358

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

LXX.

hereto the power and luxury of the papal court.He confesses, that the successor of St. Peter isthe bishop of the universal church; yet it wasnot on the banks of the Rhone, but of the Ty her,that the apostle had fixed his everlasting throne:and while every city in the Christian world wasblessed with a bishop, the metropolis alone wasdesolate and forlorn. Since the removal of theholy see, the sacred buildings of theLateran andthe Vatican , their altars and their saints, wereleft in a state of poverty and decay; and Rome was often painted under the image of a discon-solate matron, as if the wandering husbandcould be reclaimed by the homely portrait of theage and infirmities of his weeping spouse.” Butthe cloud which hung over the seven hills wouldbe dispelled by the presence of their lawful so-vereign: eternal fame, the prosperity of Rome ,and the peace of Italy , would be the recompenceof the pope who should dare to embrace this ge-nerous resolution. Of the five whom Petrarch exhorted, the three first, John the twenty-second,Benedict the twelfth, and Clement the sixth,were importuned or amused by the boldness ofthe orator; but the memorable change whichhad been attempted by Urban the fifth, wasfinally accomplished by Gregory the eleventh.

” Squalida sed quoniam facies, neglectaqne ctiltuCtesaries ; multisque mails lassata senectnsEripuit 8oIitam effigiem : vetos accipe nomen ;

Roma vocor. (Carm. 1. 2, p. 77).

He spins this allegory beyond all measure or patience The Epistlesto Urban V. in prose, are more simple and persuasive (Senilium t. vii,p. 811.827,1. ix, epist. i, p. 814-854).