The Judgement of Men

Indico autem quod levitate populi tumultum contra vos detractionis exortum nuntiantibus quibusdam agnovi. Qua ex re excellentiam vestram audio fuisse taedio non modico contristam. Quod si ita est, valde miror cur vos, qui cor fixistis in coelo, verba hominum agitent in terra. Beatus enim Job, cum amici ejus qui ad consolandum venerant increpationem prosiliisent, ait, Ecce enim in caelo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis. Qui enim vitae suae in coelo testem habet, judicia hominum in terra pertimescere non debet. Dux quoque bonorum Paulus dicit: Gloria nostra haec est testimonium conscientiae nostrae. Qui iterum dicit: Opus suum probet unusquisque, et sic in semetipso gloriam habebit et non in altero. Si enim laudibus laetamur, et detractionibus frangimur, gloriam nostram non in nobis, sed in aliorum ore posuimus.  Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Registri Epistolarum, Liber XI, Epistola XLV, Ad Theocistam

I will reveal that I have been informed by certain persons that, by the levity of the people, a storm of detraction has risen against you. I hear that because of it your Excellency has been wearied with no slight sadness. If this is so, I wonder much why you are agitated, you who have fixed your heart on heaven, by the words of men on earth. The blessed Job, when his friends who had come to console him had broken out into chiding, said, ' Behold my witness is in heaven, my confidant is on high.'1 For one who has the witness of his life in heaven should not fear the judgments of men on earth. Paul also, a leader of good men, says, 'Our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience.' 2 And again he says, 'Let every man prove his own work, and so shall he have glory in himself, and not in another.' 3 For if we are made joyful by praise and broken by detractions, not in ourselves, but in the mouths of others, we have placed our glory. Saint Gregory the Great, Registry of Letters, Book 11, Letter 45, To Theocista 1 Job 16.20 2 2 Cor 1.12  3 Gal 6.4