ned by
God, the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans!' After this
proclamation the Pontiff prostrated himself before him and paid him
adoration, according to the custom established in the days of the old
emperors; and thenceforward Charles, giving up the title of patrician,
bore that of emperor and augustus."

Eginhard adds, in his _Life of Charlemagne_: "The King at first
testified great aversion for this dignity, for he declared that,
notwithstanding the importance of the festival, he would not on that day
have entered the church if he could have foreseen the intentions of the
sovereign Pontiff. However, this event excited the jealousy of the Roman
emperors (of Constantinople), who showed great vexation at it; but
Charles met their bad graces with nothing but great patience, and thanks
to this magnanimity which raised him so far above them, he managed, by
sending to them frequent embassies and giving them in his letters the
name of brother, to triumph over their conceit."

No one, probably, believed, in the ninth century, and no one, assuredly,
will nowadays believe that Charlemagne was innocent beforehand of what
took place on the 25th of December, 300, in the basilica of St. Peter.
It is doubtful, also, if he were seriously concerned about the
ill-temper of the emperors of the East. He had wit enough to understand
the value which always remains attached to old traditions, and he might
have taken some pains to secure their countenance to his title of
emperor; but all his contemporaries believed, and he also undoubtedly
believed, that he had on that day really won and set up again the Roman
Empire.

What, then, was the government of this empire of which Charlemagne was
proud to assume the old title? How did this German warrior govern that
vast dominion which, thanks to his conquests, extended from the Elbe to
the Ebro, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean; which comprised
nearly all Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the north of Italy
and of Spain, and which, sooth to say, was still, when Charlemagne
caused himself to be made emperor, scarce more than the hunting-ground
and the battle-field of all the swarms of barbarians who tried to settle
on the ruins of the Roman world they had invaded and broken to pieces?
The government of Charlemagne in the midst of this chaos is the
striking, complicated, and transitory fact which is now to be passed in
review.

A word of warning must be first of all given