Gaul, and had granted him metropolitan rights in the provinces Yiennensis, and Narbonensis prima and secunda, though with the reservation of cavscB majores.' The metro- politans of Yienne, Narbonne, and Marseilles, however, did not accept this arrangement, and the succeeding poises found it best to recognize again the old metropolitans,'* Celidonius ajipealed to Leo against that act of Hilary. Leo, in 445, as- sembled a Roman council {co7iciliu7n sacerdotum)^ and rein- stated liim, as the accusation of Hilary, who himself journeyed on foot in the winter to Rome, and protested most vehemently against the appeal, could not be proven to the satisfaction of the pope. Li fact, he directly or indirectly caused Hilary to be imprisoned, and, when he escaped and fled back to Gaul, cut him off from the communion of the Roman church, and deprived him of all prerogatives in the diocese of Yienne, which had been only temporarily conferred on the bishop of Aries, and were by a better judgment [sententia meliore) taken away. He accused him of assaults on the rights of other Gallican metropolitans, and above all of insubordination to- ward the principality of the most blessed Peter ; and he goes so far as to say : " Whoso disputes the primacy of the apostle Peter, can in no way lessen the apostle's dignity, but, puffed up by the spirit of his own pride, he destroys himself in hell." ' Only out of special grace did he leave Hilary in his bishopric. Not satisfied with this, he applied to the secular arm for help, and procured from the weak Western emperor, Yalentinian HI., an edict to -^tius, the magister militum of Gaul, in which it is asserted, almost in the words of Leo, that the whole world {unwersitas I in Greek, olKov[xev7)) acknowledges the Roman ' " Xisi magnitudo causae etiam nostrum exquirat examcn." Gieseler, i. 2, p. 218 ; Greenwood, i. p. 299. ^ Comp. Bonifacii I Epist. 12 ad Hilarium Narbon, (not Arelatensem), a. d. 422, in Gieseler, p. 219, Boniface here speaks in favor of the Nicene principle, that each metropolitan should rule simply over one province. Greenwood overlooks this change, and hence fully justifies Hilary on the ground of the appointment of Zosi- tnus. But even though this appointment had stood, the deposition of a bishop was still a causa major, which Hilary, as vicar of the pope, should have laid before him for ratification. ' Leo, Epist. 10 (al. 89) ad Episc. provincial Viennensis. What an awful per- version this of the true Christian stand-point ! 298 THEBD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. Bee as director and governor ; that neither Hilary nor any bishop might oj)pose its commands ; that neither Gallican nor other bishops should, contrary to the ancient custom, do any- thing without the authority of the venerable pope of the eternal city ; and that all decrees of the pope have the force of law. The letter of Leo to tlie Gallican churches, and the edict of