sors;
and the chair of St. Peter was filled under the reign of Maurice by the
first and greatest of the name of Gregory. [64] His grandfather Felix
had himself been pope, and as the bishops were already bound by the laws
of celibacy, his consecration must have been preceded by the death of
his wife. The parents of Gregory, Sylvia, and Gordian, were the noblest
of the senate, and the most pious of the church of Rome; his female
relations were numbered among the saints and virgins; and his own
figure, with those of his father and mother, were represented near
three hundred years in a family portrait, [65] which he offered to the
monastery of St. Andrew. The design and coloring of this picture afford
an honorable testimony that the art of painting was cultivated by
the Italians of the sixth century; but the most abject ideas must be
entertained of their taste and learning, since the epistles of Gregory,
his sermons, and his dialogues, are the work of a man who was second in
erudition to none of his contemporaries: [66] his birth and abilities
had raised him to the office of praefect of the city, and he enjoyed
the merit of renouncing the pomps and vanities of this world. His ample
patrimony was dedicated to the foundation of seven monasteries, [67] one
in Rome, [68] and six in Sicily; and it was the wish of Gregory that he
might be unknown in this life, and glorious only in the next. Yet his
devotion (and it might be sincere) pursued the path which would have
been chosen by a crafty and ambitious statesman. The talents of Gregory,
and the splendor which accompanied his retreat, rendered him dear and
useful to the church; and implicit obedience has always been inculcated
as the first duty of a monk. As soon as he had received the character of
deacon, Gregory was sent to reside at the Byzantine court, the nuncio or
minister of the apostolic see; and he boldly assumed, in the name of St.
Peter, a tone of independent dignity, which would have been criminal and
dangerous in the most illustrious layman of the empire. He returned to
Rome with a just increase of reputation, and, after a short exercise
of the monastic virtues, he was dragged from the cloister to the papal
throne, by the unanimous voice of the clergy, the senate, and the
people. He alone resisted, or seemed to resist, his own elevation; and
his humble petition, that Maurice would be pleased to reject the choice
of the Romans, could only serve to exalt his character in