[411] The meaning of this word in this connection is unknown. The
chapters to which it is prefixed are for the most part supposed to have
been early marginal annotations afterwards incorporated in the text of
the Decretum. Cf. Friedberg, Corpus Iuris Canonici, vol. I, Prolegomena,
p. lxxxvi.
[412] The subject of chapters xi and xii is, “The Emperors must be under
the Pontiffs, not over them.” Chapters xiii and xiv continue the same
subject.
[413] _retro_ was used at Rome in the latter part of the eighth century
with the peculiar meaning of “still” or “again.” This is one of the
clues to the date and place of the document. Henderson’s translation is
erroneous.
[414] Ps. cxxxix, 7.
[415] I Tim. v, 20.
[416] Valla’s error for Marcellinus. The whole story is apocryphal.
[417] A reference to the reforming councils of the fifteenth century.
[418] Valla was in the service of the king of Sicily and of Naples when
he wrote this.
[419] The phrase “Italy and the western provinces,” in the Donation of
Constantine, meant to the writer of that document the Italian peninsula,
including Lombardy, Venetia, Istria, and adjacent islands. Other
countries probably did not occur to him as part of the Roman Empire.
Valla, however, followed the current interpretation.
[420] In many versions of the Life of Sylvester there is a marvellous
story of an enormous serpent, finally subdued by the saint. Cf. _infra_,
p. 143; Coleman, Constantine the Great and Christianity, pp. 161 _et
seq._; Mombritius, Sanctuarium, Sive Vitae collectae ex codibus (Milan,
_c._ 1479), v, ii, pp. 279 _et seq._, also Paris edition, 1910. For the
story of Bel and the Dragon, cf. the book of that name in the Apocrypha.
[421] I have made two English paragraphs of the rather long Latin one.
[Ed.]
[422] Acts xx, 35.
[423] Matt. x, 8.
[424] I Cor. ix, 15.
[425] Rom. xi, 13.
[426] Quoted, freely, from Matt. vi, 19 and Luke x, 4.
[427] Quoted, freely, from Matt. xix, 24; Mk. x, 25; Luke xviii, 25.
[428] I Tim. vi, 7-11.
[429] Acts vi, 2.
[430] II Tim. ii, 4.
[431] Jer. xlviii, 10, quoted freely.
[432] Free quotations from John xxi, 15-17.
[433] John xviii, 36.
[434] Matt. iv, 17.
[435] Matt. xx, 25-28.
[436] I Cor. vi, 2-5, distorted in punctuation and meaning. Paul argues
that cases should be settled inside the church, and that even the
humblest Christians are competent to act as judges; Valla quotes him to
show that church leaders are not to be judges.
[437] Quotations are from Matt. xvii, 25-26.
[438] Mk. xi, 17.
[439] John xii, 47.
[440] Matt. xxvi, 52.
[441] Matt. xvi, 19.
[442] Matt. xvi. 18.
[443] Matt. iv, 8-9, free quotation.
[444] Matt. xi, 28-30, with the phrases transposed.
[445] Matt. xxii, 21.
[446] Eutropius, Breviarum ab urbe condita, X, xvi, 1.
[447] _Ibid._, X, xvii, 1 and 2.
[448] The antipope elected by the Council of Basle in 1439. This
reference is one of the clues to the date of Valla’s treatise.
[449] Valla’s statement about Eusebius’ Church History is slightly
overdrawn. Some passages, while not definitely saying that Constantine
was a Christian from boyhood, would naturally be construed as implying
this, especially when taken in connection with the chapter headings
in use long before Valla’s time; e.g., ix, 9, §§ 1-12. In his Life of
Constantine, i, 27-32, however, Eusebius tells the story of the Emperor’s
conversion in the campaign against Maxentius in 312 by the heavenly
apparition, thus implying that he was not previously a Christian. Valla
does not seem to have known of this latter work. Nor is he aware of the
passage in Jerome, Chron. ad. ann., 2353, that Constantine was baptized
near the end of his life by Eusebius of Nicomedia.
[450] This is an extract from a spurious letter purporting to be from
Melchiades, or Miltiades; as palpable a forgery as the Donation of
Constantine itself. The whole letter is given in Migne, P. L., viii,
column 566.
For the question when Constantine became a Christian, and of his
relations with the Popes and the church, cf. Coleman, Constantine the
Great and Christianity, with references to sources and literature.
[451] A number of chapters in Gratian’s Decretum added after Gratian have
this word at their head, the one containing the Donation of Constantine
among them. Cf. Friedberg’s edition of the Decretum Gratiani, Prima pars,
dist. xcvi, c. xiii, in his Corpus Iuris Canonici, Leipsic, 1879-1881.
[452] Decretum Gratiani, Prima pars, dist. xcvi, c. xiii; in Friedberg,
Corpus Iuris Canonici, vol. II, p. 342.
[453] _Ibid._, Pars prima, dist. xv, c. iii, Palea 19; in Friedberg, vol.
II.
[454] Cf. Voragine, Golden Legend, trans. by Wm. Caxton, rev. by Ellis
(London, 1900).
[455] December 31.
[456] A reference to the story of the three young men in the bodyguard of
Darius; cf. I Esdras iii and iv.
[457] In the following section my translation of the phrases of the
Donation is harmonized so far as possible with the translation in E. F.
Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages.
[458] Cf. Coleman, Constantine the Great and Christianity, p. 224, ll. 8
_et seq._
[459] Virgil, Aeneid, ii, 77-78. Dryden’s translation.
[460] The text of the Donation which Valla used, though apparently in
a copy of Gratian’s Decretum extant in his time, differs here and in
a number of other places, from the texts which we have, whether in
Gratian’s Decretum, or in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals.
[461] The word _satrap_ was in fact applied to higher officials at
Rome only in the middle of the eighth century. Scheffer-Boichorst,
Mitteilungen des Instituts f. österreichische Geschichtsforschung, x
(1889), p. 315.
[462] Tertullian tells this apocryphal story in his Apology, chaps. 5 and
21. For a translation of letters alleged to have been written to Tiberius
by Pilate, see Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff (New
York, 1890-1897), vol. VIII, pp. 459-463.
[463] Valla’s argument in this paragraph is partly based on the defective
text of the Donation which he used, cf. _supra_, p. 85, note 2. Zeumer’s
text would be translated, “all the Roman people who are subject to the
glory of our rule,” and Friedberg’s, “all the people subject to the
glorious rule of Rome.”
[464] Virgil, Aeneid, vi, 852.
[465] The conjunction “seu” in classical Latin meant, as Valla insists,
“or”; in the eighth century it was often used with the meaning “and.” The
forger of the Donation used it in the latter sense. Valla did not see the
significance of this usage for dating the forgery.
[466] Cf. _supra_, p. 85, note 2.
[467] “firmos patronos,”—this use of “firmus” characterizes the style of
Pope Paul I (757-767). See Scheffer-Boichorst, _op. cit._, p. 311.
[468] Rev. v, 12; with variations.
[469] Part of this criticism rests upon the peculiarities of the text of
the Donation which Valla used.
[470] Cf. Coleman, Constantine the Great and Christianity, pp. 148-151,
161-164.
[471] Ps. lxxxi, 12.
[472] Rom. i, 28, with the person of the verb changed.
[473] Matt. xxvii, 28; John xix, 2.
[474] Here, as was common in medieval Latin, “seu” is the equivalent of
“et,” and means “and.” Valla’s criticism is correct, but might go further
in fixing the time of the forgery. Cf. _supra_, p. 91, note 1.
[475] Lucan, Pharsalia, i, 7.
[476] In our best texts of the Donation this word is “banda,” used in the
eighth century for “colors” or “flags.”
[477] Horace, Ars Poetica, l. 97.
[478] Julius Valerius, Res Gestae Alexandri, i, 37.
[479] At Rome in the eighth century, the time of the forgery, “militia”
indicated a civil rank, rather than soldiers.
[480] The allusion is to the title of Patrician given to Pippin and to
his sons as defenders of the Roman See.
[481] The office of consul as it existed in the Republic and the Empire
disappeared in the time of the German invasions. The word was later
applied quite differently, to a group, practically a social class, at
Rome.
[482] Where Valla’s text of the Donation reads “concubitorum,” Zeumer’s
reads “excubiorum” [guards].
[483] Martial, XIV, 141 (140).
[484] Valla for this part of his criticism uses the rather unintelligible
order of words found in most texts of the Donation, instead of the more
intelligible order which he used in his earlier quotations. Cf. pp. 102,
103.
[485] Valla’s text of the Donation in this paragraph differs greatly from
Zeumer’s, Hinschius’, and Friedberg’s. It is not very clear in any of
the texts whether the intent is to give the Pope power to take any one
whomsoever into the clergy and thus relieve him from civil and military
duties, or to prevent the Roman nobility from forcing their way into
ecclesiastical offices against the will of the Pope.
[486] Ps. xxi, 3, with variation.
[487] Valla does not, here, quote his own text of the Donation correctly.
[488] This singular confusion about the crown in the Donation is
explained by Brunner, Festgabe für Rudolf von Gneist, pp. 25 _et seq._,
as giving the Pope the possession, but not the use, of the imperial
crown, thus paving the way for his prerogative of conferring the crown
upon Louis the Pious in 816. Scheffer-Boichorst takes the whole episode
as an attempt of the forger to glorify Sylvester by having the emperor
honor him with the imperial crown, and having the Pope display the
clerical humility (and pride) of rejecting it.
[489] Valla’s text of the Donation here has “sive” for “seu,” cf.
_supra_, p. 91, note 1. In the whole paragraph there are many deviations
from other texts of the Donation.
[490] Cf. _supra_, pp. 41 _et seq._, 49 _et seq._
[491] This phrase as used in the Donation probably meant Lombardy,
Venetia and Istria; i.e., practically, northern, as distinct from
peninsular, Italy. Cf. _supra_, p. 27, note 2, also, Döllinger,
Papstfabeln (ed. Friedrich), p. 122, note. In classical Latin it would
have been, as Valla insists, a vague term.
[492] Cf. _supra_, pp. 91, 109.
[493] Cf. _supra_, p. 95.
[494] King [rex] was a forbidden title at Rome after the time of the
Tarquins.
[495] A parody on Matt. v, 18.
[496] Rev. xxii, 18-19.
[497] “Pagina” in medieval Latin often meant “document.”
[498] In the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, i, 454) the keys of
Ravenna and other cities included in the so-called Donation of Pippin are
said to have been placed in “the confession of St. Peter” (i.e., before
his tomb). This association seems to have been common in the eighth
century.
[499] Cf. _supra_, p. 85.
[500] In the best text of the Donation this is not called the fourth
consulship of Gallicanus. In any case, however, the date is impossible;
no such consulship as this is known.
[501] II Kings xv, 5.
[502] This apocryphal story ran that the Sibyl prophesied of Christ, and
that Augustus erected an altar to him.
[503] The Temple of Peace was built by Vespasian and was not destroyed
until it was burned down in the time of Commodus.
[504] This episode in the Gesta, or Actus, or Vita, Silvestri, as may
be gathered from Valla’s subsequent discussion, involves an enormous
serpent, dwelling in a cave under the Tarpeian rock, devastating the
entire city of Rome with his poisonous breath, appeased only by maidens
being given him to devour, and finally bound forever in his cave by
Sylvester. For references, cf. Coleman, Constantine, etc., pp. 161, 168.
[505] Apparently Valla assumes that the Gesta Silvestri was written by a
Greek named Eusebius, but not Eusebius of Caesarea, author of the Church
History. Cf., however, Coleman, Constantine, pp. 161-168.
[506] Satura, x, 174-175.
[507] Cf. the story of Bel and the Dragon in the Apocrypha.
[508] Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri novem, V, vi, 2.
[509] _Ibid._, I, viii, 3.
[510] Livy, VII, 6, incorrectly summarized.
[511] Livy, Preface, 7.
[512] Livy, V, 21, 9.
[513] Terentius Varro, de lingua latina, lib. v, 148-150.
[514] Valerius Maximus, factorum et dictorum memorabilium, lib. i, viii,
7.
[515] _Ibid._, i, viii, 3.
[516] _Ibid._, i, viii, 4, with the substitution of “seen” for “given.”
[517] In a disputation between Sylvester and Jewish rabbis the rabbis
are said to have killed a bull by shouting the sacred name, Jehovah, and
Sylvester is said to have brought him to life by whispering the name of
Christ. Cf. Coleman, Constantine the Great, etc., p. 163.
[518] These stories were to be found, among other places, in the
Mirabilia urbis Romae, a guidebook to Rome dating from the twelfth
century. English translation by F. M. Nichols, The Marvels of Rome
(London and Rome, 1889), pp. 19-20.
[519] This clause, though not in the MS. or Hutten, seems necessary to
the sense of the following clause, so I have translated it from Bonneau’s
text. In the Vita Silvestri we are told that the pagan priests ordered
Constantine to bathe in infants’ blood in order to cure himself of
leprosy. Cf. Coleman, Constantine the Great, etc., p. 162.
[520] It will be remembered that Valla wrote this while in the service
of the King of Naples, who was in conflict with imperial as well as with
papal claims.
[521] A forgery of the eleventh century. Cf. E. Emerton, Medieval Europe,
p. 55.
[522] Gossip had it that Boniface VIII induced his predecessor to
abdicate by angelic warnings, which he himself produced through
improvised speaking tubes.
[523] The assassination of Vitelleschi, supposedly by order of the Pope,
took place in March, 1440, and is one of the means of dating Valla’s
treatise.
[524] Judges xi, 12-28.
[525] For these episodes, cf. Creighton, History of the Papacy, etc.,
vol. I, _passim_.
[526] Tarquinius, by striking down the tallest poppies with his cane,
gave the hint that the leaders of the opposition should be executed; cf.
Livy, I, 54.
[527] The ensuing episode occurred in 1434 and thus fixes the date of the
writing of this passage as 1439 or 1440. Cf. Mancini, Vita di Lorenzo
Valla, p. 163.
[528] Flamininus had defeated Philip V of Macedonia, and it was from
Philip, not Antiochus, that he “freed” Greece.
[529] A reminiscence of Rom. xi, 16.
[530] Free quotations from Rom. ii, 21-24.
[531] A reference to the well-known interview in which Leo I persuaded
Attila to desist from his invasion of Italy.
[532] This other discourse did not appear.
[533] Eph. vi, 12.
[534] The MS., Cod. Vat. Lat. 5314, on which this translation is based,
was finished December 7, 1451.