sy ensued between the
parties at issue; in which the king turned a deaf ear to every
argument and example that was adduced to prove his error, seeking to
evade their force, now by sophistical, now by threatening
representations, until the pope, disgusted at his disingenuous
conduct, and tired out with a dispute, which had lasted over the next
day, to no purpose, cut it short by abruptly quitting the camp.
Hereupon the king, perceiving that he must again offer sacrifice to
his policy, suffered the prelates, who surrounded him, and till this
critical moment had so vainly sought to convince him of the justice of
the pope's cause, to overrule him; and then set out for Nepi, whither
Adrian had returned. On his arrival, he no sooner beheld Adrian coming
forth to meet him, than, advancing reverently on foot, he held the
pontiff's stirrup; who, on touching the ground, directly enfolded the
king in his arms, amid the cheers of the spectators of both parties.

All these proceedings,--and the latter one, in particular,--have been
held up, by many writers, as setting in the strongest light the
arrogance and tyranny of the church in the middle ages. From our point
of view, at this day, for estimating the relative importance of Church
and State, no doubt, the result of the dispute between Adrian and
Frederic was wrong; because it ought to have proved diametrically the
reverse to be right. In the 12th century, however, the profound
conviction of Christendom was this: that the pope literally
represented on earth, in the character of vicar or vicegerent, our
Saviour in heaven; and, as it may be taken for granted, that, were the
Redeemer to reappear among men now, as he appeared 1800 years ago, the
proudest monarch of Christendom, in the 19th century, persuaded of the
fact, would,--whether catholic or protestant,--certainly not hesitate
to show this honor to our Divine Lord, on receiving his visit: so the
sovereigns of the middle ages did actually deem it right and honorable
to pay that homage to Christ, in the person of the pope, in whom they
acknowledged, from the bottom of their souls, our Lord's Regent on
earth, and as such their immeasurable Superior. In requiring Frederic
Barbarossa to pay him the typical homage of holding his stirrup,
Adrian did plainly nothing but what was entirely in accordance with
the spirit of the age, and, at the same time, with traditional usage,
as then received by Christian princes. [2] But Frederic did d