284

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap fies all emperors, kings, princes, and persons ofan eminent aud conspicuous rank.* This pro-PopeMar- hibitory clause was repealed in his own behalfa"d.''i28i M art > n the fourth, who humbly solicited thesuffrage of the Romans. In the preseuce, andby the authority of the people, two electors con-ferred, not on the pope, but on the noble andfaithful Martin, the dignity of senator, and thesupreme administration of the republic/ to holdduring his natural life, and to exercise at plea-The empe- sure by hiii;self or his deputies. About fiftyofp.avarla, years afterwards, the same title was granted toa. d. 1328 . t | ie em p fcror Lewis of Bavaria; and the libertyof Rome was acknowledged by her two sove-reigns, who accepted a municipal office in thegovernment of their own metropolis.

Addresses In the first moments of rebellion, when Arnolduie R empe-° °f Brescia had inflamed their minds against ther°rs. church, the Romans artfully laboured to con-ciliate the favour of the empire, and to recom-mend their merit and services in the cause ofConradin, Caesar. The style of their ambassadors to Con->. d. 1144. ,. a[ | ant | Frederic the first is a mixture

of flattery and pride, the tradition and the ignor-ance of their own history.* After some com-

* The high-sounding bull of Nicholas III , which founds his tempo-ral sovereignty on the donation of Constantine, is still extant; and asit has been inserted by Boniface VIII in the Sexte of the Decretals, itmust be received by the catholics, or at least by the papists, as a sa-cred and perpetual law.

f I am indebted to Fleury (Hist. Eccles. tom. xviii, p. 306) for anextract of this Homan act, which he has taken from the EcclesiasticalAnnals of Odericus Raynaldus, a. d. 12S1, No 14, 15.

8 These letters and speeches are preserved by Otho bishop of Fri-•ingen (Fabric Bibliot. Lat. med. et infim. tom. v, p. 186,187), per-haps the noblest of historians : he was son of Leopold marquis of Aus-