas
imaginable. .

While these things weré transacting, the peace of Italy,
which had lasted between the Romans and the Lombards
thirty years, began now to be disturbed. . For the Lombards
took mightily upon them, and imposed such unjust conditions
upon the Romans as they could not submit to ; particularly
Rhotaris, being himself an Arian, and scarce any city over
which he did not set up an Arian as well as a Catholic bishop.
This was an evil which both Theodorus and Martin had often

154 The Lives of the Popes.

endeavoured to remedy, but in vain. For this reason, and also
at the instance of Theodorus the exarch, a war was proclaimed
with the Lombards, whereupon they take up arms, and near
Scultenna, a river of Modena, a sharp engagement there was on
both sides. But in the end Theodorus was vanquished and
routed, and lost in the fight near seven thousand of his men.
Rhotaris, being flushed with this victory, in a short time easily
made himself master of all Liguria. Now Constantius, hoping
that the change of his general might change his fortune too,
recalls Theodorus, and sends Olympius, his exarch, into Italy,
with instructions, both to propagate the sect of the Mono-
thelites throughout Italy, and also either to put Pope Martin
to death, or else to take care to have him sent prisoner to
Constantinople. Olympius coming to Rome, where there had
been already a synod held against this and other the errors
of the Oriental Church, and finding that he could not disperse
the contagion as he thought to do, sends one of his officers to
seize Martin in the church of St Maria Maggiore, and either
to bring him to him, or else to kill him if he refused and
made resistance. The officer, being just ready to execute this
order, was by miracle suddenly struck with blindness; and
so by Divine providence Martine escaped the danger. The
Saracens taking heart upon this great dissension between the
Eastern and Western Church, set sail from Alexandria with a
great fleet, and arriving at Rhodes, and taking the city, they
destroyed the famous and celebrated colossus there, with the
brass of which it is said they loaded nine hundred camels ; this
colossus being seventy feet high, the workmanship of Chares,
the scholar of Lysippus. Afterwards having possessed them-
selves of several islands in the Archipelago, and thence sailing
to Sicily, they very much infested the inhabitants of that
island. Hereupon Olympius, at the entreaty of Pope Martin,
makes an expedition and forces them thence ; though not
without the loss of many of his ships and men, and even that
of his own life too, for he fell sick in Sicily, and died there.
But Constantius, who was not in the least bettered by all these
calamities, commands Theodorus Calliopa again into Italy,
with express order that he should forthwith send Pope Martin
bound to him ; and to assist him in that affair, he joins Paulus
Pellarius with him, who was to take care to see it done.
Theodorus, having been honourably received by the Romans,
and going upon pretence of making a visit to the Pope, seizes

Eugenius I, 155

and puts him in fetters, and so sends him to Constantinople,
from whence he was afterwards banished to the Chersonese, the
place where Clemens Romanus had formerly been an exile.
Now Martin, being thus compassed with calamities, and
pinched with extreme want, at length dies in banishment,
after he had been in the chair six years, one month, twenty-
six days. And because it was long before there came certain
intelligence of his death, the see was vacant fourteen months.

(ae

EUGENIUS I.
A.D. 655-657.

PENS, a Roman, son of Ruffinianus, succeeded

Martin about the time that in the place of Paul the
heretic, Peter was made patriarch of Constantinople, who,
though he were a little more orthodox than Paul, yet did not
in all things agree in doctrine with the Roman Church. His
letters sent to Rome, in which he denied two operations and
wills in Christ, were so exploded, that the clergy took upon
them to interdict the Pope’s celebrating mass in St Maria
Maggiore, till he had first publicly declared his dislike of
them.

In the meantime, Grimoaldus, duke of Beneventum, leaving
his son to govern at home, and marching with a great army
into Lombardy, forced Pertheri and Gundibert, the two sons
of Aribertus, to quit Pavia and Milan. Of which Clodoveus,
the French king, having intelligence, he, out of compassion
to the young princes, immediately sends a considerable force
into Italy, to recover their right for them. Beyond the Po
battle is joined, and the dispute managed very briskly on both
sides, the young princes being eager to retrieve their paternal
possessions, and he endeavouring as much to keep what he
had gained by war. At length fortune inclined to Grimoaldus’s
side, and the French were routed, and driven out of Italy.
We are told by some, that the French were out-witted by the
enemy after this manner: the Lombards dissembled a flight,
leaving their tents furnished with plenty of all manner of pro-
visions, and especially of wine, but not far off they made
a halt, watching their opportunity ; the French, entering their
tents, and thinking they had been really fled, fall to feasting,

156 7 The Lives of the Popes.

and eat and drink to such excess, that the enemy coming upon
them, and finding them dead asleep, and lying about like beasts,
they made such a slaughter of them, that there was scarce
one left alive to carry the news to Clodoveus. Grimoaldus,
growing confident upon this victory, quickly makes himself
master of the whole province. As for Pope Eugenius, who
was a person of very great piety, religion, meekness, humanity,
and munificence, having been in the chair two years, nine
months, he died, and was buried in the church of St Peter,
June the znd. ‘The see was then vacant one month, twenty
eight days.

——(——

VIPALTANUS-.EL
| A.D. 657-672.

| dese eens born at Segna, a town of the Volsci, the

son of Anastasius, entered upon the pontificate at the
time when Cesarea, the Persian Queen, attended only with a
few of her confidants, and without the knowledge of. her
husband, came to Constantinople in the year 663. She was
very honourably received by the emperor, and not long after
baptized, for the sake of which it was that she came thither.
The Persian King, having intelligence hereof, forthwith sends
ambassadors to Constantinople to demand his wife of the
emperor To them the emperor answered, that it was in the
queen’s choice to stay or go, and therefore they should enquire
of her pleasure. The queen being asked, made answer, that
she would never return into her country, unless the king would
become a Christian. Who being acquainted herewith, comes
forthwith in a peaceable manner with forty thousand men to
Constantinople ; where, being received by the emperor with all
expression of kindness, he, together with his soldiers, were
baptized, and then he returned with his queen into his own
kingdom. After this Constantius, having associated to himself
in the government his son Constantine, and prepared a great
fleet, setting sail from Constantinople, arrives at Tarentum,
bringing with him in ships of burden a great force of land
soldiers, From thence he advanced by land into Abruzzo, with
design to besiege Beneventum. But understanding that that
city was very strongly garrisoned, and plentifully furnished with

Vitalianus I. 157

provisions by the care of Rhomoaldus, he marched to Lucera,
which he took, and plundered, and then levelled with the
ground. Passing from hence to Acherontia, and not being
able to make himself master of so well-fortified a place, he
again attempts the siege of Beneventum, but soon raises it,
upon intelligence that Grimoaldus would suddenly be there
with a great army to assist his son Rhomoaldus. Hereupon
Constantius, moving first towards Naples, though very much
incommoded in his passage, and having left Saburrus, a Roman
citizen, with twenty thousand men at Formiz to oppose the
enemy, at length he comes to Rome, the Pope and clergy and
people, in honour to him, going six miles out of the city to
meet him. And being conducted through the city with great
acclamations to the church of St Peter, he there made a very
rich present. In the meantime Rhomoaldus, presuming upon
the supplies he received from his father, joins battle with
Saburrus, conquers him, and puts to the sword a great number
of the Greeks. Constantius, being enraged and growing almost
desperate upon this misfortune, on the fifth day after his
entrance into the city, falls a-plundering, takes away all the
statues of brass and marble set up in the principal parts of the
city, and the rich ornaments of the churches, and lades his
ships with them ; and in seven days did more damage to Rome
than the barbarous nations had done before in two hundred
and fifty-eight years ; so that ill men, ignorant of history, have
no reason to say that the statues and monuments of antiquity
were demolished by Pope Gregory’s order. On the twel th
day the vile and perfidious paltry Greek leaving Rome, with
a vengeance to him, goes towards Naples, thence to Sicily,
being so severe in his exaction of tribute wherever he came,
as to take away children out of the embraces of their parents
who could not pay him. But the covetous wretch, staying
some time in Sicily, as he was bathing for pleasure at Syracuse,
was slain; and Mecezius, who is thought to have been the
contriver of his death, was by the soldiers made emperor in
his stead. "This Constantius was a person of a strange variety
and inconstancy of mind. For at first, hearing that Vitalianus
was chosen Pope, he sent his ambassadors to congratulate
him, and to make a present of the Gospels written in letters of
gold and set with jewels, to St Peter. Whereas afterwards his
mind being changed, he cast off all regard to God and man,
and turned all things both Divine and human topsy-turvy.

158 The Lives of the Popes.

But Vitalianus, being intent upon sacred things, composed
ecclesiastical canons, and regulated singing in the church,
introducing organs to be used with the vocal music. He also
sent, with ample power of binding and loosing, Theodorus, as
Archbishop of Canterbury, and Adrian, an abbot, two very
learned and pious men into England, that by their preaching
and example they might keep that people steadfast in the faith,
which the good men did what they could to perform. This
Theodorus also wrote a book, showing by what penance
every sin may be washed off ; though some ascribe that work
to Pope Theodorus. Now Vitalianus, having governed the
Church as well as lay in his power fourteen years, six months,
died, and was buried in St Peters, January the 27th. "The
see was then vacant four months, fifteen days.

ay,

ADEODATUS LIL
A.D. 672-676.

A PEODATUM a Roman, son of Jovinian, was of a monk

created Pope, at the time when Lupus, Duke of Friuli,
endeavoured to possess himself of the kingdom of Italy. :For
Grimoaldus, being (as we have said) called by his son Rho-
moaldus, Duke of Beneventum, to aid him against Constantius
the emperor, at his departure commended his people to the
care of Lupus, and so, according to the proverb, left the sheep
to the keeping of the wolf! For Lupus, taking the advantage
of Grimoaldus's absence, involves.all Tuscany, Romandiola,
and a great part of Lombardy in tumult and confusion. Here-
upon Grimoaldus, by gifts and promises, prevails with Coganus
to advance with his Avares against Lupus ; which he did, and
in the first engagement had the worst of it. But the next
day, renewing the fight, he overcame and slew Lupus, and
then sacked and laid waste all Friuli. Grimoaldus, upon
Constantius's leaving Italy, returns into Lombardy, and in his
way, on the Saturday before Easter, takes Forlimpopoli, puts
all the inhabitants of it to the sword, plunders it, and then
levels it to the ground, upon the score of an injury which
he had received there from the people of Ravenna, in his

* The author's play upon the name of the tyrant, Lupus being the
Latin word for a wolf.

Adeodatus I. 159

passage to the aid of his son. Now, Arnesites, the son of
Lupus, being assisted by the Dalmatians, endeavoured to
recover his father’s dukedom ; but near the river Natisone, he
was vanquished and slain by the Lombards. The inhabitants
of Uderzo had a share in his misfortune, being forced to quit
their country for having countenanced him in his pretensions.
At this time Sicily also was in a bad condition; for soldiers
were sent thither out of all the provinces of Italy to make
head against Mecezius, by whose treachery Constantius had
been murdered—who, being overcome and slain, and the
soldiers again dispersed, the Saracens, arriving with a great
fleet, surprise Syracuse and possess themselves of the whole
island. After some time they return to Alexandria loaded
with spoil, and carry away with them those ornaments of the
city of Rome which Constantius had brought to Syracuse
with design to transmit them to Constantinople. These
miseries and calamities had been portended by a comet which
appeared three months together, by great rains and frequent
thunders, such as had not been at any time known before.
But such is the blindness of mankind, that though they be
warned of future evils, yet they do not as they ought provide
against them. It is reported that all the standing corn which
had been lodged by the continued rains, grew yet up again,
and came to maturity, especially in Lombardy. In the mean-
time, Adeodatus, being a person of great piety and humanity,
merciful towards offenders, bountiful to the poor, hospitable
towards strangers, and compassionate towards all in calamity,
repaired and dedicated the church of St Peter in the Via
Portuensis. He also added to the building and revenues of
the monastery of St Erasmus on Mons Coelius, wherein him-
self had been a monk. Moreover, he appointed frequent
litanies upon the account of those prodigies which we have
said appeared at that time. At length, having been in the
chair four years, two months, five days, he died, and was,
with general lamentation, buried in St Peter's, June the 26th.
The see was then vacant four months, twenty days.

— — À——

160 The Lives of the Popes.

DONUS IL
A.D. 676-678.

p99nvs, a Roman, son of Mauritius, was made Pope at

the time when Grimoaldus, King of the Lombards,
drawing a bow high to shoot at a pigeon, and thereby strain-
ing his nerves and veins, though it were nine days after he had
been let blood in the arm, yet thereupon it fell a-bleeding
afresh, and could not be stanched till he died. "There were in
this king several excellent endowments both of body and mind.
He was a person of great wisdom and prudence in all affairs,
and added several things very useful to Rhotaris's edict,
which afterwards received the form of a law. He was ofa
middle stature, strong constitution, had a bald head and long
beard, and was every way fitted for action. He was buried at
Pavia in the church of St Ambrose, which he had built at his
own charge. Pertharis, son of King Aribertus, who, as we have
said, had been deprived of his right by Grimoaldus, passing
now during his exile out of France into Britain, was prompted
by a voice which he knew not from whence it came, that
Grimoaldus being dead, he should seek to recover his paternal
inheritance. Encouraged by this voice, though the author of it
were uncertain, he returned into Italy, and within three months
after Grimoaldus's death became repossessed of his father's
. kingdom without any opposition. About the same time died
Dagobert, the French king, a subtle and crafty prince, and
who was equally fitted for counsel and action; whose soul,
when it had been carried by devils almost as far as the island
of Lipara, is reported to have been delivered out of their
clutches by Dennis and Maurice, the martyrs, and Martin the
Confessor, saints for whom, as his patrons, he had all his life-
time a great veneration, and had been very liberal in beautify-
ing and enriching their churches. Now, Pope Donus, con-
sulting the honour of the Church, paved the porch of St
Peter's, called Paradise, with marble, which he took, as I sup-
pose, from the pyramid over against Castel St Angelo.
Moreover, he repaired and dedicated in the Via Ostiensis the
church of the Apostles, and in the Via Appia that of St
Euphemia. He also appointed the several degrees of honour
and distance to be yielded to the several orders of the clergy.
And discovering in the Boethian monastery a company of

Agatho I. 161

Syrian monks, who were of the Nestorian heresy, them he
censured and dispersed into divers other monasteries, assign-
ing their own to Roman monks. By his eminent learning and
piety, and through the submission of Theodorus, Bishop of
Ravenna, he reduced to obedience to the apostolic see the
Church of Ravenna, which had for a considerable time separ-
ated itself from that of Rome, and upon that account had got
the name of Allocephalis. Some tell us that in his time, Pro-
jectus, a bishop, underwent the torment, and acquired the
glory of martyrdom for the cause of Christianity ; and that
Mezelindis, a woman of incomparable chastity, being solicited
by her lover Ardenius, and upon her not yielding to his
desires, put to divers torments by him, yet prayed so fervently
even for her persecutor, whom God, for this crime, had struck
with blindness, that upon her prayers his sight was restored to
him. Our Donus having been in the chair two years, ten
days, died, and was buried in St Peter's, April the roth. "The
see was then vacant two months, sixteen days.

ae

AGATHO L
A.D. 678-682.

GATHO, a Sicilian, was of a monk made Pope, a person

of great piety, and who cured a leper whom he
chanced to meet with, only by a kiss. He was a man of so
obliging a temper, that no person went away sad out of his
presence. And being so happy as to have a contemporary
emperor like himself, he designed to hold a council! upon the
account of the Monothelites. Only he waited the time till Con-
stantine had returned from the war, who had vanquished the
Saracens, and made them tributary to the Roman empire.
But the Bulgarians advancing out of Scythia into Thrace, and
the emperor endeavouring to put a check to their motion, he
was with great loss routed between Hungary and Moesia.
Hereupon he found himself obliged to strike up a peace with
them upon disadvantageous terms, permitting them to inhabit
Hungary and Moesia ; though that concession in the event
proved a great benefit to the state of Christianity. For these
are the men who for this seven hundred and seventy years

1 680, Council in Trullo.
F

162 The Lives of the Popes.

since have maintained a continual war, and been the bulwark
of Christendom against the Turks. Well, a peace being upon
these conditions concluded, Pope Agatho sends to Constan-
tinople his legates, John, Bishop of Porto, and John, a deacon
of Rome. Constantine received them with all expressions
of respect, and very affectionately advised them to lay aside
all cavils and sophistical wranglings and controversies, and
sincerely to endeavour to unite the two churches. There
were present at this synod two hundred and eighty-nine
bishops ; and by the command of the emperor there were
brought out of the library of Constantinople those books,
from whence the opinions and determinations of the ancients
might be collected. Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople,
and Macarius, Bishop of Antioch, perverting the sense of
the Fathers, maintained only one will and operation in Christ.
But the orthodox pressing hard with their reasons and autho-
rities, they thereby reclaimed Gregory ; and Macarius adher-
ing obstinately to his opinion, they excommunicated him and
his followers, and made Theophanes, an orthodox abbot,
Bishop of Antioch in his stead. ‘This affair being thus suc-
cessfully managed, that thanks might be returned to God for
this union of the two churches in heart and mind, John,
Bishop of Porto, on the octave of Easter, in the presence of
the emperor, patriarch, and the people of Constantinople, in
the Church of St Sophia, celebrates the Mass in Latin, all that —
were present approving that way, and condemning those that
thought otherwise. This was the sixth general Council, con--
sisting of two hundred and eighty-nine bishops, held at Con-
stantinople, wherein, upon the authority of Cyril, Athanasius,

Basil, Gregory, Dionysius, Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, and
Hierom, it was concluded that there were two wills and
operations in Christ, and their pertinacity was exploded who
asserted one will only, from whence they were called Mono-
thelites. The first general Council of three hundred and
eighteen bishops was, as we have already said, held at Nice,
in the Pontificate of Julius and the reign of Constantine,
against Arius, who asserted several substances in the Trinity.

The second at Constantinople, of an hundred and fifty bishops,

in the reign of Gratian and the Pontificate of Damasus, against
Macedonius and Eudoxus, who denied the Holy Ghost
to be God. ‘The third in Ephesus, of two hundred bishops,
in the reign of Theodosius the Second, and the Pontificate of

Leo IT. 163

Celestine, against Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, who
denied the Blessed Virgin to be the mother of God, and made
Christ's humanity and divinity two persons, asserting sepa-
rately one to be the Son of God, the other the son of man.
The fourth at Chalcedon, a city over against Constantinople,
of six hundred and thirty prelates, in the Pontificate of Leo
and the reign of Martian, against Eutyches, abbot of Constan-
tinople, who durst affirm that our Saviour, after His incarna-
tion, had but one nature. The fifth at Constantinople,
against Theodorus and all other heretics, who asserted the
Virgin Mary to have brought forth man only, not God-man ; in
which synod it was concluded, that the Blessed Virgin should
be styled ©séréxog, or the mother of God. Concerning the
sixth synod we have spoken already, in which the letters of
Damianus, Bishop of Pavia, and Mansuetus, Archbishop of
Milan, were very prevalent; the principal contents of them
these, viz. : The true faith concerning Christ, God and Man,
is, that we believe two wills and two operations in him ; our
Saviour says with respect to His divinity, * I and My Father
are one ;"! but with relation to His humanity, * My Father
is greater than L"? Moreover, as man He was found asleep
in the ship ; as God He commanded the winds and the sea.
As for our Agatho (in whose time, after two eclipses, one of
the moon, another of the sun, there followed a grievous pesti-
lence), having been in the chair two years, six months, fifteen
days, he died, and was buried in St Peter's, January the roth.
The see was then vacant one year, five months.

0

LEO II.
A.D. 682-683.

| Page the Second, a Sicilian, son of Paul, was, as appears

by his writings, a person thoroughly learned in the
Latin and Greek languages. Having also good skill in music,
he composed notes upon the Psalms, and very much improved
all church music. He ordained likewise, that at the celebra-
tion of the mass, the pax should be given to the people.
Moreover, he so vigorously maintained and asserted the sixth
synod, of which we have spoken in the life of Agatho, that he

! John x. 30. ? John xiv. 28.
‘ F 2

164 The Lives of the Popes.

excommunicated all those whom, in the presence of Constan-
tine, that synod had condemned. He also repressed the
pride of the bishops of Ravenna, a matter before attempted
by Pope Agatho, and ordained that the election of the clergy
of Ravenna should be invalid, unless it were confirmed by
the authority of the Roman see ; whereas before, they presum-
ing upon the power of their exarchs, managed all things
arbitrarily, owning no subjection to any, but mating even the
popes themselves. He likewise solemnly decreed, that no
person promoted to the dignity of an archbishop should pay
anything for the use of the pall, or upon any other score, a
decree which I could wish it were observed at this day, seeing
how many evils have arisen through bribery. While Leo was
busied in these matters, Rhomoaldus, Duke of Beneventum,
having raised a great army, possessed himself of Taranto,
Brindisi, and all Apuglia, and his wife, Theodata, a devout
lady, out of the spoils of the war, built a church in honour
to St Peter, not far from Beneventum, and a nunnery.
Rhomoaldus dying, was succeeded by his son, Grimoaldus,
who deceasing without issue male, left the dukedom to his
brother, Gisulphus.

Our Leo, who besides his great learning and eloquence was
also an extraordinary person for devotion and charity, and
by his doctrine and example very much promoted justice,
fortitude, clemency, and good will among all men, having
- been in the chair only ten months, died, and, June the 28th,
was accompanied to his burial in the church of St Peter with
the tears of all men, who deplored the loss of him as of a
common father. After his death the see was vacant eleven
months, twenty-one days. The time of his pontificate was
short, but the reputation he gained therein so great, that
one would think he had lived longer than he did, by the
celebrated nanie which he had deservedly acquired in so
little time.

———— (J ee

BENEDICT II.
A.D. 683-685.

ENEDICT the Second, a Roman, his father's name John,
being from his youth brought up to the clergy, was so
intent upon the study of holy writ, that he became an extra-

NS OU TR hag eee NM NN

Rae oe Miei dae is. teak

Benedict IH. 165

ordinary proficient in divinity. He was likewise a person of
great compassion, charity, and good will towards all, especially
the poor ; virtues by which he so won the hearts of men, that
he was pitched upon as the only person who by general con-
sent was fit to succeed in the place of Leo deceased. The
Emperor Constantine, out of the veneration he had for this
man’s sanctity, sent him a decree, in which it was established
that for the time to come he whom the clergy and people of
Rome should choose Pope, should be forthwith acknowledged
Christ’s true vicar, without expecting the authority of the
emperor or his exarchs, according to former usage, when the
confirmation of the emperor or his vicegerent in Italy was
necessary to the creation of a Pope. Pertheris, now king of
the Lombards, in imitation of the religion and charity of
Benedict, built a monastery in honour to St Agatha at Pavia;
and his wife, Rhodelinda, prompted by the example of her
husband, built the church of St Mary ad Perticas without
the walls of Pavia. This they did out of a principle of
emulation, understanding that Pope Benedict had with vast
expense repaired, beautified, and enriched the churches of
St Peter at Rome, that of St Laurence in Lucina, that of St
Valentine in the Via Flaminia, and that of St Mary ad
Martyres. Pertheris had designed greater things of this
nature, but he was diverted by Alalchis, Duke of Trent, who
being puffed up by a great victory which he had gained over
the Bavarians, turned his arms against his king. But Pertheris,
raising an army, at the first engagement routs him, besieges
Trent, whither he had fled for refuge, and though Alalchis
had first made his escape thence by night, takes the city.
However, Pertheris was a prince of so great clemency as to
receive him again into favour upon his submission, and to
make him Duke of Brescia. Some tell us that in Benedict's
time an extraordinary star was seen near the Vergilize several
nights together in a clear sky between Christmas and Epiphany.
I deny not but that a comet then appeared, and portended
something; but its neighbourhood to this constellation is
incoherent, unless we make that prodigious too. For the
Vergilize rise at the vernal equinox, when the sun enters the
sign Aries, about the 24th of March, and begin to set at the
autumnal equinox. But that out of Vesuvius, a mountain in
Campania, so great a fire did at this time burst forth, that it
burnt up all the places round about it, may seem less wonderful,

166 The Lives of the Popes.

considering that Pliny, the natural historian, leaving the ships
which he commanded under Trajan, and approaching too
near it out of curiosity to find out the causes of its burning,
lost his life by that means. However, it is certain that not
long after these things there followed slaughters, rapines, fires,
the death of great men, and particularly of Pope Benedict,
who, as he was universally beloved in his life-time, so after
his death he was famous for his piety and the good offices he
had done to mankind. He was in the chair only ten months,
twelve days, and was buried in St Peter's, May the 15th. By
his death the see was vacant two months, fifteen days.

JOHN V.
A.D. 685-686.

OHN the Fifth, by nation a Syrian, born at Antioch, his
father's name Cyriacus, was created Pope about the time
when the Emperor Constantine died, in the seventeenth

year of his reign and left the Empire to his son Justinian the
Second. The Saracens now invaded Lybia and Africa, and
possessed themselves easily of all the places that lay towards
the sea. But Justinian, having in some measure settled the
. affairs of his Empire and raised a competent army, advancing
against these Saracens, struck such a terror into Abimelech,
their chief, that without engaging, he sued for a peace, and was
glad to restore all his conquests in Africa. And a peace, it is
said by some, was granted them for ten years, but upon con-
dition that they should pay a thousand pieces of gold, and
a slave of their own nation on horseback every day to the.
Emperor. At this time John, a person of great piety and good-
ness, being by general suffrage chosen Pope in the Constan-
tinian Church, was consecrated in the same manner with Leo
the Second by the three Bishops of Ostia, Porto, and Veletri,
a precedent which so obtained, that it was afterwards constantly
practised. His pontificate was rendered remarkable by two
extraordinary persons, Felix, the uncle of Flavianus, and John,

Bishop of Bergamo, men of such eminent learning and sanc-
tity, that they received from princes themselves marks of the
highest respect and veneration. Pope John, who both before

Conon TI. 167

and during his pontificate was a sickly man, having written a
book concerning the dignity of the pall, died in the first year
after his coming to the chair, and was buried in St Peter’s,
August the 2nd. By his death the see was vacant two months,
nineteen days.

0

CONON L
A.D. 686-687.

‘ieee ON, by birth a Thracian, educated in Sicily, and

thence entering into orders at Rome, was of a presbyter
made Pope. For there happening a controversy about the
election, the citizens being for Peter, an Archbishop, and the
soldiers for one Theodorus, a priest, at length, after a long
contention, both parties agreed in the choice of Conon. And
indeed he did every way deserve so great a dignity ; being a
man of great learning and very good life, pious and devout, of
a comely person, and most venerable, or as some called it,
angelical aspect ; of wonderful simplicity and sincerity, modesty
and justice, resolution and prudence. For these excellent
endowments of his all persons concerned with mighty acclama-
tions of applause immediately confirmed his election ; as did
also Theodorus, Exarch of Ravenna, who, being deceased, was
not long after succeeded in the Exarchate by John Platina,
whom I believe to have given the name to the place of my
nativity, called Platina, within the territory of Cremona. For
there being frequent wars between the exarchs and the kings
of Lombardy, it is not improbable, considering that that place
was situated almost in the midway between Ravenna and
Pavia, one of which was the seat of the Lombard kings, the
other of the exarchs, there might at some time be a battle
fought or a camp pitched there, from whence we know that
names are oftentimes given to places, as particularly in the
same country there is Vitelliana, a town so called from Vitellius's
encamping there, and Bebrignano, not far from Babriacum,
famous for the defeat which Otho there received. I return to
Conon, who, presently after his entrance upon the pontificate,
falling sick, Paschal, an archdeacon and manager of the
church stock, endeavours to bribe John, the exarch, to pro-
cure him to be chosen Pope upon the death of Conon. The

168 The Lives of the Popes.

exarch took the money, though he afterwards performed none
of the promises he had made upon that account. And indeed
such a covetous and ambitious wretch deserved to be frustrated
in his designs, who made a bribe of that treasure of the
Church, which, according to Conon’s will, should have been
laid out in relieving the poor and repairing of churches—a
crime to be abhorred in all men, but most detestable in an
ecclesiastic. Such a breach of trust would not have been com-
mitted by Hubert, who was now a bishop in Bretagne, of great
note for his learning and piety; nor Leodegarius, the martyr
bishop of Autun, who was put to death by Theodoric, King of
France, for his frequent and free reproofs ; nor by Audoenus,
Bishop of Rouen, a man who was second to none for knowledge
and sanctity. These were men removed from ambition and .
avarice, fixing all their trust in God and religion, and gaining
thereby reputation among men in this world, and eternal
happiness from God in the other. As for Conon, having been
in the chair only eleven months and three days, he died, and
was buried in St Peter’s, September the 21st. The see was
then vacant two months, twenty-three days.

— () — ——

SERGIUS I.
A.D. 687-701.

ERGIUS, a Syrian, born at Antioch, son of Tiberius,
coming to Rome in the time of Pope Adeodatus, was
admitted into the number of the Roman clergy. Afterwards,
through his industry and improvements in Divine knowledge,
advancing gradually he was ordained parish priest of the
Church of St Susanna. He thereupon beginning more and
more to frequent the cemeteries, and there to perform sacred
offices, by this means he gained so great a reputation, that
upon the decease of Conon he was chosen his successor,
though, indeed, after a long debate. For the people being
divided into two parties, one stood up for Theodorus, and the
other for Paschal, the archdeacon. ‘Theodorus with his party
had forced his entrance into the inner part of the Lateran
palace; the outer, from the oratory of St Sylvester to the
church of the house of Julia, was possessed by Paschal. But the
contention and debate growing so high that every one thought

Sergius I. 169

they would come to blows, each party resolving not to give
place to the other unless by force compelled thereunto, the
principal citizens, clergy, and soldiery assembled together to
consult what was best to be done to lay this tumult. At
length, having duly considered the whole matter, and judging
it not fit to commit the Popedom to either of those who, to
satisfy their own ambition, had been the cause of so great
disorders, by Divine direction they make choice of Sergius,
without the least opposition, and taking him out of the midst
of the crowd upon their shoulders, they carry him first into
the oratory of St Caesarius the martyr, then into the Lateran
Palace, breaking open the doors by force, and driving out
those who were in it before. "Theodorus seeing how all agreed
in the choice, salutes Sergius by the name of Pope, and kisses
him. Paschal, the other competitor, did the same, though
sorely against his will, and being only awed thereunto by the
armed multitude. For secretly and underhand he did by
letters, messengers, and promises, so strongly solicit John,
Exarch of Ravenna, to perform at length what he had pro-
mised him for his money, that the said John comes forthwith
to Rome, without sending any advice before, that so he might
have the advantage of coming upon them unprovided, and
while they were off their guard. But when he understood that
Sergius was by universal consent declared Pope, and urged
the performance of what Paschal had promised him, upon
Sergius expressing a high dislike and detestation of any such
bribery, he violently seizes and carries away several things of
value from the church of St Peter. As for Paschal, the occa-
sion of this mischief, he being accused and convicted of
sorcery, was deprived of his archdeaconry, and for penance
was confined to a monastery, wherein, after his having con-
tinued obstinate for five years, he died. In the meantime
Justinian, being strangely inconstant towards God and men,
both attacks the Saracens and Bulgarians, contrary to the
articles of peace he had concluded with them, from whom yet
it is certain he received more damage than he did to them;
and also returning to Constantinople, being generally hated by
the citizens for his not restraining the cruelty of the city
prefect, he held a synod, wherein some decrees passed not
agreeing with the orthodox faith; which also Sergius’s
- Apocrisiary, or Nuncio, then residing at Constantinople, very
foolishly confirmed by his subscription. But these decrees

170 The Lives of the Popes.

being afterwards brought to Rome, and there exploded by
Sergius, who held that there were two natures in Christ, and
that the Blessed Virgin was the mother of God, Justinian, en-
raged thereat, sends Zacharias Protospatharius (which we may
render the captain of the guards) to Rome, to bring Sergius
bound to him, which, when the soldiers of the Exarchate of
Italy understood, they immediately took up their arms, and
not only defended the Pope from violence, but were very near
having slain Zachary, had he not saved himself by flying for
refuge to the Pope, who kept him for some time in his bed-
chamber, and afterwards sent him back privately to the em-
peror. While these things were transacted at Rome, Leontius,
encouraged by Callinicus the patriarch, having excited the
people of Constantinople to take up arms, and broke open all
the prisons of the city, whereby multitudes of prisoners were
set at liberty, deposes Justinian, and cutting off his nose,
banishes him to the Chersonese of Pontus. Abimelech,
Admiral of the Saracens, having intelligence hereof, and
hoping to make his advantage of these tumults, presently
invades Africa, whither Leontius, with all expedition, sends
his army to check their motion. But not long after, a mutiny
arising among the soldiers, they create one Tiberius, a citizen
of Constantinople, Emperor, who, immediately returning with
the army to Constantinople, seizes Leontius, and having re-
taliated upon him what we have said he did to Justinian, throws
him into prison, reserving him there for future greater igno-
miny. Moreover, he banished Philip, the son of Nicephorus,
a Patrician, and one who had been assistant to him in getting
the Empire, only because he had told his companions how he
dreamt that he saw an eagle covering his head with her wings,
which Tiberius feared might be a presage of the young man’s
coming to the Empire. While things went thus at Constanti-
nople, Pipin, Duke of Austrasia, laid the foundation of gaining
the kingdom of France. For, understanding that one Ber-
tarius, a mean fellow whom King Theodoric made use of as
his chief minister, was generally hated by all people, he
marches with a vast army into France, and being encountered
in his passage by Theodoric and Bertarius, he engages in
battle with them and defeatsthem. — Bertarius saved himself by
flight, but Theodoric retreating, by agreement upon a truce,

constitutes the victorious Pipin mayor of the palace, and .

principal administrator of his kingdom. After this Pipin re-

.

3 ;
as M Seres net) Ct, ek PO eRe COLT TIE TT EI NT TR

Sergius I. 171

turned to Austrasia upon intelligence that the Germans and
Suevi infested his people; and having quelled them, he sets
forward towards France again, upon the news that Theodoric
being dead, the kingdom had fallen to his brother, Childepert.
Arriving there, and being very kindly received by the king,
after he had put his son into the place of mayor of the palace,
he again returns enraged at the Suevi and Germans, who
were now the second time in arms.

At this time Sergius having, since the banishment of Jus-
tinian, enjoyed peace and tranquillity, repaired the Church of
St Peter, and restored it to its ancient beauty. The front of
it he adorned with mosaic work, made the candlesticks and
other ornaments of it of gold and silver, found a part of our
Saviour’s cross in a little brass coffer, and because the body of
St Leo had hitherto lain less regarded than his merits re-
quired, he reposited it ina more honourable and celebrated
place. The statues of the apostles defaced with age he
renewed, and either repaired or made wholly new the orna-
ments of many churches, which it would be tedious to
enumerate. Moreover, he ordained that at the breaking of
the body of our Lord, should be sung ‘‘O Lamb of God, that
takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us”; and
that on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, and
of St Simon, there should be yearly a procession with Litanies
through the city, setting out at St Hadrian. He made Dami-
anus Archbishop of Ravenna, and Berflauardus Archbishop
of Bretagne. By his learning and authority he brought over
to the truth the Church of Aquileia, which before consented
not wholly to the fifth synod. Some tell us, that at this time
Lambertus, a person of great sanctity, suffered martyrdom at
Liege, because he was so hardy as to reprove Pipin for slight-
ing his wife’s bed and keeping Alpais, a whore. The author
of his death is said to have been her own brother, who after-
wards died of the lousy disease. It is written also that by
the exemplary sanctity of Sergius, the Saxons were now first
wrought upon to embrace Christianity. The good man
having by these means gained a great reputation; and having
been in the chair thirteen years, eight months, twenty-three
days, he died, and was with the lamentation of all men, who
wept as at the loss of a common father, with great solemnity
buried in the church of St Peter, September the 8th. The
see was then vacant one month, twenty days.

172 The Lives of the Popes.

JOHN^VE
A.D. 702-705.

OHN the Sixth, a Grecian, was elected Pope at the time
when Theophylact, the exarch, in his passage to Italy,
arrived first at Sicily, which, being known to the Italian

soldiers, who having of late times usually sided more with
the popes than the emperors, were afraid that his coming
might betoken some ill, they resolved to kill him at his
entrance into Rome. But by the authority of Pope John,
who made himself umpire between them, Theophylact was
protected, and all things being made up and accommodated,
he goes for Ravenna. In the meantime Gisulphus, Duke of
Beneventum, taking heart upon this disagreement of the
exarch and soldiers, invades Terra di Lavoro, possesses him-
self of Sora and Arpino, burns villages, makes the villagers
his prisoners, and drives away their cattle. ‘The Pope being
deeply sensible of this calamity, sends his ambassadors to
Gisulphus, to admonish him to quit those places which he
had no right to, and to return into Abruzzo; which, if he
refused to do, he should soon feel the vengeance of Almighty
God upon him. Gisulphus being terrified hereby, restores
the towns he had taken, and returns to Beneventum. Of
those which were carried away captive, Pope John redeemed
all he could find out, as far as the treasure of the Church
. would reach for their ransom.

At this time Justinian, who, as we have said, had been
banished by Leontius to the Chersonese of Pontus, making
his escape, thence comes to Cacanus, King of the Avares,
who at first treated him with the greatest respect and kind-
ness, and promised him his daughter in marriage ; but after-
wards being corrupted with bribes by Tiberius, he designed
to betray his guest and son-in-law into his hands. Justinian
having notice hereof, flees to Trebellius, Prince of the Bul-
garians, by whose aid he was in a little time after restored to
the Empire. While these things were transacted in Europe,
the Saracens being possessed of Libya and Africa, set sail
from Septa, and passing over into Spain, made themselves
masters of it all, except that part inhabited by the Asturians
and Biscains ; who, as they had been the last people of Spain
who were subdued to the Roman Empire, and the last who

John VII. 173

revolted from it, and the only people who shook off the yoke
of the Visigoths, so now having received the Christian faith,
they were the men who continued steadfastly with the greatest
resolution to defend themselves by arms against the per-
fidious Saracens. So then, Africa, which being recovered by
Belisarius, general to Justinian the First, had been subject to
the Roman Empire a hundred and seventy years, and also
Granada in Hispania Beetica, being at this time seized by the
Saracens, have been obedient to their laws and customs now
this seven hundred and forty years, to the great reproach of
Christianity ; the Spaniards, who are wont to boast of their
wit and valour, not being able to drive them out of Europe.
Some tell us that Bede, who lived in these times, by letters
written to several Christian princes, did very much bewail this
calamity, that thereby he might excite them to enter into a
war against these enemies of God and men. This Bede
was not only extraordinarily well skilled in the Greek and
Latin tongues, but also for his eminent piety and modesty,
gained the surname of Venerable. He wrote many things
upon the Acts of the Apostles, and upon St Luke; he pub-
lished a book of chronology, and several homilies, which are
much used by the Gallican clergy. Moreover, of Strabo and
Haymo, two very learned men, said to be Bede’s brethren,
one composed divers elegant homilies, and the other com-
mented upon Genesis. As for Pope John, having repaired
the church of St Andrew in the Vatican, and the roof of that
of St Mark, and adorned with pillars on each hand the altar
of St Peter's, in the third year and third month of his pon-
tificate he died, as some think, a martyr, but by whom he
suffered martyrdom does not sufficiently appear. It is said
he was buried in the cemetery of St Sebastian in the Via
Appia. By his death the see was vacant one month,
nineteen days.

ee ()

JOHN VII.

A.D. 705-707.

OHN the Seventh, a Grecian, son of Plato, entered upon
the pontificate at the time when Justinian, being returned
to Constantinople, caused. Tiberius and Leontius, by

whom he had been deposed, to be publicly put to death. Many

174 The Lives of the Popes.

of his enemies he cut off by sundry kinds of death, and
many he imprisoned ; some one or other of which he would
every day order to be killed, when the wiping of his nose
put him in mind of the injury that had been done him.
Moreover, having caused the eyes of Callinicus, the patriarch
of Constantinople, to be put out, he banished him to Rome,
and made Cyrus an abbot, who had maintained him in Pontus,
patriarch in his stead. Being acted by the same foolish
humour as he had been before his loss of the Empire in
the time of Pope Sergius, he sends to Rome two metropoli-
. tans, to persuade Pope John to hold a synod, wherein they
of the Western Church might confirm the truth of what those
of the East believed concerning the consubstantiality of the
Son with the Father, sending to him the articles to which he
would have him subscribe. The Pope sends the men back to
the emperor without doing anything in the matter ; but yet
he did not by his censures and interdicts correct the errone-
ous opinions concerning God, as it was fit he should, and as
it would have become a steady and resolute Pope to have
done. Some write, though without good authority, that
Arithpertus, King of the Lombards, from a religious principle,
gave the Cottian Alps, and all the tract that reaches from
Piedmont to the coast of Genoa, to the Church of Rome.
Others say that this donation was only confirmed by Arith-
pertus. But since there is no certainty concerning the dona-
tion itself, and the lawyers call it the chaff, because it yields
no corn, and it appears in no respect to have been the gift of
Constantine, how can there be any evidence of its confirma-
tion? I return to Pope John, a person who spake and lived
very well, and who built an oratory in the church of St
Peter, in honour to the Blessed Virgin, upon the walls of
which, on each hand, were wrought in mosaic work the effigies
of several of the holy fathers. Moreover, he repaired the church
of St Eugenia, which had long before been decayed through
age. He adorned also the cemeteries of the martyrs, Marcel-
linus and Marcus, and Pope Damasus. Finally, he beautified
divers other churches with the pictures and statues of the
saints, wherein the painters and statuaries had so well imitated
the gravity and majesty of his own aspect, that whosoever -
looked upon them thought they saw the Pope himself.
Having been in the chair two years, seven months, seventeen
days, he. died, and was buried October the 18th, in the

Constantine f. 175

church of St Peter, before the altar of the Blessed Virgin,
which himself had built. The see was then vacant three
months. :

0

SISINNIUS.
A.D. 708.

ISINNIUS, or (as others call him) Sozimus, a Syrian, his
father’s name John, lived in the pontificate no more than
twenty days, in which time it is said the body of St Benedict
was by stealth conveyed away from Mount Cassino, by reason
of the solitude of the place, and carried into France. Now
Sisinnius, though he was so afflicted with the gout, both in his
hands and feet, that he could neither walk nor feed himself, yet
he took such care both of the city and Church of Rome, as
to leave nothing undone which became a good Pope. He
had already prepared all materials for raising the decayed
walls of the city, and the repairing and beautifying of the old
ruined churches ; but he died suddenly, and was buried in St
Peter's, February the 6th. The see was then vacant one
month, eighteen days

0

CONSTANTINE I.
A.D. 708-716.

ONSTANTINE, another Syrian, his father’s name like-
wise John, was created Pope at the time when there
happened to be a famine at Rome, which lasted three years ;
in which exigence he was so charitable to all, but especially the
poorer sort, that men thought him to have been sent down
from heaven for their relief. In the meantime Justinian, out
of the hatred he bore to the name of Pontus, sends Mauritius,
one of the patrician order, and Helias, one of his guards, with
a fleet to the Chersonese, where he had been in exile, with
commission to put all above the age of fourteen to the sword;
which, to glut the emperor’s rage, they accordingly put in
execution. And that we may not think that cruelty was his
only vice, he became guilty of so great ingratitude as in an

176 The Lives of the Popes.

hostile manner to surprise King Trebellius, by the aid of
whose forces he had been restored to the Empire, at a time
when he was engaged in a war with the Thracians ; but Tre-
bellius not only bore the check, but also forced him to retreat
with loss. "There was no alteration from his former course of
life, wrought in him by the calamities he had undergone, in
anything save in this, that he now venerated and defended
the apostolic see contrary to what he had formerly used to do.
For when Felix, having been consecrated Archbishop of
Ravenna by the Pope, was required, according to custom, to
send in writing his acknowledgment of the papal authority
and money to Rome, which he stiffly refused to do, Justinian,
upon knowledge of the matter, presently sends order to ‘Theo-
dorus, a patrician, his admiral, with the first opportunity to
leave Sicily and go against the Ravennates. He obeying the
emperor’s order, and having in battle gained a victory over
them, exercises the greatest cruelty towards them, and sends
Felix bound in chains to Constantinople ; whom Justinian
afterwards banished into Pontus, having first deprived him of
his sight, after this manner, he caused him to fix his eyes
long upon a red-hot concave vessel of brass, out of which
there issued a fiery pyramid, which easily overcame his eyes
and blinded him. Yet Constantine did by no means approve
of this cruelty, being more desirous of his reformation than
his punishment.

While the Pope and emperor were thus employed, Anspran-
‘dus, endeavouring, with the aid of the Bavarians, to recover the
kingdom of his ancestors, comes into Italy, and engaging in a
pitched battle with Arithpertus, vanquishes him, and gains the
kingdom of the Lombards, Arithpertus himself by a too fearful
and hasty flight being drowned in a swift river. But Anspran-
dus, not long after dying, did with general approbation leave
his son Luithprandus successor to his kingdom.

Justinian being now very desirous to see Pope Constantine,
having sent ships to convey him safely, makes it his request
that he would come to him. Constantine, yielding thereunto,
and approaching now near to Constantinople, Tiberius, Jus-
tinian’s son, with a princely retinue, and Cyrus, the patriarch,
with all the clergy, in honour to him go out eight miles to
meet him ; and being dressed in his pontificalibus, they conduct
him with 3;Jemn pomp into the city, and lead him into the
palace. © Soing from thence to Nicomedia, whither also the

Constantine f. 177

emperor was to come from Nice, he was received there after
the same manner as at Constantinople. Justinian entering the
city soon after, not only embraced the Pope, but also kissed
his feet in sign of honour. Having on the days following dis-
coursed of several affairs between themselves, and Justinian
having confirmed the Pope’s decrees, Constantine, at his taking
leave, advises him not to proceed too severely against Philippi-
cus, then an exile in Pontus, apprehending some mischief
might arise thereupon, because he understood that Philippicus
was a person of great fortitude and prudence. But Justinian
not following the Pope’s good counsel, sends a fleet to Pontus
with design to despatch Philippicus, who, upon a revolt of the
soldiers to him, with the same fleet makes towards Constanti-
nople, and at twelve miles distance from the city engaging with
Justinian and Tiberius, got the victory and slew them, and with
universal acclamation was declared emperor. This Philippicus
afterwards banishing Cyrus, the patriarch, into Pontus, for his
consenting in belief with the Pope, puts one John, a monk and
an arch-heretic into his place ; whose opinions he forthwith
sent in writing to Rome, requiring all to subscribe their assent
to them. But Constantine, holding a synod, not only con-
demned the opinions of Philippicus and John the monk, but
also appointed the images of those holy fathers, who had been
present at the councils universally approved of, to be painted
in the Portico of St Peter’s, upon intelligence that in a way of
contempt they had been rubbed off from the walls of St Sophia
by Philippicus’ order. Moreover, the same Pope ordained
that the name of no heretical emperor should be inserted in
any public or private writings, or impressed upon brass or silver
orlead. But Anastasius, surnamed Arthemius, by force of arms
deposes Philippicus, in the first year and sixth month of his
Empire, and seizing him puts out his eyes. "This Anastasius
sends letters to Pope Constantine, in which he promises to be
a zealous defender of the Catholic faith and the sixth synod.
But he also, within three years, being slighted by the soldiers,
was deposed, and compelled by Theodosius, who succeeded
him, to take holy orders, that so he might never afterwards
pretend or aspire to the Empire. Theodosius, a Catholic
Emperor, forthwith gave order for the restoring of the images
of the Holy Fathers, which, as we have said, had been de-
stroyed by Philippicus. And Felix, who had been banished
into Pontus, quitting his former obstinacy, returned home and

178 The Lives of the Popes.

was restored to his see, of which he had been deprived. At
this time also it was declared that the Bishop of Pavia was sub-
ject only to the see of Rome, and not to the Archbishop of
Milan ; concerning which matter there had been a great and
long controversy between the two prelates. Some write that
two kings of the Saxons, under the obligations of a religious
vow, came now to Rome, and that they there died, as I think,
of the pestilence. Not long after them died Constantine,
having been in the chair seven years, twenty days, and was
buried in St Peter's, February the 11th. The see was then
vacant one month, eleven days.

Ó—À 0

GREGORY II.
A.D. 716-731.

(PSOE the Second, a Roman, son of Marcellus, enter-

ing into holy orders in the time of Sergius, was, upon the
reputation of his great fidelity and integrity, made the Pope's
almoner and library-keeper. Being afterwards ordained
deacon, he attended Pope Constantine to Constantinople,
where there being a warm debate concerning some articles of
religion, he disputed so smartly, that all men admired his
learning, wit, and eloquence, by which he easily confuted those
who held any erroneous opinions. Soon after his being created
Pope, he rebuilt the walls of the city, which in several places
were fallen down through age, and repaired the decayed
churches of St Peter and St Laurence without the walls, laying
in the water anew, by mending the battered and disjoined
pipes, which formerly had conveyed it into them. He repaired
also, and enriched with presents of gold and silver, divers
other churches, which it would be tedious to enumerate. Yet
I will not pass by in silence his reviving a monastery in the
Via Ostiensis, not far from St Paul's, whose ruins are yet to
be seen, and also that of St Andrew, settling monks therein, -
who were to be continually employed in the exercise of
devotion. Moreover, it was the peculiar commendation
of this Pope, that through his means the Germans were
converted to Christianity; he having sent among them
Boniface, a monk, to bring them out of darkness by

Gregory L1. 179

setting up the light of the truth. Of these Germans a great
number came to Rome, and were baptized with the Pope’s
own hands. Healso by his authority compelled Luithprandus,
who at first refused it, to confirm the donation of Arithpertus,
of which we have spoken before ; which Luithprandus did at
the beginning of his reign both possess himself of a great part
of Bavaria, and also besiege and take Ravenna. In the time
of this Pope there was such an inundation of the river Tiber,
which flowed into the city through the Porta del Popolo, that
in the Via Lata the water was almost a man’s height, and
from Ponte Molle to the steps of St Peter's, men rowed about
in large boats. This inundation continued seven days, to
the great loss and damage of the citizens, it having borne
down houses, and rooted up trees, corn, plants, and herbs.
'The moon also being now in an eclipse, appeared of a bloody
colour till midnight ; and there was seen a comet, with its tail
extending towards the north, betokening some future calamity.
Whereupon Gregory, that he might avert the displeasure of
Almighty God from the Christians, ordered frequent litanies
in procession through the whole city. While the Pope was
thus employed at Rome, there came advice that the Lom-
bards under the Duke of Beneventum had surprised the fort
of Cuma ; at which Gregory, being very much disturbed, sends
to admonish them to restore this fort, which contrary to the
articles of peace they had unjustly possessed themselves of, or
otherwise they would soon feel the indignation of Almighty
God upon them. But after several messages of the like nature,
they not quitting it, he encourages the Neapolitans, upon th

promise of a sum of money, and the sending some Roman
soldiers for their assistance, to recover it by force. "T'heodunus
the arch-deacon, having the management of this affair, the
Neapolitans set briskly to the work, and re-take the fort, kill-
ing three hundred of those who were in garrison therein, and
taking five hundred prisoners, whom they carried to Naples,
where the soldiers forthwith received the reward which had .
been promised them. Gregory now enjoying peace, applied
himself to church work. For he repaired the church of St
Cross in Jerusalem, which had long lain neglected, and new
arched and roofed the porches on every side of it; he built
from the foundations the oratory of St'Susanna on Mount
Coelius ; and after the death of his mother, dedicated his
father's house to the honour of St Agatha, building it into a

180 The Lives of the Popes.

- monastery, which he plentifully endowed for the maintenance
of the monks therein.

The Saracens, now encouraged by the discord they observed
among the Christians, setting sail from Septa in Africa, and
arriving in Spain, ravage all the country except Granada,
which was inhabited by those of their own nation already, and
at length with their wives and children pass as far as Aquitain,
designing to possess themselves of that province also.
Charles Martel, the son of Pipin, was at this time famous
throughout the world. This Pipin, after the death of Grim-
oald, had two other sons left, Carloman and Charles Martel ;
which Charles, this brother also dying, gained afterwards to
himself the kingdom of France, though not without great op-
position, especially of Eudo, Duke of Aquitain and Chilperic,
whom some of the French, upon the death of Theodoric, had
sent up to be their king. But Martel having passed the river
Seine, and advanced to Orleans, at the first attack puts them
to flight, and becomes sole possessor of the kingdom of France.
After this he passed the Rhine, and conquered the Saxons,
Alemans, Suevi, and Bavarians. But having intelligence
that the Saracens had been invited by Eudo into France, by
great marches he comes forth against them, and obliging them
to fight, gains a mighty victory not far from Tours. Histor-
ians write that in this battle there were slain of the Saracens
three hundred and sixty thousand, but of the French only one
thousand, one hundred and fifty, and it is said, that Eudo here
upon came over to Martel’s side. The Saracens being by
this means through Martel’s valour diverted from any further
attempts upon the Spaniards and French, turn all the rage and
indignation which upon so great an overthrow had been raised
in them, upon the Constantinopolitans, whose city they be-
sieged by sea and land in the space of three years. But
suffering all the extremities of war, being pinched with hunger
and cold, and a pestilence moreover raging among them, they
raised the siege and returned home. It is said, that of this
plague there died in Constantinople three hundred thousand.
As for the affairs of Italy, the Lombards now under the con-
duct of Luithprandus after a long siege took and sacked
Ravenna, carrying away from thence to Pavia all things of
considerable value, and amongst the rest, as I believe, the
famous statue on horseback in brass. Thus according to the
usual vicissitude of human affairs, it so fell out, that what

Gregory IT. 181

Theodoric and other kings of the Goths, and after them the
exarchs, had taken from Rome and carried to Ravenna, was
by others afterwards scattered about and dispersed into
several places. In the meantime there was at Rome a plot
laid by some seditious people against the Pope, the heads of
the conspiracy being Basilius, Jordanus a notary, John a sub-
deacon, surnamed Lurion, and Marinus, an officer of the
guards, who at this time was Governor of Rome under the
emperor. But upon the emperor’ recalling Marinus, the
business was deferred to another time. "The. conspirators
tampered also with Paul the exarch, being willing in a matter
of so great importance to have him to head them. The whole
design being at length discovered by the people of Rome, they
appear in arms, kill John Lurion, and dissipate the other con-
spirators. Basilius was confined to a monastery, where he
died. The forementioned Paul being highly enraged at the
Pope for prohibiting his levying new taxes, did by the em-
peror's orders seek all ways, both secret and open, of taking
away the good man's life ; but the Romans and Lombards tak-
ing up arms, defended him. The Emperor Leo hereupon
publishes an edict, commanding all those who were subjects
of the Roman Empire to rase out and take away all the
pictures and images of saints, martyrs, and angels out of their
churches, with design, as he .professed, thereby to prevent
idolatry ; and declaring that whosoever refused so to do should
be accounted a public enemy. But Gregory not only not
obeyed this order, but also encouraged all Catholics to stand
up stoutly against it. Whereupon the people of Italy were so
animated, that they were near choosing another emperor, had
not Gregory by his authority interposed to prevent it. Not-
withstanding which there arose such a dissension at Ravenna,
some pleading for obedience to the emperor, others to the Pope,
that Paul the exarch, together with his son, was slain in the
tumult, to succeed in whose place the emperor sends Eutychius,
an eunuch, who by gifts and promises was to endeavour to break
the friendship and alliance between the Lombards and the Pope.
But that attempt having been often made in vain, was dropped
for a time; and the Pope being freed of this trouble, began
to visit the hospitals and churches, and to repair those of
them which, through age or neglect, had fallen to decay.
Moreover, he made a peace between the King of the Lom-
bards and the Dukes of Spoleto and Beneventum, which that

182 The Lives of the Popes.

king had intended to crush, but having marched in a peaceable
manner as far as Rome to confer with the Pope about the
matter, Gregory, by his Christian counsel, so mollified his
mind, that, laying aside all thoughts of war, he offered up his
sword and other arms in the church of St Peter. The Em-
peror Leo now, in another wild humour, commanded all the
images, either of wood, brass, or marble, to be brought to
him, which he forthwith caused to be burnt, and seized upon
and put to death those who refused to bring them. Germanus,
the patriarch, who vigorously opposed it, he banished, and
put into his place Anastasius, an heretic, whom Gregory after-
wards in a synod deprived, and interdicted the exercise of
sacred offices if he refused to return to the Catholic faith.
Furthermore, as became a pious prelate, he oftentimes by
letters admonished the Emperor to quit the erroneous opinions
into which some ill men had seduced him, and at length to
embrace the truth, and to cease the destroying of the images
of the saints, by whose example and memory men might be
excited to the imitation of their virtues. Some write that in
this Pope’s time, Boniface came out of Britain to Rome, and
for his sanctity was of a monk made a bishop, and sent into
Germany, that by his preaching and example he might confirm
that people in the faith, which he performed so well, that he
was deservedly made Bishop of Mentz; but passing thence
into Africa, he was for his preaching the Word of God put to
death by the enemies of Christianity. It is said also that
St /Egidius, a Grecian, was now famous for the holy life he
led and the miracles he wrought ; and that Petronax, a citizen
of Brescia, did by vow repair at his own charge the monastery
of St Benedict, which was almost quite left desolate. As for
Gregory, who by his good example excited all men to the
practice of piety and virtue, having been in the chair sixteen
years, nine months, eleven days, he died, and was buried in
St Peters, February the 11th. By his death the see was
vacant thirty-five days. He is said to have consecrated during
his pontificate one hundred and forty-eight bishops.

Gregory III. 183

GREGORY III.

A.D. 731-741.

d pduiuesa the Third, a Syrian, his father's name John,

was unanimously elected Pope in the year seven hun-
dred and fiftyznine. He was a person of singular learning,
very well skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues, and of such
an insight into the sense of holy writ, that no man was more
ready at the expounding of the abstruse and difficult places in
it. Nor did he work upon the people merely by his preaching
and eloquence, but in all respects he gave them such a pre-
vailing example that it is difficult to determine whether he
spake or lived better. He was so valiant a defender of the
Catholic faith that he thereby contracted the displeasure and
hatred of the greatest Princes; but by no force or power or
menace was removed one step from his resolution. Finally,
his goodwill towards all men was such that he cherished and
relieved the poor, redeemed captives, released insolvent
debtors, and asserted the cause of widows and orphans against
potent oppressors in such a manner that he deserved the
name of a common father and pastor. Soon after his entrance
upon the pontificate, with the consent of the clergy of Rome
he excommunicated and deposed the Emperor Leo for his
having rased the pictures of the saints out of the churches and
destroyed their images, and also for not being orthodox in
opinion concerning the consubstantiality of the Son with the
Father. In the meantime Luithprandus, King of the Lom-
bards, from an ambitious desire of enlarging his dominions,
having possessed himself of all the towns round about, lays siege
to Rome itself; whereupon Gregory forthwith dispatches mes-
sengers by sea, it not being safe for ‘them to pass by land, to
Charles, Prince of the French, to pray him that he would
speedily aid the distressed city and Church of Rome. Indeed,
formerly the Popes when they were in any great danger from
abroad, had been wont to seek for succour from the Emperor
of Constantinople ; but Gregory now declined it, both for the
causes we have just before mentioned, and also especially
because Leo was now hard put to it to defend Constantinople
itself against the Saracens, and therefore little able to protect
others. By which means it came to pass that the Constanti-
nopolitan Emperors being for the time to come unapplied to,

184 The Lives of the Popes.

the protection of the church was from henceforward put into
other hands. Upon Gregory’s request, Charles undertaking
the church’s patronage, desires Luithprandus as his friend, and
particularly upon the account of his son Pipin, his near ally, to
quit his enterprise, and not give the Pope any disturbance,
whereupon Luithprandus raises the siege. ‘The affairs of Italy
being thus composed, Charles turns his army with success
against the Burgundians ; crushes the idolatrous Frisons ; takes
Lyons, Arles, and Marseilles from the Visigoths, who there-
upon invite to their aid Athimus, the King of the Saracens, who,
passing the Rhone, takes Avignon by storm, intending to make
use of the convenience of that place for a citadel. But Charles,
upon intelligence hereof, hastens thither with his army, and
retakes Avignon, putting to the sword all the Saracens who
were in garrison init. From thence he marched to Narbonne,
whither he understood that Athimus had fled. But having
advice that Amoreus, another Saracen, King of Spain, was
coming with a great army to the aid of Athimus, he quitted
the siege of Narbonne, and marched to the valley of Corbiere,
not far off, wherein there was a fair plain very commodious to
join battle in. Amoreus, thinking that Charles, having been
routed, had fled thither, enters the valley, and prepares to
engage, which Charles did not decline, though the number of
the adversarys army was incredibly great. The dispute
having continued for some time very warm, and Amoreus
himself having been slain at the beginning of the engage-
‘ment, at length the Saracens were forced to betake themselves
to flight, and a great part of them were killed in the fens and
marches thereabouts. Athimus, as good luck would have it, ©
making his escape by sea towards the farther part of Spain,
in rage and despair laid waste, by fire and sword, all the
islands which he arrived at in his passage. Much about this
time the body of St Augustine, which, two hundred and fifty
years before, when the Vandals wasted Africa, had been
carried away from Hippo into Sardinia, was by the care of
Luithprandus translated thence to Pavia, and reposited in a
very honourable place of interment. The Saracens being now
pretty well tamed, kept themselves within the Pyrenean Hills,
upon which all the Visigoths, who possessed the hither parts
of Spain and part of France, being not able to defend them-
selves, were subdued by Charles; and so that people, who
had domineered for almost three hundred years, were utterly

Gregory HI. 185

extinguished, except some few who were saved by the people
of Barcelona. Some write that Charles was in this war
assisted by Luithprandus with men, who after the victory
returned home laden with booty. In the meanwhile Pope
Gregory, not neglecting to improve the time of peace he now
enjoyed, applied himself to church work. The altar of St
Peter's he made more stately, by erecting a row of six pillars
of onyx on each hand of it, whereas many of the same
magnitude and figure had formerly stood, but were now
decayed through age. Upon these pillars were architraves,
gilt with silver, on which he set up the images of our Saviour
and the apostles at equal distances. He built also an oratory
in the same church, in which he reposited some of the relics
of almost all the saints, and ordered Mass to be therein daily
performed, in the canon of which he added these words,
which were engraven upon the marble round about the
oratory: *' Quorum Solennitas in conspectu tue Majestatis
celebratur, Domine Deus noster, toto in Orbe terrarum, &c.,"—
7.e., Whose anniversaries are celebrated in the sight of Thy
Majesty, O Lord our God, throughout all the world, &c.,—
which clause is not in the general canon now used. More-
over, he gave to this church several vessels of silver, and
caused to be made at his own charge the image of the
Blessed Virgin with our Saviour in her arms, of gold,
which he placed in the church of St Mary ad Preesepe. He
also repaired the roof of the church of St Chrysogonus,
appointing monks for the daily performance of Divine service
therein, and settling an estate for their maintenance. Several
monasteries he either repaired or built from the ground, to
the recluses whereof he prescribed rules of strict and holy
living, He rebuilt also the ruined walls of the city of Rome,
and in like manner those of the almost desolate Civita
Vecchia. Furthermore, he ordained the celebration of Mass
in the church of St Peter, almost without intermission, both
by the priests in weekly attendance and by the monks ; upon
which account we may observe the cells of the monks and
the houses of the secular priests to be in several places
contiguous, each of them striving to outdo the other in
diligence at their devotion. Our Gregory, having well
discharged: his duty towards God and men, died in the
tenth year, eighth month, and twenty-fourth day of his ponti-
ficate, and was, with general lamentation, buried in St Peter's,
November the 28th. The see was then vacant only eight days.

186 The Lives of the Popes.

ZACHARIAS I.

A.D. 741-752.

ACHARIAS, a Grecian, the son of Polychronius, is
reckoned in the number of the best Popes. For he was

a person of a very mild disposition and wonderfully sweet
conversation ; every way deserving ; a lover of the clergy and
people of Rome ; slow to anger, but very forward to exercise
mercy and clemency ; rendering to no man evil for evil, but
in imitation of our Saviour, overcoming evil with good, and
that to such a degree, that after his arriving to the papal
dignity, he preferred and enriched those who had envied and
hated him. At the beginning of his pontificate, finding Italy
inflamed in war, in order to procure a peace he forthwith
sends legates to Luithprandus, King of the Lombards, who
now made war upon Transamundus, Duke of Spoleto. But
these legates not effecting the design, he himself goes in
person, accompanied with the Roman clergy, into Sabina ;
and it is said that, in sign of honour, the king met him eight
miles from Narni, and alighting off his horse, accompanied
him on foot into the city. The day following, while they
were at Mass, the Pope made publicly an elegant oration,
wherein he set forth the duty of a Christian king both in the
time of peace and war; and it is reported that the king was
so wrought upon by it, that he presently put the sole power of
accommodating matters into the Pope's hands. The king had
already deposed Transamund, and invested Agrandus, his
nephew, in the dukedom. Yet, at the Pope's intercession,
Transamund was received into favour; but he, quitting all
pretensions to the dukedom, entered into holy orders. All
the towns which had been taken in Sabina were restored; as
also Narni and Ancona, and whatever places the Lombards
had for thirty years past made themselves masters of in
Tuscany. Moreover, all. who had been made prisoners
during the war were set at liberty. Luithprandus, having
been treated by the Pope with all imaginable expressions
of endearment and respect, marched thence peaceably with
his army, and not long after died, in the thirty-second
year of his reign. He was a person who deserved that
kingdom, both for his extraordinary wisdom and prudence,
and also for his valour and warlike temper, in which

ZachariasI. 187

no man excelled him; so eminent also for justice and
clemency, that it is hard to judge whether of these two
virtues were more conspicuous in him. His nephew Hilde-
prandus succeeded him in the kingdom, which having held
only six months, he also died; and Duke Rachis, a prince
whose piety and integrity deserve the highest praise, was
unanimously chosen in his stead. By him also a league was
renewed with the Pope, to whose legates the devout and
religious king graciously granted whatever they desired. But
having reigned four years, he quitted his government, and
betook himself to a monastic life, encouraging his wife and
his sons to do the like. His brother Aistulphus succeeded
him, whose crafty and fierce temper threatened disturbance
to all Italy, but especially to the Pope and the Romans,
whom he designed by force to bring under his jurisdiction
In the meantime Charles Martel, being seized with a violent
sickness, at the persuasion of his friends divided his acquests
between his two sons; of whom Carloman, the elder, had
Austrasia and Suevia, and Pipin, Burgundy and part of
France. And so that valiant and wise man died at Cressey
sur Serre, in the thirty-fifth year of his office of Mayor of the
Palace, and was buried at Paris in the Church of St Dennis.
He had had by a former wife another son named Grypho,
whose rapacious temper suited with his name; he prevailed
with the warlike Saxons to assist him in making war upon his
brethren. But Carloman and Pipin entering Saxony with
an army, force their prince, Theodoric, to submission. After
this expedition, Carloman comes to Rome, and there re-
nouncing the Pope and glory of empire, he goes to Mount
Cassino, and takes the habit of a monk of St Benedict. But
Pipin, being of an aspiring mind, sends ambassadors to the
Pope, desiring that by his authority he would confirm to him
the kingdom of France. The Pope upon the score of former
good services performed by his family, and the ancient friend-
ship which had been between them and the Popes his
predecessors, yields to his request, and accordingly confirms
him, A.D. 751, and so from mayor of the palace, who was the
first officer of the kingdom, Pipin was advanced to the
kingdom of France itself, from whom the succeeding kings
derive their original. It is reported that Carloman, who, as
we have said, had taken the habit of a monk, came now with
others of the same order, from Mount Cassino to Pope

188 The Lives of the Popes.

Zachary, desiring that by his mediation they might gain leave
to remove the body of St Benedict, which had by stealth been
carried away to the Abbey of Fleury in the kingdom of
France. The Pope granted their desire, and thereupon sent
a message to King Pipin, who, upon information in the
matter, freely gave way to it. Zachary, now enjoying peace
on every side, set himself to the repairing of several decayed
churches. ‘The tower and portico before the Lateran Church
he built from the ground, made the windows and gates of
brass, and upon the frontispiece of the portico caused a map
of the world to be delineated. He renewed the defaced
images of the saints; enlarged and beautified the Lateran
Palace ; repaired the Palatine library, and assigned to every
church a revenue for the maintenance of oil for their lamps.
He gave to St Peter’s an altar-cloth embroidered with gold
and set with jewels, having the effigies of our blessed Saviour
wrought upon it. He built the church of St George in
Velabro, and reposited the head of that saint therein ; as also
the church of St Cecilia in the Via Tiburtina, six miles from
the city, and in it an oratory in honour of St Cyrus the abbot,
settling a maintenance for the priests that ministered in it.
He rebuilt the roof of the church of St Eusebius, which
happened in his time to tumble down. He also gave order
that his servants should daily distribute and give out at the
Lateran Palace alms to the poor of all sorts. Moreover, he
forbade the Venetians, upon pain of excommunication, the
selling of Christian slaves to Saracens and heathens, which
those merchants were before wont to do. Finally, that we
may not think that his advancement to so great a dignity
made him neglect his studies, he translated out of Latin into
Greek four books of Gregory in dialogue ; that so the Grecians
might be instructed in the rules of good living. But having
with such integrity to the satisfaction of all men governed
the Church ten years, three months, he died, and was buried
in St Peter's, March the 15th. By his death the see was
vacant twelve days.

Stephen I. 189

STEPHEN II.

A.D. 752-757.

TEPHEN the Second, a Roman, son of Constantine, from
one degree in the Church to another, ascended at length

to the papal dignity ; although upon the death of Zachary
the people presently made choice of another Stephen, a priest,
who on the third day of his pontificate awaking out of
sleep, and beginning to settle his domestic affairs, was
suddenly seized with a fit of an apoplexy, of which he died.
After whom our Stephen the Second (for we reckon not
his short-lived predecessor of that name in the list) was
unanimously elected by the clergy and people in the Church
of St Mary ad Preesepe, and being highly beloved by all, was
carried upon men's shoulders to St Saviour's, called also the
Constantinian Church, and from thence into the Lateran
Palace. He was a person of extraordinary piety and prudence,
a lover of the clergy, a repairer of churches, a diligent preacher
and writer of the doctrine of Christianity, a father of the poor,
a zealous defender of orphans and widows, and in going
through with anything he undertook, hardy and resolute, but
not obstinate. For Aistulphus now making inroads upon the
borders of the Romans, he at first endeavoured by persuasions
and presents to bring him off. But that covetous prince requir-
ing the payment of a tribute of so much a head yearly from the
people, the Pope thereupon was forced to seek for help from
abroad, and accordingly he sent Nuncios to Constantine, the
Emperor of Constantinople, to desire aid of him against
Aistulphus, who gave disturbance to all Italy, and had
already taken Ravenna, the seat of the Exarchate, and a
great part of Romagna. But finding no hope of succours
from him, he resolves to go to Pipin of France; and there-
fore sends to that king to desire that he would prevail
with Aistulphus to permit him safe passage through his
country, which Aistulphus at -Pipin's request consented
to. Stephen now reaching the borders of the kingdom of
France, Pipin's son, Charles, who from his mighty achieve
ments was afterwards surnamed the Great, in token of honour
goes forth an hundred miles to meet him. Pipin himself met
him three miles from the city, and alighting off his horse,
kissed his feet, and led the horse upon which he rode by the

190 The Lives of the Popes.

bridle till he had conducted him into the city, and brought
him to his apartment. Aistulphus now fearing that the Pope
was practising against him, sends Carloman a monk, to his
brother Pipin, to persuade him not to make war upon the
Lombards in Stephen’s quarrel; which Pipin not only refused
to grant, but also confined the monk to a monastery in Vienna,
where not long after he died of grief. But it not being a fit
season of the year to undertake an expedition, and Pipin
allowing much to the ancient friendship there had been be-
tween them, he sends ambassadors to Aistulphus, to advise
him to restore the places he had taken, or otherwise to let
him know that he should be obliged in a short time to recover
them by force of arms. Aistulphus hearkened not to this
good counsel; whereupon Pipin, the spring now approaching,
advances with an army against the Lombards ;! and having
sent before some light-harnessed soldiers to force Aistulphus’s
guards to quit the passes of the Alps, he marches down into the
plain of the State of Milan, and having without any opposition
sacked and harassed all places he came to, at length he invests
Pavia, the seat-royal of the kings of Lombardy, which Aistul-
phus and those that were in garrison with him defended. But
Stephen moved with compassion at the numerous calamities
which this obstinate man had brought upon himself and his
people, voluntarily offers Aistulphus a peace, upon condition
he would restore what he had taken; which Aistulphus at
length consented to, and promised upon oath more than was
demanded. Pipin reckoning that the Pope had now satis-
faction, raises the siege, and returns into France, leaving
Varrenus the arbitrator of this peace between them. Stephen
and Varrenus go to Rome, not doubting but that Aistulphus
would in a little time perform his promise ; instead of which
he presently mustering up from all parts what forces he could,
with a tumultuary rout rather than a just army, follows them,
and besieges Rome, laying waste and burning the suburbs
and places adjacent, insomuch that the people of Rome
suffered more damage by the outrages he then committed,
than they had received in three hundred and forty-four years
before from the declining of the Empire. Hereupon Pipin

1 Platina omits to record that the Pope, rendered desperate by the ad-
vance of Aistulphus, forged a letter from St Peter to Pipin, promising
paradise or threatening hell, according as he hastened or retarded his
movements. See Milman, ii. 180. —Ep.

Stephen IT. IOI

being again sued to by the Pope to aid the distressed city of
Rome against the perfidiousness and cruelty of Aistulphus,
he with all possible expedition raises an army for that purpose.
In the meantime the Turks, willing to mend their quarters,
over-run and conquer the Alanes first, then the Colchians and
Armenians, after them the people of the lesser Asia, and lastly’
the Persians and Saracens, A.D. 755. Some writers tell
us that these were of the race of those Scythians whom
Alexander the Great kept within the Hyperborean Mountains
with iron bars, meaning by that metaphor, that he had shut
up that wild nation there as into a prison. But after much
mischief done and received on both sides, a peace being con-
cluded between the Saracens and Turks, it was agreed that
the Turks which dwelt in Persia should be called Saracens ;
and by this means the Saracens did more patiently suffer the
Turks to bear sway in Asia, especially apprehending, more-
over, that they might soon be brought to embrace the
Mahometan religion. But we return to Pipin, who coming
again with his army into Italy, was met by Gregory, principal
secretary to the Emperor Constantine the Fourth, who desired
him in his master’s name, that if he should prove victorious
over the Lombards, he would not give the Exarchate of
Ravenna to the Pope or the Romans, it belonging of right to
the emperor. To which Pipin answered, that he came into
Italy to do the Pope and people a kindness, and that he
should consult their advantage to the utmost of his power.
After this he marched to Pavia, and reduced Aistulphus to
such extremity, that he was forced to accept of the former
conditions of peace. Hereby the Exarchate was restored to
the Romans, together with all the tract contained between
the Po and Apennine, from Piacentino to the Gulf of Venice,
and whatever lies between the river Isara, the Apennine and
the Adriatic, with all that Aistulphus had taken in Tuscany
and Sabina. Pipin stayed at the foot of the Alps till con-
ditions should be performed, having left Holcadus, an abbot,
with part of his army to oblige Aistulphus to perform what he
had promised, and moved no farther till he understood that
Aistulphus had died of an apoplexy while he was hunting,
before the surrender was fully made. Upon his death,
Desiderius, Duke of Tuscany, forthwith raises an army of
Lombards, with design to possess himself of the kingdom.
The same also did Rachis, Aistulphus’s brother, who had

192 The Lives of the Popes.

before, as we have already said, taken the habit of a monk;
and, indeed, the Lombards generally, except those of Tuscany,
were on his side. But Desiderius by making large promises
to the Pope and the Romans, wrought them into a favour of
his pretensions; and accordingly they with all speed sent
ambassadors, and among them Holcadus, the abbot, to Rachis,
to require him to lay down his arms, and submit to Desiderius.
And so Faenza and Ferrara were at last delivered to the Pope,
and the name of the Exarchate, which had continued from
the time of Narses to the taking of Ravenna by Aistulphus
an hundred and seventy years, was extinguished. Things
being now peaceably settled, and the jurisdiction of the Church
greatly increased, Stephen holding a synod, takes an account
of his several flocks and their pastors, gently chastises those
who had offended, directs such as had gone astray, teaches
and instructs the ignorant, and finally sets before them the
duty of a bishop, of a presbyter, and of all orders in the
clergy. Moreover, he appointed litanies for the appeasing of
the Divine anger; the procession on the first Saturday to be
to St Marie’s ad Preesepe, on the second to St Peter’s in the
Vatican, on the third to St Paul’s in the Via Ostiensis. He
also repaired several churches which had been damaged by
Aistulphus while he lay siege to the city; yet he did not
recover the reliques of the saints which that king had carried
with him to Pavia, and there reposited not dishonourably in
divers churches. The good man having by these means
. proved serviceable to God, his country, and the Church, died
in the fifth year and first month of his pontificate, and was
buried, April the 26th, with general lamentation as for the
loss of a common father. The see was then vacant thirty-
two days.

MPH irc MEI

PAUL I.

A.D. 757-767.
AUL, a Roman, son of Constantine, brother of Stephen
the Second, became well skilled and practised in all
things belonging to a churchman, by his having been educated .
in the Lateran Palace under Pope Gregory the Second and
Pope Zachary, by which latter he was, together with his brother,

Paul I. 193

ordained deacon; and when upon the vacancy of the Pope-
dom by the death of Stephen, some persons proposed Theo-
phylact, the archdeacon, for his successor, yet others stood
for Paul, as one who both for the integrity of his life and
great learning, deserved to succeed his brother in that dignity.
After a long dispute, therefore, Theophylact was rejected, and
Paul by general suffrage chosen, in the time of Constantine
and Leo. This Paul was a person of an extraordinary meek
and merciful temper, and who, in imitation of our Saviour,
never returned to any man evil for evil, but, on the contrary,
by doing good to them, he overcame those ill men that had
oftentimes injured him. He was of so kind and compassion.
ate a nature, as that he would go about by night with only
two or three attendants to the houses of poor sick people,
assisting them with his counsel, and relieving them with his
alms. He also frequently visited the prisons, and paying
their creditors, discharged thence multitudes of poor debtors.
The fatherless and widows that were over-reached by the
tricks of lawyers, he defended by his authority and supported
by his charity. Moreover, having assembled the clergy and
people of Rome, he did with great solemnity translate the
body of St Petronilla, St Peter’s daughter, with her tomb
of marble, upon which was this inscription, “ Petronille Filia
dulcissime," from the Via Appia into the Vatican, and placed
it at the upper end of the church dedicated to her father. At
this time the Emperor Constantine having in all places plucked
down the images, and put to death Constantine, patriarch of
Constantinople, for opposing him therein, and made Nicetas
an eunuch, his abettor in the sacrilege, patriarch in his stead,
the Pope, consulting by all means the interest of religion, sends
Nuncios to Constantinople to advise the Emperor to restore
and set up again the images he had taken away, or upon his
refusal to do so, to threaten him with the censure of excom-
munication. But Constantine, persisting obstinately in what
he had done, not only despised this good counsel, but also
granted peace to Sabinus, King of the Bulgarians, because he
also made the like havoc of images with himself, though he
were before engaged in a war against him. Having also
associated to himself into part of the empire his son Leo
the Fourth, whom he had married to the most beautiful
Athenian lady Irene, he enters into a league with the Saracens,
thereby to despise and provoke the orthodox Christians. In
G

194 The Lives of the Popes.

the meantime Pipin entirely subdued Taxillo, Duke of the
Bavarians, and admits of a league with the Saxons, but upon
this condition, that they should be obliged to send three
hundred horsemen to his assistance as often as he should
have occasion to make an expedition. Against the Aquitains
he maintained a tedious war, which at length he committed
to the management of his young son Charles, himself being
so worn out with age that he could not be present at it.
This war being ended, Charles takes by storm Bourbon, Cler-
mont, and several other towns of Auvergne. But Pipin, who
as we have said was now very old, not long after dies, leaving
in the kingdom his two sons Charles and Carloman. Some
tell us that Aistulphus, King of the Lombards, who, as is
above declared, had carried away the bodies of divers saints
from Rome to Pavia, died at this time; and that he had built
chapels to those saints, and also a cloister for virgins, in which
his own daughters became nuns. He was an extraordinary
lover of the monks, and died in their arms, in the sixth year
and fifth month of his reign. At the beginning of his govern-
ment, he was fierce and rash, in the end moderate; and a
person of such learning, that he reduced and formed the
edicts of the Lombards into laws. He was, as has been said,
succeeded by Duke Desiderius; the valour of the Lombards
beginning now to dissolve and lose itself in luxury. Our .
Paul, having repaired some old decayed churches, died in St
Paul's in the Via Ostiensis, in the tenth year and first month
of his pontificate ; and his body was with very great solemnity
carried into the Vatican. The see was then vacant one year
and one month.

STEPHEN IV.
A.D. 768-772.

TEPHEN the Fourth, a Sicilian, son of Olibrius, entered
upon the pontificate, A.D. 768, a learned man, and in

the management of affairs, especially those belonging to the
Church, very active and steady. Coming to Rome very
young, by appointment of Pope Gregory III., he took orders,
and became a monk in the monastery of St Chrysogonus,
where he was inured to the stricter way of living, and instructed

Stephen IV. 198

in ecclesiastical learning. Being afterwards called by Pope
Zachary into the Lateran Palace, and his life and learning
generally approved of, he was constituted parish priest of St
Cecilia; and for his great integrity and readiness in business
both Zachary and his successors Stephen and Paul, would
always have him near their persons. But upon the death of
Paul, whom our Stephen never deserted to his last breath,
Desiderius, who, as we have said, was by the assistance of
Stephen II. made King of Lombardy, being by Pipin’s death
rid of all fear, encourages Toto, Duke of Nepi, to promote
his brother Constantine to the pontificate by force of arms,
if he could not compass it by canvassing and bribery. He
accordingly marches to Rome with an army, and with the
assistance of some whom he had corrupted and made his
friends by gifts and promises, gets Constantine to be elected
Pope. Indeed, there were those who set up one Philip
against him, but he was presently forced to quit his
pretensions, and Gregory, Bishop of Preeneste compelled
to initiate Constantine, who at the time of his choice
was a laic, into holy orders, and then to consecrate
him bishop; the hands of which Gregory are said thereupon
by miracle to have so withered that he could not reach them
to his mouth. But Constantine having persisted to exercise
the papal function for one year, was at length in great rage
and disdain deposed by the people of Rome, and Stephen
unanimously chosen in his stead. Upon which Constantine
being brought into St Saviour’s Church, and the sacred canons
read, he was publicly and solemnly divested of the pontifical
habit, and commanded to lead a private life in a monastery.
After this, Stephen being consecrated by three bishops in the
church of St Adrian, and saluted as the true Pope by all the
clergy and people of Rome, applied himself to the censuring
and suppressing of the practices of some ill men who endea-
voured to break the unity of the Roman Church. Therefore
calling a council, he writes to Charles desiring him to send to
Rome, as soon as might be, some bishops of France, by their
learning and integrity well qualified for the affair. The same
also he writes to the other Christian princes ; who all comply-
ing with him therein, a council is held in the Lateran Church,
where the fathers having discoursed among themselves divers
things tending to the settling of the Church, they ordered
Constantine to be met before them. For the underhand
G2

196 The Lives of the Popes.

dealings of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and Paul
Aphiarta having occasioned frequent tumults among the
people ; Desiderius endeavouring all he could to alienate the
affections of the Romans from Charles to the emperor ; here-
upon several were killed on both sides, and Constantine, the
occasion of all the mischief, had his eyes put out by the con-
trary faction, though Stephen declared against it, and did what
he could to prevent it; but there is no opposing a furious,
enraged multitude. Constantine appearing before the council,
and being accused that he had usurped the Apostolic see, not
being in any holy orders, lays all the fault upon the people,
and especially upon some particular persons who forced him
against his will to take the pontificate upon him. Then pro-
strating himself upon the floor, and humbly begging pardon,
the persons present moved with compassion, ordered him to
be dismissed, and put off the debate of his whole case to the
next day, intending then more maturely to deliberate what
ought to be done in the matter. But the next day Constantine
returning to the council, was quite of another mind, and
remonstrated that he had precedents of former prelates for
what he had done; that Sergius, Archbishop of Ravenna, and
Stephen of Naples, had been of laics consecrated bishops.
The fathers resenting this impudence, caused him to be cast
out with disgrace, and having nulled his decrees, applied
themselves to the settling of the state of Christianity, Among
other things it was unanimously decreed by them, that no
laic, but such only as had passed through the several
degrees in the clergy, should presume to take the popedom,
upon pain of excommunication. It was ordained likewise,
that those who had attained to the episcopal dignity in the
time of Constantine, should renounce that character, and fall
back into the same rank and order which they were of before,
but with this reserve, that if their life and doctrine were
approved by the people, it then pleased the council, that upon
their application to the Apostolic see, they might be conse-
crated anew. ‘The same was judged meet concerning presby-
ters and deacons ; yet it was forbidden that any of them should
arrive to the greater degrees, upon a jealousy, as I believe, lest
some error or sect might thence arise, as from a seminary of
discord and sedition. Moreover, it was decreed that all the
sacred offices which Constantine had performed, should be
deemed null, except only baptism and confirmation. Finally,

Stephen IV. 197

having made void the Constantinian synod, in which the
Greek prelates had decreed that the pictures and statues of
the saints should be defaced and thrown out of churches, it
was ordained that those images should be in all places restored,
and an anathema passed upon that execrable and pernicious
synod, by which the condition of the immortal God was ,
rendered worse than that of men ; it being allowed us to erect
the statues of men who have deserved well of the public, both
for the expressing of our gratitude, and the raising our emula-
tion of their brave deeds, but forbidden to set up the image of
our Saviour, whom we ought if it were possible to have always
before our eyes, whe.her we consider the mighty obligations
He has laid upon mankind, or the dignity of His Divine
nature. These things having thus passed according to the
Pope's mind, it was decreed, that on the following day there
should be a solemn procession, both to return thanks to God,
and also in order to the averting of His displeasure. This
procession was made from the Lateran Church to St Peter's,
with universal great devotion, the Pope himself, with all that
were present, walking bare-foot. But in our times piety and
devotion are grown so cold, that such expressions of humility
are not only laid aside, but men are so proud as scarcely to
vouchsafe to pray at all. Even the more eminent and dignified
persons, instead of weeping at procession or at mass, as these
holy fathers were wont to do, are employed in indecent and
shameless laughter, instead of singing hymns, which they dis-
dain as a servile thing, they are breaking jests, and telling
stories among themselves to make each other merry. What
should I say further? the more petulant and full of buffoonery
any one is, the more he is commended in such a corrupt age.
Our present clergy does dread severe and grave men ; as being
more desirous to live thus licentiously, than to be obedient to
good admonitions, and subject to wholesome restraints, by
which means the Christian religion does daily suffer and
decline. I return to Stephen, who, when the procession was
over, forthwith caused the acts of the council to be first openly
pronounced by his commissary, and then published in writing,
threatening excommunication against any who should presume
to oppose what the holy synod had decreed. But not long
after, Sergius, Archbishop of Ravenna dying, Michael, registrar
ofthat church, with the assistance of King Desiderius and
Maurice, Duke of Rimini, whom he had corrupted with

198 The Lives of the Popes.

bribes, though a mere laic, possesses himself of the see, in
opposition to Leo the Archdeacon whom the clergy were very
desirous to choose. Yea, these abettors of his presumed so
far, as to send ambassadors to Pope Stephen to bribe him
into the confirmation of this Michael. But Stephen not
_only refused their offers of money, but also published an
excommunication against him, if he resigned not the see which
he had against all right usurped. However, he forcibly kept
possession of it so long as he had anything left, either of his
own or belonging to the Church, whereof to make a bribe to
greedy Desiderius. Upon which the Pope sending his nuncios
and King Charles his ambassadors to Ravenna about that affair,
who declared the Pope's pleasure therein, Michael was forth-
with deposed, and Leo chosen and confirmed by the Pope,
who being for that reason secretly despited and mischiefed
by Desiderius, begs Charles to oblige Desiderius to cease
injuring him any further. This Charles performed with great
diligence, though he were not in a condition to restrain the
Lombard by force, because upon the death of his brother,
who had reigned jointly and amicably with him for two years,
he was necessarily engaged in several wars at once. The
Aquitains, against whom his father had begun a war, he
brought into subjection, and subdued the Gascons inhabiting
part of Aquitain. Then passing the Pyrenean Hills, he routed
the Saracens, pursuing them to the river Betis, as far as
Granada, the part of Spain wherein the Saracens are now
seated. In the meantime Stephen, a most vigilant pastor, —
and true successor of Peter and imitator of Christ, having
been in the chair three years, five months, twenty-seven days,
died and was buried in St Peters. ‘The see was then vacant
nine days.

—— (e

ADRIAN I

A.D. 772-795.

JA DERIAN the First, a Roman, son of Theodorus, one of
the prime nobility, entering upon the pontificate, de-
generated not at all from his ancestors ; being a person, who,
for his greatness of mind, prudence, learning, and sanctity,
may be compared with the best of Popes; and of whose

Adrian I, 199

interest and authority Desiderius, King of the Lombards, had
such apprehensions, that he presently sent ambassadors to
treat of a peace and alliance with him. But Adrian being
acquainted with the extreme perfidiousness of that king,
deferred the concluding anything therein to another time.
Now, after the death of Carloman, his relict Bertha, out of
envy towards the grandeur of Hildegarda, the great Charles’s
consort, by the advice of one Adoarius, flies with her sons
into Italy to King Desiderius, who received her very kindly
and honourably, both because he thought he should by this
means be less in danger from the power of France, and also
reckoned that the French upon setting up Carloman’s sons
would the sooner appear in arms against King Charles if he
should give him any disturbance. But not being able by
entreaties to prevail with Adrian to anoint these sons of
Carloman kings, he applies himself to forcible means, and
invading the State of Ravenna, which was under the Pope’s
jurisdiction, he takes Faenza and Comacchio. Ravenna was
at this time under the government of its Archbishop and
three tribunes, who forthwith desired aid of Adrian. The
Pope at first sends to Desiderius, admonishing him to contain
himself within his own territories, and not to invade the
rights of the Church. But understanding afterwards that
this king had also possessed himself of Urbino, Sinigaglia, and
Eugubio, he then began to threaten him with the approach of
Divine vengeance towards him for the violation of peace. ‘To
which the Lombard made no other reply, than that Adrian
ought to quit the interest of the French King, and to be of
his side. For it was his great design to make a breach
between Charles and the Pope; which when he could not
obtain by solicitations and promises, he threatened to besiege
Rome itself within a little time. He was already come to
Spoleto, with Aldagasius, Carloman’s son, but intended to
march from thence to Rome, though in a peaceable manner,
and, as he pretended, out of devotion. But Adrian having
caused the relics of all the churches without the walls to be
- brought into the city, sends three bishops to Desiderius to
forbid him entering the confines of Rome upon pain of
excommunication, who thereupon fearing lest he might incur
the Divine displeasure, presently returned into Lombardy.
In the meantime Charles receiving from Adrian intelligence
of the injury which had been done him, sends ambassadors

200 The Lives of the Popes.

to Desiderius to persuade him to restore what he had wrong-
fully taken from the Pope, or otherwise to let him know that he
would soon visit him with such an army as should oblige him
toit. Desiderius, notwithstanding all this, refuses it, and so on
both sides great armies are prepared. But Charles having sent
some part of his forces before to secure the Passes of the Alps,
with wonderful expedition leads the main body of his army
over Mont Cenis into Italy, where encountering Desiderius,
he vanquishes and puts him to flight, and then takes and
spoils his whole country. Desiderius after so great an over-
throw despairing to get the better in a pitched battle, retreats
to Pavia, having sent his wife and children to Verona. And
the people of Spoleto, Rieti, and all the Lombards inhabiting
those parts, hearing his misfortune, betake themselves to
Rome, and commit their persons and estates to the Pope's
protection, taking an oath of fidelity to him, and shaving their
heads and beards, which among that people was the greatest
sign and token of a perfect submission to his power and
jurisdiction. By their example those of Ancona, Osimo, and
Firmo did the like. Now to such of these Lombards as were
unwilling :o return into their own country, the Vatican Hill
was granted them to inhabit and seat themselves in ; whither
afterwards there was from all parts a great concourse of
others their countrymen, who chose to live there. But
Charles leaving his cousin-german Bernardus at the siege of
Pavia, marches with part of his army to Verona, which city,
upon the inclination of Bertha and Carloman's sons to the
French side, in a little time after surrendered to him ; though
Adelgisus, Desideriuss son, escaping thence fled to the
Emperor of Constantinople. Almost all the cities of Lombardy
beyond the Po having in like manner yielded to Charles, he
goes towards Rome, that he might there celebrate the feast of
Easter with the-Pope. At his approach to the city, he was in
compliment met by three thousand judges, as Anastasius tells
us, calling them judges who were not handicraftsmen or did
not exercise any mean trades. Adrian with his clergy
expected him at the steps of St Peter's, and at his coming
embraced him with all imaginable affection, but could not
restrain the humble king from kissing his feet. The usual
salutations and respects having passed on both sides, they
entered the church, and being come up to the altar, Charles
and the Pope, the Romans and the French, took a mutual

Adrian f. ^ot

oath to maintain a perpetual friendship, and to be enemies
to the enemies of each other. After which, Charles making
his entrance into the city, devoutly visited all the churches,
and made several presents to them. Four days after his
being there, he by oath confirmed and amply enlarged the
donation of his father Pipin to Gregory the Third, containing,
according to Anastasius, in Liguria all that reaches from the
long-since. demolished city Luna to the Alps, the Isle of
Corsica, and the whole tract between Lucca and Parma, to-
gether with Friuli, the exarchate of Ravenna, and the Duke-
doms of Spoleto and Beneventum. These affairs being thus
settled, Charles, taking his leave of Adrian, returns into Lom-
bardy, and becomes master of Pavia on the sixth month after
the investing of it. "Towards Desiderius however he was so
favourable, as that though he bereft him of his kingdom, yet
he spared his life, and only confined him with his wife and
children to Lyons. Advancing thence against Arachis, Duke
of Beneventum, who was son-in-law to Desiderius, and had
been an abettor of his rash proceedings, he soon forced him to
sue for a peace, and received his two sons for hostages. After
this in his passage farther he religiously visited Mount Cassino,
and confirmed all the grants which had been made by other
princes to the monastery of St Benedict. And so the affairs
of all Italy being composed, and strong guards left in the
most important places of Lombardy, he returns with great
spoil and mighty glory into his kingdom of France, carrying
with him his brother Carloman's relict and sons, whom he
always treated with respect and honour; and also Paul, a
deacon of the church of Aquileia, a person for his parts and
learning highly beloved by Desiderius, to whom he gave his
freedom, and had for some time a great esteem for him. But
understanding afterwards that the man was assisting to
a design of Desiderius's flight, he banished him into the
island of Tremiti ; from whence after some years making his
escape, and coming to Arachis, at the request of Adelperga,
daughter to Desiderius and the wife of Arachis, he added two
books to the history of Eutropius, giving an account of what
passed from the time of the Emperor Julian to that of Justinian
the first. After the death of Arachis, he betook himself to
the monastery of Cassino, where, leading the remainder of his
life very devoutly, he oftentimes wrote elegant and obliging
letters to Charles, and received again the like from that king,

202 The Lives of the Popes.

who had preserved him for the sake of his learning. Thus
ended the kingdom of the Lombards, in the two hundred and
fourth year after their coming into Italy, and in the year of
our Lord seven hundred and seventy-four. Charles now with-
out any delay marches against the idolatrous Saxons, who
during his absence in Italy had rebelled ; utterly subdues that
people, with whom he had been engaged in war for thirty
years before, and compels them to receive Christianity. Then
turning his army against the Spaniards, who were also fallen
away from the faith, he took the cities of Pampeluna and
Saragossa, and permitted his soldiers to plunder them ; not
granting a peace to these Spaniards, but upon condition they
would entirely embrace the Christian doctrine. After this
returning into France, matters having went according to his
mind, as he passed the Pyrenean Hills he fell into an
ambuscade of the Gascons, in engaging with whom, though
he gallantly defended himself, yet he lost Anselmus and
Egibardus, two brave commanders. Some tell us that in this
encounter Rolandus, Charles’ sister’s son, perished, after he
had made a great slaughter of the enemy; though, whether
he died of thirst, as is commonly said, or of the wounds he
recelved, is uncertain. At length these Gascons were van-
quished by Charles, and received from him the deserved
punishment of their revolt and perfidy. At this time Taxillo,
Duke of Bavaria, Desiderius’s son-in-law, having gained the
Huns to be on his side, made an attempt of war against the
French, which yet Charles by his great expedition almost
made an end of before it was quite begun; and to him also,
upon hostages given, he granted a peace. While these things
were transacting in France, Constantine, emperor of the East,
was seized with a leprosy (from whence perhaps arose the
groundless opinion of the leprosy of Constantine the Great,
through the confusion of their names), and dying, left Leo the
Fourth his successor; who so strangely doted upon precious
stones, that robbing the church of St Sophia of its jewels, he
made with them a crown of a vast weight and value, which he
wore so often, that either through the weight, or from the
coldness of the stones in it, he shortly fell sick and died. The
same I believe to have happened in our time to Paul the
Second, who so effeminately prided himself in such ornaments,
almost exhausting the treasury of the Church to purchase
jewels at any rate, that as often as he appeared publicly,

Adrian f. 203

instead of wearing a plain mitre, he looked like the picture of
Cybele with turrets on her head ; from whence, what with the
weight of the jewels and the sweat of his gross body, I am apt
to think arose that apoplexy of which he died suddenly. After
the death of Leo, his relict Irene and his son Constantine
managed the empire. In a council of three hundred and
fifty bishops held the second time at Nice, it was decreed,
that whosoever maintained that the images of the saints were
to be destroyed, should be censured with perpetual excom-
munication. But young Constantine, through the persuasion
of some ill men about him, treading in the footsteps of his
father, soon after revoked this constitution, and wholly de-
prived his mother of any share in the administration of affairs.
Then putting away his wife, he received to his bed, and
caused to be crowned empress, Theodora, one of her maids.
Moreover, he gave order to those commanders he had in Italy,
to give disturbance to their neighbours ; but they were at the
first message terrified from any attempts by the prevailing
authority of Charles, who at this time was advancing with his
forces against the Sclaves and Huns (or we may call them
Hungarians) because by their incursions they had molested
all the country about the Danube; whom having vanquished,
he marched into Franconia the country of his ancestors, from
whence the Franks or French derive their name ; which pro-
vince he with ease brought to his devotion. Two years after,
Theophylact and Stephen, two bishops of great note, held a
synod of Frank and German bishops at Frankfort, wherein that
which the Greeks called the seventh synod, and the Felician
heresy touching the destruction of images, was condemned.
Adrian being now by the interest and power of Charles secured
from the fear of any warlike incursions, applies himself to
the repairing the city, beautifying the churches, restoring the
aqueducts, and such like public works, which I need not
particularly enumerate, performed at his vast expence. But
while he was employed in these matters, there happened such
an inundation of the river Tiber, as bore down a principal
gate, and bridge, and several buildings of the city, and did
otherwise great damage. In this extremity Adrian took care
to send boats to convey provisions to such as, while the waters
were so high, could not stir out of their houses. And after-
wards he comforted with his advice, and supported with his
charity, the principal sufferers in that calamity ; nor did he

204. The Lives of the Popes.

spare any cost in repairing the public loss. In short, Adrian
left nothing undone, that became a good prince and excellent
Pope; defending the Christian religion, maintaining the Roman
liberty, and asserting the cause of the poor, the orphans, and
widows. After he had held the chair with great honour
twenty-three years, ten months, he died, and was buried in St
Peter’s, December the 27th.

— J —_——.

LEO III.
A.D. 795-816.

EO the Third, a Roman, son of Azzupius, was, upon the
account of merit, advanced to the pontificate, having

been from his youth so thoroughly educated and instructed in
ecclesiastical learning, that he deserved to be preferred before
all others. A modest, upright, and well-spoken person, and
such a favourer of learned men, that he encouraged them
by the proposal of generous rewards to resort from all parts
to him, and was wonderfully pleased with their conversation.
Moreover, to visit and exhort the sick, to relieve the poor, to
comfort the dejected, and to reduce the erroneous by his
preaching and admonition, in which, through his art and elo-
quence, he had gained a great perfection, was his peculiar
providence. He was naturally of a meek temper, a lover of
all mankind, slow to anger, ready to commiserate, eminent for
piety, and a vigorous promoter and defender of the honour of
God and His Church. MHereupon he was (as I have said)
unanimously elected to the papal see on St Stephen's day,
and the day following with general acclamations seated in St
Peter's chair. At this time Irene, mother of Constantine the
Emperor, not being able to bear her son's ill courses, and
being instigated thereto by certain of the citizens, returns to
Constantinople, puts out his eyes, and throws him into prison,
where, as an undutiful son, he miserably ended his days. In
the meantime Charles, having disturbance given him on many
sides, sends his son Pipin against the Hungarians, whom,
having worsted in several engagements, he at length totally
subdued. Alphonsus, likewise King of Asturia and Gallicia,
having received auxiliary forces from Charles, vanquished the
Saracens and took Lisbon; upon the hearing of which victory

Leo [1l. 205

of his, the garrison of Barcelona forthwith yielded up to
Charles. Moreover, the Bavarians, who made inroads upon
the inhabitants of Friuli, were now overcome by Henry,
Charles’s lieutenant there. At this time Leo, with the clergy
and people, being employed in the solemn procession instituted
by Pope Gregory, he was, through the treachery of Paschal
and Campulus, two of the principal clergy, seized near the
church of St Sylvester, stripped of his pontifical habit, so
cruelly beaten and misused that it was thought he had been
deprived both of his sight. and speech, and then closely im-
prisoned in the monastery of St Erasmus. From whence yet
soon after by the diligence of Albinus, one belonging to his
bed-chamber, he made his escape, and was secretly conveyed
to the Vatican, where he lay concealed till Vinigisius, Duke of
Spoleto, being privately invited thereunto, came, and with a
strong guard of soldiers to secure him on his way from any
violence which his enemies might offer to him, carried him off
safelyto Spoleto. The factious being not now able to wreak their
malice upon the persons of Leo and Albinus, express their rage
in pulling down their houses ; nay, so hardy and daring were
they, as to go to Charles, who was now making war upon the
Saxons, and to whom they understood Leo had repaired, on
purpose to complain of and accuse the Pope. But Charles,
deferring the debate of the matter to another time, sends the
Pope to Rome with an honourable retinue, promising that
himself would be there in a little time, in order to the com-
posing of the affairs of Italy. Leo in his passage being come
as far as Ponte Molle, was there in honour met by the clergy
and people of Rome, who congratulated his return, and
introduced him into the city. And Charles, without making
any long stay, passing through Mentz and Nuremberg into
Friuli, severely chastises the citizens of Treviso for having put
to death Henry, their governor, and having constituted another
to succeed him in that office, he thence goes first to Ravenna,
and presently after to Rome, where his presence was earnestly
desired and expected. At his entrance into the city all imagin-
able expressions of honour, as good reason was, were made to
him. On the eighth day of his being there, in the presence of
the people and clergy, assembled in St Peter’s Church, he
asked all the bishops, who had come thither out of all the
parts of Italy and France, what their opinion was concerning
the life and conversation of the Pope. But answer was made

206 The Lives of the Popes.

by all with one voice, that the apostolic see, the head of all
churches, ought to be judged by none, especially not by a
laic. Hereupon, Charles laying aside any farther inquiry into
the matter, Pope Leo, who extremely wished that he might be
put upon that way of purging himself, going up into the pulpit
and holding the gospels in his hands, declared upon his oath
that he was innocent of all those things which were laid to his
charge. This was done on the thirteenth day of December,
A.D. 800. While things went thus at Rome, Pipin, by his
father’s order, advancing against the Beneventans, who, under
Grimoald’s conduct, made inroads upon their neighbours, and
having given them so many defeats, that at length they were
scarce able to defend themselves within the walls of their
city, he left the farther management of that war to Vinigisius,
Duke of Spoleto, and returned to his father, who was now
in a short time to be crowned Emperor. For the Pope,
that he might make some requital to Charles, who had
deserved so well of the Church, and also because he saw
that the emperors of Constantinople were hardly able to
maintain that title; upon which account Rome and all
Italy had suffered great calamities; after mass in St Peter's
Church, with the consent and at the request of the people of
Rome, declares with a loud voice the said Charles to be Em-
peror, and put the imperial diadem upon his head, the people
repeating thrice this acclamation, * Long life and victory to
Charles Augustus, whom God has crowned, the great and
pacific Emperor" Then the Pope anointed him, and his
son Pipin, whom in like manner he pronounced King of Italy.
Charles being now invested with imperial power, gave order
that Campulus and Paschal, the conspirators against the Pope,
should be put to death ; but the Pope, who was all clemency,
obtained a pardon of their lives, and they were only banished
into France. After this there were some who would have
persuaded Charles to expel all the Lombards out of Italy.
But that not appearing to be a safe course, because they had
mingled in blood and affinity with multitudes of families in
Italy, it was determined, both by Charles and Leo, that the
name of Lombard should remain there only, where that
nation had chiefly had their seat. Pipin being now returned
to Beneventum, and having continued the siege of that place
for several months without success, he turns his arms against
the city Chieti, of which having, after some opposition, made

Leo ITT. 207

himself master by force, he plundered and burnt it, upon
the terror whereof at his marching thence, he had the cities of
Ortona and Luceria surrendered to him, and in the latter he
took Grimoald, Duke of Beneventum, who not long after died
of grief. In the meantime, the Empress of Constantinople,
sending ambassadors into Italy, enters into a league with
Charles, their several pretensions to Italy being thus adjusted,
viz., Irene was to have that part which, beginning on the one
side from Naples, and from Siponto (a city now called Man-
fredonia) on the other, lies extended between the two seas,
eastward, together with Sicily ; all Italy beside, only except-
ing always those places which were under the jurisdiction of
the Church, were by the articles of peace adjudged to be
Charless own. But Nicephorus, a Patrician, not stomaching
to submit to the dominion of a woman, having craftily seized
Irene, and banished her into Lesbos, by his ambassadors
renews the league before entered into with Charles; which
Charles at this time compelled the Saxons, who had so often
revolted, to remove, with their wives and children, into France,
following them close in their passage with his army to prevent
their committing any disorders as they went along. Pope
Leo, being perpetually disturbed by one sedition after another,
leaving Rome, goes to Mantua to see the blood of Christ,
which was now in great esteem for the miracles said to be
wrought there by it. Having been received with great respect
and affection by the Mantuans, and approved it to be indeed
Christ's blood upon frequent trial of the miraculous effects of
it, he makes a journey to Charles, who was very desirous to
know the trnth of this matter, that he might certify him con-
cerning it, and also that he might discourse with him about
settling the affairs of Italy. Returning then to Rome, and
being assisted by King Pipin, who had his father's order
therein, he proceeded to a gentle punishment of some of the
chief plotters and movers of sedition. Charles being now very
aged, having intelligence that Pipin was dead at Milan, de-
clares Louis, his younger son, King of Aquitain, and his suc-
cessor in the empire, and Bernard, his nephew, King of Italy,
to whom he gave charge that he should in all things be
obedient to Louis. To the extent of the empire he set these
bounds: in Gallia, the Rhine and the Loyre; in Germany,
the Danube and the Save ; and to these provinces he added
Aquitain, Gascoigne, a great part of Spain, Lombardy, Saxony,

208 The Lives of the Popes.

both the Pannonias, Istria, Croatia, and Dalmatia, excepting
only those parts of it situate on the sea-coast, which were
subject to the Emperor of Constantinople. Having thus
settled affairs, while he was at Aachen for the recovery of his
health by the use of the hot baths there, he died of a fever
and pleurisy, in the seventy-second year of his age, January
the 28th, a.p. 814. His body was, with all imaginable pomp
and solemnity, interred in the church of St Mary, which him-
self had built at Aachen, with this inscription on his tomb,
* Magni Caroli Regis Christianissimi, Romanorumque Im-
peratoris Corpus hoc Sepulchro conditum jacet | He was
indeed, whether we regard his management of civil or mili-
tary matters, so illustrious and excellent an Emperor, that
none of his successors have either excelled or equalled him.
Moreover, when leisure from other weighty affairs permitted
him, he took such delight in the study of learning, that it was
he who, at the persuasion of Alcuin, first made Paris an
university. Of three tables of silver which he had, one, on
which was engraven the city of Constantinople, he gave to the
church of St Peter ; another, on which the city of Rome was
described, to the church of Ravenna ; the third, which some
tell us was of gold, on which was a map of the whole world,
he left to his sons.

As for Pope Leo, having repaired the roof of St Paul’s,
which had fallen down in an earthquake; built from the
ground a very capacious hospital for strangers near St Peter’s ;
. and ordained litanies on the three days before Ascension Day :
on the first of which the procession was to be from St Marie’s
ad Preesepe to the Lateran church ; on the second, from the
church of St Sabina to St Paul's ; and on the third day, from St
Cross to St Laurence's, without the walls,—in the twenty-first
year of his pontificate he died, which year there appeared a
comet, thought by some to have been a presage of so great a
calamity.1 He was buried in St Peter's, June the r2th ; and
the see was vacant ten days.

1 The latter days of his pontificate were disturbed by violent insurrec-
tions in Rome ; the people declared that his exactions and tyranny were
intolerable, and there were fires and bloodshed in the attempt to depose
him. He executed many of the insurgents, and wrote to the Emperor to
deprecate his anger for doing so. The tumults were still going on when
he died, —Ep.

Stephen V. 209

STEPHEN V.
A.D. 816-817.

TEPHEN the Fourth, a Roman, son of Julius, in the
third month of his pontificate went into France to the
Emperor Louis; though the reason of his journey is not
certainly known. Some conjecture that it was to secure him-
self from the relics of the faction and conspiracy of Cam-
pulus, which, upon the death of Leo, prevailed afresh. The
Emperor Louis, surnamed the Godly, was now at Orleans,
who, as soon as he had intelligence of the Pope’s coming,
forthwith sends all the persons of principal quality to meet
him ; and among others, particularly Theudolphus, Bishop of
Orleans, with the clergy, and a great part of the people. And
Louis himself going forth a whole mile for the same purpose,
as soon as he saw him, alighted off his horse, and after
mutual salutations had passed between them, introduced him
very honourably into the city, the clergy going before and
after, repeating the hymn called * Te Deum Laudamus."
For Stephen was not only a person of noble extraction, but
of such learning and integrity, that he easily gained a general
veneration for sanctity, having been well instructed by an
advantageous education under those two pious Popes, Adrian
and Leo. Being entered into the city, supported by the
emperor, because of the crowd of the people who pressed out
of a desire to see him, he was conducted to the apartment
appointed for him in the palace, where he often had con-
ferences with the emperor about the composure of the affairs
of Italy, besides the other frequent mutual entertainments
and civilities that passed between them. Louis would have
detained the Pope longer with him, had he not now been
engaged in such important wars that it was necessary he
should oppose the enemy in person. For both the Gascons
had revolted, whom in a short time he reduced ; and those of
Bretagne began to endeavour a change of government, whom
in like manner by his arms he kept in obedience ; and more-
over, at an assembly held at Aachen, he granted peace to the
ambassadors sent from the Saracens inhabiting Saragossa.
Stephen being now upon his departure, in imitation of our
Saviour, who spared even His enemies, obtained of Louis, that
all those whom Charles had punished with banishment or

210 The Lives of the Popes.

imprisonment for their conspiracy against Leo, might have
their liberty. He also carried with him a cross of great
weight and value, made at the charge of Louis, and by him
dedicated to St Peter. But returning to Rome, he died in
the seventh month of his pontificate, and was buried in St
Peter's ; and by his death the see was vacant eleven days.

iae eric

PASCHAL: I.
A.D. 817-824.

ASCHAL, a Roman, son of Bonosus, was created Pope
without any interposition of the emperor's authority.
Whereupon at his first investiture in that office, he forthwith
sends Nuncios to Louis, excusing himself, and laying all the
blame upon the clergy and people of Rome, who had forcibly
compelled him to undertake it. Louis, accepting this for
satisfaction from Paschal, sends to the clergy and people,
admonishing them to observe the ancient constitution, and to
beware how they presumed for time to come to infringe the
rights of the emperor. Also, in the assembly held at Aachen,
he associated to himself in the empire his eldest son,
Lotharius, and declared Pipin, his second son, king of
Aquitain ; and Louis, his third son, king of Bavaria. But
Bernardus, king of Italy, having, upon the instigation of
; certain bishops and _ seditious citizens, revolted from the
empire, and compelled some cities and states to swear alle-
giance to himself, Louis, being hereat incensed, sends a strong
army into Italy; whose passage over the Alps Bernardus
endeavouring to oppose, he was vanquished. ‘The heads of
the rebellion being taken, were presently cut off, and Ber-
nardus himself, though he very submissively begged forgive-
ness, was put to death at Aachen. ‘Those bishops who had
been authors of the mischief were, by a decree of synod,
confined into several monasteries. ‘This tumult, for so it was
rather than a war, being thus composed, Louis moves with
his army against the Saxons rebelling now afresh, and over-
comes and slays Viromarchus, their hardy chief, who aspired
to the kingdom. After this, he sends his son Lotharius,
whom he had declared king of Italy, to the Pope, by whom
he was anointed in the church of St Peter’s, with the title of

Paschal f. 211

Augustus. But there arising great commotions in Italy, and
Lotharius seeing himself unable to withstand them, he goes
to his father in order to provide greater force. Upon which
Theodorus the Primicerius, and Leo the Nomenclator, having
had their eyes first pulled out, were murdered in a tumult in
the Lateran Palace. ‘There were some who laid the blame of
this disorder upon Paschal himself; but he in a synod of
thirty bishops did both by conjectures, and by reasons, and
by his oath purge himself of it. Louis rested himself satisfied
herewith, and as Anastasius tells us, that no future distur-
bance might arise from uncertain pretensions, writing to
Paschal, he declared in his letters what cities of Tuscany
were subject to the empire, viz., Arezzo, Volterra, Chiusi,
Florence, which had been repaired and enlarged by his
father, Charles the Great, Pistoia, Lucca, Pisa, Perugia, and
Orvieto ; the others he allowed to be under the jurisdiction of
the Church of Rome. He added, moreover, Todi in Umbria,
and Romagna beyond the Apennine, with the Exarchate of
Ravenna. The same Anastasius says, that Louis granted to
Paschal a free power (the same which he also tells us was
given by Charles to Pope Adrian) of choosing bishops,
whereas before the emperors were wont to be advised, and
their consent and confirmation desired in the case. Our
Paschal, who, for his piety and learning, had been by Pope
Stephen made prior of the monastery of St Stephen in the
Vatican, being now in the chair, both caused the bodies of
several saints, which before lay neglectedly, to be conveyed
into the city with great solemnity, and honourably interred ;
and also by paying their creditors procured the release of
divers poor prisoners. He also built from the ground the
church of St Praxedes the blessed martyr, not far from the
old one, which, through age and the clergy’s neglect, was run
to ruin. This church having consecrated, he oftentimes
celebrated mass in it, and also deposited therein the bodies of
many saints which lay about unregarded in the cemeteries.
In the same church was an oratory dedicated to St Agnes,
which he made very stately and ornamental. Moreover, he
built the church of St Cecilia (as appears still by an inscription
on the nave of it), in which he in like manner reposited the
bodies of that virgin herself, and her affianced husband,
Valerianus, as also of Tiburtius and Maximus, martyrs, and
Urban and Lucius, Bishops of Rome, adorning it with all

212 The Lives of the Popes.

: kinds of marble, and enriching it with presents of gold and
silver. He also repaired the church of St Mary ad Preesepe,
that had been decayed by age, and altered the nave of it to
advantage. In fine, having been very exemplary for religion
and piety, good nature and bounty, after he had been in the
chair seven years, two months, seven days, he died, and was
buried in St Peter’s. The see was then vacant only four days.

— (i

EUGENIUS II.
A.D. 824-827.

E IUS the Second, a Roman, son of Boemundus, was
for his sanctity, learning, humanity, and eloquence,
unanimously! chosen into the pontificate, at that time particu-
larly when Lotharius, coming into Italy, made choice of a
magistrate for the administration of justice, and execution of
the laws among the people of Rome, who after a long and
heavy servitude, had enjoyed some liberty under the Emperor
Charles and his sons. In the meantime Louis, after he had
for forty days been spoiling and laying waste the country of
Bretagne with fire and sword, having received hostages, he
goes to Rouen, and there gives audience to the ambassadors
of Michael, Emperor of Constantinople, who came to consult
what his opinion was concerning the images of the saints,
whether they were to be utterly abolished and destroyed, or
kept up and restored again. But Louis referred them to the
Pope, who was principally concerned to determine in the
matter. After this he marched against the Bulgarians, who
were now making inroads into the Pannonias, and at first
repelled them ; but Haydo, governor of Aquitain, upon con-
fidence of auxiliary forces from Abderamann, king of the
Saracens, having rebelled, he was obliged to quit this war,
and so the Bulgarians, in a hostile manner, marched without
control through the middle of the Pannonias into Dalmatia.

! Hardly unanimously. There was the imperialist party, comprising the
nobles and the plebeians, more papal than the Popes themselves, who,
scorning the subservience of the Popes to the German Emperor, were
anxious for an independent pontiff. They put up one Zinzinnus, but the
imperialist legate, by astute management, caused Eugenius to be elected,
though he had to repress the popular voice with some sternness, —ED.

Valentine I. 213

But before Louis advanced against Haydo, a great part of
Spain had revolted to Haydo, who sent out a fleet which an-
noyed the sea-port towns all about. Only Bernardus, Earl of
Barcelona, though he had disturbance given him both by sea
and land, yet continued firm to the emperor. Our Eugenius,
excelling in the gifts of body and mind, and despising the
goods of fortune, applied himself to works of bounty and
munificence, and particularly took so much care in the matter
of provision, that all sorts of it,and especially grain, was nowhere
cheaper than at Rome. Moreover, he supported the lives
and defended the cause of the poor, the fatherless, and
widow, in such a manner that he deservedly gained the name
of the Father of the Poor. The same course of living he also
took before his pontificate, both while he was a priest of St
Sabina in the Aventine, which church, when he came to be
Pope, he beautified, and also while he was arch- -priest of the
Lateran Church, from which place he was afterwards for his
great merit by an unanimous choice advanced to the papal
chair. By his procurement and intercession likewise, all the
prisoners and exiles in France returned at length to Rome,
who, being stripped of all they had, were relieved and sup-
ported by his charity. Nor was it his fault that Sico, Duke of
Beneventum, did not quit the siege of Naples, which he at this
time reduced to great straits, and carried from thence the
body of St Januarius to Beneventum, where he honourably de-
posited it in the great church with Desiderius and Festus.
For the Pope endeavoured to persuade Sico to undertake an
expedition against the Saracens, who had already possessed
themselves of Palermo in Sicily. The good man, having after
this manner continued four years in the pontificate, died
lamented of all, who grieved for themselves rather than for
him, to whom death was a welcome passage into happiness,
and was buried in St Peter’s.

— Q—À

VALENTINE I.
A.D. 827.

ALENTINE, a Roman, son of Leontius, being only a
deacon, not a priest, was yet for his extraordinary
sanctity deservedly preferred to the pontificate. Nor will

214 ! The Lives of the Popes.

it appear strange, if we consider that, having from his youth
upwards been instructed in learning and _ piety by those good
Popes, Paschal and Eugenius, he did not give his mind to
pleasures and sports, as most young men are wont to do, but
applied himself to the acquiring of knowledge by the reading
of the ancients, and the rule of good living from the example
of holy bishops. He was, moreover, a person of such ready
parts and prevailing eloquence, that he had a great facility in
persuading to or against what he pleased, without offering
anything that was not sound, learned, and decent. Finally,
both in his private station and while he was Pope, he came
behind none of his predecessors in devotion, mercy, and
charity. For these reasons he was unanimously elected to
the chair; but possibly as a punishment upon the sins of
that age, he died on the fortieth day of his pontificate, and
was buried in St Peter's, all people lamenting that they were
bereft of such a man, who, if he had lived, would have been
an almost impregnable support to the Roman liberty and the
Christian religion. While the see was vacant, Sicardus, Duke
of Beneventum, who after his father's death rüled tyrannically,
for the want of a bribe which he expected, cast Deus-dedit,
abbot of Monte Cassino, into prison, where he died with the
reputation of being a holy man.

M (a —

GREGORY IV.
A.D. 827-844.

Qe the Fourth, a Roman, son of John, and
Cardinal of St Mark, entered upon the pontificate
at the time when the Saracens possessed of Asia shut up the
passage to the Holy Land from the Christians, and the
Moors passing with their fleet into Sicily, wasted a great
part of that island, having, as is already said, made them-
selves masters of Palermo. Nor could the Venetians—
though at the desire of Michael, Emperor of Constantinople,
they sailed thither — check their proceedings, the Moors
having more ships and men than they. The state of Venice
was now in its increase, having had its original from the
Veneti, at the time when Attila, with his Huns, took and
destroyed Aquileia, Concordia, Altino, with other cities of the

Gregory IV. 215

province anciently called Venetia; that people having no
other defence against the cruelty of the barbarians but only
the fens and marshes. Justinian Patricius was now Duke of
Venice, whose name I therefore choose to mention, because
in his time the body of St Mark was by some Venetian
merchants brought from Alexandria to Venice, where that
saint is now had in great veneration, a most magnificent
‘church being, in the principal part of the city, built and
‘dedicated to him, and adorned and enriched with very great
‘donations. And from hence it was that the Venetians first
bore upon their standards and banners the picture of St
Mark as the patron of their city. But Gregory, understanding
that the Venetians were not able to expel these barbarians
out of the island, sends to Louis and Lotharius, desiring
them to send aid to the Sicilians at the first opportunity.
They were very shy of the business, alleging that that war
belonged to Michael, Emperor of Constantinople, but yet
declared themselves ready to contribute their share of men
and money for the undertaking of it. But in the meantime,
while ambassadors were sent from one to the other about that
affar, Boniface, Earl of Corsica, with his brother Bertarius,
and the assistance of some of the people of Tuscany, sailing
into Africa, engaged four times with the enemy between
Utica and Carthage, where he made so great a slaughter
that the Moors were forced, as formerly in Scipio's time, to
recall their forces from Sicily to the succour of their own
country in distress ; and by this means Sicily was delivered
from them. Boniface then returns with his victorious fleet,
laden with vast spoils, from Africa into Corsica. Some there
are that write that during this peace in Italy, the Emperor
Lotharius, envying the preference that his father Louis did in
all matters give to his youngest brother Charles, afterwards
surnamed the Bald, he put him in prison, but soon after set
him free ; and that the barbarians, taking hold of the oppor
tunity, embarked in a great fleet from Africa for Italy, and
arrived at Centum Celle, which city (since called Civita-
vecchia) some will have to be demolished by them; and
that from thence marching to Rome, they took that city;
but this is not probable. What is said concerning Centum
Celle I shall not deny, and I doubt not but that they
attempted the taking of Rome itself; but Guy, Marquis
of Lombardy, defended it so stoutly that, having burnt the

216 The Lives of the Popes.

suburbs and the churches of St Peter and St Paul in the Via
Latina, they withdrew to Monte Cassino, where they de-
stroyed the town of St German and the monastery of St
Benet, which stood on the hill; and going down to the
seaside near the river Garigliano, whither their fleet was
brought from Ostia, they invaded Tarentum and Sicily ; and,
as I said before, were recalled home by their own country-
men, at that time broken in war by the valour of Boniface. I
take it to be about this time that the body of the apostle St
Bartholomew was translated from Lipari in Sicily to Ben-
eventum by Sicardus, prince of that place (who was personally
present in this great war), lest the body of the holy apostle
should fall into the hands of the enemies of the name of
Christ. But to return to Gregory. He was a person of
so much modesty that, though he were chosen as well by
the clergy as people of Rome, yet he would not take upon
him the office of Pope till he was confirmed by those
ambassadors of the Emperor Louis, who had been despatched
by him to Rome, that they might oversee an election of
so great moment. This was not done by Louis out of
pride, but with respect to the preservation of the imperial
prerogative, he being naturally very kind and gracious, and
one that always took care of the dignity and privileges
of the Church. For he ordained that they who should take
upon them a religious life should be exempt from all secular
services, and that every church should be endowed with such
.& certain income, as that the priests might live without being
forced for want of necessaries to forsake the Divine service or
to take up any trade. Beside, in the year 830, he helda
synod of a great many bishops, designed for the honour of
God and the advantage of the Church, wherein it was ordained
that neither bishops nor clergy of what degree soever should
be clad in sumptuous and gaudy apparel, whether silk, scarlet,
or embroidered; nor that they should wear on their fingers
any precious stones (except prelates at mass), nor that gold or
silver should be used on their girdles, shoes, or pantofles,
which certainly is far from all religion and a manifest sign of
great incontinence and vanity. Would to God, Louis, thou
mightest live in our times. Thy holy institutions, thy censures
are wanting in the Church at this present, when the clergy let
themselves loose to all manner of luxury and pleasure. You
may see now not only the men in scarlet and purple, which

P : e »

Gregory IV. 217

perhaps, would be no great matter, but even their horses and
beasts of carriage; and when they march in state a number of
footmen must go before them, and they must be followed by
another retinue of priests, not riding upon asses, as Christ did
(Who was the author of our religion, and the only pattern of
well-living on earth), but upon steeds pampered and betrapped
as if they came in triumph from a vanquished enemy. It
would be to no purpose to speak of their silver vessels, their
choice household stuff and dishes of meat, when in comparison
of them the dainties of Sicily, the most magnificent apparel
and the plate of Corinth would be thought of no value. What
wil be the effect of this exorbitance I shall not determine
here, lest I should seem to pry into the decrees of heaven. I
return to Louis, who by these means taking care as well for
religion as the public weal, died in the thirty-sixth year of his
empire, and lies buried in the church of St Arnulphus. He
was not long after followed by our Pope Gregory, remarkable
for his birth, famous for his sanctity, notable for learning and
eloquence, and worthy of admiration for his care and diligence
in both spiritual and civil affairs: for he did after an extraor
dinary manner consult the good of the people, by containing
the wealthy in their duty, by feeding the poor, comforting the
hopeless, and reducing those that went astray into the right
way by wholesome admonitions; he also restored many
churches which time had ruined. Those that were admitted
to holy orders he kept to their duty as long as he lived by his
advice and example. "This holy Pope translated the body of
St Gregory, and very much adorning it he placed it where now
it lies, where many people in those times, either out of devo-
tion or for the sake of some vow, were wont to keep watch.
It is said that the bodies of St Sebastian and Tiburtius were
also translated by him from the cemeteries in which they lay
before, to the church of St Peter. Some authors say that
Gregory, at the request of Louis, instituted the feast of All-
Saints on the first day of November, which act of his was much
commended both in prose and verse by Rabanus, a monk, a
famous divine ; for in both those ways of writing that learned
man was excellent, especially considering the age he lived in.
The same Rabanus also wrote * Commentaries on the books
of Chronicles and Maccabees.” He made eloquent sermons to
the people, but that of his is chiefly celebrated which he made

218 The Lives of the Popes.

upon All-Saint’s Day. Gregory died in the sixteenth year of
his pontificate, and was buried in St Peter’s Church, after
which the see was void fifteen days.

—AÀ

SERGIUS.

A.D. 844-847.

ERGIUS the Second, a Roman, whose father was named
Sergius, of the fourth ward, came to the popedom in the
second year of Michael III. , Emperor of Constantinople. It
is said that this Sergius was surnamed Bocca di Porco, or
Hog's-mouth, which for shame of it he changed for Sergius,
and that from thence came the custom down to our times, that
when any one is made Pope he laid by his own name and took
one of some of his predecessors, though all have not observed
it However it was, it is certain that Sergius came of a noble
family and degenerated not from his ancestors, being assisted
in his good inclinations by Leo IIL, Stephen IV., Eugenius
IL, and Gregory IV., under whose tuition he lived so well,
that upon the death of Gregory he alone was thought worthy
of the pontifical dignity. At that time there was so great a
feud between the sons of Louis, about the division of the
empire, that Louis and Charles gave their brother Lotharius
battle in the country of Auxerre, near Fontenay, where many
on both sides were slain ; Lotharius losing the day, fled first
to Aachen, but being forced from thence by the pursuing
enemy, he conveyed himself with his wife and children to
Vienna. Hither also he was followed by his brothers with
their army, to whom not only many of the great men of the
empire came, but several also were sent by Pope Sergius to
endeavour to make peace between them, the chief of whom
was George, Archbishop of Ravenna, who having been before
to make up the matter, was present with Lotharius in the
second battle, and the victory inclining to Charles and Louis,
he lost all his train there (of 3oo horsemen), and hardly
escaped alone from the slaughter. But these men at last
looking with pity upon the misery and ruin under which the
whole empire lay, procured a peace upon these terms, viz., that
the western part of the empire which reached from the British
Ocean to the Maese, should be subject to Charles, and the

Sergius. 219

name of Franks should continue to the inhabitants ; that all
Germany, as far as the river Rhine, and so much on the other
side of it as his father had been possessed of, should be
allotted to Louis ; and that Lotharius should, with the title of
the emperor, hold the city of Rome, with Italy and that part
of France which was formerly called Gallia Narbonensis, now
Provence. To this they added that country lying between
_the rivers Scheld and Rhone, which, as I suppose, now took
the name of Lotharingia [Lorain] from Lotharius. Matters
being thus composed, Lotharius sends his son Louis, whom
he had taken into a partnership in the empire, into Italy with
a mighty army; giving him for companions Drogon, Bishop
of Metz, and others of the clergy eminent for prudence
and gravity, by whose advice he was to govern himself.
But the young man, being puffed up with his great fortune,
wheresoever he marched, filled the country with slaughter,
rapine, and destruction. Yet when he approached the city,
and the citizens of Rome came out of respect to meet him,
laying by his Gaulish fierceness he grew more mild, because ©
contrary to his expectation he found that he might enter the
city without force of arms. The religious also came a mile
out of the city to meet him with their crucifixes, singing,
* Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna
in the highest. Thus they accompanied him as far as the
steps of St Peter's Church, where, meeting the Pope, they re-
ciprocally kissed and greeted each other and went together to
the Silver Gates, which were not opened. Then said the Pope,
* If thou comest hither with peaceable and friendly intentions,
and if thou hast more regard to the advantage of Christianity
than to the pleasure of exercising cruelty and rapine, then -
with my good will thou mayest enter; if thou art otherwise
minded, touch not these gates, for over thy head hangs a
sword, which will certainly avenge any such wickedness."
But when he had given the Pope assurance, immediately the
doors were thrown open. Hereupon a multitude of Romans
and Franks entering pel-mel, as soon as they came to the
altar of St Peter, they all kneeling down together gave thanks
to God Almighty and to the prince of the apostles, that
matters had been carried according to their minds without
hurt to anybody; this was done upon the Monday after
Whitsunday. But soon after the suburbs were sacked by the
soldiers, and it wanted little but that they had got into the

220 The Lives of the Popes.

city for the same end, so that the eighth day after their coming
the Pope anointed Louis with the holy oil, crowned him and
declared him king of Italy. Soon after came Siconolfus,
Prince of Beneventum, to congratulate him, and then the
multitude was such that the trees were lopped, the beasts driven
away, and even the standing corn cut down, that their horses
might not want provender. The Pope therefore easily agreed
to all their requests, if they were reasonable, that he might
the sooner rid the city of them: and the Romans being now
delivered from the fear of their tyrannical barbarity, celebrated
their Pope as the true vicar of Christ and the only father
of his country. He betaking himself to the beautying of
churches, restored that of St Sylvester and St Martin which
time had ruined, and in it, together with those of the two
confessors, he placed the bodies of Fabianus, Stephanus,
Sotherius, Asterius, Cyriacus, Maurus, Smaragdus, Anastasius,
Innocentius, Quirinus, Leo, Arthemius, Theodorus, and
Nicander. He built also near that church from the founda-
tion a monastery dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, where
mass was incessantly sung. But at last this holy Pope having
managed the affairs of the Church with great integrity and
success, in the third year of his pontificate, died and was
buried in St Peters Church. The see was vacant upon his
death fifteen days.

ce, To

LEO IV.
A.D. 847-855.

EO the Fourth, a Roman, son of Radulphus, was in the
year 847 by a general consent elected Pope, and very
deservedly ; for he was one that, whilst he lived a private life,
was very eminent for religion, innocence, piety, good nature,
liberality, and especially for ecclesiastical learning. He was
a person of so much prudence and courage that, as the gospel
directs, he could, when it was necessary, imitate either the
wisdom of the serpent or the innocence of the dove. So
general was the good report of him that Pope Sergius II. was
persuaded to create this pattern of virtue a priest from a
sub-deacon and to give him the title and church sanctorum
guatuor coronatorum, from whence upon the death of Sergius

E:
d

Leo IV. 221

he was brought to the Lateran Church and placed in St
Peter’s chair, being universally saluted as Pope, all that were
present, according to ancient custom, kissing his feet. There
are some of opinion, that by the prayers of this good man it
was that God was moved to repress the rage of the Saracens
by drowning their fleet as they were returning home laden
with spoil. For they having overcome Theodotius, admiral
to the Emperor Michael in a sea fight near Tarentum,
ravaged far and near through Italy without opposition, and
having taken and sacked Ancona and harassed the coast of
Dalmatia, when they were returning triumphantly to their own
country, it pleased God they were cast away at sea by storm.
So that Leo, being free from his fear of the Saracens, betook
himself to public works, and caused benches of marble to be
placed in the entrance to the Lateran cloister and finished the
gallery which Leo III. had begun. This good prelate ordained
that yearly in the church of St Paul, on the birthday of that
Apostle, vespers should be said by all the clergy. He pro-
hibited all laymen entrance into the chancel during divine
service. About this time at his command solemn supplications
were made to avert God’s anger, which the frequent earth-
quakes seemed to threaten. He adorned, after an extraordinary
manner, the cross which Charles the Emperor had given to
the Basilica Constantiniana, which had been pilfered of the
precious stones that belonged to it. It is sure he was a man
of so great sanctity, that by his prayers he drove away out of
an arch in St Lucie’s Church, a basilisk (called by the Latins
Regulus), which with its breath and poison had killed many ;
and by the sign of the cross he stopped a great fire, which had
burned down the quarter where the Saxons and Lombards
lived, and reached very near St Peter’s Church. This happened
the eighth day after the assumption of our Lady, which day was
afterward kept as a festival without the walls not far from St
Laurence’s Church, where stood a church dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin, to which this munificent Pope had made many
donaries of gold and silver. Beside this he finished the mosaic
work in the churches of St Martin and St Silvester in montibus,
and the pargetting which Sergius had begun, as the inscrip-
tion shows which is all that is left; the painting being long
since perished either for want of care or by time and rotten-
ness. He took care also that the cross of gold which is
usually borne before the Pope, was decked with precious stones,

222 The Lives of the Popes.

and neglected no manner of ornament that might contribute
to the honour of the Christian name. He re-edified the city
walls and gates that had suffered by age, and raised from the
ground fifteen forts for the defence of the city ; of which two
were very necessary —one on the right, the other on the left
hand of the Tiber below the hills Janiculus and Aventinus, to
hinder the ships of any enemy from entering the town. He by
his diligence found out the bodies of the sancti quatuor coronati,
and built a church to them after a magnificent manner; and
reposited their bodies under the altar, viz., Sempronianus,
Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius; to which he added those
of Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, Victorinus, Marius,
Felicissimus, Agapetus, Hippolytus, Aquila, Priscus, Aquinus,
Narcissus, Marcellinus, Felix, Apollos, Benedict, Venantius,
Diogenes, Liberalis, Festus, Marcellus (the head of St Protus),
Cecelia, Alexander, Sixtus, Sebastian, Praxedes. But while
he was diligently intent upon these affairs, as became so holy
a man, news was brought that the Saracens were coming with
a huge fleet to sack the city, and that the Neapolitans and
the inhabitants upon that shore would come to his assistance ;
whereupon with what forces he could raise he marched to
Ostia, and summoned thither the auxiliaries, designing upon
the first opportunity to fight the enemy. But first this holy
Pope exhorted his soldiers to receive the sacrament, which
being devoutly performed, he prayed to God thus, * O God,
whose right hand did support the blessed Peter when he
walked upon the waves, and saved him from drowning, and
delivered from the deep his fellow-apostle Paul when he was
thrice shipwrecked, hear us mercifully and grant that for their
merits, the hands of these Thy faithful ones fighting against
the enemies of Thy holy Church, may by Thy almighty arm
be confirmed and strengthened ; that Thy holy name may
appear glorious before all nations in the victory that shall be
gained." Having pronounced this, by making the sign of
the cross he gave the signal for battle, and the onset was
made by his soldiers with great briskness as if they had been
sure of victory, which after a tedious dispute was theirs, the
enemies being put to flight; many of them perished in the
fight, but most were taken alive and brought to Rome ; where
the citizens would have some of them hanged without the
city for a terror to the rest, very much against the mind of
Leo, who was very remarkable for gentleness and clemency,

?

/

2^
E
x

E.
E.
E
s
uH

Leo IV. 223

but it was not for him to oppose the rage of a multitude.
Those that were taken alive Leo made use of in re-edifying
those churches which the Saracens had heretofore ruined and
burnt, and in building the wall about the Vatican, which from
his own name he called Urbs Leonina. This he did lest the
enemy should with one slight assault take and sack the
church of St Peter, as heretofore they were wont. The
gates also had his prayers, for upon that which leads to St
Peregrin this was graven in marble, * O God, who by giving
to Thy apostle St Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
didst confer upon him the pontifical authority of binding and
loosing, grant that by the help of his intercession we may be
delivered from all mischievous attempts, and that this city
which now with Thy assistance I have newly founded may
be free for ever from thine anger, and may have many and
great victories over those enemies against whom it is built.”
And on the second gate near St Angelo that leads into the
fields were these words, * O God, who from the beginning of
the world didst vouchsafe to preserve and establish this holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome, mercifully blot out
the hand-writing of our iniquity, and grant that this city
which we, assisted by the intercession of the apostles Peter
and Paul, have newly dedicated to Thy holy name, may
remain secure from the evil machinations of its enemies."
The third was on the front of the gate by which we go to the
Saxon school, in these words, * Grant, we beseech thee,
almighty and merciful God, that crying to Thee with our
whole heart, and the blessed apostle Peter interceding for us,
we may obtain Thy favour We continually beg of Thy
mercy, that the city which I, Thy servant Leo IV., Bishop of
Rome, have dedicated anew and called Leonina from my own
name, may continue safe and prosperous." 'This city he
began in the first year of his pontificate and finished in his
sixth, and gave it to be a habitation for the men of Corsica,
who had been driven out of that island by the Saracens, to
each of whom also he assigned a piece of ground for his main-
tenance. But I wonder now that another inscription is to be
read on these gates in dull hexameter verse, which I cannot
by any means think to be Leo's, though it go under his name.
Of the spoils of the Saracens he made several donations of
gold and silver to the churches of Rome. Some write that
it was by his command that St Mary's Church in thenew street

224 The Lives of the Popes.

and the tower in the Vatican next St Peter’s now to be seen,
were built. Beside he restored the silver door of St Peter
which had been pillaged by the Saracens. He held a synod
of forty-seven bishops, wherein Anastasius, presbyter cardinal
of St Marcellus, was by the papal canons convicted of several
crimes, upon which he was condemned and excommunicated,
the chief allegation being that for five years he had not resided
in his parish. Moreover he brought colonies from Sardinia
and Corsica (which now upon the repulse of the Saracens had
some respite) and planted them in Ostia, which partly by
reason of the unhealthiness of the air and partly by being so
often plundered was left without inhabitants. Lastly, he fully
satisfied Lotharius, who having been informed that Leo was
upon a design of translating the empire to the Constan-
tinopolitans, came himself to Rome. But the informers being
caught in lies received condign punishment, and the friend-
ship was on both sides renewed. It is said that Johannes
Scotus, a learned divine, lived at this time, who coming into
France, by the command of King Louis, translated St
Dionysius’s book * de Hierarchia" out of Greek into Latin,
but was soon after (as they say) stabbed with a bodkin
by some of his scholars: but the occasion of this villanous
act is not anywhere recorded. It is said too, that now
Ethelwulf, King of England, out of devotion, made his
country tributary to the Church of Rome, by charging a penny
yearly upon every house. Our holy Pope Leo having
. deserved well of the Church of God, of the city of Rome, and
of the whole Christian name for his wisdom, gravity, diligence,
learning, and the magnificence of his works, died in the
eighth year, third month, and sixth day of his pontificate, on
the 17th day of July, and was buried in St Peter's Church.
The see was then void two months and fifteen days.

O

JOHN VIIL

OHN, of English extraction, but born at Mentz, is said
to have arrived at the Popedom by evil arts ; for disguis-
ing herself like a man, whereas she was a woman, she

went when young with her paramour, a learned man, to Athens,

Benedict I1. 225

and made such progress in learning under the professors there,
that, coming to Rome, she met with few that could equal,
much less go beyond her, even in the knowledge of Scriptures ;
and by her learned and ingenious readings and disputations,
she acquired so great respect and authority, that upon the death
of Leo (as Martin says), by common consent she was chosen
Pope in his room. As she was going to the Lateran Church,
between the Colossean theatre (so called from Nero’s colossus):
and St Clement’s, her travail came upon her, and she died
upon the place, having sat two years, one month, and four
days, and was buried there without any pomp. This story is
vulgarly told, but by very uncertain and obscure authors, and
therefore I have related it barely and in short, lest I should
seem obstinate and pertinacious if I had omitted what is so
generally talked ; I had better mistake with the rest of the
world ; though it be certain, that what I have related may be
thought not altogether incredible. Some say that at this
time the body of St Vincent was brought by a monk from
Valentia, in Spain, to a villiage in Albigeois, in France. They
say, too, that Lotharius, being now aged, taking on him a
monastic habit, left the empire to his son Louis, who passing
into Germany, by his presence composed matters there which
otherwise threatened a war.!

Oa

BENEDICT III.
A.D. 855-858.

BEN EDICT the Third, by birth a Roman, son of Peter ;

he was deservedly called Benedictus for the sanctity of
his life and his knowledge in divinity. For while he lived
under Gregory, he was made by him sub-deacon, and thence-
forward led so exemplary a life, that, upon the death of Leo,
he only was thought worthy to succeed so great a Pope. To
him therefore they address themselves, as to a kind angel by
God sent down to them, and presently declare him Pope.
He, weeping and calling God and His holy saints to witness,
professed himself utterly unworthy of so high a dignity. But
the election being universally liked and applauded, he at last
unwillingly accepted of the office, was brought to the Lateran

1 This story is now universally rejected. — ED.
H

226 The Lives of the Popes.

and placed in St Peter’s chair, whence he was led upon a
white horse to the church of St Mary Maggiore, where he spent
three days in fasting and prayer, begging God to grant that he
might govern His Church with integrity and holiness. The
third day past, the people came thither again, and according
to custom kissed his feet, especially those of the faction of
Rhodoardus, Bishop of Porto, who the day before had
attempted to set up, instead of Benedict, one Anastasius, an
obscure man, who had been turned out of his bishopric by
Leo ; but now finding their error, they asked pardon, and be-
coming of the right opinion, they also made the usual adora-
tion to this holy man, as likewise did the ambassadors sent
to Rome by the Emperor Louis to confirm the election of the
clergy and laity. The next day he was attended by the people
to St Peter’s Church, where being, according to custom and
ancient tradition, publicly consecrated, he received the insignia
of his office with unanimous shouts and acclamations. For he
was a man of so sweet a temper, and so great modesty, both in
his mind and aspect, that, as wellin his public managements as
in his private station, he gained the love and respect of all
men. And now setting his mind on the service of God, he
repaired many churches almost tottering with age, and in-
creased their treasures. He ordained that the Pope and
clergy should accompany the funerals of bishops, priests, and
deacons, as well to honour their corpse as to pray for their souls ;
and that the clergy should in like manner attend the funerals
of Popes; and what he had thus ordained, himself observed
punctually as long as he lived, for he was always present at
the burials of the priests. He was a frequent visitor of the
sick, a nursing father to the poor, a comforter of the miserable
and hopeless, a zealous patron of the widow and fatherless.
And in thus doing, having spent a most holy life, late enough
for himself, but too soon for the people of Rome, he died, hav-
ing sat two years, six months, and nine days, and was buried
before St Peter’s church-doors. The see then was vacant
fifteen days.

Nicolas f. 227

NICOLAS I. [THe Gnzar.]
A.D. 858-867.

INEIDORAS the First, a Roman born, son of Theodosius,

was ingenuously and religiously educated from his child-
hood, and made, first sub-deacon by Sergius, then deacon by
Leo, in which order he stood, when, with great piety and
many tears, he laid the body of Benedict in the grave, whose
exequies being performed, it was necessary to think of a suc-
cessor; and the people hereupon pressed the Divine Majesty
with prayers, watchings and fastings, that he would vouchsafe
them as good a Pope as him they had lost. After a long con-
sultation in the church of St Denis, Pope and Confessor,
(where they convened for this purpose), they chose this
Nicolas Pope ; but he was absent, and upon hearing the news
fled into the Vatican, and there hid himself to avoid the
dignity, where at length they found him, brought him to the
Lateran, and placed him, however unwilling, in the apostolical
chair. Being consecrated in St Peter's Church, and, agreeably
to custom, having put on the pontifical mitre, he concerted
several affairs with the Emperor Louis relating to the Pope-
dom and to the Empire. Louis afterwards leaving Rome,
stayed at a place the Romans call Quinto, whither it is
said Nicolas went, attended by the great men of the city, and
was honourably received, for the Emperor came a mile to

! During this important pontificate, the growing power of the see was
shown by the prohibition of the divorce of King Lothair of Lorraine from
his queen, Theulberga, as well as by the struggle between the Pope and
the northern prelates, headed by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, termin-
ating in the Pope’s favour. To this must be added the circumstance of
an Eastern quarrel. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, was unjustly
deposed for reproving the Emperor for his wicked life, and Photius was
elevated to his throne. Ignatius, weak and unprotected, appealed to
Pope Nicolas, who took high ground, declared Photius an intruder, and
called upon the faithful to recognise his authority, and obey his commands
to restore Ignatius. (See Robertson, **Ch. His.,” Book iv., ch. 3.) To
this pontificate belong the Forged Decretals, a collection of letters and
decrees purporting to be the work of successive Popes, beginning with St
Clement, claiming for the Roman see the fullest authority, and asserting
or assuming the whole dogmatic system of the Roman Church. That
they are forgeries is now admitted (see ** Cath. Dictionary,” s.v. ‘‘ False
Decretals "), but they passed unquestioned for several generations. ‘They
were probably manufactured at Maine, and played a large part in the
Pope’s battle with Hincmar.—Eb. -

2

^

228 The Lives of the Popes.

meet him, and alighting, took his horse-bridle in his hand and
led him into the camp. And, indeed, he was a man of so great
veneration and majesty, and of so much learning and elo-
quence, that, like the Deity, he forced respect from all men.
After some repast, they held a long and private conference,
and then having kissed each other, the Pope returned to
Rome; which he found so overflowed by an extraordinary
rise of the Tiber, that there was no passing from street to
street but in boats. St Laurence’s Church and the monastery
of St Sylvester, with all the low part between Via Lata, Campi-
doglid, and the Aventine, was so much under water, that
another deluge was feared ; many houses were borne down by
it, trees forced up by the roots, and corn that was sown quite
washed away; and the same happened again the same year
in December, To make up these losses, or to make them
more tolerable, the Pope omitted no manner of good office
or kindness to the citizens. At this time Michael, son of
Theophilus, Emperor of Constantinople, sent ambassadors
with presents to Rome, to visit the apostolic see and his
Holiness. The presents were a large paten and chalice of
gold with precious stones of great value. This was that
Michael who, having taken Basilius to be his partner in the
empire, was murdered by him, that he might reign alone.
His ambassadors were kindly received, and sent home with
presents. Nicolas, being earnestly intent upon the conserva-
tion of the pontifical dignity, deprived John, Archbishop of
Ravenna, for refusing to obey a citation from the apostolic
chair to answer some accusations. Whereupon he goes to
Pavia, and procures of the Emperor Louis commendatory
letters to the Pope, and to his ambassadors, that they should
get leave that the Archbishop John should have a safe conduct
to come to Rome and plead his own cause, which the Pope
readily granted ; and John, in a great convention of prelates,
being allowed liberty of speech, only confessed himself guilty,
and begged pardon of the Pope and of all that were present. By
which confession, and the intercession of the auditors, the Pope
was persuaded to receive him into favour upon these condi-
tions: that he should recant his error before the Synod ; that
he should promise to come to Rome once a year, if possible ;
that he should not be capable of consecrating any bishop in
Romagna, however canonically elected, without leave first
obtained from the see apostolic ; and that he should not hinder

Nicolas I. 229

any of those bishops from coming to Rome as often as they
pleased ; that he should not introduce any exaction, custom,
or usage contrary to the sacred canons ; and lastly, that under
the penalty of anathema he should not alter or meddle with
the treasure of holy Church without the consent of the Pope,
nor should without the same allowance receive anything
secular. These holy institutions were so highly approved by
. the whole Synod, that thrice they all shouted, * Righteous
is the judgment of the supreme prelate, just is the decree of
the universal bishop; all Christians agree to this wholesome
institution. We all say, think, and judge the same thing."
Then Jobn, in the sight of them all, took his oath, and gave
it under his hand that he would observe the articles. Thus
the convocation was dissolved, and John returned to Ravenna.
The Pope, having overcome this trouble, rebuilt the Church
of our Lady (then called the o/d, afterwards the zezo, church),
and adorned it with excellent paintings. He, by letters and
good adinonitions, converted the King of Bulgaria to the
Christian faith, with all his realm, to whom he sent bishops
and priests to confirm the young proselytes, driving out
Photius, who had craftily disseminated erroneous opinions
among them. He procured a peace between Louis the
Emperor, and Andalisio, Duke of Beneventum, and repelled
the Saracens, who had made an incursion as far as the same
Beneventum. Lastly, with the consent of the Emperor, he
decreed that no emperor or other layman should thrust him-
self into any convocation of the clergy, except the debate was
concerning matters of faith, and then his opinion was that
they might reasonably be present. It is said that at this time
St Cyril brought the body of St Clement from the Chersonese
in Pontus, to Rome, and placed it in the church now called
St Clement's, where, a little while after, himself also was
buried. Nicolas now, who was a great exemplar of all the
virtues one man could be endued with, died, the ninth year,
ninth month, and thirteenth day of his pontificate, and was
buried, according to his last will, in St Peter's Church porch.

230 The Lives of the Popes.

HADRIAN II.
A.D. 867-872.

ADRIAN the Second, a Roman, son of Talarus a
bishop, was a familiar friend of Pope Sergius, who
having once given him forty julios, when he came home he
gave them to his steward to give to the beggars and poor
strangers that were at his door ; which the steward going to
do, saw the number was so great, that it would not serve a
quarter of them, and so he returned and told Hadrian: who
hereupon takes the money, and coming to the poor folks, gave
every one three julios, and reserved to himself as many for
his own use ; at which miracle the steward being astonished,
“ Dost thou see,” says Hadrian, ** how good and bountiful the
Lord is to those that are liberal and charitable to the poor?”
By this and other virtues he grew into so high estimation with
all men, that when the consultation was held for making a new
Pope, they unanimously elected him, and brought him against
his will from the church of St Mary ad Presepe to the
Lateran, and immediately created him pope, not regarding
the consent of any person in a proceeding so tumultuary :
which gave great offence to the ambassadors of the emperor,
- who came on purpose upon this occasion, but could not (as
they ought) interpose the imperial authority in this election.
But satisfaction was made to them by remonstrating that it
was impossible in so great a tumult to moderate the violent
inclinations of the multitude ; they were desired therefore to
concur with the clergy and people, and, according to custom,
to congratulate as Pope this excellent man whom they had
chosen ; this at last the ambassadors did, though they saw
plainly that the clergy and people-did arrogate to themselves
the full power of creating a Pope, without expecting the con-
sent of any temporal prince ; and this perhaps in order to
enlarge the liberties of holy Church by making it a custom.
Soon after arrived letters from Louis, highly applauding this
action of the Romans, and commending them that they had
proceeded so religiously and sincerely in this affair, without
waiting for the approbation of any one, whose ignorance of
the fitness of the candidates might render them incompetent
judges in the case. ‘‘ For how,” said he, * can it be that one
that is a foreigner and a stranger, should be able in another

Hadrian II. 231

country to distinguish who is most worthy? ‘To the citizens,
therefore, does it properly belong, and to those who have had
familiarity with, and knowledge of, the competitors." Hadrian
then being made Pope, took diligent care of all matters relat-
ing to religion, and by word, example, and authority, both of
himself and his predecessors, exhorted all men to good and
holy lives; particularly he showed himself a strenuous defender
of those that had been oppressed by injustice and the power
of great men. He caused a Council to be called at Constan-
tinople; the sentence against Photius was renewed. In this
Council a long debate was held, whether the Bulgarians
(whose ambassadors were present) should be subject to the
Roman or Constantinopolitan see; and by the favour of the
Emperor Basilius, they were adjudged to the see of Rome,
whereupon the Bulgarians, making their applications to
Hadrian, that some man of good life and ability might be
sent into their country, by whose authority and example they
might be retained in the Christian faith, he sent three most
religious men with plenary power to settle the churches there
as they should see fit. "They were Sylvester, the sub-deacon,
Leopardus of Ancona, and Dominic of Trevisa, who soon
composed the whole affair to the Pope’s mind; though it
was not long ere the Bulgarians, corrupted with gifts and pro-
mises by the Constantinopolitans, expelled the Latin priests
and received the Greeks ; and this sedition gave occasion to
many quarrels betwixt the Greeks and Latins. Hadrian, still
opposing himself to all the enemies of the Church as much as
was possible, when he was about to anoint Charles Emperor,
in the room of Louis now deceased, died himself in the fifth
year, ninth month, and twelfth day of his popedom. A little
before his death it rained blood for three days together at
Brescia, and France was miserably wasted with locusts ; both
certain presages of his much lamented death.

1 A very different version of this Bulgarian episode will he found in
Robertson, ** Ch. Hist.,” ii. 368-393. —ED.

232 | The Lives of the Popes.

JOHN VAIgZI.
A.D. 872-882.

OHN the Eighth, a Roman, son of Gundo, as soon as he
was made Pope, declared Charles (surnamed the Bald,
who came to Rome for that purpose) emperor, which so

enraged the sons of his elder brother Louis, King of Germany
(Charles, surnamed the Gross, and Carloman), that, levying an
army, they invade Italy, resolving to deprive their uncle of his
crown and life. Charles hereupon makes haste towards
Verona with his forces, intending to cut off the passage of his
nephews by Trent, but was taken il at Mantua and there
poisoned (as it was thought) by one Zedechias a Jew, whom
he made use of for a physician. Upon this news Pope John
used his utmost endeavour that Charles's son Louis (sur-
named the Stammerer) King of France, might be made
emperor; but the great men of Rome opposed it, desiring
rather that Charles IIL, King of Germany, might succeed,
who, with his brother Carloman, had now overrun a great
part of Italy. So great was the sedition, that though many
favoured Louis, yet they took the Pope and clapped him in
prison. But by the help of some friends he soon made his
escape into France to Louis, where he stayed a year, anointed
him king, and ended some controversies depending between
the ecclesiastics. For Gibertus, Bishop of Nismes, had by
force turned Leo, an abbot, out of his monastery. This
monastery was dedicated to St Peter, and in it lay buried the
body of St Giles ; it is situated in a place called Flaviano,
from a valley of that name given to St Giles by a certain
king named Flavius, and he built there a monastery to the
honour of Saints Peter and Paul. The Pope, in the pre-
sence of many bishops and judges, heard the cause, and
adjudged the monastery to Leo. This was done at Arles,
from whence John, departing with the approbation of
Louis, held a Council at Troyes, where he made several de-
crees about religious affairs, and appointed a bishop for the
Flemings, who, having left their woods and fastnesses, now
betook themselves to an orderly way of living. But Italy all
this while being harassed by the Saracens, who had taken and
plundered the monastery of Monte Cassino, John was called
home to Rome, and, with the help of some Christian princes,

ee TET

Martin IT. 233

drove the greatest part of them out of Italy and Sicily ; and at
last, that he might live the more quietly in the city, he placed the
imperial crown on the head of Charles IIL, who quickly after,
marching against the Normans, then infesting the borders of
France and Loraine, defeated them, so that their king, Rothi-
fredus, was forced to sue for peace, and to become a Christian,
the Emperor himself being his godfather, and taking him into
favour. This writes Anastasius, the Roman library-keeper,
who was then highly in vogue, being so skilful in both tongues,
that by the persuasion of the Emperor Charles he translated
out of Greek into elegant Latin the seventh general council
and Dionysius the Areopagite’s book, * De Hierarchia,” with
the lives of several saints. Some say that this Charles built
many monasteries and was liberal to the Church ; but it is
certain that it was his particular commendation that he put
many learned men upon writing, for Milo, a monk of St Amand,
wrote the life of that saint very exactly, and Johannes Scotus
did very solidly and acutely handle many points of our
religion ; nor was our Pope John without desert in the same
way, having, while he was deacon, excellently composed the
life of Gregory I. in four books. When he had sat ten years
and two days he died, and was buried in St Peter's Church.

MARTIN IL
A.D. 882-884.

ARTIN the Second, a Frenchman, son of Palumbus,
succeeded John. Some, perhaps deceived by the
likeness of the names, called him Marinus. This Martin (the
story of whose life is so short because of the small time he
held the chair) was Pope at the time when the sons of Basilius,
Leo, and Alexander were Emperors in the East, and Charles
III. in the West, who, we told you, was crowned by John VIII.,
and who broke the forces of the Normans infesting France in
so many battles, that he forced them to submit to him and
receive the Christian faith. Some write that it was this

Martin that, with his tricks (of which somewhat will be said in

the life of Formosus), did so plague Pope John with seditions
as to get him thrown into prison and force him to fly. But
having by ill means gotten the Popedom, he soon died,

234 The Lives of the Popes.

having sat but one year and five days, and in that time doing
nothing remarkable, either because his time was short, or
because no occasion offered itself from whence he could
acquire repute, except we may suppose it to be the will of
God that those who attain to power by indirect means should
lose that true glory which is the chief aim of every good
prince.

HADRIAN III.
A.D. 884-885.

ADRIAN the Third, a Roman, son of Benedict, was a
man of so great a spirit, that immediately upon his
entrance on the Popedom he proposed to the Senate and
people that a law should pass that no regard should hereafter
be given to the authority of the Emperor in the creation of
any Pope, but that the election of the clergy and people
should be free. This institution was rather attempted than
begun before by Nicolas L, as was said ; but I believe Hadrian
took now the opportunity, when the Emperor Charles was
marching with his army out of Italy against the rebellious
Normans. He went with a design utterly to extirpate that
unquiet people; but perceiving that would be difficult, and
not to be done without great slaughter of his own men, he
granted them that part of France to live in which lies beyond
the river Seine, and is still called, from the name of the people,
Normandy. They were bound to pay a yearly tribute to the
crown of France, to mind them that they stood possessed of
the country, not by their own power, but by the bounty of the
Emperor Charles. At this time William, surnamed the Godly,
Duke of Aquitain and Earl of Auvergne, not having any heirs
male, began magnificently to build the monastery of Clugny,!
in his father’s manor, in a village of Burgundy, and made
Berno abbot of the place, having set out an income for the
maintenance of the monks; but he dying left it unfinished,
having constituted Ebbo, Earl of Poictou, his heir, who should
take care, according to his last will, of the whole matter. And
now Hadrian, of whom, for his courage and haughty spirit,

1 This is an error. The monastery of Clugny was not founded until
912, —Ep. '

ELM FS e E MR Na ORT E nee Te ad ee oy

oT Ne PLA

Stephen VI. 235

the clergy and people of Rome had conceived so great hopes,
died in the first year and second month of his Popedom, and
was buried in St Peter’s Church, with the general lamentation
of the people for the unseasonable loss of such a father.

"c

SIBEPILEN VE
A.D. 885-891. -

TEPHEN the Sixth, a Roman, son of one Hadrian, of the
Via Lata, was made Pope at the time when the Normans,
assisted by the Danes, contrary to their treaties, had well-nigh
overrun all France. For fear of these invaders the body of
St Martin was carried from Tours to Auxerre, and placed in
the church of St German; which begot a feud among the
monks, who could not agree by the name of which of the two
saints the church should be called. To solve this doubt,
they took this way: They set a leper in the midst between.
the two saints bodies, who grew whole only on that side
which was towards St Martin, and then turning the other
side towards him, he was quite healed. This miracle
determined the controversy, which St German is thought
to have suffered his new guest to perform, lest it should
be thought that the body had lost any of its sanctity by being
translated. Authors say that during this Pope's time Charles
the Gross, who had been emperor twelve years, was deposed
by his nobles for his sloth and dulness, and Arnulphus, his
nephew, was set up in his stead, who was the seventh
emperor from Charles the Great. This troublesome state of
things tempted the Huns, a Scythian nation (according to
Vincentius and Martinus), to make a descent into Pannonia,
where, joining their brother-tribe, the Hungari, they possessed
themselves of the country, driving thence the Gepidi and
Avares: and from hence marching with their forces into
Germany, they pierced as far as Burgundy, destroying all with
fire and sword. Stephen, in this confusion of affairs, was yet
not a little comforted with the sanctity of Luithprandus,
deacon of Pavia, Waldrad of Bavaria, and Bernard of Picardy,
by whose lives and conversation the Christian religion got so
great reverence that many monasteries and churches were
sumptuously built throughout France. In the sixth year and

236 The Lives of the Popes.

eleventh day of his papacy, he died, and the see was vacant
five days.

0————

FORMOSUS.
A.D. 891-896.

BCR qiue Bishop of Porto, succeeded Stephen, and in

the beginning of his pontificate adorned St Peter's
Church with some slight paintings. This Formosus had
formerly, for fear of Pope John, left his bishopric and fled to
France ; and denying to return when he was recalled, he was
anathematized, and then coming to Rome he was deprived of
all his preferments ecclesiastical, and put on profane manners
with his secular habit. Some think the reason that Formosus
was thus persecuted was for that he was a party, if not ring-
. leader, of the faction that put John into prison. However,
Formosus was so enraged at this hard usage, that he swore he
would never return either to Rome or to his bishopric ; but Pope
Martin, who succeeded John, absolved him from his oath, and
restored him to his country and to his former dignity, whence
not long after he came to the Popedom, rather by bribery
than for the sake of any good that was in him, many men
opposing his election. Arnulphus now, the seventh emperor
from Charles the Great, as we said before, marching valiantly
against the still rebellious Normans, gave them several over-
throws, but was too much puffed up with his success and
- became so intolerably imperious to all men, especially to the
clergy, that it pleased God he died soon after of the lousie
disease ; in whose room Louis was put up for emperor, but
we read not he was ever crowned, for (as Martinus writes)
Berengarius, Duke of Friuli, descended of the old kings of
Lombardy, renewing his claim to the kingdom of his ancestors,
and bringing his pretensions to the decision of war, though
at first he was overcome by Louis, yet giving him battle again
at Verona, Louis was vanquished, and, with great slaughter of
his men, being taken prisoner, had his eyes put out. And
thus the empire which the Franks had enjoyed almost one
hundred years, was transferred to the Lombards, Constantine,
the son of Leo, being Emperor of the East! I know not how

1 Inaccurate ; Leo was on the throne from 886-911, when Constantine
succeeded him.—ED.

Boniface VI—Stephen VII. 237

it fell out, that at this same time that the emperors showed so
little courage, the Popes too were as greatly wanting in virtue
and integrity, which rendered those times very miserable,
subjects being very apt (as Plato says) to follow the examples
of their princes. I return to Formosus, whose times (lest
they should have been the most unhappy that ever were) were
honoured with the learning and good life of Remigius of
Auxerre, who wrote divers commentaries, especially upon the
gospel of St Matthew and St Paul’s epistles. Some say in-
deed, that that author was not the person of whom I speak, but
Remigius of Rheims; however that be, it is certain they were
both very learned men. Formosus died in the fifth year and
sixth month of his pontificate, and the see was vacant two
days.

0

BONIFACE VI.
A.D. 896.

TouFACH the Sixth, a Tuscan, was created Pope in the
room of the deceased Formosus, but how long he con-
tinued in the papacy is a great question, for some writers say
longer, others say shorter. I am of opinion with the most,
that he sat but twenty-six days, and that which makes me
think so is, that historians make little or no mention at all of
him ; and how can it be, that (as some say) he should sit
twelve years in the chair of St Peter, and yet his reign be past
over unregarded? I have placed him therefore in the
catalogue of Popes, not for anything done by him, for he did
nothing (indeed what could be expected to be done in so
short a time?), but because he was regularly and canonically
elected Pope. He died, as I said before, in the twenty-sixth
day of his pontificate, and was buried in St Peter's Church.

0

STEPHEN VII.
A.D. 896-897.
C TEPHEN the Seventh, a Roman, Bishop of Anagni, being

made Pope, persecuted the memory of Formosus with
so much spite, that he abrogated his decrees and rescinded all

«248 The Lives of the Popes.

he had done, though it is said that it was Formosus that con-
ferred the Bishopric of Anagni upon him. But this I take to
be the effect of his ambition ; the clergy being come to that
pass, that they were so far from needing compulsion, as
- formerly, to take upon them the pontificate, that now they
sought it with bribery; and hence it was that Stephen,
because Formosus had hindered him before of this desired
dignity, exercised his rage even upon his dead body ; for
Martin the historian says he hated him to that degree, that
in a council which he held, he ordered the body of Formosus
to be dragged out of the grave, to be stripped of his pontifical
habit and put into that of a layman, and then to be buried
among secular persons, having first cut off those two fingers
of his right hand, which are principally used by priests in con-
secration, and thrown them into the Tiber, because contrary
to his oath, as he said, he had returned to Rome and exercised
his sacerdotal function, from which Pope John had legally
degraded him. This proved a great controversy, and of very
ill example ; for the succeeding Popes made it almost a constant
custom either to break or abrogate the acts of their predeces-
sors, which was certainly far different from the practice of any
of those good Popes whose lives we have written. In our
own time, Paul IL, a Venetian, had like to have taken upon
him the name of Formosus (which would have been agreeable
enough to him, being a proper man and of a venerable aspect),
but that the Cardinals, remembering this story, dissuaded
.him, lest that should happen to him after his death which
did to this Formosus ; but Paul was hardly wrought upon, as
thinking nothing but this name to be wanting to his felicity.
Meantime the Emperor of Constantinople, taking occasion
from the sloth of the Popes, sends one Symbaticus, a noble-
man, his sword-bearer, with an army into Italy, who, after a
siege of three months, takes Beneventum, after it had been in
the possession of the Lombards three hundred and thirty
years ; but three years after, Guy, of Lombardy, retook it, and
drove out the Greeks, and so it fell to the Lombards again.
But to return to Stephen, he died in the first year and third
month of his papacy, and the see was vacant three days after
his death. |

Ps eee See ee eee Fe ee ee ee el ee llr Mn

WT eap C cipia rs ad a

Sine SA GS dor iy ate Ea a Se cee IPEBEICIN

(teas dara
PES A at

Theodorus LT. 239

ROMANUS.
A.D. 897-898.

TGOMANUS a Roman, as soon as he was got into the
pontificate, disavowed and rescinded all the acts and
decrees of Stephen. And indeed these popelings! studied
nothing else but to extinguish the memory and honour of
their predecessors, than which nothing is more mischievous
or a more certain sign of a narrow soul; for they that trust
to such tricks as these are only such as, wanting all manner ot
virtue, endeavour to rob the well-deserving of that fame which
themselves can never attain to. Indeed, you shall never find
any man envying the good name of another, but one that,
being obnoxious to all manner of reproach, is hopeless of ren-
dering his own name honourable to posterity. Such men as
these maliciously, falsely, and craftily backbite, slander, and
find fault with those that have deserved well of mankind, like
useless and cowardly dogs that dare not seize a wild beast,
but will venture to snap at them when they are fast chained.
I was obliged, however, at least to mention this Pope
Romanus, because he obtained St Peter’s chair after the
ordinary manner, in which, after he had sat three months, he
died. :

— GÀ

THEODORUS II.
A.D. 898.

cf 3 HEODORE the Second, a Roman, followed the steps of

| these mutineers, for he restored the decrees of Formosus
and preferred his friends. Arnulphus (according to some
writers) still ruled in Italy, and in France Charles the Simple,
Constantine, the son of Leo, being emperor of the East, at
which time the Saracens, invading Apulia, possessed them-
selves of Mount St Angelo, and took abundance of men and
cattle; but the Italians hastily got together an army, set upon
them and recovered all with great slaughter of the enemies.
While affairs went thus in Italy, William, Earl of Angouléme,
surnamed Sector-ferri, of the lineage of Charles the Bald,

! ** Pontificuli," Ed. 1551.

240 The Lives of the Popes.

ordered the relics, which had been taken from the Chartreux
Friars at the time of the Norman invasion, to be restored, for
now that the Normans were quieted, he perceived there would
be some uproar about them if they were not restored. Who
the Normans were is not on all hands agreed: but they are
said to have come into France from Norway. ‘Theodorus, in
the twentieth day of his papacy, died, leaving, through the
shortness of his time, nothing memorable of himself.

———(——
JOHN IX.
A.D. 898 - goo.

OHN the Ninth, a Roman, was next created Pope, and
immediately reasserted the cause of Formosus, a great
part of the people of Rome being against it, who raised

such a tumult that it wanted little of a battle. He therefore
removed to Ravenna, where, calling a Synod of seventy-four
bishops, he damns all that Stephen had done, and restores
the decrees of Formosus, declaring it irregularly done of
Stephen to re-ordain those on whom Formosus had conferred
holy orders. These Popes, by their constant inobservance of
all apostolic practices, were the occasions (in my opinion) of
these turmoils, especially joining with that the cowardice and
negligence of the princes of Christendom ; whose interest it
was that the ship of St Peter should labour with tempests, that
‘so the master, being unable to animadvert upon them, might
throw them, like naughty mariners, overboard. — Arnulphus
was immersed in pleasures, and Charles, King of France, was
truly worthy of his surname of Simple, or rather blockhead.
So that the Hungari, a fierce and wild people, tempted by
this prospect of things, with a formidable army invade first
Italy, then Germany and France, without any considerable
resistance, consuming all with fire and sword, and sparing no
sex or age wherever they marched. The Moors, too, invaded
Calabria, of a great part whereof they possessed themselves ;
but whilst they besieged Cosenza, their king was killed by
thunder from heaven, whereupon they were dispersed and
returned home. Thus God Himself punished with His own
hand the enemies of the name of Christ, out of pity to His
people, who were miserably forsaken by the princes of the

|
|
|
:

Benedict IV. 241

earth, which, if He had not done, the name of Italy and the
holy Church had been no more, such sluggish and sorry
fellows were the potentates of those times. John died after
he had been Pope two years and fifteen days, leaving nothing
behind him worthy notice, but that he renewed some old
quarrels which had been almost forgotten.

0

BENEDICT IV.
A.D. 900-903.

BXENIAMES the Fourth, a Roman, for his good nature

and mildness was made Pope, but nothing was done
in his time worthy of any great commendation. In his age
it happened, as to others it does sometimes, that a strange
negligence of all manner of virtue had possessed mankind,
no incitements being applied by which the minds of men
should be stirred up to actions that are praiseworthy, which
yet are never wanting under good princes or well constituted
governments. At this time, as I said before, Louis, the son
of Arnulphus, endeavouring to recover his father's empire,
was taken and killed at Verona by Berengarius ; and then the
posterity of Charles the Great first lost their titles to France
and the empire of Germany. So true it is that which Sallust
says, * Every rising hath its setting, and every increase its
wane.” The Empire, which had arrived to so great a height
lost its splendour by the sluggishness of the great men and
people of Rome, when they once grew remiss in the exercises
of virtue, and emasculated their bodies with luxury and with
studied softnesses. And this we may say was the case of the
Papacy, for at first the pontifical dignity (without wealth and
among enemies and furious persecutors of Christianity) was
illustrious with a holiness and learning not to be attained
without great pains and a consummate virtue ; but now the
Church of God was grown wanton with its riches, and the
clergy quitted severity of manners for lasciviousness, so that
there being no prince to punish their excesses, such a licen-
tiousness of sinning obtained in the world as brought forth
these monsters, these prodigies of wickedness, by whom the
chair of St Peter was rather seized than rightfully possessed.
Yet this may be said for Benedict, that in this debauched age

242 The Lives of the Popes.

he carried himself with gravity and constancy, and died in the
third year and fourth month of his pontificate, after which the
see was vacant six days.

0-—-

LEO V.
A.D. 903.

I. 9 the Fifth, whose native country historians mention
not, succeeded him, but was soon taken and thrown
into prison by one Christopher, a chaplain of his own, who
aspired to the Popedom, which was not done without
great tumults and the loss of many men's lives. How lightly
the Papal authority was now esteemed (by fault of former
Popes) may be seen in this, that a private person should in a
moment be able to seize so great a dignity. But that saying
is certainly true, that great places receive more honour than
they confer upon the persons that supply them, as appears in
the Roman censorship, which at first was slighted as a mean
office, but when several of the nobility had once conde-
scended to execute it, the office became so honourable, that
the nobleman who had not once in his life been censor was
looked upon as very unfortunate. Leo had sat but forty days
when Christopher got into the chair, which indignity he laid
so to heart, that in a little while after he died for grief, deeply
resenting it that he should be robbed of his dignity by one
that had eat of his bread; according to that of Theocritus,
* Nurse up a wolf and he will devour you."

0

CHRISTOPHE R.
A.D. 903.

pO OPER whose country and family is, because
of the meanness of his extraction, not known, having
got the Popedom by ill means, lost it as ill; for after seven
months he was justly deposed, and forced to take on him a
monastic life, the only refuge of men in trouble, for at that
time clergymen that deserved ill were, as it were, banished
into monasteries by way of punishment. There are those that

Sergius LI, 243

say Christopher was deposed in the reign of Louis III., while

others ascribe him to the times of Berengarius, who, we told
you, was from Duke of Friuli created Emperor, as descending
from the Longobardian kings of Italy, and as being the only
man in whom, for his valour and nobility, they could place any
hopes of seeing the honour of the Empire retrieved. And
that I should suppose Berengarius to have reigned at this
time, I am persuaded by considering the short lives of the
Popes before-going (who, as monsters, were soon snatched
away by a Divine power), and the length of the reign of that
Emperor, who having vanquished Guido, Duke of Spoleto, and
slain Ambrose, Count of Bergamo, who were his first adver-
saries, was crowned Emperor by Formosus, and lived nine
years after. What became of Christopher after his being
deposed shall be spoken in the life of Sergius.

———(0———

SERGIUS III.
A.D. 904-911.

Se the Third, a Roman, son of Benedict, entering
upon the pontificate, re-edified the Lateran Church,
which was then ruined, and taking Christopher out of his
monastery, put him in prison ; and then settling his affairs, he
took a journey to France ; after his return from whence, being
now strengthened with the favour and friendship of the French
king, Lotharius, he totally abolished all that Pope Formosus
had done before, so that priests who had been by him ad-
mitted to holy orders were forced to take new ordination.
Nor was he content with thus dishonouring the dead Pope,
but he drags his carcase again out of the grave, beheads it
as if it had been alive, and then throws it into the
Tiber, as unworthy the honour of human burial It is
said that some fishermen, finding his body as they were fish-
ing, brought it to St Peter's Church, and while the funeral
rites were performing, the images of the saints which stood
in the church bowed in veneration of his body, which gave
them occasion to believe that Formosus was not justly pro-
secuted with so great ignominy. But whether the fishermen
did thus or no, is a great question ; especially it is not likely
to have been done in Sergius’s lifetime, who was a fierce

244 The Lives of the Popes.

* persecutor of the favourers of Formosus, because he had
hindered him before of obtaining the pontificate. And now,
reader, pray observe how very much these Popes had degener-
ated from their predecessors: they, good men, refused this
dignity when it was freely offered them, choosing rather to
spend their time in study and in prayer ; these, on the con-
trary, sought the papacy with ambition and bribery; and
when they were got in, slighting the worship of God, pursued
animosities among themselves with the violence of the fiercest
tyrants ; to the end that when no one should be left to anim-
advert upon their vices, they might the more securely
immerse themselves in pleasures. It is my opinion that
Sergius acted thus, by the instigation of Lotharius, because it
was by Formosus’s means that the Empire was translated from
the French to the Lombards. Sergius, leading his life after
this rate, died in the seventh year, fourth month, and six-
teenth day of his papacy, several fiery apparitions and blazing
stars, with unusual motions, having been seen in the heavens a
little before. Soon after, the Hungari invaded Italy with an
army, and several defeats were on both sides given and taken.

(le

ANASTASIUS III.
A.D. 9II-9I3.

NASTASIUS the Third, a Roman, came to the chair at
the time when Landulphus, prince of Beneventum, fought
a fierce battle with the Greeks, and defeated them, in Apulia.
For Patricius, general of Leo, Emperor of Constantinople, had
invaded Italy, and threatened a general ruin, if they did not
immediately acknowledge subjection to Leo: but (as was said)
by the valour of Landulphus, his boasting and his rage came
to nothing, though Berengarius also was bringing an army
together to meet him ; but they made rather a terrible show
than were truly of force. But Anastasius, not acting any-
thing worth mention, died after he had been Pope two years,
and was buried in St Peter’s Church. This Pope we may
commend in this one instance, that he did not persecute with
ignominy and scandal the memory of any of his predecessors ;
for he lived quietly and soberly, and had nothing chargeable
upon him that was blameworthy.

EI

Landus—]ohn X. | 245

LANDUS.
A.D. 914.

p ADS, a Roman, succeeded Anastasius ; but his life
was so obscure, that some do not reckon him for a
Pope, especially Vincentius the historian. But Martin and
Cusentinus are of another mind, together with Gothifredus,
who writes, that this Landus, by interposing his authority,
hindered a battle between Berengarius and Rodulphus, son
of Count Guido ; though others say that Rodulphus overcame

Berengarius near Verona, and enjoyed the empire three years.
There was indeed at this time a great contention for the
empire between the Italians, Germans, and French, which
was the cause of many cruel wars, which were not ended
without great destruction of men and mischief to each
country. The Romans and Italians laboured, might and
main, to preserve the empire in their own country against the
power of those barbarous people, but they wanted some man
that could lead them on in so great an enterprise ; for those
noble spirits who had rendered the name of Italy famous
through the world, were now not only extinct, but even those
virtuous inclinations were quite stifled which gave life to such
glorious actions. Landus died in the sixth month, and
twenty-first day of his pontificate, and was buried in St
Peter's Church.

— Mer

JOHN X.
A.D. 914-928.

OHN the Tenth, a Roman, natural son to Pope Sergius,
in the year 9o9 succeeded. He was, before, Archbishop

of Ravenna, and had been deposed by the people in a
tumult; but upon the death of Landus, he obtained the papal
chair, and showed more of the spirit of a soldier than of a
clergyman. Indeed, the Church and all Italy had then need
of such a Pope: for the Greeks (as we said before) being
vanquished by Landulphus, had called the Saracens into Italy,
who, marching through Calabria and Apulia into Lucaia and

246 The Lives of the Popes.

Campania, threatened sudden destruction to the city of Rome.
The nearness of the danger alarmed Pope John, who, taking
Albericus, Marquis of Tuscany, to his assistance, musters up
an army, fights the Saracens and gets the better, and beats
them out of the territories of the city ; but not looking upon
his victory as considerable unless he followed the pursuit, he
attacks them at Minturnz, upon the shore of the river Gari-
gliano, and conquers them with so great a slaughter, that they
resolved to leave Italy, only burning first all those places
on that shore which were in their hands. But they altered
their minds afterward, and fortifying Mount Gargano, they
harassed the country thereabout with their incursions. Mean-
while, John, taking all the honour of this action to himself,
makes his entry into Rome after the manner of a triumph,
which gave so great a distaste to Albericus, that a tumult
arose upon it, in which Albericus was repulsed, and flying to
Orta, fortified the town and castle, and enticed the Hungari
into Italy, who brought more destruction and ruin upon the
country than the Saracens had done before, for they carried
away the youth of both sexes, killing all that were stricken in
years ; nor did they spare the very Tuscans, for whose indem-
nity Albericus had agreed in the treaty with them ; nay, they
were more cruel to them than to other Italians, for they
burnt and demolished all the towns they had possessed.
It is my opinion that Berengarius (who then held Lombardy
only) gave them liberty of passage into*Tuscany, upon con-
dition they marched quietly through his country without
hurting his subjects. But the Hungari having once tasted
the sweet spoils of Italy, did frequently visit it afterwards,
which calamities so much enraged the Romans, that not being
able to wreak their spite upon the enemy, who was too mighty
and fierce for them, they took Albericus and beheaded him.
John also, in a mutiny of the soldiers, was, by the followers of
Count Guido, taken and put in prison.! In his room another
John was put up, but because he seized the chair by force,
and was soon deposed, he deserves not to be among the
Popes.

! Pope John had been the paramour of an infamous woman, possessed
of great riches, at Rome, named Theodora. Her daughter, Marozia,
wife of Guido, Duke of Tuscany, and as profligate as her mother, after a
fierce struggle with John for the mastery of Rome, gained the victory, and
is said to have caused him to be murdered in prison. —Ep.

Leo VI.—Stephen VIII. 247

LEO VI.
A.D. 928-929.

EO the Sixth, a Roman, was canonically elected Pope,
acted nothing tyrannically in his whole life, but lived
soberly and modestly, taking care of religion as far as an age
of so corrupt manners would bear. For he made it his en-
deavour to quiet the minds of the citizens (who, through the
. rashness and folly of former Popes, were inclining to tumults),
to compose the affairs of Italy, to make peace with foreign
enemies, and to drive the barbarians from the skirts of his
country, than which nothing could be done to better purpose
or more commendably in so short a time; for in the seventh
month and fifteenth day of his pontificate he died, and was
buried in St Peter's Church, to the great grief of the citizens
of Rome.

LM

STEPH EN* VITT.
A.D. 929-931.

SG LEEHEN the Eighth, a Roman (according to some

authors) came to be Pope at the time when the Hun-
gari, who were overrunning Germany and Saxony, were by
Henry, King of Germany, overcome with a great slaughter
near Mersburg.! It is said also that at this time Rodulphus,
King of Burgundy, made his descent into Italy with a great
army against Berengarius IL, who, by the treachery of his
own men, was driven out of his kingdom and fled to the
Hungarians for refuge, who taking up arms in his cause, the
third year after his expulsion, under the conduct of one
Salardus, invade Italy with huge forces, and take Pavia by
storm, destroying the greatest part of it with fire and sword.
The Italians hereupon finding Rodulphus to want strength
and courage, call in Hugh, Count of Arles. It was not with-
out contention that Rodulphus gave place to him, but his
enemies bearing hard upon him, he retreated into Burgundy.
After this, Hugh, finding occasion to mistrust those persons
that called him in, banished many of them, who fled to
Arnoldus, Duke of Bavaria, a man greedy of rule, and per-

1 This battle was not fought till 934. Most of these events belong to
the next Popedom. —Ep.

248 The Lives of the Popes.

suade him to make war upon Italy. He passes the Alps, and
is immediately received within the walls of Verona by the
citizens with great kindness and friendship, but Hugh, march-
ing against him, beats him in a pitched battle, and soon re-
takes Verona. Meanwhile Berengarius dies in Bavaria, or, as
others say, in Hungary, and Berengarius III., grandson of
Berengarius I. by his daughter, comes into Italy, and in the
year 935 gets the Empire. Some there are that ascribe these
actions that I have mentioned to the time of this Pope, but I
would rather assign them to some of those Popes that pre-
ceded and succeeded ; because, though I have set them down
in short, yet they must needs require a long time to be brought
about. But in so great a diversity of opinions concerning
times, I chose rather to place them somewhere, than utterly to
omit things, which were certainly once done, for the uncer-
tainty of writers. For the sake of posterity we would not be
so superstitious as to disbelieve that which various authors
have here or there thought good to record. To the times of
this Pope may justly also be ascribed St Ugibert, a nobleman
of Loraine, who in a short time, at his own charge, built the
monastery of Gemblours after a magnificent manner. At this
time also it is said that Spireneus, Duke of Bohemia, first
received the Christian faith; those that were then called
dukes being now, upon the increase of their wealth and
strength, entitled kings of Bohemia. But Stephen, having led
a peaceable and religious life, died in the second year, first
month, and twelfth day of his Popedom, and was buried in
St Peter’s Church.

6 ———M

NO FER XL

A.D. 931-936.

OHN the Eleventh, a Roman, son (as some say) of Pope
Sergius! came to be Pope when a fountain at Genoa
streamed blood in great quantities (as Vincentius and

Martinus relate), a sure presage of the ensuing calamities, for
soon after Genoa was taken and sacked by the Saracens, who
came from Africa, and the Hungarians entering Italy, utterly

! And of Marozia, so Roman Catholic historians say. —ED.-

Leo VII.—Stephen IX. 249

destroyed all things, far and near; but as they passed, laden
with prey, by the confines of Sulmona, the people of Taglia-
cozza, on a sudden taking arms, they were routed by them,
and lost their lives and plunder together. Racherius, who of
a monk had been made Bishop of Verona, was now a great
writer, but was banished to Pavia by King Hugh, because he
inveighed against his manner of living with too great freedom.
John died after he had been Pope four years, ten months, and
fifteen days. The see was vacant twelve days.

——_ 0—_———_—-

Liv

A.D. 936-939.

- T9 the Seventh, a Roman, was created Pope during the

reigns of Hugh and Lotharius in Italy, but did nothing
worthy of our mentioning. But his time was made famous
by the lives of Spireneus (according to Martinus), Duke of
Bohemia, a man of signal devotion and justice ; and of his
son, Wenceslaus, who degenerated not at all from his father,
killed by his brother, Boleslaus, who desired to reign. This
Wenceslaus was afterwards justly canonised for a saint, upon
proof made of the holiness of his life and of miracles wrought
by him both while he lived and after his death. Leo, after he
had sat three years, six months, and ten days, died, and was
buried in St Peter's Church. The see was then vacant three
days.

——— (J

STEPHEN IX.

A.D. 939-942.

Cee the Ninth, a German, coming to the papacy,
was so molested by the Romans with factions, that he
could do nothing remarkable ; nay (as Martinus relates), they
wounded him so foully in one tumult that he was ashamed to
appear abroad. King Hugh prepared to avenge his quarrel,
but died in the meantime, to whom succeeded his son,
Lotharius, but he made no mention of the matter, either
because he had a kindness for the citizens of Rome, or

250 The Lives of the Popes.

because his reign was short, for he out-lived his father but
two years. Otho, King of Germany, did now undertake to
revenge the murder of Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, upon
Boleslaus, his brother, who had killed him, and marching
against him, after several battles won and lost, at last took him
captive. Stephen died when he had been Pope three years,
four months, and twelve days. The see was vacant ten days.

0
MARTIN III.
A.D. 942-946.

ARTIN the Third, a Roman, imitated the meekness
and peaceable carriage of Stephen, for being made
Pope he laid aside thoughts of war, and employed his mind
in religious matters, repairing churches that were ready to fall
with age, and relieving the poor with his charity. Not but
that in his time Europe was very much torn with cruel wars:
for Otho, attempting to enter Italy against the will of Lotharius,
much blood was spilt on both sides, but Pope Martin per-
suaded them to lay down their arms, because (among other
reasons) there was a great famine in the land, by reason the
trees were felled, the standing corn trodden down, and even
the husbandmen with their cattle were in this grievous war
taken away. At Constantinople also were great tumults, the
citizens, making their Emperor a prisoner, and shaving his head,
banished him to a certain island ; but soon after Constantine,
son of Leo, getting the empire, punished these factious citizens
after the same shameful manner and banished them to the
same island. Martin died in the third year, sixth month, and
tenth day of his Popedom, and was buried in St Peter’s
Church. The Roman see was vacant twelve days.

iiit

AGAPETUS II.

. A.D. 946-955.

à Eo the Second, a Roman, was created Pope at a
time when Italy was full of warlike hurly-burly ; for
the Hungarians, having invaded Italy with a mighty force, had

See eon kel eee

Agapetus IT. 251

overrun all the country beyond the river Po. Henry, Duke of
Bavaria, takes up arms immediately, and getting an army
together, marches against them, and in two fierce battles routs
them, though not without great damage to the inhabitants
thereabouts, and seizes all the country from Aquileia to
Pavia; from whence yet he soon departed into Austria, when
he heard that Berengarius was coming against him with a
great army. Berengarius being therefore now master of Italy,
takes to himself the name of Emperor, and calls his son
Albertus, King of Italy, casting into prison Alunda, Lotharius's
brother's daughter, lest she should lay claim to the city of
Pavia, which was her dowry. Pope Agapetus and the great
men of Italy (observing the arrogance of Berengarius, and that
he made pretensions to everything without regard to right and
justice), sent for Otho, King of Germany, into Italy, who,
entering by the way of Friuli with fifty thousand men, quickly
dethroned Berengarius and Albertus, and taking Alunda out
of prison, married her, of whom he had a son, afterwards
succeeding him by the name of Otho II. And now Otho,
leaving Italy, showed a great deal of moderation by permitting
to Berengarius and his son the government of a province, and
making peace between him and the Pope. This Otho assisted
Louis, King of France, with a great army against Hugh, Earl
of Paris, though his brother-in-law, who with the help of some
of the great men of that country had well-nigh ousted him of
his kingdom. But Albertus, son of Berengarius, who then was
Governor of Ravenna, aided with some forces and ships from
Comachio, pirated upon the merchants of "Venice, much
against the mind of Pope Agapetus ; at which the Venetians
were so enraged, that they immediately rigged out a navy,
and took Comachio and burnt it. While these things were
doing, Pope Agapetus, a harmless man, and a great lover of
the Church, died in the ninth year, seventh month, and tenth
day of his pontificate ; about the same time that Otho, abbot
of Clugny, also slept in the Lord ; whose disciple Domaielus
is supposed to be, that wonderfully holy man and great
restorer of monastic discipiine.

252 The Lives of the Popes.

JOHN XII.

A.D. 955-963.

OHN the Twelfth, a Roman, by the power of his father,
Albericus, of the Via Lata, gets into the chair. His name
was before Octavian; he was one that from his youth

up had been debauched with all manner of vice and wicked-
ness ; and if he had any time to spare from his lusts, he spent
it in hunting and not in prayer. The Romans had at this
time two consuls annually and one prefect, who was a judge
among the citizens. Out of the people were created twelve
decarchons, who were instead of the senate; neither were the
Romans without some kind of dominions; for the neighbouring
towns of Tuscany between Orvieto and Todi, and all that lies
between the city and Beneventum, Naples, Tagliacozzo, and
Rieti, were subject to the city of Rome. What lies beyond
was possessed partly by the Greeks and partly by the Saracens.
It is not altogether certain who then held Marca di Ancona
and the Duchy of Spoleto. In the city thus free, Octavian,
favoured by the power of his father, assumes the papal dignity,
a weight for which his shoulders were very unfit; which gave
so great offence, that two cardinals who were nettled at it,
sent to Otho, beseeching him to come and deliver the clergy
and the people of Rome out of the hands of Berengarius and
this Pope John, otherwise telling him that the Christian
religion, and the Empire too, would both be ruined. Otho
was at that time great in the estimation of all people, having
(as we said before) conquered Boleslaus, King of Bohemia,
and routed the Hungarians that infested Germany in three
fierce battles, taking three of their princes, who were hanged
up by the Germans, against the mind of the Emperor. While
Otho was expected, the whole design was betrayed to John,
who took both the cardinals, and cut off the nose of the one
and the hand of the other. This moved Otho to hasten his
march into Italy, where first he took Berengarius and his son
Albertus, prisoners, and banished one to Constantinople, the
other into Austria; and soon after entering Rome, he was
splendidly received, even of John himself, and crowned
Emperor of Germany and Hungary, the Empire being now
first translated to the Germans. ‘There are authors yet that

John XII. 253

place this to the times of Leo VIII.,! of whom we shall speak
hereafter ; whose opinion is followed by Gratian in his decree ;
though Ricardus and Cusentinus disallow not the former : but
the Lateran library-keeper writes that Otho came to Rome in
John’s time, but says not a word of his coronation ; so per-
plexed and confused are the affairs of those times by the
carelessness and neglect of their writers. Otho, however,
having somewhat settled the state of the city, had some con-
ference in private with John, dissuading him kindly from his
naughty way of life, and exhorting him to reform; but when
he found fair words would not avail, he made use of threats
and declared for a general council, convening all the bishops
of Italy to judge of the way of life of this wicked fellow. The
censures of these good men, he apprehended, would be heavy,
and therefore fled to Anagni, sculking up and down in bye-
places like a wild beast: so that Otho, by the persuasion of
the clergy, creates Leo; a Roman, a keeper of the archives in
the Lateran, Pope. But, upon the departure of the Emperor,
the kinsmen and friends of John turn out Leo, and recall him,
who within a few days after was struck dead (as was thought)
from heaven, lest the Church of God should be ruined by so
pernicious a sedition as was then growing on. Some, indeed,
write that this wicked wretch, or monster rather, was taken in
adultery and there stabbed. However, this put not an end to
the schism ; for the Romans, upon the death of John, put
up Benedict in his room, and were earnest with the Emperor
(who was then at Spoleto) to confirm their choice. But the
Emperor was highly displeased, and not only denied their
request as unjust, but (as shall hereafter be told) compelled
them by force of arms to abrogate Benedict and receive Leo.
Many prodigies are said to have been seen at this present time
in Italy ; for in a mighty tempest of wind and rain there fell
a stone of a wonderful bigness from the sky; and in the
garments of many persons the figure of a bloody cross
appeared miraculously ; which portents were looked upon to
foreshow great slaughters and calamities to the Church. This
John, who was certainly the most pernicious profligate fellow
of any that preceded him in the pontifical chair, died in the
eighth year, third month, and fifth day of his popedom ; upon
whose death during the sedition the see was vacant twelve days.

1 They are wrong ; Platina is right. —Ep.

254 The Lives of the Popes.

BENEDICT V.
A.D. 963.

EE 0m the Fifth, a Roman, in the sedition was of a

deacon made Pope, chiefly by the assistance of the
kindred and dependents of John, to whom the preferment of
Leo by Otho gave great disgust. But the Emperor disapprov-
ing this election, flatly denied the confirmation of it to the
Romans who earnestly sought it, and wasting the territories of
the city with fire and sword, forced them not only to turn out,
but to yield up Benedict, and submit to Leo, with an oath not
to attempt any alteration in what the Emperor had established
in the affair of the popedom. Matters thus composed in Italy,
Otho goes back for Germany, taking Benedict with him, who
soon after died at Hapsburg, whither he was banished. He
held the Papacy six months and five days; the see was after
vacant thirty days.

a,

LEO "wWITE

A.D. 964-965.

1] 5 the Eighth, the Proloscriniary (as I said before), upon

the expulsion of John, was created Pope by the clergy
. and people of Rome. For when John led such an abominable
and exorbitant life that the Romans urged the Emperor to
depose him and set up another Pope, he answered that the
election belonged to the clergy and people; and let them
choose a man they took to be most fit, he would confirm him
immediately. Hereupon, when they had chosen Leo, and the
Emperor had confirmed him, soon after altering their minds,
they deposed him and put up Benedict, which so angered
Otho that he compelled them by force of arms to yield up
Benedict and accept of Leo again, who was so teased with the
mutinous humour of the Romans, that he transferred the whole
power of electing of Popes from the clergy and people to the
Emperor. But he lived not long after, dying in the sixteenth
month of his popedom.

Se ele ile ee i

put
YOU

John XIII. 255

JOHN XIIL

A.D. 965-972.

OHN the Thirteenth, bishop of Narni, a Roman, son of
John, a bishop, succeeded Leo. But the Romans, having

. got the trick of expelling their Popes, vexed this man also
with seditions ; for having called to their assistance Geoffrey,
Lord of Terra di Lavoro, they broke into the Lateran Palace,
and seized upon John, whom they first cast into the prison of
Castle St Angelo, and soon after banished to Capua; but
Geoffrey, with his only son, being slain by John, prince of Capua,
the Pope returned straight to Rome in the eleventh month of
his exile. Otho also, upon notice of the Pope's distress, to-
gether with his son Ótho and a good army, by long journeys
came to Rome, and immediately threw the consuls, the preetor,
and the decarchons into prison in order to a trial for their
treason ; who being by torture forced to confess, the consuls
were banished into Germany, the decarchons were hung up,
and Peter, the pretor, the cause and ringleader of all the
mischief, was several times dragged most ignominiously, and
whipped with rods through the most public places of the city,
and then sent prisoner to Germany. Others say his punish-
ment was thus,—being delivered to suffer at the will of the
Pope, his beard was first shaved off, then he was hung by
his hair upon the head of the statue of Constantine's horse,
for the terror of all such ill men ; from whence being taken,
he was set upon an ass with his face backward, and his hands
tied under its tail, and so led through the city, being, as he
went, whipped almost to death with rods; and then banished
into Germany. The like severity (for example’s sake) was
used by the Emperor against Count Geoffrey and his son, who
were killed (as I said before) by John, prince of Capua,—their
carcases being dragged out of their graves and denied
Christian burial. At this time the Sclavi, who (when Hadrian
III. was Pope), under Sueropylus, prince of Dalmatia, had
received the Christian faith, crossed the sea into Italy, gave
the Saracens a great route at Monte Gargano, and drove them
thence; and the Hungarians by their example so broke their
remaining force by recovering Cosenza out of their hands,
that it became easy for Otho, son of the great Otho (who came
for that purpose with his army), to make a perfect conquest of

256 The Lives of the Popes.

them ; nor was he content to have vanquished the Saracens,
but he subdued too the Greeks who had made a league with
the Moors, and drove them out of almost all Apulia and
Calabria. Some say, indeed, that Otho made this war upon
the Greeks because Nicephorus, Emperor of Constantinople,
had denied to give him to wife his daughter, who had been
espoused to him before. This is certain, that Otho, who was
a generous young man, deposed Nicephorus, and made his
son John emperor, himself marrying his sister Theophania,
who together with her husband were crowned by this Pope in
the Lateran Church with an imperial diadem, by the consent
of Otho, the father, who had made his son his partner in the
empire. During the great and universal rejoicing upon this
occasion, Pope John raised the Church of Capua to a metro-
politan see. But Otho, now worn with old age, returning into
Germany, died at Vienna; Pope John had died not long
before him, after he had sat six years, eleven months, and five
days ; after which the see was vacant thirteen days.

——— (a

BENEDICT VI.

A.D. 972-974.

ENEDICT the Sixth, a Roman, succeeded John in his

office and in his troubles, for being taken prisoner by
. Bonifazio, a potent citizen, he was put into Castle St Angelo,
a jail for malefactors, or rather for innocent persons, where in
a little while he was strangled, or (as Cusentinus says) famished.
I cannot but admire that the actors of so great an outrage were
never punished, neither by the citizens of the adverse party, nor
by the Emperor Otho, who was reputed an excellent man, and
a stout defender of the Church of Rome. But I am afraid
Bonifazio did no worse by him than he deserved ; not but that
how faulty soever Benedict might be, it was ill done of Bonifazio
to lay violent hands upon the Pope, since the censure of him
did not belong to a private man. But see the turn of human
affaÀrs; the Popes of our times make nothing to clap up
citizens into the same place and there starve them, whether
they deserve it or are only a little too powerful than they
desire. I believe Otho was too much taken up with other
business, so that he could not help him. He died when he
had been Pope one year and six months.

; Boniface VII. 257

BONIFACE VII!

TASA IFACE the Seventh, the deposer of Benedict VI.,
whose family and country (I suppose because of their
baseness) writers mention not, got the popedom by ill arts, and
lost it as ill ; for he was no sooner got into the chair, but the
honest part of the citizens confederating, he was forced out of
the city, taking with him the most precious things out of the
church of St Peter, and fled to Constantinople, where he only
' tarried till, by the sale of what he had so sacrilegiously got, he
had amassed vast sums of money, with which he returns to
Rome, not doubting but by the help of that to retrieve his
dignity, by bribing the citizens. Hemet yet with great oppo-
sition from all good men, but especially from John, a deacon
cardinal, whom, by the assistance of some wicked bravoes, he
caught, and put out his eyes. But his enemies increasing
about him, whether for fear or remorse for his great wicked-
ness, this author of so many mischiefs miserably ended his life.
Observe, I beseech you, how these Popes did degenerate from
their predecessors, who left the church so ample and magnifi-
cent at the expense of their blood. The Pope of Rome, the
father and protector of things sacred, does himself steal them
away, and he that should punish sacrilege is the author of it;
but thus it must needs fall out in any government where the
pride and covetousness of ill men shall prevail over the virtue
and wisdom of the good. ‘To great benefices none of the clergy
ought to be chosen, but such of whose life and learning there
isa certainty; not thosewho, having nothing of virtue or religion,
seek by ambition and simony to get into places of power.
Boniface lived seven months and five days in his pontificate,
and then the see was vacant twenty days.

![He is reckoned an Anti-Pope by later Roman historians. Platina
becomes very confused here. Boniface seized the Papacy as soon as Bene-
dict died, fled to Constantinople with his stolen treasures, as stated in the
text, and was absent untilthe accession of John XIV. Then he suddenly
reappeared at Rome, presuming on the Pope's unpopularity. He got pos-
session of John's person, and imprisoned him in the Castle of St Angelo,
and caused him to be murdered, again usurped the see, but was overthrown
as above described.]

258 The Lives of the Popes.

DOMNUS II.
A.D. 974-975.

EQUUS the Second, a Roman, a man of great modera- -
tion, and though there was nothing done by him
worthy of high commendation, yet he was never charged with
any injustice or dishonourable action. ‘There were, however,
many memorable actions of great and of holy men which
render his times not altogether obscure. For in his time
Baianus, a great magician, prince of the Bulgarians, so har-
assed with war Basilius and his son Constantine, Emperor of
Constantinople, that he narrowly missed of taking the town,
which by the negligence of the Greeks was left almost empty ;
but at last upon hard terms a peace was concluded between
them. Adalbertus, also a Bohemian, bishop of Prague,
flourished now, who was a man of so great sanctity that he
(by the impulse of the Divine Spirit) travelled into Hungary,
and baptized the king thereof, and by his good life and godly
example taught the bishops of the country to seek the grace
of God; from whence passing into Prussia, preaching the
gospel of Christ with great diligence, he was there crowned
with martyrdom. At this time too St Edward, king of Eng-
land, was for his sanctity in great honour; but was murdered
by the fraud and villany of his stepmother. Richardus the
historian adds to these St Maiolus, abbot of Clugni, who left a
great name behind him for his miracles and holy life. Domnus
died in the first year of his pontificate, and was buried in St
Peter's Church, whereupon the see was vacant two days.

0

BENEDICT VIL

975-983.
ENEDICT the Seventh, a Roman, as soon as he was
made Pope, called a Council, in which he restored
Arnulphus, Bishop of Rheims, who had been expelled in a
sedition. At this time Otho IL, having conquered Henry,
Duke of Bavaria, who had endeavoured some alterations in
the State, marched against Lotharius, who had possessed him- '
gelf of Lorraine, a province of the Empire, and laid waste the
territory of Aachen : and gaining a victory over him, he overran

Benedict VII. 259

the country or Soissons and set fire to the suburbs of Paris ;
but upon his retreat with his forces he received some damage
near the river Aisne. After this, raising a greater army, he
brought it into Italy against Basilius and Constantine, the
Greek Emperors, who had seized Calabria and that part of
Italy that lies toward Sicily, but receiving a defeat at Basanello,
he was forced to make his escape by sea, where he was by
chance taken by pirates, and carried into Sicily. The Sicilians
paid his ransom, and sent him to Rome, and soon after caught
the pirates and put them to death. Otho now gets his army
together again, and designed to chastise severely the Romans
and Beneventans, because they occasioned the loss of the battle
at Basanello, by flying first: but it was not thought safe to
begin with the Romans, and therefore he turns against Bene-
ventum, which he takes and consumes with fire, translating from
thence the body of St Bartholomew, and placing it at Rome,
in an island of the Tiber, formerly called Ostia Jovis Lyca-
onia, which was of the shape of the poop of a galley. Nay,
even to this day, as you view it from Tivertino, the island re-
sembles a galley, so made, I suppose, to represent that which
brought ZEsculapius to Rome ; there is also to be seen engraven
in stone the serpent (in the form whereof that god is said to
have arrived) and the ribs of the galley: so studious were the
excellent men of those times to bring nature to art as well as
art to nature. But to return to Otho, he soon, after the afore-
said translation of the body of St Bartholomew, died at Rome,
and was honourably buried in a porphyry tomb, still to be seen
on the left hand as you go in, in the portico of St Peter's
Church (called Paradise). Whilst consultations were held
about choosing a new Emperor, some insisting upon Otho ILL,
son of Otho IL, others standing up for Henry, Duke of
Bavaria, Otho's nephew by his brother, the Italians being
earnest for one Crescentius of Lamentana, an eminent man ;
the Germans on the sudden, of whom there were many then at
Rome, chose Otho III. ; the Pope, good man, all the while
urging them, that in their election they would have a regard
to the Church of Christ, which needed a governor of great
ability and diligence; but at last, to prevent tumults, he
approved of what the Germans had done. He died after he
had been Pope eight years and six months, upon which the
see was vacant five days. In his time Valdericus, Bishop of
Hamburg, was famous for his great learning and sanctity.
I4

260 - The Lives of the Popes.

JOHN XIV.

A.D. 983-984.

OHN the Fourteenth, a Roman, or, as some will have it, a
Pavian, had not been Pope three months but he was
taken by the Romans! and put into the public jail of.

Castle St Angelo, where he pined away so long with the stink
of the prison, want of necessaries, and trouble of mind, that he
died. Whether he was deposed for his tyranny and arrogance,
or by the malice and envy of seditious people, is not certain, so
confused are the accounts we have of those times. In his time
lived Odo, Abbot of Clugni, and Berengarius of Tours, men
famous for learning and holy lives; though it is said of Beren-
garius, that, through his confidence in his vast learning, he
erred in the faith, holding a wrong opinion of the Eucharist,
which, in a general council held at Rome, he afterwards re-
canted, and leaving off his study of controversial matters,
though he were archdeacon of Anjou, he gave all that he had
to the poor, and got his living by the labour of his hands.

0
JOHN XV.
A.D. 985-996.

OHN the Fifteenth, a Roman, son of Leo, a priest, born
in the ward of Gallina Bianca, being got into the pope-
dom,? hated the clergy strangely, and was, deservedly, for

the same mutually hated of them, and more especially because
whatever he could get either of things sacred or profane he
gave to his kindred and relations without any regard to the
glory of God or the honour of the Church, and this evil
humour has descended to his successors, even to our own
times, than which naughty custom nothing can be more per-
nicious, when our clergy seem not to seek the popedom for
the sake of religion and the worship of God, but that they may
with the profits of it satisfy the luxury and avarice of their
brethren, nephews, or domestics. They write that a comet ap-
peared about this time, portending the coming calamity, for there

1 [He was imprisoned and murdered by the Anti-Pope Boniface VII.
See note p. 257.] ? [He succeeded Boniface VII.]

| Gregory V. 261

followed a long pestilence and famine, and both Beneventum
and Capua suffered much by an earthquake, and these were
generally looked upon as judgments for the pride and rapacious
temper of the Pope, and his contempt of God and man.

—————

GREGORY.V.

A.D. 996-999.

( 45 EGRE the Fifth, a Saxon, son of Otho, before called
Bruno, by the authority of Otho III. for kindred sake

was made Pope.! But upon the return of Otho into Germany,
being vexed by the Roman factions, he fled first into Tuscany,
and thence into Germany to the Emperor. Meanwhile the
Romans vest Crescentius with an absolute consular power,
who immediately creates Pope, John, a Greek, Bishop of
Piacenza, not more wealthy than learned, whose name, I con-
fess, is by some left out of the catalogue of Popes as not
regularly created ; but others make him John XVII. because
he was chosen by the clergy and people of Rome, to whom
of right the election belongeth. Crescentius, upon the news
of Otho's approach with his army, fortifies the walls and gates
of the city with all diligence ; he fortifies too the castle of St
Angelo, and places strong guards in every post that required, so
that for some time after it was called Crescentius's castle, taking
the name of him that fortified it instead of that of the builder.
At length the Emperor arrived, and investing the city, when
the Romans perceived themselves unable to withstand so great
forces, trusting to the clemency of Otho, they opened their
gates to the Germans. And now, Crescentius and John being
without friends, and at their wits end, fled into Castle St
Angelo and defended themselves well, till, upon hopes of
pardon, coming forth to address themselves to the Emperor,
! [He was a man of holy life and character, and his austerity gave offence
to the laxer spirits. His accession marks an important crisis in the history -
of the Papacy. The outrageous wickedness of the pontiffs had horrified
Christendom, indifferent as it was to religion at this time, and the choice
of Otho’s kinsman was made in the hope of securing a man of decent life.
But this kinship was a deadly offence in the eyes of the Romans ; they
were eager to get rid of him, and were incited by Crescentius, the consul,

a very eloquent speaker, who roused them by his passionate reminders of
the liberties of their fathers, and the glories of the ancient republic.]

^

262 The Lives of the Popes.

Crescentius, receiving many wounds from the multitude, was
killed ; but John, having his eyes first put out, lost both his
popedom and life together; and Gregory, after he had been
expelled nine months, was restored. He, taking notice of the
weakness of the Empire and the uncertainties of chance, and
being willing to preserve the Empire among the Germans, and
that he should be preferred before others who excelled in
worth and virtue, with the consent of Otho, he made a decree
concerning the election of an emperor, A.D. 1002, which has
continued in force to this day :— To wit, that it should belong
to the Germans alone to choose a prince who should be
Cesar and king of the Romans, till the Pope should have
confirmed him, and then to have the titles of Emperor and
Augustus. Ptolemy writes that at first the power of election
of emperor was in the Archbishop of Mentz for Germany, the
Archbishop of Triers for France, and the Archbishop of
Cologne for Italy. To these were added four secular princes,
the Marquis of Brandenburgh, who, after the election, is
chamberlain to the emperor, the Count Palatine, who is
chief sewer, the Duke of Saxony, who is sword-bearer, and
the King of Bohemia, the seventh elector (and cup-bearer),
was added, they say, to prevent discord between parties, for
if the rest were equally divided, his vote turned the scale.
This, it is said, gave distaste to the French : but because the
line of Charles the Great being extinct in Louis, the son of
Lotharius, that realm was fallen into the hands of Hugh
. Capet, the chief minister at that time (the great affairs of that
kingdom for some time not being managed by kings), they -
waved all thoughts of retrieving the Empire ; but the main
reason was, that the new possessors were well enough
satisfied with their fortune, and dared not attempt any thing
further, till they were certain that their late-acquired regal
power stood upon a good foundation. Robert, the son and
successor of the great Hugh, is much and. deservedly praised
for his courage, justice, modesty, and religion ; for though
he exercised himself very much in the art military, yet he
found time so often to frequent the churches of God, and to
celebrate the Divine service, as if he had been in holy orders.
He is said to have made the hymn, ** Sancti spiritüs adsit nobis
gratia ," and by these arts not less powerful than his arms, he
gained the hearts of the people, and drew those honourable
respects to his family which they had before given to that of

John XVI. 263

Charles the Great. Robert, a certain bishop of Chartres, is
about this time said to have been in great repute for learning
and sanctity ; he having written much and reduced the sing-
ing in churches to a better method. Gregory died after he
had been Pope two years and five months. The see was
vacant fifteen days.

some (M9

JOHN XVI!

A.D. 996.

OHN the Sixteenth, a Roman, succeeded when Otho was
Emperor, but had not yet been crowned. He was a man
of great learning, and (as Martinus writes) was the

author of several elegant things. He was so teased with sedi-
tions by Crescentius, the consul of Rome, who claimed to
himself an absolute power in the city, that he gave place
to the man's ambition, and withdrew into Tuscany. But
Crescentius, understanding that John was so extremely en-
raged that he had sent for Otho and his army into Italy, he
despatched all the Pope's kinsmen and friends that were left
in Rome, to him, to desire him to lay by all thoughts of bring-
ing Otho to his assistance, but to come to the city, there to
exercise his most ample power, promising perfect obedience
in all matters. John, being moved with the entreaties of his
friends, and partly fearing lest if Otho should enter Italy with
his army he might do more hurt than good, went to Rome,
where Crescentius, with all the magistrates and a multitude of
citizens, meeting him, he was brought to the palace of Lateran,
in the porch whereof Crescentius and all the heads of the
faction kissed his feet and begged his pardon; and thus
matters being composed, they afterwards lived quietly together.
At this time Henry, Abbot of Loby in Lorraine, Adolphus,
Bishop of Utrecht, who wrote much in praise of the Blessed
Virgin and of the Holy Cross, and Albo, Abbot of Fleury
(who afterwards in Gascoigne suffered martyrdom for the faith
of Christ), men famous for learning, religion, and sanctity, are
said to have flourished.

1 [Hei is an Anti-Pope, inasmuch as he was chosen T. Crescentius as the
opponent of Gregory V.]

264 The Lives of the Popes.

SYLVESTER II.!

A.D. 999-1003.

YLVESTER the Second, before called Gerbert, a French-
man, got the popedom (as they say) by ill arts. When

he was young he was entered and sworn a monk of Fleury, in
the diocese of Orleans ; but he left the monastery to follow
the devil, to whom he had wholly delivered himself up, and
went to Seville in Spain to study human sciences; being
extremely greedy of knowledge and learning, in which he
made such progress, that of a scholar he soon became an
excellent master. Martinus writes that the Emperor Otho,
King Robert of France, and Lotharius, a man of noble birth
and great learning, afterward Archbishop of Sens, were his
scholars. Gerbert, therefore, full of ambition and pushed.
on with the diabolical desire of rule, by simony first gets the
Archbishopric of Rheims, and then of Ravenna ; at last the
devil helping him with an extraordinary lift, he got the pope-
dom, upon this condition, that after his death he should be
wholly the devil's, by whose assistance he had arrived at so
great a dignity. Being greedy of rule, he asked the devil
once, how long he should enjoy the pontificate, the enemy of
mankind answered (as he is wont) ambiguously, that he should
live long, if he came not near Jerusalem. So that when in
the fourth year, first month, and tenth day of his papacy, he
was at Rome at mass in the Church of the Holy Cross of
Jerusalem, it came into his mind that now he must die;
where he, heartily repenting, confessed his fault before the
people, exhorting them all to lay aside ambition and to with-
stand the stratagems of the devil, betaking themselves to a
holy and pious life: then he desired them that after his
death they would lay the trunk of his body, however torn and

1 [The whole of this life is utterly unworthy of one who aimed at the
character of an historian. Pope Sylvester II. was a man of unimpeach-
able morals, of great learning, and of real piety, But he was unpopular
because his election was not by the people but by the bishops, and the
severity of his morals offended the loose clergy. Above all he was high
in favour with the German Emperor. The origin of the absurd stories of
his intercourse with the devil is discussed at length by Milman (ii -
418-419), and by Robertson (ii. 452, note). He was a great student of
natural science, and it is remarkable that he invented an organ which
worked by steam.]

John X VII. 265

dismembered, as it deserved to be, in a cart, and there to bury
it where the horses should of their own accord carry it: and
then (as it is said) that wicked men might see that yet there
was some room for pardon left with God for them, if they at
any time repent, by the Divine will and providence, the horses
of their own accord went to the church of the Lateran, where
his body was buried. Martinus writes beside, that as well
from the clattering of this Pope’s bones, as from the sweat or
rather moisture of his tomb, people are wont to gather
presages, and those most manifest of the approaching death
of any Pope, and that this is hinted in the epitaph on his
tomb. Whether it be true or no, let the Popes, whom it
concerns, look to it.

JOHN XVIL
A.D. 1003.

OHN the Seventeenth, whose surname and family, because
of their baseness, are not recorded, died four months and
twenty days after he was made Pope. So that because

of the shortness of his pontificate there was nothing memor-
able done either by himself or any other in the time, unless
that many prodigies, apparitions, and comets were seen, and
many towns ruined by earthquakes, foreshowing the calamities
that were to-come ; some ease in which yet was given by
Hugh, the Viceroy of Italy under Otho, and Governor of
Tuscany ; for he managed his province with so great justice
and integrity, that no one complained for want of an excellent
prince. Who afterward dying at Pistoia, the Tuscans uni-
versally bewailed him as a public parent, not suffering any
manner of respect to be wanting to his funeral. In this place
I therefore thought good to mention the deserved praises of
Hugh, that governors of countries may know, that it is much
better by a just and generous administration to acquire
glory and honour, than by unjust ways to heap up riches with
everlasting shame and ignominy.

266 The Lives of the Popes.

JOHN XVIII
A.D. 1003-1009.

OHN the Eighteenth, a Roman, of the ward of Port-
Metropolitan, being made Pope, indulged himself in an
easy way of living, and did nothing worth mentioning.

But Robert, King of France, deserved the highest commenda-
tions, who at this time led a life as devout as kingly, excelling
all the contemporary Christian kings in knowledge and
religious living, and being himself excelled by no man in
controversial learning; he, not owning that opinion which
the princes of our times have embraced, that it is not worth
a potentate’s while to be learned; but that it behoves them
that are to rule the nations, to take their rules of government
from the precepts of others, which yet cannot be done without
reading and study. What else, indeed, is an illiterate prince,
but the image of a lion commanding the other beasts. It is
necessary they should be able to moderate their own passions
as well as the people’s, who would be thought to govern
others. With great reason, therefore, it is that we speak well
of Robert, whose devotion was such, that as oft as he had
leisure from his warlike employments, he would sing the
canonical hours with the priests ; and so great were his merits
in this way, that once when he had beleaguered a town of his
enemy’s, and neglected the siege to attend the canonical
hours, the walls miraculously fell down, and his men immedi-
. ately rushing in, took the place. But John (according to
some authors) having sat in the chair six years and four
months, died, and was buried in St Peter’s Church. The
see was then vacant nineteen days.

—— HQ

SERGIUS IV.

A.D. IOOQ9-IOI2.

ERGIUS the Fourth, a Roman, son of Martin, succeeded ;

a man of a most holy life and sweet conversation both
before and in his pontificate. He was charitable to the poor,
cheerful among his friends and acquaintances, merciful to
those who were faulty, and mild even with the perverse.
Besides, he was so prudent, that in all the time he sat in the

Benedict VIII. 267

chair, nothing was committed which could reflect any charge
of negligence upon his government. For placing all his
thoughts on Heaven (which all Popes ought to do), and having
a mind imbued with much natural goodness, he brought about
all things to his mind. By his counsel and advice the princes
of Italy entered into a league for driving the Saracens out
of Sicily, and accordingly made equal preparations of men.!
There were then in Italy most of the sons of Tancred, the great
Duke of Normandy, among whom was William, surnamed
Ferrebach, a man of so great courage, that, taking for his
companion in the expedition, Malochus, general of the forces
of Michael Catalaicus, Emperor of Constantinople, he in
a short time cleared that island of Saracens, the princes of
Capua and Salerno lending some assistance. Afterward,
Malochus using injustice in the division of the spoil, William
thought good to dissemble for the time, but returning into
Italy with forty thousand Normans who were just come from
the Holy War, he seizes upon all Apulia, which was subject
to the Greeks, and at Amalfi meets Malochus with his army,
fights, and defeats him. And thus by the valour of William
the kingdom of Apulia was transferred from the Greeks to the
Normans ; for he dying without heirs, his brother Drogo suc-
ceeded him, and to him succeeded Humphrey, a younger
brother, from whom descended Robert Guiscard and his
brother Roger. While this passed in Apulia, Italy and almost
all the world, too, labouring under a famine and pestilence,
the holy man Sergius died in the second year and fifteenth
day of his popedom, and was buried in St Peters Church.
The see was then vacant eight days.

BESPISTS, PELSTOTE

BENEDICT VIII.
A.D. IOI2-IO24.

| apa ses: the Eighth, born at Frascato, his father’s name

was Gregory, became Pope, in the reign of Henry IL,
Duke of- Bavaria, who had been made Emperor in the
room of Otho III. Some say that Otho died at
Rome, and that his body was carried into Germany ;

1 [Platina has antedated events here: thus Michael did not reign until
nae and the conquest of Apulia took place 1040. See Gibbon, chap.
Ivi.

268 The Lives of the Poets.

others say it was buried in St Peter’s Church. However
that may be, it is certain that Henry, Duke of Bavaria,
who was an excellent and a most holy person, was now
created Emperor, and that he had an Empress equally
praiseworthy for charity, devotion, and affability. In his
time the Pope defeated a powerful armament of Sara-
cens, who had taken possession of the territory round Pisa,
and drove the same race out of Sardinia. Henry, having
settled the state of Germany, coming to Rome, received the
imperial crown, and then marching to Capua, drove the
Saracens out of it, and carried on the war against Bubagano,
a general of the Greeks, who favoured the Moors with so much
vigour that he dispossessed them of Troia, a city he had built
in the confines of Apulia, in a place where Hannibal was said
heretofore to have encamped. The Emperor Henry and his
wife Cunigunda are reported to have led such chaste and holy
lives that they grew famous for working miracles, omitting no
action which might contribute to the glory of God. He
founded the Bishopric of Bamberg, and married his daughter
to the King of Hungary, by whose means that king and all his
subjects received the Christian faith; but Henry died in the
eighth year of his empire, to the great loss of his subjects.
He being dead, of whom in all exigencies Benedict made use as
his protector, he was expelled by a faction, and another Pope
chosen in his room, though he soon after agreed the matter
with his adversaries, who turned out again the pseudo-pope,
and restored Benedict with honour. He died in the eleventh
. year, first month, and thirteenth day of his popedom, and was
buried in St Peter’s Church. It is said that a certain bishop
walking in a solitary place, Benedict appeared to him sitting
upon a black horse, whereupon the bishop asked him the
reason of his appearance in that manner; he answered that
his business was to desire him to take some money which he
had hid in a certain place to which he directed him, and to
give it to the poor as from him, for that the money had been
of no profit to him, it consisting of what had been given of
alms or gotten by rapine. The bishop executed his request,
and immediately surrendered his bishopric and led a monastic
life. Vincentius writes that Gerard, Bishop of Canobia, was
in great account about this time for his learning and ex-
emplary life; as also was Gutherus, Bishop of Prague, who
for his great 'abilities and holiness suffered * martyrdom from

John XIX. 269

the enemies of the Christian religion. At this time also so great
a pestilence raged in the world, that it was thought fewer sur-
vived it than died of it, which calamity was foreshowed by a
well of wholesome water in Lorraine being turned into blood.

ST,

Patt NX PX
A.D. 1024-1033.

OHN the Nineteenth, a Roman, son of Gregory, was, as
some will have it, Bishop of Porto, though others say he
never was in holy orders at all. He was made Pope at the

same time that Conrad of Schwaben was bya just suffrage elected
Emperor in the room of Henry, though he was not crowned
for three years. In this interregnum, I suppose it was, that
several cities of Italy revolted from the Empire and stood up
for their liberty : wherefore Conrad, who was a great soldier,
and had been for many years in great command in the wars
under Henry, raising an army, speedily enters Italy, and
marching first against the Milanese, the chief authors of this
defection, he sits down upon the town, burns the suburbs,
and breathes forth nothing but utter ruin to the city ; but
quickly raises his siege by the persuasion of the Archbishop of
Cologne, who assured him that as he was at mass St Ambrose
appeared to him and threatened destruction to them all, ex-
cept they departed from the city of which himself was patron.
Conrad therefore holds on his journey to Róme, where at the
hands of Pope John he received the imperial crown, and
then marched against the Hungarians and Sclavonians, who
had assisted the rebellious Italians, and soon subdued them.
Rodolphus also, Duke of Burgundy, being vexed by the
seditions of his subjects, put himself under the protection of
Conrad, and therefore Burgundy has been ever since reckoned
for a good part of it a province of the Empire. It is said
. of Conrad that he made several useful laws, among which
one was, that it should be death for any prince of the Empire
to disturb the peace of it ; and upon that account was a fierce
persecutor of Leopold, a German count, who was a ringleader
of some disturbances in his country. He sent ambassadors to
charge the Greeks.and Normans, who were quarrelling about
the kingdom of Apulia, to lay down their arms, and threatened

270 The Lives of the Popes.

ruin to the Romans if they persisted, as they had begun, to
tease their Pope with 'seditions. In his time religion was
adorned in France by the strict life and holiness of several
abbots, and Himericus, son of St Stephen, king of Hungary,
had great reputation for his miracles. But John, who is very
much to be praised for his life, died, after he had been Pope
nine years and nine days. ‘Thesee was then vacant eight days.

Q0 —————

BENEDICT IX.
1033-1044.

PRX EUET the Ninth, as some say, the nephew of John,

born at Frascati, son of Albericus, came to the ponti-
ficate when Canute, a king of England, out of devotion and
for performance of a vow, came to Rome, which having done,
as he returned home he married his daughter to Henry, the
son of Conrad. Soon after, Conrad dying, his son Henry
III. succeeded his father, and, raising an army, gives battle
to Uldericus, King of Bohemia ; but the victory being doubt-
ful, he renewed the fight, overcame him and took him prisoner,
but setting him under tribute, he discharged him from his im-
prisonment ; then marching against the Hungarians, who
were contending about the crown, he restored Peter to his
throne, who had been driven out by Alboinus. In the mean-
time, the Romans deposed Benedict, who was a sluggish
fellow, and good for nothing, and set up in his room John,
Bishop of Sabina, by the name of Sylvester IIL, who also,
after a popedom of nine and forty days, was turned out, and
Benedict restored ; and he, finding himself still liable to the
same danger again, of his own accord resigned the chair to
John, archdeacon of St John at Port Latin, afterwards called
Gregory VI., though some affirm that he sold it to him.
Wherefore Benedict was ill spoken of by all men deservedly,
and condemned by the Divine judgment ; for it is certain that
after his death he was seen in a most monstrous likeness,
and being asked why, having been Pope, he appeared in
such a horrid shape, ** Because (says he) I led my life without
law or reason, it is the will of God and St Peter, whose seat I
defiled with all manner of wickedness, that I bear the shape
rather of a monster than of aman.” After he had by intervals

Sylvester 1T.—Gregory VI. 271

held St Peter's chair ten years, four months, and nine days, he
died, upon which the see cannot be said to have been vacant
at all, because he sold it. Historians write that at this time
Gerard, a Venetian, Bishop of the Hungarians, an excellent
man and of great learning, cheerfully suffered martyrdom by
the enemies to the name of Christ, being bound to a cart, and
from a high hill let down upon a precipice and torn to pieces.

decis

SYLVESTER III.

1044.

YLVESTER the Third, a Roman, son of one Lawrence,
was substituted into the room of Benedict when he was
expelled, but held it not long, for after nine and forty days
Benedict was restored by his own faction. The popedom
was now brought to that pass that he who was most ambitious
and would give most for it, not he who was most religious
and learned, surely obtained this high office, to the great
oppression and discouragement of all good men ; a naughty
custom which I wish were laid by, even in our own times ;
and yet this mischief is not so great, but that I fear (except
God avert) we shall see much worse. I return to Sylvester, :
who, being Cardinal of Sabina, was made Pope, not by the
College of Cardinals, for that had been tolerable, but merely
by simony, as some write, and soon after justly deposed,
having entered like a thief and a robber, not by the gate, but
by the back-door. Benedict, indeed, was restored, but the
city continued in a hubbub, sometimes desiring this man and
then another to be put up; which uses to be the case of a
Mobile who, wanting a governor to steer their giddy humours,
generally prefer the worse to the better men.

0

GREGORY VI.
1044-1046.
REGORY the Sixth, Archdeacon of St John at Port

Latin, received, as we said, the chair of Benedict. But
the Emperor Henry IIL., hearing of these miscarriages, with a

272 The Lives of the Popes.

great army enters Italy, and calling a council, causes Benedict
IX., Sylvester IIL, and Gregory VI. all to be deposed for so
many wretched monsters, and creates Syndegerus, Bishop of
Bamberg, Pope, by the name of Clement II. Yet Gilbertus,
the historian, affirms this Gregory to have deserved very well
of the Church, having by his authority and great spirit in a
short time reasserted the dignity of the see apostolic, which
had been much weakened in its powers by the negligence of
some of his predecessors ; for he recovered the patrimony of
the Church, and first with excommunications and curses, and
(when they availed not) with downright force of arms he
destroyed the banditti who, lurking near the city, would
cruelly murder pilgrims as they came to Rome for devotion
sake. For this reason some wicked rogues slandered him
commonly with the names of murderer, simoniac, and blood-
thirsty ; nay, even some cardinals would say so too, which so
moved Gregory that, whilst he lay ill of that sickness of which
afterwards he died, he sent for those cardinals, and rebuked
them sharply for finding fault with that which was done with
so much justice and honesty. And that you may know
(says he) whether I have done that which is right or not,
when I am dead, carry my corpse to the church doors, which
first let be locked up, and if they do miraculously open, then
think that I am an honest man, and worthy of Christian
burial ; if not, that both soul and body is damned, and you
may cast out my corpse where you please. The cardinals did
accordingly, and the doors were thrown open by a strong
wind that rose on a sudden, and the body brought in, to the
admiration of all men, and to the great reputation of his
sanctity. This is the substance of what various authors write
of Gregory, who sat in the chair two years and seven months
during the schism.

titus itia

CLEMENT II.
A.D. I046-1048.

(UT the Second, before called Syndegerus, Bishop
of Bamberg, was made Pope in the council, by the
consent, or rather authority and command of Henry IIL, who
having received at this Pope's hands the imperial crown,

Damasus If. ! 273

caused the Romans to take an oath after a form he pre-
scribed, not to meddle in the election of any Pope, except by
a command from him; for the Emperor saw things to be
come to such a height of licentiousness, that any factious and
potent fellow, however ignoble, could arrive at that dignity
by purchasing the suffrages of the electors, which ought not
to be conferred but by the spirit of God upon those that
excelled in learning and a holy life. From hence he went to
Capua, where he settled all things, and having listed those
soldiers who had so stoutly resisted the Saracens, he returned
by Rome for Germany. He was no sooner gone (as some
write), but the Romans contrived to poison the Pope, because
made so without their assent, in the ninth month of his pope-
dom ; nay, some authors say, the venomous potion was prepared
for him by that Stephen, who, by the name of Damasus IT.,
succeeded him, at the time when Odo, abbot of Clugny, a man
of extraordinary holiness, dying, Hugo was made abbot after
him, a noble personage, pious, devout, affable, and learned,
Henry II. at this time reigning in France, Alphonso in Spain,
and Michael with his son, Constantine, being emperors of
Constantinople, which Empire was now in great weakness and
distress.

0

DAMASUS II.
A.D. 1048.

AMASUS the Second, a Bavarian, surnamed ce

or Pepone (as some say), seized the papal chair by

force, without any consent of the clergy and people. So deep
root had this licentious custom taken, that any ambitious
fellow durst invade the seat of St Peter. But the just God
avenged himself upon this villain, that he might be an
example to the rest, who should seek by ambition and
simony that which ought to be the reward of virtue; for on
the twenty-ninth day of his pontificate he died. Some would
not have this man put in the catalogue of Popes, because he
came not regularly to that dignity, and admire that the
Romans were not moved with the villany of the action, con-
trary to their oath to Henry, to compel him to lay down his

274 The Lives of the Popes.

' office ; but because he lived so short a time, that the citizens
could not so sccn bethink themselves what to do, I think
they are not to be blamed. We shall then pass to Leo.

0

LEO IX.
A.D. 1048-105 4.

EO the Ninth, a German, a.p. 1048, was made Pope after
this manner. The Romans having sent ambassadors to

the Emperor to entreat him to send to them a good Pope, he
immediately nominated to them Baunon, Bishop of Toul, a
good man and of great integrity ; who, taking his journey
towards Rome in his pontifical habit, was met by the Abbot
of Clugny and Hildebrand, a monk, born at Soana, who
persuaded him to lay by his pontifical habit, and to enter
Rome, for that Henry had no power from God to create a
Pope, but it belonged of right to the clergy and people of
Rome. With these words Leo was so moved (and because
as he came along he had heard a voice saying, * Ego cogito
pacts cogitationes, non afffictionis") that he laid by his habit
and entered Rome as a private man, accusing himself that
he had chosen to obey the Emperor rather than God. The
Roman clergy then, by the persuasion of Hildebrand, elected
Baunon Pope, and so much the more readily, because he had
professed the right of electing Popes ought not to be in the
Emperor, but in the clergy. And yet the vices of several
Popes were (as we have said) so great, that it seemed to be
done by the judgment of God, that this power should be
taken from the clergy, that they might amend their flagitious
lives and sinful inclinations, and that the Church of Christ
might not suffer ruin in the hands of such evil prelates. Thus
Baunon, having got the papacy, and having changed his
name to Leo IX., he immediately created Hildebrand a
cardinal-deacon, and gave him the government of St Paul’s
Church ; so that it seemed as if they had divided the pon-
tifical charge between them, one ruling the church of St Peter,
the other that of St Paul. In the meantime Drogo, chieftain
of the Normans in Apulia, dying, his brother, Gisulphus, suc-
ceeded him and possessed himself by force of the city of
Beneventum, which was the Pope’s by surrender ; for when the

hao FX. 35i

Emperor Henry having built a church at’ Bamberg to the
honour of St George, and had a great mind it should be
made acathedral, Benedict VIII. consented, upon condition
the said church should pay yearly, as a kind of tribute, à
hundred marks of silver and a white horse with his caparisons;
which yearly payment Leo IX. remitted to the church of
Bamberg, receiving of the Emperor in lieu thereof the city
of Beneventum. Leo, therefore, strengthened with the justice
of his title and the Emperor’s forces, marches againt Gisulphus
with an undisciplined army, and is by him defeated and
taken prisoner, but was soon remitted to Rome with an
honourable retinue. It is storied that in his time, Robert
Guiscard bringing-an army out of France into Italy, and
driving the Greeks and Saracens before him, possessed him-
self of Apulia, where he chanced to find a statue, with
these words engraven on a brass circle round the head,
*'The first day of May at sunrising I shall have a golden
head,” which words, being well considered by a certain
Saracen who was Robert’s prisoner, a skilful magician,
he marked how far the shadow of the statue extended,
and on the first day of May at sunrise, having dug up the
place, he found a great treasure, with which he bought his
liberty of Robert. But to return to Leo, who was certainly a
man of great devotion, innocence, benignity, and religion,
particularly so eminent for hospitality, that his palace was
always free for pilgrims and poor people ; nay, once when he
found a poor leper at his door, he with pity ordered him to
be taken in and laid in his own bed ; but in the morning when
the door-keeper opened the door, the leper being not to be
found, it was thought that it was Christ himself that lay there as
a poor man. In matters relating to the faith, he used great dili-
gence and industry, for in a council holden at Vercelli he con-
demned Berengarius for a heretic, and by his monitories put the
Emperor of Constantinople upon repairing the holy sepulchre
at Jerusalem, which had been spoiled by the barbarians. At
this same time lived '"Pheobald, a noble Frenchman, famous
for his holy life at Vicenza ; and Vincentius, Bishop of Liege, a
person remarkable for learning and piety, wrote many things
skilfully and acutely concerning the quadrature of the circle
to Hermannus, a man of an excellent wit. Leo died when
he had been Pope five years, two months, and six days.

| 276 The Lives of the Popes.

VIC TORTE
A.D. I055-1057.

XAJAGTOR the Second, before called Glaberdus, a Bavarian,

succeeded Leo rather by the favour of the Emperor
Henry than by a free election; for the clergy and people ot
Rome stood in great fear of the power of Henry, whom they
had before offended by putting up new Popes, and therefore
lest contrary to their oath they should seem to make any
innovations, they propose this Victor, and by Hildebrand,
their ambassador to Henry, all things were managed to both
their satisfactions. Victor being by universal consent placed
in the chair, with the approbation of the Emperor he called
a council at Florence, where he deprived a multitude of
bishops of their bishoprics for simony and for fornication, and
admonished the clergy of their duty, threatening severity against
those that should transgress the canons. Some write that
Victor made a visit to Henry, and that he was splendidly en-
tertained by him; but I am of opinion, that Hildebrand only
went thither, who by virtue of his legantine power, created
Henry IV., the son of Henry, Cesar. Capua was now be-
sieged by the Saracens, which struck terror into all the neigh-
bouring cities, but Robert Guiscard taking up arms, set upon
the Saracens and defeated them, thereby delivering at once
Capua from a siege and their neighbours from their fears.
Of what extraction this Robert was is not certain, some
account him a Frenchman, others a Norman ; however it be,
it is sure he was a person of a noble spirit and an excellent
understanding, so that he deserved the crown he held of
Apulia. Pope Victor, whose life we are upon, died in the
second year, third month, and fourteenth day of his pontificate ;
after which the see was vacant five days.

MÀ

Ll
STEPHEN IX.
A.D. 1057-1058.

TEPHEN the N inth, before named Frederick, a Lorrainer,
abbot of Monte-Cassino, was no sooner made Pope but
he took care that the Church of Milan, which for almost two

Benedict X. (277

hundred years had withdrawn its subjection to that of Rome,
was now at length reduced to obedience thereto, as to the
mother and nurse of all churches, which obedience she has
since persevered in, as becomes true daughters to do to a
pious mother. Near about this time Henry IV. succeeded
his father, deceased, and Alexius succeeded Nicephorus,! Em-
peror of Constantinople ; Robert Guiscard also in a.mighty
battle overthrew the Greeks and drove them out of Calabria,
leaving none but Greek priests, who even to our times kept
their own language and customs. Indeed, the Constantino-
politan Empire was now so broken by the Saracens that they
had much ado to preserve Thrace, Galatia, Pontus, Thessaly,
Macedon, and Achaia, and even out of these either the Turks
or Saracens every day cantled out one place or another. But
Stephen, when he had been Pope seven months and eight
days, died at Florence, where he was honourably buried, as
Martinus writes. Some say that Pope Stephen accused the
Emperor Henry of heresy for endeavouring to diminish the
papal authority, without regard to religion and the immortal
God.

0

BENEDICT X.
A.D. 1058-1059.

Ts ee the Tenth, a Capuan, before named Nuntius,

Bishop of Veletri, was by a faction of noblemen created
Pope, at the same time that Agnes, mother of Henry IV., con-
stituted Gilbert of Parma, a man of great abilities, Viceroy of
Italy. ‘There was then in Italy also, Godfrey, the husband of
the Countess Matilda, a most noble lady, who was very power-
ful ; for Beatrix, the mother of Matilda, had been sister to the
Emperor Henry III., and had married one Boniface, a potent
man and of an honourable family, of the city of Lucca in Tus-
cany ; upon whose death all his estates fell first to Beatrix,
and after her decease were devolved upon Matilda and her
husband Godfrey: so that they stood possessed of Lucca,
Parma, Reggio, Mantua, and that part of Tuscany now called
St Peters patrimony. But to return to Benedict; he was
deposed by Hildebrand, because he came not in by the right

[Alexius did not succeed Nicephorus till r081.]

278 The Lives of the Popes.

way, but by force and simony : for the generality of the clergy
had passed their words to Archdeacon Hildebrand, when he
went to Florence, that they would not proceed upon any
election of a new Pope till his return to the city. When he
was come back therefore, together with Gerard, Bishop of
Florence, he inveighed most bitterly against them all, espec-
tally against those who had promised to stay till his return.
But there arising great contention upon this matter, many
approving of Benedict, as a very good and prudent man,
though they disallowed that election of him, with great
clamours that it was irregularly and illegally done ; yet at last,
by the persuasion of Hildebrand, Gerard, a man worthy, indeed,
of so high a dignity, was by a majority of votes created Pope,
and Benedict turned out. Some will have this election to have
been made at Sienna, because a free choice could not be had
at Rome, by reason of the partialities of some men in power
there. Benedict was deposed after he had sat nine months
and twenty days, and then was confined to Veletri.

0

NICOLAS IL
A.D. 1059-1061.

i Bares the Second, a Provengal, at first named Gerard,

Bishop of Florence, for his virtue and excellent spirit,
upon the expulsion of Benedict (who was not regularly so
created) was made Pope at Sienna, and immediately there-
upon withdrew to Sutri, where, A.D. 1059, he called a council,
whither came not only the bishops, but many of the noblemen
of Italy, where he forced Benedict to resign the office and habit
of Pope and to retire to Veletri; from hence he went to
Rome, where, in the second Lateran Council, he procured a
law to be enacted, very wholesome for the Church of Rome,
which is to be seen among the decrees, to this purpose,
“That if any one, either by simony, or by the favour of any
powerful man, or by any tumult either of the people or
soldiery, shall be placed in St Peter’s chair, he shall be
reputed not apostolical but an apostate, one that transgresses
the rules even of common reason ; and that it shall be lawful
for the cardinals, clergy, and devout laity, with weapons both
Spiritual and material, by anathemas, and by any human aid,

REIP TP ae ee

Nicolas 11. 279

him to drive out and depose; and that catholics may
assemble for this end in any place whatsoever, if they cannot

- do it in the city." In the same council Berengarius, deacon

of the Church of Anjou, was reclaimed from his error con-
cerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the bread and
wine, whereof he affirmed the true and entire body and blood
of Christ was not present, but only by a sign, figure, or
mystery ; which error at the instance and persuasion of Nicolas
and Albericus a deacon, a very learned man, he recanted,
affirming the Eucharist to be the true and entire body and
blood of Christ. We have said that this error was condemned
by Leo IX. but never amended, the praise of which belongs
wholly to Nicolas, as Lanfranc writes, a man at that time very
learned, who in an excellent work of his confuted the tenets of
Berengarius. While these things were acted at Rome by Pope
Nicolas, Godfrey the Norman, who succeeded his brother
Drogo in the earldom of Apulia and Calabria, dying, left his
son Bagelardus his heir, which Robert Guiscard, his brother
(as some will have it), not liking, he drove out his nephew and
seized upon the earldom, taking in Troia also, which had long
been subject to the see of Rome. At this the Pope was not
a little enraged at Robert, till by his invitation taking a
journey into Apulia, whatsoever the Church had lost was
returned again, and then he not only took Robert into favour,
but making him a feudatory of the Church, he was constituted
Duke of Calabria and Apulia. After this receiving of him a
great assistance of forces and returning to the city, he subdued
the Prenestines, Tusculans, and Nomentans, who had revolted
from the Church ; and crossing the Tiber he sacked Galese,
and took in other castles of Count Gerard as far as Sutri,
rendering the territories of Rome hereby much more secure.
It is written also that Henry IV. was crowned by Nicolas
with the imperial diadem, and out of gratitude for it all his
time never attempted any thing against holy Church. But
Nicolas having concluded this life with great praise of all men,
died when he had been Pope three years, six months, and
twenty-six days.! The see was then vacant three months. |

1 [It was in this Pontificate settled that henceforward the election of the
Popes should be made by the cardinals.] :

280 The Lives of the Popes.

ALEXANDER II.
A.D. 1061-1073.

LEXANDER the Second, whose name at first was
Anselm, a Milanese, Bishop of Lucca, upon the death

of Nicolas, though absent, was, for his good temper, affability,
and learning, elected Pope. But the bishops of Lombardy
thinking, for the honour of their country, that it was just a
Pope should be chosen out of their number, Gilbert of Parma,
at that time very powerful, taking their part vigorously, they
obtained of the Emperor Henry, against the mind of his mother
Agnes, that they might set up another Pope. Whereupon the
bishops, holding a council, made one Cadolus Pope, who was
Bishop of Parma, to whom all Lombardy straightway sub-
mitted, except Matilda, a noble lady who had great reverence
for the Roman see. Cadolus being soon after called to Rome
by the adversaries of Alexander, both parties engaged in
battle in the Prati di Nerone at the foot of the Hill Montorio,
in which fight many were slain on both sides. Alexander
and Godfrey, the husband of Matilda, stayed in the Lateran
Palace, not knowing where to trust themselves, all places were
so full of treachery ; though some say that Alexander, to avoid
the bloody fight, did before the battle retire to Lucca, and
lived there securely for some time, which kind protection from
the Luccheses he gratefully acknowledged by granting both to
their church and city very notable privileges. Cadolus was
repulsed at Rome, but rested not long at quiet in his country,
being invited again by some citizens (who found that to
satisfy their avarice it was their interest that the city should
be kept in confusion), and getting together a greater army
than before, he comes to Rome and by force seizes the Citta
Leonina and St Peter’s Church. But the Romans, with the
forces of Godfrey, falling forth, struck such a sudden terror
into the enemy that they betook themselves to their heels, and
Cadolus narrowly missed being taken, having been forsaken
by his friends, but Cincius, son to the prefect of Rome, with a
strong squadron carried him safe through. the whole adverse
army with great difficulty into Castle St Angelo ; where being
besieged for some time and seeing little hope of getting out
free, he corrupted the besiegers with three hundred pounds in
silver, and mounting a lean horse he escaped all alone. In

Alexander II. ! 281

the meanwhile Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, before Henry,
the young emperor, charged his mother Agnes with meddling
too much with the affairs of state in Christendom to the great
dishonour of the Empire, whereupon a commission was given
him to compose the Church divisions according to his discre-
tion; and he, coming to Rome, at first rebuked Alexander
with very hard words, for entering upon the Papacy without
the consent of the Emperor, contrary to law and custom ; but
Archdeacon Hildebrand took him up and stiffly defended
what the Pope had done, proving that both by law and
ancient usage the election of Popes belonged to the clergy,
and convinced Hanno so far, that the Emperor Henry, being
at last conscious of his error, desired Alexander to call a
council, and promised to come thither himself. The city of
Mantua was pitched upon as most fit ; and thither every one
came who was concerned for the safety and protection of the
Church ; where all things being settled, the Emperor himself
not only got the favour of the Pope, but begged and obtained
of him a pardon for Cadolus who submitted to him, and for
Gilbert, the author (as we said) of all this mischief, the Arch-
bishopric of Ravenna: the first of these the Pope easily
agreed to, by the example of our Saviour who even prayed for
His persecutors ; but the second he granted much against his
will, and not till tired with the importunity of Henry, fearing,
what fell out afterwards, that it would be very pernicious for
the Church of Rome. The Pope, departing from Mantua and
passing through Lucca, consecrated the great church there,
of which he had been bishop, with great solemnity, intending
to stay there till Archdeacon Hildebrand had settled matters
a little in Apulia, who having received some auxiliary forces
of the Countess Matilda, not only opposed the power of
Richard and William, but forced them to restore what they
had taken from the Church : and then Alexander came to the
city, and: after a pontificate of eleven years and six months,
he died, and was buried in the church of St John, in the
Lateran, no manner of pomp being spared (that could be at
the funeral of a Pope), either by the clergy or people. .In his
time flourished John Gualbertus, a monk of Vallombrosa, and
first of the order, a most holy man and famous for miracles.

AP PoE ND 4X,

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

Popes. A.D. Emperors. Contemporary Notes.
St Peter, about 33 Tiberius,
Caligula.
Claudius.
Nero. Fall of Jerusalem.

St Linus. . 68 Galba.
Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian.

St Cletus . 78 Rise of Gnosticism.
Ebionites.
Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Tra- Apostolic Fathers.
jan.

St Evaristus . 100
St Alexander I. 109

Hadrian. The Apologists.
St Sixtus I. . 119

St Telesphorus 127

Antoninus Pius.

St Hyginus . 139

St Pius I. 0842
St Anicetus . 157 Montanism.
Easter Controversy be-
Marcus Aurelius. tween East and West.
St Soter . 168
St Eleutherius 177
Commodus.
St Victor I. . 193 Pertinax, Didius Julianus,
Septimus Severus.
St Zephyrinus 202
Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus,
Elagabalus.
St Calistus I. 219 Catechetical School of
. Alexandria—
St Urban I. . 223 Alexander Severus. Origen.
St Pontian . 230 Clement of Alexandria.
Hippolytus.

St Autherus . 235 Maximus.

Appendix,

Popes. A.D. Emperors.
St Fabian . 236
Maximus and Balbinus.
Philip, Decius.

St Cornelius . 251

St Lucius I. . 252

St Stephen I. 253 Valerian and Gallienus,
St Sixtus II. . 257
St Dionysius . 259
Claudius II.
St Felix I, .- 259
Aurelian.
St Eutychian. 275 Tacitus, Probus, Carus.
St Caius W^ 284
Diocletian and Maximian.
St Marcellinus 296
Constantius, Galerius, Constan-
tine, Maxentius.
St Marcellius I. 308 Licinius.
St Eusebius . 310
St Melchiades 311
Constantine the Great alone.

St Sylvester I. 314
St Mark 30

St Julius . 337 Constantine IL, Constans,
Constantius II.
Tiberius Le
Felix II. « 355
Julian, Jovian, Valentinian,
Valens.
St DamasusI. 366
Gratian, Valentinian II., Theo-
dosius.
St Siricius . 384
Eugenius usurps.

W. Empire. E. Empire.

Honorius, Arcadius.
St Anastasius I. 398

^

283

Contemporary Notes.

The Goths cross the
Danube and enter the
Empire.

Cyprian, Bishop of Car-
thage.

The Novatian Schism.

Sabellian heresy.

Manichzism.

The Meletian Schism.

Beginning of the Donat-
ist Schism.

The Edict of Toleration.

Arian Controversy.

Council of Nica. St
Athanasius.

The Church historians,
Eusebius, Theodoret,
Socrates, Sozomen.

Council of Sardica.

Rapid growth of Monas-
ticism in the West.

Apollinarian Contro-
versy.

Council of Constatinople,

St Ambrose, Cyril,
Ephraem Syrus, Basil
the Great, Gregory of
Nazianzus.

St Chrysostom, Synesius,
Augustine,

284

Popes.
St Innocent I.

St Zosimus

St Boniface I.
St Celestine I,
St Sixtus III.

St Leo I. (the
Great)

St Hilary .

St Simplicius.

St Felix III. .

St Gelasius I.
St Anastasius IT.
St Symmachus

St Hormisdas

St John I.’ .
St Felix IV. .

Boniface II. .
John II. .
St Agapetus I.
St Silverius
Vigilius.
Pelagius I.

John III.

Benedict I.

E $.
dnd W. Empire. eicit: Empire.
402
Theodosius II.
417
418
Constantius I.
422
Valentinian[IIT. a
432
440
Marcian.
Maximus. Leo I.
Avitus Mar-
joran.
461 Severus.
Ricimer.
Authemins.
468
Olybrius Gly- Leo.
cerius.
Julius Nepos. Zeno.
Romulus. Basilisc.
483 RUE
Anastasius I.
492
496
498
514 4
Justin I.
523
526
Justinian I.
530
533
535
536
537
555
560
Justin IT.
574

The Lives of the Popes.

Contemporary Notes.

Rome sacked by Alaric.
Vandals in Spain.
Vistgoths in Spain.

Franks on Lower Rhine.

Nestorian Controversy.
Council of Ephesus.

Pelagian Controversy.

Attila the Hun.

The Eutychian Contro-
versy. Council of Chal-
cedon.

Odoacer overthrows the
Western Empire.

Clovis founds the king-
dom of the Franks.

Theodoric sets up the
kingdom of the Ostro-
goths in Italy.

Monophysites.

Italy recovered to the
Eastern Empire.

St Columba of Ireland.

Fifth General Council at
Constantinople.

Dionysius Exiguus. The
birth of Christ made
the first epoch in
Christian chronology.
Lombards enter Italy. |

Popes. A.D.

Pelagius IT. . 578

St Gregory L
(the Great). 590

Sabinian .. 604
Boniface IIT. 607
St Boniface IV. 608

St Deus-dedit 614
Boniface V. . 618

Honorius I. . 625
Severinus . 640
John IV. . 640

Theodore I. . 642
St Martin I. . 649
St EugeniusI. 654
St Vitalian . 657
Adeodatus . 672
Domnusl. . "s
St Agatho . 678
St Leo II... 682
St Bendict II. 684
John IV. . 685

Conon . . 686
St Sergius I.. 687

John VI. . 701
John VII. . 705

Sisinnius . 708
Constantine . 708

Gregory II. . 715

StGregory III. 731

Appendix. ; 285

W. Essa d Empire. Contemporary Notes.
Tiberius II.
Maurice. Council of Toledo adds
Filioque to the Creed,
Conversion of England.
Phocas.
Heraclius.
The Hegira of Moham-
med. ;
Constantinel II.

‘Constans II. The Eastern Empire

wanes under theassaults
of the Saracens.

ConstantineIV.
The Venerable Bede.

Sixth General Council at
Constantinople (‘In
Trullo”’).
Karling dynasty in France
and Germany.
Justinian IT.

Leontius.
Tiberius III.

‘Justinian Ii.

restored.

Phillipicus, Moorish Conquest of
Bardanes, An- Spain.
astasius II.

Theodosius IIT. St Boniface in Germany.

Leo III., the First Edict of the Em-

. Isaurian.” peror Leo against Im-
ages

286

Popes.
St Zacharius .

Stephen II. .
St Paul I.

Stephen IV. .
Hadrianl .

St Leo III.

Stephen V. .
St Paschal I. .

Eugenius II. .
Valentine
Gregory IV. .

Sergius II.
St Leo IV.
Benedict III.
St Nicholas I.
(the Great).
Hadrian II. .
John VIII.

Marinus or

Martin II. .
Hadrian III. .
Stephen VI. .

Formosus

Boniface VI. .
Stephen VII.
Romanus

Theodore II. .

John IX. :
Benedict IV..
Leo V. .

Christopher

A.D.

741

752
757
768

772

The Lives of the Popes.

Emperors.
W. Empire. E. Empire. Contemporary Notes.
Constantine V.,
Copronymus,

Leo IV., Con- End of the Greek Ex-
stantine VI., archate of Ravenna.
and Irene.

795 Charles the

Great. Nicephorus I., In 800 the Western Em-
Staurasius, pire is restored under .
Michael IL, Charles the Great,

Leo V. ** Charlemagne."
Louisthe Pious. E
MichaelII., the
Stammerer.
Lothar I.
, Theophilus.
Louis IL, Michael III.
Conversion of Bulgaria.
Disputes onthe Eucharist
and on Predestination.
Basil I. Russians under Ruric.
Charles II.
(‘‘the Bald.")
Charles III.
(the Fat.")
Leo VI.
Guido.
Lambert,
Arnulf.
Louis,the Child.
Louis III.

Popes.

Sergius III.
Anastasius III.

Landus . :
John X.

Leo VI. «
Stephen VIII.
John XI.
Leo VII.

Stephen IX. .
Martin III.
Agapetus II. .
John XII.

Leo VIII. .

Benedict V. .
John XIII.

Benedict VI. .
Domnus II. .
Benedict VII.

John XIV. .
Boniface VII.

(Anti- Pope)
John XV. .
Gregory V. .
Silvester II. .

John XVII.
John XVIII. .
Sergius IV.
Benedict VIII.
John XIX.

Benedict IX. .

Gregory VI. .
Clement II. .
Damasus II. .

Appendix. 287
A D. W.E wie Empire. Contemporary Notes.
904 The Normans christianised.
git Alexander. Rollo,
Conrad I. Constantine X.
913
914 Berengar. Romanus I.
Lecapenus and

Henry I. “ the
Fowler.”
928

929
931
936

939
942
946
956

963

964
965

972
974
975

Otto III.
983

985
985
996
999 Henry II.

e

Otto I. (‘‘the
Great.")

Otto IT.

(**the Saint.)
. 1003

1003

. 1009

IOI2

. 1024 Conrad II.

1033
Henry III.

his sons.

Romanus II.
Nicephorus I,
Phocas.

John Zimisces.

Basil II. and
Constantine XI.

Hugh Capet in France.

Romanus III,

Michael IV.,
MichaelV.,Zoe,
and Theodora.
Constantine XII.

288

Popes. A.D.

St Leo IX. . 1049
Victor II.. . 1055
Stephen X. . 1057
Nicholas II. . 1058

Alexander II. 1061

St Gregory VII.1073

The Lives of the Popes.

Henry IV,

, Emperors.
W. Empire.

E. Empire. Contemporary Notes

Michael VI.
Isaac Com-
nenus.
Scholasticism.
Constantine
XIII. í
Norman Conquest of
Eudocia, Ro- England. 2nd Eucha-
manus IV. ristic Controversy.
Michael VII. Berengar and Lanfranc.

Turnbull & Spears, Printers, Edinburgh,

2 M. W.—s/92.

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