Letter 9124

From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome To: Donellus, administrator [erogator] Date: ~599 AD Context: Gregory consoles Donellus who is ill, and rejoices that his military stipend has been restored. Gregory to Donellus, administrator. I have heard that you have been ill, and I write to offer whatever consolation words can provide. Illness is difficult to bear, and the anxiety it brings — not only about health but about one's responsibilities and one's future — adds to the physical burden. But I also hear that your military stipend has been restored, and this news gives me genuine pleasure. The uncertainty about one's income, especially during illness, is one of the worst accompaniments of a difficult period. The resolution of that uncertainty should ease at least one of your worries. Get well. Do what the physicians say. Trust that God, who has not abandoned you in harder times, will not abandon you now. Gregory

AD DONELLUM EROGATOREM. Egrum consolatur. Gaudet de militari roga illi denuo impozila. (Juam exarchus mutuo acceperat pecuniam retiluendam monet. Roman civilati precipua cura 8ubveniat. Gregorius Donello ® erogatori. Epistolam gloria vestrz plenam boni filii chari- late Suscepimus, ex qua quidem de molestia corpo- ns vestri noster est animus contristatus. De divina amen miseratione conlidimus quod qui vos miseram « dejectam diligere fecit Italiam, ipse vobis et cor- joris 8alulem restituat, et in zlerna retributione wmpenset. De-militari enim Þ roga, quam vos con- na voluntatem vestram principali significastis jussio- te ilerum SusSCepisse, omnino Sumus libenter com - Nexi, scientles quia magnitudo vestra Eautiori salu- riorique provisione militari necessitati concurrat. De © sex vero centenariis qui in cimiliarchio Ra- reanatis Ecclesiz fuerant commendati, sicut vesira es{atur epistola, ab excellentissimo exarcho in quo- diana militum preſectura sunt mutuati, YOZZ qui it hactenus 4 minime reslituantur cujus $it causa 0gnoscitis. Quod enim scripsisiis hoc prazdicto lilio ErisT, CXXIV [Al. 129]. — * Unde nomen hoe oſicii deductum, in epistola explicatur his verbis : de militari enim roga, etc. * Centenaria, auri pondo interpretantur quidam. idorus ait (quod verum est) centenarium fuisse cen- wn librarum, atque inde appellatum. Graci. dicunt AYToapwy, GUSSANY. pore, in his locis nisi solius divine potentia maje- Slatis humanum non prevalet subvenire remediun. Sciens ergo magnitudo vestra voluntatem domino- rum principum, quanta cura de Roman civitatis praxcipue snbventione $it provida, quod ex donis eorum evidenter agnoscilur, sed et partium istarum * imminens periculum et, civitatis, omnino cure luz es! cum pecuniis huc venire. Quod si omissum ſuerit, et adversi aliquid, quod non optamus, evene- rit, neque apud Deum neque apud rerum dominos cujuslibet oblenlu pergonz v0S excusare quoquo modo valeatis. Romana enim civitas, peccatis no- slris ſacientibus, diversis est atlrita languoribus , ut nec qui in murorum cuslodia sint idonei persistaut.