Letter 9085: My dear daughter, word has reached me that you believe yourself to be the object of my ill will.

It has reached us, through a certain abbot who reported it to us, that it has been announced to your Glory by certain slanderers that we hold some grudge against you, which heaven forbid. But if this be so, whoever falsely concocted this have shown themselves double-dealers toward you under an appearance of sincerity, so that they might both present themselves as if faithful and make us doubt wrongly concerning you. But I, glorious daughter, having long known your good qualities, and especially the chastity which has been your companion from girlhood, have always held you in great veneration and affection. But lest even now your Glory should suspect that my heart is otherwise, I declare to you that there is in me no scruple of hatred or anger toward you, but know that I show you a fatherly affection. There is one thing, however, which has been brought to me that I ought not to keep silent, lest it begin to be less an act of charity, if that which ought to be said for amendment is suppressed in silence. For it has been announced to me that, whenever anyone has offended you, you retain the resentment irremissibly. And if this is true, then, because the more I love you the more I am grieved, I beg that you nobly exclude this fault from yourselves, and that you not allow the enemy's seed to grow up alongside the crop of good work. Let the words of the Lord's Prayer be brought back to mind, and let not the offense prevail with you more than the pardon. Let the goodness of your Glory overcome your excesses, and more wholesomely make the guilty one humbled by forgiving, whom persisting harshness can make undevoted. Let there be left to him a reason for shame, and let there not be kept up a reason for grief. For very often a discreet remission has more strength in restraint than a strict severity in carrying out vengeance; so much so that sometimes the former makes [a man] more faithful and submissive, while the latter [makes him] obstinate. [Editorial apparatus and variant readings of chapters IX, 84 and IX, 85 follow in the manuscript here, listing scribal corrections from the codices; these are not part of the letter text. Notes record that IX, 84 concerns Anthemius, rector of the patrimony of Campania, and the elders of the city of Naples; that IX, 85 concerns Clementina the patrician lady, and that this letter, like the preceding one, was sent to Naples.] [Letter IX, 87 - found in codices R and the others as section I, II, chapter 61; in C as chapter 190; in editions M as Book IX, letter 30; and as Book VII, indiction II, letter 29. Register entry 1612 (1189).] GREGORY TO ANTHEMIUS, SUBDEACON, AT NAPLES. The rule of equity demands that what was restored by our predecessors, the truth being known, our church ought not now to hold back undeservedly a second time, lest - what is altogether contrary to a religious purpose - the restitution should be seen to have been not genuine, but imaginary and rather deceitful. And therefore, since Stephen, abbot of the monastery of Saint Mark, which is known to be situated next to the walls of the city of Spoleto, has complained to us that the estate of Venus, located in the province of Campania in the territory of Mentumna, which we have learned was restored to him by the precept of our predecessor Benedict of blessed memory, is now being undeservedly held back by our church, for this reason we instruct you by this authority that, if it is manifestly being detained by the men of our church, you restore it without any delay or dispute to the lawful right of the aforesaid monastery. But if it is being detained not by our men, but perhaps by certain outsiders, we wish you to act with energetic diligence, so that it ought by all means to be restored to the lawful right of the said monastery, in such a way that the monastery may both recover, by your assistance, that which is its own without any wearisome trouble, and that another may not unjustly hold a gain from the monastery's loss.

Abbate quodam ad nos referente pervenit, quod gloriae vestrae a quibuBdam sit maledicis nuntiatum, quia ahquem contra vos, quod absit, stimulum habeamus. Quod si ita eat, quicumque hoc fallaciter confinxenint ■ , sub'" puritatis vobis specie duplicea extiterunt*', ut et se quasi lideles ostenderent et nos de vobis prare facerent' dubitare. Ego autem, gloriosa'' filia, bona tua olim cognoacens et praecipue caatitatem, quae tibi ab aduleaoentia* comcB fuit, in magna semper veneratione et dilectione te habul. Sed ne vel nunc ahud cor meum' esae" gloria vestra suspecta'' sit, nullum mihi odii vel iracundiao circa vob scripulum inesse significo, aed patemam me vobis dilectionem ex- hibere cognoscite. Unum tamen quod ad me perlatum' est reticerc non debeo, ne minuB esse caritatis incipiat, si silentio prematur quod ad emeodationem dicendum est. Nuntiatum siquidem mihi est, quia, ai'' quando vos quiBquam ofienderit, dolorem inremiaaibiliter retinetis. Quod si verum cet, quia, quanto' diligo, tanto contristor, peto, ut hoc a vobis vitium nobiliter excludatis ot secundum boni operis segetem inimici semen crescero non sinatie. Dominicae orationis verba reducantur ad animum, et non apud voB plus valeat culpa qnam venia. Excessus gloriae veatrae bonitaa euperet et magia salnbriter ignoscendo reum faciat, quem potOBt" pereisteDs facere Bsperitas indevotum. Relinquatur illi, unde verecundiam habeat, et non servetur", quod doleat. Nam plerum- que pluB virium habet diacreta in coercitione " remieaio, quam in exequenda ultione dietrictio, adeo uf nonnumquam baec fideliorem atque i subiectum, illa vero obstinatum IX, 84 in Htttlo: Antemio C3 (ttd Antbemio in mditit). ») Ua edd.; ab om. etrdd. n. *) oom- panUm codd.n. ') m codd. n. ^) sutni C3. ') ordinui C I. pniiturM eodd. n. IX, 85. *) «X confrinxenint eorr. C3 m.3. ^) om. verba mh — extiternnt '■'/. ') prAva fece- nint CS. *) glorioiM CJ. •) tn« add., Mtd del. C 1. ") ex noctrum Borr. C3. «) ont. hoe verb. C3. >■) luscepln C 1. 2, ted eorr. C3. ') praelatum eodd- n., led eorr. C'J m, 2. ^) quaai C3. >) qusnd» C 3. 3, JwJ eorr. C3. ") pote C3. ") servet C3. «) Ua ter.; cohertione eodd. n. p) quia CS. 3. 1) ad Cl. IX, 84. De Anthemio, rectore patrimonii Campaniae, cf, ep. I, SSn. I) De senioribiu (cir>Ualit Neapotitanae) ef. ep. IX, 40 n. 1. IX, 85. Dt ClemetUina pahicia cf. «p. III, l p. 159 n. I. — Haec <p. eum prateed. NeapoliiR 13» yGoogle ,GoogIe IX, 87. ■••:>;. Codd. R et ^: Mictio I. II. eap. 61; C: cap. 190. & Edd. M: lAb. IX. ep. 30; 6: Lib. VIL ind. IL ep. 29. — laffi Beg. 1612 (H89). GREGORIUS ANTHEMIO 8UBDIAC0N0 NEAPOLIM. Aequitads iub exigit, ut hoc quod a prodecessoribus " noBtris cognita veritate eet redditum noatra indebite'' denuo ecclesia tenere non° debeat, ne, quod omnino coDtra leligiosum conatat eaac propositum, non vera, eed imaginaria ac magiB dolosa fuisse 10 reetitutio videatur''. Et ideo quoniam StepfaanuB abbas* monaeterii saucti Marci, quod GouBtitutum iuxta muroa Spolitinae'* civitatis eBse dinoscitur. queBtus nobie est massam Veneris in provincia Gampania^ sitam territorio Mentumensi", quam ei beatae me- moriae' deceaBoris nostri Benedicti* rcdditam praeceptione cognovimus, ab ecGksia nostra^ nunc indebite retineri', idcirco hac tibi auctoritate praecipimuB, ut, si manifeste >9 ab ecclesiae nostrao hominibus dctinetur, iu iure cani'" pracdicti monasterii sine aliqua mora" vel altercatione restituas. Si vero non n nostris, acd a quibusdam forsitan ex- traneb detinetur, strenua te agere solIicttudiDe volumus, ut in iure modis omnibus me- morati debeat monasterii refonnari, quatenus et ipsum quod suum eat te solaciante sine aliqua fatigatione recipiat et alter de dispendio monasterii iniuate lucrum non 30 habeat.