Gregory was a man of very unusual ability and the force of his strong personality made his reign one of the great formative epochs in papal history. Besides his activity in relation to the affairs of the world in general, he has the distinction of being a literary pope. His letters and treatises were numerous and possessed a quality of thought and style which was exceedingly rare in his day. The most famous of his writings, and justly so, is the _Liber Regulae Pastoralis_, known commonly to English readers as the "Pastoral Care," or the "Pastoral Rule." This book was written soon after its author became pope (590) and was addressed to John, bishop of Ravenna, in reply to inquiries received from him respecting the duties and obligations of the clergy. Though thus put into form for a special purpose, there can be no doubt that it was the product of long thought, and in fact in his _Magna Moralia_, or "Commentary on the Book of Job," written during his residence at Constantinople, Gregory declared his purpose some day to write just such a book. Everywhere throughout Europe the work was received with the favor it deserved, and in Spain, Gaul, and Italy its influence upon the life and manners of the clergy was beyond estimate. Even in Britain, after King Alfred's paraphrase of it in the Saxon tongue had been made, three hundred years later [see p. 193], it was a real power for good. The permanent value of Gregory's instructions regarding the life of the clergy arose not only from the lofty spirit in which they were conceived and the clear-cut manner in which they were expressed, but from their breadth and adaptation to all times and places. There are few books which the modern pastor can read with greater profit. The work is in four parts: (1) on the selection of men for the work of the Church; (2) on the sort of life the pastor ought to live; (3) on the best methods of dealing with the various types of people which every pastor will be likely to encounter; and (4) on the necessity that the pastor guard himself against egotism and personal ambition. The passages below are taken from the second and third parts. Source--Gregorius Magnus, _Liber Regulae Pastoralis_ [Gregory the Great, "The Book of the Pastoral Rule"]. Text in Jacques Paul Migne, _Patroligiae Cursus Completus_, First Series, Vol. LXXVII., cols. 12-127 _passim_. Adapted from translation in Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, _Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_ (New York, 1895), Second Series, Vol. XII., pp. 9-71 _passim_. [Sidenote: The qualities which ought to be united in the pastor]