ii. p. 42) explains by Constantinopoli Officina B (secunda.)]

In the quarrels of ancient Greece, the holy people of Elis
enjoyed a perpetual peace, under the protection of Jupiter, and
in the exercise of the Olympic games. ^47 Happy would it have
been for the Romans, if a similar privilege had guarded the
patrimony of St. Peter from the calamities of war; if the
Christians, who visited the holy threshold, would have sheathed
their swords in the presence of the apostle and his successor.
But this mystic circle could have been traced only by the wand of
a legislator and a sage: this pacific system was incompatible
with the zeal and ambition of the popes the Romans were not
addicted, like the inhabitants of Elis, to the innocent and
placid labors of agriculture; and the Barbarians of Italy, though
softened by the climate, were far below the Grecian states in the
institutions of public and private life. A memorable example of
repentance and piety was exhibited by Liutprand, king of the
Lombards. In arms, at the gate of the Vatican, the conqueror
listened to the voice of Gregory the Second, ^48 withdrew his
troops, resigned his conquests, respectfully visited the church
of St. Peter, and after performing his devotions, offered his
sword and dagger, his cuirass and mantle, his silver cross, and
his crown of gold, on the tomb of the apostle. But this
religious fervor was the illusion, perhaps the artifice, of the
moment; the sense of interest is strong and lasting; the love of
arms and rapine was congenial to the Lombards; and both the
prince and people were irresistibly tempted by the disorders of
Italy, the nakedness of Rome, and the unwarlike profession of her
new chief. On the first edicts of the emperor, they declared
themselves the champions of the holy images: Liutprand invaded