260 THE DECLINE AND FALL Revolt of The first assault of Leo against the images of Constantinople 728, ^c. ' ' had been witnessed by a crowd of strangers from Italy and the West, who related, with grief and indignation, the sacrilege of the emperor. But on the reception of his proscriptive edict they trembled for their domestic deities ; the images of Christ and the virgin, of the angels, martyrs, and saints, were abolished in all the churches of Italy ; and a strong alternative was pro- posed to the Roman pontiff, the royal favour as the price of his compliance, degradation and exile as the penalty of his disobedience. Neither zeal nor policy allowed him to hesitate; and the haughty strain in which Gregory addressed the em- peror displays his confidence in the truth of his doctrine or the powers of resistance. Without depending on prayers or miracles, he boldly armed against the public enemy, and his pastoral - letters admonished the Italians of their danger and their duty.^" At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, adhered to the cause of religion ; their military force by sea and land consisted, for the most part, of the natives ; and the spirit of patriotism and zeal was transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in the defence of the pope and the holy images ; the Roman people was devoted to their father, and even the Lom- bards were ambitious to share the merit and advantage of this holy war. The most treasonable act, but the most obvious revenge, was the destruction of the statues of Leo himself ; the most effectual and pleasing measure of rebellion was the with- holding the tribute of Italy, and depriving him of a power which he had recently abused by the imposition of a new capitation. -^^ A form of administration was preserved by the election of magistrates and governors ; and so high was the public indignation that the Italians were prepared to create an orthodox emperor, and to conduct him with a fleet and army ^ I shall transcribe the important and decisive passage of the Liber Pontificalia. Respiciens ergo pius vir profanam principis jussionem, jam contra Imperatorem quasi contra hostevi se armavit, renuens hseresim ejus, scribens ubique se cavere Christianos, eo quod orta fuisset impietas talis. Igitur permoti omnes Penta- polenses atque Venetiarum exercitus contra Imperatoris jussionem restitenmt ; dicentes se nunquam in ejusdem pontificis condescendere necem, sed pro ejus magis defensione viriliter decertare (p. 156). ^8 A census, or capitation, says Anastasius (p. 156) ; a most cruel tax, unknown to the Saracens themselves, exclaims the zealous Maimbourg (Hist, des Icono- clastes, 1. i. ), and Theophanes (p. 344), who talks of Pharaoh's numbering the male children of Israel. This mode of taxation was familiar to the Saracens ; and, most unluckily for the historian, it was imposed a few years afterwards in France by his patron Lewis XIV.
