Letter 2021: Gregory to Jovinus, prefect of Illyricum.

TO JOBINUS, PREFECT OF ILLYRICUM. [Editorial summary: He rejoices that the province, laid waste by the barbarians, is being restored under his governance; he commends the rector of the Patrimony. He exhorts him not to bring aid against justice in the matter of Natalis the bishop.] Gregory to Jobinus, prefect of Illyricum. Although the scarcity of letter-carriers, occupied as they are with hostile incursions, hinders us from rendering the duties of fatherly charity, nevertheless, as often as occasion arises, we do not cease to visit your excellency with letters that pass to and fro, so that those whose presence we are not able to behold in person we may at least in some measure be able to look upon by means of letters exchanged in turn. We rejoice, therefore, that the Lord has willed, through your eminence's governance, to take counsel for the afflicted province, so that the province which on the one hand He wounds with the scourge of barbarian devastation, this same province He may heal on the other hand through your eminence, as though by a remedy drawn over it. Consider, therefore, that the dignity bestowed upon you has been granted out of His gift alone, and from the very administration of the governance entrusted to you render your Creator more readily appeased toward you; so that, inasmuch as He sees that what He has bestowed is, by the merits of good works, recalled to His own glory, He may both make you more illustrious in this life and grant you the rewards of the heavenly kingdom. The bearer of this present letter, therefore, whom we have directed thither for the very administration of that small patrimony, we commend to your excellency. For we, bound by the bond of your charity, beseech the Lord that He so direct your acts in this life that, by the merit of those same acts, He may lead you through to the eternal realms. But in the case of Natalis, our brother and fellow bishop, let your Glory in no way bring aid against justice, because it is so much the more necessary that he feel the avenging vengeance of canonical punishment, inasmuch as he himself is ignorant of that very canonical rule.

AD JOBINUM ILLYRICI PREFECTUM. V estatam a harbaris provinciam ejus regimine recreari gaudet, Patrimonii rectorem commendat. Natali ep1sco0po ne opem contra justitiam ſerat hortatur. Gregorius * Jobino pr:cſecto lilyrici Lic et ad reddenda paternze charitatis officia, ho- xlilitate vineribus oceupatis, raritas portitorum im- pediat, quoties tamen occasio inciderit, excellen- tiam vestram non desistimns scriptis discurrentibus visitare, quatenus quorum aspectum pr:xsentium videre non possnmns, eos aliquatenus $criptis valea- mus alternantibns intneri. Gandemus itaque quod eminentie vesire regimine affliete Dominus voluit provincie eonsulere, ut quam ex una parte flagello barbaricz vastationis ulcerat, -hanc ex alia per emi- nentiam vestram, quasi per $uperductam salutem curet. Largitam ergo vobis dignitatem ex 80lo mu- nere donanlis altendite, et ex ipsa concessi regimi- nis administratione Conditorem vestrum erga Vos placabiliorem facile; Sg quatenus cur ipse quod largitus est meritis honorum operum, ad snam vide- rit gloriam revocari, et in hac vos vita clariores ef- liciat, et premia vohis regni cclestis concedat. Presentium igitur Jatorem, quem iltne pro ipsa exi- gui palrimonioli administratione direximns, vestre _ excellentize commendamus. Nos enim charitatis ve- $ire connexi vinculo Dominum petimus, quo sic actus vestros in hac. vita dirigat, ut ipsorum merito ad zxterna vos regna perducat. Natali antem fratri et coe;\i$cOPO nosIiro in nullo Gloria vestra opem Ccon- ira juslitiam ferat, Þ quia tanto necesse est ut cano- nicat ultjonis vindictam sentiat, quanto et jpsam re- gulam canonicam ignorat.