PL 54 · cols. 709–712

Leo the Great, Letters

Letter XIX

PL 54:709

kalend. Januarii, Calepio et Ardabure viris clarissimis consulibus.

[…] day before the Kalends of January, Calepius and Ardabur, most distinguished men, being consuls.

EPISTOLA XIX.

LETTER XIX.

AD DORUM BENEVENTANUM EPISCOPUM.

TO DORUS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO.

Dilectissimo fratri Doro, Leo episcopus.

To his most beloved brother Dorus, Leo, bishop.

Judicium, quod de te sperabamus, dolemus esse frustratum, quando ea te commisisse perspicimus quae omnem ecclesiasticae sanctionis regulam culpabili novitate foedarent: cum plenissime noveris, quanta sollicitudine per omnes Domini Ecclesias paternorum velimus canonum praecepta servari, et hanc maxime curam ad sacerdotes universarum plebium pertinere, ut sanctarum constitutionum regulae nullis corrumpantur excessibus. Unde miramur te,

We grieve that the judgement which we hoped for concerning you has been disappointed, since we perceive that you have committed things which would defile the whole rule of the Church's ordinance by a culpable novelty: although you know most fully with what solicitude we wish the precepts of the fathers' canons to be kept throughout all the Churches of the Lord, and that this care belongs above all to the bishops of all the peoples, that the rules of the holy constitutions be corrupted by no excesses. Hence we wonder that you […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 709

Footnotes

(q) continued from col 708, set in n708.

(a) ‹EPISTOLA› · printed under col 709

Al. 18. Quae autem antea 19 erat nunc 20. Scripta 8 Martii 448.

Otherwise 18. But what was formerly 19 is now 20. Written 8 March 448.

(b) ‹AD DORUM› · printed under col 709

Exstat in mss. collect. 5, 11, 12, 13 et 20 usque ad 24. Codices S. Crucis in Hierusalem collect. 20 et Vat. Ottobon. 332, ad Theodorum inscribunt. In tabulis vero Beneventanae Ecclesiae Dorus appellatur, ut in caeteris mss. vocatur. Solum in codd. collect. 21 Doroleus per errorem scribitur, in unam conjunctis duabus vocibus Doro Leo, quae in inscriptione epistolae leguntur.

It is extant in the manuscripts of collections 5, 11, 12, 13, and 20 up to 24. The manuscripts of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, collection 20, and the Vatican Ottoboni 332 address it "to Theodorus". But in the records of the Church of Benevento he is named Dorus, as he is called in the other manuscripts. Only in the manuscripts of collection 21 is "Doroleus" written by mistake, the two words "Doro Leo", which are read in the address of the letter, being joined into one.

In tabula collect. 5 capite ultimo hic titulus legitur: Ad Dorum Beneventanum episcopum objurgationis epistola. In mss. autem S. Crucis: De presbytero in aliorum injuriam promoto, et de eis qui eum sibi praeponi poposcerunt.

In the table of collection 5, in the last chapter, this title is read: "Letter of rebuke to Dorus, bishop of Benevento." But in the manuscripts of Santa Croce: "On the presbyter promoted to the injury of others, and on those who asked that he be set over them."

(d) ‹Judicium,› · printed under cols 709–710

Duo codd. Quesn. et noster Vindebon. collect. 5 addunt nostrum. Mox pro dolemus in ms. S. Crucis nollemus. Hoc autem ex textu quidam non leviter colligunt. Dorum consecratum videri Beneventi episcopum ab ipso Leone, qui idcirco queritur judicium, seu spem de ipso conceptam, cum scilicet eum Beneventanis episcopum dedit, frustratam fuisse. E Romano etiam clero eductum indicare videntur illa, cum plenissime noveris, etc. atque illa: te, quem auctoritatum apostolicae sedis observantissimum esse convenerat.

Two of Quesnel's manuscripts and our Vienna manuscript of collection 5 add "nostrum". Just after, for "dolemus" the Santa Croce manuscript [has] "nollemus". From this text some gather, not lightly, [the following]. Dorus seems to have been consecrated bishop of Benevento by Leo himself, who therefore complains that the judgement, or the hope conceived of him, when he gave him as bishop to the Beneventans, had been disappointed. That he was also drawn from the Roman clergy these words seem to indicate: "cum plenissime noveris", etc., and these: "te, quem auctoritatum apostolicae sedis observantissimum esse convenerat".

(e) ‹novitate› · printed under col 710

Iidem duo codd. Quesn., violarent.

The same two manuscripts of Quesnel, "violarent".

Editors' prose

Synopsis.— I. Dorum de perturbato presbyterii ordine, primosque presbyteros juri suo cedentes redarguit.— II. Suum cuique ordinem vindicat pro ordinationis tempore; primis, qui cesserant, ad infimum relegatis.

Synopsis.— I. He rebukes Dorus concerning the disturbed order of the presbyterate, and the first presbyters for yielding their right.— II. He secures to each his own order according to the time of ordination; the first, who had yielded, being relegated to the lowest [place].

Page

running head: "709 EPISTOLA XIX. 710" (across the page)
marginal letters: A ‹kalend. Januarii› (gutter, shared with col 710); B ‹ternorum velimus canonum›; C ‹lensis IV kal.› (in the footnotes); D ‹(a) Al. 18›
old-edition numerals: 733 before ‹Dilectissimo fratri Doro›
signature: none
other: the italic Synopsis after the caption, headed "(c) Synopsis", is set above as editors' prose

PL 54:710

quem auctoritatum apostolicae sedis boservantissimum esse convenerat, tam negligenter, ac potius insolenter, egisse, ut traditarum tibi legum non custos, sed transgressor existeres. Libello etenim Pauli presbyteri tui, qui in subditis habetur, cognovimus, apud te novo ambitu foedoque colludio presbyterii ordinem fuisse turbatum; ita ut unius festina et immatura provectio, quaedam eorum dejectio facta sit, quorum honorem aetas commendabat et nulla culpa minuebat.

[…] whom it befitted to be most observant of the authoritative rulings of the apostolic see, have acted so negligently, or rather insolently, that you have become not the guardian but the transgressor of the laws handed down to you. For from the petition of Paul, your presbyter, which is held below, we have learned that with you the order of the presbyterate has been disturbed by a new canvassing and a foul collusion; so that the hasty and premature advancement of one has been a kind of casting down of those whose rank their age commended and no fault diminished.

Quod si ambientis intentio, aut imperita faventium studia id quod numquam habuit consuetudo poscebant, ut incipiens emeritis et novellus praeferretur antiquis, tuae fuerat industriae atque doctrinae ut injusta petentium desideria rationabili auctoritate cohiberes; ne quem sacerdotali propere provehebas honore, ad injuriam eorum quibus sociebatur inciperet, minorque se fieret, dum in illo non humilitatis virtus, sed elationis vitium roboraretur. Neque enim ignorabas

But if the aim of the one canvassing, or the unskilled zeal of his supporters, demanded what custom has never had, that a beginner should be preferred to those who had served their time and a newcomer to the old, it had been [the part] of your diligence and learning to restrain the unjust desires of the petitioners by reasonable authority; lest he whom you were hastily advancing to the priestly honour should begin [his office] to the injury of those with whom he was being associated, and should become less than himself, while in him not the virtue of humility but the vice of pride was being strengthened. For you were not unaware […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 710

Footnotes

(d) continued from col 709, set in n709.

(e) is printed under col 710 but called in col 709: set in n709.

(f) ‹quem› · printed under col 710

Auctoritates apostolicae sedis sunt constitutiones Romanorum pontificum. Vide annot. 81 (691) (f) in epist. 15.

The "authoritative rulings of the apostolic see" are the constitutions of the Roman pontiffs. See annotation 81 (691 (f)) on letter 15.

(g) ‹foedoque› · printed under col 710

Ita aliquot nostri, et Quesnelli codd. melioris notae. Al. colluvio.

So some of ours, and Quesnel's manuscripts of better note. Others, "colluvio".

(h) ‹facta sit,› · printed under col 710

Editi ante Quesn. cum mss. collect. 21 et 24 quos aetas commendabat. Cod. S. Crucis collect. 20, quos et aetas commendabat. Editio Quesn., quorum aetas ordinem commendabat. In mss. collect. 11 idem legitur, omissa voce ordinem. Aequiorem lectionem cod. Vindeb. collect. 5 secuti sumus. Honor sacerdotii intelligitur, unde etiam infra, sacerdotali honore.

The editions before Quesnel, with the manuscripts of collections 21 and 24, "quos aetas commendabat". The Santa Croce manuscript of collection 20, "quos et aetas commendabat". Quesnel's edition, "quorum aetas ordinem commendabat". In the manuscripts of collection 11 the same is read, with the word "ordinem" omitted. We have followed the fairer reading of the Vienna manuscript of collection 5. The honour of the priesthood is meant, whence also below, "sacerdotali honore".

(i) ‹ne quem› · printed under col 710

Ita Quesnellus. Anteriores editiones voci sacerdotali praeponunt praepositionem in. Ms. Vindebon. collect. 5. in sacerdotio propere provehebas ad injuriam. Cod. S. Crucis, in sacerdotalem propere provehebas honorem. Quesn. in margine ex aliquo ipsius codice, ne quem sacerdotio provehebas.

So Quesnel. The earlier editions put the preposition "in" before the word "sacerdotali". The Vienna manuscript of collection 5, "in sacerdotio propere provehebas ad injuriam". The Santa Croce manuscript, "in sacerdotalem propere provehebas honorem". Quesnel in the margin, from one of his manuscripts, "ne quem sacerdotio provehebas".

(j) ‹inciperet,› · printed under col 710

Editi Leonis, praemisso puncto, habent corrupte cum mss. Vat. collect. 21 et 24, Miror, quis fieret. Dein codd. collect. 21 pro elationis habent furoris. Mss. autem Vindebon. collect. 5, Vat. collect. 11, Venet. S. Marci collect. 12, et Vat. collect. 24, fortioris praeferunt. In ms. S. Crucis collect. 20 aliisque duobus Cantabrig. et Thuan. a Quesnello laudatis, furoris vitium superaret; et in Vat. collect. 11, furoris vitium reprobaretur. Labbeus in margine annotavit: Alias, inciperet major quasi fieri, dum in illo non humilitatis virtus, sed furoris vitium roboraretur. In textu retinuimus lectionem Quesnelli ex Merlino, et editionibus conciliorum, eo quod elationis nomen Leoninis quoque editionibus comprobatum, humilitati opponatur, totique contextui magis congruat, quam furoris, vel fortioris.

The editions of Leo, with a full stop set before, have corruptly, with the Vatican manuscripts of collections 21 and 24, "Miror, quis fieret". Then the manuscripts of collection 21 have "furoris" for "elationis". But the manuscripts, the Vienna of collection 5, the Vatican of collection 11, the Venice of St Mark of collection 12, and the Vatican of collection 24, show "fortioris". In the Santa Croce manuscript of collection 20 and two others, the Cambridge and the Thuanus, cited by Quesnel, "furoris vitium superaret"; and in the Vatican of collection 11, "furoris vitium reprobaretur". Labbe noted in the margin: "Otherwise, inciperet major quasi fieri, dum in illo non humilitatis virtus, sed furoris vitium roboraretur." In the text we have kept Quesnel's reading from Merlin and the editions of the councils, because the word "elationis", approved also by the Leonine editions, is opposed to "humilitati" and fits the whole context better than "furoris" or "fortioris".

(k) ‹roboraretur.› · printed under cols 710–712

Editi Quesnello anteriores cum unico nostro cod. Vat. 541 collect. 21, Neque enim ignorabas dixisse Dominum, quod qui se humiliat exaltabitur, qui vero se exaltat humiliabitur; eumdemque dixisse: Quicumque vult inter vos major fieri, sit vester minister; et quicumque voluerit inter vos primus esse, erit vester servus. Vos autem quaeritis de pusillo crescere, et de honore majores esse. Ita etiam Leonis codex, quo Hincmarus usus fuit opusc. 44 de Jure metropol. c. 17. Omnes vero alii codices a nobis adhibiti, id est codd. quatuordecim, et quinque a Quesnello inspecti omittunt textum Quicumque vult, etc., usque ad illa, erit vester servus. Iidem pariter nostri codices, excepto unico Vindebonensi collect. 5, post voces eumdemque dixisse subjiciunt statim, Vos autem quaeritis de pusillo crescere. Quesnellus verum cum laudato ms. Vindebonensi voces eumdemque dixisse transtulit ante verba qui vero se exaltat. Illa porro Vos autem quaeritis, etc., ut in nostro textu allata, non sicuti Christi verba charactere, uti vocant, cursivo, sed quasi Leonis textum charactere rotundo expressit. Dein et de majore minores esse legitur non tantum in quinque mss. Quesnelli, verum etiam in nostris Vindebon. collect. 5, Vat. collect. 11, Vat. et Veneto collect. 12, S. Crucis collect. 20, Veneto collect. 22, Vat. Reginae 139 collect. 24, et in uno Fesulano. In codicibus autem collect. 21, 23, et uno Vat. 544 collect. 24, et de honore majores esse.

The editions earlier than Quesnel, with a single manuscript of ours, Vatican 541 of collection 21, [read] "For you were not unaware that the Lord said that he who humbles himself will be exalted, but he who exalts himself will be humbled; and that the same said: Whoever wishes to become greater among you, let him be your minister; and whoever will be first among you, shall be your servant. But you seek to grow from small, and from honour to be greater." So too the manuscript of Leo which Hincmar used, opusculum 44, On the Right of Metropolitans, c. 17. But all the other manuscripts used by us, that is fourteen manuscripts, and five examined by Quesnel, omit the text "Quicumque vult", etc., up to the words "erit vester servus". Likewise the same manuscripts of ours, except only the Vienna of collection 5, after the words "eumdemque dixisse" put at once "Vos autem quaeritis de pusillo crescere". Quesnel, however, with the Vienna manuscript cited, moved the words "eumdemque dixisse" before the words "qui vero se exaltat". Further, he printed those words "Vos autem quaeritis", etc., as given in our text, not as the words of Christ in the "cursive" type, as they call it, but as Leo's text in roman type. Next, "et de majore minores esse" is read not only in five of Quesnel's manuscripts but also in ours, the Vienna of collection 5, the Vatican of collection 11, the Vatican and the Venice of collection 12, the Santa Croce of collection 20, the Venice of collection 22, the Vatican Regina 139 of collection 24, and in one Fiesole manuscript. But in the manuscripts of collections 21 and 23, and one, Vatican 544, of collection 24, "et de honore majores esse".

Post primam Quesnelli editionem Richardus Simon in novis observationibus ad textum, et versiones novi Testamenti c. 21 pag. 458, monuit haec verba Vos autem quaeritis, etc., Leonem sumpsisse ex exemplari Evangelii secundum Matthaeum c. XX, ubi illa in ejus codice perinde erant inserta, ac in Cantabrigensi, ac quatuor aliis mss. exemplaribus inveniuntur. Dein vero non de majore minores, sed de minore majores esse legendum contendit Quesnellus in secunda editione, not, 3, Richardi lectionem de minore majores esse optime refellit. Quae enim a Leone subjiciuntur. Utrumque enim inordinatum, utrumque praeposterum, dum sibi invicem opposita indicant fuisse praemissa. Non opponuntur autem de pusillo crescere, et de minore majores esse; sed de pusillo crescere, et de majore minores esse opponi manifestum est. Leo autem perstringere voluit tum Epicarpium, qui ex infimo ad primum locum ascendit, tum illos duos presbyteros, qui e primis gradibus in Epicarpii gratiam recedentes, minores fieri consenserant. Plerique et potiores etiam codices Leonis lectioni de majori minores esse a Quesnello et a nobis receptae favent; immo favent etiam exemplaria Latina Evangeliorum a Richardo memorata, quae eamdem lectionem praeferre fatetur.

After Quesnel's first edition, Richard Simon, in his new observations on the text and versions of the New Testament, c. 21, p. 458, pointed out that Leo took these words "Vos autem quaeritis", etc., from a copy of the Gospel according to Matthew, c. 20, where in his manuscript they were inserted just as they are found in the Cambridge [manuscript] and in four other manuscript copies. But then he contended that not "de majore minores" but "de minore majores esse" should be read; Quesnel, in his second edition, note 3, refuted Richard's reading "de minore majores esse" excellently. For the words which Leo adds [below]: "Both are disordered, both preposterous", show that things opposed to each other had been set before. But "de pusillo crescere" and "de minore majores esse" are not opposed; whereas it is plain that "de pusillo crescere" and "de majore minores esse" are opposed. Leo, moreover, wished to censure both Epicarpius, who rose from the lowest to the first place, and those two presbyters who, withdrawing from the first ranks in Epicarpius's favour, had consented to become lesser. Most, and the better, manuscripts of Leo also favour the reading "de majori minores esse" received by Quesnel and by us; indeed, the Latin copies of the Gospels mentioned by Richard also favour it, which he admits show the same reading.

Congruit quoque antiquissimum Evangeliarium Vercellense a P. Josepho Blanchinio novissime editum in opere cui titulus Evangelium quadruplex, ut videre est cap. XX Matthaei post versum 28; et alia vetusta ac potiora exempla pro eadem lectione laudantur a P. Petro Sabatier in idem caput XX Matth. pag. 120, ubi de hoc assumento plura disserit. Duos tantum codices Evangeliorum pro Richardi lectione memorat, quibus adjiciendum est nostrum vetustum exemplar Veronense ab eodem Blanchinio editum. Ex tot vero jam vulgatis Evangeliorum antiquissimis exemplaribus, quorum quaedam ipsius Leonis aetatem creduntur excedere, clare liquet haec verba, Vos autem quaeritis, etc., in evangelico Matthaei textu olim inserta, et lecta fuisse, uti verba Christi inter versus Vulgatae editionis 28 et 29, licet lectione in altero commate aliquantulum diversa. Quidquid autem credatur, utra lectio evangelico contextui magis congruat, cum certum ex dictis sit Leonis menti atque contextui illam convenire quam recepimus, quae non tam in pluribus ac potioribus mss. Leonis quam in plerisque antiquissimis Evangeliariis invenitur; nihil profecto dubitandum est quin ex aliquo simili Matthaei exemplo hunc textum S. pontifex sumpserit. Cum porro ex his constet textum Vos autem quaeritis, etc., a Leone recitari uti verba Christi apud Matthaeum; antecedentia vero ex Luca decerpserit, consequens fit, voces eumdemque dixisse in fere omnibus collectionibus, et mss. Leoninis recte et jure praemitti iisdem verbis Vos autem quaeritis, ut aliud Christi testimonium ex alio Evangelista sumptum indicetur, nec nisi perperam in aliis codd. et apud Quesnellum hinc fuisse abstractas, et anterius ita traductas, ut unum eumdemque Lucae textum intersecent, ac in duos dividant.

The very ancient Vercelli Gospel-book, most recently published by Fr Giuseppe Bianchini in the work entitled Evangelium quadruplex, also agrees, as may be seen at chapter 20 of Matthew after verse 28; and other old and better copies are cited for the same reading by Fr Pierre Sabatier on the same chapter 20 of Matthew, p. 120, where he discusses this addition at length. He mentions only two manuscripts of the Gospels for Richard's reading, to which must be added our old Verona copy published by the same Bianchini. From so many very ancient copies of the Gospels now published, some of which are believed to be older than Leo's own age, it is clearly evident that these words, "Vos autem quaeritis", etc., were once inserted and read in the Gospel text of Matthew, as words of Christ, between verses 28 and 29 of the Vulgate edition, although with a somewhat different reading in the second clause. But whatever may be believed as to which reading fits the Gospel context better, since it is certain from what has been said that the one we have received, which is found not so much in the more numerous and better manuscripts of Leo as in most of the very ancient Gospel-books, suits Leo's mind and context, there is surely no doubt that the holy pontiff took this text from some similar copy of Matthew. Further, since it is clear from this that the text "Vos autem quaeritis", etc., is cited by Leo as the words of Christ in Matthew, while he took what precedes from Luke, it follows that the words "eumdemque dixisse" are rightly and properly placed, in almost all the collections and Leonine manuscripts, before those words "Vos autem quaeritis", to indicate another testimony of Christ taken from another Evangelist, and that only wrongly in other manuscripts and in Quesnel were they taken from here and moved earlier so as to cut through one and the same text of Luke and divide it in two.

Page

running head: "709 EPISTOLA XIX. 710" (across the page)
marginal letters: A ‹quem auctoritatum› (gutter, shared with col 709); B ‹(i) sacerdotali propere›; C ‹(h) Editi ante Quesn.› (in the footnotes); D ‹duobus Cantabrig.›
old-edition numerals: 734 before ‹existeres›
signature: none
other: none

PL 54:711

dixisse Dominum, quod qui se humiliat, exaltabitur; qui vero se exaltat, humiliabitur (Luc. XIV, 11; et XVIII, 14): eumdemque dixisse: Vos autem quaeritis de pusillo crescere, et de majore minores esse. Utrumque enim inordinatum, utrumque praeposterum est; et omnis laborum fructus aufertur, omnis meritorum mensura vacuatur, si tantum quis assequitur dignitatis, quantum adulationis obtinuit; ut cupiditas eminendi non solum superbientem minuat, sed etiam conniventem.

[…] that the Lord said that he who humbles himself will be exalted, but he who exalts himself will be humbled (Luke 14:11; and 18:14); and that the same said: But you seek to grow from small, and from greater to be lesser. For both are disordered, both are preposterous; and all fruit of labours is taken away, every measure of merits is emptied, if a man attains as much dignity as he has obtained flattery; so that the desire of pre-eminence diminishes not only the one who is proud, but also the one who connives.

Si vero, ut asseritur, primi secundique presbyteri, circa Epicarpium sibimet praeponendum, tanta huic assentatio fuit, ut illum cum sui dedecore poscerent, honorari, nec hoc quidem illis proprio se judicio dejicientibus tribui debuit, quod volebant: quia tam miserae voluntati dignius te fuerat obviare quam cedere. Deformis autem et ignava subjectio bene sibi consciis, et non irritam facientibus gratiam Dei, praejudicare non potuit, ut primatus suos quocumque commercio in alterutrum transferentes, subsequentium suorum minuerent dignitatem et quia ultimum sibi anteposuerant, caeteris praemineret.

But if, as is asserted, the first and second presbyters, in the matter of setting Epicarpius over themselves, showed him such complaisance that they demanded, to their own disgrace, that he be honoured, not even so ought what they wished to have been granted to them as they cast themselves down by their own judgement: because it would have been more worthy of you to oppose so wretched a wish than to yield to it. But the unseemly and cowardly submission [of these] could not prejudice those who are of good conscience and do not make void the grace of God, so that [those two], transferring their first places by some kind of bargain to one another, should diminish the dignity of those who came after them, and that, because they had set the last before themselves, he should stand above the rest.

Cap. II.— Praedicti igitur presbyteri, qui indignos

Chap. II.— The aforesaid presbyters, therefore, who […] themselves unworthy […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 711

Footnotes

(k) continued from col 710, set in n710.

(a) ‹circa› · printed under col 712

Tria mss. Quesn., Epicandium; duo nostra, Epicandium presbyterum. Post pauca cod. S. Crucis delet huic, forte melius, videtur enim superfluum.

Three of Quesnel's manuscripts, "Epicandium"; two of ours, "Epicandium presbyterum". A little after, the Santa Croce manuscript deletes "huic", perhaps better, for it seems superfluous.

(b) ‹quod volebant:› · printed under col 712

Editi, cui tam miserae. Magis placuit lectio codicis S. Crucis, cui favent illi qui praeferunt qui.

The editions, "cui tam miserae". The reading of the Santa Croce manuscript was preferred, which those that show "qui" support.

Duo mss., non poteri; et paulo post minuerint, et anteposuerint.

Two manuscripts, "non poteri[t]"; and a little after, "minuerint" and "anteposuerint".

(d) ‹dignitatem› · printed under col 712

Cod. S. Crucis, quia ultimum sibi anteposuerint, ut caeteris praemineret. Editi ante Quesn. cum aliquot mss. Et quem ultimum, etc.

The Santa Croce manuscript, "quia ultimum sibi anteposuerint, ut caeteris praemineret". The editions before Quesnel, with some manuscripts, "Et quem ultimum", etc.

Page

running head: "711 S. LEONIS MAGNI EPISTOLAE. 712" (across the page)
marginal letters: A ‹dixisse Dominum› (gutter, shared with col 712); B ‹autem et ignava subjectio›; C ‹ante verba qui vero se exaltat› (in the footnotes); D ‹esse legendum contendit›
old-edition numerals: 735 before ‹dixisse Dominum›
signature: none
other: none

PL 54:712

se honoris sui ordine sunt professi, licet privari etiam sacerdotio mererentur; tamen, ut eis pro apostolicae sedis pietate parcatur, ultimi inter omnes Ecclesiae presbyteros habeantur; et, ut judicii sui sententiam ferant, inferiores etiam illo erunt quem propria sententia sibimet praetulere: caeteris omnibus presbyteris in eo ordine permanentibus, quem unicuique ordinationis suae tempus ascripsit.

[…] professed themselves unworthy of the rank of their honour, although they deserved to be deprived even of the priesthood, nevertheless, that they may be spared in accordance with the clemency of the apostolic see, are to be held the last among all the presbyters of the Church; and, that they may bear the sentence of their own judgement, they shall be lower even than him whom by their own sentence they preferred to themselves: all the other presbyters remaining in that order which the time of his ordination assigned to each.

Nec quisquam praeter praedictos duos imminutae dignitatis patiatur injuriam, sed in eorum tantummodo statum hoc recurrat opprobrium, qui novello et immature ordinato inferiores fieri delegerunt; ut illam evangelicam sententiam ad se sentiant pertinere, qua dicitur: Quo judicio judicaveritis, judicabitur de vobis: et qua mensura mensi fueritis, eadem remetietur vobis (Matth. VII, 2; Marc. IV, 24; Luc. VI. 38.) Paulus vero presbyter ordinem suum, de quo laudabili firmitate non cessit, obtineat: nec ulterius aliquid in cujusquam praesumatur injuriam; ita ut dilectio tua, quam non immerito tota facti hujus pulsat invidia, hoc saltem remedio curare se properet, ut sine dilatione haec quae decernimus tradantur

And let no one besides the aforesaid two suffer the injury of diminished dignity, but let this reproach fall back only upon the standing of those who chose to become lower than one newly and prematurely ordained; so that they may feel that that Gospel sentence applies to them in which it is said: With what judgement you judge, it shall be judged of you: and with what measure you have measured, the same shall be measured back to you (Matt. 7:2; Mark 4:24; Luke 6:38). But let Paul the presbyter hold his own order, from which with praiseworthy firmness he did not give way: and let nothing further be presumed to anyone's injury; so that your affection, which the whole odium of this deed not undeservedly strikes, may hasten at least to cure itself by this remedy, that these things which we decree be delivered without delay […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 712

Footnotes

(k) continued from col 710, set in n710.

(a)–(d) are printed under col 712 but called in col 711: set in n711.

(e) ‹ordinationis suae tempus› · printed under col 712

Tres codd., ascribit.

Three manuscripts, "ascribit".

(f) ‹mensi fueritis,› · printed under col 712

Quaedam mss. delent eadem.

Some manuscripts delete "eadem".

(g) ‹ut› · printed under cols 712–713

Haec lectio ms. S. Crucis contextui magis congrua visa est, quam vulgata et aliorum codd., sine dissimulatione.

This reading of the Santa Croce manuscript seemed more in keeping with the context than that of the printed edition and of other manuscripts, "sine dissimulatione".