solicited, a visit from the Roman pontiff. Leo repassed the Alps
with a commission of counts and bishops, the guards of his safety
and the judges of his innocence; and it was not without
reluctance, that the conqueror of the Saxons delayed till the
ensuing year the personal discharge of this pious office. In his
fourth and last pilgrimage, he was received at Rome with the due
honors of king and patrician: Leo was permitted to purge himself
by oath of the crimes imputed to his charge: his enemies were
silenced, and the sacrilegious attempt against his life was
punished by the mild and insufficient penalty of exile. On the
festival of Christmas, the last year of the eighth century,
Charlemagne appeared in the church of St. Peter; and, to gratify
the vanity of Rome, he had exchanged the simple dress of his
country for the habit of a patrician. ^92 After the celebration
of the holy mysteries, Leo suddenly placed a precious crown on
his head, ^93 and the dome resounded with the acclamations of the
people, "Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious
Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific emperor of the
Romans!" The head and body of Charlemagne were consecrated by the
royal unction: after the example of the Caesars, he was saluted
or adored by the pontiff: his coronation oath represents a
promise to maintain the faith and privileges of the church; and
the first-fruits were paid in his rich offerings to the shrine of
his apostle. In his familiar conversation, the emperor protested
the ignorance of the intentions of Leo, which he would have
disappointed by his absence on that memorable day. But the
preparations of the ceremony must have disclosed the secret; and
the journey of Charlemagne reveals his knowledge and expectation:
he had acknowledged that the Imperial title was the object of his
ambition, and a Roman synod had pronounced, that it was the only