uarterly allowance to the clergy, to his
domestics, to the monasteries, the churches, the places of burial, the
almshouses, and the hospitals of Rome, and the rest of the diocese. On
the first day of every month, he distributed to the poor, according to
the season, their stated portion of corn, wine, cheese, vegetables,
oil, fish, fresh provisions, clothes, and money; and his treasurers were
continually summoned to satisfy, in his name, the extraordinary demands
of indigence and merit. The instant distress of the sick and helpless,
of strangers and pilgrims, was relieved by the bounty of each day, and
of every hour; nor would the pontiff indulge himself in a frugal repast,
till he had sent the dishes from his own table to some objects deserving
of his compassion. The misery of the times had reduced the nobles and
matrons of Rome to accept, without a blush, the benevolence of the
church: three thousand virgins received their food and raiment from the
hand of their benefactor; and many bishops of Italy escaped from the
Barbarians to the hospitable threshold of the Vatican. Gregory might
justly be styled the Father of his Country; and such was the extreme
sensibility of his conscience, that, for the death of a beggar who had
perished in the streets, he interdicted himself during several days
from the exercise of sacerdotal functions. II. The misfortunes of Rome
involved the apostolical pastor in the business of peace and war; and it
might be doubtful to himself, whether piety or ambition prompted him to
supply the place of his absent sovereign. Gregory awakened the emperor
from a long slumber; exposed the guilt or incapacity of the exarch and
his inferior ministers; complained that the veterans were withdrawn from
Rome for the defence of Spoleto; encouraged the Italians to guard their
cities and altars; and condescended, in the crisis of danger, to name
the tribunes, and to direct the operations, of the provincial troops.
But the martial spirit of the pope was checked by the scruples of
humanity and religion: the imposition of tribute, though it was employed
in the Italian war, he freely condemned as odious and oppressive; whilst
he protected, against the Imperial edicts, the pious cowardice of the
soldiers who deserted a military for a monastic life If we may credit
his own declarations, it would have been easy for Gregory to exterminate
the Lombards by their domestic factions, without leaving a king, a duke,
or a count, to