To Gregory, for an Invitation
Holy Gregory, you invite me with paternal love to come to Tours, where you pasture the Lord's flocks with love. There, where holy Martin [Saint Martin] with his abundant merits once kept the flocks he obtained, he has now given those flocks to you. And now by the sheepfolds and flowering pastures of Christ, you both together [Martin in spirit, Gregory in person] lead the flock well.
But your brother [Gregory's brother Peter, a deacon at Clermont or related establishment], using the honor of his friendship as a force against me, has turned my path so that I should not hurry to you — asking me insistently in prayer, instruction, and personal message; and I swore and pledged myself to him. He is a man pleasing in goodness and a pastor who loves peace — because of this obligation of a promise, please forgive me, I beg. But do greet your own daughters [Agnes and Radegund at the Holy Cross monastery], venerable one, and please commend me to them, blessed father.
IX
Ad eundem pro invitatione
Invitas pietate patris sacer ire Gregori
qua domini Turonis pascis amore greges.
quo sacer antistes meritis Martinus opimis
quas prius obtinuit, has tibi cessit oves.
nunc quoque per caulas et florea pascua Christi
rite gubernantes ducitis ambo greges.
sed mihi vim faciens vester modo frater honore,
ad vos ne properem nempe, retorsit iter,
saepe rogans voto, mandato et missile verbo;
et coniuratus sum sibi pollicitus.
vir bonitate placens et pastor pacis amator:
foederis ob studium sit veniale, precor.
vos quoque sed genitae propriae, venerande, salutant,
ast ego commender, quaeso, beate pater.
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To Gregory, for an Invitation
Holy Gregory, you invite me with paternal love to come to Tours, where you pasture the Lord's flocks with love. There, where holy Martin [Saint Martin] with his abundant merits once kept the flocks he obtained, he has now given those flocks to you. And now by the sheepfolds and flowering pastures of Christ, you both together [Martin in spirit, Gregory in person] lead the flock well.
But your brother [Gregory's brother Peter, a deacon at Clermont or related establishment], using the honor of his friendship as a force against me, has turned my path so that I should not hurry to you — asking me insistently in prayer, instruction, and personal message; and I swore and pledged myself to him. He is a man pleasing in goodness and a pastor who loves peace — because of this obligation of a promise, please forgive me, I beg. But do greet your own daughters [Agnes and Radegund at the Holy Cross monastery], venerable one, and please commend me to them, blessed father.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.