Quote from Letter 6,32 to Anthelm, our sub-deacon in Naples. April 596
We cannot express how much grief and how much affliction there is in our heart, over what has happened in parts of Campagnia, but from the magnitude of that calamity you can imagine it yourself. Concerning that affair, for the relief of those who have been taken captive, we are sending over gold coins to your Experience, through the bearer of this letter, Stephen, a magnificent man. We warn you that you should be extremely concerned, and carry things out strenuously, and make haste yourself to ransom those free men who cannot afford their own ransom, as you know. But as for those who were slaves, if you find that their masters are too poor to come forward to ransom them, do not hesitate to purchase these also.
We cannot express how much grief and how much affliction there is in our heart, over what has happened in parts of Campagnia, but from the magnitude of that calamity you can imagine it yourself. Concerning that affair, for the relief of those who have been taken captive, we are sending over gold coins to your Experience, through the bearer of this letter, Stephen, a magnificent man. We warn you that you should be extremely concerned, and carry things out strenuously, and make haste yourself to ransom those free men who cannot afford their own ransom, as you know. But as for those who were slaves, if you find that their masters are too poor to come forward to ransom them, do not hesitate to purchase these also.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 426
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