Letter 11016: The church of Milan has endured extraordinary difficulties.

To the people of Milan. [The source text for this letter opens with a fragment from the end of a different, adjacent letter, concerning a woman who complains she has been deceived in a legal matter and a directive to a bishop to provide ecclesiastical protection for her; that fragment is not part of this letter and reads, in its legible portions:] …to be despised; so much so that, his property having been taken away, nothing remained from which he might be supported. From these men, moreover, he asserts that he endures such great hostility that they allow neither a slave of his own right to serve him nor him to be comforted in any matter. And because, if the matter stands thus, it is exceedingly grievous and against God, by the tenor of this our authority we charge you to take care to learn the truth. And if you find it to be so, to bestow ecclesiastical protection, and — this safeguard being in all respects reasonable — to make haste to assist [her], so that you, established there, may in no way henceforth endure any burden or oppression from the aforesaid men. But let it be the concern of your diligence to provide that, in the matter wherein she complains she has been deceived, she may be lawfully relieved; for it is altogether cruel that a woman who ought to hope for comfort from such a person should rather, through him, [be driven to such need or made subject to want — the text here being garbled]. Gregory to the people, presbyters, deacons, and clergy of the Church of Milan. The bearer of the present letter, Arethusa, a most distinguished lady, on account of the case of a legacy which our brother Laurentius, your bishop of reverend memory, had left to her and to her husband and to her children, has long tarried among us, as you recall. Wherefore we sent letters of ours to our brother and fellow bishop Constantius, of reverend memory, that with priestly zeal he ought to settle this very case of disputes, the wrangling having ceased. And this, as we believe you know, he had answered that he himself had long ago wished to do, and still then wished to do. But because the bearer of these [letters] has long tarried in this city, and has put off returning thither, it could not be decided until now. Therefore we exhort your beloved selves by the present letter that to the aforementioned woman, when she comes thither, you bestow such charity as befits sons of the Church; and when, with God as author, the Church has been ordained [i.e., when a new bishop has been appointed], that you so act that the case itself, which has been delayed for a long time, may soon be concluded once a bishop has been ordained. And we charge that they bestow charity upon Arethusa as she returns to Milan, and that they act so that her case may soon be concluded once a bishop has been ordained.

AD MEDLIOLANENSES. contemni ; adeo ut, ablatis rebus ipsius , nihil e unde possit nutriri remanserit. A quibus insuper etiam tantam $se adversilatem asserit sustinere , ut Nec $ervun juris sui ci deservire , nec in aliquo $0- latiari permittant. Et quia, $i ila 8e res habet, grave nimis et contra Deum est, hujus tibi auctori- latis tenore precipimus ut veritatem cures addiscerg, Et $i ita repereris , ecclesiasticam luitionem impen- dere, alque ea $alya in omnibus ratione adjuyare - ſestines , quatenus te illic posilo nullum denuo gra- vamen vel oppressionem a prediclis viris quolibet modo sustineat. Sed providere $tudii tui sit ut in id quod $se deceptam queritur legaliter valeat subvye- Niri , quia omnino crudele est ut mulier quz ex (ili Redeunti Mediolanum Arethuse charitatem impen=- C Persona debet sperare solatium , per eum magis nt dant, aganique ut illius eause mox ordinalo episcopo finiatur. Gregorius populo, presbyteris, diaconis et clero Ecclesiz Mediolanensis. Latrix prasentium Aretliusa , clarissima ſemina , propter causam legati quod ei conjugique , vel filiiy jpsius, Laurentius rater noster reverende memorie - episcopus vester reliquerat, diu apud nos est, ut re- colitis, demorata. Unde scripta nostra recordande memorize ſratri et coepiscopo nosiro Constantio mi- Seramus, ut cum ea sacerdotali studio causam ipsam deſinire jurgiorum cessante strepitu debuisset. Quod, sicut scire yos credimus , se el olim facere voluisse, et adhuc facere tunc velle responderat. Sed quia la- trix horum diu est in hac urbe demorala, atlque illuc distulit remeare, nuncusque decidi non polvit. Idcirco dilectionem veslram scriptis przxsentibus adborta- mur, ut memoralz mulieri illuc venienti charitalem » quam decet Ecclesiz filios impendatis, et cum auctore Deo.Ecclesia ſuerit ordinata, id agatis, qua- tenus causa ipsa , quz lempore diuturno dilata est _ Episr, XV [Af. 62], — ® Vapincensi, de quo epist. 56, Supra. ; Ds Ipsum Rom: in Gallias redeuntem commendat Ari- gio hxzc epist. 15, et Asclepiodoto in episl. prece- denti. cessitati cogatur vel inopiz subjacere. Quod si ſorts - quies yel 80latium ipsius le procurante non potuerit ordinari, nobis renuntiare ſeslina , ut quid post hc facere debeas, nostra iterum preceplioue cognosCas. EPISTOLA X YI. AD ANTHEMIUM SUBDIACONUM. Helen@ homines a Romana Ecclesie actoribus injusle detineri non 8inat. Gregorius Anthemio subdiacono. Gloriosa filia Helena per $uos nobis homines indi- cavit quosdam de suis ab Ecclesiz nosire actoribus irrationabiliter detineri. Et quia eos petit sibi cesti- tui , ideirco hac tibi auctoritate precipimus ut cum omni diligentia veritatem studeas perscrutari. Et si ita est, nec est quod in eis ad nosir2 nomen Ecclesiz possit vindicari, omni mora postposita , aut jp$08 reslitue, aut $i forte mancipiis Ecclesiz nostrz colt- juncti sunt, * dando pro eis vicarios recompeus3. Si vero aliquid nostrz dicuntur Ecclesiz competere, sit Sine aliqua dilatioue compendium ; et quz judicala ſuerint , ita experientia tua ad effectum sine aliqua Eeisr. XVI [Al. 10]. — * Ka imtellige quam decel Ecclesie filios exhbibere impendatis. Prius legebalur quam decet Ecclesic filiis impendatis. Verum hanc lectionem reprobant Mss. Eersr, X Vi. Al. 11. Eeisr. XVIH (At. 42]. — * Qui in locum alterius Succedil Aus vicariuvs. Aliquando servus viearius IS dicebatur, qui >ervo majori serviebat, aut ejus ab5et- lis vel occupali vicem implebai. Unde Martialis lib. !, epigr. 18: diſficultate perducat, ut predictz filiz nostrax denuo A que Ecclesiz s8ancti Joannis, quz ante portas Hurte- non $it hue necessitas transmittendi. EMNSTOLA XIX. AD ANTHEMIUM SUBDIACONUM. Donatum commendat. Gregorius Anthemio subdiacono. Donatus [ator presentium, diversis 8e illic oppres- Sionibus gravari commemorans , ecclesiastica se pe- tiit twitione fuleiri, Quapropter hac tuz experientie auctoritate mandamus ut eumdem Donatum, servata 2quilate , deſendas, et nullis eum gravaminibus vel damnis contra justitiam subdi permittas, quatenus te 8ibi opitulante, nulla ei sit huc remeandi necessilas.