ABSTRACT
Gregory's character and temperament have the testimony of his contemporaries and his biographers, and his own writings. The first thing that strikes one is his fortitude. By temperament Gregory was a conservative, an authoritarian and a legalist, an old-fashioned Roman of the best kind, public servant and paterfamilias. This image is stamped on everything he did, but more subtly it reveals the deep intertwining of Christianitas and Romanitas. Gregory's Romanitas and Christianitas were far more than merely a matter of personal temperament and outlook; they constituted an entire philosophy of life governing his views on church, state, and Christian society. In line with the general principle of humility is his modesty about his own works. It is clear that they were enthusiastically propagated by disciples like Marinianus of Ravenna and Claudius of Classis. Gregory's medical record gives extra force to the instructions he included in Regula Pastoralis about the admonition of the sick.
