29G

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap, their title and office. The senators of the ca-tholic church, the coadjutors and legates of thesupreme pontiff, were robed in purple, the sym-bol of martyrdom or royalty; they claimed aproud equality with kings; and their dignitywas enhanced by the smallness of their number,which, till the reign of Leo the tenth, seldom ex-ceeded twenty or twenty-five persons. By thiswise regulation, all doubt and scandal were re-moved, and the root of schism was so effectuallydestroyed, that in a period of six hundred years,a double choice has only once divided the unityof the sacred college. But as the concurrenceof two-thirds of the votes had been made neces-sary, the election was often delayed by the pri-vate interest and passions of the cardinals; andwhile they prolonged their independent reign,the Christian world was left destitute of an head,institution A vacancy of almost three years had precededcfav^by" ^ Ie elevation of Gregory the tenth, who resolvedGregoryx, jo prevent the future abuse; and his bull, after

A. D. 1274. r ...

some opposition, has been consecrated in thecode of the canon law.* Nine days are allowedfor the obsequies of the deceased pope, and thearrival of the absent cardinals; on the tenth, theyare imprisoned, each with one domestic, in acommon apartment or conclave, without sepa-ration of walls or curtains; a small window isreserved for the introduction of necessaries; butthe door is locked on both sides, and guarded

' See the bull of Gregory X , approkante saero concilio, in the Sext?of the Canon Law (1. i, tit. 0, c. 3), a supplement to the Decretalswhich Boniface VIII. promulgated at Rome in 1298, and addressed toall the universities of Europe .