Note 069 The origin, titles, importance, dress, precedency, &c., of the Roman cardinals, are very ably discussed by Thomassin, (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 1262 - 1287;) but their purple is now much faded. The sacred college was raised to the definite number of seventy-two, to represent, under his vicar, the disciples of Christ.]

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The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire —Fall In The East —Chapter 69