Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XII:
The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great.: That the ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech.

Chapter IV.

That the ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech.

The ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; lest he either utter what ought to be suppressed or suppress what he ought to utter.  For, as incautious speaking leads into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed.  For often improvident rulers, fearing to lose human favour, shrink timidly from speaking freely the things that are right; and, according to the voice of the Truth (Joh. x. 12), serve unto the custody of the flock by no means with the zeal of shepherds, but in the way of hirelings; since they fly when the wolf cometh if they hide themselves under silence.  For hence it is that the Lord through the prophet upbraids them, saying, Dumb dogs, that cannot bark (Isa. 1:0, Isa. 56:10).  Hence again He complains, saying, Ye have not gone up against the enemy, neither opposed a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord (Ezek. xiii. 5).  Now to go up against the enemy is to go with free voice against the powers of this world for defence of the flock; and to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord is out of love of justice to resist bad men when they contend against us.  For, for a shepherd to have feared to say what is right, what else is it but to have turned his back in keeping silence?  But surely, if he puts himself in front for the flock, he opposes a wall against the enemy for the house of Israel.  Hence again to the sinful people it is said, Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee:  neither did they discover thine iniquity, to provoke thee to repentance (Lam. ii. 14).  For in sacred language teachers are sometimes called prophets, in that, by pointing out how fleeting are present things, they make manifest the things that are to come.  And such the divine discourse convinces of seeing false things, because, while fearing to reprove faults, they vainly flatter evil doers by promising security:  neither do they at all discover the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding.  For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often himself unaware.  Hence Paul says, That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers (Tit. i. 9).  Hence through Malachi it is said, The priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth (Malac. ii. 7).  Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying, Cry p. 12b aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet (Isa. 1:0, Isa. 58:1).  For it is true that whosoever enters on the priesthood undertakes the office of a herald, so as to walk, himself crying aloud, before the coming of the judge who follows terribly.  Wherefore, if the priest knows not how to preach, what voice of a loud cry shall the mute herald utter?  For hence it is that the Holy Spirit sat upon the first pastors under the appearance of tongues (Acts ii. 3); because whomsoever He has filled, He himself at once makes eloquent.  Hence it is enjoined on Moses that when the priest goes into the tabernacle he shall be encompassed with bells (Exod. xxviii. 33); that is, that he shall have about him the sounds of preaching, lest he provoke by his silence the judgment of Him Who beholds him from above.  For it is written, That his sound may be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord and when he cometh out, that he die not (Exod. xxviii. 35).  For the priest, when he goeth in or cometh out, dies if a sound is not heard from him, because he provokes the wrath of the hidden judge, if he goes without the sound of preaching.  Aptly also are the bells described as inserted in his vestments.  For what else ought we to take the vestments of the priest to be but righteous works; as the prophet attests when he says, Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness (Ps. cxxxi. 9)?  The bells, therefore, are inherent in his vestments to signify that the very works of the priest should also proclaim the way of life together with the sound of his tongue.  But, when the ruler prepares himself for speaking, let him bear in mind with what studious caution he ought to speak, lest, if he be hurried inordinately into speaking, the hearts of hearers be smitten with the wound of error and, while he perchance desires to seem wise he unwisely sever the bond of unity.  For on this account the Truth says, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another (Mark ix. 49).  Now by salt is denoted the word of wisdom.  Let him, therefore, who strives to speak wisely fear greatly, lest by his eloquence the unity of his hearers be disturbed.  Hence Paul says, Not to be more wise than behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety (Rom. xii. 3).  Hence in the priest’s vestment, according to Divine precept, to bells are added pomegranates (Exod. xxviii. 34).  For what is signified by pomegranates but the unity of the faith?  For, as within a pomegranate many seeds are protected by one outer rind, so the unity of the faith comprehends the innumerable peoples of holy Church, whom a diversity of merits retains within her.  Lest then a ruler should be unadvisedly hurried into speaking, the Truth in person proclaims to His disciples this which we have already cited, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another (Mark ix. 49).  It is as though He should say in a figure through the dress of the priest:  Join ye pomegranates to bells, that in all ye say ye may with cautious watchfulness keep the unity of the faith.  Rulers ought also to guard with anxious thought not only against saying in any way what is wrong, but against uttering even what is right overmuch and inordinately; since the good effect of things spoken is often lost, when enfeebled to the hearts of hearers by the incautious importunity of loquacity; and this same loquacity, which knows not how to serve for the profit of the hearers, also defiles the speaker.  Hence it is well said through Moses, The man that hath a flux of seed shall be unclean (Levit. xv. 2).  For the quality of the speech that is heard is the seed of the thought which follows, since, while speech is conceived through the ear, thought is engendered in the mind.  Whence also by the wise of this world the excellent preacher was called a sower of words (seminiverbius) (Acts xvii. 18).  Wherefore, he that suffers from a flux of seed is pronounced unclean, because, being addicted to much speaking, he defiles himself by that which, had it been orderly issued, might have produced the offspring of right thought in the hearts of hearers; and, while he incautiously spends himself in loquacity, he sheds his seed not so as to serve for generation, but unto uncleanness.  Hence Paul also, in admonishing his disciple to be instant in preaching, when he says, I charge thee before God and Christ Jesus, Who shall judge the quick and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word, be instant opportunely, importunely 1270 (2 Tim. iv. 1), being about to say importunely, premises opportunely, because in truth importunity mars itself to the mind of the hearer by its own very cheapness, if it knows not how to observe opportunity.

Footnotes

Opportune, importune, the second word being apparently understood in the sense of importunately.