[97] Nec tamen perficere quod conabatur posset. Ibid. The conversions of which abbot Ceolfrid speaks in chap. xxii. are probably those effected in Ireland, the word Scotia being at this period frequently applied to that country. When Rome found herself unable to conquer by the priest, she had recourse to the prince, and her eyes were turned to Naitam, king of the Picts. "How much more glorious it would be for you," urged the Latin priests, "to belong to the powerful church of the universal pontiff of Rome, than to a congregation superintended by miserable elders! The Romish church is a monarchy, and ought to be the church of every monarch. The Roman ceremonial accords with the pomp of royalty, and its temples are palaces." The prince was convinced by the last argument. He despatched messengers to Ceolfrid, the abbot of an English convent, begging him to send him _architects_ capable of building a church _after the Roman pattern_[98]--of stone and not of wood. Architects, majestic porches, lofty columns, vaulted roofs, gilded altars, have often proved the most influential of Rome's missionaries. The builder's art, though in its earliest and simplest days, was more powerful than the Bible. Naitam, who, by submitting to the pope thought himself the equal of Clovis and Clotaire, assembled the nobles of his court and the pastors of his church, and thus addressed them: "I recommend all the clergy of my kingdom to receive the tonsure of Saint Peter."[99] Then without delay (as Bede informs us) this important revolution was accomplished by royal authority.[100] He sent agents and letters into every province, and caused all the ministers and monks to receive the circular tonsure according to the Roman fashion.[101] It was the mark that popery stamped, not on the forehead, but on the crown. A royal proclamation and a few clips of the scissors placed the Scotch, like a flock of sheep, beneath the crook of the shepherd of the Tiber. [98] Architectos sibi mitti petiit qui juxta morem Romanorum ecclesiam facerent. Beda, lib. v. cap. xxii. [99] Et hanc accipere tonsuram, omnes qui in meo regno sunt clericos decerno. Ibid. [100] Nec mora, quæ? dixerat regia auctoritate perfecit. Ibid. [101] Per universas Pictorum provincias....tondebantur omnes in coronam ministri altaris ac monachi. (Ibid.) Throughout all the provinces of the Picts ... all the ministers of the altar and monks had the crown shorn. [Sidenote: EGBERT THE MONK AT IONA.]