nus was extinguished
by the exile of the latter; and the wisdom of the praefect Praetextatus
[86] restored the tranquillity of the city. Praetextatus was a
philosophic Pagan, a man of learning, of taste, and politeness; who
disguised a reproach in the form of a jest, when he assured Damasus,
that if he could obtain the bishopric of Rome, he himself would
immediately embrace the Christian religion. [87] This lively picture
of the wealth and luxury of the popes in the fourth century becomes
the more curious, as it represents the intermediate degree between the
humble poverty of the apostolic fishermen, and the royal state of a
temporal prince, whose dominions extend from the confines of Naples to
the banks of the Po.

[Footnote 80: Three words of Jerom, sanctoe memorioe Damasus (tom.
ii. p. 109,) wash away all his stains, and blind the devout eyes of
Tillemont. (Mem Eccles. tom. viii. p. 386-424.)]

[Footnote 81: Jerom himself is forced to allow, crudelissimae
interfectiones diversi sexus perpetratae, (in Chron. p. 186.) But an
original libel, or petition of two presbyters of the adverse party, has
unaccountably escaped. They affirm that the doors of the Basilica were
burnt, and that the roof was untiled; that Damasus marched at the head
of his own clergy, grave-diggers, charioteers, and hired gladiators;
that none of his party were killed, but that one hundred and sixty dead
bodies were found. This petition is published by the P. Sirmond, in the
first volume of his work.]

[Footnote 82: The Basilica of Sicininus, or Liberius, is probably the
church of Sancta Maria Maggiore, on the Esquiline hill. Baronius, A. D.
367 No. 3; and Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 3, p. 462.]

[Footnote 83: The enemies of Damasus styled him Auriscalpius Matronarum
the ladies' ear-scratcher.]

[Footnote 84: Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxxii. p. 526) describes the
pride and luxury of the prelates who reigned in the Imperial cities;
their gilt car, fiery steeds, numerous train, &c. The crowd gave way as
to a wild beast.]

[Footnote 85: Ammian. xxvii. 3. Perpetuo Numini, verisque ejus
cultoribus. The incomparable pliancy of a polytheist!]

[Footnote 86: Ammianus, who makes a fair report of his praefecture
(xxvii. 9) styles him praeclarae indolis, gravitatisque senator, (xxii.
7, and Vales. ad loc.) A curious inscription (Grutor MCII. No. 2)
records, in two columns, his religious and civil honors. In one line he
was Pontiff of the Su