med the living sanctity of Caesarius
[76] and Epiphanius, [77] the orthodox bishops of Arles and Pavia;
and presented a decent offering on the tomb of St. Peter, without any
scrupulous inquiry into the creed of the apostle. [78] His favorite
Goths, and even his mother, were permitted to retain or embrace the
Athanasian faith, and his long reign could not afford the example of an
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 solidi, and a discus
of silver of the weight of sixty pounds.]

[Footnote 77: Ennodius in Vit. St. Epiphanii, in Sirmond, Op. tom. i.
p. 1672--1690. Theodoric bestowed some important favors on this bishop,
whom he used as a counsellor in peace and war.]

[Footnote 78: Devo