Letter 6009: To the Lord Bishop Lupus [Lupus of Troyes, one of the most revered bishops of fifth-century Gaul].

To the Lord Bishop Lupus [Lupus of Troyes, one of the most revered bishops of fifth-century Gaul]. The man Gallus — now an honorable man, since he obeyed your command to return to his wife without delay — carries my respectful letter to you and brings back the results of yours. When the page you had sent was opened for him, he was immediately struck with remorse and groaned, judging it not so much a letter addressed to me as a verdict pronounced upon himself. At once he pledged, prepared, and undertook the journey home. We chose to address him with consolation rather than rebuke, because a swift correction comes close to innocence. For no one, even someone with a perfectly clear conscience, has ever presumed to do more — so long as they have not departed from the path of your correction. Indeed, the very words of your merciful censure that we read provided the strongest incentive to reform. For what could be more precious than the kind of chastisement in which a soul sick with sin discovers the remedy within, when it could not find a reproach without? For the rest, we beg that through the power of your frequent prayers — by which you hold extraordinary dominion over every vice — you may cause us too, just as the Magi are known to have returned home by another road, to return at last by another road of conduct to the homeland of the blessed. I almost forgot something that should not be omitted: please thank the distinguished Innocentius, who carried out your instructions diligently, as you had ordered. Be mindful of us, my lord bishop.

EPISTULA IX Sidonius domino papae Lupo salutem. 1. Vir iam honestus Gallus, quia iussus ad coniugem redire non distulit, litterarum mearum obsequium, vestrarum reportat effectum. cui cum pagina, quam miseratis, reseraretur, actutum compunctus ingemuit destinatamque non ad me epistulam sed in se sententiam iudicavit. itaque confestim iter in patriam spopondit adornavit arripuit. quem nos propter hanc ipsam paenitudinis celeritatem non increpative sed consolatorie potius compellare curavimus, quia vicinaretur innocentiae festinata correctio. 2. neque enim quisquam etiam sibi bene conscius plus facere praesumpsit, si quis tamen vestrae correptionis orbitam non reliquit, quippe cum ea ipsa, quae legimus, parcentis verba censurae maxuma emendationis incitamenta sint. nam quid potest esse castigationis huiusce tenore pretiosius, in qua forte peccato animus aeger repperit intrinsecus remedium, cum non valeret extrinsecus invenire convicium? 3. quod superest, obsecramus, ut crebra oratione, per quam vitiis omnibus immane dominamini, nos quoque, sicut evangelicos magos remeasse manifestum est, vel iam nunc per aliam viam morum in beatorum patriam redire faciatis. paene omiseram, quod minime praetereundum fuit: agite gratias Innocentio, spectabili viro, qui, ut praeceperatis, naviter morem gessit iniunctis. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.