A.D. 1169. LETTER OF THE SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS. at the desire of both, a certain day was fixed upon, that, upon the same, with the mediation of justice, an end might be put to this controversy. Upon that day, in obedience to the royal command, the archbishops, bishops, and other heads of the Church, were convoked, in order that the more extensive the council then held, the more manifest might be the exposure of fraud and malice. On the day appointed, this disturber of the kingdom and of the Church presents himself before the face of the Catholic king, and, being distrustful of the nature of his own merits, arms himself with the resemblance of the cross of our Lord, as though about to come into the presence of a tyrant. Nor yet even at this was the king's majesty offended, but he entrusted the judgment of his cause to the fidelity of the bishops, that so he might be free from all suspicion. It remained, therefore, for the bishops to end the dispute by pronouncing judgment, that they might thereby bring the disputants to a reconciliation, and bury in oblivion the causes of their dissensions. He, however, came thither, and forbade sentence to be pronounced upon himself before the king, that so the royal mind might be the more violently inflamed to anger. The result of these excesses is, that the author thereof is in68 duty bound to expose himself to the vengeance of every one, being ashamed to deprecate a merited retribution, in not pausing at offending a most powerful prince in the days of the persecution of the Church. For it is his offence that has redoubled the weight of the blows of persecution. It would have been better for himself if he had placed a curb upon his prosperity, lest, while striving presumptuously to arrive at the summit of felicity, he might, in return for his presumption, be thrust down to a lower place. And, if the misfortunes of the Church did not move him, he ought at least to have been dissuaded from acting in opposition to the king by the advancement, both in riches and honors, which the king had bestowed upon him. Whereas, on the other hand, he faces him as an adversary, and objects, that for him to stand in judgment before the king would be a diminution of the dignity of the Apostolic See. But if he was not aware that in that judgment there was but little derogatory to the dignity of the Church, still, it was his duty to have concealed his feelings for 6 6 This is probably the meaning of the passage, but it is in an extremely corrupt state. VOL. ι. Τ