words I have just used, reprove Peter to his face in the presence 25 of the church because he needed reproof? And he left this written for our instruction. But perhaps I am not a Paul that I should reprove a Peter. Yea, I am a Paul because I imitate Paul. Just as, and this is far greater, I become one in spirit with God when I diligently observe his commandments. Nor is any one made immune from chiding by an eminence which did not make Peter immune, and many others possessed of the same rank; for instance, Marcellus,1 who offered a libation to the gods, and Celestine [I] who entertained the Nestorian heresy, and certain even within our own memory whom we know were reproved, to say nothing of those condemned, by their inferiors, for who is not inferior to the Pope?2

It is not my aim to inveigh against any one and write so-called Philippics against him-be that villainy far from me-but to root out error from men's minds, to free them from vices and crimes by either admonition or reproof. I would not dare to say [that my aim is] that others, taught by me, should prune with steel the papal see, which is Christ's vineyard, rank with overabundant shoots, and compel it to bear rich grapes instead of meager wildings. When I do that, is there any one who will want to close either my mouth or his own ears, much less propose punishment and death? If one should do so, even if it were the Pope, what should I call him, a good shepherd, or a deaf viper which would not choose to heed the voice of the charmer, but to strike his limbs with its poisonous bite?

I know that for a long time now men's ears are waiting to hear the offense with which I charge the Roman pontiffs. It is, indeed, an enormous one, due either to supine ignorance, or to gross avarice which is the slave of idols, or to pride of empire of which cruelty is ever the companion. For during some centuries now, either they have not known that the Donation of Constantine is spurious and forged, or else they themselves forged it, and their successors walking in the same way of deceit as their elders 1 Valla's error for Marcellinus. The whole story is apocryphal. 2 A reference to the reforming councils of the fifteenth century.

falsam cognoscerent defenderunt, dedecorantes pontificatus maiestatem, dedecorantes veterum pontificum memoriam, dedecorantes religionem Christianam, et omnia caedibus, ruinis,1 flagitiisque miscentes. Suam esse aiunt urbem Romam; suum regnum Siciliae Neapolitanumque; suam universam Italiam, Gallias, Hispanias," Germanos, Britannos; suum denique occidentem; haec enim cuncta in ipsa donationis pagina contineri. Ergo haec omnia tua sunt, summe pontifex? Omnia tibi in animo est recuperare? Omnes reges ac principes occidentis spoliare urbibus, aut cogere ut annua tibi tributa pensitent, sententia est?

At ego contra existimo iustius licere principibus spoliare te imperio omni quod obtines. Nam, ut ostendam, donatio illa unde natum esse suum ius summi pontifices volunt Silvestro pariter et Constantino fuit incognita.

Verum antequam ad confutandam donationis paginam venio, quod unum istorum patrocinium est, non modo falsum verum etiam stolidum, ordo postulat ut altius repetam. Et primum dicam non tales fuisse Constantinum Silvestrumque, illum quidem qui donare vellet, qui iure donare posset, qui ut in manum alteri ea traderet in sua haberet potestate, hunc autem qui vellet accipere, quique iure accepturus foret. Secundo loco, si haec non essent, quae verissima atque clarissima sunt, neque hunc acceptasse neque illum tradidisse possessionem rerum quae dicuntur donatae, sed eas semper in arbitrio et imperio Caesarum permansisse. Tertio, nihil datum Silvestro a Constantino, sed priori pontifici ante quem etiam baptismum* acceperat, donaque illa mediocria fuisse, quibus

1 minis; Hutten.

8 accaepturus; MS., so throughout.

2 Hyspanias; MS., so throughout.

4 Pontifici a quo baptismum; Bonneau.

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have defended as true what they knew to be false, dishonoring the majesty of the pontificate, dishonoring the memory of ancient pontiffs, dishonoring the Christian religion, confounding everything with murders, disasters and crimes. They say the city of Rome is theirs, theirs the kingdom of Sicily and of Naples,1 the whole of Italy, the Gauls, the Spains, the Germans, the Britons, indeed the whole West; for all these are contained in the instrument of the Donation itself. So all these are yours, supreme pontiff? And it is your purpose to recover them all? To despoil all kings and princes of the West of their cities or compel them to pay you a yearly tribute, is that your plan?

I, on the contrary, think it fairer to let the princes despoil you of all the empire you hold. For, as I shall show, that Donation whence the supreme pontiffs will have their right derived was unknown equally to Sylvester and to Constantine.

But before I come to the refutation of the instrument of the Donation, which is their one defense, not only false but even stupid, the right order demands that I go further back. And first, I shall show that Constantine and Sylvester were not such men that the former would choose to give, would have the legal right to give, or would have it in his power to give those lands to another, or that the latter would be willing to accept them or could legally have done so. In the second place, if this were not so, though it is absolutely true and obvious, [I shall show that in fact] the latter did not receive nor the former give possession of what is said to have been granted, but that it always remained under the sway and empire of the Caesars. In the third place, [I3 shall show that] nothing was given to Sylvester by Constantine, but to an earlier Pope (and Constantine had received baptism even before that pontificate), and that the grants were incon

1 Valla was in the service of the king of Sicily and of Naples when he wrote this. 2 The phrase "Italy and the western provinces," in the Donation of Constantine, meant to the writer of that document the Italian peninsula, including Lombardy, Venetia, Istria, and adjacent islands. Other countries probably did not occur to him as part of the Roman Empire. Valla, however, followed the current interpretation.

2

papa degere vitam posset. Quarto, falso dici donationis exemplum aut apud Decreta reperiri aut ex historia Silvestri esse sumptum, quod neque in illa neque in' ulla historia invenitur. In eoque quaedam contraria, impossibilia, stulta, barbara, ridicula contineri. Praeterea loquar de quorundam2 aliorum Caesarum vel simulata vel frivola donatione. Ubi ex abundanti adiciam, si Silvester possedisset, tamen, sive illo sive quovis alio pontifice a possessione deiecto, post tantam temporis intercapedinem nec divino nec humano iure posse repeti. Postremo, ea quae a summo pontifice tenentur nullius temporis longitudine potuisse praescribi.

Atque quod ad primam partem attinet, loquamur autem de Constantino prius, deinde de Silvestro.

Non est committendum ut publicam et quasi Caesaream causam non maiore quam privatae solent ore agamus. Itaque quasi in* contione regum ac principum orans, ut certe facio, nam mea haec oratio in manus eorum ventura est, libet tamquam praesentes et in conspectu positos alloqui. Vos appello reges ac principes, difficile est enim privatum hominem animi regii concipere imaginem, vestram mentem inquiro, conscientiam scrutor, testimonium postulo. Numquid vestrum quispiam, si fuisset Constantini loco, faciendum sibi putasset ut urbem Romam, patriam suam, caput orbis terrarum, reginam civitatum, potentissimam, nobilissimam, ditissimam populorum, triumphatricem nationum, et ipso aspectu sacram, liberalitatis gratia donaret alteri, et se ad humile oppidum conferret deinde Byzantium? donaret praeterea una cum Roma Italiam, non provinciam sed provinciarum victricem: donaret tres Gallias: donaret duas Hispanias: donaret Germanos: donaret Britannos: totum donaret occidentem: et se altero ex duobus Imperii oculis orbaret? Hoc ego, ut quis faciat compos mentis, adduci non possum ut credam.

8

Quid enim vobis exspectatius, quid iucundius, quid gratius con

1 Hutten. MS. omits in.

3

posse; Hutten.

5 Hutten. concione; MS., so throughout.

7 Omit duobus; Hutten.

2 quorumdam; MS., so throughout.

4 in in; MS. error.

6 nunquid; MS., so throughout.

8 iocundius; MS., so throughout.

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siderable, for the mere subsistence of the Pope. Fourth, that it is). / not true either that a copy of the Donation is found in the Decretum [of Gratian], or that it was taken from the History of Sylvester; for it is not found in it or in any history, and it is comprised of contradictions, impossibilities, stupidities, barbarisms and absurdities. Further, I shall speak of the pretended or mock donation of certain other Caesars. Then by way of redundance I shall add that even had Sylvester taken possession, nevertheless, he or some other pontiff having been dispossessed, possession could not be resumed after such a long interval under either divine or human law. Last [I shall show] that the possessions which are now held by the supreme pontiff could not, in any length of time, be validated by prescription....

And so to take up the first point, let us speak first of Constantine, then of Sylvester.

It would not do to argue a public and quasi imperial case without more dignity of utterance than is usual in private cases. And so speaking as in an assembly of kings and princes, as I assuredly do, for this oration of mine will come into their hands, I choose to address an audience, as it were, face to face. I call upon you, kings and princes, for it is difficult for a private person to form a picture of a royal mind; I seek your thought, I search your heart, I ask your testimony.Is there any one of you who, had he been in Constantine's place, would have thought that he must set about giving to another out of pure generosity the city of Rome, his fatherland, the head of the world, the queen of states, the most powerful, the noblest and the most opulent of peoples, the victor of the nations, whose very form is sacred, and betaking himself thence to an humble little town, Byzantium; giving with Rome Italy, not a province but the mistress of provinces; giving the three Gauls; giving the two Spains; the Germans; the Britons; the whole West; depriving himself of one of the two eyes of his empire? That any one in possession of his senses would do this, I cannot be brought to believe.

What ordinarily befalls you that is more looked forward to,,

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