440, 450, 471-476, 479, &c.;) and it is whimsical enough to observe Muratori tempering the invectives of Baronius against the popes.

But these popes had been chosen, not by the cardinals, but by lay-patrons.] [Footnote 129: The time of Pope Joan (papissa Joanna) is placed somewhat earlier than Theodora or Marozia; and the two years of her imaginary reign are forcibly inserted between Leo IV.

and Benedict III.

But the contemporary Anastasius indissolubly links the death of Leo and the elevation of Benedict, (illico, mox, p.

247;) and the accurate chronology of Pagi, Muratori, and Leibnitz, fixes both events to the year 857.] [Footnote 130: The advocates for Pope Joan produce one hundred and fifty witnesses, or rather echoes, of the xivth, xvth, and xvith centuries.
They bear testimony against themselves and the legend, by multiplying the proof that so curious a story must have been repeated by writers of every description to whom it was known.