424-455.] LEO I. 397 and more convenient than the distant quarry; and they rudely defaced the fairest forms of architecture for the construction of their own strongholds or private abodes. Leo has been surnamed the Great by the Church of Rome, and certainly his measures and conduct laid deep the groundwork for its spiritual greatness. He was, as Gieseler and Mosheim prove, the first Roman bishop who enabled priests to sit in private judgment on the actions and even thoughts of men; he was the first who dared to approve of putting sectarians to death; the first to permit an image of the SAVIOUR to be set up in a Roman Church, that popular one representing HIM as still a child, with his head encircled by a halo, or crown of coloured rays of light, the nimbus borrowed from the pictures of the pagan gods. His great predecessor Innocent and he himself-singularly enough each present at one of the sieges and sacks of Imperial Rome-also first strengthened their lofty position by converting deserted pagan temples into Churches, thus still further paving the way to that fusion of paganism with Christianity which ultimately took place in Rome, and enabled modern Romanism to triumph over its ancient rival. But whilst his predecessors, even Siricius and Innocent, had modestly conceded to all bishops the privilege of being successors of St. Peter, Leo commanded them as a prince his vassals. He stood aloof, with a lofty dignity truly Roman, from their Church-synods— scandalous scenes of uproar as they had become, through the intrusion of fanatic monks. He was the first to lay down, as a traditionary rule of conduct which has characterized all his successors, the maxim that much of the awe which attached to his office arose from the ancient seat of his authority. So he never left Rome but by delegates, thus preserving his majesty uninsulted and unhumbled, and holding himself ready to act in the superior office of Judge of Appeals. Hitherto the Roman bishops regarded it as a distinction peculiar to themselves to be judged only by the Emperor, but Leo and the powerful potentates his successors, during the following twenty years, were humbly courted by the Imperial puppets, whom Ricimer, the commander of the barbarian mercenaries, placed on and pulled off the throne of the Cæsars at his pleasure. I have given their names already. With their dull and dismal story I will not weary my kind reader. (See Gibbon, iv. 40-296. Milman, H. C. iii. 205-240, 263-284, 458, 511. L. C. i. 81-221. Milner, 288-384. Neander, iii. 162, 224, 232, 392-449; iv. 18, 396-488, 548. Mosheim, i. 440, 463, 470480. Gieseler, i. 394-404, 422, 430-454; ii. 40, 64, 126. Layman, i. 25. King, I. C. H. i. 17. Baronius, An. 419. Legends of the Madonna.) Catholic Jameson, 476-493.] CHAPTER X. 'A PRINCE I was, blue-eyed, and fair in face, -TENNYSON. ROMULUS AUGUSTUS, THE LAST EMPEROR OF ROME. 'ROME will flourish for twelve centuries,' said an ancient soothsayer to Romulus, as twelve vultures swept over his head whilst he laid the foundation of the city. Singular was the coincidence when the last Roman Emperor, an effeminate and beautiful youth, who united in his own person the names of the founders of the city and of the Empire, Romulus and Augustus, abdicated his imperial authority in the twelve hundred and twenty-ninth year after the Foundation of the City. The unfortunate young prince, whose name was changed into the contemptible diminutives 'Momyllus Augustulus' by the satiric Romans, was induced by the bold barbarian chieftain Odoacer, partly by threats, and partly by promises of a villa with a pension, to surrender his Sovereignty to the Senate, who, by an unanimous decree, consented that the seat of universal Empire should be transferred from Rome to Constantinople. The Republic,' said they, so much did they love the name, though the spirit of freedom was de parted, had full confidence in Odoacer, and requested the Eastern Emperor Zeno to invest him with the title of Patrician, and the government of the diocese of Italy.' The deputies of the Senate bore all the Imperial ensigns of the throne and palace to Constantinople; and so gratified was Zeno by their acquisition, by the title of sole Emperor, and by the statues erected to his honour in Rome, that he abandoned the hopeless cause of his abdicated colleague, and entered into a friendly, though ambiguous correspondence with the Patrician Odoacer, who, without assuming the regal title, was the first barbarian who exercised regal power over the city which had once ruled the rest of mankind. The What were the causes of this extraordinary surrender of the Empire of the World?—The effeminate luxury which the historian Ammianus describes as seen by himself amongst the nobles and people at this period, undoubtedly indisposed them to continue the struggle for universal dominion. possessions of the nobles extended into the most distant provinces, and were farmed out with such practical skill as to realize wealth infinitely exceeding that of the greatest millionaires of our day. Several vain and popular nobles, at this period, celebrated the year of their holding some State office by a festival which lasted seven days, and cost above one hundred thousand pounds! Ammianus describes them all as immersed in one idle round of dissipation, and that of a gross and debasing sort, without our modern refinements or comforts, for Augustus had neither glass to his windows nor a shirt to his back.' 'They contend with each other,' he says, 'in the empty vanity of titles and surnames. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they multiply their likenesses in statues of bronze or marble, covered with plates of gold. They measure their rank and consequence according to the loftiness of their chariots and the weighty 476-493.] LUXURY OF THEIR NOBLES. 401 magnificence of their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are agitated, by art or accident, they occasionally discover the rich tunics beneath, embroidered with the figures of various animals. Followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they travelled with post horses; and their example is boldly imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are continuously driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. Sometimes these heroes undertake more arduous achievements; they visit their country villas, and procure themselves, by servile hands, the amusements of the chace. When they have the courage, especially on a hot day, to sail in their painted galleys from the Lucrine lake to their elegant villas on the sea-coast of Puteoli and Caieta, they compare their own expeditions to the marches of Cæsar and Alexander. Yet should a fly presume to settle on the silken fold of their gilded umbrellas, should a sunbeam penetrate through some unguarded and imperceptible chink, they deplore their intolerable hardships, and lament, in affected language, that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians, the regions of eternal darkness. In these journeys the whole body of the household marches with their master. In the same manner as the cavalry and infantry, the heavy and the light armed troops, the advanced guard and the rear, are marshalled by the skill of their military leaders, or the domestic officers, who bear a rod as an ensign of authority, distribute and arrange the numerous trains of slaves and attendants. The baggage and wardrobe move in front, and are immediately followed by a multitude of cooks and scullions. The main body is composed of a promiscuous crowd of slaves and dependents, under such tyrannical rule, that any one of them tardy in his obedience, |