His open simony might be the consequence of distress; and his blasphemous invocation of Jupiter and Venus, if it be true, could not possibly be serious.

But we read, with some surprise, that the worthy grandson of Marozia lived in public adultery with the matrons of Rome; that the Lateran palace was turned into a school for prostitution, and that his rapes of virgins and widows had deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St.Peter, lest, in the devout act, they should be violated by his successor.

The Protestants have dwelt with malicious pleasure on these characters of Antichrist; but to a philosophic eye, the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues.

After a long series of scandal, the apostolic see was reformed and exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory VII.

That ambitious monk devoted his life to the execution of two projects.