OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE.

first period of their conquests, till the expedi-tion of Charles the eighth, the popes might suc-cessfully wrestle with the adjacent princes andstates, whose military force was equal, or infe-rior, to their own: but as soon as the monarchsof France, Germany, and Spain , contended withgigantic arms for the dominion of Italy , they sup-plied with art the deficiency of strength; andconcealed, in a labyrinth of wars and treaties,their aspiring views, and the immortal hope ofchasing the barbarians beyond the Alps. Thenice balance of the Vatican was often subvertedby the soldiers of the North and West, who wereunited under the standard of Charles the fifth :the feeble and fluctuating policy of Clement theseventh exposed his person and dominions to theconqueror; and Rome was abandoned sevenmonths to a lawless army, more cruel and rapa-cious than the Goths and Vandals. x After thissevere lesson, the popes contracted their ambi-tion, which was almost satisfied, resumed thecharacter of a common parent, and abstainedfrom all offensive hostilities, except in an hastyquarrel, when the vicar of Christ and the Turkishsultan were armed at the same time against the

politicil discourses of the latter. These, with their worthy successors,Fra-Paolo and Davila, were justly esteemed the first historians of mo-dern languages, till, in the present age, Scotland arose, to dispute theprize with Italy herself.

1 In the history of the Gothic siege, I have compared the barba-rians with the subjects of Charles V. (vol. v, p. 319-322) ; an an-ticipation, which, like that of the Tartar conquests, I indulged withthe less scruple, as I could scarcely hope to reach the conclusion ofmy work.

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CHAP.

I.XX.