Note 158 — Chapter IV · ENTERPRISES OF THE POPES OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY

Apud omnes sanum aliquid sapientes luce clarius con-stabat falsa esse quae dicebantur. Nam et papa tam ésimié tamqne apostolicè vitam instituebat, ut nec minimum sinistri rumoris maculum conversations ejus sublimitas admitteret; et illâ in urbe celiberrimâ atque in tantâ obsequentium fire-quentiâ, obscœnum aliquid perpetrans, latere nequaquam potu-isset. Signa etiam et prodigia quae per orationes papœ frequen-tiùs fiebant, et zelus ejus ferventissimus linguas communie bant.—Lambert Schafur. ad ann. 1177. This chronicler attributes, as we see, to Gregory, the gift of miracles, and concludes from it that his commerce with Matilda was irreproachable. “Nevertheless, says the Jesuit Maimbourg, as the world, from a certain malignity attached to it, has a greater 'penchant’ for believing the evil than the good, especially with persons of some reputation for virtue, this commerce failed not to be of bad effect, and tended to blacken his character of Gregory at this period.”