ler but
powerful party against the election of Symmachus. Thus disunion was
introduced among the Roman clergy, which brought about, during the five
succeeding years, many councils at Rome, and embarrassed the action of the
Pope more than the Arian government of Theodorick.[74] The difficulty of
the times was such that, instead of holding a synod of bishops at Rome to
determine which election was valid, the two candidates, Symmachus and
Laurentius, went to Ravenna, and submitted that point to the decision of
the king Theodorick, Arian as he was. That decision was that he who was
first ordained, or who had the majority for him, should be recognised as
Pope; Symmachus fulfilled both conditions, and his election was
acknowledged.

Symmachus, in the first year of his pontificate, 499, addressed to the
Roman emperor, in his Grecian capital, a renowned letter, termed "his
defence" against imperial calumnies. This letter alone would be sufficient
to exhibit the whole position of the Pope in regard to the eastern emperor
at the close of the fifth century. Space allows me to quote only a part of
it.

The emperor of Constantinople was very wroth at the frustration of his plan
to get influence over the Pope by the appointment of Laurentius, and
reproached Pope Symmachus with moving the Roman senate against him. The
Pope replied:[75]

"If, O emperor, I had to speak before outside kings, ignorant altogether of
God, in defence of the Catholic faith, I would, even with the threat of
death before me, dwell upon its truth and its accord with reason. Woe to me
if I did not preach the gospel. It is better to incur loss of the present
life than to be punished with eternal damnation. But if you are the Roman
emperor, you are bound kindly to receive the embassies of even barbarian
peoples. If you are a Christian prince, you are bound to hear patiently the
voice of the apostolic prelate, whatever his personal desert.[76] I must
confess that I cannot pass over, either on your account or on my own, the
point whether you issue with a religious mind against me the insults which
you utter in presence of the divine judgment. Not on my own account, when I
remember the Lord's promise, 'When they persecute you, and say all manner
of evil against you, for justice' sake, rejoice'. Not on your account,
because I wish not a result to my own glory, which would weigh heavily upon
you. And being trained in the doctrine of the Lord and the Apostles, I am
an