To Honoratus the Deacon, on the Wrongs of the Duke of Sardinia

Gregory to Honoratus, and so on. [a]

Since we have taken on a place of government, unworthy though we are, it is our duty to help our brothers in need as far as our power reaches. Now Januarius, our brother and fellow bishop of the metropolitan city of Cagliari, has been here in the city of Rome. He has told us that the glorious Theodore, master of the soldiers, who is known to have received the command of duke of the island of Sardinia, is doing many things there contrary to the commands of our most pious lords, by which, with fitting clemency and gentleness, they removed many hardships of landowners and of the citizens of their empire. So we want you, at a suitable time, to put the case before our most pious lords, in line with what the people of that island justly and reasonably ask. For on an earlier occasion too their sacred imperial letters were sent to the glorious Edancius, master of the soldiers, who was duke of Sardinia in the seventh indiction, ordering all these present grievances to be put right. Their aim was that their commands, coming from the bounty of their piety, might be kept unshaken by the dukes who might come to power in the course of time, and that the benefit of them might not be squandered by administrators. In this way a quiet life would be led under the clement rule of our lords, and they would receive a manifold reward at the coming of the eternal Judge for the decree that they grant to their subjects with a tranquil mind. [b]