約伯倫理 第 31 章

Argument. — 1. Gregory's patience amid infirmities and his unremitting toil. — 2. With what solicitude he strove to crush the newly arisen heresy of the Agnoetae. He praises the writings of St. Eulogius against them. He meets an error springing up at Thessalonica. — 3. The Slavs burst into Italy. A truce obtained with the Lombards for a year. — 4. A son is born to their king. The garments and dress of the Lombards. — 5. The emperor punishes those guilty of extortion. Places of asylum in the churches. Gregory's solicitude for accused friends. — 6. He strives to bend a judge to clemency. — 7. He consoles a friend stripped of his fortunes, and revives him by his generosity. His consolatory letters to Dominicus. — 8. He inflames those enjoying prosperity to a contempt of it. — 9.

He by no means dissembles the faults of his friends. — 10. Fortunatus, bishop of Naples, dies. St. Gregory deliberates long about his successor. — 11. He rebukes the duke of Campania for harassing monks. (Years 599 and 600.) 1. Gregory's ailments grew worse day by day; yet he could say with the Apostle: 「When I am weak, then am I strong」 (2 Cor. 12:10). He most excellently sketches the supreme equanimity of his soul amid the torments of so many diseases in these words to his friend Eulogius: 「Behold,」 he says, 「now nearly two years are being completed during which I am held to my bed, and afflicted with such pains of the gout that scarcely on feast days am I able to rise for the space of three hours to celebrate the solemnities of the Masses.」

「But soon, when I am driven by grievous pain to lie down, so that I may endure my torment by the groaning that interrupts it. This pain is at times slow to me, at times excessive. But neither so slow that it withdraws, nor so excessive that it kills. Whence it comes about that I who am daily in death am daily repelled from death. Nor is it any wonder, since as a grievous sinner I am long held shut up in the prison of such corruption. Whence I am compelled to cry out: Bring my soul out of prison, that it may confess to thy name」 (Ps. 141:8).

「But because by my own prayers I do not yet merit to obtain this, I beg that the prayer of your holiness may bless me with the help of its intercession, and render me free from the weight of sin and corruption unto that liberty of the glory of the sons of God which you well know」 (Book X, letter 35). The summer heats, which might have seemed able to help in mitigating the torments of the gout, since they were suited to dispel the noxious and morbid humor, were on other grounds very contrary to his body, as he himself says (Homily 34 on the Gospels, no. 1); for he was burned with slow and continuous fevers.

Another pontiff, doubtless, thinking of nothing but alleviating his discomforts, of applying remedies and summoning physicians, would at their nod have dismissed all thought of ecclesiastical affairs, and entrusted all the cares of the pontificate to vicars. There is no lack of men who, among the highest prelates and bishops, aspire to succeed to the pastoral burden, whether out of charity or out of ambition. But the most holy Shepherd of all Christ's sheep did not think the yoke imposed on him by Christ should be cast onto others' and vicarious shoulders — for so he called the pontifical office. 2. Now his chief solicitude was to examine and crush errors as soon as they became known, as soon as they arose.

Not long before, the heresy of the Agnoetae had arisen at Alexandria, whose beginnings some trace to Themistius the deacon, whence they were called Themistians. St. Eulogius of Alexandria, who contended against heretics of this sort, is authority for the statement that certain monks from Palestine stirred up this heresy (John Damascene, On Heresies, in Photius, Bibliotheca, codex 230). These men attributed ignorance to Christ, from certain passages of the Gospel wrongly understood. Namely, when Christ, inquiring about the buried Lazarus, says, 「Where have you laid him?」 (John 11:34) and elsewhere saying, 「But of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son」 (Mark 13:32); thence they thought it must be asserted that He was ignorant of these things.

Against this error Eulogius wrote, and took care to send his composition to Gregory for his approval; which the pope greatly praised as wholly consonant with the doctrine of the Church: 「Concerning your doctrine,」 he says, 「against the heretics who are called Agnoetae, there was much for us to admire; but nothing that displeased. And in the same sense I had long ago written many things to our common son Anatolius the deacon. Moreover your doctrine so accorded in all things with the Latin Fathers, that it was no wonder to me that in diverse tongues the Spirit was not diverse. For that which you said about the fig tree, in that sense blessed Augustine properly speaks, since when the Evangelist added:」

「For it was not yet the time for figs」 (Mark 11:13), it is plainly recognized that by the fig tree the Lord had sought fruit in the Synagogue, which had the leaves of the Law, but did not have the fruit of works. For the Creator of all could not be ignorant that the fig tree had no fruit, since, when it was not the time for figs, all could know it」 (Book X, letter 39). The holy Father goes on to show the wonderful agreement of Eulogius's doctrine with that of Augustine, which he himself had thirstily drunk in, and being inebriated poured forth. Certainly this Gregorian letter suffices to refute the dreams of the Agnoetae; for in it he meets everything whereby any ignorance whatsoever might be feigned of Christ. The most learned pope had had occasion to write on this subject.

For two years before, certain monks of Jerusalem had come to Constantinople, and, as may be conjectured, had questioned Anatolius, the apocrisiarius of the holy see, on that matter. But that deacon delayed to answer until he had consulted Gregory. To him, he himself says to Eulogius, 「I, long before I received your writings, had myself answered against the same heresy in the very things which I afterwards found in the letter of your holiness; and I gave great thanks to almighty God, because concerning all inquiries the Fathers of the Romans and of the Greeks, whose followers we are, have spoken with one Spirit」 (Ibid., letter 35). Gregory teaches that it is manifest the Agnoetae were Nestorians (Ibid., letter 39);

whence it is hidden from me by what reasoning the contrary error of the Eutychians is attributed to them by the most learned Theologian. Certainly neither Gregory, nor Eulogius (who had engaged with them both in person and in writing) ever reckoned them among the Eutychians. At the same time the most vigilant Shepherd of the Church, when he had learned that no light scandal had arisen in the Church of Thessalonica, Luke the priest and Peter being unwilling to accept the Council of Chalcedon, at once wrote on that matter to Eusebius, archbishop of Thessalonica, that he should diligently apply himself to removing the offense. From which letter we are especially taught what must be rendered by those concerning whose faith a suspicion has arisen.

Concerning Luke, St. Gregory gave the same instructions still in the following year. 3. While heretics were troubling the Church, the affairs of the empire were no more peaceful. For the Slavs had already begun to enter Italy through the pass of Istria, when St. Gregory wrote back to Maximus of Salona, who had warned of the barbarians' incursion (Book X, letter 36). To the same year Baronius also refers what Paul the Deacon narrates about Chagan, king of the Avars, invading the province of Venetia, and having gained Forum Julii by the treachery of Ramilda (Book IV, ch. 12). Whether the Lombards twice favored the barbarians while they laid waste the provinces of the empire, we dare not assert;

for that at this same time peace was made with the king of the Lombards, or rather a truce agreed until the month of March of the fourth indiction, St. Gregory testifies, writing to Innocentius, prefect of Africa. In this letter occurs a notable proof of his humility, and of his supreme reverence toward Augustine, not to be passed over: 「Because,」 he says, 「you wished the codex on the exposition of holy Job to be transmitted to you, we rejoice altogether at your zeal: since we perceive your eminence to be devoted to that work which neither permits you to go wholly out of doors, and gathers you back to your heart when you are scattered by secular cares.」

「But if you desire to be fattened on delicious fodder, read the little works of blessed Augustine, your fellow countryman, and do not seek our bran in comparison with that fine wheat」 (Book X, letter 37). 4. From the same letter we understand that the death of the king of the Lombards had been announced at Rome. Gregory writes that this was uncertain, which he afterwards found to be false. Nay, instead of mourning over the death of the prince, there was the greatest joy in the whole nation over the son born to him, Adaloald by name. He was brought into the light at Monza, not far from Milan, a place dear to Queen Theodelinda. For there she built a basilica of St. John the Baptist, patron of the whole nation, adorned it with ornaments of gold and silver, and enriched it with most ample estates.

Formerly in this Church, which still stands, Benedictine monks ministered. In the same place royal munificence built a famous palace, where the chief deeds of the Lombards were seen depicted (Cf. Paul the Deacon, book IV, chapters 22, 23, 26; Mabillon, Musaeum Italicum, pp. 212 and 215). Perhaps it will not be unpleasant to the reader here to describe, from Paul the Deacon, what the dress of the Lombards then was, what their garments, as could be discerned from the painted panels of the Monza palace. Shaving the back of the head, they left it bare up to the occiput; having the hair let down from the face to the mouth, which they parted on either side of the forehead. Their garments were loose, and especially of linen, adorned with borders of various color.

Their shoes were open almost up to the tip of the big toe, and held on alternately by the loops of thongs. Afterwards they began to use hose, over which, when riding, they put on woolen leggings. But these things they derived from Roman custom (Cf. the place cited above). 5. Meanwhile the emperor Maurice decided to use the brief interval of peace to exact accounts from those who had received public monies to disburse, and were reported to have turned them to their own use. With this design he sent to Rome Leontius the ex-consul, whom Domitianus, metropolitan of Melitene, kinsman of the emperor (as has already been said), commended to St. Gregory;

asking moreover that, in those things which had been enjoined upon him for the public benefit by the command of the most serene Lords, he would deign, so far as reason allowed, to lend his support. The pope promised most willingly that he would do this; nor did he delay to fulfill it, for when Gregory the ex-prefect and others who were accused of extortion had taken refuge within the ecclesiastical enclosures, because these were held as an inviolable asylum, St. Gregory persuaded them to come out, and to take care to set forth their accounts (Book X, letter 50). And so they came out, and were handed over to Marcus Scribo, who had come for their production, a pledge having first been received that they would suffer no violence.

The pope commended Gregory the ex-prefect, most closely joined to himself in friendship, both to very many bishops in Sicily, and to Leontius the ex-consul and others whom in the province he had received either as helpers and sharers of counsel, or as ministers. When, long after the appointed and fixed time, Gregory the ex-prefect had come into Sicily by order of Marcus (or Azimarchus) Scribo, to present himself for judgement before the ex-consul, St. Gregory signified to the same Scribo that the cause of the delay and procrastination had been a grave illness, not a voluntary postponement. What was judged concerning him we are not able to ascertain.

Yet that this ex-prefect did not fall from his former estate, whether as to honors or as to fortunes, may be conjectured from a letter written to him two years later (Book XII, letter 22). 6. Libertinus, once prefect of Sicily, an intimate of St. Gregory, was treated far more harshly. The pious pontiff had asked the ex-consul to hold his friend recommended; and he had written concerning him to very many others with the same design. But Leontius the ex-consul, a man indeed of excessive severity, sent to Gregory a copy of a certain bond utterly execrable, which gave proof with how perverse a mind Libertinus had come to the dignity of the prefecture.

To one tacitly reproaching him for having recommended a most wicked man, the pope replied that he had never written to him about anyone except that he should extend his protection where justice favored; that concerning Libertinus, when made prefect of Sicily, the whole province had rendered thanks, which seemed sufficient argument of his probity; but who he was, or what causes he had had, or what he might answer to the crimes charged against him, was wholly unknown to himself: 「This one thing, however,」 he says, 「I know well and constantly, that even if he committed any fraud in public affairs, his substance ought to have been struck, not his liberty.」

「For in this, that free men are struck — 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 nonetheless wholly 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, but the emperor of the Romans is lord of free men. Whence you too, whatever you do, ought to do it first with justice preserved, then with liberty guarded in all things」 (Book X, letter 51). The most holy man goes on to rebuke the judge's excessive austerity, and to give truly excellent precepts for softening it, of which it has pleased us to cull these few: 「As often as anger invades the mind, tame the mind, conquer your very self.」

「Defer the time of fury, and when the mind has become tranquil, judge what pleases. For anger, in the punishment of the wicked, ought to follow the reason of the soul, not go before it, so that it may come behind, as it were, as the handmaid of justice, and not burst forth wanton before its face. Sometimes indeed it is to be shown, and not exhibited; sometimes it is to be exhibited, but never to be followed. For when in the execution of justice we are angry with a mind at peace, we both do not follow anger and yet exhibit it.」 On behalf of recommending Libertinus, Gregory had also written to Amandinus the domesticus (Book X, letter 52), which the latter took ill, although the letter had nothing harsh about it. And now he was preparing to write back to Gregory in harsh words, but was prevented from carrying it out by a dream.

For he testified that he had seen the pope in his sleep reproving and rebuking him for that cause. 7. To Libertinus, stripped of nearly all his fortunes, Gregory wrote a consolatory letter, and exhorted his friend to bear adversities patiently. To words he added generosity, which he seasoned with his usual courtesy: 「But I beg,」 he says, 「that you not deem it an injury that we have written, through Romanus the defender, that twenty garments be furnished to your servants; because concerning the goods of the blessed apostle Peter, however small the things that are offered may be, they are always to be received as a great blessing」 (Book X, letter 31).

Not to one friend only, but to very many, the office of consoling had to be expended by Gregory, especially to Dominicus, bishop of Carthage, on account of the pestilence raging in Africa, whom he teaches what fruits are to be gathered from this scourge. He asserts that Italy at that time was not free from such a stroke, upon which very many calamities were coming as it were in a heap (Book X, letter 63). 8. Those whom he knew to use prosperity, and to be schooled by no affliction as a teacher, he more and more inflamed to a contempt of temporal goods and a love of the eternal. Thus he writes to a certain illustrious woman: 「Your Glory's letter brought us great joy, which signified that you have a desire for eternal life;」

「but because the fleeting glory of the world is wont to hinder a zeal of this kind, we exhort that no transitory thing whatever recall your mind's most salutary resolution, nor turn it aside from the path begun. But rather let the love of the heavenly homeland inflame it, let abiding rewards solicit it, and let it ever aspire with certainty to the promise of the Judge to come, and out of temporal things purchase eternal ones: so that from this you may both be in true glory, and be enrolled among the heavenly matrons. Recall to your mind the prosperities of the times, the multitude of men, the pomps of dignities, the glory of matrons, the abundance of riches. Consider all these things — where or what they have become;」

「and from this weigh how they are nothing, and how he who loves these things sees a dream while waking」 (Book X, letter 4). 9. He by no means dissembled the faults of his friends when writing to them. Thus he addresses Clementina the patrician: 「It has been reported to me that if ever anyone has offended you, you retain the grief irremissibly. And if this is true — since as much as I love you, so much am I grieved — I beg that you nobly exclude this vice from yourself, and that you not allow the enemy's seed to grow up alongside the harvest of good work. Let the words of the Lord's Prayer be recalled to memory, and let not fault prevail more with you than pardon.」

「Let your Glory's goodness overcome the excess, and by pardoning more wholesomely let it make devoted him whom persisting harshness can make undevoted. Let there be left to him something from which he may have shame, and let not what he may grieve over be preserved. For very often a discreet remission in correction has more strength than a strictness in exacting vengeance」 (Book X, letter 58). If it happened that friends, from the liberty of correcting, were sometimes offended and exasperated, he made it his business to appease them with friendly words, that they might understand that his harsh words had flowed not from hatred, but from charity. 10. This year Fortunatus the bishop died. Gregory had reproved him a little before his death (Book X, letter

24 and 25), both concerning his very slight solicitude toward the monasteries, and concerning the gates of the City and the aqueduct that had been usurped, the care and custody of which pertained to Theodorus, the mayor of the people, and to Rusticus the elder. And accordingly the most just pontiff ordered the usurped things to be restored. This 「mayor of the people」 was almost the same magistrate as with us now the 「mayor of the city.」 The city of Naples was even then most ample.

There we learn that the craftsmen had coalesced into distinct bodies, according to each art which they professed, from the complaints of the soap-makers against John the Palatine, who was striving to impose many new burdens prejudicially upon their body, and wished to appropriate to himself whatever profit accrued from its entrance-fee, that is, whatever was paid by those who obtained to be associated with this order or body (Book X, letter 26). Concerning the successor of Fortunatus there was long deliberation. Part of the people favored John the Deacon; but he was rejected by the pope, because, since he had a little daughter, his continence had not yet been proved and tested for a sufficient time. The other part had elected Peter, likewise a deacon, who neither pleased the pontiff on account of his excessive simplicity.

Besides, he was said once to have lent money at usury. Neither of them therefore was made bishop, but Paschasius, to whom very many Gregorian letters are addressed. 15. Now we should have to treat of monastic affairs pertaining to this year, but for the sake of brevity, we shall weigh only a single letter of St. Gregory written in defense of monks. From the monastery of St. Archangel, near Naples, a certain monk had gone off to the enemy; which so carried away Godescalcus, duke of Campania, into fury, that he ordered the doors of the monastery to be broken and whatever was found there to be plundered. Fuscus, abbot of the monastery, had escaped the danger by flight, knowing that the duke charged him with the crime of the fugitive monk. How absurd this was St.

Gregory showed, recalling him to a saner mind by his own example: 「Have not many, even in the days of your greatness,」 he says, 「fled from the city in which you reside to the Lombard soldiers? And who could be found of such great want of discretion, and of such great folly, as to reckon that their iniquity ought to be imputed to you?」 (Book X, letter 11) The violence inflicted on this monastery had perhaps given occasion to Constantius, monk and priest, to migrate into Sicily, and to carry off with him the veils and codices of his monastery. When he had closed his last day there, Gregory, being asked by Fuscus the abbot, wrote to Fantinus the defender, that he should take care to have the things carried off restored (Book X, letter 14).