Letter 2.36 to Bishop Lucillus of Malta (July 592)
Gregory to Lucillus, bishop of Malta
The proposal of our office is very fitting, that is to fully persuade those who are subject to us to feel obliged to show good faith in agreements made, in case, while seized by an inconsiderate passion for making money, they turn a peaceful arrangement into a quarrel. And so it has come to our attention that clerics of your Fraternity, who hold lands of the Church in Africa, refuse to pay the rent on the same possessions. But if it is true that these matters have been brought to your Fraternity's notice, their fault is the product of your inactivity over this matter. Wherefore we warn you with the present letter not to allow the same clerics to make use of any delay or any excuse. But if they put off keeping their faith through contemplation of honesty, then compelled by your severity, let them be forced to implement what is reasonable. For if a quarrel over this matter comes to us again, we shall begin to have a different estimation about you, punishing those clerics as they deserve.
(trans. Martyn 2004: 214)