This Attempt on the Reputation of _Damasus_ was not the only Thing that gave him great Uneasiness at this time. The Emperor _Valentinian_ had transferred, as I have related above, the Power of judging Bishops, such at least as were concerned in the Schism of _Ursinus_, from the Civil Magistrate to the Bishop of _Rome_. [Sidenote: _Some Bishops, deposed by_ Damasus, _keep their Sees_.] But several Bishops, though deposed by him, still maintained themselves in their Sees, with open Force, in Defiance of his Sentence, and the Imperial Law. Among these were the Bishop of _Parma_, and _Florentius_ Bishop of _Puzzuolo_, who, for their Attachment to _Ursinus_, had been both deposed by _Damasus_, and other Bishops assembled at _Rome_[1119]. The _Donatists_ too, notwithstanding the severe Laws enacted against them by several Emperors, had got Footing in _Italy_, and in _Rome_ itself, where they were known by the Names of _Montenenses_, and _Rupenses_, on account of their assembling in a Church or Oratory, which they had among the neighbouring Rocks and Mountains[1120]. They had a Bishop of their own, either sent from _Africa_, or ordained by Bishops sent from thence for that Purpose. _Claudian_, who governed them at this time, was their Fifth Bishop of _Rome_[1121]. The Emperor ordered him to be sent back to _Africa_, whence he came. But though he had been several times imprisoned, in order to oblige him by that means to return, he could not even so be prevailed upon to abandon his Flock; but continued at _Rome_, perverting many there, and rebaptizing all he could pervert[1122]. [Sidenote: _The_ Italian _Bishops recur to the Emperor_.] To put a Stop to these Evils, the Bishops of _Italy_, assembling at _Rome_, had recourse to the Emperor _Gratian_, acquainting him with the Conduct of the contumacious Bishops, and earnestly intreating him to cause the Law, commanding the Bishops to be judged by the Bishop of _Rome_, and not by the Civil Magistrate, which he himself had enacted with his Father, to be put in Execution. By that Law, the Emperor, in all Likelihood, only intended to confirm, with respect to the Bishop of _Rome_, the Canons of the Church, appointing the Metropolitan, with his Council, Judge of the Bishops of his Province in Ecclesiastical Causes. But the Bishops, assembled on this Occasion at _Rome_, attempted to extend the Authority of the Bishop of _Rome_, far beyond the Bounds to which the Emperors and Canons had confined it. [Sidenote: _Their letter to him._] For, in their Letter to _Gratian_, they suggested the following Regulations as necessary for the Tranquillity of the Church, and intreated him to establish them by Law: 1. That if any, who had been condemned by the Bishop of _Rome_, or other Catholic Bishops, should, after such Condemnation, presume to keep their Churches, they should be banished from the Territories of the Cities, where they had been Bishops. 2. That such as should refuse, when