this, in his book against John of Jeru- salem (Opera, torn. ii. p. 415, ed. Yallars.) : "Miserabilis ille Pr^textatus, qui de- signatus consul est mortuus, homo sacrilegus et idolorum cultor, solebat ludens beato papSB Damaso dicere : ' Facite me Romanse urbis episcopum, et ero protinus Christianus.' " * Eplst. ad Eustochium de virginitate servanda. 268 THIED PERIOD. A.D, 311-590. dation now assumed a political character, and became boin modified and confirmed by attachment to the municipal divi- sion of the Roman empire. Constantino the Great divided the whole empire into four praefectures (the Oriental, the Illjrian, the Italian, and the Gallic) ; the preefectures into vicariates, dioceses, or proconsu- lates, fourteen or fifteen in all ; ' and each diocese again into several provinces.^ The prsefectures were governed by Prca- fecti Prcetorio, the dioceses by Vicay^ii, the provinces by Rectores^ with various titles — commonly PrcBsides. It was natural, that after the union of church and state the ecclesiastical organization and the political should, so far as seemed proper, and hence of course with manifold exceptions, accommodate themselves to one another. In the East this ^ principle of conformity was more palpably and rigidly carried (X^^ out than in the West. The council of Nic/^ in the fourth cen- tury proceeds upon it, and the second and fourth ecumenical councils confirm it. The political influence made itself most distinctly felt in the elevation of ConstantinojDle to a patri- archal see. The Roman bishop Leo, however, protested against the reference of his own power to political considerations, and planted it exclusively upon the primacy of Peter ; though evidently the Roman see owed its importance to the favorable ■ The dioceses or vicariates were as follows : I. The Picefectura Oeientalis consisted of the five dioceses of Oriens, with Antioch as its political and ecclesiastical capital ; ^gyptus, with Alexandria ; Asia p-oconsularis^ with Ephesus ; Pontus, with CiEsarea in Cappadocia ; Thracia, with Heraklea, afterward Constantinople. II. The Praefectura Illyrica, with Thessalonica as its capital, had only the two dioceses of Macedonia and Dacia. III. The PraBfectura Italica embraced Roma (i. e. South Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean, or the so-called Suburban provinces) ; Italia^ or the Vicariate of Italy, with its centre at Mediolanum (Milan) ; Illyricum occidentale, with its capi- tal at Sirmium ; and Africa occidentalism with Carthage. IV. The Praefectura Gallica embraced the dioceses of Gallia, with Trev^ri l^ (Trier) and liUgdunum (Lyons) ; Hispania, with Hispalis (Sevilla) ; and Britannia, with Eboracum (York). ^ Thus the diocese of the Orient, for example, had five provinces, Egypt nine, Pontus thirteen, Gaul seventeen, Spain seven. Comp. Wiltsch, Kirchl. Geogr. u. Statistik, i. p. 5*7 sqq., where the provinces are all quoted, as is not necessary for our purpose here. § 54. ORGANIZATION OF THE HIEKARCHT. 269 cooperation of both these influences. The power of the patri- archs extended over one or more municipal dioceses ; while the metropolitans presided over single provinces. The