Epistle XIX.
To the Husbandmen (Colonos) of the Syracusan
Patrimony
30
.
Gregory to the Coloni, &c.
I would have you know that we have arranged for
you to be put under the care of our guardian (
defensoris
).
And accordingly we order you to obey him without any reluctance in what
he may see fit to do, and enjoin on you to be done, for the advantage
of the Church. We have given him such power as to enable him to
inflict strict punishment on those who may attempt to be disobedient or
contumacious. And we have likewise charged him that he delay not
with instant attention to recover to ecclesiastical jurisdiction any
slaves who are in hiding outside their limits, or any one by whom
boundaries have been invaded. For know that he has been warned on
his peril, that he presume not ever under any kind of excuse to do any
wrong or robbery in regard to what belongs to
others.
30
For the meaning of
Coloni
, see I. 44. The body of them is called the
familia
of the patrimony in the preceding epistle to Romanus
(Ep. XVIII.).