rimes
imputed to his charge: his enemies were silenced, and the sacrilegious
attempt against his life was punished by the mild and insufficient
penalty of exile. On the festival of Christmas, the last year of the
eighth century, Charlemagne appeared in the church of St. Peter; and,
to gratify the vanity of Rome, he had exchanged the simple dress of his
country for the habit of a patrician. [92] After the celebration of the
holy mysteries, Leo suddenly placed a precious crown on his head, [93]
and the dome resounded with the acclamations of the people, "Long life
and victory to Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God
the great and pacific emperor of the Romans!" The head and body of
Charlemagne were consecrated by the royal unction: after the example
of the Caesars, he was saluted or adored by the pontiff: his coronation
oath represents a promise to maintain the faith and privileges of the
church; and the first-fruits were paid in his rich offerings to the
shrine of his apostle. In his familiar conversation, the emperor
protested the ignorance of the intentions of Leo, which he would have
disappointed by his absence on that memorable day. But the preparations
of the ceremony must have disclosed the secret; and the journey of
Charlemagne reveals his knowledge and expectation: he had acknowledged
that the Imperial title was the object of his ambition, and a Roman
synod had pronounced, that it was the only adequate reward of his merit
and services. [94]

[Footnote 89: His merits and hopes are summed up in an epitaph of
thirty-eight-verses, of which Charlemagne declares himself the author,
(Concil. tom. viii. p. 520.) Post patrem lacrymans Carolus haec carmina
scripsi. Tu mihi dulcis amor, te modo plango pater... Nomina jungo simul
titulis, clarissime, nostra Adrianus, Carolus, rex ego, tuque pater. The
poetry might be supplied by Alcuin; but the tears, the most glorious
tribute, can only belong to Charlemagne.]

[Footnote 90: Every new pope is admonished--"Sancte Pater, non videbis
annos Petri," twenty-five years. On the whole series the average is
about eight years--a short hope for an ambitious cardinal.]

[Footnote 91: The assurance of Anastasius (tom. iii. pars i. p. 197,
198) is supported by the credulity of some French annalists; but
Eginhard, and other writers of the same age, are more natural and
sincere. "Unus ei oculus paullulum est laesus," says John the deacon of
Naples, (Vit. Episcop. Napol. in Scri