Letter 2012: Many people, claiming that I have great influence with your inseparable excellency — not through the merit of my...

12. To my lord, sublime and ever magnificent brother Praesidius, Bishop Ruricius. Many people, since they are confident that I have great influence with your sublimity, which is inseparable from me, not by the merit of my life but by the privilege of our friendship, seek letters of recommendation from us by which they may be excused to you; and these we cannot deny them, given the obligation of our office, not from the boldness of presumption, but from the discipline of our ministry, since we desire both to provide for them the comforts of this present life and for you the comforts of eternity, so that they too may be preserved through your forbearance unto repentance, and that you may attain through mercy unto pardon, just as Scripture says: that the judgment shall be without mercy to him who has not shown mercy [James 2:13], because He who said, "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you" [Luke 6:37], will without doubt restore in the future what He promised to the one whom He sees doing here what He commanded. For His truth is at hand for us, if our faith toward Him is not lacking. From this you can most clearly perceive that the absolution of your wretched ones is the forgiveness of your own sins, and that what you grant to others is to be credited to your prayers, according to His own saying in the Gospel: with what judgment you shall judge, it shall be judged concerning you [Matthew 7:2]. And therefore on behalf of Ursus and Lupicinus, who came to me bound by the law of charity, as I said above, as though more particularly to us, to intercede for their crimes, I approach as an intercessor, that you may deign to forgive what they committed, first to God, then to us, and that you may not, in their undoing, confound us, who believed themselves to have been absolved when they were brought to my humble self.

XII. DOMINO SUBLIMI SEMPERQVE MAGNIFICO FRATRI PRAESIDIO RURICIUS EPISCOPUS. Plerique, dum me apud indiuiduam mihi sublimitatem uestram non uitae merito, sed amicitiarum priuilegio multum posse 2] Matth. 13,46. 4] Matth. 18,44. 18] Matth. 19, 23. 18] Matth. 19, 26; Luc. 18, 27. 1 a add. v, om. S 2 negociatoris S 3 uinditis S praeciosissimu margaritu S 4 destactisq; S 8 uinderet S 20 totus Kr., totis S, otiis Mommsenus usque v, aeque Luetjohann 21 mutuae in ras. 81 et] ut v 23 strenuus] stre itl marg. repet. 81 aedificatur 81 27 eadem epistula infra recimit II53 presidio S 30 ammicitiarum S priuilegium S, corr. v confidunt, commendaticias a nobis, quibus uobis excusentur, inquirunt, quas eis pro officii nostri necessitate negare non possumus, non praesumptionis audacia, sed ministerii disciplina, dum et illis praesentis uitae solacia et uobis prouidere desideramus aeternae, ut et illi per patientiam uestram reseruentur ad paenitentiam et uos per misericordiam perueniatis ad ueniam, sicut dicit scriptura: quia iudicium sine misericordia erit illi, qui non fecerit misericordiam, quia, qui dixit: dimittite et dimittetur nobis, procul dubio, quem uiderit hic facere, quod praecepit, in futuro restituet, quod promisit. nobis enim illius ueritas praesto est, si illi fides nostra non desit. unde manifestissime potestis aduertere absolutionem miserorum uestrorum esse indulgentiam peccatorum et hoc uestris conferendum precibus, quod uos praestiteritis alienis iuxta ipsius in euangelio sententiam: quo iudicio iudicaueritis, indicabitur de uobis. ideoque pro Urso et Lupicino, qui ad me quasi nobis peculiarius, sicut superius dixi, caritatis iure deuinctum pro criminum suorum intercessione uenerunt, precator accedo, ut primum deo, deinde nobis hoc, quod commiserunt, donare digneris et infieri nec nos de eorum damnatione confundas, qui se absolutos esse, quando ad humilitatem meam deducti sunt, crediderunt.