unite with Henry in upholding the honor of the Church and the imperial
dignity; to accomplish which he would embrace the first opportunity of
sending legates to Henry, to acquaint the king with his views. But,
while proferring his love, he declared that, if Henry should venture to
offer God insult instead of honor, he would not fail in his duty to the
Divine Head of the Church through fear of offending man. So, in a letter
to Rodolph, Duke of Suabia, who at that time was known to be secretly
hostile to the king, Gregory declared that he entertained no ill feeling
whatever for Henry, but simply desired to do his duty.

There were two evils which Gregory was resolved to extirpate: lay
investitures, and the incontinence of the clergy. When the power of
appointing to benefices was usurped by the civil power, the emperor was
sure to fill the highest places in his gift with creatures of his own.
The inevitable result of this was to create two classes of prelates--one
of lay, the other of ecclesial investiture. Its ultimate effect was to
render the Church completely depend upon the State, and to change and
corrupt its very source with the varying vices of libertine despots. It
was found (and how could it be otherwise?) that the protégés of the
emperor studied only how to please him; and that, in serving the State
and the prince, they became indifferent to the Church. Selected to serve
a particular purpose, or chosen in consideration of a valuable donation,
the lay nominee had been sure to fulfil the object for which he was
elevated, or to indulge the avarice or ambition which had craved the
appointment. It was in attempting to remedy this fatal innovation that
Gregory found himself repeatedly thwarted by Henry; and yet he had been
censured by those who lament the worldliness of a portion of the
medieval clergy, for striking at the root of the evil.

After repeated provocation, the arm of the Pope is uplifted to strike;