Letter 32

32. To Sophronius, the magister.

Our most God-beloved brother Gregory the bishop is also having his share of these times; for he too, along with all the rest, is in distress, struck by insult upon insult as by so many unexpected blows. For men who do not fear God — driven on, perhaps, by the very magnitude of the troubles — assail him with the charge that he received money from Caesarius.

And it is not the weight of the loss that troubles him, for long ago he learned to despise money; but that, having received only the merest trifle of Caesarius's estate — because his property fell into the hands of servants and of men no better in character than servants, who with great licence divided among themselves the most valuable things and kept back for these others scarcely anything at all — the little they kept, supposing it to be liable to no claim, they at once spent upon the needy, both of their own choice and at the bidding of the departed. For he is said to have said this as he was dying, that I wish all that is mine to become the property of the poor. So, as ministers of Caesarius's command, they at once administered it profitably. And now the upshot is the poverty of a Christian and the meddlesome zeal of one of the men of the market-place. For this reason it has occurred to me to make it known to your wholly praiseworthy nobility, so that you may at once honour the man, whom you have known of old, and glorify the Lord, who takes upon himself what is done to his servants, and honour us, who are your own particular friends; and that you may speak to the Count of the Treasury about him as is fitting, and devise a way, by your great sagacity, for him to be rid of these insolent and intolerable annoyances.

For surely no one is so ignorant of the man as to suppose anything unbecoming of him — that he is feigning all this out of attachment to money. For close at hand is the proof of his liberality: he gladly gives up to the treasury the remnants of his estate, so that his property may be received, while the advocate of the treasury answers those who fasten upon him and demand the receipts, on account of our own unfitness for such matters. For your perfection may learn that, as long as it was possible, no one went away having failed of what he wished, but each obtained without trouble what he sought, so that many even regretted that they had not asked for more from the start. And this above all has made the assailants many; for, looking to the example of those who went before, one after another succeeds in bringing false charges.

Against all this, then, we entreat your dignity to stand firm, and, as it were, to check some flood and cut short the continuity of these evils. And you know how to aid the matter, so that you need not wait to be taught the manner by us, who, through our inexperience of the affairs of life, are ignorant of this very thing — how relief might come to us. Be yourself, then, both counsellor and protector, finding out the form of help through your own great prudence.