The Legates appointed by the Senate met the Emperor at Sutri, and delivered the oration of which the sentence just quoted was part.

It began: 'Urbis legati nos, rex optime, ad tuam a Senatu, populoque Romano destinati sumus excellentiam,' and contained this remarkable passage: 'Orbis imperium affectas, coronam praebitura gratanter assurgo, jocanter occurro ...

indebitum clericorum excussurus jugum.' If the words are faithfully reported, the Republic separates itself abruptly from the Papacy, and claims a kind of precedence in honor before the Empire.
Frederick is said to have interrupted the Legates in a rage before they could finish their address, and to have replied with angry contempt.

The speech put into his mouth is probably a rhetorical composition, but it may have expressed his sentiments.

'Multa de Romanorum sapientia seu fortitudine hactenus audivimus, magis tamen de sapientia.