13. And I suppose I must certainly not pass over the first thing that occurs to me. You are at the head of affairs, without a rival. Why are you thus placed? The question, I tell you, requires consideration. Is it that you may become great through those beneath you? By no means, but that you may make them great. They have chosen you chief, but for their own sake, not for yours. If it is not so, can you reckon yourself above the very persons for whose favours you are a candidate? Listen to the Lord's words, 'They who have authority over them are called benefactors.'1 That, however, relates to them that are without. What has it to do with us? You are falsely so called if you aim not so much at being a benefactor as at ruling your benefactor. A man shows a poor spirit when he seeks not the welfare of those beneath him, but to make his own profit out of them. Such conduct is specially discreditable in a commander-in-chief. How beautifully did the Master of the Gentiles express his opinion that parents ought to lay up for the children, not children for the parents.2 He several times says, and it is a glorious saying, 'Not that I seek a gift, but fruit.'3 But now let us pass on, lest some one find my lingering here an indication of avarice in you ; though how far you are removed from that vice I testified in a former book. For I know what tempting offers you have refused, and how deep your poverty was when you refused them. If, then, I write such things to you, it is not that you require the admonition. Surely what is written for your profit ought not to profit you only. I am here censuring avarice, a vice from which your character is safe enough ; whether the censure is necessary is for you to decide. I will say, however, not to mention the offerings of the poor, which you cannot bear to touch, that we have seen the German money-bags dwindling down ; the bags were not smaller, but the price paid was less. Silver was counted as hay. The Sagmarii reluctantly went home with their bundles as heavy as when they came. A new thing ! Was Rome ever known to refuse gold ? Even now we do not believe such practice commends itself to the Romans. Two men came to Rome, both wealthy, both culprits. One belonged to Mayence, the other to Cologne. Favour was freely shown to one ; the other, unworthy, I suppose, of any favour, was told, ‘ The same robe you wore when you came in you will wear when you go out.’ What a glorious saying ! The very words of apostolic freedom. Was it one whit inferior to Peter’s, ‘ Thy money perish with thee ’ ? 4 The only difference is that the latter has more zeal, the former more modesty. What did the man get by coming from over sea, almost from the ends of the earth, crossing sea and land to purchase a bishopric twice over, once with his own money, once with other men’s ? For he had already bought it once. He brought much with him, but he took it back ; not all, however. The poor wretch fell into other hands than yours, more mighty to receive than to give. You did well to keep your hands clean both ways; you would not lay them on the head of an ambitious man, nor lay them under the unrighteous mammon. You did not thus hold aloof from a poor bishop, whom I could name, but you gave him something to give, so that he mighty not be called stingy; he secretly received from you what he openly gave. You thus with your own purse shielded the man from exposure; and at the same time by humouring the court, he (thanks to your kindness) escaped the dislike of those who love gifts. You cannot hide the deed; we know both the facts and the person. Does the story displease you? The more averse you are to hearing it, the greater pleasure I have in telling it. If it is good for you one way, it is good for me another. Where the glory of Christ is concerned I am under no such obligation to silence, as you are to refrain from seeking your own glory. And if you go on complaining, I will answer you out of the Gospel, ‘The more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it, saying, he hath done all things well.’5