To John, Bishop of Ravenna, on Ariulph and the Exarch

Gregory to John, bishop of Ravenna. [a]

If I have not answered the many letters of your blessedness, put it down not to laziness on my part but to weakness. For because of my sins, when Ariulph came to the city of Rome and killed some and mutilated others, I was struck with such great sadness that I fell ill with colic. But I wondered greatly why that well-known care of your holiness for me did nothing to help this city and my needs. When your letters reached me, however, I saw that you are indeed taking pains to act, but have no one on whom your action can take effect. So I put it down to my sins that this man we are now dealing with both avoids fighting against our enemies and also forbids us to make peace. And yet at present, even if he wanted us to make it, we would be quite unable to, since Ariulph, who has the army of Authar and Nordulf, wants their subsidies paid to him before he will even deign to speak to us about peace.

As to the case of the bishops of Istria, I have learned that everything you told me in your letters was true, from the orders that have come to me from the most pious princes, telling me to refrain for the present from compelling them. I do feel with you, and I rejoice greatly in your zeal and ardor in what you have written, and I acknowledge that I have become your debtor in many ways. Know, however, that I will not stop writing to the most serene lords on this same matter with the greatest zeal and freedom. Further, the hostility of the most excellent Romanus the patrician, whom I have mentioned, ought not to trouble you. Since we are above him in place and rank, we ought all the more to bear any frivolous behavior on his part with patience and dignity. [d] If, however, there is any chance of persuading him, let your fraternity work on him, so that we may make peace with Ariulph, if we can in even some small measure, since the soldiers have been taken away from the city of Rome, as he himself knows. The soldiers of the Theodosian legion who have stayed here have not received their pay, and can hardly be brought to guard the walls. And how is the city to survive, abandoned as it is by everyone, if it does not have peace? [e]

Furthermore, as to the woman redeemed from captivity, whose origin you wrote asking us to look into, we would have your holiness know that an unknown person cannot easily be traced. But what you say about someone who has been ordained being ordained again is utterly ridiculous, and beneath the consideration of a man of your disposition, unless perhaps some precedent is brought forward that ought to be taken into account in judging the man who is said to have done such a thing. But far be it from your fraternity to hold such a view. For just as one who has been baptized once ought not to be baptized again, so one who has been consecrated once cannot be consecrated again to the same order. But if someone’s reaching the priesthood was accompanied by a slight misdeed, he ought to be sentenced to penance for the misdeed, and yet keep his orders. [f]

With regard to the city of Naples, in view of the urgent insistence of the most excellent exarch, we give you to understand that Arigis, as we have found out, has joined himself to Ariulph, is breaking faith with the state, and is plotting a great deal against this same city. Unless a duke is sent to it quickly, it can already be counted among the lost. [g]

As to what you say about sending alms to the city of the schismatic Severus, which has been burned, your fraternity holds this opinion because you do not know about the bribes he sends to the court to work against us. And even if these were not being sent, we would have to bear in mind that compassion is to be shown first to the faithful, and afterward to the enemies of the church. For there is the city of Fano close at hand, where many have been taken captive, and to which I already wanted to send alms last year, but did not dare to send them through the midst of the enemy. So it seems to me that you should send the abbot Claudius there with a certain amount of money, to redeem the free people he may find held there in slavery for ransom, or any who are still in captivity. As for the sum of money to be sent in this way, rest assured that whatever you decide will please me. Moreover, if you are negotiating with the most excellent Romanus the patrician to allow us to make peace with Ariulph, I am ready to send another person to you, with whom questions of ransom can be better arranged. [h]

Concerning our brother and fellow bishop Natalis, I was at one time greatly distressed, because I had found him behaving arrogantly in certain matters. But since he has himself corrected his conduct, he has won me over and consoled my distress. In connection with this matter, tell our brother and fellow bishop Malchus that before he comes to us he is to render his accounts, and then go elsewhere if he must. And if we find his conduct good, we may perhaps have to give him back the patrimony he had charge of. [i]