To Clementina the Patrician, on the Death of Eutherius

Gregory to Clementina, and so on. [a]

We have received your glory’s letter telling of the passing of the late Eutherius, of magnificent memory, and we let you know that our mind, no less than yours, is shaken by such a sorrow. For we see how men of proven reputation are being taken from this world one by one, and the ruin of the world is already plain in the actual effects of its causes. But we ought to withdraw ourselves from it by the wise precaution of conversion, so that it does not draw us too into its own ruin. And indeed our sorrow at the loss of friends ought to be the more bearable, since our mortal condition requires that we lose them. Yet for the loss of help to our life in the flesh, he who allowed it to be taken away has the power to console, and to come himself as a comforter into the empty place. [b] That we cannot grant your request to send you the deacon Anatolius is due to the circumstances of the case, and not to any harsh severity. For we have appointed him our steward and have entrusted our episcopal residence to his management. [c]