⁵³ Rhetorici hâc et hyperbolici loquitur Paulus. Anno eriim 774, Roma neque à Longobardis oppressa fuit, neque à Carolo cum dilionibus suis unita, sed a Longobardorum in-sultibus liberata et Carolo jure patriciatûs tantum subdita.— Collection of Gallic and French Historian», vol. 5. p. 191. n. a. Constantine, anxious to restore the ancient patricians, had invented this personal title of patrician, to be given to the governor or first magistrate of the city of Rome. From 729 to 800, that is, during the existence of a shadow of the Roman republic, the office of patrician was often conferred by the clergy, the nobles, and the people of this city, almost always at the will of the popes, but never at their sole discretion. The Greek emperors ratified either expressly or tacitly the election of the patrician; preferring that it might be supposed he governed in their name, rather than it should be believed he ruled in despite of them. Many barbarous kings, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and others, have received and borne this title; and Charlemagne did not disdain a dignity, subordinate in appearance, but in reality independent, and which might serve as a step to a more perfect sovereignty. Leo III. succeeding, in 790, to Pope Adrian, hastened to address to Charlemagne a letter of homage, similar to those which this prince was accustomed to receive from his vassals.⁵⁴ However, there remains to us a monument of the supremacy still preserved by the Emperor of the East over the Romans in 797; it is a mosaic, with which Leo III. ornamented the hall of the Lateran palace.⁵⁵ ⁵⁴ Ann. Lauresh. St. Marc, Abr. Chron. of Hist, of Italy, vol. 1. year 796. ⁵⁵ Ciampini, Vetera. Mon. par. 2. p. 128. We here behold a prince crowned, which circumstances prove to be Constantine V.: another prince, without a crown, and a pope, are represented kneeling, and by an inscription are named Charles and Leo. The Emperor receives a standard from the hands of Jesus Christ; Charlemagne receives another of them from St. Peter’s left hand, who, with his right hand, bestows a pallium on the pope. This mosaic is at once the emblem of the supremacy of the emperor, the power of the patrician, and the pretensions of the pontiff. In 799 a conspiracy is formed against Leo III.— he is accused before Charlemagne, who refers to commissioners the investigation and decision of the whole affair.⁵⁶ This fact suffices to shew, how far the pope was from being a sovereign before the year 800. The 25th of December this year, Charles is proclaimed emperor. He had been raised to this supreme dignity, not by the pope alone, but by an assembly of the clergy, of the nobility, and of the people of Rome.⁵⁷ ⁵⁶ Theophan. Chron. — Eginhard, ad ann. 799.—Anastasius vit. Leonis iii.—Fleury. Hist. Eccles. 1* 45. n. 14.