Moralia in Job 4

From which it is concluded with how great consideration Saint Gregory, rightly teaching, daily recognized his own infirmity. Argument.—1. Concerning the temperance of Gregory.—2. He withdrew from John, bishop of Ravenna, the use of the pallium and of the mappulae (little napkins).—3. To the same, humbly requesting the use of the pallium, he granted it four times a year through the public squares.—4. Having rebuked the same for various vices, he foretold the day of his summoning (death).—5. When John had died, he committed the church of Ravenna to a visitor; and when Marinianus had been consecrated bishop, he granted the use of the pallium in like manner.—6. To Andrew, petitioning for the pallium, he prescribed an oath.—7. When Marinianus was unable to defend the custom of the pallium as had been agreed, Gregory remained in his sentence.—8.

He reproved the deacons of Catania for the usurpation of the campagi (a kind of episcopal footwear).—9. Concerning Maximus, the invader of the church of Salona.—10. He defended the authority of his pontificate against the tyrant emperor.—11. Excommunicating Maximus with his accomplices against the imperial wish, he compelled his bishops to return to the Church.—12. He ordered the case of Maximus to be aired at Ravenna.—13. Maximus, prostrate on the ground, tearfully begs pardon.—14. Gregory decrees that Maximus, making satisfaction before the body of Saint Apollinaris, is to be shown mercy.—15. To Maximus, humbly making satisfaction, he restores the grace of communion, and promises that he will give him the pallium.—16. With what didactic responses he terrified the proud emperor.—17.

Death by the sword threatens Maurice, who was raging against Gregory.—18. Maurice, repenting, sees in dreams himself, with his wife and children, delivered by divine judgment to the soldier Phocas.—19. When a sedition had broken out, Maurice, by the order of Phocas, is slain together with all his kindred.—20. Having received the imperial portrait, he wisely enumerates the vices of Maurice to the emperor Phocas.—21. He sends him an Apocrisiarius (legate) according to custom.—22. With a great weight removed, he declares that the imperial yoke has been rendered lighter.—23. He directed his synodical letter according to custom, and (notes) that the Orientals receive no one's name in the diptychs until they have known the synodical letter of his faith.—24. Having received the decrees of the Milanese, he consented that a bishop be ordained for them.—25.

He restored Anastasius of Antioch to his throne after many years.—26. Restoring Hadrian, bishop of Thebes, to his order, he withdrew his diocese from the power of the bishop of Larissa.—27. Except for manifest crimes, he deposed no one, but deprived them of communion.—28. With what strictness he handled the suits of accusers, and what things he decreed concerning the orders of judgments.—29. He confirmed the authorities of other bishops by his own authority; he did not diminish them.—30. Preserving to all bishops their proper rights, he willed that executors be appointed, and that judges be chosen by the accused.—31. He punished false informers with the like penalty (talio).—32.

He did not suffer crimes once brought forward to pass unexamined, and with what penalties he punished accusers of sins.—33. He ordered the accustomed stipends to be administered even to infirm clerics.—34. He confirmed the bonds made to their clerics by bishops, and ordered that their fourth (portions) be given to them in full.—35. He absolved those bound by others.—36. He received those purging themselves from heresy.—37. He took care to invite schismatics to Rome to undertake satisfaction.—38. He compelled Severus, bishop of Aquileia, to come to Ravenna; who, after he had returned to unity, running back again to his schism and afflicting the catholic priests, became the cause of the perpetual division of his diocese.—39.

On account of bodily sickness he gave no one a successor, and (it is noted) that to those renouncing their sees he did not deny successors, and ordered that suitable provisions be administered to them from the resources of the same (see).—40. He ordered a woman who had been violated to be taken in marriage by her violator.—41. He commanded that a man already tonsured be restored to his wife.—42. He decreed that no force be brought upon the Jews.—43. He judged that Christians ought on no occasion to be subjected to them.—44. He ordered Christians to be violently taken away from them; and of those who could not be taken away, he decreed that they be redeemed.—45. He forbade their slaves who took refuge in the Church to be given back.—46. He decreed that their pagan slaves wishing to come to the faith were not to be given back.—47.

He ordained that Jews' slaves who preceded their masters to the faith should by no means be reduced to their servitude, even if they themselves should follow them to the grace of baptism.—48. He permitted no one of the pagans to be circumcised.—49. He decreed that gifts from the Jews were not to be received.—50. In what manner the Jews were treated by the Roman pontiffs.—51. Gregory ordered that the Sabbath not be observed, and permitted washing on the Lord's Day.—52. Of how great compassion he was in the infirmities of the bishops Castorius, Eulogius, and Marinianus, or of the patrician lady Rusticiana.—53. On account of the barbarian incursions he willed that a litany be held.—54. He had the spirit of prophecy.—55. He foretold that future things would be worse than the former.—56. He permitted no one to be unjustly defended by the Church.

—57. He ordered that to those taking refuge in the Church the sacraments be furnished, concerning the justices to be preserved for them.—58. He called all priests brothers and fellow-ministers; other clerics indeed his most beloved sons; but laymen of either sex he called lords.—59. He gave satisfaction both to the faithful Theudelinda, the queen, and to his own subdeacon.—60. He records himself unworthy of the revelation of God.—61. Comparing himself to a presbyter, he pronounces that man superior and better.—62. He confesses himself unworthy of another's favor.—63. To a monk prostrating himself before him, he cast himself down to the ground.—64. Being accused, he set forth his innocence.—65. What he felt concerning the end of the age.—66. What things he wrote concerning the affliction of the City (Rome).—67. On account of the barbarian incursions he desisted from expounding the (sacred) books.

—68. Concerning his death, and the silver crowns (or facings) prepared by him, as well as the place of his burial, or its inscription.—69. By what means, when rivals were plotting to burn his books, Peter the Deacon defended them by dying.—70. How much Claudius learned from his words: and that Gregory dictated many things which now cannot be found.—71. He left twelve books of his letters, from which, in the time of Pope Hadrian, two volumes are seen to have been excerpted.—72. In his diaconate he began the Moralia, and how he arranged it into books during his episcopate, and directed it to Leander, bishop of Seville, at his request.—73. At the beginning of his episcopate, expounding the book of the Pastoral Rule to John, bishop of Ravenna, he restrained the unskilled.

—74. Running through the stations (churches), he dictated forty homilies, which he sent to Secundus, the servant of God, at his request.—75. He wrote the four books of the Dialogues, which afterward Zacharias, bishop of the Apostolic See, translated into the Greek tongue.—76. At the request of his citizens, he treated the first and last parts of the prophecy of Ezekiel in twenty-two homilies.—77. How humbly he himself felt concerning his own treatises, which are proclaimed most eloquent by later teachers.—78. Calling his own books, in comparison with the treatises of Augustine, mere bran, he forbade them to be read as long as he lived.—79. With how great consideration he daily recognized the infirmity of his own heart.—80. His body was translated by Pope Gregory IV:

and concerning his antiquity, or his mediocrity (of stature), and his regular special character.—81. Not knowing Greek, he discovered false treatises entitled under his name.—82. The monks who were sent by him into Saxony were bound to the rules of Saint Benedict.—83. Concerning the forms and garments of his father and mother.—84. Concerning his own form and habit, or his distich.—85. Saturninus, a monk, drew images of the apostles beside his effigy.—86. Concerning John, the provost, who contended with the devil before Christ; and concerning the revelation and terrible passing away of the same.—87. Concerning the torments of Andrew, the contractor, who professed that he had sold the monastery's charters to the same provost.—88.

Concerning the presage of the death of Athanasius the steward, who defrauded the customary allowances of the poor.—89. Concerning the devil driven out of the cloister of the monastery, who had struck a monk lying down.—90. Concerning the vision of a monk who foresaw twelve men who would die within the same number of days.—91. Concerning the conversion and passing away of Lucidus, bishop of Ficulnea.—92. Concerning the revelation of a monk who, through the shedding of tears, learned of the recovery and return of a certain enclosed presbyter, his brother.—93. Concerning the demon cast out from the estate of Barbilianum, who, killing the contractor and the herdsmen, had persecuted Caucus.—94. Concerning the vision about Tergaudus, once bishop of Trier, who was driven from the monastery by the blessed Gregory.—95.

Concerning the rebuke of Faraldus, who was suspended by demons the whole night.—96. Concerning Indulfus, a deserter of the monastery, struck by an old man: and concerning the revelation of a cleric, and the digression about Suppo.—97. Concerning the presbyter Cednicus, who had uncovered the Gregorian spring, being bound and beaten, and concerning his miserable passing away.—98. Concerning the modius (measure) of the monastery, and the diversity of its overflowing, as well as the miracle of bread divinely multiplied.—99. How frequently Gregory is shown forth in diverse places.—100. Concerning the division (portion) of a scribe, who could be frightened by a rival, and who deserved to be consoled by the blessed Gregory. 1. This is Gregory's sentence, full of reason and humility, concerning the refusal of the title "universal."

He indeed knew how to use prudently the cunning of the serpent against the proud, and by no means departed from the simplicity of the dove toward the humble. Wherefore, conscious of his own temperance, he says to Dominicus, bishop of Carthage, after other matters: Concerning ecclesiastical privileges, as to what your fraternity writes, let it hold this, all doubt set aside: that just as we defend our own, so we preserve to each and every church its own rights. Nor, by the favor of grace, do I impart to anyone beyond what he deserves; nor will I derogate from anyone that which is of his own right, when ambition goads. But I desire to honor my brethren in all things, and I so strive that each be advanced in honor, provided there be nothing which can by right be objected to one by another. (Letter,

Book II, Letter 47.) Likewise he writes to Eulogius of Alexandria and Anastasius of Antioch, the patriarchs, saying: Since the excellent preacher says: "As long as indeed I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry" (Romans 11:13), who again elsewhere says: "We were made little ones in the midst of you" (1 Thessalonians 2:7): he shows us without doubt an example to follow, that we should both hold humility in mind, and yet preserve the dignity of our order in honor: so that in us humility be not timid, nor exaltation proud, and so forth. (Book V, Letter 43.) Which Gregory, as can most manifestly be gathered from what precedes and follows, both did and said. 2.

For John, bishop of Ravenna, who through a swelling of pride frequently wore the pallium, and permitted his presbyters and deacons to proceed with the mappulae (little napkins), he first familiarly rebuked through Castorius the chartulary; afterward, when he pertinaciously defended these things as having been granted to him by custom or privilege, he penalized him, after certain matters, with such a sentence. "That I may briefly gather together," he says, "the things I said above: I admonish that, unless you shall have shown these things to have been attributed to you by privilege through the munificence of my predecessors, you presume not to use it in the public squares any further: lest you begin not to have even at Mass that which you audaciously usurp even in the squares.

But concerning the sacristy, that your fraternity both sat with the pallium and received the sons of the Church, and both did it and excused it—for now, in the meantime, we make no complaint: because, following the sentence of the synods, we refuse to avenge lesser faults which are denied. This, however, since it has been done once and again, we have come to know, but we forbid it to be done further. Let your fraternity, moreover, be altogether solicitous lest this, which is now yielded to a presumption while it is just beginning, be more grievously punished in one who advances in it." And after a few things: "But as to that which you wrote concerning the mappulae to be used by your clergy, it was strongly opposed by our clerics, saying that this had never been granted to any other church whatever;

nor did the Ravennate clergy, either there or in the city of Rome, presume any such thing with their (own) conscience (aware). Nor, if it had been attempted, would a prejudice (precedent) be generated for themselves from a furtive usurpation; but even if this had been presumed in any church whatever, they assert it ought to be corrected; because it is presumed not by the concession of the Roman pontiff, but by mere stealthy encroachment. But we, preserving the honor to your fraternity—although against the will of our aforesaid clergy—nevertheless permit your chief deacons, whom certain persons have testified to us to have used them even before, to use the mappulae, but only in your service. At another time, however, or for other persons, we most vehemently forbid this to be done." (Book III, Letter 56.) 3.

This sentence the man, most desirous of vainglory, bearing most grievously, most vigorously demanded through whomever he could that the use of the pallium be restored to him. To him Gregory wrote thus: I find your fraternity greatly saddened because you are forbidden by the censure of reason to don the pallium in the litanies (processions); but through the most excellent Roman patrician, and through the most eminent prefect, and through other noble men of your city, you importunately seek that this ought to be granted.

But we, solicitously inquiring from Adeodatus, formerly a deacon of your fraternity, have learned that it was never the custom for your predecessors to use the pallium in the litanies, except on the solemnity of the blessed John the Baptist, of the blessed Apostle Peter, and of the blessed martyr Apollinaris. And this indeed we ought by no means to have believed, because many representatives (responsales) from the city of your fraternity have often been (here), who profess that they never saw any such thing; and in this matter one ought rather to believe the many than the one attesting something for his own church. But because we (grieve to) sadden your fraternity...

We are unwilling to frustrate the petition of our sons in any way; therefore, until we come to know something more subtle and true, we grant the use of the pallium at the solemn litanies, that is, on the birthday of the blessed John the Baptist, and of the blessed Apostle Peter, and of the blessed martyr Apollinaris, and at the celebration of your ordination. But in the sacristy, according to the ancient custom, when the sons of the Church have been received and dismissed, your Fraternity ought to put on the pallium and thus proceed to the solemnities of the Mass, and to arrogate to himself nothing further out of the daring of rash presumption: lest, while in outward bearing something is inordinately seized, those things which might have been lawful be lost even when done in due order. (Book V, letter 11.)

But this same John, curbed from the ambition of vainglory by the rein of apostolic moderation, turned himself wholly to the disparagement of the pontiff. Whence the most prudent pontiff admonishes him thus, saying: First, this grieves me, that your Fraternity writes to me with a double heart, displaying certain flatteries in his letters, while showing other things in a worldly manner with his tongue. Next, it is grievous to me that those mockeries which notaries still boys are accustomed to indulge in, my brother John to this day retains upon his tongue, speaks bitingly, and as it were takes delight in such cunning. To friends present he flatters; about the absent he speaks ill.

In the third place, it is grievous and altogether detestable to me that upon his servants, in the hour when he rages, he imposes shameful accusations, so that they are called effeminate, and still more grievously and openly so. After this it came about that there is no discipline for guarding the life of the clergy, but he shows himself merely as lord to his clerics. But the last matter—which by the weight of pride is nevertheless the first—concerns the use of the pallium outside the church, which in the times of my predecessors no one ever presumed to do, nor was it ever presumed by his predecessors, as our envoys testify, except when relics were being deposited:

yet concerning the relics, only one person could be found to say that in my days, to my contempt, he not only did it with the utmost audacity but even did it frequently. From all these things I find that the honor of your episcopate is wholly in outward show, not in the mind. And indeed I give thanks to Almighty God that at the time when this reached me—which never reached the ears of my predecessors—the Lombards were positioned between me and the city of Ravenna. For perhaps I would have had to show men how strict I know how to be.

But lest you should believe that I wish your church to be burdened or diminished in anything, recall in the solemnities of the Roman Masses where the deacon of Ravenna used to stand, and inquire where he stands today: and you will recognize that I desire to honor the church of Ravenna. But that anyone should seize whatever he pleases out of pride—this I cannot tolerate. Nevertheless, on this matter I have already written to our deacon at Constantinople, that he should make inquiry through all who have under them even thirty or forty bishops. And if this usage exists anywhere, that in litanies they walk with pallia, far be it that through me the honor of the church of Ravenna should seem to be diminished in anything. Therefore consider all these things which I have said above, dearest brother; attend to the day of your calling;

consider what account of the burden of the episcopate you are to render. Amend those manners of a notary; see what befits a bishop in tongue and in deed. Be wholly pure toward your brethren. Do not speak one thing and hold another in your heart; nor seek to appear more than you are, that you may be able to be more than you appear. (Book V, letter 15.) 5. Because John, in the arrogance of pride, scorned to amend these things, in that same year, according to what Gregory had foretold him, he ran headlong—while he did not heed it—into the day of his calling; and, swollen, he burst before he had deserved to be satisfied with the vesture of the pallium.

For which reason Gregory, committing the visitation of the church of Ravenna to Severus, bishop of Ficulum, according to the ancient custom, consecrated Marinianus, a monk, his own intimate, as bishop for the people of Ravenna; and he directs the pallium to him, writing: Prompted by the benevolence of the Apostolic See and by the order of ancient custom, we have foreseen that the use of the pallium is to be granted to your Fraternity, who are known to have undertaken the office of governance in the church of Ravenna; and you must remember to use it in no other way than in the church of your own city, when, the sons already dismissed, you proceed from the salutatory to the sacred solemnities of the Mass to be celebrated. But when the Masses are finished, you will take care to lay it aside again in the salutatory.

But outside the church we permit you to use it no further, except four times in the year in the litanies which we specified for your predecessor John. (Book V, letter 5; Book V, letter 56.) 6. But Marinianus, softened by the suggestions of his clerics, importunately demanded—both through Andreas, a distinguished man, and through whomever he could—that the use of the pallium be restored to his church. Wherefore Gregory writes to Castorius the chartulary, among other things, saying: Let your Experience regard no one's person, no one's words: let it hold before its eyes the fear of God alone and rectitude;

and let it summon the elder persons, and the archdeacon of that same church—whom I do not suspect of perjuring himself for another's honor—and others of greater age who were in sacred orders before the times of Bishop John, or if any are of riper years outside the sacred orders; and let them come before the body of Saint Apollinaris, and, having touched his tomb, let them swear what the custom was before the times of Bishop John: because, as you know, that same man was a great presumer, and strove through pride to arrogate many things to himself; and whatever shall have been sworn by the more faithful and weightier men, according to the schedule which is annexed below, this we wish to be preserved in that same church.

But see that you do not act negligently, lest anyone corrupt your fidelity or devotion in this cause. For I know your zeal. Act carefully, yet in such a way that the aforesaid church be not burdened contrary to justice; but that the usage which existed before the times of Bishop John be preserved for it. Do not summon two or three persons to give you satisfaction, but as many of greater age and more weighty as you shall find for it: so that we may neither deny what was the more ancient usage of that same church, nor grant what has been sought after by new audacity. But do everything gently and sweetly, so that both your action may be strict and your tongue mild. "I therefore, N., swear

by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of inseparable divine power, and by this body of the blessed martyr Apollinaris, that I testify for the favor of no person, nor with any advantage intervening; but these things I know, and through my very self I have come to know, that before the times of the late Bishop John, the bishop of Ravenna, in the presence of this or that apocrisiary of the Apostolic See, on these and those days, had the custom of using the pallium: and I have not known that he usurped this secretly or without the apocrisiary." (Book VI, letter 61.) 7. This oath Gregory had commanded in the fourteenth indiction.

Because this, as the outcome of the matter makes plain, remained undone for three continuous years since the testimonies were lacking, Marinianus, again compelled by the suggestion of his own people, was confident that he could obtain by the importunity of prayers the use of the pallium which he could not vindicate by custom as had been agreed. Wherefore Gregory, remaining in the same judgment, writes to that same chartulary in the second indiction, saying: While Florentius, deacon of the church of Ravenna, was pleading before us on behalf of our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus concerning the use of the pallium, being asked by us what the ancient custom was, he answered: that in all litanies the bishop of Ravenna used the pallium.

That this is not so, we have both learned from others, and it appeared evidently from the letters of the late Bishop John, which we caused to be shown to him; but he asserted this because he was bidden to say it. For at the time when this same John, the late bishop, was forbidden by you to presume to use the pallium inordinately and rashly, he wrote to us that this had been the ancient custom, that the bishop of that city should use the pallium in the solemn litanies: copies of which letters we have transmitted to you for your information.

But Adeodatus, deacon of the aforesaid church, when he was with us at the time he was here, likewise striving earnestly to plead concerning the same use of the pallium, we—wishing to know the truth—likewise took care to have inquiry made of him what the custom was. He, that he might persuade us to trust him and might be able to obtain from us what he sought, testified under oath that it had been the ancient custom that the bishop of his city should use the pallium in four or five solemn litanies. Let your Experience therefore diligently keep watch, and with all solicitude inquire how many solemn litanies there have been from antiquity; and let it not seek to inquire by naming them 'solemn,' but 'the greater ones':

so that, by this—which the aforesaid deacon Adeodatus has testified to us, and the letter of the aforesaid Bishop John confirms—when it shall be established how many the solemn litanies were, we, knowing how often he used to be vested with the pallium in the litanies, may most gladly grant it; but let it not seek this from those who are put forward by ecclesiastical persons, but from others whom it shall know to be without partiality to either side; and let it subtly inform us of what it shall have discovered by careful investigation: so that, the truth being known, as we have said, we may relieve the mind of our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus. (Book VII, letter 77, now Book VI, letter

34.) But because the ancient custom, subtly investigated by our own men, could in no way be proven by the men of Ravenna, that Gregory remained in his own judgment is shown beyond doubt by this, that neither on this account—so far as can be discerned from his writings—was he solicited by anyone, nor, moved of his own accord, did he write anything further at all. 8. Not only in great matters did Gregory turn the eyes of his solicitude, but also, lest greater things should at some time be presumed with impunity, he most carefully guarded against this in the smallest matters. Whence he writes to John, bishop of Syracuse, saying: The order of ecclesiastical vigor is thrown into confusion, if either things unlawful are rashly presumed, or things not conceded are attempted with impunity.

It has therefore come to us that the deacons of the church of Catania have presumed to walk shod with campagi. Which you well recall has hitherto been permitted to no one throughout all Sicily, except only to the deacons of the church of Messina, to whom it is not doubted to have been granted long ago by our predecessors. Since therefore the daring of so great a rashness is not to be lightly regarded, let your Fraternity investigate this whole matter with all subtlety: and if it shall find it to be so, as has come to us, whether they presumed this of themselves or by anyone's authority, let it subtly make it known to us, so that, the truth being known, we may determine what ought to be done. For if we negligently pass over those things which are wrongly usurped, we open the way of excess to others.

(Book VIII, letter 27.) 9. Meanwhile, upon the death of Bishop Natalis, when the whole body of the Dalmatians had harmoniously chosen the archdeacon Honoratus—whom he himself had converted from presbyter into deacon—to be set over them, and the pontiff had approved their decree, by the faction of Bishop Malchus, rector of the apostolic patrimony, and by military force, Maximus, involved in many crimes, invaded the episcopate of the city of Salona. Hearing which, Gregory forbade the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara, under great threat, to lay hands upon him.

But Maximus, who had invaded the episcopal see contrary to the canons, did not even fear to procure the priesthood contrary to God through simoniacal heresy, from bishops who were themselves excommunicated and corrupted by a price: an occasion of the times favoring him, arising from the cupidity and at the same time the insolence of Augustus, whom, by squandering the resources of the invaded church, he made so much the defender of his crimes that he not only frequently demanded of Gregory that he should leave Maximus's promotion undiscussed, but even that he should receive him with honor when he came to Rome to give satisfaction for the simoniacal heresy and other crimes. 10.

But Gregory, respecting no one's face against the truth, deprived this same Maximus first of the solemnities of the Mass, and afterwards of the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, until he should present himself. But Maximus, supported by the imperial troops, after his excommunication both chanted the Masses and, quite unworthy, received the sacraments. Wherefore Gregory writes to the Empress Constantina, after many other things, saying: The bishop of the city of Salona was ordained without the knowledge of me or of my envoy; and a thing has been done which happened under no earlier princes.

Hearing which, I immediately sent to this same transgressor who was ordained inordinately, that he should by no means presume to celebrate the solemnities of the Mass at all, until I should first learn from the most serene lords whether they had themselves commanded this to be done. This I charged him under the imposition of excommunication: and, despising and scorning me, in the audacity of certain secular men—to whom, having stripped bare his own church, he is said to bestow many rewards—he presumes even to this day to perform the Masses, and would not come to me according to the command of the lords.

But I, obeying the command of their Piety, have so pardoned from my heart, to this same Maximus who was ordained without my knowledge, the fact that in his ordination he presumed to pass over me or my envoy, as if he had been ordained with me as its author. But his other perverse deeds—namely the bodily evils which I have come to know, whether that he was elected with money, or that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the Masses—for God's sake I cannot pass over uninvestigated; but I hope, and beseech the Lord, that nothing of those things which have been said may be able to be found concerning him, and that his cause may be concluded without peril to my soul:

yet before these things are known, the most serene lord, by a command hastening about, has ordered that I should receive him with honor when he comes. And it is very grievous that a man about whom such and so great things are reported should be honored, when he ought first to be inquired into and examined. And if the causes of bishops committed to me are disposed of at the court of the most pious lords by the patronage of others, what am I, unhappy, doing in this church? But that my bishops should despise me, and have recourse against me to secular judges, I give thanks to Almighty God, I impute it to my sins. This much, however, I briefly suggest, that I am waiting a little while; and if he shall long delay to come to me, I shall by no means cease to exercise canonical strictness upon him.

But in Almighty God I trust, that long life will be granted to the most pious lords, and that He may dispose of us under your hand not according to our sins, but according to the gifts of His grace. (Book V, letter 21.) 11. These things Gregory wrote to the dissembling Empress. But since this same Maximus remained in his presumption, he cut off the consecrators and all the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara from his communion under excommunication: so much so that they should not even mention the name of Maximus amid the sacred solemnities of the Mass. This being done, all were so dismayed in mind that, under the satisfaction of penance, they abandoned Maximus and begged pardon. Whence the most merciful pontiff, writing to Sabinianus, bishop of Zara:

Just as, he says, vengeance is by right owed to persevering guilt, so pardon is to be granted to those who repent. For as that former deed is wont deservedly to stir up anger against itself, so this latter is wont, in its very love, to propagate concord. And therefore, because the gravity of the priest, at length brought back to your mind, so afterwards held your Fraternity suspended from the fellowship and communion of Maximus—into which neglect had earlier driven you—that you would by no means suffer yourself to be content with that separation alone, unless, receiving yourself into the cloisters of a monastery, you should bewail what had formerly been committed: therefore do not doubt that you have been received into our grace and communion. For as much as the fault of your Charity had earlier offended us, so much has your penitence mitigated it.

(Book VIII, letter 10.) 12. And so Maximus, perceiving at long last that it is hard to kick against the goad, having abandoned the imperial supports, through the exarch Callinicus quite humbly begged of Gregory that penance and at the same time pardon be granted to him. Gregory himself, unwilling to have him wearied by a journey to Rome, committed his cause to be examined at Ravenna, writing to Constantius, bishop of Milan: Maximus, he says, the transgressor of the church of Salona, after he was able to obtain nothing through the greater powers of the world, betook himself to the lesser: and he strives to prevail over us both by the excess of his prayers and by the attestation of good works.

For which reason I have considered it inhuman if he who says that he as it were greatly fears me could in no respect find me somewhat more moderate: and therefore I have decreed that our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus ought to take cognizance of his cause in the city of Ravenna. But if his person shall perhaps be held suspect, we wish that your Fraternity also, if it is not laborious for you, should take the trouble to travel to that same city, and to sit together with the aforesaid brother in the same judgment. But whatever shall please the holiness of you both, know that it will please me in every way, and I count your judgment as my own. (Book IX, letter 67.) 13.

Amid these things the transgressor Maximus, in the seventh year of his excommunication, after Gregory's chastisements and scourgings, returning to his heart, made for Ravenna, and cast himself down, stretched out within the city in the midst of the paved street, crying out and saying: I have sinned against God and against the most blessed pope Gregory. And while he was doing penance for three hours, the exarch Callinicus ran up, and Castorius, chartulary of the Roman Church, together with Bishop Marinianus, and they lifted him up from the pavement: and he even began to do a fuller penance in their presence. When Gregory heard this, he returned at once to mercy, writing to Bishop Marinianus, among other things:

What is the will—or rather the petition—of your Fraternity concerning the cause of Maximus, we have learned from the report of the bearer of these present letters, Castorius, our chartulary. And therefore, if this same Maximus shall, in the presence of you and our aforesaid chartulary, purge himself by an oath given concerning the simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is free: we commit the cause of him—concerning the fact that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the solemnities of the Mass—to the judgment of your Fraternity, by what penance such a fault ought to be purged. And therefore whatever pleases you according to God, dispose it with confidence, nor have any doubt concerning us.

For whatever shall have been ordained by you in this cause, we both gratefully accept and gladly admit. Nevertheless we exhort you to be solicitous, and so to temper those things which you perceive to be lamentable, that both you may grant him communion, if so it seems fit, and may preserve the character of ecclesiastical vigor by a fitting dispensation, as is proper. But we have instructed the above-written bearer in person as to what is to be done with him in your presence: from whom, learning all things subtly, so show yourself in all things that we may feel our own presence to have been in your solicitude. 14. Likewise to Castorius, notary and chartulary at Ravenna:

By how much you see both necessary causes enjoined upon you, by so much the more ought you to show yourself vigorous and solicitous. Accordingly, if Maximus of Salona, an oath having been given, shall affirm that he is not held by simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is innocent, and shall have done penance for his disobedience, as we have appointed: we wish that, for his consolation, your Experience should give him the letter which we have written to him, wherein we have signified that we have restored to him both our grace and our communion: because, just as it befits us to be severe toward those persisting in obstinacy, so again toward the humbled and penitent we ought not to deny a place for pardon. (Book

IX, letter 80.) 15. And when Maximus had humbly given satisfaction concerning all things at the body of the blessed Apollinaris according to Gregory's command, Castorius the chartulary presented to him a letter of consolation, asserting in the words of Gregory: Although, upon the culpable beginnings of your ordination, you added a grave evil through the fault of disobedience, we nevertheless, tempering the authority of the Apostolic See with that measure which was fitting, have never until now blazed forth against you as the cause demanded; but that our displeasure—which you yourself stirred up against yourself—should draw itself out longer, the solicitude entrusted to us vehemently distressed us, lest we should seem negligently to pass over certain unlawful things which we had heard concerning you.

If you consider these things well, you yourself, by deferring to give satisfaction through yourself, were confirming them, and from this were the more sharply inciting our zeal against you. But when at length, using salutary counsel, you humbly submitted yourself to the yoke of obedience, and your Charity, doing penance, purged itself with worthy satisfaction, as we appointed, understand that the grace of fraternal charity is restored to you, and rejoice that you have been received into our fellowship: because, just as it befits us to be strict toward those persevering in guilt, so to be kindly toward those who repent, unto pardon. After therefore your Fraternity knows that it has restored to itself the communion of the Apostolic See, let it send a person to us, who may receive the pallium to be conveyed to you according to custom.

For just as we do not permit unlawful things to be perpetrated, so we do not deny those things which are of custom. But although the dispensation of our office has called us to grant these things, nevertheless the petition of our sweetest and most excellent son, the lord Callinicus the exarch, that we should deal more mildly with you, greatly urged us on; whose most dear will we neither have endured, nor were we able, to sadden. (Book IX, letter 8.) 16.

Moreover the most greedy and most grasping emperor, who used most frequently to defraud, contrary to the most ancient customs, of their donatives the soldiers of the legions—as the history of the Romans relates—perceiving that Gregory, against all the tumults of the world, had utterly no need of the imperial defenses by whose support he boasted that he had raised this man to the citadel of the pontificate: nay rather, that by canonical authorities and by the virtues of his own holiness and prudence, Christ being favorable, he prevailed over all who savor of high things: turned himself more and more to hatred and to the disparagement of his fame, reproaching with crafty assertions the liberality of the pontiff, because he had distributed both ecclesiastical and public grain to the famished soldiers.

To him Gregory—as one who attributed his own advancement to the divine judgment, in whose hand indeed the hearts of kings, abiding there, are inclined wherever He wills (Prov. xxi), and not to fleeting human favors—contradicting with free voice, broke him and disfigured him with these responses, and moreover terrified him by discoursing somewhat concerning the future judgment of God: In his most serene commands, he says, the Piety of the lords, while it strove to reprove me concerning certain matters, by sparing me spared me not at all. For in them he calls me a fool, under the term of urban simplicity. For in Sacred Scripture, when simplicity is taken in a good sense, it is often watchfully associated with prudence or with rectitude. Whence also of blessed Job it is written:

He was a man simple and upright (Job i, 1). And the blessed Apostle Paul admonishes, saying: Be simple in evil, and prudent in good (Rom. xvi, 19). And Truth Himself, through His own person, admonishes in the Gospel, saying: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. x, 16), judging it altogether useless if either prudence be lacking to simplicity, or simplicity to prudence. Therefore, that He might make His servants instructed for all things, He willed them to be both simple as doves and prudent as serpents, so that in them the cunning of the serpent might sharpen the simplicity of the dove, and the simplicity of the dove might temper the cunning of the serpent.

I therefore, who in the most serene commands of the lords am declared simple—as one deceived by the cunning of Ariulf, with prudence not added—it stands beyond doubt that I am called a fool, which I too myself confess to be so. For if your Piety should be silent about this, the very causes cry it out. For I, if I had not been a fool, would by no means have come to endure these things which I suffer in this place amid the swords of the Lombards. But in that matter which I reported concerning Ariulf—that with his whole heart he was ready to come over to the commonwealth—since I am not believed, I am even reproached as having lied. But even though I am not a priest, I know that this is a grievous injury to a priest, that, serving the truth, he should be believed deceitful.

And I have long known that Nordulf was believed more than I, Leo more than I. And now credence is given to those who seem to be in the middle, more than to my assertions. And indeed, if the captivity of my land were not increasing through daily moments, I would gladly keep silent, content amid the contempt and mockery of myself. But this vehemently afflicts me, that from the same source whence I bear the charge of falsehood, thence Italy is daily led captive under the yoke of the Lombards; and while in nothing is credence given to my suggestions, the forces of the enemy monstrously increase. This nevertheless I suggest to the most pious lord, that he may think of me whatever evils he pleases;

but concerning the utility of the commonwealth and the cause of the deliverance of Italy, let him not readily lend pious ears to just anyone, but let him trust deeds rather than words. And let our lord not too quickly grow indignant with priests out of earthly power, but out of excellent consideration, for the sake of Him whose servants they are, let him so rule over them that he may also render them due reverence. For in the divine words priests are sometimes called gods, sometimes angels. And through Moses it is said of him who is to be brought to an oath: Bring him to the gods (Exod. xxii, 8), that is, to the priests. And again it is written: You shall not disparage the gods (ibid. xxxiii), that is, the priests. And the prophet says:

'The lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord of hosts' (Malachi 2:7). What wonder is it, then, if your Piety deigns to honour those to whom God Himself, bestowing honour upon them in His own word, gives even the name of angels or of gods? The ecclesiastical history likewise bears witness that, when accusations against bishops had been presented in writing to the prince Constantine of pious memory, he received indeed the documents of accusation, but summoning the very bishops who had been accused, he burned before their eyes the documents he had received, saying: 'You are gods, established by the true God. Go, and settle your causes among yourselves;'

for it is not fitting that we should judge gods.' Yet in this saying, O pious lord, he conferred more upon himself out of humility than upon them by the reverence he showed. For before him there were pagan princes in the commonwealth who, not knowing the true God, worshipped gods of wood and stone, and nevertheless rendered the greatest honour to their priests. What wonder is it, then, if a Christian emperor deigns to honour the priests of the true God, when the pagans, as we have said, knew how to bestow honour upon priests who served gods of wood and stone? These things I urge upon the piety of my lords not for my own sake, but for the sake of all priests. For I am a sinner, and man;

and because I daily and unceasingly offend against Almighty God, I suspect that in His fearful judgment I have some remedy, if I am unceasingly smitten with daily blows. And I believe that I render that same Almighty Lord the more favourable to you, the more strictly you afflict me who serve Him ill. For I had already received many blows, and, when my lords' commands came upon me, I found a consolation that I did not hope for. If I can, let me quickly enumerate these blows. First, that the peace was taken from me which I had made with the Lombards stationed in Tuscany, without any loss to the commonwealth. Then, the peace being broken, the soldiers were taken away from the city of Rome.

And indeed some were slain by the enemy, while others were stationed at Narni and Perugia; and in order that Perugia might be held, Rome was abandoned. After this a heavier blow was the coming of Agilulf, so that with my own eyes I saw Romans bound by ropes about the neck in the manner of dogs, being led away to be sold in Francia. And because we who were within the city, by God's protection, escaped his hands, an inquiry was made in what respect we might seem culpable — namely, why there had been a lack of grain, which in this city can by no means be kept in large quantity for long, as I have indicated more fully in another report.

And indeed, concerning myself I was in no way troubled, for with my conscience as witness I confess that I am prepared to suffer whatever adversities, provided only that I escape all these things with the salvation of my soul. But concerning the glorious men Gregory the prefect and Castorius the master of soldiers I was not a little afflicted; for they both neglected in no way to do everything that could be done, and endured most vehement labours of watches and of the guarding of the city during that same siege; and after all this they were struck by the grave indignation of my lords. Concerning whom I plainly understand that it is not their own deeds but my person that weighs upon them, since, because they had laboured together in tribulation, after their labour they are together in tribulation.

But as to the fact that my lords' piety holds over me that fearful and terrible judgment of Almighty God, I beg by that same Almighty Lord that they do this no further; for as yet we do not know who there is of what sort; and Paul the excellent preacher says: 'Judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts' (1 Corinthians 4:5). This, however, I say briefly, that as a sinner and unworthy I presume more upon the mercy of the coming Jesus than upon the justice of your piety; and there are many things which men are ignorant of concerning His judgment, for perhaps the things which you praise He will reprove, and the things which you reprove, He will praise.

Amid all uncertainties, therefore, I turn back to tears alone, asking that that same Almighty God may both govern our most pious lord here with His own hand, and in that terrible judgment find him free from all offences; and may He so grant me to please men, if it be necessary, that I may not offend His eternal grace. (Book V, letter 40.) 17.

At length the emperor Maurice, marvelling at the freedom of speech of so great a pontiff and at his constancy in reproof — because he had terrified himself concerning the future judgment of God — was striving to come forth to exercise tyranny against him; but immediately, in that same year, a certain man clad in monastic garments, moved by a certain divine power, seized a sword in his right hand, and carrying it drawn from the forum as far as the bronze statue of the gladiator, foretold that the emperor would die by the sword before all. When Maurice heard this, he restrained himself from inflicting tyranny upon Gregory, and he feared the divine judgment which he had threatened against him — that he would soon undergo it — all the more, the more he believed that Gregory could not lie. 18.

Therefore he soon sent prayers composed in writing, both to Gregory himself and to all the patriarchs, bishops, and monks of the cities and of the deserts, together with much money, wax-tapers, and incense, entreating this above all: that they should beseech the Lord that in this world he might receive the deserts of his evils, if only he might be worthy to be redeemed from the torments to come. And when he himself also, very vehemently and for a long time, asked this with tears, one night as he slept, he saw himself standing before a great multitude, beside the bronze gate of the palace, before a bronze statue of the Saviour. Then a terrible voice came forth from the very likeness of the incarnate Word, saying: 'Give up Maurice.'

And the ministers of judgment, seizing him, placed him beside the umbilicus of the boy that was there. To whom the same voice of the likeness said: 'Where do you wish that I repay you the evils which you have perpetrated in this world?' He answered: 'Lover of men, O Lord, and just Judge, requite them to me here rather, and not in the world to come.' At once the divine voice commanded that Maurice and his wife Constantina, with their sons and daughters and all his kindred, be handed over to the soldier Phocas. Waking, therefore, Maurice sent the chamberlain, and summoned to himself Philippicus his son-in-law, whom he had for some time suspected of wishing to snatch away the empire for himself.

But he, supposing that he was to be destroyed on account of the suspicion, called his wife Gordia and, as though he would not see her again, bade her a last farewell; and having received the sacrament of communion, he came to the palace, and entering the emperor's bedchamber, fell down at his feet. But the emperor, rising to him, nevertheless fell down at his feet in turn, saying: 'Forgive me, I beg, for now indeed, taught by a divine revelation, I have learned that you have committed nothing against me of that which I suspected. But if you know anyone in our ranks who is wont to be called Phocas, tell me.' And Philippicus, long reflecting within himself, said: 'I know one Phocas, who was lately named procurator by the army and was opposing your rule.'

But when Maurice inquired concerning the character of that man, Philippicus said: 'He is indeed young and rash, yet timid.' And Maurice said: 'If he is timid, then surely he is also a murderer.' And while he was wavering over such a matter, on the morrow the messenger, returning from the hermits to whom he had carried the emperor's prayers, brought back the answer, saying: 'God, having received your penitence, will save your soul, and will set you with the saints together with your whole house; but from the empire you shall fall with ignominy and peril.' 19. Hearing which, Maurice, glorifying God, held fast to penitence;