attire they were to wear? If there are games of any kind played among the demons which inhabit the air I should think that they would consist in copying the apparel, the pride and the luxury of the clergy, and that the demons would be delighted most by this kind of masquerading.

Which shall I censure the more, the stupidity of the ideas, or of the words? You have heard about the ideas; here are illustrations of his words. He says, "It seems proper for our Senate to be adorned” (as though it were not assuredly adorned), and to be adorned forsooth with "glory." And what is being done he wishes understood as already done; as, "we have proclaimed" for "we proclaim": for the speech sounds better that way. And he puts the same act in the present and in the past tense; as, “we decree, and “we have decreed." And everything is stuffed with these words, "we decree," "we decorate," "imperial," "imperial rank," "power," "glory." He uses "extat" for "est," though "extare" means to stand out or to be above; and "nempe" for "scilicet" [that is, "indeed" for "to wit"]; and "concubitores" [translated above, bed-watchers] for "contubernales" [companions or attendants]. "Concubitores" are literally those who sleep together and have intercourse; they must certainly be understood to be harlots. He adds those with whom he may sleep, I suppose, that he may not fear nocturnal phantoms.' He adds "chamberlains"; he adds "door-keepers."

It is not an idle question to ask why he mentions these details. He is setting up, not an old man, but a ward or a young son, and like a doting father, himself arranges for him everything of which his tender age has need, as David did for Solomon! And that the story may be filled in in every respect, horses are given the clergy, lest they sit on asses' colts in that asinine way of Christ's! And they are given horses, not covered nor saddled with coverings of white, but decorated with white color. And what coverings! Not horse-cloths, either Babylonian or any other kind, but "mappulae" [translated above, saddle-cloths] and

1 Where Valla's text of the Donation reads "concubitorum," Zeumer's reads "excubiorum" [guards].

pulis et linteaminibus"! Mappae ad mensam pertinent, linteamina ad lectulos. Et quasi dubium sit cuius sint haec coloris, interpretatur; “id est candidissimo colore." Dignus Constantino sermo, digna Lactantio facundia, cum in ceteris, tum vero in illo "equos equitent"!

Et cum de vestitu senatorum nihil dixerit, non de laticlavo, non de purpura, non de ceteris, de calceamentis sibi loquendum putavit; nec lunulas appellavit, sed udones, sive "cum udonibus," quos ut solet homo ineptus exponit, "id est candido linteamine," quasi udones linteamen sint! Non occurrit impraesentiarum,1 ubi repererim "udones," nisi apud Martialem Valerium, cuius disticon quod inscribitur "Udones Cilicii" hoc est:

"Non hos lana dedit, sed olentis barba mariti;

Cinyphio3 poterit planta latere sinu."

Ergo non linei utique, nec candidi sunt udones, quibus hic bipes asellus non calceari pedes senatorum ait, sed senatores illustrari.

4

Atque per hoc, "sicut caelestia ita terrena ad laudem Dei decorentur," quae tu "caelestia" vocas; quae "terrena"? Quomodo caelestia decorantur? Quae autem Deo laus sit ista tu videris. Ego vero, si qua mihi fides est, nihil puto nec Deo nec ceteris hominibus magis esse invisum quam tantam clericorum in rebus saecularibus licentiam. Verum quid ego in singula impetum facio? Dies me deficiat, si universa, non dico amplificare, sed attingere velim. "Pre omnibus autem licentiam tribuimus beato Silvestro et successoribus eius ex nostro indictu, ut quem placatus proprio consilio clericare voluerit et in religioso numero religiosorum

5

1 inpraesentiarum; MS. 2 Bonneau. Cilicini; MS., Hutten.

3 Bonneau. Cyniphio; MS., Hutten.

4 terrestria; Hutten, Bonneau. The quotation, to correspond with Valla's earlier citation, should be "ita caelestia sicut terrena ad laudem Dei decorentur." 5 deficiet; Hutten, Bonneau. Insert alias deficient; Bonneau.

6 prae; Hutten, Bonneau.

"linteamina" [linen cloths or sheets, translated above, linen]. "Mappae" [serviettes] go with the table, "linteamina" with the couch. And as though there were doubt as to their color, he explains, "that is to say, of the whitest color." Talk worthy of Constantine; fluency worthy of Lactantius; not only in the other phrases, but also in that one, "may mount mounts"!

And when he had said nothing about the garb of senators, the broad stripe, the purple, and the rest, he thought he had to talk about their shoes; nor does he specify the crescents [which were on their shoes], but "socks," or rather he says "with felt socks," and then as usual he explains, "that is, with white linen,” as though socks were of linen! I cannot at the moment think where I have found the word "udones" [socks], except in Valerius Martial, whose distich inscribed "Cilician Socks" runs:

"Wool did not produce these, but the beard of an ill-smelling goat. Would that the sole in the gulf of the Cinyps might lie.""1

So the "socks" are not linen, nor white, with which this two-legged ass says, not that the feet of senators are clad, but that senators are distinguished.

And in the phrase "that the terrestrial orders may be adorned to the glory of God, just as the celestial," what do you call celestial, what terrestrial? How are the celestial orders adorned?2 You may have seen what glory to God this is. But I, if I believe anything, deem nothing more hateful to God and to the rest of humanity than such presumption of clergy in the secular sphere. But why do I attack individual items? Time would fail me if I should try, I do not say to dwell upon, but to touch upon them all.

"Above all things, moreover, we give permission to the blessed Sylvester and his successors, from our edict, that he may make priest whomever he wishes, according to his own pleasure and counsel, and enroll him in the pious number of the religious clergy

1 Martial, XIV, 141 (140).

2 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.

clericorum connumerare, nullus ex omnibus praesumat superbe agere."

Quis est hic Melchisedec, qui patriarcham Abraam benedicit? Constantinusne, vix Christianus, facultatem ei, a quo baptizatus est et quem beatum appellat, tribuit clericandi? Quasi prius nec fecisset hoc Silvester nec facere potuisset! Et qua comminatione vetuit, ne quis impedimento esset? "Nullus ex omnibus praesumat superbe agere." Qua etiam elegantia! "Connumerare in numero religioso religiosorum," "clericare . . . clericorum," et "indictu, et "placatus."

Atque iterum ad diadema revertitur:

"Decrevimus itaque et hoc, ut ipse et successores eius diademate, videlicet corona, quam ex capite nostro illi concesserimus,1 ex auro purissimo et gemmis pretiosis2 uti debeant pro honore beati Petri."

3

Iterum interpretatur diadema; cum barbaris enim et obliviosis loquebatur; et adicit "de auro purissimo," ne forte aliquid aeris aut scoriae crederes admixtum. Et gemmas cum dixit, addit "pretiosas" eodem timore ne viles forsitan suspicareris. Cur tamen non "pretiosissimas," quemadmodum "aurum purissimum"? Plus namque1 interest inter gemmam et gemmam, quam inter aurum et aurum. Et cum dicere debuisset distinctum gemmis, dixit "ex gemmis." Quis non vidit ex eo loco sumptum, quem princeps gentilis non legerat; "Posuisti in capite eius coronam de lapide pretioso"? Sic locutus est Caesar vanitate quadam coronae suae iactandae, si modo Caesares coronabantur, in se ipsum contume

1 concessimus; Bonneau, Zeumer's text of the Constitutum Constantini.

2 preciosis; MS., so below.

4

nanque; MS.

3 Hutten. admistum; MS.

5 loqutus; MS., so throughout.

[i.e., regular clergy; or perhaps cardinals]: let no one whomsoever presume to act in a domineering way in this."

Who is this Melchizedek that blesses the patriarch Abraham? Does Constantine, scarcely yet a Christian, give to the man by whom he was baptized and whom he calls blessed, authority to make priests? As though Sylvester had not and could not have done it before! And with what a threat he forbids any one to stand in the way! "Let no one, whomsoever, presume to act in a domineering way in this matter." What elegant diction, too! "Enroll in the pious number of the religious"; and "clericare," "clericorum," "indictu," and "placatus"!

And again he comes back to the diadem:

"We also therefore decreed this, that he himself and his successors might use, for the honor of the blessed Peter, the diadem, that is the crown, which we have granted him from our own head, of purest gold and precious gems."

Again he explains the meaning of diadem, for he was speaking to barbarians, forgetful ones at that. And he adds "of purest gold," lest perchance you should think brass or dross was mixed in. And when he has said "gems," he adds "precious," again fearing lest you should suspect them of being cheap. Yet why did he not say most precious, just as he said "purest gold”? For there is more difference between gem and gem, than between gold and gold. And when he should have said "distinctum gemmis," he said "ex gemmis." Who does not see that this was taken from the passage, which the gentile ruler had not read, "Thou settest a crown of precious stone on his head"?2 Did the Caesar speak thus, with a certain vanity in bragging of his crown, if indeed the Caesars were crowned, but cheapening himself by fearing lest

1 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. 2 Ps. xxi, 3, with variation.