ht after by those
who esteem the ease and luxuries of life, as well as by the ambitious.
Fierce contests arose on the occurrence of vacancies. At the election of
Damasus, one hundred and thirty of the slain lay in the basilica of
Sisinnius: the competitors had called in the aid of a rabble of
gladiators, charioteers, and other ruffians; nor could the riots be
ended except by the intervention of the imperial troops.

[Sidenote: and early corruptions.]

It was none too soon that Jerome introduced the monastic system at
Rome--there was need of a change to austerity; none too soon that
legacy-hunting on the part of the clergy was prohibited by law--it had
become a public scandal; none too soon that Jerome struggled for the
patronage of the rich Roman women; none too soon that this stern
fanatic denounced the immorality of the Roman clergy, when even the
Bishop Damasus himself was involved in a charge of adultery. It became
clear, if the clergy would hold their ground in public estimation
against their antagonists the monks, that celibacy must be insisted on.
The doctrine of the pre-eminent value of virginity was steadily making
progress; but it cost many years of struggle before the monks carried
their point, and the celibacy of the clergy became compulsory.

[Sidenote: Necessity for an apostolic head.]

It had long been seen by those who hoped for Roman supremacy that there
was a necessity for the establishment of a definite and ascertained
doctrine--a necessity for recognizing some apostolic man, who might be
the representative of a criterion of truth. The Eastern system of
deciding by councils was in its nature uncertain. The councils
themselves had no ascertained organization. Experience had shown that
they were too much under the control of the court at Constantinople.

[Sidenote: Necessity for Councils or a pontiff.]

This tendency to accept the republican decisions of councils in the
East, and monarchical ones by a supreme pontiff in the West, in reality,
however, depended on a common sentiment entertained by reflecting men
everywhere. Something must be done to check the anarchy of opinion.

To show how this tendency was satisfied, it will be sufficient to
select, out of the numberless controversies of the times, a few leading
ones. A clear light is thrown upon the matter by the history of the
Pelagian, Nestorian, and Eutychian heresies. Their chronological period
is from about A.D. 400 to A.D. 450.

[Sideno