Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 630

Gregory to Godiscalcus, duke of Campania. That solicitude of those set in authority is useful (Grat. 11, q. 3, c. 67), that caution is praiseworthy, in which reason does everything, and fury claims nothing for itself. Power therefore is to be restrained under reason, nor is anything to be done before the agitated mind returns to tranquillity. For in the time of commotion anger thinks just whatever it has done. It has therefore reached us that your magnitude has been driven by the impulse of fury even to this, that you caused not only the doors of the monastery of Saint Archangel to be broken, but also what was found there to be plundered.

Moreover, you are said to have so blazed up against the abbot of that same monastery, that, unless hiding himself he had lain concealed during the time of your wrath, he would have incurred no light danger; and finally that, terrified by fear of you, he does not up to now dare to go out from the house in which he had once taken refuge. And lest you should perhaps seem to have done this in vain, you impute the flight of that monk who went off to the enemy to his — the abbot's — crime, as far as has been brought to us, asserting that he fled with the abbot's will. If it is so, we are saddened, and we greatly wonder at your wisdom. For if you think it lawful that the fault of some should be harmful to others, many can be subject to this crime.

For the servants of divers nobles, the clerics of many Churches, the monks of divers monasteries, the men of many judges, have often given themselves over to the enemy. Therefore, if this is believed, the masters of servants, the bishops of clerics, the abbots of monks, the judges of divers fugitives — all are placed under fault and crime. Have not many, even in the days of your magnitude, slipped away by flight from the city in which you reside to the Lombard soldiers? And who could be found of such great indiscretion, and of such great folly, as to reckon their iniquity should be attributed to you? Weigh these things therefore carefully, and from yourself estimate the cases of others, that you be not led into the adversities of certain persons by false suspicions.

But if there is anyone who can allege something against the abbot of the aforesaid monastery, something pertaining to his fault and guilt, we do not wish this to be neglected, but rather, together with those whom it concerns, we wish the case to be investigated altogether strictly and carefully, so that either vengeance may strike the guilty man, or truth may acquit the innocent one. If, however, no one can be found who would assert against him this which you alone allege, we exhort you, noble son, to refrain from hostility toward the said monastery and its abbot, and rather to extend to them protection and, for God's sake, charity. And if there is anything by which your spirits have perhaps been offended, remit it to them for the sake of our intercession;

and so, as befits Christians and prudent men, employ yourselves rather in helping them, so that we too may render you thanks, and before the almighty Lord you may acquire a reward for the kindnesses and comfort bestowed upon His servants.