and blundering Hallam. It is strange, however, that no elucidation of its origin and use is given by Bryce in his work specifically entitled 'J'/ie /Jul// Roman Empire. All these European writers had ready access to authen- tic sources of information which are usually beyond the reach of inquirers in America.
The interpretation of the name is not far to seek, though a long, elaborate, and dubious research would be recjuired to determine the times, conditions, and cir- cumstances of its ordinary employment, if there ever was any fixed rule on the subject. Tlie city of Rome and the imj)erium Romanum were always regarded as sacrosanct, even under the republic. The argumentation of Augus- tine, in his memorable treatise De Civitate Dei, revolves mainly upon the pagan allegation of the intimate de- pendence of Rome on the guidance of her gods. Under the empire, the city was fervently adored as diva Roma, urhs divina, and the sacred fire was kept ever burning in her honor. Such a perpetual fire was maintained in the imperial palace. Julius Csesar was Pontifex Maxi- mus, holding the holiest of offices at the time of his as- sassination, and had been chief of the religion many j'ears previously. On his murder, he was deified, and became Dims Jnlius. On the death of Lepidus, Augus- tus united the office of Pontifex Maximus to his other titles. He, too, was deified. Subsequent emperors re- tained the pontificate, and many were worshipped as Diri while still alive. The pontificate was held even by Christian princes; and the epithet "sacred" was ap- plied in both the Latin and the Greek vocaljulary of the court to their persons, their families, their functions, their ministers, and all their surroundings. This prac- tice was not weakened by the establishment of Chris- tianity as the religion of the state. Comes sacri cubi- culi, sacri fisci, sacrarum largitionum, sacri palatii, etc., were regular offices under the constitution of Constan- tine. We find even "the sacred inkstand" and "the sacred ink." It should be remembered, too, that the "tribunicia potestas," v.hich was one of the principal constituents of imperial authority, had always been "sa- crosanct" (Liv. IV, iii, 6, et Not. Var. ad xxvii, xxxviii, 3, ed. Drakenborch). The organization and ceremonial of the old Roman empire were habitually adopted or travestied b}- the barbarian kingdoms (see Cassiodor. Epp. Var.) before they were repeated by the Western emperors. In the attestation of the Acta de Pace Con- stantiw, 1183, of Frederick Barbarossa, the notary signs himself, " Ego Odelinus, sacri palatii notarius," in exact correspondence with the language of Justinian in the confirmation of the code: "Vir gloriosissimus, quaestor sacri palatii nostri. . . ." Hence it is not surprising to find in the West, as in the East, the phrase "sanctus Im- perator," though it does not become one of the formal titles.
When Charlemagne received the imperial crown at Rome on Christmas-day, 800, he received it with all the attributes of the imperial sovereignty of Rome. The sanctity of the office, derived from the several confluent tendencies which have been specified, was not the least marked of these attributes. This sanctity was further heightened by the circumstances and the purposes of his appointment, and by the relations of himself and his famih' to the orthodox Christianity of the West. One of his highest duties and honors was to be the "advo- catus ecclesiiB," the jirotector of the pope against domes- tic and foreign enemies — the temporal sovereign of the Christian faith and of Christendom. He was solemidy anointed. It is stated by a late chronicler that he was hailed, in the acclamations of the [leoplc, as " a Deo coro- nato." So Justinian had declared: " Deo auctore nostrum gubernante imperium" {De Concept. Dig. § 1). When Otho I was crowned in 962, the pope conveyed the dig- nity " benedictione et consecratione." It is a mistake to suppose that when Charles merged the patriciate in the empire, lie took merely a title of higher dignity. It is an equal mistake to suppose tliat he only revived or re- newed the long-dormant Empire of the West. He was
RO^ilAN EMPIRE, THE HOLY 94 RO^IAN EMPHIE, THE HOLY
crowned sole emperor of the Roman world at the time of a supposed vacancy of the imperial throne, which had always been deemed elective, and of exclusively mascu- line tenure: "Quia mulier excoecato imperatore Con- stantino tilio suo imperabat" (Sigebert Gemblacensis, ad ami. ; comp. Palgrave, English Commonweulth, p. 489- 493, who long jireceded Fustel de Coulanges \_Rtv. des Deux Mondes, Jan. 1, 1870]).
The expediency, tlie propriety, or the necessity of this transference of the empire from the East to the AVest, though in three j'ears restricted to the revival of the Western Empire, sufficed for the resurrection of the latter empire and for the distinct eonstitutiim of the Christendom {Cliruti dominium) of Western Europe. The epithet of '■ holy" does not seem to have been at- tached formally to either empire at this time, though probably in use. The title of the emperor, in the West as in the East, continued to be "Imperator Komanus, semper Augustus.'' But the idea of sanctity under the setting, as under the rising, sun seems to have been ever present to the minds of men. Hence the designation "Imperator sanctus" is found in the Edict of Verona, Oct. 29, 9G7, of Otho I, Imj^.; and his son Otho II, Hex (Pertz, Mon. Hist. Germ, iv, 33). It was not until after the thorough feudalization of the empire under the Germanic successors of t lie Carlovingians, and the bitter conflicts and inveterate rivalries of emperors and popes, that the sanctity of the empire needed to be prom- inently asserted as the counterpart and counterpoise of the sanctity of the pa|)al throne. But pagan and Chris- tian, Eastern and Western, habits and associations had combined to invest emperor and empire with an air of recognised holiness. These influences and tendencies were preserved and augmented by the circumstances attendant on Charlemagne's coronation, and were in- creased by the ideal character which the empire sub- secpiently assumed.