CHAP. legious boldness; yet such is the silent and ir resistible progress of reason, that before the end of the next age, the fable was rejected by the contempt of historians and poets, and the tacit or modest censure of the advocates of the Roman church. The popes themselves have indulged a smile at the credulity of the vulgar; but a false and obsolete title still sanctifies their reign; and by the same fortune which has attended the decretals and the Sibylline oracles, the edifice had subsisted after their foundations have been undermined. Restoration of While the popes established in Italy their freeimages in dom and dominion, the images, the first cause of their revolt, were restored in the eastern empire. Under the reign of Constantine V, the the East y the mpress irene, A. D. 780, &c. • See Guicciardini, a servant of the popes, in that long and valuable digression, which has resumed its place in the last edition, correctly published from the author's MS., and printed in four volumes in quarto, under the name of Fiburgo, 1775, (Istoria d'Italia, tom. i, p. 385-395). The Paladin Astolpho found it in the moon, among the things that were lost upon earth, (Orlando Furioso, xxxiv, 80). Di vari fiore ad un grand monte passa, Che Constantino al buon Silvesto fece. Yet this incomparable poem has been approved by a bull of Leo X. Baronius n'en dit guerres contre; encore en a-t'il trop dit, et l'on vouloit sans moi (Cardinal du Perron), qui l'empechai, censurer cette, partie de son histoire. J'en devisai un jour avec le Pape, et il ne me repondit autre chose "che volete? i Canonici la lengono," il le disoit en riant, (Perroniana, p 77). The remaining history of images, from Irene to Theodora, is collected, for the catholics, by Baronius and Pagi, (A. D. 780-840); Natalis Alexander, (Hist, N. T. seculum viii; Panoplia adversus Hæreticos, p. 118-178), XLIX. union of civil and ecclesiastical power had CHAP overthrown the tree, without extirpating the root, of superstition. The idols, for such they were now held, were secretly cherished by the order and the sex most prone to devotion; and the fond alliance of the monks and females, obtained a final victory over the reason and authority of man. Leo IV maintained with less rigour the religion of his father and grandfather, but his wife, the fair and ambitious Irene, had imbibed the zeal of the Athenians, the heirs of the idolatry, rather than the philosophy, of their ancestors. During the life of her husband, these sentiments were inflamed by danger and dissimulation, and she could only labour to protect and promote some favourite monks whom she drew from their caverns, and seated on the metropolitan thrones of the East. But as soon as she reigned in her own name and that of her son, Irene more seriously undertook the ruin of the Iconoclasts; and the first step of her future persecution, was a general edict for liberty of conscience. In the restoration of the monks, a thousand images were exposed to the public veneration; a thousand legends were invented of their sufferings and miracles. By the opportunities of death or removal, the episcopal seats were judiciously filled; the most eager 118-178), and Dupin, (Bibliot. Eccles. tom. vi, p. 136-154): for the protestants, by Spanheim, (Hist. Imag. p. 305-639); Basnage, (Hist. de l'Eglise, tom. i, p. 556-572 tom. ii, p. 1362-1385), and Mosheim, (Institut. Hist. Eccles, secul. viii et ix). The protestants, except Mosheim, are soured with controversy; but the catholics except Dupin, are inflamed by the fury and superstition of the monks; and even le Beau, (Hist. du Bas Empire), a gentleman and a scholar, is infected by the odious contagion. XLIX. VIIth general council ; Ild of Nice, CHAP. Competitors for earthly or celestial favour anticipated and flattered the judgment of their sovereign; and the promotion of her secretary Tarasius, gave Irene the patriarch of Constantinople, and the command of the oriental church. But the decrees of a general council could only be repealed by a similar assembly; the Iconoclasts whom she convened, were bold in possession, and averse to debate; and the feeble voice of the bishops was re-echoed by the more formidable clamour of the soldiers and people of Constantinople. The delay and intrigues of a year, the separation of the disaffected troops, and the choice of Nice for a second orthodox synod, removed these obstacles; and the episcopal conscience was again, after the Greek fashion, in the hands of the prince. No more than eighteen days were allowed for the consummation of this important work; the Iconoclasts appeared, not as judges, but as criminals or penitents; the scene was decorated by the legates of Pope Adrian and the eastern patriarch, the decrees were framed by the president Tarasius, and ratified by the acclamations and subscriptions of three hundred and fifty bishops. They unanimously pronounced, that the wor A. D. 787, Sept. 24-' i See the Acts, in Greek aud Latin, of the second Council of Nice, with a number of relative pieces, in the viith volume of Councils, p. 645-1600. A faithful version, with some critical notes, would provoke, in different readers, a sigh or a smile. * The pope's legates were casual messengers, two priests without any special commission, and who were disavowed on their return. Some vagabond monks were persuaded by the catholics to represent the oriental patriarchs. This curious anecdote is revealed by Theodore Studit es, (epist. i, 38, in Sirmond. Opp. tom. v, p. 1319), one of the warmest Iconoclasts of the age XLIX. ship of images is agreeable to scripture and CHP. reason, to the fathers and councils of the church; but they hesitate whether that worship be relative or direct; whether the godhead, and the figure, of Christ, be entitled to the same mode of adoration. Of this second Nicene council, the acts' are still extant; a curious monument of superstition and ignorance, of falsehood and folly. I shall only notice the judgment of the bishops, on the comparative merit of image-worship and morality. A monk had concluded a truce with the demon of fornication, on condition of interrupting his daily prayers to a picture that hung in his cell. His scruples prompted him to consult the abbot. "Rather "than abstain from adoring Christ and his "mother in their holy images, it would be bet"ter for you," replied the casuist, "to enter every brothel, and visit every prostitute in "the city." 66 blishment by the A. D. 842. For the honour of orthodoxy, at least the or- Final estathodoxy of the Roman church, it is somewhat of images unfortunate, that the two princes who convened empress the two councils of Nice, are both stained with Theodora, the blood of their sons. The second of these assemblies was approved and rigorously executed by the despotism of Irene; and she refused her adversaries the toleration which at first she had granted to her friends. During the five succeeding reigns, a period of thirty-eight years, Συμφέρει δε σοι μη καταλιπειν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ πορνείον εἰς ὁ μη εισέλθης, η ένα άρνηση το προσκυνείν τον κύριον ήμων και θεον Ιησεν Χριςον μετα της ίδιας αυτό μητρος εν εικον.. These visits could not be innocent, since the Aasv πορνείας (the demon of foruication) επολέμει δε αυτόν. εν μία εν ὡς STEXEITO AUTO -podpa, &c Actio iv. p. 901; Actio v, p. 1031. XLIX. CHAP. the contest was maintained, with unabated rage and various success, between the worshippers and the breakers of the images; but I am not inclined to pursue with minute diligence the repetition of the same events. Nicephorus allowed a general liberty of speech and practice; and the only virtue of his reign is accused by the monks as the cause of his temporal and eternal perdition. Superstition and weakness formed the character of Michael I, but the saints and images were incapable of supporting their votary on the throne. In the purple, Leo V asserted the name and religion of an Armenian; and the idols, with their seditious adherents, were condemned to a second exile. Their applause would have sanctified the murder of an impious tyrant; but his assassin and successor, the second Michael, was tainted from his birth with the Phrygian heresies: he attempted to mediate between the contending parties; and the intractable spirit of the catholics insensibly cast him into the opposite scale. His moderation was guarded by timidity; but his son Theophilus, alike ignorant of fear and pity, was the last and most cruel of the Iconoclasts. The enthusiasm of the times ran strongly against them; and the emperors, who stemmed the torrent, were exasperated and punished by the public hatred. After the death of Theophilus, the final victory of the images was achieved by a second female, his widow Theodora, whom he left the guardian of the empire. Her measures were bold and decisive, The fiction of a tardy repentance absolved the fame and the soul of |