188 THE DECLINE AND FALL restored both Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of Edessa to the eominuuion of the church. But the characters of these Oriental bishops were tainted with the reproach of heresy ; the first had been the master^ the two others were the friends, of Nestorius ; their most suspicious passages were accused under the title of the three chupler.s ; and the condemnation of their memory must involve the honour of a synod whose name was pronounced with sincere or affected reverence by the Catholic world. If these bishops, whether innocent or guilty, were annihilated in the sleep of death, they would not probably be awakened by the clamour which, after an hundred years, was raised over their grave. If they were already in the fangs of the daemon, their torments could neither be aggravated nor assuaged by human industry. If in the company of saints and angels they enjoyed the rewards of piety, they must have smiled at the idle fury of the theological insects who still crawled on the surface of the earth. The foremost of these insects, the emperor of the Romans, darted his sting, and distilled his venom, perhaps without discerning the true motives of Theodora and her ecclesiastical faction. The victims were no longer subject to his power, and the vehement style of his edicts could only proclaim their dauuiation and invite the clergy of the East to join in a full chorus of curses and anathemas. The East, with some hesitation, consented to the voice of her sovereign : the ■ fifth general council, of three patriarchs and one hundred and sixty-five bishops, was held at Constantinople ; and the authors, as well as the defenders, of the three chaj)ters were separated from the connnunion of the saints and solemnly delivered to the prince of darkness. But the Latin churches were more jealous of the honour of Leo and the synod of Chalcedon ; and, if they had fought as they usually did under the standard of Rome, they might have prevailed in the cause of reason and humanity. But their chief was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy ; the throne of St. Peter, which had been disgraced by "the simony, was betrayed by the cowardice, of Vigilius, who yielded, after a long and inconsistent struggle, to the despotism of Justinian and the sophistry of the Greeks. His apostacy provoked the indignation of the Latins, and no more than two bishops could be found who woidd impose their hands on his deacon and successor Pelagius. Yet the perseverance of the popes insensibly ti-ansferred to their adversaries the appellation of schismatics : the Illyrian, African, and Italian churches were oppressed by the civil and ecclesiastical powers, not without
