We have received the government of the Roman Empire for our orthodoxy. The Greeks have ceased to be emperors of the Romans for their cacodoxy. Not only have they deserted the city and the capital of the Empire, but they have also abandoned Roman patriality and even the Latin language. They have migrated to another capital city and taken up a completely different patriality and language. Thus we received from heaven this people and city to guide and the mother of all the churches of God to defend and exalt… Moreover, you yourself are surprised, beloved brother Basil, that not Frankish Emperors but the Roman Emperors we are called, yet you know and must agree that unless I am Roman Emperor, assuredly neither then am I the Emperor of the Franks. Truly from the Romans that name and dignity are assumed, having departed from those upon whom this great sublimity first shone… The Imperial Dignity is not in the spoken name itself, but consists and culminates in glorious piety.

-Louis II Emperor August of the Romans
to
Basil I King of the Greeks, styling himself Emperor