Italian Catholic, who, either from choice or compulsion, had
deviated into the religion of the conqueror. ^79 The people, and
the Barbarians themselves, were edified by the pomp and order of
religious worship; the magistrates were instructed to defend the
just immunities of ecclesiastical persons and possessions; the
bishops held their synods, the metropolitans exercised their
jurisdiction, and the privileges of sanctuary were maintained or
moderated according to the spirit of the Roman jurisprudence. ^80
With the protection, Theodoric assumed the legal supremacy, of
the church; and his firm administration restored or extended some
useful prerogatives which had been neglected by the feeble
emperors of the West. He was not ignorant of the dignity and
importance of the Roman pontiff, to whom the venerable name of
Pope was now appropriated. The peace or the revolt of Italy
might depend on the character of a wealthy and popular bishop,
who claimed such ample dominion both in heaven and earth; who had
been declared in a numerous synod to be pure from all sin, and
exempt from all judgment. ^81 When the chair of St. Peter was
disputed by Symmachus and Laurence, they appeared at his summons
before the tribunal of an Arian monarch, and he confirmed the
election of the most worthy or the most obsequious candidate. At
the end of his life, in a moment of jealousy and resentment, he
prevented the choice of the Romans, by nominating a pope in the
palace of Ravenna. The danger and furious contests of a schism
were mildly restrained, and the last decree of the senate was
enacted to extinguish, if it were possible, the scandalous
venality of the papal elections. ^82

[Footnote 76: See the life of St. Caesarius in Baronius, (A.D.
508, No. 12, 13, 14.) The king presented him with 300 gold