roops,
resigned his conquests, respectfully visited the church of St. Peter,
and after performing his devotions, offered his sword and dagger, his
cuirass and mantle, his silver cross, and his crown of gold, on the tomb
of the apostle. But this religious fervor was the illusion, perhaps the
artifice, of the moment; the sense of interest is strong and lasting;
the love of arms and rapine was congenial to the Lombards; and both the
prince and people were irresistibly tempted by the disorders of Italy,
the nakedness of Rome, and the unwarlike profession of her new chief. On
the first edicts of the emperor, they declared themselves the champions
of the holy images: Liutprand invaded the province of Romagna, which
had already assumed that distinctive appellation; the Catholics of the
Exarchate yielded without reluctance to his civil and military
power; and a foreign enemy was introduced for the first time into the
impregnable fortress of Ravenna. That city and fortress were speedily
recovered by the active diligence and maritime forces of the Venetians;
and those faithful subjects obeyed the exhortation of Gregory himself,
in separating the personal guilt of Leo from the general cause of the
Roman empire. The Greeks were less mindful of the service, than the
Lombards of the injury: the two nations, hostile in their faith, were
reconciled in a dangerous and unnatural alliance: the king and the
exarch marched to the conquest of Spoleto and Rome: the storm evaporated
without effect, but the policy of Liutprand alarmed Italy with a
vexatious alternative of hostility and truce. His successor Astolphus
declared himself the equal enemy of the emperor and the pope: Ravenna
was subdued by force or treachery, and this final conquest extinguished
the series of the exarchs, who had reigned with a subordinate power
since the time of Justinian and the ruin of the Gothic kingdom. Rome was
summoned to acknowledge the victorious Lombard as her lawful sovereign;
the annual tribute of a piece of gold was fixed as the ransom of each
citizen, and the sword of destruction was unsheathed to exact the
penalty of her disobedience. The Romans hesitated; they entreated; they
complained; and the threatening Barbarians were checked by arms and
negotiations, till the popes had engaged the friendship of an ally and
avenger beyond the Alps.

In his distress, the first Gregory had implored the aid of the hero
of the age, of Charles Martel, who governed the