Heavenly And Human Scourge

Letter 2,48 - to Bishop Maximian, about the restoration of his abbot. July-august 592

"For whatever his aberration may have been, the very affliction of his ill health should have been a sufficient punishment for him. For when heavenly discipline scourges a man, the addition of a human scourge had been superfluous. But perhaps you allowed yourself to go too far against such a person, so as to become more cautious with less worthy men, and to weigh things for a long time when deciding to strike someone down through a sentence.
But the greater fury with which you provoked the aforementioned men, the greater sweetness with which you should now console him."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 228.