Chapter 12

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“... Whate’erMy fate ordains, my words shall be sincere:I neither can nor dare my birth disclaim;Greece is my country, Sinon is my name.”[459]

“... Whate’er

My fate ordains, my words shall be sincere:

I neither can nor dare my birth disclaim;

Greece is my country, Sinon is my name.”[459]

This first; then he put in his lies. So our Sinon does here; for when he had begun with the truth, he adds:

“In this privilege, among other things, is this: ‘We—together with all our satraps and the whole Senate and the nobles also, and all the people subject to the government of the Roman church[460]—considered it advisable that, as the blessed Peter is seen to have been constituted vicar of God on the earth, so the pontiffs who are the representatives of that same chief of the apostles, should obtain from us and our Empire the power of a supremacy greater than the clemency of our earthly imperial serenity is seen to have conceded to it.’”

O thou scoundrel, thou villain! The same history [the Life of Sylvester] which you allege as your evidence, says that for a long time none of senatorial rank was willing to accept the Christian religion, and that Constantine solicited the poor with bribes to be baptized. And you say that within the first days, immediately, the Senate, the nobles, the satraps, as though already Christians, with the Caesar passed decrees for the honoring of the Roman church! What! How do you want to have satraps come in here? Numskull, blockhead! Do the Caesars speak thus; are Roman decrees usually drafted thus? Whoever heard of satraps being mentioned in the councils of the Romans?[461]I do not remember ever to have read of any Roman satrap being mentioned, or even of a satrap in any of the Roman provinces. But this fellow[See Latin page]speaks of the Emperor’s satraps, and puts them in before the Senate, though all honors, even those bestowed upon the ruling prince, are decreed by the Senate alone, or with the addition “and the Roman people.” Thus we see carved on ancient stones or bronze tablets or coins two letters, “S. C.,” that is “By decree of the Senate,” or four, “S. P. Q. R.,” that is, “The Senate and the Roman People.” And according to Tertullian, when Pontius Pilate had written to Tiberius Caesar and not to the Senate concerning the wonderful deeds of Christ, inasmuch as magistrates were supposed to write concerning important matters to the Senate, the Senate gave way to spite and opposed Tiberius’ proposal that Jesus be worshipped as a God, merely on account of its secret anger at the offense to senatorial dignity.[462]And, to show how weighty was the authority of the Senate, Jesus did not obtain divine worship.

What now! Why do you say “nobles” [“optimates”]? Are we to understand that these are leading men in the republic; then why should they be mentioned when the other magistrates are passed by in silence? Or are they the opposite of the “popular” party which curries favor with the people; the ones who seek and champion the welfare of every aristocrat and of the “better” elements, as Cicero shows in one of his orations? Thus we say that Caesar before the overthrow of the republic had been a member of the “popular” party, Cato of the “optimates.” The difference between them Sallust explained. But the “optimates” are not spoken of as belonging to the [Emperor’s] council, any more than the “popular” party, or other respectable men are.

But what wonder that the “optimates” belonged to the council, when, if we believe this fellow, “all the people,” and the people “subject to the Roman church” at that, acted officially with the Senate and the Caesar![463]And what people are these? The Roman[See Latin page]people? But why not say the Roman people, rather than the “people subject”? What new insult is this to the Quirites of whom the great poet sings:

“Do thou, O Roman, take care to rule the peoples with imperial sway!”[464]

Can those who rule other peoples, themselves be called a subject people? It is preposterous! For in this, as Gregory in many letters testifies, the Roman ruler differs from the others, that he alone is ruler of a free people. But be this as it may. Are not other peoples also subject? Or do you mean others also? How could it be brought to pass in three days that all the people subject to the government of the Roman church gave assent to that decree? Though did every Tom, Dick, and Harry give his judgment? What! would Constantine, before he had subjected the people to the Roman pontiff, call them subject? How is it that those who are called subjects are said to have been in authority in the making of the decree? How is it that they are said to have decreed this very thing, that they should be subject and that he to whom they are already subject should have them as his subjects? What else do you do, you wretch, other than admit that you have the will to commit forgery, but not the ability?

“Choosing that same prince of the apostles, or his vicars, to be our constant intercessors with God. And, to the extent of our earthly imperial power, we have decreed that his holy Roman church shall be honored with veneration: and that more than our empire and earthly throne, the most sacred seat of the blessed Peter shall be gloriously exalted; we giving to it power and glory, and dignity, and vigor and honor imperial.”

Come back to life for a little while, Firmianus Lactantius, stop this ass who brays so loudly and outrageously. So delighted is he with the sound of swelling words, that he repeats the same terms[See Latin page]and reiterates what he has just said. Is it thus that in your age the secretaries of the Caesars spoke, or even their grooms? Constantine chose them not “as his intercessors” but “to be his intercessors.” The fellow inserted that “to be” [esse] so as to get a more elegant rhythm. A fine reason! To speak barbarously so that your speech may run along more gracefully, as if indeed, anything can be graceful in such filthiness. “Choosing the prince of the apostles, or his vicars”: you do not choose Peter, and then his vicars, but either him, excluding them, or them, excluding him.[465]And he calls the Roman pontiffs “vicars” of Peter, either as though Peter were living, or as though they were of lower rank than was Peter. And is not this barbarous; “from us and our empire”?[466]As if the empire had a mind to give grants, and power! Nor was he content to say “should obtain,” without also saying “conceded,” though either one would have sufficed. And that “constant intercessors,”[466]is very elegant indeed! Doubtless he wants them “constant” so that they may not be corrupted by money nor moved by fear. And “earthly imperial power”; two adjectives without a conjunction. And “be honored with veneration”: and “clemency of our imperial serenity”;[467]it smacks of Lactantian eloquence to speak of “serenity” and “clemency,” instead of grandeur and majesty, when the power of the Empire is concerned! And how inflated he is with puffed-up pride; as in that phrase “gloriously exalted” by “glory, and power, and dignity, and vigor, and imperial honor”! This seems to be taken from the Apocalypse, where it says, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and divinity and wisdom, and strength, and honor and blessing.”[468]Frequently, as will be shown later, Constantine is made to arrogate to himself the titles of God, and to try[See Latin page]to imitate the language of the sacred scriptures, which he had never read.

“And we ordain and decree that he shall have the supremacy as well over the four seats, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, as also over all the churches of God in the whole earth. And the pontiff also, who at the time shall be at the head of the holy Roman church itself, shall be more exalted than, and chief over, all the priests of the whole world; and, according to his judgment everything which is to be provided for the service of God, and for the faith or the stability of the Christians is to be administered.”

I will not speak here of the barbarisms in [the forger’s] language when he says “chief over the priests” instead of chief of the priests; when he puts in the same sentence “extiterit” and “existat” [confusing meanings, moods and tenses]; when, having said “in the whole earth,” he adds again “of the whole world,” as though he wished to include something else, or the sky, which is part of the world, though a good part of the earth even was not under Rome; when he distinguishes between providing for “the faith” of Christians and providing for their “stability,” as though they could not coexist;[469]when he confuses “ordain” and “decree,” and when, as though Constantine had not already joined with the rest in making the decree, he has him now ordain it, and as though he imposes a punishment, decree [confirm] it, and confirm it together with the people. [That, I pass by.] But what Christian could endure this [other thing], and not, rather, critically and severely reprove a Pope who endures it, and listens to it willingly and retails it; namely, that the Roman See, though it received its primacy from Christ, as the Eighth Synod declared according to the testimony of Gratian and many of the Greeks,[See Latin page]should be represented as having received it from Constantine, hardly yet a Christian, as though from Christ? Would that very modest ruler have chosen to make such a statement, and that most devout pontiff to listen to it? Far be such a grave wrong from both of them!

How in the world—this is much more absurd, and impossible in the nature of things—could one speak of Constantinople as one of the patriarchal sees, when it was not yet a patriarchate, nor a see, nor a Christian city, nor named Constantinople, nor founded, nor planned! For the “privilege” was granted, so it says, the third day after Constantine became a Christian; when as yet Byzantium, not Constantinople, occupied that site. I am a liar if this fool does not confess as much himself. For toward the end of the “privilege” he writes:

“Wherefore we have perceived it to be fitting that our empire and our royal power should be transferred in the regions of the East; and that in the province of Bizantia [sic], in the most fitting place, a city should be built in our name; and that our empire should there be established.”

But if he was intending to transfer the empire, he had not yet transferred it; if he was intending to establish his empire there, he had not yet established it; if he was planning to build a city, he had not yet built it. Therefore he could not have spoken of it as a patriarchal see, as one of the four sees, as Christian, as having this name, nor as already built. According to the history [the Life of Sylvester] which Palea cites as evidence, he had not yet even thought of founding it. And this beast, whether Palea or some one else whom Palea follows, does not notice that he contradicts this history, in which it is said that Constantine issued the decree concerning the founding of the city, not on his own initiative, but at a command received in his sleep from God, not at Rome but at Byzantium, not within a few days [of his conversion] but several years after, and that he learned its name by revelation in a dream.[470]Who then does not see that the man who[See Latin page]wrote the “privilege” lived long after the time of Constantine, and in his effort to embellish his falsehood forgot that earlier he had said that these events took place at Rome on the third day after Constantine was baptized? So the trite old proverb applies nicely to him, “Liars need good memories.”

And how is it that he speaks of a province of “Byzantia,” when it was a town, Byzantium by name? The place was by no means large enough for the erection of so great a city; for the old city of Byzantium was included within the walls of Constantinople. And this man says the [new] city is to be built on the most fitting place in it! Why does he choose to put Thrace, in which Byzantium lies, in the East, when it lies to the north? I suppose Constantine did not know the place which he had chosen for the building of the city, in what latitude it was, whether it was a town or a province, nor how large it was!

“On the churches of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, for the providing of the lights, we have conferred landed estates of possessions, and have enriched them with different objects; and through our sacred imperial mandate, we have granted them of our property in the east as well as in the west; and even in the north and in the southern quarter; namely, in Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa and Italy and the various islands; under this condition indeed, that all shall be administered by the hand of our most blessed father the supreme pontiff, Sylvester, and his successors.”

O you scoundrel! Were there in Rome churches, that is, temples, dedicated to Peter and Paul? Who had constructed them? Who would have dared to build them, when, as history tells us, the Christians had never had anything but secret and secluded meeting-places? And if there had been any temples at Rome dedicated to these apostles, they would not have called for such great lights as these to be set up in them; they were little chapels, not sanctuaries; little shrines, not temples; oratories in private houses, not public places of worship. So there was no need to care for the temple lights, before the temples themselves were provided.

[See Latin page]

And what is this that you say? You make Constantine call Peter and Paul blessed, but Sylvester, still living, “most blessed”; and call his own mandate, pagan as he had been but a little while before, “sacred”! Is so much to be donated “for the providing of the lights” that the whole world would be impoverished? And what are these “landed estates,” particularly “landed estates of possessions”? The phrase “possessions of landed estates” is good usage; “landed estates of possessions” is not. You give landed estates, and you do not explain which landed estates. You have enriched “with different objects,” and you do not show when nor with what objects. You want the corners of the earth to be administered by Sylvester, and you do not explain how they are to be administered. You say these were granted earlier? Then why do you say that you have now begun to honor the Roman church, and to grant it a “privilege”? Do you make the grant now; do you enrich it now? Then why do you say “we have granted” and “we have enriched”? What are you talking about; what is in your mind, you beast? (I am speaking to the man who made up the story, not to that most excellent ruler, Constantine.)

But why do I ask for any intelligence in you, any learning, you who are not endowed with any ability, with any knowledge of letters, who say “lights” for lamps, and “be transferred in the regions of the east” instead of “be transferred to the regions of the east,” as it should be? And what next? Are these “quarters” of yours really the four quarters of the world? What do you count as eastern? Thrace? It lies to the north, as I have said. Judea? It looks rather toward the south, for it is next to Egypt. And what do you count as western? Italy? But these events occurred in Italy and no one living there calls it western; for we say the Spains are in the west; and Italy extends, on one hand to the south and on the other to the north, rather than to the west. What do you count as north? Thrace? You yourself choose to put it in the east. Asia? This alone includes the whole east, but it includes the north also, like Europe. What do you count as southern? Africa, of course. But why do you not specify some province? Perhaps you think even the Ethiopians were subject to the Roman[See Latin page]Empire! And anyway Asia and Africa do not come into consideration when we divide the earth into four parts and enumerate the countries of each, but when we divide it into three, Asia, Africa, Europe; that is, unless you say Asia for the province of Asia, and Africa for that province which is next to the Gaetuli, and I do not see why they, especially, should be mentioned.

Would Constantine have spoken thus when he was describing the four quarters of the earth? Would he have mentioned these countries, and not others? Would he have begun with Judea, which is counted as a part of Syria and was no longer “Judea” after the destruction of Jerusalem (for the Jews were driven away and almost exterminated, so that, I suppose, scarcely one then remained in his own country, but they lived among other nations)? Where then was Judea? It was no longer called Judea, and we know that now that name has perished from the earth. Just as after the driving out of the Canaanites the region ceased to be called Canaan and was renamed Judea by its new inhabitants, so when the Jews were driven out and mixed tribes inhabited it, it ceased to be called Judea.

You mention Judea, Thrace, and the islands, but you do not think of mentioning the Spains, the Gauls, the Germans, and while you speak of peoples of other tongues, Hebrew, Greek, barbarian, you do not speak of any of the provinces where Latin is used. I see: you have omitted these for the purpose of including them afterwards in the Donation. And why were not these many great provinces of the East sufficient to bear the expense of providing the lights without the rest of the world contributing!

I pass over the fact that you say these are granted as a gift, and therefore not, as our friends say, in payment for the cure of the leprosy. Otherwise,—well, any one who classes a gift as a payment is ill-bred.

“To the blessed Sylvester, his [Peter’s] vicar, we by this present do give our imperial Lateran palace, then the diadem, that is, the crown of our head, and at the same time the tiara and also the shoulder-band,—that is, the strap that usually surrounds[See Latin page]our imperial neck; and also the purple mantle and scarlet tunic, and all the imperial raiment; and the same rank as those presiding over the imperial cavalry; conferring also on him the imperial scepters, and at the same time all the standards and banners and the different imperial ornaments, and all the pomp of our imperial eminence, and the glory of our power.“And we decree also, as to these men of different rank, the most reverend clergy who serve the holy Roman church, that they have that same eminence of distinguished power and excellence, by the glory of which it seems proper for our most illustrious Senate to be adorned; that is, that they be made patricians, consuls,—and also we have proclaimed that they be decorated with the other imperial dignities. And even as the imperial militia stands decorated, so we have decreed that the clergy of the holy Roman church be adorned. And even as the imperial power is ordered with different offices, of chamberlains, indeed, and door-keepers and all the bed-watchers, so we wish the holy Roman church also to be decorated. And, in order that the pontifical glory may shine forth most fully, we decree also that the holy clergy of this same holy Roman church may mount mounts adorned with saddle-cloths and linens, that is, of the whitest color; and even as our Senate uses shoes with felt socks, that is, they [the clergy] may be distinguished by white linen, and that the celestial [orders] may be adorned to the glory of God, just as the terrestrial are adorned.”

“And we decree also, as to these men of different rank, the most reverend clergy who serve the holy Roman church, that they have that same eminence of distinguished power and excellence, by the glory of which it seems proper for our most illustrious Senate to be adorned; that is, that they be made patricians, consuls,—and also we have proclaimed that they be decorated with the other imperial dignities. And even as the imperial militia stands decorated, so we have decreed that the clergy of the holy Roman church be adorned. And even as the imperial power is ordered with different offices, of chamberlains, indeed, and door-keepers and all the bed-watchers, so we wish the holy Roman church also to be decorated. And, in order that the pontifical glory may shine forth most fully, we decree also that the holy clergy of this same holy Roman church may mount mounts adorned with saddle-cloths and linens, that is, of the whitest color; and even as our Senate uses shoes with felt socks, that is, they [the clergy] may be distinguished by white linen, and that the celestial [orders] may be adorned to the glory of God, just as the terrestrial are adorned.”

O holy Jesus! This fellow, tumbling phrases about in his ignorant talk,—will you not answer him from a whirlwind? Will you not send the thunder? Will you not hurl avenging lightnings at such great blasphemy? Will you endure such wickedness in your household? Can you hear this, see this, let it go on so long and overlook it? But you are long-suffering and full of compassion. Yet I fear lest this your long-suffering may rather be wrath and condemnation, such as it was against those of whom you said, “So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked[See Latin page]in their own counsels,”[471]and elsewhere, “Even as they did not like to retain me in their knowledge, I gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”[472]Command me, I beseech thee, O Lord, that I may cry out against them, and perchance they may be converted.

O Roman pontiffs, the model of all crimes for other pontiffs! O wickedest of scribes and Pharisees, who sit in Moses’ seat and do the deeds of Dathan and Abiram! Will the raiment, the habiliments, the pomp, the cavalry, indeed the whole manner of life of a Caesar thus befit the vicar of Christ? What fellowship has the priest with the Caesar? Did Sylvester put on this raiment; did he parade in this splendor; did he live and reign with such a throng of servants in his house? Depraved wretches! They did not know that Sylvester ought to have assumed the vestments of Aaron, who was the high priest of God, rather than those of a heathen ruler.

But this must be more strongly pressed elsewhere. For the present, however, let us talk to this sycophant about barbarisms of speech; for by the stupidity of his language his monstrous impudence is made clear, and his lie.

“We give,” he says, “our imperial Lateran palace”: as though it was awkward to place the gift of the palace here among the ornaments, he repeated it later where gifts are treated. “Then the diadem;” and as though those present would not know, he interprets, “that is, the crown.” He did not, indeed, here add “of gold,” but later, emphasizing the same statements, he says, “of purest gold and precious gems.” The ignorant fellow did not know that a diadem was made of coarse cloth or perhaps of silk; whence that wise and oft-repeated remark of the king, who, they say, before he put upon his head the diadem given him, held it and considered it long and exclaimed, “O cloth more renowned than happy! If any one knew you through and through, with how many anxieties and dangers and miseries you are fraught, he would not[See Latin page]care to pick you up; no, not even if you were lying on the ground!” This fellow does not imagine but that it is of gold, with a gold band and gems such as kings now usually add. But Constantine was not a king, nor would he have dared to call himself king, nor to adorn himself with royal ceremony. He was Emperor of the Romans, not king. Where there is a king, there is no republic. But in the republic there were many, even at the same time, who were “imperatores” [generals]; for Cicero frequently writes thus, “Marcus Cicero, imperator, to some other imperator, greeting”: though, later on, the Roman ruler, as the highest of all, is called by way of distinctive title the Emperor.

“And at the same time the tiara and also the shoulder-band,—that is the strap that usually surrounds our imperial neck.” Who ever heard “tiara” [phrygium] used in Latin? You talk like a barbarian and want it to seem to me to be a speech of Constantine’s or of Lactantius’. Plautus, in the Menaechmi, applied “phrygionem” to a designer of garments; Pliny calls clothes embroidered with a needle “phrygiones” because the Phrygians invented them; but what does “phrygium” mean? You do not explain this, which is obscure; you explain what is quite clear. You say the “shoulder-band” is a “strap,” and you do not perceive what the strap is, for you do not visualize a leather band, which we call a strap, encircling the Caesar’s neck as an ornament. [It is of leather], hence we call harness and whips “straps”: but if ever gold straps are mentioned, it can only be understood as applying to gilt harness such as is put around the neck of a horse or of some other animal. But this has escaped your notice, I think. So when you wish to put a strap around the Caesar’s neck, or Sylvester’s, you change a man, an Emperor, a supreme pontiff, into a horse or an ass.

“And also the purple mantle and scarlet tunic.” Because Matthew says “a scarlet robe,” and John “a purple robe,”[473]this fellow tries to join them together in the same passage. But if they are the same color, as the Evangelists imply, why are you not content, as they were, to name either one alone; unless, like ignorant folk today, you use “purple” for silk goods of a whitish color? The[See Latin page]“purple” [pupura], however, is a fish in whose blood wool is dyed, and so from the dye the name has been given to the cloth, whose color can be called red, though it may rather be blackish and very nearly the color of clotted blood, a sort of violet. Hence by Homer and Virgil blood is called purple, as is porphyry, the color of which is similar to amethyst; for the Greeks call purple “porphyra.” You know perhaps that scarlet is used for red; but I would swear that you do not know at all why he makes it “coccineum” when we say “coccum,” or what sort of a garment a “mantle” [chlamys] is.

But that he might not betray himself as a liar by continuing longer on the separate garments, he embraced them all together in a single word, saying, “all the imperial raiment.” What! even that which he is accustomed to wear in war, in the chase, at banquets, in games? What could be more stupid than to say that all the raiment of the Caesar befits a pontiff!

But how gracefully he adds, “and the same rank as those presiding over the imperial cavalry.” He says “seu” [“or” for “and”].[474]He wishes to distinguish between these two in turn, as if they were very like each other, and slips along from the imperial raiment to the equestrian rank, saying—I know not what! He wants to say something wonderful, but fears to be caught lying, and so with puffed cheeks and swollen throat, he gives forth sound without sense.

“Conferring also on him the imperial sceptres.” What a turn of speech! What splendor! What harmony! What are these imperial sceptres? There is one sceptre, not several; if indeed the Emperor carried a sceptre at all. Will now the pontiff carry a sceptre in his hand? Why not give him a sword also, and helmet and javelin?

“And at the same time all the standards and banners.” What do you understand by “standards” [signa]? “Signa” are either statues (hence frequently we read “signa et tabulas” for pieces[See Latin page]of sculpture and paintings;—for the ancients did not paint on walls, but on tablets) or military standards (hence that phrase “Standards, matched eagles”[475]). In the former sense small statues and sculptures are called “sigilla.” Now then, did Constantine give Sylvester his statues or his eagles? What could be more absurd? But what “banners” [banna[476]] may signify, I do not discover. May God destroy you, most depraved of mortals who attribute barbarous language to a cultured age!

“And different imperial ornaments.” When he said “banners,” he thought he had been explicit long enough, and therefore he lumped the rest under a general term. And how frequently he drives home the word “imperial,” as though there were certain ornaments peculiar to the Emperor over against the consul, the dictator, the Caesar!

“And all the pomp of our imperial eminence, and the glory of our power.” “He discards bombast and cubit-long words,”[477]“This king of kings, Darius, the kinsman of the gods,”[478]never speaking save in the plural! What is this imperial “pomp”; that of the cucumber twisted in the grass, and growing at the belly? Do you think the Caesar celebrated a triumph whenever he left his house, as the Pope now does, preceded by white horses which servants lead saddled and adorned? To pass over other follies, nothing is emptier, more unbecoming a Roman pontiff than this. And what is this “glory”? Would a Latin have called pomp and paraphernalia “glory,” as is customary in the Hebrew language? And instead of “soldiers” [milites] you say soldiery [militia[479]] which we have borrowed from the Hebrews, whose books neither Constantine nor his secretaries had ever laid eyes on!

But how great is your munificence, O Emperor, who deem it not sufficient to have adorned the pontiff, unless you adorn all the clergy also! As an “eminence of distinguished power and excellence,”[See Latin page]you say, they are “made patricians and consuls.” Who has ever heard of senators or other men being made patricians? Consuls are “made,” but not patricians. The senators, the conscript fathers, are from patrician (also called senatorial), equestrian, or plebeian families as the case may be. It is greater, also, to be a senator than to be a patrician; for a senator is one of the chosen counsellors of the Republic, while a patrician is merely one who derives his origin from a senatorial family. So one who is a senator, or of the conscript fathers, is not necessarily forthwith also a patrician. So my friends the Romans are now making themselves ridiculous when they call their praetor “senator,” since a senate cannot consist of one man and a senator must have colleagues, and he who is now called “senator” performs the function of praetor. But, you say, the title of patrician is found in many books.[480]Yes; but in those which speak of times later than Constantine; therefore the “privilege” was executed after Constantine.

But how can the clergy become consuls?[481]The Latin clergy have denied themselves matrimony; and will they become consuls, make a levy of troops, and betake themselves to the provinces allotted them with legions and auxiliaries? Are servants and slaves made consuls? And are there to be not two, as was customary; but the hundreds and thousands of attendants who serve the Roman church, are they to be honored with the rank of general? And I was stupid enough to wonder at what was said about the Pope’s transformation! The attendants will be generals; but the clergy soldiers. Will the clergy become soldiers or wear military insignia, unless you share the imperial insignia with all the clergy? [I may well ask,] for I do not know what you are saying. And who does not see that this fabulous tale was concocted by those who wished to have every possible license in the[See Latin page]attire they were to wear? If there are games of any kind played among the demons which inhabit the air I should think that they would consist in copying the apparel, the pride and the luxury of the clergy, and that the demons would be delighted most by this kind of masquerading.

Which shall I censure the more, the stupidity of the ideas, or of the words? You have heard about the ideas; here are illustrations of his words. He says, “It seems proper for our Senate to be adorned” (as though it were not assuredly adorned), and to be adorned forsooth with “glory.” And what is being done he wishes understood as already done; as, “we have proclaimed” for “we proclaim”: for the speech sounds better that way. And he puts the same act in the present and in the past tense; as, “we decree,” and “we have decreed.” And everything is stuffed with these words, “we decree,” “we decorate,” “imperial,” “imperial rank,” “power,” “glory.” He uses “extat” for “est,” though “extare” means to stand out or to be above; and “nempe” for “scilicet” [that is, “indeed” for “to wit”]; and “concubitores” [translated above, bed-watchers] for “contubernales” [companions or attendants]. “Concubitores” are literally those who sleep together and have intercourse; they must certainly be understood to be harlots. He adds those with whom he may sleep, I suppose, that he may not fear nocturnal phantoms.[482]He adds “chamberlains”; he adds “door-keepers.”

It is not an idle question to ask why he mentions these details. He is setting up, not an old man, but a ward or a young son, and like a doting father, himself arranges for him everything of which his tender age has need, as David did for Solomon! And that the story may be filled in in every respect, horses are given the clergy,—lest they sit on asses’ colts in that asinine way of Christ’s! And they are given horses, not covered nor saddled with coverings of white, but decorated with white color. And what coverings! Not horse-cloths, either Babylonian or any other kind, but “mappulae” [translated above, saddle-cloths] and[See Latin page]“linteamina” [linen cloths or sheets, translated above, linen]. “Mappae” [serviettes] go with the table, “linteamina” with the couch. And as though there were doubt as to their color, he explains, “that is to say, of the whitest color.” Talk worthy of Constantine; fluency worthy of Lactantius; not only in the other phrases, but also in that one, “may mount mounts”!

And when he had said nothing about the garb of senators, the broad stripe, the purple, and the rest, he thought he had to talk about their shoes; nor does he specify the crescents [which were on their shoes], but “socks,” or rather he says “with felt socks,” and then as usual he explains, “that is, with white linen,” as though socks were of linen! I cannot at the moment think where I have found the word “udones” [socks], except in Valerius Martial, whose distich inscribed “Cilician Socks” runs:

“Wool did not produce these, but the beard of an ill-smelling goat.Would that the sole in the gulf of the Cinyps might lie.”[483]

“Wool did not produce these, but the beard of an ill-smelling goat.

Would that the sole in the gulf of the Cinyps might lie.”[483]

So the “socks” are not linen, nor white, with which this two-legged ass says, not that the feet of senators are clad, but that senators are distinguished.

And in the phrase “that the terrestrial orders may be adorned to the glory of God, just as the celestial,” what do you call celestial, what terrestrial? How are the celestial orders adorned?[484]You may have seen what glory to God this is. But I, if I believe anything, deem nothing more hateful to God and to the rest of humanity than such presumption of clergy in the secular sphere. But why do I attack individual items? Time would fail me if I should try, I do not say to dwell upon, but to touch upon them all.

“Above all things, moreover, we give permission to the blessed Sylvester and his successors, from our edict, that he may make priest whomever he wishes, according to his own pleasure and counsel, and enroll him in the pious number of the religious clergy[See Latin page][i.e., regular clergy; or perhaps cardinals]: let no one whomsoever presume to act in a domineering way in this.”[485]

Who is this Melchizedek that blesses the patriarch Abraham? Does Constantine, scarcely yet a Christian, give to the man by whom he was baptized and whom he calls blessed, authority to make priests? As though Sylvester had not and could not have done it before! And with what a threat he forbids any one to stand in the way! “Let no one, whomsoever, presume to act in a domineering way in this matter.” What elegant diction, too! “Enroll in the pious number of the religious”; and “clericare,” “clericorum,” “indictu,” and “placatus”!

And again he comes back to the diadem:

“We also therefore decreed this, that he himself and his successors might use, for the honor of the blessed Peter, the diadem, that is the crown, which we have granted him from our own head, of purest gold and precious gems.”

Again he explains the meaning of diadem, for he was speaking to barbarians, forgetful ones at that. And he adds “of purest gold,” lest perchance you should think brass or dross was mixed in. And when he has said “gems,” he adds “precious,” again fearing lest you should suspect them of being cheap. Yet why did he not say most precious, just as he said “purest gold”? For there is more difference between gem and gem, than between gold and gold. And when he should have said “distinctum gemmis,” he said “ex gemmis.” Who does not see that this was taken from the passage, which the gentile ruler had not read, “Thou settest a crown of precious stone on his head”?[486]Did the Caesar speak thus, with a certain vanity in bragging of his crown, if indeed the Caesars were crowned, but cheapening himself by fearing lest[See Latin page]people would think that he did not wear a crown “of purest gold and precious gems,” unless he said so?

Find the reason why he speaks thus: “for the honor of the blessed Peter.” As though, not Christ, but Peter, were the chief corner-stone on which the temple of the church is built; an inference he later repeats! But if he wanted to honor him so much, why did he not dedicate the episcopal temple at Rome to him, rather than to John the Baptist?

What? Does not that barbarous way of talking show that the rigmarole was composed, not in the age of Constantine, but later; “decernimus quod uti debeant”[487]for the correct form “decernimus ut utantur”? Boors commonly speak and write that way now; “Iussi quod deberes venire” for “Iussi ut venires.” And “we decreed,” and “we granted,” as though it were not being done now, but had been done some other time!

“But he himself, the blessed Pope, did not allow that crown of gold to be used over the clerical crown which he wears to the glory of the most blessed Peter.”

Alas for your singular stupidity, Constantine! Just now you were saying that you put the crown on the Pope’s head for the honor of the blessed Peter; now you say that you do not do it, because Sylvester refuses it. And while you approve his refusal, you nevertheless order him to use the gold crown; and what he thinks he ought not to do, that you say his own successors ought to do![488]I pass over the fact that you call the tonsure a crown, and the Roman pontiff “Pope,” although that word had not yet begun to be applied to him as a distinctive title.

[See Latin page]

“But we placed upon his most holy head, with our own hands, a glittering tiara of the most dazzling white, representing the Lord’s resurrection. And holding the bridle of his horse, out of reverence for the blessed Peter, we performed for him the duty of squire; decreeing that all his successors, and they alone, use this same tiara in processions in imitation of our power.”

Does not this fable-fabricator seem to blunder, not through imprudence, but deliberately and of set purpose, and so as to offer handles for catching him? In the same passage he says both that the Lord’s resurrection is represented by the tiara, and that it is an imitation of Caesar’s power; two things which differ most widely from each other. God is my witness, I find no words, no words merciless enough with which to stab this most abandoned scoundrel; so full of insanity are all the words he vomits forth. He makes Constantine not only similar in office to Moses, who at the command of God honored the chief priest, but also an expounder of secret mysteries, a most difficult thing even for those long versed in the sacred books. Why did you not make Constantine supreme pontiff while you were about it, as many emperors have been, that he might more conveniently transfer his attire to the other high priest? But you did not know history. And I give thanks to God on this very score, that he did not permit this utterly vicious scheme to be suggested save to an exceedingly stupid man. Subsequent considerations also show this. For he suggests the fact that Moses performed for Aaron, seated on a horse, the duty of squire [dextratoris], and that in the midst not of Israel, but of the Canaanites and the Egyptians, that is, of an heathen state, where there was not so much a secular government as one of demons and demon-worshipping peoples.

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