OF THE KOMAN EMPIEE 269 to seven years. During this term of mortification, the patient was healed, the criminal Avas absolved, by a salutarj-^ regimen of fasts and prayers ; the disorder of his dress was expressive of grief and remorse ; and he humbly abstained from all the business and pleasure of social life. But the rigid execution of these laAvs would have depopulated the palace, the camp, and the city ; the barbarians of the West believed and trembled ; but nature often rebelled against principle ; and the magistrate laboured Avithout effect to enforce the jurisdiction of the priest. A literal accomplishment of penance AA-as indeed impracticable : the guilt of adultery Avas multiplied by daily repetition ; that of homicide might involve the massacre of a Avhole people ; each act Avas separately numbered ; and, in those times of anarchy and vice, a modest sinner might easily incur a debt of three hundred years. His insolvency was relieved by a commutation, or indulgence : a year of penance Avas appreciated at tAventy-six solidi 2^ of silver, about four pounds sterling, for the rich ; at three solidi, or nine shillings, for the indigent : and these alms were soon appropriated to the use of the church, which derived, from the redemption of sins, an inexhaustible source of opulence and dominion. A debt of three hundred years, or tAvelve hundred pounds, was enough to impoA'erish a plentiful fortune ; the scarcity of gold and silver aaus supplied by the alienation of land ; and the princely donations of Pepin and Charlemagne are expressly given for the remedij of their soul. It is a maxim of the civil laAV, That Avhosoever cannot pay Avith his purse must pay Avith his body ; and the practice of flagellation Avas adopted by the monks, a cheap, though painful, equivalent. By a fan- tastic arithmetic, a year of penance AA'as taxed at three thousand lashes ; ^^ and such Avas the skill and patience of a famous hermit, St. Dominic of the Iron Cuirass,-" that in six days he could dis- charge an entire century, by a Avhipping of three hundred thousand stripes. His example Avas followed by many penitents 25 Till the xiith century, we may support the clear account of xii denarii, or pence, to the solid us, or shilling; and xx solidi to the pound weight of silver, about the pound sterling. Our money is diminished to a third, and the French to a fiftieth, of this primitive standard. ^ Each century of lashes was sanctified with the recital of a psalm ; and the whole psalter, with the accompaniment of 15,000 strip>es, was equivalent to five years. ^The Life and Achievements of St. Dominic Loricatus was composed by his friend and admirer, Peter Damianus [Acta Sanctorum, 14th October, 6; p. 621 sqq.^ See Fleury, Hist. Eccl(Ss. torn. xiii. p. 96-104; Baronius, A. D. 1056, No. 7, who observes from Damianus, how fashionable, even among ladies of quality (sublirais generis), this expiation (purgatorii genus) was grown.
