To Anthemius the Subdeacon, on Ransoming the Captives of Campania

Gregory to Anthemius, our subdeacon at Naples. [a] How great our grief is, and how great the affliction of our heart over what has happened in the regions of Campania, we cannot express; but you can judge it for yourself from the greatness of the disaster. In view of this, we are sending your experience money, by the hand of the magnificent Stephen, who carries this letter, for the relief of the captives who have been taken. We urge you to give the business your whole attention and to carry it out vigorously. In the case of free men whom you know to have no means of their own to pay their ransom, make haste to ransom them. If there are any slaves, and you find that their masters are so poor that they cannot come forward to ransom them, do not hesitate to recover them as well. In the same way, take care also to ransom the church’s slaves who have been lost through your neglect. [b]

Further, be sure by all means to draw up a list of all those you ransom, with their names, where each one is staying, what he is doing, and where he came from; and you may bring this list with you when you come. Make haste, too, to show yourself so diligent in this business that those who are to be ransomed may run no risk through your negligence, and that you may not come afterwards to be gravely at fault before us. But work especially for this as well: that, if possible, you may be able to recover these captives at a moderate price. And set down in writing, with all clarity and exactness, the whole sum spent, and send us this written account of yours quickly. The month of May, in the fourteenth indiction.