Gregory the Great, on Ezek 2:6

“And thou, O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words: for thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions. Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their looks: for they are a provoking house.”

“"Therefore you, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their words, because unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." It is clear to what perverse people he is sent to preach, who is admonished not to fear. And because all wicked people both do other iniquitous things to those who speak good things to them, and still threaten other things, on account of those things which they do it is said: "Do not fear them"; and on account of what they threaten, it is added: "Neither fear their words." Or certainly because the reprobate both inflict evils upon the good and always disparage their actions, the prophet who is sent is admonished neither to fear their cruelty nor to dread their words. In this therefore that is said: "Do not fear," the authority of preaching is given to the prophet. And because all of us who live in God are instruments of truth, so that often He speaks to me through another, and often indeed to others through me; thus the authority of the good word ought to be present in us, so that both he who presides may speak right things freely, and he who is subject may not refuse to offer good things humbly. For the good that is said to a greater by a lesser is then truly good if it is said humbly. For if the rightness of thinking loses the humility of speaking, it has corrupted the root of understanding in the branch of the tongue. Which defect, evidently, is no longer from the branch but from the root, because unless the heart swelled up, the tongue would by no means be proud. Therefore humble authority ought to be present in the superior for speaking, but free humility ought to be present in the lesser.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.