In ecclesiastical rank and jurisdiction, the patriarch of Constantinople and the pope of Rome were nearly equal.

But the Greek prelate was a domestic slave under the eye of his master, at whose nod he alternately passed from the convent to the throne, and from the throne to the convent.

A distant and dangerous station, amidst the Barbarians of the West, excited the spirit and freedom of the Latin bishops.

Their popular election endeared them to the Romans: the public and private indigence was relieved by their ample revenue; and the weakness or neglect of the emperors compelled them to consult, both in peace and war, the temporal safety of the city.

In the school of adversity the priest insensibly imbibed the virtues and the ambition of a prince; the same character was assumed, the same policy was adopted, by the Italian, the Greek, or the Syrian, who ascended the chair of St.
Peter; and, after the loss of her legions and provinces, the genius and fortune of the popes again restored the supremacy of Rome.