but a discerning eye might discern their approaching conversion,
from the use, to the adoration, of images. The name of
Charlemagne was stained by the polemic acrimony of his scribes;
but the conqueror himself conformed, with the temper of a
statesman, to the various practice of France and Italy. In his
four pilgrimages or visits to the Vatican, he embraced the popes
in the communion of friendship and piety; knelt before the tomb,
and consequently before the image, of the apostle; and joined,
without scruple, in all the prayers and processions of the Roman
liturgy. Would prudence or gratitude allow the pontiffs to
renounce their benefactor? Had they a right to alienate his gift
of the Exarchate? Had they power to abolish his government of
Rome? The title of patrician was below the merit and greatness
of Charlemagne; and it was only by reviving the Western empire
that they could pay their obligations or secure their
establishment. By this decisive measure they would finally
eradicate the claims of the Greeks; from the debasement of a
provincial town, the majesty of Rome would be restored: the Latin
Christians would be united, under a supreme head, in their
ancient metropolis; and the conquerors of the West would receive
their crown from the successors of St. Peter. The Roman church
would acquire a zealous and respectable advocate; and, under the
shadow of the Carlovingian power, the bishop might exercise, with
honor and safety, the government of the city. ^88

[Footnote 85: Theophanes (p. 343) specifies those of Sicily and
Calabria, which yielded an annual rent of three talents and a
half of gold, (perhaps 7000l. sterling.) Liutprand more pompously
enumerates the patrimonies of the Roman church in Greece, Judaea,
Persia, Mesopotamia Babylonia, Egypt, and Libya, which were