Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 667

Gregory to Leontius, the ex-consul. Your Glory was at pains to send me a copy of the bond and of the document concerning Libertinus, in order to show me under what obligation and with what disposition this same Libertinus took up the dignity of the prefecture. When these had been re-read by my glorious brother, the patrician Palatinus, and by my counsellor, the magnificent Theodorus, they were carefully explained to me, and appeared abominable both to me and to all who were able to examine them. But your Glory ought to remember that you have never received a letter from me for the recommendation of anyone except that, justice favouring it, you might extend your protection to him. And because the whole province together was rendering thanks concerning this same Libertinus, I made it known. For neither who he was, nor what deeds he had dared,

what he had done—these things I have never professed, nor do I to this day know them in detail. For if in this matter of the bond he is found culpable, and in other matters I do not know what he might plead in his own defence, yet this one thing I know well and firmly: that even if he committed some fraud in public affairs, his property ought to have been forfeited, not his liberty. For in this, that free men are flogged—to say nothing of the fact that Almighty God is offended, to say nothing of the fact that your reputation is gravely burdened—the times of our most pious emperor are nevertheless utterly darkened. For this is the difference between the kings of the nations and the emperors of the Romans: that the kings of the nations are lords of slaves, whereas the emperor of the Romans is lord of free men.

Wherefore whatever you do, you ought to do first with justice preserved, and then with liberty guarded in all things. It is written: What you do not wish to be done to you, see that you never do to another (Tobit 4:16). And Truth itself says through his own person: Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do you also the same to them (Matthew 7:12). Therefore you ought to give special heed to the liberty of those who have been entrusted to your judgement as to your own; and if you yourselves do not wish your liberty to be injured by those greater than you, then guard the liberty of your subjects by honouring it. For we know who said: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35).

And because his words do not pass away, but are fulfilled in all things, let us fear what he further says: With what measure you have measured, it shall be measured to you again (Matthew 7:2). But what does your Glory suppose—that if we act proudly, if we act cruelly, we placate a man for ourselves while God is despised? By no means. For the very One who is despised provokes against us the man whom, God being despised, we wish to placate. Let us therefore take care in all things to please God, who is able even to lead angry men back to gentleness. For, as I have said, even gentle men are provoked to wrath when God is displeased.

But if it is said that without floggings and terrors public frauds cannot be discovered, I could admit this, if in the matter of the accounts lord Leontius had not come forward. For it is true that those are wont to overstep with their hands who are deficient in understanding and in speech; from which charge your Glory cannot excuse yourself. For carefully inquiring into both what you hear and what you say, I have found that you flog men without cause, you who, with God's help, are able to accomplish everything by words. But concerning the cases of those whom you examine, I confess in truth that, hearing many things I never knew before, I blush deeply. Wherefore I keep silent both to you and to our most pious lord the emperor.

For if it could have been made clear to me that they had just cases regarding their accounts, I would first have importuned you by letters, and if I had not been heard at all, I would have suggested it to our most serene lord the emperor. But because nothing regarding their accounts is clear to me, therefore, as I have said, I say nothing thus far either to you or to the most pious prince. For it is shameful for me to defend that which has not first been made clear to me to be just, because I love men for the sake of justice, but I do not subordinate justice for the sake of men. So act therefore, glorious son, that in the business committed to you, you may first have Him placated who contains all things, and then fulfil with all diligence the advantage of the most serene prince.

For in the business of the one by whom it was committed to you, I judge it not to be without sin to be negligent. But because, by the bounty of Almighty God, your wisdom is competent both to inquire vigilantly and carefully into the accounts, and to placate the Creator's judgement toward you through gentleness—as often as anger invades your soul, subdue your mind, conquer yourself. Defer the moment of fury, and when your mind has become tranquil, then judge what is pleasing. For anger, in avenging evils, ought to follow the reason of the soul, not go before it, so that, as it were a handmaid of justice, it may come behind its back, and not, wanton, burst forth before its face. Sometimes indeed it is to be displayed and not carried out; sometimes it is to be carried out, but never to be followed.

For when, in the execution of justice, we grow angry with a placid mind, we do not follow anger and yet we display it. For it is shown with how great consideration the anger which disturbs the soul is to be guarded against. Concerning it, it is written: Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not work the justice of God (James 1:19). Again it is written: Who can dwell with a man whose spirit is prone to anger (Proverbs 18:14)? Again it is said: Do not be with an angry man, nor walk with a furious man, lest perhaps you learn his ways and take a stumbling-block to your soul (Proverbs 22:24). Against this, in praise of patience, it is written:

Better is the man who conquers his anger than he who takes a great city (Proverbs 16:32). Hence David, taking upon himself the person of the weak, says: My eye is troubled because of anger (Psalm 6:8). And he added what follows from that very disturbance: I have grown old among all my enemies (Psalm 6:8). For when the eye of the heart has been troubled by anger, we are brought to decay among our enemies, because among the malignant spirits we are recalled to the likeness of the old man. Since therefore the sacred oracles detest with so many testimonies the anger which stirs the heart, let us weigh with what earnestness we ought to flee this vice, which, God being judge, is so many times reproved in his testimony. Yet another opinion also arises: that some are burdened more than others;

and for certain persons, the sums that were expended by imperial command are not at all reckoned to their account. Whether this be true, I do not know. Yet if it is so, you ought by no means to do this, both out of fear of the eternal judgement and by reason of ordinary human consideration itself. Behold, glorious son, moved by love of God and of you, I have briefly indicated all that I have perceived, all that I have heard. But it belongs to a wise man both to weigh more fully what he has briefly heard, and to correct with speed whatever displeases God. May Almighty God surround you with the protection of heavenly grace, that here he may guard you both from wicked deeds and from perverse men, and hereafter may gladden you with himself in the eternal fatherland with a pious reward. (Cf. John the Deacon, Bk. III, ch. 47.)