the Lateran count of the palace and by the
_primicerius_ of the judges, to the silver door of the cathedral, where
he prayed, and the Bishop of Albano delivered the first oration.

Innumerable mystic ceremonies awaited the King in St. Peter's itself.
Here, a short way from the entrance, was the _rota porphyretica_, a
round porphyry stone inserted in the pavement, on which the King and
Pope knelt. The imperial candidate here made his profession of faith,
the Cardinal-bishop of Portus placed himself in the middle of the rota
and pronounced the second oration. The King was then draped in new
vestments, was made a cleric in the sacristy by the Pope, was clad with
tunic, dalmatica, pluviale, mitre and sandals, and was then led to the
altar of St. Maurice, whither his wife, after similar but less fatiguing
ceremonies, accompanied him. The Bishop of Ostia here anointed the King
on the right arm and neck and delivered the third oration.

If the Emperor-elect were fitted by the dignity of his calling, then the
solemnity of the function, the mystic and tedious pomp, the magnificent
monotone of prayer and song in the ancient cathedral, hallowed by so
many exalted memories, must have stirred his inmost soul. The pinnacle
of all human ambition, the crown of Charles the Great, lay glittering
before his longing eyes on the altar of the Prince of the Apostles. The
Pope, however, first placed a ring on the finger of the Anointed, as
symbol of the faith, the permanence and strength of his Catholic rule;
with similar formulae girt him with the sword, and finally placed the
crown upon his head. "Take," he said, "the symbol of fame, the diadem of
royalty, the crown, the empire, in the name of the Father, of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost; renounce the archfiend and all sins, be upright
and merciful, and live in such pious love that thou mayest hereafter
receive the everlasting crown in company with the saints, from our Lord
Jesus Christ."

The church resounded with the Gloria and the Laudes: "Life and victory
to the Emperor, to the Roman and the German army," and with the endless
acclamations of the rude soldiers who hailed their King in German, Slav,
and Romance tongues.

The Emperor divested himself of the symbols of the empire, and now
ministered to the Pope as subdeacon at mass. The Count Palatine
afterward removed the sandals, and put the red imperial boots with the
spurs of St. Maurice upon him. Whereupon the entire procession,
ac