aw passed by the Senate in the time of
the most holy Pope Boniface [predecessor of John II]. By it any
contract or promise made by any person in order to obtain a Bishopric
is declared void.

'Anyone refusing to refund money so received is to be declared guilty
of sacrilege, and restitution is to be enforced by the Judge.'

'Should a contention arise as to an election to the Apostolic See, and
the matter be brought to our Palace for decision, we direct that the
maximum fee to be paid, on the completion of the necessary documents
(?), shall be 3,000 solidi [L1,800][605]; but this is only to be
exacted from persons of sufficient ability to pay it.

[Footnote 605: 'Et quia omnia decet sub ratione moderari, nec possunt
dici justa quae nimia sunt, cum de Apostolici consecratione Pontificis
intentio fortasse pervenerit, et ad Palatium nostrum producta fuerit
altercatio populorum, suggerentes (?) nobis intra tria millia
solidorum, cum collectione cartarum censemus accipere.']

'Patriarchs [Archbishops of the other great Italian Sees] under
similar circumstances are to pay not more than 2,000 solidi [L1,200].

'No one is to give [on his consecration] more than 500 solidi [L300]
to the poor.

'Anyone professing to obtain for money the suffrage of any one of our
servants on behalf of a candidate for Papacy or Patriarchate, shall be
forced to refund the money. If it cannot be recovered from him, it may
be from his heirs. He himself shall be branded with infamy.

'Should the giver of the money have been bound by such oaths, that,
without imperilling his soul, he cannot disclose the transaction,
anyone else may inform, and on establishing the truth of his
accusation, receive a third part of the money so corruptly paid, the
rest to go to the churches themselves, for the repair of the fabric or
for the daily ministry. Remember the fate of Simon Magus. We have
ordered that this decree be made known to the Senate and people by the
Praefect of the City.'

[I think the early part of this letter gives us the clue to the
pretext under which these simoniacal practices were introduced. It was
usual for the Pope on his election to give a certain sum of money to
the poor. Then at a vehemently contested election certain of the
voters--perhaps especially the priests of the different _tituli_ of
Rome--claimed to be distributors of the Papal bounty, a large part of
which they no doubt kept for themselves.]

16. KING ATHALARIC TO SALVAN