167:1
Gregorius Joanni " exconsuli, atque b patricio, et quæstori. eBonitatem escellenliæ vestræ expertus, tanto erga vos amore constringor, at vestra memoria de meo pectore aboleri nullatenus possit. Sed contra amorem non modice contristor, quia quietem me quærere cognovistis, et ad inquietudinem perduxiaUs. Vobis quidem omnipotens Deus, quia hoc bono animo fecistis, bona aeterna retribuat; sed mc a tanto loci hujus periculo qualiter voluerit absolvat, quia Bicut peccata mea merebaotnr, non Romanorum, sed Langobardorum episcopus factus sum, d quorum synthiciæ spathae sunt, et gratia poena. Ecce ubi mo patrocinia vestra perduxerunt. Gemo quotidie occnpationibus pressus, et respirare non val eo.
Gregory to John, former consul, and patrician, and quaestor. Having experienced the goodness of your Excellency, I am bound by so great a love toward you that the memory of you can by no means be effaced from my breast. But against love I am not a little saddened, because you knew me to be seeking quiet, and have led me to disquiet. To you indeed may Almighty God, because you did this with good intent, repay eternal good things; but from so great a peril of this place may He absolve me as He shall have willed, because, as my sins deserved, I have been made bishop not of the Romans but of the Lombards, whose spathae are truces, and their favour a punishment. Behold whither your patronage has led me. I groan daily, pressed by occupations, and I am unable to breathe.
貴鑑，前執政官、貴族暨財務官約翰：我既領略貴閣下的美善，便被如此大的愛所繫，以致你的記憶絕不能從我胸中抹去。但我不無憂傷地抵著這愛，因為你明知我在尋求安靜，卻把我引向不安。你既懷好意行此事，願全能神以永遠的美善報答你；但願祂照祂所願的，把我從此地如此大的危險中釋放；因為，正如我的罪所應得的，我被立作主教，不是羅馬人的，而是倫巴底人的；他們的和約就是刀劍，他們的恩惠就是刑罰。看哪，你的庇護把我引到了何處。我每日在事務的重壓下呻吟，不得喘息。
167:2
Sed ros, qni adhuc valetis, r mundi hujus occupalioors fugite, quia quantum in eo quisque profecerit, tanto, ut video, ab amore Dci amplius decrescit. Præterca sacratissimam clavem a beati Petri apostolorum principis corpore vobis transmisi, quae super ægros multis solet miraculis coruscare, nan etiam de ejus catenis interius habet. Eædem igitur catenæ, quae ina sancta colla tenucront, suspens c colla veslra sanctificent. (Cf. Joan. Diac. I. I, c. 51.)
But you, who are still strong, flee the occupations of this world, because the more anyone advances in it, the more, as I see, he decreases from the love of God. Moreover, I have transmitted to you the most sacred key from the body of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, which upon the sick is wont to flash with many miracles; for it also has within it something of his chains. These same chains therefore, which held that holy neck, being hung upon your neck may sanctify it. (Cf. John the Deacon, bk. I, ch. 51.)
但你這仍有力量的人哪，當逃避這世界的事務，因為據我所見，人在其中越是長進，就越從神的愛中衰退。此外，我已把那從有福的、使徒之首彼得身體所取的至聖鑰匙寄給你；這鑰匙放在病人身上，常以許多神蹟閃耀；因為其內也存有他鎖鏈的一部分。所以，那曾繫住那聖潔頸項的同一副鎖鏈，掛在你的頸項上，願它使你的頸項成聖。（參約翰執事著作，卷一第51章。）