The Fathers of The Church. A New Translation. Volume 26.
The Fathers of The Church. A New Translation. Volume 26.
The Fathers of The Church. A New Translation. Volume 26.
?q , ,
1?w v 26 66-011-326
Founded by
LUDWIG SCHOPP
EDITORIAL BOARD
ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
New York
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.
1954
NIHIL OBSTAT:
IMPRIMATUR:
Copyright 1954 by
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.
New York 17,
475 Fifth Avenue, N. Y.
All rights reserved
1
Palanque, op. cit. 466-479.
6043:26
vi SAINT AMBROSE
to
members of councils, are placed after the letters
Church
to entire follow the letters to
bishops. Letters congregations
individuals within each section. Each group of letters presents
the addressees in alphabetical order.
As a result of this arrangement, the letters on related
in the same spirit to an individual
subjects or those written
are frequently found together. They range from affairs of
doctrinal disputes,
state, problems of Church government,
and and legal affairs, to the exchange of
exegesis, pastoral
between friends in many stations of life, letters of
greetings
to bring
consolation, and the ordinary letter that attempted
the absent together in a world where travel and commu-
nication were extremely difficult.
The letters are a reflection of the many-sided role of St.
Ambrose. His parents were Romans who were residing in
Gaul at Trier in 339 when Ambrose was born. His father
was praetorian prefect of the Gauls at the time. Ambrose
had an older sister, Marcellina, who became a nun in 343,
to whom he wrote three letters that are extant, and also
an older brother, Uranius Satyrus, whom he loved dearly
and over whose early death in 375 he grieved deeply.
Ambrose's education was typical of his day. He learned
5 Letter 4, which has not hitherto been considered among the con-
solatory works of Ambrose, was written to Theodosius from whom
Ambrose was awaiting instructions for the burial of Vaientinian.
Sections 1-3 are a 'monody' wherein Ambrose expresses his great grief
at the death of Vaientinian.
INTRODUCTION IX
penned.
There are details revealed by the correspondence of Am-
brose which add to our knowledge of ancient epistolography.
The salutationsfrequently very simple, for example,
are
3
'Ambrose to Titianus, with an occasional addition of 'greet-
5
10 Vit. 9.38, trans. John A. Lacy, in this series, Volume 15 (New York
1952) .
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Secondary Works:
1
* To Gratian 3
(1)
2 (40) To Theodosius 6
3 (51) To Theodosius 20
4 (55) To Theodosius 26
5 (61) To Theodosius 28
'
6 (62) To Theodosius 30
7 (17) To Valentinian 31
8 (18) To Valentinian 37
9 (21) To Valentinian 52
10 (24) To Valentinian 57
11 (57) To Eugenius the Usurper 62
Letters to Bishops
12 (Iff)
To Anysius 67
13 (91) To Candidianus 70
14 (50) To Chromatius 70
XV
Letters to Bishops Page
15 (2) To Constantius 76
16 (72) To Constantius 90
17 (87) To Fegadius and Delphinus 101
18 (3) To Felix .102
19 (4) To Felix 102
20 (7) To Justus 105
21 (8) To Justus 115
22 (82) To Marcellus 120
23 (48) To Sabinus 124
24 (47) To Sabinus 127
25 (45) To Sabinus 129
26 (49) To Sabinus 134
27 (46) To Sabinus 136
28 (58) To Sabinus 144
29 (59) To Severus 149
30 (85) To Siricius 151
31 (86) To Siricius 152
32 (5) To Syagrius 152
33 (6) To Syagrius 163
34 (56) To Theophilus . 172
35 (19) To Vigilius 174
36 (23) To the Bishops of Aemelia 189
37 (15) To the Bishops of Thessalonica 200
Synodal Letters
xvi
Synodal Letters Page
xvii
Letters to Laymen
63 To Alypius 399
(89)
64 (90) To Antonius 399
65 To Atticus 400
(88)
66 (79) To Bellicius 40!
67 (80) To Bellicius 402
68 (74) To Clementianus .405
69 (75) To Clementianus 410
70 (84) To Cynegius 413
71 (54) To Eusebius 413
72 (55) To Eusebius 414
73 (39) To Faustinus 416
74 (31) To Irenaeus 420
75 (32) To Irenaeus 425
76 (33) To Irenaeus 428
77 (64) To Irenaeus 432
78 (69) To Irenaeus 435
79 (29) To Irenaeus 437
80 (30) To Irenaeus 448
81 (28) To Irenaeus 454
82 (27) To Irenaeus 458
83 (73) To Irenaeus 464
84 (26) To Irenaeus 468
85 (76) To Irenaeus 475
86 (60) To Paternus 481
87 (66) To Romulus 484
88 (68) To Romulus . 488
89 (83) To Sisinnius 489
90 (25) To Studius 492
91 (52) To Titianus 494
XVlll
LETTERS
Translated by
Rosary College
entire letter with your own hand, so that the very marks of
faith and In the same way
punctuation bespoke your piety.
2
with his own hand did Abraham of old slay an ox to serve
I am
continually beset with almost unending cares,
O
most blessed Emperor, but never have I felt such anxiety as
now, for I see that I must be careful not to have ascribed
to
1 Ps. 118.46.
2 Ezech. 3.17-21.
SAINT AMBROSE
the holy
written in the words
dishonest. Indeed, it is
of^
cannot 'Be urgent
Apostle Paul, whose teaching you disprove:
in out of entreat, rebuke with all
season, season; reprove,
3
patience and teaching.'
We have one whom it is more perilous to displease,
especially since
even emperors are not displeased when each
listen to each as he
man performs his task, and you patiently
makes suggestions in his own sphere; in fact, you chide him if
he does not act in accordance with his rank in service, Can
this seem offensive in bishops, the very thing you are willing
your service, since we
to accept from those who are in are
Who will dare tell you the truth if the bishop does not?
I know that you are God-fearing, merciful, gentle, and
calm, that you have the faith and fear of God in your heart,
but often some things escape our notice. Some persons have
5
zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Care must
be taken, I think, lest this upon pious souls.
condition steal
I know your devotion to God, your leniency toward men. I
myself amindebted to you for many kind favors. Therefore,
I fear the more, I am the more anxious lest you condemn me
later in your judgment for the fault you did not avoid,
3 2 Tim. 4.2.
4 Matt. 10,19,20.
5 Of. Rom. 10.2.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS y
expense. My
charge is not that you should have waited for
the bishop's testimony, for bishops quell disturbances and are
eager for peace unless they deeply feel some wrong against
God or insult to the Church. But suppose that this particular
bishop was overimpetuous in burning the synagogue, and too
timid at the judgment seat; are you not afraid, Emperor,
that he may comply with your pronouncement and do you
not fear he may become an apostate?
Are you not afraid of what will perhaps ensue, his resisting
the count in so many words? Then he [the count] will have
to make him either an apostate or a martyr, either alternative
very different from this era of your reign, either one equivalent
to persecution if he is forced to apostatize or undergo
martyrdom. You see what the outcome of this case will be.
If you know that the bishop is firm, beware of making him
a martyr if he becomes more firm; if you consider him
inconstant, have no part in the downfall of one who is frail.
He incurs a heavier obligation who compels the weak to fall.
I am supposing that in the present state of affairs the
6 Matt. 18.15-17.
7 His name is nowhere given.
8 At Callinicum. The incident is well summarized by Gregory Figueroa,
S. A., The Church and the Synagogue in St. Ambrose (Washington
1949) xiii-xxiv.
10 SAINT AMBROSE
the
bishop will admit that he spread the fires, gathered
and the in order not to lose
crowd, brought people together
the chance of martyrdom and to present a strong individual
instead of weak ones.
many O
happy falsehood, which wins
acquittal for others and for himself grace! This,
I ask, O
Emperor, that you rather take your vengeance on me, and,
ifyou consider this a crime, attribute it to me. Why pronounce
judgment on those who are far away? You have someone at
hand, you have someone who admits his guilt. I declare that
synagogue, at least that I gave the orders, so
I set fire to the
that there would be no building in which Christ is denied.
If the objection is raised that I did not burn the synagogue
I have not read that the edict was revoked, let us consider it
revoked. What if other more timid persons should, through
fear of death, offer to repair the synagogue at their expense,
or the count, finding this previously determined, should order
it to be rebuiltfrom the funds of Christians? Will you, O
Emperor, have the count an apostate, and entrust to him
the insignia of victory, or give the labaruni, which is sanctified
by Christ's name, to one who will rebuild a synagogue which
knows not Christ? Order the labarum carried into the
synagogue and let us see if they [the Jews] do not resist.
Shall a place be provided out of the spoils of the Church
for the disbelief of the Jews, and shall this patrimony, given
that
order this burning to be punished, he would again plead
it be not so? It was very suitable
for your son to gain that
of
what was done to him. Besides, there was a good division
grace there, since the
son made the entreaty regarding his
the father for the son's. Here is nothing
injury, and so did
for you to waive in your son's behalf; be careful, then, to
Gaza, Ascalon, Beirut, in fact, almost all over that region, and
no one demanded punishment. A basilica of surpassing beauty
at Alexandria was burned by heathens and Jews, but the
Church was not avenged, and shall the synagogue be avenged?
11 Jer. 7.14-17.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 13
12
Shall the burning of the temple of the Valentinians also
be avenged? What is it but a temple where the heathens
gather? Although the heathens worship twelve gods, the
Valentinians worship thirty-two Aeons, whom they call gods.
I have found out that a law was
passed and orders given for
the punishment of some monks to whom the Valentinians
way as they sang the psalms by an ancient
denied the right of
custom and practice, going on their way to the feast of the
13
martyrs, the Machabees. In anger at their effrontery they
[the monks] burned their hurriedly built shrine in some coun-
try village.
How many can entertain such hope when they remember
14
that in the time of Julian a man who had thrown down an
altar and disturbed the sacrifice was sentenced by the judge
and suffered martyrdom? The judge who heard the case was
never considered other than a persecutor. No one ever thought
him worth meeting or saluting with a kiss. And if he were not
dead, I would be afraid, O
Emperor, that you would punish
him, although he did not escape heaven's vengeance, for he
outlived his heir.
But it is said that a trial of the judge was demanded
and the decision handed down that he should not have
reported the deed, but punished" it; and money chests which
had been taken had to be restored. I shall omit any other
details. The churches' basilicas were burned by the Jews and
nothing was restored, nothing was demanded in return, noth-
ing was required. Moreover, what could a synagogue in a
distant town contain, when everything there is not much, is
of no value, is of no account. In fine, what could those
12 Cf. G. Bardy, 'Valentin,' DTC
15* 2497-2519.
13 The festival honoring the Macchabees seems to have been universally
celebrated in the Church of the fourth century on August 1.
14 Mark of Arethusa in the time of Constantius had demolished a pagan
temple and was tortured under Julian for refusing to rebuild it. Cf.
Sozomen 5.10; Theodoret EccL hist. 3.7.
14 SAINT AMBROSE
scheming Jews have lost In this act of plunder? These are but
the devices of Jews wishing to bring false charges, so that by
reason of their complaints an extraordinary military inquiry
may be demanded and soldiers sent who will perhaps say
what was said here some time before your accession, O
Emperor: 'How will Christ be able to help us who are sent
to avenge Jews? They lost their own army, they wish to
destroy ours.'
Futhermore, into what false charges will they not break
forth, when they even falsely accused Christ with their false
witnesses? Into what false charges will men not break forth
when they were liars even in matters divine? Whom will they
not name as the instigators of the sedition? Whom will they
not attack, even though they know them not, just so that
they may see countless Christians in chains, see the necks of
faithful people bowed in captivity, that the servants of God
that the
not Maxirnus undone because, when he heard
Was
before the set time for
synagogue at Rome had been burned,
his he sent an edict to Rome, as if he were the
expedition,
champion of public order? On this account the Christian
good
a defender of those whom Christ
Jew, we have heard he is 23
made He who died for sinners.' If this was
soon trial of,
actual
said of his mere words, what will be said of your
23 Rom. 5.6.
24 Luke 7,43,17.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 17
released many from exile, from prisons, and from the extreme
penalty of death. I am bound to prefer hurting your feelings
for the sake of your welfare ( for no one has greater confidence
than one who loves from the heart, and certainly no one
should harm one whose interests he has at heart) and I ;
should not fear to lose in one moment the favor which other
bishops and I have enjoyed for so many years. Yet it is not
the loss of that favor that I would- avert, but the peril to
salvation.
How important it is for you, O Emperor, not to feel
bound to investigate or punish a matter which no one up to
now has investigated or punished! It is a serious matter to
jeopardize your faith in behalf of the Jews. When Gideon
had slain the sacred calf, the heathens said: c Let the gods
themselves avenge the injury done to them.' 25 Whose task is
it to
avenge the synagogue? Christ whom they slew, whom
they denied? Or will God the Father avenge those who did
not accept the Father, since they did not accept the Son?
Whose task is it to avenge the heresy of the Valentinians?
How can your Piety avenge them when it has given orders
for them to be denied entrance and has denied them the
25 Judges 5.32.
26 Cf. 4 Kings 22.1,2,
18 SAINT AMBROSE
consult and temper your wishes; but exclude and put an end
to that which troubles me, and rightly so. Do yourself what
is not going
you ordered to be done, even if he [the count]
to do it. I would rather that you be merciful than that he fail
to do what he was ordered.
In return for those whom you now have, you ought to
cultivate and win the Lord's mercy for the Roman Empire,
for you have more for them than you hoped for yourself.
Let their favor, their well-being, appeal to you in these words
of mine. I fear thatyou will entrust your cause to another's
will. You have everything in its original state. In this I
still
1
5. To the most august Emperor Theodosius, Ambrose, bishop
ship with Ambrose was not an excuse for your deed; blame
for what had been done would have been heaped upon me
even more had no one said there must needs be a reconcilation
with our God.
Are you ashamed., O Emperor, to do what King David
the Prophet did, the forefather of the family of Christ
according to the flesh? He was told that a rich man who
had many flocks had seized and killed a poor man's one ram
on the arrival of a guest, and recognizing that he himself
was being condemned in this tale, for he had himself done
5
so, he said:
C
I have sinned against the Lord.' Do not be
impatient, O Emperor, if it is said to you: 'You have done
shall fall into the hand of the Lord since his mercies are
exceedingly great, and I shall not fall into the hands of men.' 8
His fault was that he desired to know the number of all the
people who were with him, and the knowledge of this he
should have left to God alone.
And it is said that when
the pestilence came upon the
people on the day at dinner
firsttime, when David saw the
C
shepherd, have done evil and this flock, what has it done?
Let your hand be upon me, and upon my father's house.' 9
So the Lord repented and He bade the angel to spare the
people, but David to offer sacrifice, for sacrifices were then
offered for sin, but now they are sacrifices of penance. Thus,
by he became more acceptable to God, for it is not
his humility
8 2, Kings 24.10,14.
9 2 Kings 24.17.
10 Job 31.34 (Scptuagint) .
11 1
Kings 19.4,5.
12 2 Kings 3.28.
24 SAINT AMBROSE
sinned,
;
He does
not forgive us unless we do penance.
my that you, who
beg, I warn, for
is
I urge, I ask, I grief
were a model of unheard-of piety, reached the apex who had
of clemency, who would not allow the guilty to be in peril,
are not nowmourning that so many guiltless have perished.
battles most successfully, and were
Although you waged
praiseworthy also in other respects, your deeds the apex of
was always your piety. The Devil envied you this, your most
while you still have the
outstanding possession. Conquer him
means of doing so. Do not add another sin to your sin nor
follow a course of action which has injured many followers.
I among all other men, a debtor to your Piety, to whom I
cannot be ungrateful, this piety which I discover in many
have no charge of
emperors and match in only one, I, I say,
but I do have one of fear. I dare not
arrogance against you,
offer the Holy Sacrifice if you intend to be present. Can that
which is not allowable, after the blood of one man is shed,
1
for I have learned very definitely what I may not do, not
from man nor through man. In my anxiety, on the very
night that I was preparing to set forth you appeared [in my
dreams] to have come to the church and I was not allowed
to offer theHoly Sacrifice. I say nothing of the other things
I could have avoided, but bore for love of you, as I believe.
May the Lord make all things pass tranquilly. Our God
13 Matt. 28.20.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 25
Are they not more Christian who condemn their sin than
they who hope to defend it, for T.he just is first accuser of
>19
himself. One who accuses himself when he has sinned is
just, not one who praises himself.
I wish, O
Emperor, that before this you had relied upon
me rather than on your own habits. Since I realize that you
14 Palanque and others think Ambrose's reference to 'heavenly signs'
refers to a comet which appeared and was visible from August 22 to
September 17, 390. McGuire (op. cit. 316) does not think Ambrose
would use a comet as a 'divine sign of warning/
15 Eccle. 3,1.
16 Ps. 118.126.
17 Ps. 68.14.
18 Matt. 9.13.
39 Prov. 18.17 (Scptuagint) .
26 SAINT AMBROSE
l
4. Ambrose to Theodosius the Emperor (August* 392 )
2
for I
Word from your Clemency has broken my silence,
had decided that amid so great sorrows I could do nothing
better than withdraw as far as possible. Yet, being unable to
I at
hide away in some retreat or abdicate my priestly state,
least retired within myself by my silence.
that
sorrow, I confess, with bitter sorrow not only
I
but also because,
Augustus Valentinian has died so young,
instructed in the faith and molded by your teaching, he had
become so devoted toward our God and clung to me with so
20 It is uncertain which Gratian is referred to in this passage.
ters,
5
sisters of
your son Valentinian, who are deeply affected
and the more so, since for a long time they received no word
from you. Your message has been no small consolation to
them, but while the remains are unburied they
do not spare
for that they are attending
themselves, they daily imagine
the funeral of their brother. In truth, they are never without
many tears and heavy sorrow, and whenever they visit the
lifeless. It will be good for them and
body they return almost
for the dear remains if the burial is hastened, lest the summer
heat utterly dissolve them, for we have hardly passed its
first tide.
to your august
Although I have written but recently
did not seem to
Clemency and have done so a second time, it
Not only are all men under the sway of Rome in the service
of you, the emperors and princes of the earth, but you your-
selves are also in the service of almighty God and of our holy
faith.Salvation will not be assured unless each one truly
worships the true God, that is, the God of the Christians, by
whom allthings are governed. He alone is the true God
who is
worshiped with the inmost being: 'For the gods of
2
the gentiles are idols,' as Scripture says.
Whoever serves this true God, receiving Him with deep
affection, in order to worship Him, displays not lying and
2 Ps. 95.5.
32 SAINT AMBROSE
persons that you are now obligated to erect altars to the gods
of the heathens and to furnish credit for the upkeep of profane
This expense, which for a long time was charged to
sacrifices.
S Wytzes omits this passage in the Latin text, hut translates it in the
German.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 33
civil matter which is a statute of law, and here you are over-
danger.
If today some pagan emperor God forbid! should set
4 Matt. 6.24.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 37
believe thatHe died (for you do not realize that that was a
death of the body not of the divinity, which has brought it
about that no believer will die), why is this so senseless to
you who worship with insult and disparage with honor,
thinking that your god is a piece of wood? O worship most
insulting! You do not believe that Christ could have died.
O honorable stubborness!
But, says he, the ancient altars should be restored to the
images, the ornaments to the shrines. Let these demands be
made by one who shares their superstition. A Christian
emperor knows how honor the altar of Christ alone. Why
to
do they force pious hands and faithful lips to do service to
their sacrilege? Let the voice of our emperor utter the name
of Christ and call on Him only whom he is conscious of,
c 6
for the heart of the king is in the hand of God.' Has any
heathen emperor raised an altar to Christ? While they
demand the restoration of all things which used to be, they
show by their own example what great reverence Christian
emperors should give to the religion which they follow, since
the heathens offered everything to their superstitions.
Wehad our beginning long ago, and now they are follow-
ing those whom they excluded. We glory in [shedding] our
blood; they are disturbed by the spending of money. We
think these acts take the place of victory; they reckon them
a loss. Never did they confer more upon us than when they
ordered Christians scourged and outlawed and put to death.
Religion made a reward out of that which unbelief thought
was a punishment. See these magnanimous individuals! We
have increased through our losses, through want, through
punishment. They do not believe that their ceremonies can
continue unless donations continue.
Let the Vestal virgins, he says, keep their privileged state.
Let men say this who are not able to believe what virginity
6 Prov. 2.1.
42 SAINT AMBROSE
the support of the poor. Let them take account of how many
captives the temples have brought back,
what food they
have provided for the poor, to what exiles they have furnished
avenged what had taken place and that which served only
the advantage of priests began being advantageous to all.
For this reason, they say, the bark was stripped from the
woods and carried off and the fainting men drank with their
9
lips the unsavory sap. Therefore, changing Chaonian wine
going back again to the food of cattle and to
1 ()
for the acorn,
the nourishment of wretched provisions, they shook the oaks
11
and hunger in the woods.
satisfied their dire Surely, these
are strange events in earth, which never happened before
when the heathen superstition was fervent throughout the
world In fact, when before did the crops mock the prayers
!
priestsif
they would deny it to everybody, for the vengeance
would be more unbearable than the injury? There is no real
reason for bringing such suffering on a world to accomplish
one man's downfall as that the full-grown hope of the year
should suddenly perish while the stalks were green.
And, surely, it has been many years since the rights of
temples were taken away throughout the world. Has it just
now entered the mind of the heathen gods to avenge the
wrong? Did the Nile fail to overflow in its accustomed course
to avenge the losses of the priests of the city while it did not
upon them, nor look for refreshment from the berries of the
15 in
woods, nor pluck their food from thorns, but, taking joy
at their harvest
their prosperous labors and even marveling
have sated their hunger with the full enjoy-
themselves, they
ment of their wishes.
10
The earth gave us her fruit with
interest.
affairs as to be
Who,then, is such a stranger to men's
astonished at the alternation of the seasons of the year? Yet
we know that last year several provinces had an abundance
of produce. What shall I say of the Gauls who were richer
than usual? They sold the grain of Pannonia which they did
not sow, and Rhaetia Sccunda incurred hostility owing ^to
her fertility, for she who was ordinarily safe in her scarcity
made herself an enemy by her fertility. The fruits of autumn
fed Liguria and the Venetias. Last year had no drought
because of sacrilege; in fact, it flourished with the fruits of
faith. Let them try to deny that the vineyards abounded with
immense produce. We have received a harvest with interest
and we also the benefit of a more abundant vintage.
possess
The and most important point remains, O Emperors,
last
15 CL Atn. 3.650.
16 Cf, Georg, UOS.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 47
fields and to clothe the shapeless soil with vines, she put
So, then, our harvest is the faith of souls; the grace of the
Church is the vintage of merits which has flourished in the
saints since the beginning of the world, but in the last age it
has spread among the nations in order that all may know
that the faith of Christ has not crept upon unlettered minds
(for there is no crown of victory without an adversary), but,
the opinion having been rejected which prevailed before,
that which was true has rightly been preferred.
If the old why did Rome also
ceremonies gave pleasure,
take up foreign ones? I will make no mention of the ground
5
hidden by costly buildings and the shepherds huts glittering
with ill-suited gold. Why? In order that I may refer to the
very matter of which they complain. Why have they eagerly
taken statues from captured cities, and conquered gods, and
foreign rites of alien superstition? Whence comes the pre-
cedent for Cybele to wash her chariot in the stream of the
counterfeiting Alma? Whence come the Phrygian seers and
the deities of unjust Carthage ever hateful to the Romans?
Whence is she whom the Africans worship as Coelestis, the
20
Persians as Mithra, and most people as Venus, according*
to a diversity of names, but not a variety of deity? They
believed that Victory was a goddess, yet it is a gift, not a
power; it is granted and it does not rule; it is the result of the
bishops';
He, although baptized, thought he was unfit for the burden
of such a judgment; your Clemency, who must still earn the
sacrament of baptism, takes to yourself a judgment concerning
faith, although you are unacquainted with the sacraments of
that faith.
We can well imagine what sort of judges he [Auxentius]
will choose, for he fears to reveal their names. Of course,
let them come to the church, if there are any to come. Let
1 Maximus was offering peace, but only on the condition that Val-
entinian himselfcome to Trier.
2 praepositus cubiculi.
58 SAINT AMBROSE
replied,
was weaker than you, but I do so now for one who is your
equal.' 'Equal by
whose kindness?' he asked. "That of
almighty God,' said I, for He preserved
for Valentinian the
;
'Still, I rendered
shall not censure Valentinian for services I
him. Tosay the truth, when did prevent your legions from
I
5 Son of Maxiraus.
60 SAINT AMBROSE
bishops who were in his service and who were asking that
certain persons, heretics, should be put to death, he became
very angry and ordered me to leave at once. I went, although
several thought I would not escape his ambushes. I was
overwhelmed sorrow finding that the old bishop,
with
Hyginus, though he had but the last breath of life left in
him, was being sent into exile. When I approached some of
1
My reason for leaving [Milan] was the fear of the Lord
towhom I direct all my acts, as far as possible, never turning
my mind from Him nor considering any man's favor of
more worth than the grace of Christ. By preferring God to
2
The most excellent Symmachus, when prefect of the city,
appealed to Emperor Valentinian the younger, of august
memory, begging that he would command the restoration to
the temples of what had been removed, for he fulfilled his
obligations in accordance with his own wish and religious
conviction. It was also fitting that I, as bishop, should know
3
my duties. presented two petitions to the emperors in
I
which I declared that a Christian could not contribute to
the upkeep of sacrifices; that I had not proposed that they
be removed; but that I did now propose they should not be
decreed ; and, finally, that he would seem to be giving rather
than restoring contributions to the images. What he had
not withdrawn he could not be said to be restoring; he
seemed rather to be willingly donating money for the cost of
superstition. Lastly, if he had done so, he either must not
come to the church, or, if he should come, he would
find no priest or one withstanding him in the church.
Nor could he plead the excuse that he was only a catechumen,
since even catechumens are not allowed to contribute to the
upkeep of idols.
2 In 384.
3 See the two letters to Valentinian, above.
4 Wytzes' emendation of a troublesome passage: acquieverunt comites
domino suo.
5 In 390.
64 SAINT AMBROSE
Empire,
8
were found to have been made to
these donations
6 Ps. 118.46.
7 In 391, following his and Theodosius" joint order,
forbidding pagan
sacrifices and visits to pagan temples.
8 In August, 392.
9 Cf. Acts 1.24; Dan. 13.42.
LETTERS TO EMPERORS 65
knew I could not, must not, consult anyone but myself, for
I could not reasonably trust you. For a long time I stifled
11 Rom, 13.7.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS
67
68 SAINT AMBROSE
8 Ci Wisd. 4.8,9.
9 Isa. 60.8.
10 Cf. 2 Par. 9.21.
70 SAINT AMBROSE
1
13. Ambrose to Brother Candidianus
profit of grace.
5
His first words were:
c
How shall I curse
him whom God hath not cursed?' to show that the blessing 9
grace of God.
10
'I shall see them,' he
says, 'from the tops of the mountains,
since I cannot with my vision embrace this people which will
dwell apart, marking their boundaries not by their ownership
of places, but by the indwelling of virtues, and by the
operation men die to original sin and the works of the unjust,
that, being transformed in newness of life into fellowship with
the just, they may again to the just man's way of life.
rise
And why is it
strange that when they die to sin they live to
God?
C
When he was angry and said
Balak heard this I brought :
9 Num. 23.8.
10 Num. 23.9.
11 Num. 23.10.
12 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.1.
74 SAINT AMBROSE
13
bless: There no labor in Jacob, no sorrow.'
is The Lord
protected him. Then he commanded seven altars and sac-
rifices to be made ready. Surely, he should have gone his
way, but his weak mind and changeable notions made him
think he could alter God's will. Being in a trance, he kept
desiring one thing and saying another.
'How beautiful,' he said, 'are thy dwellings, army of O
Hebrews! Thy tabernacles are like wooded valleys, as a
park near rivers, and as cedars by the waterside. A man
will go forth from Jacob and will take many nations, and his
14 Num. 24.5,6,9.
15 Cf. Heb. 4,12.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 75
adorned with beauty. Now the male sex is led astray and
captivated by nothing more quickly than by a woman's
beauty, particulary if by frequent conversation the love of
their hearts is aroused, set afire as if by torches; but if it
this is
plainly written, where the Lord Jesus says to the
Angel of the Church of Pergamum: 'Thou hast there some
who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast
a stumbling block before the children of Israel, that they
might eat and commit fornication. So thou hast also some
who hold the teaching of the Nicolaites/ 16 Hence comes the
sacrilege of the Manichaeans and of Manasse, who mingle
and unite sacrilege with impiety.
God was not unjust, nor was His opinion changed, for He
detected Balaam's mind and and He
the secrets of his heart,
tested him as a diviner, but He did not choose him as a
16 Apoc, 2.14,15.
76 SAINT AMBROSE
17 Num. 25.11.
18 Gen. 24.65.
9
comb/ and courteous conversations which water souls with
the of moral commands. The streams of holy
sweetness
Scripture are diverse; you know that which you
should drink
from first, second, and last.
10
Store up the water of Christ, that which praises the Lord.
Store up the water from many places, the water which the
clouds of prophecy pour out. He who gathers water from
the mountains and draws it to himself, or drinks from the
fountains, he himself also sheds dew like the clouds. There-
fore, fill the center of
your mind so as to have your plot of
land moistened and watered by fountains from the family
estate. Accordingly, he who reads much and also understands
is filled; he who has been filled sheds water upon others.
So Scripture says: 'If the clouds be full, they will pour out
11
rain upon the earth.'
thee, nor fire burn thy garments when thou shalt walk
27
through.' But, one who keeps a fire pent up in his body,
the fire of lust, the fire of immoderate desire, does not pass
through but burns the covering of his soul.
28
A good name
is more excellent than money, and above
heaps of silver is
29
good favor. Faith itself redounds to itself, sufficiently rich
and more than rich in its possession. There is nothing which
isnot the possession of the wise man except what is contrary
to virtue,and wherever he goes he finds all things to be his.
The whole world is his possession, since he uses it all as his
own.
Why, therefore, is a brother cheated? Why is a hireling
defrauded? The gain from the sale of a harlot is not great,
he [the writer of Proverbs] says; 30 it is the gain of fleeting
frailty. A harlot is not one's own possession, but a public
possession; not woman alone is a harlot, but every wandering
desire is a harlot. Every act of faithlessness, every lie, is a
harlot, and not the one who prostitutes her body, but every
soul which sells her hope, which seeks disgraceful profit and
an unworthy reward. We, too, are hired men who work for
a price and hope for the price of our labors from our Lord
and God. If anyone wants to know how mercenary we are,
let him hear the one who says : 'How many hired men in my
father's house have bread in abundance, while Iam perishing
here with hunger!' And below: 'Make me as one of thy
27 Isa. 43.2.
28 Cf. Prov. 6.7.
29 Cf. Prov. 22.1.
30 Prov. 6.20.
82 SAINT AMBROSE
hired men/ 31 All are hired men, all are laborers. Let the
man who waiting for the fruit of his labor consider
is that
he who defrauds another of his pay will himself be defrauded
of his own. In lending he acts unwisely and will repay later
with greater measure. Therefore, let one who does not wish
to lose what endures forever, take not from another what is
35
abomination before the Lord.' I do not mean that balance
which weighs out another's pay (in trivial matters the flesh
isdeceitful). Before God that balance of words is detestable
which simulates the weight of sober gravity while practicing
at the same time cunning fraud. God condemns especially
the man who deceives his neighbor with kind promises and
overwhelms his debtor with treacherous injustice. He will
have no gain from his clever skill. For, what does it profit
a man if he gains the wealth of the whole world but defrauds
36
his own soul of the payment of eternal life?
Pious souls must consider another scale by which the deeds
of individuals are weighed, in which, generally, sins are
overbalanced toward judgment, or deeds well done are of
more weight than sins. Alas for me if my sins are heavy and
31 Luke 15.17,19.
32 Cl Frov. 6.2.
3$ Cf. Prov. 22.14.
34 Cf. Frov. 14.15.
35 Frov. ILL
36 Cf. Matt, 16,26.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 83
W display
to grace,
Saintly Joseph
43
knew how to be humble. he was When
sold into slavery by his brothers and purchased by mer-
45
44
bound in fetters, as Scripture says, he learned
chants,
the strengthof humility, he scorned frailty. When he was
the royal palace a man in
bought in Egypt by an official of
he knew his noble
charge of the household although lineage
and his descent from the sons of Abraham, Joseph did not
become disgusted with his lowly condition, unworthy [as he
was to perform] the duties of a servant. Rather, he showed
himself diligent and faithful to his master's commands, know-
difference in what
ing by great prudence that it makes no
condition of found trustworthy, but that the pur-
life one is
41 Eccli. 19.23.
42 CL Rom. 5.19.
43 Cf. Gen. 39.1-12.
44 Cf. Gen. 37.28.
45 Cf. Ps. 101.18.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 85
Let them learn to search for the riches of good works and
to be rich in character. The beauty of riches is not in the
of the poor. In the
purses of the rich, but in their support
weak and needy, riches shine brighter. Let the wealthy learn
to seek not their own interests, but those which are Christ's,
so that Christ may search for them to bestow His possessions
55
upon them. He spent His blood for them; He poured out
His Spirit; He offers them His kingdom. What more will He
give who has offered Himself? Or what
is the Father not
may follow the true faith. With difficulty can minds imbued
with the poisons of infidelity be delivered from their impiety.
And if the virus unfortunately is implanted in them, do not
think they can be easily trusted. The strength and power of
wisdom is not to be trusted rashly, especially in the matter of
faith,which is rarely perfect in man.
Nevertheless, if you find one tainted with this dangerous
doctrine and of doubtful disposition, who wishes to get rid
of the reputation in which he is held, permit him to think
that he has made satisfaction, indulge him somewhat, for if
satisfaction is not allowed a person his mind is estranged.
Even skilled doctors, when they notice the signs of illness,
do not immediately upon naming them administer medicine,
but wait for the proper time for dispensing it. They do not
give up the patient, but with words or with what ointments
they can use, they soothe him so that the neglected illness
may not grow worse through a loss of spirit, or the patient,
being sick to his stomach, spit out the medicine; if a phy-
sician inexperienced in matters of this kind treat the illness
1
16. Ambrose to Constantius
3
the command to observe the rite of circumcision, he who
4
saw the day of the Lord and was glad. It is certainly evident
that he was considering not the physical, but the spiritual
sense of the divine law, and saw in the sacrifice of the lamb
the true suffering of the Lord's body.
What purpose shall we think Abraham our father intended
by first instituting what his posterity would not continue?
Or why are infants' bodies circumcised and imperiled at
and commanded thus by a divine pronouncement so
birth,
by reason of a mystery of religion their life is endangered?
that
What does this mean? The true cause lies hidden; the
61 Cf. Virgil, Eel. 6.59; Aen. 5.330.
62 Cf. Virgil, Georg. S.376.
1 Undated.
2 Cf. Acts 15.10.
3 Cf. Gen. 17.10.
4 Cf. John 8.56.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 91
nature, or it is
according to nature, and that which was
molded for the perfection of our nature ought not to be cut
off, especially since those who are unfriendly, being outside
the flock of the Lord our God, are wont to make this the
chief subject of ridicule. Since it is God's purpose, as He has
frequently declared, bring to
many as
possible as to the
observance of holy religion, how much the more would
these persons be attracted were they not deterred either by
the danger of this very circumcision or disapproval of it?
But to return to my first purpose, following the order I
have laid down, it seems best to speak of the exact nature
of Its defense should be twofold, since the
circumcision.
accusation such: the one brought forward by the Gentiles,
is
5 Herodotus 2.37.
92 SAINT AMBROSE
To those who
believe in the Lord Jesus the same reply
must be given which we were unwilling to disclose when we
argued against the notions of the Gentiles, If we were
6 Cf. Gen. 17.12.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 93
Until this price was paid for all men by the shedding of
the Lord's blood for the forgiveness of all, blood was required
of each man who, by the Law and the customary rite, was
following the holy precepts of religion. Since the price has
been paid for all after Christ the Lord suffered, there is no
longer need for the blood of each individual to be shed by
circumcision, for in the blood of Christ the circumcision of
allhas been solemnized, and in His cross we have all been
crucified with Him, and buried together in His tomb, and
planted together in the likeness of His death that we may no
longer be slaves of sin, Tor he who is dead is acquitted of
8
sin.'
9
take up his cross, and follow me.' If such an accusation is
not just when a man offers himself completely out of love,
10
and cleanses himself by the shedding of much blood, how
7 CL I Peter 1.18,19.
8 Rom. 6.5-7.
9 Matt. 16.24.
10 A reference to the martyrs.
94 SAINT AMBROSE
with the pain of circumcision, let them find fault, too, with
the death of martyrs by whom religion has been heightened,
not diminished. So far is the pain of circumcision from being
harmful to faith that pain but makes greater trial of faith,
for the grace of faith is greater if one despises pain for
12 Matt. 19.12.
13 Cf. John 1.36.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 97
14 2 Cor. 4.16.
15 Rom. 7.22.
16 Cf. Gen. 1.27.
17 Cf. Gen. 2.7.
18 Matt. 5.28.
98 SAINT AMBROSE
Law. Who is this but the one who said: I have not come
23
to destroy the Law but to fulfill it'?
fact of the
Yet, if
you pay careful attention, the coming
19 Isa. 40.6-8.
20 Luke 3.6.
21 Cf. Gen. 49.8.
22 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.15.
23 Matt. 5.17.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 99
24 Gen. 17,9-14.
25 Evidence of Ambrose's acquaintance with Aquila's reading, which
he consulted in exegetical discussions.
26 Gen. 21.12.
100 SAINT AMBROSE
27 Gen. 17.1,2,8.
28 Lev. 17.2.
29 The Egyptians and others mentioned above.
30 Cf. I Cor. 1.23,24.
31 Matt. 10.32.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 101
1 Undated.
2 Fhilem. 1.1.
102 SAINT AMBROSE
long. Take care lest later you find the growth of my distress
no Growth has a double meaning: things grown may be
trifle.
55
open my mouth in parables. Where Christ is, there are all
things, there is His teaching, there forgiveness of sins, there
grace, there the separation of the dead and the living.
Indeed, Aaron once stood in the midst of these furnishings
of the temple, exposing himself to danger so that death
would not pass over to the hosts of the living from the
6
heaps of the dead. In the Holy of Holies, moreover, like
the Word, He whom we do not see stands within each one
of us, separating the faculty of reasoning from the lifeless
bodies of our deadly passions and plague-ridden thoughts.
He stands as one who has come into this world to dull the
sting of death, to close its devouring jaws, to give everlasting
7
grace to the living, to grant resurrection to the dead.
For Him you fight the good fight,
8
you guard His treasure,
you lend His money, as it is written: 'Thou shalt lend to
9
nations.' The profit from spiritual grace is a good thing.
2 The mercy seat or seat of judgment.
3 Cf. Col. 1.15.
4 Exod. 25.22.
5 Ps. 77.2.
6 Cf. Num. 16.47,48.
7 Heb. 2.14,15.
8 Cf. 1 Tim. 6.12.
9 Deut. 15.16.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 105
fore, so that you may find a reward on that day and we may
be in peace I in you, and you in me.
it, he rejoices.
is also the ransom of the soul, for the saving of a
Mercy
man's soul is by which, assuredly, mercy
his riches is done,
4
faith
gladdening the poor by this expenditure. Therefore,
and grace and mercy are the ransom of the soul; these are
of a drachma, that a large
bought by the full payment is,
They gathered it
according to the direction of Moses, both
those who gathered much and those who gathered little.
Each man measured a gomor and the amount did not
abound or remain over and above for him who had gathered
6
much, nor was it less for him who had gathered less. Each
one, in accordance with the number of souls which dwelt
with him in the tent, gathered a gomor for each that is, a
measure of wine as the interpretation goes.
There is a measure of wisdom, too, which harms if it is
above measure, because it has been written: Do not be
7
very wise.' Paul, too, taught that a division of graces is given
according to measure, when he says 'Now the manifestation
:
5 Exod. 30.12-16.
6 Cf. Exod. 16.17,18.
7 Eccle. 7.17.
108 SAINT AMBROSE
8
faith in the same and according to the will of the
Spirit,'
passion and await His passage into her, that He may dwell
in the soul, and walk with her and become her God. Grace
itself is equal in all, but virtue varies in each. Let each
person,
then, receive grace proportioned to his strength, so that the
strong man does not feel need or the weak man a burden.
11
You have since the same wages
this truth in the
Gospel,
were given to all who worked in the vineyard. Few reach
the goal, few the crown. Few say: 'There is laid up for me
12
a crown of The gift of liberality and grace is one
justice.'
thing; the reward of virtue, the remuneration of labor, is
another.
The didrachma is our
redemption, nay, a half-didrachma.
It has redeemed us from death, it has redeemed us from
slavery, lest we be subject to the world which we have
renounced. Our Lord in the Gospel, therefore, tells Peter to
go to the sea, to let down his fishhook and to take the
stater he finds in the mouth of a fish and give it to the tax
13
collector for the Lord and himself. This is the didrachma
which was demanded according to law. Yet it was not the
king's son who owed it, but the foreigner. For, why should
Christ pay to ransom Himself from this world, He who had
come to take away the sin of the world? 14 Why should He
pay the price of ransom from sin, He who had come down
15
to forgive the sins of all? Why should He redeem Himself
from slavery, He who had emptied Himself to give liberty to
16
all? Why should He redeem Himself from death, He who
11 Cf. Matt. 20.10.
12 2 Tim. 4.8.
13 Cf. Matt. 17.26.
14 Cf. Matt. 17.24.
15 Cf. John 1.29.
16 Cf. Phil. 2.7.
110 SAINT AMBROSE
The Jews did not know the stater which they gave to the
betrayer. The Law exacts a half-didrachma for the redemp-
tion of a soul, and vows this to God, being unable to claim
the whole didrachma. One does not find any amount of
prayer in a Jew. But the true man is free, the true Hebrew
belongs entirely to God everything which he has partakes
of this freedom. But whoever refuses freedom, saying: 'I
love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out
for worldly affairs and use in the home and for posterity,
to whomever a portion from the inheritance needs to be
transmitted. The
Lord, therefore, responded to the Pharisees
testing withHim
that crafty question whether He thought
tribute should be given to Caesar: 'Why do you test me,
526
you hypocrites? Show me the coin of the tribute. And
they offered Him a denarius on which was the image of
Caesar. He then said to them: 'Render, therefore, to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
27
God's/ showing them how imperfect they were, although
they seemed perfect in their own eyes, for they paid their
debt to Caesar before they did so to God. Those who are
23 Exod. 21.5.
24 A mark of servitude, for earrings.
25 Cf. Matt. 19.21.
26 Matt. 22.18,19.
27 Matt. 22.21.
112 SAINT AMBROSE
'Render/ that is, you yourself, 'give back those things which
belong to Caesar/ you., in whom the figure and image of
Caesar is found .
for thee.'
32
O
great mysteries! He gives a half-dldrachma
because the Law bade Him, and He did not refuse what Is
of the Law, as He was born of a woman, born under the
Law. I have said 'He was born' according to the Incarnation,
but 'of a woman' according to sex. Womankind is the sex,
virgin the species; the sex has to do with nature, a virgin
is
since it has been written: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end,'
36
and 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord
337
thy God one God.
is
Many persons say that our sacred writers did not write in
accordance with the rules of rhetoric. We do not take issue
with them: the sacred writers wrote not in accord with
rules, but in accord with grace, which is above all rules of
rhetoric. They wrote what the Holy Spirit gave them to
1
speak. Yet, writers on rhetoric have found rhetoric in their
writings and have made use of their writings to compose
commentaries and rules.
In rhetoric, these qualities in particular are demanded: a
cause (aition), a subject (hule), and an end or purpose
(apotelesma] .
Now, when we read that blessed Isaac said
to his father: 'Behold, you have the fire and the wood, but
where is the victim,' are these qualities lacking? The one
asking the question is in doubt; the one who answers the
question gives the answer and removes the doubt. The fire
isthe cause; the wood is the subject, called materia in Latin;
the third item, the purpose, is that which the child sought
c
and which the father showed him when he asked: Where
is the victim?'
c
God himself,' he said, 'will provide the
2
sacrifice, my son.'
Let us discuss the meaning of the mystery for a little
while. God showed a ram sticking fast with its horns; 3 the
1 Cf. Acts 2.4.
2 Gen. 22.7,8-
3 Cf. Gen. 22.13.
116 SAINT AMBROSE
and warm like fire. Note the thing known to the Intelligence,
the matter. Where Is the third ingredient, the under-
subject
but where Is 'seeing'?
standing of the purpose? You see color,
You perceive objects, but where Is 'perceiving ? All men do
3
4 Ps. 4.6.
5 Cf. Exod. 16.16.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 117
told: 'Go, I will open thy mouth and I will teach thee what
thou shalt speak.' 9
The questions in the middle of the passage and the answers
6 fixed. 16.4,15.
7 Exod. S.I 1-14.
8 2 Cor. 1.19.
9 Exod. 4.1,10,14.
118 SAINT AMBROSE
contain the seeds and science of wisdom. And the end, too,
10
is
pleasing, because God says: 'I will be with thee.'
will teach thee what thou shall speak.' Thus a perfect end
or purpose was kept.
You have the Gospel: 'Ask, and it shall be
this also in
given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be
511
opened to you. Ask from the cause, that is, seek from the
Author. You have as the subject matter spiritual qualities by
which you seek; knock, and God discloses the Word to you.
The mind is that which seeks, which works like fire; the
vigor of the mind works upon spiritual qualities as fire does
upon wood; and God discloses the Word to you this is the
end or purpose. Elsewhere, too, in the Gospel we have the
c
words: But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious
how or what you are to speak; for what you are to speak
will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who are
10 Excd. 3.12.
11 Matt. 7.7.
12 Matt. 10.19.
13 Gen. 27.20.
14 Cf. Gen. 31.33.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 119
15
game near me, my son, that I may eat/ He arouses and
enkindles his son's mind by a sort of fire of exhortation so
that he will work and go in search. The second distinction
is: 'How did you find it so quickly, my son?' This is in the
form of a question. The third distinction is an answer: 'The
Lord your God let me come upon it.' 16 The end or purpose
is God who
accomplishes and perfects all things; about this
there must be no doubt.
There is also a distinction about things which spring up
of their own accord: 'You do not sow, you will not reap, 517
for, although cultivation stimulates the growth of seeds,
nature works in them by a certain power so that they do
spring up.
C
15 Gen. 27.25.
16 Gen. 27.20.
17 Lev. 25.11.
18 1 Cor. 3.6,7.
120 SAINT AMBROSE
1
22. Ambrose to Marcellus
1 Undated.
2 Cf. Sozomen 1.9.
3 I Cor. 5.12.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 121
4
goes to law with brother and that before unbelievers?' I
4 1 Cor. 6.4-6.
122 SAINT AMBROSE
'
over the property which he did not have; your sister by now
enjoying the yearly profits without dispute or strife; but no
one won so completely and gloriously as yourself, for, in
addition to your wish to assure your sister of your generosity,
you have brought her to a share in your fraternal union.
You conceded to your brother the property, to your sister
the use and enjoyment of it.
Nothing is lost to the Church
which is
gained for piety; charity is not a loss but a gain for
7
Christ; the fruit of the Holy Spirit is charity. The case,
then, has been concluded in the manner prescribed by the
Apostle. We lamented formerly that you were engaged in this
lawsuit, but the strife has enabled you to clothe yourself in
the form of the apostolic life and precept. The one was
unbecoming your priesthood; this transaction meets the
requirements even of the Apostle.
Fear not that the Church will be rendered destitute and
out of reach of your generosity. She partakes of your fruits,
fruits even more plentiful, for she has the fruits of your
Apostle, but those found in the Gospels, for the Lord said:
'Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of wicked-
8
ness.' You have made friends, even more marvelously, of
your opponents. You made brothers return to the laws of
kindred, and you assure them by this charity and grace that
they will be received into eternal dwellings.
Thus, under the guidance of Christ and the direction of
two bishops, namely, yourself who first supplied the pattern
and myself who passed sentence, the peace which
outline,
we reached will not fail; for where so many vowed their
faith infidelity cannot but be punished.
Laetus will plow the land for his sister, whereas formerly
he grudged her the services of others. Laetus will gather the
harvest for his sister, though before he could not bear the
gifts of others; he will bear the fruits to his sister's barns
and do so gladly, 9 renewing now the meaning of his name.
Meanwhile, being conformed to the Apostle of Christ, and
assuming the prophetic authority, you shall say to the Lord:
'You have possessed my reins.' 10 This possession is more
fitting for Christ, that He possess the virtues of His priest,
that He receive the fruits of purity and continency, and,
what more, of charity and peace.
is
Father, took flesh, was born of the Holy Spirit and of the
Virgin Mary, equal to the Father in divinity, having the
nature of God, that is, in all the fullness of the divinity
4
which dwells in Him, as the Apostle says, corporeally, and
that in the person of man He took the nature of a slave
5
and humbled Himself even to death.
2 1 Cor. 4.20.
3 Cf. Matt. 27.19.
4 Cf. 2 Cor. 2.9.
5 Cf. Phil. 2.8.
6 Cf. Heb. 6.18.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 127
have sent you the volume you asked for, written more
I
clearly and neatly than the one I forwarded some time ago,
so that by ease in
reading it your judgment will in no way
be hindered. The original book was written not for
appear-
ance's sake but out of necessity. For I do not dictate all
1
my
writings, particulary at night, when I do not wish to
trouble and burden others. Then, too, words which are
7 Evidence that Ambrose collected some of his letters during his life-
time.
1 Pauhnus (Vit. 38) says he did not decline the task of writing books
with his own hand unless his body was kept from so doing by some
infirmity.
128 SAINT AMBROSE
rapid flow.
But I who am desirous of selecting with nicety the words
I use in old age, employing a familiar style
my proceed- and
ing at a slow pace, feel it is more suitable that I put my
own hand to the stylus, not to appear to be lustily pouring
forth words, but concealing them, so that I will not have to
be ashamed in the presence of another who is doing the
writing, but conscious only of myself, without a witness,
and weighing with the ear and also with the eye the things
1 write. For, the tongue is swifter than the hand, as Scripture
32
says: 'My tongue of a ready scribe.
is the pen
Perhaps you will say this refers to the speed of the writer.
You are not mistaken in the meaning that only the speed of
the ready scribe can catch the words of prophetic language.
The Apostle Paul also used to write with his own hand, as
53
he himself says: 'I am
writing to you with my own hand.
He said this for reasons of honor, but we [say so] because
of shame.
However, now that you have my opinion about the books,
letus interchange letters, for they serve us who are widely
apart to unite with one another in affection, and the image
of their presence is vivid between the absent, and written
discourse unites those who are apart. By this means, too, we
join heart with our friend and pour out our thoughts to him.
If, as you suggest, there is a savor of older writers in
my letters, not only do our hearts seem united by this progress
toward true learning, but our conversation is expressed in
a freer and fuller form, with the result that mutual inquiry
and reply will seem to unite us for battle and in this activity
we shallstimulate and encourage one another as friends.
2 Ps. 44.2.
3 Gal. 6.1L
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 129
letters instilled faith into the hearts of the people and wrote
to whole nations together, showing themselves present though
4
writing far away, as did the holy Apostle who says that he
was absent in body but present in spirit, not only when he
was writing but also when passing judgment? Finally, he
while absent condemned and absolved by letter. For Paul's
letter was a kind of image of his presence and a pattern of
his work.
His letters, he were not like the letters of others,
says,
'weighty and telling,' but 'their bodily appearance weak and
5
Farewell, and love us, as you do, because we also love you.
determined to ask me
1
After reading my Hexaemeron you
if have added anything on paradise, and indicated that you
I
are very anxious to learn my ideas about it. I wrote on
this subject a long time ago when I was not yet an
experienced bishop.
5
I have found that most persons opinions about this are
2
divided. Josephus, simply as a historian, says the place
was planted with trees and many shrubs and watered,
moreover, by a river which branched into four streams.
After its waters were gathered into one, this earth was not
drained entirely nor did its springs become dry. Even today
it breaks forth into fountains and sends streams of water
too,whereby thosearewho
far apart indulge in conversation
as though they were near, I shall continue often addressing
the Most High overshadowed her. She was alone and she
worked the salvation of the world and conceived the re-
demption of all men. Peter was alone and learned the
mysteries about the Gentiles who were to be sanctified
throughout the world. Adam was alone and he was not an
3
speech of very
is little consequence and has already received
the reward of hisvenomous remarks. He has been answered in
reaped openly what he sowed secretly.
and has I
public
thought him a vain and envious person before, and when his
Him Lord who He knew was His Father, being the equal
of God in form, yet proclaiming Himself a slave in the
substance of His flesh, for servitude belongs to the flesh,
dominion to the Godhead.
With admirable wisdom you note that those things which
are said in the Gospel have reference to the time of the
2 Eccle. 10.8.
3 Matt. 11.25.
4 Ps. 108.25,26.
5 C. 2 Cor. 5.16.
138 SAINT AMBROSE
dull the sting of our death, that He might take away our
state of slavery, that He might wipe away our curses, sins,
13
and reproaches.
Since Scripture contains these and other divine things, and
many more which you have brought up, and which you
pointed out to one who made inquiry, how can- anyone hesi-
tate to say that these were piously written, since they are di-
rected to the glory of Christ, not to His disparagement? If it
was said of His that is, the manna, that 'he did not find
gift,
less that had provided less, neither had he more that had
14
gathered more,' could He Himself be either diminished or
increased? For, what in Him was diminished when He took
6 2 Cor. 5.17.
7 Cf. Phil. 2.7.
8 2 Cor, 5.21.
9 Gal. 3.13.
10 Acts 3,6,13.
11 Apoc. 5.12.
12 Ps. 21.7.
13 Cf. 1 Cor, 15.55.
14 Exod. 16.18.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 139
18
of God.' There are,' says the Apostle, 'those who are not
15 Isa. 40.5.
16 Phil. 2.6,7.
17 Ps. 44.3.
18 Phil. .2.7.
140 SAINT AMBROSE
not of the flesh but 'of men,' because He was in the same
flesh. But, because He alone was without sin, whereas all
men are in sin, He was seen in the appearance of man. So
19
the Prophet says too: 'He is a man and who
can know it?'
a man, indeed, according to the flesh; more than man accord-
20
ing to the divine operation. When He touched a leper, He
seemed a man, but more than man when He cleansed him.
And when He wept for Lazarus who had died He wept as a
man, but He was superior to man when He bade the dead
21
to come forth with feet bound. He seemed a man when
He hung on the cross, but more than man when He
22
unsealed the tombs and brought the dead to life.
Let not the venom of Apollinaris flatter itself because it
is written: 'And in appearance he was found as a man,' 23
for the manhood of Jesus is not thereby denied, but con-
26 Fs. 118.91.
27 Fs. 118.21,27,28.
28 Ps. 85.2,16.
29 Ps.30.6,9,12,17.
30 Isa.49.1-3.
31 Isa. 44.1.
32 Cf. John 1.18.
142 SAINT AMBROSE
and my sorrow before God.' And now speaks the Lord that
formed me from the womb to be his servant that I may
bring back Jacob unto him [and Israel will not be gathered
together]. Who but Christ has gathered together the people
3
33 Isa. 49.4-6.
34 Ezech, 34.23,24.
35 Zach. 3.8.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 143
36 Gal. 3.13.
37 Isa. 49.4.
38 Phil. 2J6.
39 Cf. Jer. 17.11.
144 SAINT AMBROSE
He servant and
religion. played before the Lord as His
pleased Him the more in so humbling himself before God
and laying aside his royal dignity, performing the humblest
tasks for God like a servant. She who censured such dancing
was condemned and had no children by the
to barrenness
king lest she should beget the proud. In truth, she had no
continuance of posterity nor of good deeds.
Let one who still doubts hear the testimony of the Gospel,
for the Son of 'We have played for you, and you
God said:
have not danced.' 9 The Jews who did not dance and knew
not how to clap their hands were abandoned, but the Gentiles
were called and applauded God in spirit. The fool foldeth
10
his hands together, and eateth his own flesh,' that is, he
becomes involved in the concerns of the body and eats his
own flesh, just as does all-powerful death. And such
a man
will not find eternal life. But the wise man who lifts up his
works that they may shine before his Father who is in
heaven 11 has not consumed his flesh; instead, he has raised it
to the grace of the resurrection. This is the wise man's honor-
able dance which David danced, mounting by the loftiness of
his spiritual dance to the throne of Christ that he may see and
hear the Lord saying to His Lord: 'Sit thou at my right
12
hand.'
If you think we are not foolish in using this interpretation
of the dance, do not spare yourself the trouble of reading
13 Isa. 22.3.
14 Ps. 84.9.
15 Cf. Gen. 2.25.
16 Cf. Gen. 9.21.
148 SAINT AMBROSE
Him. So, too, Isaias did not notice his nakedness, but made
18
himself the instrument of God's voice, that he might pro-
claim what God spoke within him.
Suppose he did see himself, was it possible for him not to
do what he was bidden? Could he believe that God ordered
19
a shameful act? Sara was accused of disbelief for laughing,
but Abraham was praised for not doubting God's word, and
he was given a great reward for believing at God's bidding
20
that he could devoutly become his son's slayer.
21 Exod. 32.6.
150 SAINT AMBROSE
1 Ps. 23.2.
2 Hab. 3.7.
3 The troubled events he mentions are thought to refer to a barbarian
outbreak which greatly terrified the people of Milan in 392. This
event and the reference to his fifty-three
years help to date Ambrose's
birth in 339. Cf. Dudden, op. cit. 2. McGuire
(op. cit. 312) does not
accept this date as determined by Palanque.
4 Cf. Ps. 119.5.
5 1 Cor. 2.15.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 151
1
30. Ambrose to Siricius
53
I will give you rest. Let us, then, always follow Jesus and
never falter, for if we follow Him we never fail, because He
gives His strength to His followers. The nearer you are to
this strength, the stronger you will be.
1 Undated; this may be Pope Siricius, to whom the joint letter of several
bishops was directed after the Synod of Milan.
2 Jer. 17.16.
3 Matt 11.28.
4 Jer. 17.15.
5 Num. 23.21 (Septuagint) .
152 SAINT AMBROSE
1
31. Ambrose to Siricius
1
32. Ambrose to Syagrius
1 Undated.
Does one not seek out a holy maiden, provided only that
her modesty remains uninjured? The virgin of the Lord is
weighed on her own scales in giving proof of herself and
needs no borrowed dowry to prove herself a virgin. And no
inspection of hidden and secret parts, but modesty, evident
to all, gives proof of her integrity. She does not please God
unless the soberness of her manner sets approval upon her.
She not approved by the Lord if she needs the testimony
is
5
birth,and third when Pharao ordered the killing of all the
male Hebrews by the midwives, 6 the time when they answered
that theHebrew women did not give birth in the manner
of the Egyptians but were delivered before the midwives
reached them. The reason mentioned above
proved advan-
tageous for the salvation of the Hebrews; for others it proved
damaging on midwives who knew how to
to their reliance
lie for theirown safety and to deceive for an excuse.
Why should we take suspect and doubtful measures when
there are greater documents and
proofs for testing the truth,
where the marks are clearer that modesty has been violated?
What is more public than harm done to modesty and the
deflowering of virginity? Surely, nothing so proclaims itself
chastity. The belly swells, the burden of
as does the loss of
the fetus makes the person's gait heavy to omit other
signs through which it is
betrayed although the knowledge is
kept secret.
Perhaps, on a pretext of sterility, some can cover up vice,
but when the child is delivered and
disposed of or slain
(when ill-will rather than proof suggests this), and when
this is circulated in the ears of one has given
all, if birth,
freedom from calumny is
absolutely impossible. The virgin of
whom we are speaking was, to be sure, at Verona; she had
frequent from girls and women; she was always held
visits
in honor. Priests visited her because of her
modesty, a mirror
of dignity. How, then, could she have concealed a crime
which would reveal by her appearance? How did she
itself
7
in labor are very great. The day of the Lord comes suddenly,
it says,and in an unexpected way like the pains of childbirth,
8
which forestall all one's efforts to hide them.
Evidence of these signs, which even women feel ashamed
of, are of greater reliability. In fact, Elizabeth
secluded
herself for five months because, having been barren, she had
9
conceived in her old age. By these signs the very virginity
of Mary was under suspicion to those ignorant of the
things for appearance's sake and not for the sake of truth,
and through error we frequently make many assertions (for
there are many persons who do not know how to act rightly
Although they are very hostile, they still have not favored
Maximus, because the virgin in question does not visit their
homes or salute or solicit their women. What will happen?
How shall we free her of this charge? It becomes a serious
crime for a maiden to be within the secrecy of her own home,
to be shut in her own chamber Yet the passage in Scripture
!
reveals that Mary was found at home like this when the
11
archangel Gabriel came to her. Susanna withdrew inside
12
to escape the crowd. And when she bathed she had the
orchard closed. What is more excellent (especially in a
maiden whose private parts demand modesty) than this
retirement? What is safer than retirement and what is more
liberating to all one's actions? Such a maiden assumes the
tasks of modesty, not of anxiety. I have discussed the cases
of others; I must now answer your letter.
I am surprised, my brother, that you were not the accuser,
for it
you who are making a great defense of Maximus.
is
Yet, you have grieved with a parent's sorrow over the ill-will
which has arisen from the rumor that spread abroad when
that fellow was unable to deny that he was a hostile and
opposing party to the lawsuit and, after the strife was already
aroused, obtained charges against the holy virgin. Then, after
he had built a wall and made separate entrances for his
wife and the virgin, the association between blood sisters
was rent, and in other ways, too, the girl had cause to
regret that she had asked to live with her relatives in the
charge. She had not read those given to me nor did she
know what they contained.
have been horrified from the first at the calumny, for
I
Bishop Syagrius,
15 Cf. 3 Kings 21.10.
16 Cf. Dan. 13.45-61.
162 SAINT AMBROSE
appeared to say that she was tainted with lewdness with this
speaking the truth, and whose faith and age were a guarantee
to the truth, while her capacity as a nurse implied knowledge
of what is secret. She also said that she had seen nothing
that there was no inn. And when he sat on the road imploring
the mercy of these strangers, an old man from the fields
to stumble on him, for evening had compelled him
happened
to leave his work in the fields at night. Seeing him, he asked
where he was from and where he was going. He answered:
'I came from Bethlehem of Juda, I am going
to Mount
But have learned
Ephrem, and my wife is here with me.
I
of this deed. With courage they rushed into battle, but the
advice of wiser men changed their purpose not to engage the
citizens in war, but to put the charge to the test first with
words and to determine the conditions for the guilty. Nor
did it seem fair that the cost of a few men's crimes should
fall on all, and that the private sins of young
men should
make the safety of the citizenry fall. So they sent men to
demand that Gabanites give up those guilty of this
the
crime, and, if
they did not do so, let them know that to have
defended such a crime was not less than to have committed it.
A proud retort was made and plans
for peace were
Benjamin, along with boys and girls of every age, were wiped
out by sword or fire, and an oath was taken that no one
would give his daughter to a man of that tribe in marriage,
so that all chance of repairing the name was abolished.
6
The end of the war was also the of their wrath, and
end
anger turned to sorrow. Then, putting off their armor, the
men met together and wept much and celebrated a
of Israel
fast, grieving that one tribe of their brethren had perished
and a strong band of people had been wiped out. Rightly
had they warred against the authors of the crime because of
the cost of the sin, but unhappily had the people turned
against their own flesh and each was afflicted with civil war.
The outpouring of tears moved their minds to compassion
and stirred their feelings; the plan conceived in anger was
7 C. Gen. 20.2-18.
8 Cf. Luke 20.36.
172 SAINT AMBROSE
1 3
Evagrius has no ground for complaint; Flavian has
reason to fear, and so avoids the trial Let our brethren
pardon our righteous grief; because of these men the whole
world is disturbed, yet they do not share our sorrow. Let
them at least calmly allow themselves to be censured by
those whom they have seen harassed for a long time by their
obstinacy. Because these two have refused to agree on
anything which pertains to the peace of Christ, serious
discord has arisen and spread throughout the world.
To this shipwreck of holy peace the holy Synod of Capua
had at last offered a haven of tranquility, namely, that
communion should be offered to all those in the East who
profess the Catholic faith,and that the trial of these two
men should be decided by your Holiness at a session of our
brethren and fellow bishops of Egypt. We felt that your
judgment would be a true one, since you have embraced
the communion of neither party and thus would be inclined
to favor neither side.
When we had begun to hope that these most equitable
decrees of the synod had provided a solution and put an end
to discord, your Holiness wrote to say that our brother
Flavian had again sought help from entreaties and from the
3
support of imperial rescripts. The toil of so many bishops
has been spent in vain; we must have recourse again to civil
tribunals, to imperial rescripts; once more must they [bishops]
cross the seas; once more, though weak in body, must they
exchange their native land for foreign soil; once more must
1
Evagrius was consecrated Bishop of Antioch by Paulinas when the
latter was on his deathhed.
2 Flavian, a rival claimant for the see of Antioch, was in the favor of
the emperor for his success in quieting the insurrection of the people
of Antioch in 387. He pleaded ill health when summoned to Capua.
Cf. Theodoret, H. E. 5.23.
3 An imperial order had undone the work of the Synod of Capua.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 173
4 Gal. 2.18.
174 SAINT AMBROSE
your teaching now that you are newly ordained to the office
of bishop. Because you have built up your spirit so fittingly
it is now
you have been deemed worthy of this great office;
your duty to build up others.
Realize, first of all, that you have
been entrusted with
the Church of the Lord, and therefore you must prevent any
scandal from intruding and causing her body to become
common by contamination with heathens. For this reason,
Scripture to you:
says 'Do not marry any Chanaanite
woman but go into Mesopotamia, to- the house of Bathuel,
that is, the house of wisdom, and choose there a wife for
is a region in the East bounded by the
31
you. Mesopotamia
two largest rivers in that area, the Euphrates and the Tigris,
which have their rise in Armenia and flow by different
courses into the Red Sea. Now, the Church is signified by the
word Mesopotamia, for she waters the minds of the faithful
1 Gen. 28,1,2.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 175
most men.
Teach them to welcome strangers willingly rather than to
do what they ought merely from necessity. Thus, in offering
will not reveal an inhospitable state of mind
hospitality they
and in the very giving of welcome to a guest spoil their
favor by wrong-doing. Rather, let hospitality be fostered by
the practice of social duties and by services of kindness.
Rich gifts are not asked of you, but a willing performance
of duty, full of peace and harmonious agreement. A dinner
of lierbs is better with friendship and love than a banquet
adorned with choice victuals, if sentiments of love are not
there. Weread that nations have been destroyed with utter
6
loss because they violated the oath of hospitality, and
7
dreadful wars have arisen because of lust.
shall set forth one, and by the mention of this one it may be
clear how dangerous it is to marry a woman who is a
subjection after their surrender, for they had lost the prestige
of faith by which their fathers had gained victory. Yet the
mark of their election and the ties of their heritage had not
been entirely obliterated by their Creator. But, because they
were often puffed up by success, He delivered them for the
most part into the power of the enemy, so that with manly
dignity they would seek from heaven the remedy of their
ills. We submit to God at a time when we are overwhelmed
12
I do not think, as a certain author has supposed, that he
did this out of jealousy for his wife, who was remarkable
for her beauty, but rather because he was moved by a
desire for a favor from heaven and wished to share the
benefit of the heavenly vision. One depraved by vices of the
soul would not have found such favor with the Lord that an
forest wood. The spot was thick with the grassy growth of
fodder and planted, too, with vineyards. He felt sure that the
spoils of a savage beast would be of
little importance to his
14 Judges 14.14.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 181
band's secret. She even said: 'Thou hatest me and dost not
love me whom until now you have deceived/
15
15 Judges 14.16.
16 Judges 14.18.
17 Cf. Judges 15.1.
1 82 SAINT AMBROSE
by the fire, spread the blaze wherever they ran and burned
the corn stalks. Greatly disturbed by their loss, for their
entire harvest had perished, the owners went and told their
leaders. They dispatched men to the Thamnathite woman,
who had given her troth to more than one husband, and
also to her house and parents. They said that she was the
cause of her own destruction and harm, but that it was
not right for the husband who was wronged to avenge
himself by injuring the whole people.
Samson still did not content himself with this wrong
against the Philistines, nor was he content with what he had
done in revenge. He slaughtered them in a great orgy of
bloodshed and many died by the sword. He then went to
Elam to a stream in the desert. The rock there was a
fortification belonging to the tribe of Juda. The Philistines,
who did not dare attack him or to climb the steep and
hazardous fortification, denounced the tribeof Juda and
rose up, urging the tribe to battle. They saw that justice
would be done otherwise, if the men, who were their
subjectsand paid tribute, seemed about to lose a rightful and
fair treatment in public affairs just because of another's
crime. In consulation, they demanded that they hand over
the perpetrator of such a crime and on this condition they
would be unharmed.
The men of the tribe of Juda, hearing this stipulation,
obey them, not from choice but through fear of danger. They
put the blame for their deed upon those who had the right
to force them. Then he said: 'And what form of
justice is
it, O race of the sons of Abraham, that the wrong of first
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 183
18 Judges 15.16.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 185
19
triumph.' Then God's mercy opened
the earth when he
threw down and a stream issued from it and
the jawbone,
Samson drank and resumed his spirit and called the place
3
'the invoking of the spring. Thus, by his prayer, he atoned
for his vaunting of victory. Men expressed different opinions,
noticing how arrogance might speedly bring harm and
humility make atonement without offense.
When in the course of events he had brought an end to
the war with
the Philistines, despising his people's cowardice
and scorning the enemy bands, he went off to Gaza. This
city was in the territory of the Philistines, and he lived there
in a certain lodging house. The people of Gaza immediately
took note and hastily surrounded his lodging place, putting
a guard at all the doorways so that he could not plan to
flee by night. When Samson became aware of their pre-
parations he anticipated the plot they had laid for the
nighttime, and taking hold of the columns of the house,
lifting all the wood framework and the weight of the tower
on his strong shoulders, he carried them up to the top of a
high mountain which faced Hebron, where the Hebrew
people dwelled.
But when with free and untrammeled gait he passed not
only beyond the limits of his home country, but also the
boundaries which his ancestors had been taught to observe
by custom, he soon found that he was playing with death.
With small faith he contracted a marriage with a foreign-born
wife and should have been cautious then or later. But he
did not refrain from again forming a union, this time with
Delila, who was a prostitute. Out of love for her he caused
her to tempt him with the wiles of an enemy. For the
Philistines came to her and each man promised her eleven
hundred pieces of silver if she would find out in what lay
19 Judges 15.18.
186 SAINT AMBROSE
gave her, the slave of their price, the reward for the treachery
and thus concluded the affair.
Next, by her charms as a harlot she drew the weary
lover to sleep and, summoning a barber, she cut seven hairs
of his head with a razor. At once his strength was reduced
21 Judges 16.20.
22 Cf. Judges 16.22.
1 88 SAINT AMBROSE
grave was more famous than had been his power. Finally,
he was overwhelmed and buried not by weapons but by the
dead bodies of his enemies, covered with his own triumph,
leaving to posterity a glorious renown.Those people of his,
whom he had found captive, he ruled in liberty for twenty
years and then, entombed in the soil of his native land, he
left behind the heritage of liberty.
regarding the
faith, using the help of men skilled in
calculations, formulated for the above-mentioned celebration
a scheme of nineteen years, and set up a sort of cycle on
which might be patterned subsequent years. They called this
the
c
nineteen-years' cycle/
2
and, if we follow it, we should
not waver amid foolish ideas regarding a celebration of this
kind. Having found a true method of calculating, let every-
one be of one opinion, so that the Sacrifice [of the Mass]
Lord may be offered everywhere
for the Resurrection of the
on one night.
Dearly beloved brethren of the Lord, we ought not deviate
from the truth, nor dissent with varying opinions on the
obligation of this celebration imposed on all Christians. The
Lord Himself chose that day to celebrate the Passover
which agreed with the method of the true observance.
c
the hour has come! Glorify thy son, that thy son may
4 Gal. 4.10,11.
5 Virgil, Georg. L276.
6 A reference to current suspicions about days, as recorded by Gellius
5.7.
7 Ps. 117.24.
8 quartamdecimam lunam.
9 Ps. 88.37,38.
192 SAINT AMBROSE
10
glorify thee.' He explains elsewhere that He wanted special
renown in celebrating His Passion, saying:
c
Go and say to
that fox, "Behold, I cast out devils and perform cures today
and tomorrow, and the following day I am to end my
n Let '
10 John 17.1.
11 Luke 13.32.
12 Ps. 118.126.
13 Eccle. 3.1.
14 Jer. 8.7.
15 Isa. 1.3.
16 Isa. 49.8.
17 2 Cor. 6.3.
18 episcopi is ambiguous here; our reading is 'post . . .
definitiones
episcopi [genitive] quoque Romanae Ecdesiae.'
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 193
the fourteenth moon and the first month, called the month
19
of new fruits. Now, that we may not seem to depart from
the Old Testament, let us review the very chapter which
concerns the day for celebrating the Passover. Moses tells
the people to keep the month of new fruits, specifying that
itbe the first month, saying: 'This will be the beginning of
months for you, it will be the first of the months of the year;
and thou shalt offer the Passover to the Lord thy God on
20
the fourteenth day of the first month.'
To be sure, the Law 'was given through Moses; grace
and truth came through Jesus Christ/ 21 He who spoke the
Law, coming later Himself through a virgin in later times,
on the fifth day [of the new moon]. In fact, on that very
day, as the above indicates, He ate the Passover with His
disciples; on the following day, that is, the sixth day [of
the
new moon] and the fifteenth day [of the month] He was
crucified; the sixteenth was on the great Sabbath, and
therefore He arose from the dead on the seventeenth.
Wemust keep the law regarding Easter in such a way that
we do not observe the fourteenth as the day of the
Resurrection; that day or one very close to it is the day of
19 novorum.
20 Exod. 12.1,6. These are the words of God to Moses who transmitted
them to the Israelites.
21 John 1.7.
22 Cf. Matt. 5.17.
194 SAINT AMBROSE
23 Ps. 117.24.
24 John 2.19.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 195
more special harvest goddess than Osiris and the month Pharmuth
was dedicated to her evidently because the harvest once fell in that
month. Cf. Mythology of All Races ed. L. H. Gray, Vol. 12 (Boston
1918) 66.
28 A. D. 377.
29 Dent. 16.1.
1 96 SAINT AMBROSE
32 Exod. 12.18.
198 SAINT AMBROSE
will pass through the land of the Egyptians that night and
will kill every first-born in Egypt of man and beast, and I
upon you. And I shall crush the land of Egypt and this day
will be a memorial and solemnity for you, and you will keep
it a feast of the Lord in your generations, an everlasting
34
covenant, you will keep that festival day.'
We note, too, that the day of the Passion is
appointed
on a fast because the lamb is to be slain toward evening,
day
last time' instead of 'evening'
although we can understand 'the 35
according to John who says: 'Children, it is the last hour.'
should be kept after the day of the Passion, and the former
should not be on the fourteenth of the month, but later, as
the Old Testament says. The day of the Resurrection is that
on which the people departing from Egypt were baptized in
the sea and in the cloud, as the Apostle says, 37 and overcame
death, receiving a spiritual food and drinking a spiritual
drink from the rock. Again, the Lord's Passion cannot be
celebrated on the Lord's day. And, if the fourteenth day
falls on the Lord's day, another week should be added, as
36 Exod. 12.29-31.
37 Cf. 1 Cor. 10.2-4.
38 A. D. 360.
200 SAINT AMBROSE
Seeing all these, known to him for a long time, but now
revealed face to face, he says: 'As we have heard, so have
we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our
5
God.' Stationed there, he addresses the people 6f God, say-
2 PS. 54.8.
3 Cf. Phil. 1.23,24.
4 mensuram immensam.
5 Ps. 47.9.
202 SAINT AMBROSE
ing:
C
O
Israel, how great is the house
of God, and how vast
is the
place of his possession! It is great and hath no end.' 6
But what is happening? While I am
pondering the merits
of the man, were, following him in spirit as he
and, as it
departs, and mingling with the choirs of the saints who are
deplore the evils of our age and the events taking place here
so that we moistened our garments with a stream of tears
all we two enjoyed this hoped-for meeting and I
the while
clung to the embrace of one so long desired. Thus did his
kindness make possible my prayer to see him, and although
in the soul, the seat of love, the greater share and deeper
11 Matt 25.23.
12 This probably took place at the Council of Rome in 382 when
Ambrose fell ill soon after his arrival and was confined to his bed
at his sister's home.
13 Cf. 3 Kings 10.24.
LETTERS TO BISHOPS 205
207
208 SAINT AMBROSE
heresy gets its name. Then, those who had always main-
tained that they were not Arians could, by censuring the
contents of the letter, condemn the blasphemies of Arius, or
defend them by additional arguments, or, at least, not refuse
the name of him whose and
disloyalty they followed.
irreligion
Inasmuch as they could not condemn and were unwilling to
give approval to their own founder, and three days pre-
viouslyhad challenged us to a discussion at a fixed place
and time, not waiting for the assembly to begin, those who
had said they would readily prove that they were Christians
(which we heard with joy and hoped they would prove)
suddenly began to leave the meeting and to refuse to debate
further.
2 Ps. 40.2.
210 SAINT AMBROSE
deal of discussion
Nevertheless, we had already had a great
with them; the holy Scriptures were brought into our
midst; the for patient discussion was offered from
opportunity
dawn until the seventh hour. Would that they had spoken on
only a few matters or that
we were able to forget all we
heard! Since Arius says in sacrilegious phrases that only the
Father is eternal, only He is good, only He is true God,
only He has immortality, only He is wise, only He is
power-
and by impious inference wishes the Son to be thought
ful,
of as not partaking of these attributes, these men preferred
to follow Arius rather than admit that the Son of God was
the eternal God, the true God, the good God, wise, powerful,
and possessing immortality. We
spent many hours
in vain.
the Son was said to be less than the Father in His taking of
a body, but that in His divinity He is proved by the testimony
of Scripture to be like and equal to the Father, and that
there could be no difference in degree of rank or greatness,
SYNODAL LETTERS 211
say that the Son was subject in His divinity, as if there could
be any subjection of God in His divinity and majesty. Finally,
they attributed His death not to the mystery of our salvation
but to some weakness of His divinity.
We shudder to think, most clement Princes, of these
dreadful sacrileges, these corrupt teachers. And that they
may not further deceive the people whom they govern, we
have decided that they should be deprived of their priestly
power, since they agreed to the impiety in the document
presented to them. It is not fitting that they claim for them-
selves the priesthood of One whom
they deny. We
beg your
faith and glory to manifest the reverence of your authority
to Him who is its source, and determine that these pro-
claimers of impiety and corrupters of the truth, by a rescript
of your Clemency to competent authority, be barred from
the doors of the Church, and that, in place of the guilty ones,
holy priests be delegated through the legates of our Littleness.
The same opinion was held by Attalus, a priest who
admitted his collusion with and adherence to the sacrilegious
teachings of Palladius. Why should we speak of his master
Julian Valens? Although he lived close by, he refused to
attend the council of bishops, fearing he would be compelled
to explain before the bishops the ruin of his country and the
leave the seeds of his impiety and treachery. He has not even
4 Gratian complied with the request of the bishops; cf. Letter 42, below.
SYNODAL LETTERS 213
assemblies have been put under interdict, that you give orders
to have reverence shown first to the Catholic Church and
then to your laws, so that, with God as your patron, you
may triumph, while you provide for the peace and tranquility
4
of the churches.
1 On the Danube.
the false
taking thought for all, may not be swayed by
adulation of that unreasonable man, we think it
right, if you
not only
condescendingly allow it, to pray and beseech you,
to guard against future events, but also to be alarmed over
that which has been achieved by his temerity. For, if he
found any avenue for his boldness, what would he not put
into confusion?
If pity for a single person
can influence you, let the
prayer of all the bishops move you much more. Who of us
will be joined in fellowship with him, when he has tried to
We
are unable, even with the most overflowing return of
thanks, to match the benefits of your Piety, most clement
Emperors, most blessed and glorious Princes, Gratian, Valen-
tinian, and Theodosius, beloved of God the Father and of
His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. After many seasons and
various persecutions which the Arians brought upon all
1
Catholics, and
especially Lucius, who attacked monks and
2
virgins with unholy slaughter, and Demophilus, too, a dread
source of impiety, all the churches of God, particularly in the
East, have been restored to the Catholics; and in the West
just two heretics have been found to oppose the holy council.
Who, then, would feel able to make acknowledgment ade-
quate to your favors?
Although we cannot express your favors in words, we still
desire to compensate them
by the prayers of the council.
Although in all of our several churches we celebrate vigils
each day before God for your Empire, yet assembled to-
gether, thinking no service more glorious, we offer thanks to
our almighty God for the Empire and for your peace and
well-being, because through you peace and concord have
been shed upon us.
In only two small corners of the West, that is, on the
borders of southern Dacia and in Moesia, did there appear to
be murmurs against the faith. Now, after the vote of the
council, we feel that these should at once be allowed the
But, not
since our desires could take effect at that time,
because of the troubles of the state, we feel that we should
offeryour Piety our prayers, asking that by mutual agree-
ment, when a bishop dies, the rights of the Church should
belong to the survivor, and no other consecration be forcibly
attempted. Therefore, we request you, O most clement and
Christian Princes, to permit a council of all Catholic bishops
at Alexandria, where they may more fully discuss together
and decide to what persons communion is to be granted and
with whom it is to be maintained.
Although we have always upheld the direction and order
of the Church at Alexandria, and in accord with the manner
and custom of our predecessors have maintained communion
with it in indissoluble fellowship even down to the present
time, yet, that others may not seem less esteemed, who have
sought our communion by an agreement which we desire to
continue, or lest we neglect a short-cut to peace and fellow-
ship with the faithful, we entreat you that, when they have
discussed these matters in a full assembly, the decrees of the
SYNODAL LETTERS 2 19
(Autumn, 381)
We had no
occasion, best of princes, to question his epis-
copacy, since he proved that he resisted violence brought to
5
bear on him by several of the laity and the clergy.
Nevertheless, we thought that your Clemency should be
informed so that we would not $eem to have presumed to
pronounce finally upon an affair when the parties concerned
were not present. Consultation should be held for the sake
of public peace and concord. Actually, we have observed
that Gregory [when he abdicated his see], in accord with the
tradition of the Fathers, laid no claim to the office of priest
of the Church at Constantinople. In the synod, therefore,
whose attendance seemed binding upon the bishops of the
whole world, we agreed to decide nothing with haste. Yet,
those who refused to attend the general council are said to
have met at the same time at Constantinople. When this
plead his case (although the council had not been lawfully
proclaimed in the manner of our predecessors, like Athanasius,
of holy memory, and like Peter, earlier both bishops of the
Church at Alexandria and as several of the Eastern bishops
had done before, appearing to have recourse to the judgment
of Rome, of Italy, and of all the West), when they, as we
said, found Maximus wanting to make trial against those
who had refused him a bishopric, they surely should have
waited for our opinion. We do not challenge the right of an
examination into such a matter, but there should have been
a meeting for a united decision.
Finally, there should have been an agreement as to whether
it seemed necessary to recall him before transferring the
in Rome of the
ordained, or there is at least a joint council
East and West regarding the ordination of the two persons
in question.
Itdoes not seem unfitting, O
Augustus, that a treatise
be drawn up by the head of the Roman Church and the
neighboring and Italian bishops, who thought
that the judg-
Piety,
7
we ask that where there is one communion you may
wish a judgment in common and agreement in perfect
accord.
all parties.
We
have prepared this rescript not by way of definition,
but of instruction, and in asking for a judgment we do not
advance a pre-judgment. Nor must any disapproval of
those parties be presumed when the bishops, whose absence
has been noted frequently, are summoned to the council,
because now the common good is being consulted. We
ourselves have never thought there was any disapproval
expressed when a bishop of the Church at Constantinople,
one Paulus by name, called for a synod of Eastern and
Western bishops in Achaia.
Your Clemency notices that this is not an unreasonable
demand, for it has been asked for by the Eastern bishops.
But, because there is a disturbance in Illyricum, safer places
have been sought on the coast. Plainly, we do not, as it were,
start something out of the ordinary, but we are keeping the
SYNODAL LETTERS 225
is
good: through it the means of human continuity are
found. But virginity is better: through it are attained the
inheritance of a heavenly kingdom and a continuity of
heavenly rewards. Through a woman distress entered the
world; through a virgin salvation came upon it. Lastly,
Christ chose for Himself the special privilege of virginity and
set forth the benefit of chastity, manifesting in Himself what
He had chosen in His mother.
How
great is the madness of their mournful barking when
the same persons say that Christ could not have been born
of a virgin and also assert that virgins remain among
womankind which has given birth to human offspring Does
!
2 Matt. 19.5.
3 1 Cor. 7.38.
4 Isa. 43.19.
5 Matt. 1.23.
SYNODAL LETTERS 227
c
the path of evil are known to say She conceived as a virgin
:
but she did not bring forth as a virgin.' could she How
conceive as a virgin but be unable to bring forth as a virgin?
Conception always precedes; bringing forth follows.
If they do not believe the
teaching of the clergy, let
them believe the words of Christ. Let them believe the
instruction of the angels saying: Tor nothing will be im-
6
possible with God.' Let them believe the creed of the Apostles
which the Church of Rome keeps and guards in its entirety.
Mary heard the words of the angel, and she who had said
before: 'How shall this be?' not questioning faith in the
generation, later replied : 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord ;
be it done to me according to thy word/ 7 This is the virgin
who conceived in the womb, the virgin who brought forth
a son. Thus Scripture says: 'Behold a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son,' 8 and it declares not only that a virgin shall
conceive, but also that a virgin shall bring forth.
What is that gate of the sanctuary, that outer gate facing
closed: And no man,' it says, 'shall
c
the East and remaining
9 5
6 Luke 1.37.
7 Luke 34.7,38.
8 Isa. 7.14.
9 Ezech. 44.20.
10 Matt. 3.15.
11 Ezech. 44.20.
228 SAINT AMBROSE
12
source. It is not past belief that a virgin gave birth when
13
we read that a rock issued water, and the waves of the sea
14
were made solid as a wall. It is not past belief that a man
came from a virgin when a rock bubbled forth a flowing
16
stream,
15
iron floated on water, a man walked upon the
17
waters. If the waters bore a man, could not a virgin give
they take revenge for the injury they did themselves, being
anxious through constant feasts and habits of luxury to keep
away the pain of abstinence. They do nothing more than
condemn themselves out of their own mouth.
Such persons even fear that their former fasting will be
emperor has abominated and all who have met them run
from them as from a plague. Witnesses of this are our
brethren and fellow priests, Crescens, Leopardus, and Alex-
ander, men imbued with the Holy Spirit, men who brought
upon them the condemnation of all and drove them as
fugitives from the city of Milan.
Therefore, may your Holiness know that those whom you
condemned Jovinian, Auxentius, Germinator, Felix, Plo-
Martian, Januarius, and Ingeniosus have also
tinus, Genial,
been condemned by us in accord with your judgment.
May our almighty God keep you safe and prosperous,
O Lord, dearly beloved Brother.
Signed :
231
232 SAINT AMBROSE
the heir. Who is the heir but the Son of God who says:
4
5
'All things have been delivered to me by my Father/ who,
co-heirs? It is well [to ask]
being the heir, wished us to be
:
'Who is he?' for He is not one of the people, but one chosen
to receive the grace of God, in whom speaks the Holy
8
song of Isaias, was placed in the midst of a choice vineyard.
For the tower is desolate when the vine withers and her
flock wanders, but when the verdure of the vine returns or
the sheep come back, it grows bright, for nothing is more
desolate than iniquity, nothing more bright than justice.
To this tower the sheep is recalled when the soul is recalled
from her downfall, and in that sheep returns the reign of
Christ which is the beginning, for He is the beginning and
9
the end, and the beginning of salvation. The soul is first
3 Mich. 1.1.
of Jerome (Pro. in
4 Ambrose here agrees with the interpretation
25.1151-1154) that Micheas means humilis, and
Mich., PL Morasthi
means coheres.
5 Matt. 11.27.
6 Mich. 1.1.
7 Mich. 4.8.
8 Cf. Isa. 5.2.
9 Cf. Apoc. 1.8.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 233
In other words, you had a king to rule and guard you; you
should not have strayed from the path of justice, or left the
ways of the Lord, for He imparted to you sense and reason.
Where were your thoughts and counsels with which you
could have by your own power guarded against unrighteous-
ness and warded off iniquity? 'Why have your sorrows
overwhelmed you like a woman that is in labor, 511 that you
might bring forth iniquity and conceive injustice? There is
no greater sorrow than to have a man wound his conscience
with the sword of sin; there is no heavier burden than the
load of sin and the weight of transgression. It bows down
the soul, it bends it to the ground, so that it cannot raise
itself. Heavy, my son, exceedingly heavy are the burdens of
sin. Thus that woman in the Gospel who had been bent
over, giving the semblance of a heavily laden soul, could be
12
raised up only by Christ.
To such a soul it is said: 'Act manfully, and approach,
O daughter of Sion, that you may bring forth,'
13
for the
Let the soul that would advance in virtue first bruise and
thresh out its superfluous passions that at the harvest it may
have its fruits to show. How many weeds choke the good
seed! These first must be rooted out^so that they will not
of the soul.
destroy the fruitful crop
The careful guardian of the soul then sees how he may
restrain her in her and cut off her desires, to
pleasures,
with delight in them. The
prevent her being overwhelmed
correction of the father who does not spare the rod is useful,
that he may render his son's soul obedient to the precepts of
C
salvation.
16
He punishes with a rod, as we read: I shall
Therefore, one who with
17
a rod.'
punish their offenses with
a rod strikes an Israelite's soul on the cheek instructs her
in the discipline of patience.
No
by the Lord's punishment
one who is chastened and corrected need lose hope, for one
18
who loves his son chastises him. No one should despair of
a remedy.
19
Lo! where you had the house 'of one seeing wrath/
20
there the house of bread;
is in the place of cruelty, there
is now where there was the slaughter of the Innocents,
piety;
there is the redemption of all, as it is written: 'And thou,
Bethlehem Ephrata, art not the least among the princes of
321
ruler in Israel.
Juda: out of thee shall he come forth the
Bethlehem is the house of bread, Ephrata the house of one
of those names. In
seeing wrath, for this is the meaning
Bethlehem Christ was born of Mary, but Bethlehem is the
same as Ephrata. 22 Christ, therefore, was born in the house
of wrath, yet it is no longer a house of wrath, but a house
of bread, because it has received Him, the Bread which
Thou art oligostos, 3 that is, thou art among the few,' but
c
enter the house of bread by the narrow way. But she who
knows not Christ is not among the few, among those who
make progress. Nor is she the least, she who is the house of
benediction, the recipient of divine grace. Yet in this she
is
27 Matt. 25.40.
28 Gen. 55,19.
29 Ps. 128.8.
30 Ps. 126.6.
31 1 Cor. 10.17.
32 Ambrose here appears to be using a copy of Origen's Hexapla.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 237
33
Christ's going forth is from the days of eternity, for
40
their Father.' Then shall be tamed the chariot car, that Is,
41
the wild coursing and the motions of his body; there will
42
be an end of 'Conflicts without and anxieties within';
shall be calm; no one
everywhere, within and without, there
shall feel repugnance or resist this good will, when the
43
intervening wall is broken down, when
both are made one,
for the obedience of the flesh will end all discord.
But, if a weak soul, such as Israel according to the fleshy
stumbles and shaken by persecutions and separates herself
Is
40 Matt. 13.43.
41 Cf. Mich. 5.10.
42 2 Cor. 7.5.
43 Eph. 2.14.
44 Mich. 6.8.
45 Mich. 7.1,2.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 239
that the deeds of the flesh are full of blood, full of deception,
cheating, and fraud, empty sho\ts of affection and calculated
and all those of her own house her enemies; that she
guile,
must guard the movements of her companion body, for
they are grievous enemies of the soul is converted and
begins to hope in God, and, knowing that the flesh is truly
her enemy, she says to it: 'Rejoice not thou, my enemy,
over me, because I have fallen. I shall arise. When I sit in
46
darkness, the Lord shall enlighten me.'
When she finds that some power mocks her to prevent her
following a better path, and tramples her to deliver her to
the destruction of the flesh, 47 that she may be afflicted with
diverse evils, which are decreed either by the Lord in satis-
faction for her sins or by the Evil One out of jealousy at
her conversion, to afflict and call her back to himself, she
still says: 'I will bear the wrath of the Lord,' for either He
46 Mich. 7.8.
47 Cf. 1 Cor. 5.5.
48 Mich. 7.9.
49 Mich. 5.10.
240 SAINT AMBROSE
says:
pain we must then beware of his temptations, for then he is
trying to lead astray the weary soul.
That soul which has not heeded his snares, seeing later
the wonderful works of God, seeing herself in heaven, and
the Devil creeping like a snake on the earth, will congratulate
herself, saying: 'Who is a God like to thee, who takest
50
away iniquity and
passest by the wickedness?' You have
not been mindful of Your wrath, but have cast all our
iniquities into the sea, like Egyptian lead,
and graciously
have restored us to mercy which You gave with twofold
generosity, forgiving and hiding our sins, according to that
which has been written: 'Blessed are those whose iniquities
551
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered! Some sins You
have washed away by the Blood of Your Son, others You
have remitted for us, that by doing good and rendering
praise we may cover up our mistakes. The expression,
'pardoning sins/ applies to their forgiveness, for He takes
them away altogether, and what He remembers not are as
though they did not exist. But the words 'passest by the
wickedness' mean that, by confessing our failings and cover-
ing them with good deeds, they become charged to the
author of our fault, the instigator of our sin. Does he not do
this who confesses his fault, proving that he was beguiled
50 Mich. 7,18.
51 Ps. 51.1.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 241
1 Undated.
2 Rom. 11.25.
3 Cf. Gen. 3.25.
4 Cf. Matt, 2.1.
242 SAINT AMBROSE
meet, and that she might not fear the storms and billows
8
of this world. Christ owns ships from Tharsis, mystical
it was said: 'Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with
me in paradise.' He had said: 'Remember me when thou
14
comest into thy kingdom/ In answering him, Christ did
not speak of His kingdom, yet for this reason [He said]:
'This day thou shalt be with me in paradise/ that what was
lost should first be formed anew, and then must be increased.
14 Luke 23.42,43.
15 Matt. 16.19.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 245
1
47. Ambrose to Horontianus
This is
proved by the parable of the Old Testament in the
words of Sara: 'Cast out this slave-girl with her sop; for
the son of this slave-girl shall not be heir with my son
3
Isaac.' Sara's son was Isaac, the slave-girl's son was Ismael;
since they antedated the Law, the promise was older than
the Law. We, comparison with Isaac, are sons by promise;
in
the Jews, comparison with the flesh, are sons of the
in
slave-girl.
4
We have a free woman as our mother, she who
was barren and later begot and bore a son of promise. Their
mother is Agar, she who brings children to bondage. Who-
ever is
promised grace is free; whoever is given the yoke of
the Law is enslaved. Therefore, the promise was ours before
they had the Law, and by nature freedom is more ancient
than bondage. Freedom is by promise; bondage, by the Law.
But, although the promise is before the Law, as we have said,
1 Undated.
2 Isa. 54.17.
3 Gen. 21.10.
4 Cf. Gal. 4.28.
246 SAINT AMBROSE
from his neck his brother's yoke, unless we realize the differ-
ence that exists in slavery? Let Scripture itself explain this
difference to us Isaac is good, and he is good to us who are
:
5 Ps. 134.1.
6 Eph. 6.6.
7 1 Cor. 7.22.
8 Gal. 5.1.
9 Gen. 27.39,40.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 247
for the one, by a blessing for the other, for he bade the older
son bring him food and receive his blessing, but while he
delayed and went in search of wild game from afar, the
younger brother brought him a kid from his own fold.
The good food of all is Christ, the good food is faith; the
sweet food mercy; the pleasing food is grace, foods which
is
blessing for his older son in order to make him his brother's
servant. This he did, not because he wished to debase his
10 Deut. 30.14.
11 Gen. 27.40.
248 SAINT AMBROSE
There will be a time when you shall shake off his yoke
from your neck that you may have the reward of a willing
evil of compulsory bondage. That
slavery and not undergo the
is dishonorable which is compelled by necessity, but
slavery
that is honorable which is offered in affection. Hence the
12 1 Cor. 9.17.
13 Gal. 5.13.
14 EcclL 1.16.
15 Gal. 5.14.
16 Rom. 13.9.
17 Cf. Gal. 3.24.
18 Cf. Wisd. 4.9.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 249
19
by the Law, shut up for the faith that was to be revealed.'
Later came faith; he does not mean the Gospel, but faith, for
that is
only faith which is the Gospel, for in it the justice of
God is revealed which is from faith unto faith, 20 yet this of the
Law is faith if the fullness of faith reaches it.
Rightly,
therefore, is faith spoken of as a single thing, for that [law]
without this [faith] is not faith, it is confirmed in this [faith].
When faith
came, there arrived, too, the fullness, there arrived
the adoption of sons, weakness departed, childhood left, we
manhood, we put on Christ. How can one be
rose to perfect
weak and small in whom is Christ, the power of God? Thus
have we arrived at perfection and we have received the
teachings of perfection.
Today you have heard the reading: 'Of myself I can do
nothing. As I hear, I judge.' You have also heard:
C
I do not
accuse you, I do not judge.' I do not accuse: 'Moses accuses
you, in whom you hope.' And you have heard: If I bear
21
witness concerning myself, my I have
witness is not true.'
been taught what sort of judge, what sort of witness I should
be. For it is not as a weakling that He says: 'Of myself I
can do nothing,' but one who hears this is the weakling.
Indeed, the Son does nothing without the Father, because in
them are community of operation and unity of power. Here
He speaks a judge, so that we may know in judging men
like
that we must form our opinion equitably, not according to
our own will and power.
Choose some criminal who has been charged and found
guilty of a crime, one who does not persist in excuses, but
begs pardon, falling at the knees of the judge. He answers
him: Of myself I can do nothing; justice, not power, is in
6
19 Gal 3.23.
20 Cf. Rom. 1.17.
250 SAINT AMBROSE
22
thee, and I have power to crucify thee?' Why is the Lord
not able? 'Because, He says, my judgment is true, because
5 c
23
I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me,'
that is, man whom you see, not the choice of
not the will of
man whom you judge only as man, not the will of the flesh,
24
for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, but the divine
will which is the source of law and the rule of judgment.
Likewise is that witness true who bears witness not of himself,
but of another, for it is written: 'Let another praise thee,
and not thy own mouth.' 25
In a mystical sense it is well said to the Jews: *I do not
judge you, I, the redemption of all, I, the remission of sins,
I do not judge you because you have not received me. I do
not judge; I freely pardon. I do not judge; I redeem sinners
with my blood. I do not judge; I blot out iniquities and I
26
will not remember. I do not judge; I prefer the life rather
than the death of the sinner. 27 I do not judge, I do not
condemn you, but I justify those who confess. Moses accuses
you he has blamed you, in whom you hope. He accuses you,
;
21 John 5.30,45,31.
22 John 19.10.
23 John 5.30.
24 Cf. Matt. 26.41.
25 Prov. 27.2.
26 Cf. Isa, 43.25.
27 Cf. Ezech. 18.23.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 251
you.
O great folly of the Jews! Rightly are they accused of
their crimes, for they have chosen an accuser and refused a
good judge; pardon, therefore, is not for them; punishment
surely reaches them.
It is right for you, my son, to have begun with the Law
and to have been confirmed in the Gospel, from faith to
528
faith, as it is written: 'He who is just lives by faith.
1 Undated.
2 Gen. 15.6.
3 Cf. Gal. 4.22.
252 SAINT AMBROSE
not sin, then surely one who believes that Jesus is the Christ
does not sin. If a man sins, he does not believe; one who does
not believe does not love; one who does not love is guilty
of sin. Therefore, he does not love who sins, for charity
16
covers a multitude of sins. But charity precludes the love of
sin and, since it also casts out fear, charity surely is full of
perfect faith.
Apostles, who were to be His friends, said as they
The
asked the good Physician to heal their weak faith: 'Increase
11 1 Cor. 13.7.
12 1 Cor. 13.2.
13 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.13.
14 1 John 4.7.
15 1 John 3.9.
16 Cf. 1 Peter 4.8.
254 SAINT AMBROSE
our faith.'
17
Their faith was still weak, since even Peter
18
thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?' Thus
O
C
heard:
does faith as the forerunner of charity take hold of the soul
and prepare the way for love that is to come. And there is all
faith where there the perfection of charity.
is
19
I believe it is said that charity believes all things, that
17 Luke 17.5.
18 Matt, 14.31.
19 C*. 1 Cor. 13.7.
20 Gal. 6.14.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 255
1 Matt. 22.12.
2 Apoc. 2.10.
3 2 Tim. 4.7.
4 2 Tim. 2.5.
256 SAINT AMBROSE
ready the wreaths for rewards call those who are to contend
for the crown, so that the winner may not meet with delay
but depart after being given his reward? The rewards of man
are the fruits of the earth and the lights of heaven. The
former are for his use in the present life; the latter, for his
hope of life eternal.
Like an athlete, then, he comes last into the arena; he
lifts his eyes to heaven; he sees that the heavenly creation
was made subject to vanity not by its own will, but by
reason of Him who made it subject in hope.
5
He sees that
all creation
groaned awaiting redemption. He sees that his
whole task awaits him. He lifts his eyes, he sees the crowns
of lights, he studies the spheres of moon and stars; 'But the
6
just who have conquered will be like the stars in heaven.'
He chastises his body so that it will not defeat him in the
contest; he anoints it with the oil of mercy; he practices
daily exhibitions of virtue; he smears himself with dust; he
runs with assurance to the goal of the course; he aims his
blows, he darts his arms, but not at empty spaces; he strikes
the adversary whom he does not see, because he is watching
Him alone to whom all give way, even those who are not seen,
at whose name spiritual powers were turned aside. It is he who
poises the blow, it is Christ who strikes; he lifts his heel,
Christ directs it to the wound. Lastly, although Paul did
not see those whom he struck, he struck not as at the air, 7
because in preaching Christ he dealt wounds to all those
spiritual evils which were His enemies. Not undeservedly,
then, did man enter the stadium last, and a crown was
prepared for him so that heaven might go before him as
being his reward,
5 Cf. Rom. 8.20.
6 Dan. 12.3.
7 Cf. I Cor. 9.26.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 257
also says: We will come to him and make our abode with
15
him.' Heaven, therefore, is the first of the works on earth;
man is the close or end or last.
24
are also his offspring.' He granted us a relationship with
Himself, and we are of a rational nature so that we may
seek that which is divine, which is not far from each one of
us, inwhom we live and are and move.
When He had bestowed the greatest of graces on man, as
though he were His dearest and nearest friend, He gave him
25
everything in the world, so that no one would be without
the necessities of life and the good life. One of these is the
means of providing pleasure the abundance of the earth's
fruits; another is the knowledge of the secrets of heaven,
which inflames the mind with love for his fellow men and
longing for virtue by which we can reach the summit of
divine mysteries. Both are most excellent to have, as a king
of the elements, the use of the sea, and to have all the
world's wealth subject to him creatures of air, land and
water; to abound in all things without labor or want in the
image and likeness of the adorable Creator, living in the
greatest plenty, opening a way and advancing along a path
by which to reach the palace of heaven.
You will discover quite early that the traveler on this
difficult road is the man who has been so fashioned in purpose
of heart and will that he has little association with his body,
who enters into no fellowship with vice and is not impressed
by flattering words. When he rides the chariot of prosperity
he does not scorn the humble, or flee sorrows, or shake off
and make light of the praises of the saints, or by desire for
glory and bold gain expend all the eagerness of his hope.
Sadness does not bow down his mind; wrong-dealing does
not break it; suspicion does not arouse it; lust does not stir
it. The
body's passions do not overwhelm it; desire for vain
objects and the allurements of pleasure do not disquiet it.
24 Acts 17.28. The words quoted by St. Paul are from the Greek poet
Aratus of Cilicia, a fellow countryman of Paul,
25 Cf. Gen. 1.28.
260 SAINT AMBROSE
bear it.
333
And David says: 'Let my sentence come forth
34
from thy presence,'
After this digression let me now speak of that vigor of
mind through which she governs all outside her, gazes at
scattered and far-distant things, subdues animals of greater-
38
mounts, offers his back as the rider's seat. If it still
puzzles
you why man was made last, let that horse teach us that
man was delayed not as a slight, but as an honor. A horse
carries one who came after him; he does not despise but
fears him he;
takes him everywhere with pain to himself. In a
moment man reaches distant places, traverses long distances,
now on a single horse, now in a triumphal chariot.
Since I have mentioned triumphal chariots, I must refer to
spiritual that comes first but the physical, and then the
spiritual,' and he added: 'The first man was of the earth,
41
earthy: the second man is from heaven, heavenly.'
Rightly, then, is the last one like the sum of the whole
work. It is he alone who, cause of the world for
like the
which were made all things, dwells, so to speak, in all the
elements lives amid beasts, swims with fish, flies above the
birds, talks with angels, dwells on earth, wars in heaven,
ploughs the sea, feeds in the air, is a tiller of the soil, a
traveler on the deep, a fisherman in streams, a fowler in the
42
air, an heir in heaven, a joint-heir with Christ. This he
does by his energy.
motion, life, and form. The world, once it was made, was not
to be left unguarded, without a pilot and father. Hence, he
relates very clearly that the unseen God is the guide and
17
men have risen against him.' The faithful
eight jaws of
and freedom from all
people then will enjoy perfect peace
temptation and vanity, for peace and grace will shut out of
their hearts the vanity of this world. Peace is of the Old
Testament; grace, of the New.
seven shepherds are the commandments of the Law
The
which in the rod of Moses guided and governed the flock
through the desert.
18
The eight jaws of men are the com-
mandments Gospel and the words of the Lord's
of the mouth :
'With the heart a man believes unto justice, and with the
19
mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation.' Those
jaws are good by which we have tasted
the gift of eternal
of Christ.
life,devouring the remission of sins in the Body
In the Old Testament the jaw of death is bitter, since it is
said: 'Strong death is all devouring.'
20
In the New Testament
the jaw of death is sweet, for it has swallowed death, as the
Apostle says: 'Death is swallowed up in victory? O death,
21
where is thy victory? O
death, where is thy sting?'
To use, in addition, the Apostle's evidence: when God
22
made man He rested the seventh day from all His works.
But because the Jewish peoplethrough contempt refused to c
17 Mich. 5.5.
18 Cf. Exod. 4.20.
19 Rom. 10.10.
20 Isa. 25.8 (Septuagint) .
21 1 Cor. 15.54,55.
22 Cf. Gen. 2.2.
23 Ps. 94.11.
24 Ps. 94.7.
25 Heb, 13.7,8.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 269
26 Ps. 2.7.
27 Luke 23.43.
28 Cf. Virgil, Eel. 9.46.
29 Cf. Virgil, Georg. 1.71.
30 Apoc. 22.16.
31 Cf. Jer. 31.15.
32 The Holy Innocents.
33 Ambrose here makes use of Philo Judaeus, ed. L. Cohn (Berlin 1896) .
the seventh period and the eighth show man ripe in years,
vigorous in his faculties, and his speech endowed with a
quality of delivery not unpleasant; the ninth period still has
some strength left, while in speech and wisdom it is more
mellow; the tenth period of seven years completes the span,
and one who reaches this period will after the full course of
time finally knock at the gate of death.
Both Hippocrates and Solon admitted either seven ages
or seven-year periods. In these the number seven should
prevail. The eighth period introduces one continual period
in which we grow up into a perfect man, knowing God,
concluded, the grace of the eighth has dawned, and made man
no longer of this world but above it. No longer do we live
our life, but we live Christ: Tor me to live is Christ and to
die is gain. ... I no longer live in the flesh, but in the faith
36
of Christ.' The Apostle has spoken and we know from this
that the day of the world has drawn to a close. At the last
hour, the Lord Jesus came and died for us. And we are all
dead in Him so that we may live to God. 37 who were We
do not but Christ lives in us. 38
live,
The number seven has gone; the number eight has come.
Yesterday is gone; today has come. That is the promised
day on which we have been warned to hear and follow
God's word. The day of the Old Testament is gone; the new
day has come wherein the New Testament is made perfect,
of which he [Paul] says: 'Behold the days are coming, says
the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Juda, not according to the
covenant which I made with their fathers, in that day that I
took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of
39
Egypt.' He adds the reason why the covenant was changed:
'They did not abide by my covenant, and I did not regard
40
them, says the Lord.'
The priests of the Law and the sanctuaries of the Law have
41
gone. Let us draw near our new High Priest, to the throne of
42
grace, the Guest of our souls, the Priest, made not accord-
ing to the law of the carnal commandment, but chosen by the
43
power [of the command] which cannot end. He did not
take the honor to Himself, 44 but He was chosen by the
Father, as the Father Himself says : Thou
art a priest forever
4^
according to the order of Melchisedech.' We
see what the
36 Phil. 1.20.
37 Cf. 1 John 2.18.
38 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.15.
39 Jer. 31.31,32.
40 Heb. 8.9.
41 Cf. Heb. 4.14.
42 Heb. 4.16.
43 Cf. Heb. 7.16.
44 Cf. Heb. 5.4.
45 Ps. 109.4; Heb. 7.17.
272 SAINT AMBROSE
1 Cf. Plato, Laws 10.891, where he takes issue with Aristotle for
saying
that 'the first cause of the generation and destruction of ail
things is
not the first but the last.' But Cicero (Tusc. 1.10.22) calls entellechia
'continuum.'
2 Cf. 4 Esd. passim.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 273
3 Rom. 8.20,21.
4 Cf. Acts 17.28.
5 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.4.
6 Cf. Wis. 9.15.
7 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.7,8.
274 SAINT AMBROSE
vanity,
8
not by its own wish, butby the divine will which
has arranged that souls must be joined to a body in hope,
them-
so that while hoping for good things they may prepare
selves to be worthy of a heavenly reward:
Tor all of us
must be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, so that
9
each one may receive what he has won through his body.'
The soul of each person should make provision for the rewards
to be meted out for life in the world. Very aptly
does he
won through his body,' that what the
say: 'what each has
is,
she [the soul] has ruled this part well, let her receive the
reward for which she was subject in hope; if badly, punish-
ment, since she did not hope in God or strive for that
of true glory.
adoption of sons and the freedom
The Apostle has taught us that created human nature is
What so much a man as his soul? Of
subject to vanity.
is
subject. Thus, they persevere for His sake, that is, for His will.
It is not strange that they persevere with patience, since
they know that their Lord and the Creator of all that is in
heaven or on earth has taken upon Himself the frailty of
our body, the slavery of our state. Why should they not
persevere patiently in the servitude of their corruption when
the Lord of all humbled Himself to death for the whole
14
world, and took the form of a servant, and was made the
sin of the world and a curse for our sakes? Although the
heavenly creatures, who imitate Him, may groan because
they are subject to the vanity of this world, they console
themselves in the thought that they will be set free from the
slavery of corruption into the liberty of glory, at the coming
of the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of all:
'When the fullness of the Gentiles comes, then will all Israel
be saved.' 15 Will He not forgive those people, He who forgave
516
His persecutor who had said: 'Crucify him! Crucify him!
17
and 'His blood be on us and on our children'? But, because
even the heavenly creation is subject to vanity, in hope the
13 Ps. 103.19.
14 Cf. Phil. 2.7.
15 Rom. 11.25.
16 John 19.6.
17 Matt. 27.25.
276 SAINT AMBROSE
18 Ct Matt. 24.35.
19 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.28.
20 Apoc. 3.1-22.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 277
may have a share in the joy and happiness over the redemp-
tion of the human race. Everyone groans over our labor
because of love for himself or for the member of his own body,
of which the head is Christ. But, whether he meant this as
we have every creature in subjection groans and
said, or that
gives birth, thisunderstand as you wish.
Let us now consider what he adds: 'And not only it, but
we ourselves also who have the first fruits of the spirit we
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption as
2
sons, the redemption of our body.' What adoption of sons
does the previous page teach? To explain the meaning we
must go back to the previous page.
1 Rom. 8.20-22.
2 Rom. 8.23.
278 SAINT AMBROSE
He says that one who puts to death the deeds of the flesh
will live. It is not strange that he lives, since one who has
3
are held in very great reverence. Abel was very pleasing since
without holding back he offered his gift, a firstling of his
10
flock. Some may wish to distinguish between first-fruits
and firstlings, that is, what is born first, because when the
seed has been gathered it may be offered as the very first-
fruits of the harvest; yet, what is taken first from the harvest
of ears of corn and are to be used in asking favors. Firstlings are from
the threshing floor; they are the pure seeds and are to be used in
rendering thanks to God.
12 Cf. 1 Cor. 12.28.
13 Cf. Luke 2.28.
14 Cf. John L47.
15 Cf. Luke 23.53.
16 Matt. 3.9.
17 Cf. Col. 1.18.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 281
but each in his own turn. Christ is the first-fruits; then, they
who are Christ's, who have believed in His coming.' 18 The
same reality of body is in Him as in us, but still He is called
the first-born of the dead because He arose first, and He is
than these you will do,' 20 since the grace of God poured itself
out upon them. They, I say, groaned while they awaited the
redemption of the whole body, and they still groan, because
of the toil of many who still waver. If a man reaches the
shore but is still buffetted by waves around his waist, he
groans and travails until he emerges entirely. In the same
way he groans who is still saying to us: 'Who is weak, and
I am not weak?'
21
18 1 Cor. 15.22.
19 Cf. Gal. 1.15.
20 John 14.12.
21 2 Cor. 11.29.
22 Rom. 8.23.
282 SAINT AMBROSE
when in incorruption, in
all will rise
adoption] will be perfect
honor, and in glory, worthy to see the face of God. Then
So the Apostle
will humanity know that it is truly redeemed. 23
boasts in the words: Tor in hope were we saved.' Hope
it is said: Thy faith has
saves, as does faith, also, of which
524
saved thee.
subject to vanity, not by
which its
Thus the creature is
own will but in hope, is saved by hope, as was also Paul, for,
he knew that it was to die so that, freed from
gain
although
the body, he might be with Christ, he remained in the flesh
25
for the sake of those whom he was gaining for Christ.
What is hope, if not the awaiting of things to come? So he
26
says: Hope that is seen
is not hope/ Not things seen, but
Does anyone hope for what he sees?
things unseen, are eternal.
We seem have what we see; how, then, do we hope for
to
what we have? So, none of the things which are hoped for
are seen, for: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God
27
has prepared for those who love Him.'
If the unseen cannot be hoped for, they do not say rightly:
'What one sees, that he also hopes,' unless they say: 'What
one sees, why should he also hope for,' or what does he wait
30 Rom. 8.24.
31 Cf. John 1.26.
32 1 Cor, 2.9,
1 Rom. 8.26.
284 SAINT AMBROSE
O God, my Saviour/
2
What other spirit could teach Paul what to pray for? The
as Christ also teaches His disciples
Spirit of Christ teaches,
to pray. And, after Christ, who would teach if not His Spirit
3
2 Ps. 26,9.
3 CL Luke 11.1.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. 14.15.
5 Cf. Ps. 142.10.
6 1 Cor. 12.7.
7 Matt. 6.35.
8 Cf. 1 Cor. 12.11.
9 Cf. Matt. 26.41.
10 The persecution of the Arian empress and Ambrose's embassy to the
a
usurper Maximus show that Ambrose was not unwilling to be
martyr.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 285
1
54. Ambrose to Simplidanus, greetings (c. 386)
already done not without spirit what you are asking, I shall
obey your wish, advised and instigated by my own pattern
by no means difficult for me. I will not be imitating some
great personage, but myself, as I return to some of my own
insignificant practices.
Now, as regards our plan, I think that when we express in
our sermons the metaphor and representation of the happy
life, we have reached a conclusion which most persons", and
'A fool is changed like the moon/ 4 A wise man is not shattered
by fear, or changed by power, or elated by good fortune, or
overwhelmed by sadness. Where there is wisdom there are
strength of spirit and perseverance and fortitude. The wise
man is constant in soul, not deflated or elated by changing
events. He does not toss like a child, carried about by every
wind of doctrine, but remains perfected in Christ, grounded
4 Eccli. 27.12.
5 Cf. Matt. 13.43.
6 Chem.
7 Gen. 9.25.
8 Cf. Gen. 27.29.
288 SAINT AMBROSE
12 Ps. 104.18.
13 Ps. 104.19.
14 Cf. Gen. 47.20.
290 SAINT AMBROSE
lost his power over her he would speak soft words and beg
15
her to be reconciled with him,
But why do we take great pains to assert this? Do we not
ordinarily see parents ransomed by their children
when they
have fallen into the power of pirates or savage barbarians?
Are the laws of ransom stronger than the laws of nature? Is
filial piety being forced into slavery? There are merchants of
lions, yet they do not rule them, but when they see them
16
angrily shake their shaggy masses from their neck they flee
and seek shelter. The money which purchased these masters
for them makes no difference, nor do the auction tables on
which the buyer is generally judged and sentenced. The
agreement does not change his condition of birth or take
away the freedom of wisdom. Many free men are servants of
a wise slave and he is a wise slave who rules his foolish
17
masters.
Who do you think is more free? Only that wisdom is
free which sets the poor over riches and makes slaves draw
interest on their masters, not drawing money as interest, but
wisdom. That talent draws interest from the Lord's eternal
treasury which is never despoiled and whose gain is priceless.
That knowledge draws as interest the silver of heavenly
speech of which the Law says: Thou shalt lend to many
18 19
nations and thou never borrow.' The Hebrew loaned
shalt
to the nations; he did not receive knowledge from the people,
but, instead, gave it. To him the Lord opened His treasury
to bedew the Gentiles with the water of His speech and make
them the prince of nations having no prince above them.
The free man is the wise man who was bought with the
price of heavenly speech, the gold and silver ofGod's word,
said to him: 'Drink water out of thy own vessels and from
27
the stream of thy own well' What is so close to us as the
Word of God? This is the word on our heart and on our lips
which we behold not but hold.
The wise man is free, since one who does as he wishes is
free.Not every wish is good, but the wise man wishes only
that which is good; he hates evil for he chooses what is good.
Because he chooses what is good he is master of his choice
and because he chooses his work is he free. Then, because he
does what he wishes the free man is wise. The wise man does
well everything that he does. One who does all things well does
all things rightly, But one who does all things rightly does
everything without offense, without blame, without loss and
disturbance within himself. And one who does nearly every-
thing without giving offense acts blamelessly and acts without
disturbance to himself, without loss. He does not act unwisely
but wisely in all things. One who acts with wisdom has
nothing to fear, for fear lies in sin. Where there is no fear
there is
liberty; where there is liberty there is the power of
doing what one wishes. Therefore, only the wise man is free.
25 A rod, called a festuca, was laid on the manumitted slave by a praetor
or lictor.
26 Ct". 1 Tim. 1.9.
27 Prov. 5.15.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 293
but he is a
willing follower of it, because in fleeing evil he
drives out all that is pleasing [to the
senses] and does not let
sleep overtake him. In what is neither good nor evil he is not
disturbed so as to be swayed to this side and that like the
common crowd, but his mind hangs, as it were, in a perfectly
balanced scale. Thus, he leans neither entirely toward pleasure
nor in the direction of what he should reject, but, showing
moderate interest, he remains fixed in purpose. Therefore, it
appears that the wise man does nothing unwillingly nor by
force. If he were a slave he would be forced; therefore, the
wise man is free.
The when he says:
Apostle, too, declares this to be true
'Am I not free? Am
not an apostle? 328 Indeed, he is so
I
free that when certain persons
slipped in to spy on his
29
liberty, as he himself says, he would not yield in submission
for one hour, that the truth of the
Gospel might be preached.
As one who did not cease he preached willingly. Where
there is
willingness there is the reward of willingness; where
there is
necessity, there is subservience to necessity. Willingness
28 l Cor. 9.1.
29 Cf. Gal. 2.5.
294 SAINT AMBROSE
33
I have called you friends.' Charity is
good and of it is said:
34
'By the charity of the Spirit serve one another.' Christ, too,
was a servant so that He might make all men free. 'His hands
have served in the basket.' 35 He who did not think it robbery
36
to be equal with God took the nature of a slave, and He
30 1 Cor. 9.17.
31 GaL 5.13.
32 1 Cor. 8.19.
33 John 15.15.
34 Gal. 5.13.
35 Ps. 80.7.
36 Cf. Phil. 2.6.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 295
37
became all things to all men to bring salvation to all. Paul,
an imitator of Him, as if he was under the Law and lived as
if outside the Law, spent his life for the advantage of those
whom He wished to gain. He willingly became weak for the
weak in order to strengthen them; he ran the race to overtake
41
conscience ... but he who judges me is the Lord.' True
liberty belongs to the spiritual man,
for he judges all things,
2
but is himself judged by no one/ not by anyone who shares
his created nature. He knows that he is subject to God alone,
who alone is without sin, of whom Job says: 'God liveth,
who so judges me/
43
for He alone can judge the just man in
whose sight the heavens are not pure, nor the lights of the
stars shining and clear.
Who is who
puts into the midst of Sophocles' play
he
those verses which say: 'Jupiter is over me but no man'?
How much more ancient is Job, how much more aged is
David? They should know that they have drawn their ex-
44
cellent sayings from our writers.
Is a man wise if he does not reach the secrets of the
Godhead and learn the hidden things of wisdom revealed to
him? He alone is wise, then, who uses as his guide God to
search out the lair of truth, and although a mortal he becomes
the heir of His immortal God, successor by grace and par-
taker of His joy, as it is written: 'Therefore God, thy God,
45
has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.'
If one looks into this state of affairs more closely he will
learn great are the advantages to the wise and how
how
great the hindrances to the unwise, because to the former
liberty is a help, to the latter servitude is a hindrance. The
wise man emerges as a victor over those who warred with
him, triumphing over lust, fear, cowardice, gloom and other
vices, until he puts them out of the hold of his mind and
beats them back and them from his boundaries and his
shuts
lands. Like a careful leader he knows he should beware of
the onrush of brigands and certain strategies of war by means
41 I Cor. 4.3,4.
42 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.15.
43 Job 27.2.
44 Cf. Letter 81 for this same thought.
45 Ps. 44.8.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 297
the true law of nature, though they are made to the image of
God and bear the true mark of freedom. So great is this
freedom that as children we do not know how to be slaves
to vice, we are strangers to anger, we are free from greed,
unacquainted with lust. How sad it is that we who are born
in freedom die in slavery !
c
follow him: Of what kind of praise do I seem worthy,
if
you ask me to return to Greece and I can be com-
pelled to do what I do not want to do? Your words
are
57 John 8.34.
58 Ct. I Cor. 6.12,13,
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 301
by the engine of war and is doubled by its fall, so, too, is the
downfall of the fool in freedom more violent. The power of
the fool must be curtailed, his liberty should not be increased,
because slavery fits him. Thus, Proverbs added 'Thorns grow :
59
in the handof a drunkard, so slavery in the hand of a fool.'
As the drunkard is hurt by his drinking, so is the fool by his
deeds. The one plunges himself into sin by drinking,, the
other convicts himself by his work and is dragged into slavery
by his deeds. Paul saw himself dragged into bondage by the
60
law of sin, but in order to be freed he took refuge in the
grace of freedom.
Fools are not free; it is said to them: 'Be not like the
horse and the mule, which have no understanding. Control
with bridle and bit the jaws of those who come near thee.
Many are the blows of the wicked.' 61 Many blows are
necessary that their wickedness be controlled; training, not
harshness, exacts this. Besides, He that spareth the rod hateth
62
his son/ since each one is punished more heavily for his
sins. The weight of sin is heavy, the stripes for crimes are
heavy; they weigh like a heavy burden; they leave scars upon
63
the soul and make the wounds of the mind fester.
Let us lay aside the heavy load of slavery, let us give up
wantonness and pleasures which bind us with chains of desires
and restrain us with their ties. Pleasures do not help the fool,
and one who gives himself to pleasure from childhood will
remain in slavery, so that, although alive, he is dead. There-
fore, let wantonness be cut out, let pleasures be removed; if
anyone has been wanton let him say farewell to the past. The
pruned vine brings forth fruit, the half-pruned grows, the
neglected grows wild. So it is written like a man careless of
:
his field is the unwise man, like a man careless of his vineyard
On the contrary, if you see the needy and bring him home,
your limbs are the weapons of justice. If you snatch up one
who being led to death, if you tear up the debtor's bond,
is
lips are weapons of justice. Whoever can say : 'I was an eye
66
to the blind, a foot to the lame, the father of the poor,' his
limbs are limbs of justice.
Let us who are free from sin, purchased, as it were, by
the price of Christ's blood, let us not be subject to the slavery
of men or of passion. Let us not be ashamed to confess our sin.
See how free the man who could say : *I have not been afraid
of a very great multitude, so that I would not confess sin my
67
in the sight of all.' One who confesses to the Lord is freed
64 Prov. 24.30.
65 Cf. Prov. 14.7.
66 Job 29.15,16.
67 Job 31.34.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 303
68 Prov. 18.17.
69 Ps. 31.5.
1 1 Peter 3.3,4.
304 SAINT AMBROSE
2 Ibid.
3 Cf. Phil. 4.7.
4 Prov. 17.6 (Septuagint) .
5 Job 5.17,20-24.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 305
Henoch was rich, for he took away with him what he had
and carried all his wealth of blessing in heavenly vessels, 7 and
'He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his heart/ 8
Elias was rich, for he drove aloft to the heavenly abodes
9
carrying the treasury of his virtues in a fiery chariot. Even
he has left no small wealth to his heir, while he himself lost
none of it. Would anyone call him a pauper either then or
when he was sent to the widow to be fed by her, when he
himself needed food for his daily sustenance? When at his
prayer heaven was opened and shut? When at his word the
pot of meal and cruet of oil did not fail for three years, but
abounded, for it was not diminished but replenished by use? 10
6 Cf.Gen. 27.27.
7 Cf. Gen. 5.21-24.
8 Wisd. 4.11.
9 Cf. 4 Kings 2.11.
10 Cf. 3 Kings 17.9-16.
306 SAINT AMBROSE
19 Ps. 33.11.
20 Cf. Matt. 5.3.
21 Rom. 11.33.
22 Cf. Ps. 118.14.
23 Deut. 33.23.
24 Ibid.
25 1 Peter 3.3,4.
308 SAINT AMBROSE
1
56. Ambrose to Simplicianus, greetings
edge, and in constant reading day and night have spent the
whole span of your life? With remarkably brilliant intellect
1 Undated.
2 Cf. Exod. 24.6.
3 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.4.
4 Cf. Acts 7.55.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 309
1
57. Ambrose to Simplicianus, greetings
11 John 139.
12 Cf. John 19.34.
1 Uhdated.
2 Cf. Num. 12.8.
3 Cf. Deut. 34.10.
4 Cf. Exod. 34.28.
5 Cf. Exod. 4.12.
312 SAINT AMBROSE
Only God does not sin. The man mends his way and
wise
corrects the man who isastray and does penance for sin.
10 PS. 13.3.
314 SAINT AMBROSE
her, for she has been consumed by the heat and smoke of
iniquity, and hatred of the Law
is aroused. Moses says that
11 Matt. 3.1L
12 Cf. Matt. 9.20.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 315
13
defrauded anyone, he restored it fourfold. This is the fire
18
victim was not sincere, for in its sacrifice was discovered a
dangerous fire. Hence, it is not a pleasing or acceptable
sacrifice to for not acceptable unless it has been
God, it is
for sin, the one in whom is the lot of the emissary [goat] to
be let into the desert, that it may receive the iniquities of
go
19
the people and of every sinner. For, as there are two in the
20
field, but one shall be taken and the other shall be left, so
are there two goats: one for sacrifice, the other to be allowed
to go into the desert. This last is of no use; he is neither to
be eaten nor feasted upon by the sons of the priests. Just as,
of those things that are used as food, the good part is eaten
and the useless or bad is cast out, so do we consider good
works as because they are food.
feasts
1
58. Ambrose to his clergy
5
lowly example: 'Who is weak, and I am not weak?' And the
4
Lord Himself taught us in the words I was sick and you did
:
not visit me: naked, and you did not clothe me.' He labors
6
9
his companion.' He not raised up, for Christ was
himself is
5 2 Cor. 11.29.
6 Matt. 25.43.
7 Cf. 4 Kings 4.34,
8 Ps. 44. 8,
9 Eccle. 4.10.
10 John 2.19,21.
11 ccle. 4.10,11.
12 Cf. Rom. 6.8.
13 Luke 12.48.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 319
21
Father: lt is good for You to be called
c
Son.' He is My
also wise as the Gospel teaches: He advanced in age and
6
22 Luke 2.52.
23 2 Cor. 8.9.
24 CL Eccle. 4.13.
25 Cf. 3 Kings 12.16.
26 Deut. 33.8 (Septuagint) .
I am
in sorrow that the Church of the Lord among you is
stillwithout a bishop and now alone of all the districts of
Liguria and Aemelia and Venetia and other territories of
Italy needs that service which other churches used to beg for
themselves from her. What is more shameful your con-
tention, which causes the difficulty, is laid to charge. Since my
dissensions exist among you, how can we make any decision,
how can you make a choice, how can anyone agree to accept
among dissenters the task which he could hardly endure
among those who are united?
Is this the training of a confessor, is this the line of those
in the midst of you there stands one whom you do not see.'
6
The Jews did not see Him in whom they did not believe; we
behold Him with devotion; we gaze on Him with faith.
Let Him stand in the midst of you so that there may be
7
opened for you the heavens which tell the glory of God,
that you may do His will and work His work. The heavens
are opened to him who sees Jesus as they were opened to
Stephen, who said: 'Behold I see the heavens opened and
8
Jesus standing at the right hand of God.' Jesus stood as a
helpmate; He stood as if anxious to help Stephen, His
athlete, in the struggle; He stood as though ready to crown
His martyr.
3 Matt. 18.20.
4 Cf. Eph. 2.14.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. 1.30.
6 John 1.26.
7 Ps. 18.2.
8 Acts 7.56.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 323
What new school has sent out those Epicureans? They who
preach pleasure, urge delights, and think that purity is of no
benefit are not followers of philosophy, as they assert, but
12
ignorant men. They were with us, but they were not of us,
for we are not ashamed to say what John the Evangelist says.
When they were first stationed here they fasted, they stayed
9 Dan. 7.9.
10 Ps. 81.1.
11 1 Cor. 9.27.
12 Cf. 1 John 2.19.
324 SAINT AMBROSE
14
For what have I to do with judging those outside?' And
to the Ephesians he said : 'But immorality and every unclean-
ness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as
becomes And immediately he adds below: Tor know
saints.
3
14 1 Cor. 5.11,12.
15 Eph. 5.3,5.
16 Cf. Rom. 6.3.
17 Exod. 32.6.
18 This is probably the philosopher Philodemus (c. 110-c. 40/35 B.C.) .
326 SAINT AMBROSE
opinion.
But holy Scripture refutes this, for it teaches us that
pleasure was suggested to Adam and Eve by
the crafty entice-
ments of the serpent. 19 If the serpent itself is pleasure, then
the passions of pleasure are changeable and slippery, and are
infected, as it were, with the poison of corruption. It is
certain, then, that Adam, deceived by the desire of pleasure,
fellaway from the command of God and from the enjoyment
of grace. How, then, can pleasure call us back to paradise,
when by itself it deprived us of paradise?
Therefore, the Lord Jesus, wishing to make us strong
against the temptations of the Devil, fasted when He was
about to struggle with him, so that we might know that we
cannot otherwise overcome the enticement of evil. Further,
the Devil himself hurled the firstshaft of his temptations
e
fasting we wipe out our sins, since Scripture says fasting and
25
almsgiving purge away sin!
Who, then, are these new teachers who reject the merit of
fasting? Is it not the voice of heathens who say: 'Let
us eat
and drink, whom the Apostle ridicules, saying: 'If,
3
as men
do, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me?
If the dead do not rise, "let us eat and drink for tomorrow
J 26
we shall die" That is to say, what did my struggle even
?
means nothing to us. Thus they show that they are living
death, and in all truthfulness they may not disavow the grace
of the resurrection?
such men,
Rightly, then, does the Apostle, arguing against
warn us not to be shaken by such opinions, saying: 'Do not
be led astray, "evil companionships corrupt good morals."
for some have no knowl-
Be righteously sober, and do not sin;
38
edge of God/ Sobriety, then, is a good, for drunkenness
is
a sin.
28 1 Cor. 15.33.
29 Demarchus is mentioned by no other writer besides Ambrose. The
Benedictines suggest he may have meant Hermachus, successor and
disciple of Epicurus, 267 B. c.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 329
derived from food and drink, yet, knowing that they cannot
without the greatest shame cling to so disgraceful a definition,
and that they are eschewed by all, they have tried to color it
with a kind of stain spurious argument. Thus, one of them
has said : 'Whilewe are desirous of pleasure through banquets
and songs, we have lost that which is infused into us by the
would that we all could do so But, because all are not strong,
!
the Apostle therefore says 'Use a little wine for thy frequent
:
infirmities.'
32
We
must drink it not for our pleasure, but for
our infirmity,, sparingly as a remedy, not excessively as a
gratification.
Lastly, Elias, whom the Lord was rearing to the perfection
of virtue, found at his head a cake and a vessel of water, and
33
in the strength of that food he fasted forty days. Our
fathers, when they crossed the sea on foot, drank water, not
wine. 34 Daniel and the Hebrew youths were fed with their
35
native food and given water to drink; the one was victorious
over the fury of lions, 36 the others saw the burning fire play
around their limbs with harmless touch. 37
And why should I speak of men? Judith, absolutely un-
moved by the luxurious banquet of Holofernes, solely by
virtue her temperance carried off the triumph which
of
men's strength despaired of; she lifted her country from
38
siege; she slew the general of the army with her own hands.
This is had enervated that warrior,
clear proof that his luxury
and temperance in food had made
terrible to the nations,
this woman stronger than men. Here it was not in her sex
that nature was overcome, but she overcame through her
own food. Esther by her fasts won the favor of a proud
39
king. Anna, who for eighty-four years as a widow wor-
shiped in the temple with fasts and prayers day and night,
knew Christ whom John announced, he who was the teacher
40
of abstinence and, as it were, a new angel on earth.
32 1 Tim. 5.23.
33 Of. 3 Kings 19.6-8.
34 Cf. Exod. 17.6.
35 Cf. Dan. L8,15.
36 Cf. Dan. 14.39.
37 Cf Dan. 3.23,49,50.
38 Cf. Judith 13.
39 Cf. Esther 4.16.
40 Cf. Matt. 3.4.
332 SAINT AMBROSE
aside food, but that, too, which leaves aside lust, for it
is
If thou give to thy soul her desires, thou wilt be a joy to thy
wise men
enemies/ and below: Wine and women make
c
4S even in mar-
fall off.' Therefore, Paul teaches temperance
riage,
47
for incontinent in marriage is like an
one who is
Apostle has explained what it is 'to stand/ that is, what was
said to Moses: 'The place whereon thou standest is holy
56
ground; for no one stands unless he stands by faith, unless
he stands firm in the determination of his heart. Elsewhere,
we also read: 'But stand thou here with me.' 57 Two things
were said to Moses by the Lord: 'where thou standest is holy
ground,' and 'stand thou here with me,' that is, you stand with
me, if you stand in the Church. The very place is holy, the
very ground is rich in sanctity, and abounding in a harvest
of virtues.
Stand, therefore, in the Church, stand where I appeared
to you, there I am with you. Where the Church is, there is
the most solid lodging for your mind; there is the foundation
for your soul, where I appeared to you in the bush. You are
the bush, I am fire. Fire is in the bush, I in your flesh.
Wherefore I am the fire so that I may give light to you, and
that I may consume your thorns, that is, your sins, and that
I may show you my grace.
Standing firm in your hearts, rout from the Church the
wolves which are trying to carry off prey. Let there be no
sloth in you, let not your mouth be evil, nor your tongue
bitter. Sit not in the council of vanity, for it is written: 'I
have not sat in the council of vanity.' 58 Listen not to those
who disparage their neighbors, lest while you listen to others
you be stirred up to dishonor your neighbors and it may be
said to each one of you: 'Sitting thou didst disparage thy
59
brother.'
Men sit when
they disparage, but they stand when they
bless the Lord, to whom it is said: 'Behold, now bless ye the
Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of
the Lord.' 60 One who sits (to speak of the bodily habit) is,
56 Exod. 3.5.
57 Deut. 5.31.
58 Ps. 25.4.
59 Ps. 49.20.
60 Ps. 133.1,2.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 337
66 Heb. 5.5-9.
67 Cf. Num. 17.8.
68 Ci Heb.
:
. 5.2-4.
69 Heb. 7.3.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 339
70 Apoc. 1.8.
71 Cf. Heb. 11.9,
72 Ps. 98.6.
73 Cf. Num. 16.46-48.
340 SAINT AMBROSE
separated from the people, the earth with a groan was rent
in the midst of the people, a deep gulf opened, the guilty were
swallowed up, and these were removed from all the elements
of this world, so they might neither contaminate the air by
inhaling it, the sky by beholding it, the sea by touching it,
should be saved.' 78
And that we may observe how in priests divine grace
works rather than human grace, of the many rods which
Moses had received from tribes and had laid away, that of
77 Cf. Num. 12.10-15.
78 Rom. 11.25.
342 SAINT AMBROSE
Aaron alone blossomed. Thus, the people saw that the gift
of the divine call to be looked for in a priest, and they
is
80 Prov. 15.18.
81 Ps. 4.5.
82 Cf. 1 Tim. 3.2.
83 Titus 1.7.
84 Cf. Titus 1.6.
344 SAINT AMBROSE
is
among those held by the law to be qualified for
included
the priesthood, but he who entered a second marriage has
not the guilt of pollution, though he is disqualified from the
86
privilege of the priesthood.
Having stated what is lawful, let us state in addition what
is reasonable. Let us understand, first of all, that not only
did the Apostle lay down rules covering a bishop and priest,
but the Fathers, also, in the Council of Nicaea, 87 added the
mandate that no one who has contracted a second marriage
should be admitted to the clergy. How can he console or
honor a widow, or urge her to preserve her widowhood, or
85 1 Tim. 3.2.
86 See Tertullian, Ad uxorem 2.7.
87 That a decree of the Council o Nicaea forbade
clergy to be drawn
from those who had contracted a second marriage is not
among the
canons.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 345
391
of a lion, so also is the anger of a king.
He [the emperor] admitted he was beaten when he asked
them to change their opinion, but they thought their pen
was mightier than a sword of iron. Then was unbelief so
damaged that it fell; the faith of the saints was undamaged.
They desired no tomb in their native country, for a dwelling
91 Prov. 19.12.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 347
94 1 Cor. 4.9.
95 Cf. Eph. 6.12.
96 This and the next two paragraphs contain a beautifully written con-
trast of the active and contemplative life.
97 Matt. 16.24.
98 Gal. 2.20.
99 Acts 20.24.
100 Cf. Gal. 6.14.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 349
victory; the other falls less often, and keeps guard more
easily.
Elias himself, that the word of his lips might be confirmed,
was sent by the Lord to hide himself near the torrent
101
Carith. Achab made threats; Jezabel made threats. Elias
grew and rose up, and in the strength of that spiritual
afraid
food he walked for forty days and forty nights to the mount
102
of God, Horeb, and he entered a cave and abode there.
Later he was sent to anoint kings, for he was inured to
patience by dwelling in lonely places, and, as if supplied with
the fatness of virtue by his rough food, he went on stronger.
John, too, grew up in the desert, and he baptized the
103
Lord, and there he first practiced that austerity that later
he might rebuke the king.
Since in speaking of blessed Elias' dwelling in the desert we
have idly passed over names of places not given without a
purpose, it seems fitting to go back to what they mean.
Elias was sent to the torrent of Horeb where ravens fed him,
115
of evildoers, nor envious of them that work iniquity,' and
above he says the same: 'I hate the company of them that do
116
evil.' Of course, he included everyone, he excepted no one;
he mentioned ill-will, he asked not the cause.
What
better pattern of righteousness is there than the
divine, for the Son of God says: 'Love your enemies' and
117
again: Tray for those who persecute and calumniate you.'
He so far removes from the perfect the desire for vengeance
that He commands charity for those who do them harm. And
since He had said in the old Scriptures: 'Revenge is mine
118
and I will repay,' He says in the Gospel that we must pray
for those us harm, so that He who said He
who have done
will have
punish will not punish them; it is His wish to
to
does not know their order, for he does not know their use.
'Silver and gold I have none, but faith I do have. I am rich
125
enough in the name of Jesus, which is above every name.'
I have not silver, neither do I desire it; I have not gold,
neither do I want it. But I have what, you rich men do not
have, I have what even you consider of more value, and I
give it to the poor, so that I say in the name of Jesus:
126
'Strengthen ye feeble hands, and weak knees.'
But, if you wish to be rich, you must be poor. Then you
will be rich in all things, if you are poor in spirit. Not
property, but the spirit, makes one rich.
There are some who abase themselves amid many riches,
and they do so rightly and wisely, for the law of nature is
sufficiently rich to all, whereby one quickly finds what is more
than enough, but for lust all the abundance of riches is
My portion is
among certain neighbors, except, perhaps,
127 Prov. 13.8.
128 Prov. 10.15.
129 Ps. 72.26.
356 SAINT AMBROSE
There are young men who want to reach old age quickly
so that they will no longer be subject to the will of their
elders. There are old men who would like, if possible, to
return to their youth. I approve of neither of these desires,
because youths, tired of the present, as if ungrateful, seek a
change of life, old men its lengthening; whereas youth can
grow old in character, and old age fresh in action. Not age
somuch, but discipline, brings a betterment of habits. How
much more, then, should we our hopes toward the
raise
be avenged. You can take the fault from him and from
yourself if you decide to yield [to the other]. Imitate the
patriarch who went far away at his mother's advice. What
mother's? Rebecca's; that is, patience's. Who but patience
could have had this plan? The mother loved her son, but she
preferred him to be an exile from her rather than from God.
And so, because she was a good mother, she gave to both,
but to the younger son she gave a blessing which he could
keep. She did not prefer one son to another, but the nimble
to the leisurely, the faithful to the faithless. And even to the
older son she gave not a little by loving the younger son, lest
she make him a murderer.
Since he 139 was exiled from his parents by reason of his
piety, not for his wickedness, he spoke with God, he increased
in wealth, in children, in favor. Nor was he puffed up by
these things when he met his brother, but he humbly bowed
down to him, not considering him as pitiless, as wrathful, as
base-born, but reverencing Him whom he saw in his brother.
So he bowed down seven times, which is the number of
forgiveness, because he reverenced not the man, but Him
who he saw in spirit would come
in man's flesh to take away
the sins of the world. 140 This mystery is disclosed to you in
the response to Peter, when he says: 'How often shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven
141
times?' You see that the forgiveness of sins is a type of that
great sabbath, of that everlasting rest of grace, and it is
granted by contemplation.
But what meant by his arranging his wives and child-
is
saying: 'In return for their loving me, they reproached me,
but I gave myself to prayer,' and when he was cursed, he
prayed. Prayer is a good shield by which insult is kept away;
cursing is repelled and is thrown frequently back upon those
who uttered the curse so that they are wounded with their own
145
weapon: 'Let them curse,' he says, 'but mayst thou bless.'
One must solicit the curse of men, which brings the blessing
of the Lord.
And for the rest, consider, dearly beloved, why Jesus
146
suffered outside the gate, and do you leave this earthly
city, because your city is Jerusalem which is above. Live
147
there so that you may say: 'Our abode is in heaven.'
Therefore, Jesus went forth from the city so that you, going
forth from the world, might be above the world. Moses, the
only one to see God, had his tabernacle outside the camp
when he spoke with God, 148 and the blood of victims, which
were offered for sin, was offered on altars, 149 but their bodies
were burned outside the camp, because no one who is in the
midst of the evils of this world can be rid of sin, nor is his
blood acceptable to God unless he leaves the defilement of
thisbody.
143 Matt. 18.22.
144 Cf. Col. 3.13.
145 Ps. 108.4,28.
146 Cf. Heb. 13.12.
147 Phil. 3.20.
148 Cf. Exod. 33.7-9.
149 Cf. Exod. 29.12,13.
LETTERS TO PRIESTS 361
158
same nature as yourselves. Slaves, too, serve your masters
with good-will, for each should patiently accept that to which
he is born; obey not only good but also severe masters. For,
what favor has your service if you zealously serve good mas-
ters? But, if you render favors also to harsh, [you gain merit].
For, free men have no reward if, being guilty, they are pun-
ished by judges, but this is merit if they suffer not being guilty.
Therefore, if
you serve your masters amid difficulties, con-
templating the Lord Jesus, you will have a reward. Indeed,
the Lord Himself, a just man, suffered from the unjust, and
nailed our sins to His cross by His marvelous patience, so
that whoever imitates Him may wipe away his sins with His
Blood.
In conclusion, turn, all of you, to the Lord Jesus. Let the
joy of this life be in you in a good conscience, in suffering
death with the hope of immortality, the assurance of the
resurrection through the grace of Christ, truth with simplicity,
faith with confidence, fasting with holiness, diligence with
soberness, living with modesty, learning without vainglory,
soberness of doctrine, faith without the intoxication of heresy.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
158 Cf. 1 Peter 2.18.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER
5 decani.
6 vela.
1 In the form of taxes and /or imprisonment.
8 These are the events of Monday of Holy Week.
9 This was subsequently returned to the merchants; cf. below.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 367
armed men had been sent to seize the basilica of the church;
12 On Wednesday,
13 A reference to the Scythian origin of the Arian Goths who formerly
lived and held their religious meetings in wagons as they traveled
about.
14 Empress Justina.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 369
when they saw them and one rushed out. But the soldiers
declared they had come to pray, not to fight. The people
broke into some kind of shouting. With what restraint, with
what steadfastness, with what reliance on God did they keep
begging that we go to that basilica! It was said that in that
basilica, too, thepeople were demanding my presence.
15
Then began* the following discourse:
I Brethren, you
have heard the Book of Job being read which we follow
during this solemn service and season. Even the Devil knew
from experience that this book would be made known where
all the power of his temptation is revealed and set forth. On
that account he hurled himself today with greater strength.
But, thanks be to our God who so confirmed you in faith
and patience. I mounted the pulpit to praise one man, Job;
I have found all of you to be Jobs whom I admire. In each of
you Job has lived again, in each the patience and virtue of
that holy man has shone again. For, what more timely could
be said by Christian men than what the Holy Spirit has
said in you today? We beg, O
Augustus, we do not battle.
We are not afraid, but we are begging. It befits Christians
to hope for the tranquility of peace and not to check the
steadfastness of faith and truth when faced with danger of
death. The Lord is our Head who will save those who hope
in Him. 16
But let us come to the lessons before us. You see, permission
17
is granted to the Devil to be a tempter in order that the
good may be tried. The Devil envies the progress of the good;
he tempts them in various ways. He tempted Job in his
possessions; he tempted him in his children; he tempted him
in pain of body. The strong man tempted in his own body,
is
15 The full text of Ambrose's sermon is here given in the six following
paragraphs.
16 Cf. Ps. 16.7.
17 Cf. Job 1.12.
3 70 SAINT AMBROSE
18
God, and die.' You see what great disturbances are suddenly
at hand Goths, armed men, heathens, fining of
mer-
of saints. You see what is asked when
chants, punishment
given: Hand over
this command is the basilica that is:
5
you before? Where now have you begun to stay? Where did
put you? Whither have you wandered? You realize
I that you
are naked because you have lost the robes of good faith.
Those are leaves with which you now seek to cover yourself.
You have repudiated the fruit, wishing to hide under the
leaves of the law, but you are betrayed. You desired to leave
the Lord your one woman, and you are fleeing One
God for
whom formerly you wished to behold. With one woman you
have preferred to hide yourself, to abandon the Mirror of the
world, the abode of paradise, the grace of Christ.'
Why should I tell of how Jezabel severely persecuted
21
Elias, and Herodias caused John the Baptist to be put to
death? 22 Individual women persecuted individual men, but
in so far as my merits are far less, so are these trials of mine
heavier. My weaker, my danger greater. Women's
strength is
What, then, was the joy of all the people! What cheering
from the whole crowd! What thanksgiving! It was the day
on which the Lord had delivered Himself for us, the day when
penance in the Church is ended. Soldiers vied with one
another in spreading the good news rushing to the altars, and
;
May God grant you to fulfill what you threaten, for I shall 336
suffer what bishops suffer, and you will act as eunuchs act.
May God turn them from the Church and direct their
weapons all on me, and slake their thirst with my blood.
36 The, entire description of Ambrose's encounter with Valentinian is
comparable to his later conduct before the tyrant Maximus at Trier.
See Letter 10.
376 SAINT AMBROSE
61. To the lady his sister, dearer than life and eyes, a brother
(June 20, 386)
1 Augustine also describesthis event (Con/. 9.7; De civ. Dei 22.8) ; cf.
also his C. Don. Epist. 19.
2 The editors read una f not urna as in the mss.
3 Some rationalists maintain that Ambrose found
prehistoric burials in
which bones were often covered with red ochre. Cf. Dudden, pp. 306-
307.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 377
Job when he says: 'The spirit of God who made me.' Thus
9
4 PS. 18.2.
5 Phil. 3.20.
6 Mark 3.17.
7 Cf. John 1.1.
8 John 1.18.
9 Job 33.4.
378 SAINT AMBROSE
martyrdom. 11
Another psalm which was read says: 'Who is as the Lord
our God who dwelleth on high, and looketh down on the
3
holy martyrs of His Church, lying hid under the lowly turf,
10 Ps. 18.3.
11 Ps. 112.5-8.
12 Ps. 18.2.
13 1 Cor. 15.41,42.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 379
protection from them for the very ones who grudge them to
me. Let them come and see my bodyguards. I do not deny
that I am surrounded with such arms: 'Those are strong in
chariots, these in horses, but we will be great in the name of
the Lord our God. 315
The text of holy Scripture tells how Eliseus spoke to his
servant who was afraid when he was surrounded by the
army of the Syrians and bade him not to fear: 'Because,' he
16
said, 'there are more with us than against To prove this
us.'
16 4 Kings 6.16.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 381
Arians say These are not martyrs, nor can they torment the
:
proves it by the fact. They deny the benefit who cannot deny
18
the fact. This man is well known, for he was an employee
of the state when he was well, a man named Severus, a
butcher by trade. He gave up his employment when his
affliction befell him. He calls to witness the men whose kind-
ness formerly supported him; he summons those as witnesses
of his healing whom he used to have as witnesses and judges
of his blindness. He cries out, saying that when he touched
3
the hem of the martyrs garment in which the sacred relics
were covered light was restored to him.
Does this not resemble the account we read in the Gospel?
We praise the power of the one Author; it makes no difference
whether it is a work or a gift, since He gives a gift in His
work and He works in His gift. What He enjoins others to do,
this His name works works of others.
in the read, there- We
fore, in the
Gospel that the Jews, when they saw the
restoration of health in the blind man, asked proof from his
19
he said: 'Whereas I was blind, now I see.' In this case, too,
the man
says: was blind and now I see. Ask others if you
I
do not believe me. Ask strangers so that you will not think
that my parents are under agreement to me.' Their obstinacy
is more hateful than that of the
Jews. When they were in
18 See Augustine, De civ. Dei 22.8; Serm. 381.1; Retr. 13.7.
19 John 9.25.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 383
doubt, they asked the parents. These ask in secret and openly
deny. No longer do they disbelieve the work, but the Author.
But what is it, I ask, which they do not believe? Is it
whether persons can be healed by martyrs? This is to fail to
believe in Christ, for He Himself said: 'And greater than
these you will do. 320 Or [do they ask whether persons can be
could ever feign this and pretend that he was a devil. What
is it which we see so disturbs them on whom a hand is laid?
benefits. It has judges, but they are those who have been
cleansed; it has witnesses, but they are those who were set
free. The proof of those who came here ill is worth more,
for their healing attests it. The proof which blood sends forth
is
stronger, for blood has a piercing voice which reaches from
earth to heaven, as you read that God said: 'The blood of
23
your brother cries out to me.' Here blood cries out by
21 Mark 1.24.
22 John 9.29.
23 Gen. 4.10.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 385
harsh, one is mild; but they are harsh only that they may
soften, as persons, suffering from an excess of gall, find the
bitterness of food or drink sweet, and, on the other hand,
sweet foods bitter; thus, when the soul is wounded, it
grows
worse under the warmth of pleasurable flattery, and is again
put in order by the bitterness of correction.
These thoughts may be gathered from the reading of the
Prophet. Let us also consider what is contained in the reading
of the Gospel: 'One of the Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus to
dine with him; so he went into the house of the Pharisee,
and reclined at table. And behold, a woman in the town,
who was a sinner, upon learning that Jesus was at table in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment;
and standing behind him at his feet, she began to bathe his
feet with her tears.' And then I read on to the words 'Thy :
canceling the
e
11
if you do not each brothers from your hearts.'
forgive your
Let us who have been forgiven much forgive a little, and
let us realize that we will be more acceptable to God the
to God the more
more we forgive, for we are more pleasing
we have been forgiven.
Then, when the Pharisee was asked by the Lord 'Which :
13 Gen. 4.7.
14 Luke 7.44.
15 Cf. 1 Cor. 12.12.
16 Cf. Gen. 49.12.
390 SAINT AMBROSE
love. How, then, can a Jew have a kiss, who has not known
peace, who has not received peace from Christ when He
18
said: 'My peace I give you, my peace unto you/
I leave
The synagogue has no kiss, but the Church has, for she waited
and loved and said: 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his
19
mouth.' She wished with His kiss to quench gradually the
burning of the long desire which had grown with longing
for the Lord's coming; she wished to satisfy her thirst with
this boon. Therefore, the holy Prophet says : 'Thou wilt open
17 Luke 7.43.
18 John 14.27.
19 Cant. 1.1.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 391
my mouth, and it shall declare thy praise. 320 One who praises
the Lord Jesus gives Him a kiss; one who
praises surely
21
believes. David himself says: 'I trusted, even when I
spoke/
and above: 'Let my mouth be full of thy praise, and let me
22
sing thy glory.'
The same Scripture teaches you of the infusion of special
grace, how hegives a kiss to Christ who receives the Spirit,
the holy Prophet saying: 'I opened
my mouth, and drew in
the Spirit. 523 He kisses Christ who confesses Him: Tor with
the heart a man believes unto justice, and with the mouth
24
profession is made unto salvation.' He truly kisses Christ's
feetwho, in reading the Gospel, recognizes the acts of the
Lord Jesus and admires them with holy affection, and so
with a reverent kiss, as it were, he caresses the footprints of
the Lord as He walks. We kiss Christ, therefore, in the kiss
of Communion: 'Let him who reads understand.'
25
20 Ps. 70.8.
21 Ps. 115.10.
22 Ps. 70.8.
23 Ps. 118.131.
24 Rom. 10.10.
25 Matt. 24.15.
26 Luke 22.48.
392 SAINT AMBROSE
for they had nothing to pour, but, if they had had oil, they
would have poured it into their own wounds. But Isaias
declares: 'They cannot apply ointment nor oil nor bandage.' 33
But the Church has oil with which she dresses her chil-
dren's wounds lest the severity of the wound work deep within.
She has oil which she received secretly. With this oil Aser
washed his feet, as it is written: 'A blessed son is Aser, and
27 Matt. 15.8, quoting Isa. 29.13.
28 Cf. Cant. 1.1.
29 Cf. Luke 2.51.
30 Cf. Luke 7.46.
31 Exod. 34.9.
32 Cf. Luke 10.31,32.
33 Isa. 1.6.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 393
dove from heaven, and it abode upon him.' 36 How did he see
the dove who did not see Him over whom the Spirit descended
as a dove?
The Church, therefore, washes the feet of Christ and
wipes them with her hair and anoints them with oil and
pours ointment upon them, since not only does she care for the
wounded and fondle the weary, but she also bedews them
with the sweet perfume of grace. And she pours this grace
not only on the rich and powerful, but also on men of lowly
birth. She weighs all in an equal balance; she receives all into
the same bosom; she fondles all in the same embrace.
Christ died once; He was buried once; nevertheless, He
wishes ointment poured upon His feet each day. What feet of
Christ are they that we pour ointment upon? They are the
feet of Christ ofwhom He Himself says: 'What you have
done for one of the least of these, you have done to me.' 37
These feet the woman in the Gospel refreshes, these she
bedews with her tears, 38 when sin is forgiven the lowest of
34 Deut. 33.24.
35 Cf, Gen. 7.11.
36 John 1.32.
37 Matt. 25.40.
38 Cf. Luke 7.38.
394 SAINT AMBROSE
39 Mich. 6.3,4.
40 Cf. Exod. 14.29.
41 Cf. Exod. 16.4.
42 Cf. Num. 13.24,25 (Septuagint) .
Botrys is called Wady Eshcol in the
Vulgate.
43 Cf. Num. 21.26.
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER 395
44
upon a Why should I mention the slaughter of the
cross?
loving this body, that is, the Church, bring water for His
48
feet, and kiss His feet, not only pardoning those who have
become enmeshed in sin, but by your peace giving them
concord and putting them at peace. Pour ointment on His
44 Cf. Josue 8.23,29.
45 Cf. 2 Kings 12.7-12. Ambrose here makes the reproach of Nathan fall
upon Theodosius.
46 Valens.
47 Deut. 9.4.
48 Cf. John 12.3.
396 SAINT AMBROSE
may be filled with the odor of your ointment, that all at table
with Him may be pleased with your perfume; in other words,
pay honor the least [of men]. Thus, angels may be
to
1
63. Ambrose to Alypius
\
HE HONORABLE Antiochus 2 delivered to me your
Excellency's letter, and I have not been remiss in
sending a reply. I dispatched a letter to you by my
own messengers, and, unless I am mistaken, sent another
when a second opportunity arose. 3 Feeling as I do that we are
to amass rather than carefully weigh out tokens of friend-
ship, it to make some return of correspond-
became my duty
ence, especially our friend upon returning put me
since
under obligation by mentioning your letters. Only thus might
I stand clear with each of you, and he with you, for he was
399
400 SAINT AMBROSE
absent from your heart. But, since you are concerned over
to give what others
what is
precious, how can you refuse
often receive, not as a token of love but as an exchange of
2
civility?
Indeed, from my own
feelings I can in turn judge yours,
believing I am
never far from you nor you from me, so
closely are we united in our souls. I should
never feel I
need your letters or you mine, for I talk with you each day,
turning toward you my gaze, my attention, and all my
respects.
Rivalry with you in acts like these gives me pleasure, for
to speak openly with one who inseparable from my heart
is
your put me to
letters shame. I beg you, then, cease
expressing your gratitude, for my respects to you have their
full reward if I know I have not failed in my duty toward
you.
Farewell, and love us, because I also love you.
1
65. Ambrose to Atticus
2 Viz., a letter.
1-
66. Ambrose to Bellicius, greetings
You tell me that while you lay very ill you believed in the
Lord Jesus and soon began to grow better. This sickness was
intended for your health and brought you more pain than
peril, since you were long postponing the fulfillment of your
2
promise. This is the meaning of the words: *I will strike,
13
and I will heal. He struck you with illness; He healed you
with faith. He saw the inward desire of your soul, not void
of pious longing, but troubled by delays, and He chose to
admonish you in such a way as not to harm your health and
yet to incite your devotion.
How could He harm your health, He who is wont to say,
as we read in the Gospel: 'I will come and cure him'? 4 In
the same way, undoubtedly, when invited by your friends to
visit your home, He said: 'I will come and cure him.'
Although, perhaps, you did not hear Him, He as God spoke
imperceptibly, and if you did not see Him, there is no
possible doubt that He visited you though without a body.
You saw Him, for you believed in Him; you saw Him, for
you received Him into the dwelling of your mind; you saw
Him in spirit; you saw with inner eyes. Hold fast your new
Guest, long awaited, but lately received, in whom we live
c
and have our being and move.' 5 You have tasted the first
fruits of faith; let not the word be hidden in your heart.
This is
grace, this is every gift. No one appraises the
all
secret recesses of a house from the entrance, since all the
the wise man will not look at a house
6
fruit is within;
is, all the blind can see if they search for me, the light. Come
2
and be enlightened that you may be able to see.
also you,
What did He wish in that He who gave back life at His
command bestowed health by His word, saying to the dead:
3
'Come forth' and Lazarus carne forth from the tomb; saying
to the paralytic: 'Arise, take up thy pallet' 4 and the paralytic
arose and began to take up the pallet on which he was
carried when he was paralyzed in all his limbs; why, I say,
did He and make clay and spread the clay over the
spit eyes
of the blind man and "Go, wash
say to him:
'
in the pool of
Siloe" (which is interpreted "sent")? So he went away and
washed and began to see.' 5 What is the reason for this? An
important reason, unless I am mistaken, for he whom Jesus
touches sees more.
Notice at the same time His divinity and His sanctity. As
the Light He touched and shed light; as Priest He fulfilled in
the figure of baptism the mysteries of spiritual grace. He spat
1 John 9.2,3,5.
2 Cf. Ps. 33.6.
3 John 11.44.
4 Mark 2.11.
5 John 9.6,7.
404 SAINT AMBROSE
so that you might realize that the things within Christ are
as he [Paul]
blind, and I began to see'; that you may say
said when the light had been shed upon him: 'The night is
10
far advanced; the day is at hand/
The night was blindness. It was night when Judas received
11
the morsel from Jesus and Satan entered into him. For
Judas, in whom was the Devil, it was night; for John, who
reclined on Christ's breast, it was day. It was day, too, for
12
Peter when he saw the light of Christ on the mountain.
For the others it was night, but for Peter it was day. But to
that very same Peter it was night when he denied Christ.
Then the cock crowed and he began to weep, 13 in order to
mend his wrong, for now the day was at hand.
The Jews kept asking the blind man 'How were your eyes
:
6 John 15.3.
7 Cf. Gen. 2.7.
8 John 7.16.
9 John 9.11.
10 Rom. 13.12.
11 Cf. John 13.27.
12 Cf. Matt, 16.2-6.
13 Cf. Matt. 26.75.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 405
14
opened?' Great madness! They asked what they saw; they
asked the reason when they saw the effect.
'And they heaped abuse on him, saying: "Thou art his
>15
disciple." Their curse a blessing, because their blessing
is
68. To Clementianus1
why is it that there are many things in the Law which seem
made void now by And how can the Author of
the Gospel?
the two Testaments be one and the same, when a thing
permitted in the Law was no longer permitted when the
Gospel came, such as bodily circumcision, though it was then
given only as a sign, in order that the reality of spiritual
.circumcision might be retained? But why was it given even
for a sign? Why is there such a difference of opinion, so
that circumcision, being then considered piety, is now thought
an impiety? Further, according to the Law it was ordained
that the Sabbath be kept as a holiday, and if one carried a
bundle of sticks he was guilty of death, 3 but now we see
that very day devoted to carrying burdens and
conducting
14 John 9.10.
15 John 9.28.
present time.
Let us consider the reason for not unintentionally
this, for
did the Apostle say that The Law
has been our tutor unto
Christ.' Who has a tutor, an older person or a youth? Un-
4
good/ that is, not perfect, for perfect is surely what is good.
But the same God has preserved the most perfect things for
the Gospel, as He says: 'I have not come to destroy the Law,
5
but to fulfill it/
Rightly, then, does Paul say that the letter kills, but the
6
spirit gives life.' The
circumcised a small part of the
letter
frugality loved, with the unnecessary parts cut off (for noth-
ing is so unnecessary as the vices of greed, the sins of lust,
which did not belong to nature but which sin has caused ) .
your burden will not add fuel to the fire which is to come.
10 John 8.11-13.
11 1 Cor. 3.12,13.
12 Ps. 11.7.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 409
13 1 Cor. 3.14.
14 Isa. 32.20.
15 Deut. 25.4.
16 Cf. Luke 19.30-37.
17 Source unknown.
410 SAINT AMBROSE
1
69. Ambrose to Clementianus
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
2
Law,' that is, under a tutor. And, because we are sons of
God, we all are also in Christ Jesus. But, if we are in Christ
Jesus, then we are the seed of Abraham, the heirs according
to the promise. This is the conclusion which the Apostle
reaches in his thought.
Yet, he meets the objection even of the Jew who can say:
'I also am an
heir, for I am under the Law.' The Law is
called the Old Testament, and where there is a testament
there is an inheritance, although the Apostle himself told the
Hebrews that a testament is of no force while the testator
lives, but is confirmed by his death. 3 But, because the Lord
1 Undated.
2 Gal. 3.10-16,22-24.
3 Cf. Heb. 9.17.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 411
9
'You were redeemed with the precious blood/ not of a lamb,
but of Him who came in meekness and humility like a lamb,
and freed the whole world with the single offering of His
body, as He Himself said: 'I was led like a lamb to be
10
sacrificed/ and John also says: 'Behold, the lamb of God,
11
behold the one who takes away the sins of the world.'
Hence, the Jew is an heir in the letter, not in the spirit;
he is like a child under guardians and stewards. But the
Christian who knows the fullness of time when Christ came,
made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem all who
were under the Law, the Christian, I say, through the unity
of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, rises to perfect
manhood, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. 12
Farewell, son, and love us, for we love you.
8 Matt. 6.9.
9 1 Peter 1.19,
10 Isa. 53.7.
11 John 1.29.
12 Cf. Eph. 4.13.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 413
1
70. Ambrose to Cynegius
1 Palanque dates this letter at the beginning of 393, associated with the
letter to Paternus.
2 Marriage with a niece was forbidden by a law of Constantine in 339.
Cf. Cod. Theod. 3.12.1.
1
The two have returned to you, the two little
Faustinuses
2
Ambroses are staying with me. In the father you have what
is most
distinguished, in the son what is most agreeable, for
you have the height of virtue and you yourself show the grace
of humility. I have what is midway between father and
young son. With you is the head of the whole house, and the
uninterrupted succession of a name handed down; with me
remains the frugal mean which depends upon the head and
shares the nature of what follows. You have the one who is
the peace of both of us, who, when he is given me in turn,
smoothes away all the concerns of my soul. You have the
one who by his life and deeds and progeny has found favor
with our Lord. You have the one who amid the storms of
this world has fostered a spiritualdove 3 to bring him the
4
fruits of peace, for she is anointed with the oil of chastity.
With you is one who built an altar to God, whom God
1 Eusebius' son and grandson.
2 Ambrose and Ambrosia; for the latter he wrote his Inst. Virg. (PL
16.305-334) .
3 A reference to Ambrosia.
4 Cf. Gen. 8.11.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 415
5
blessed with his sons, saying: 'Increase and multiply/ with
whom He established the covenant of His peace which would
endure for him and his children for everlasting generations.
Yo'u have the heir of the divine benediction, a partner of
grace, a sharer of righteousness. Be careful, I beg you, that
this Noe, our husbandman, the good planter of a fruitful
vineyard, when he is inebriated with the cup of your love
and grace, does not become like a man drunk with wine, who
after indulging too long in rest, happens to fall asleep and is
5 Gen. 9.9.
6 Cf. Gen. 9.23.
7 Gen. 9.27.
8 Prov. 22.1.
416 SAINT AMBROSE
of the just man. But no one is accursed, all are blessed, for
I knew very well that you would lament with bitter grief
9 Gen. 10.9.
10 Cf. Virgil, Georg. 3.58.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 417
Indeed, when she was departing from life she comforted her-
self with the consolation that she was leaving you as her
survivor to be a parent to your nephews, a mentor for her
children, a help to the bereaved. You are keeping yourself
from your nephews and us, so that we do not have the
enjoyment of that consolation. Her dear children bid you not
grieve but comfort them, so that when they see you they will
think that their mother has not died; in you they will know
her again; in you they will cling to her presence; in you they
will feel that her life remains for them.
You who was in good health for a
are sad because she
long time died unexpectedly. This is an experience which we
1
share not only with men but even with cities and countries.
As you left Claterna behind, coming from Bologna, and then
Bologna, Modena, and Reggio, Brescello was on your right,
and ahead Piacenza meets you, still echoing its ancient nobility
in its name. You were moved with pity for the ruined areas
of the Apennines to the left, and you pondered the towns of
merits and her faith, yet that you cannot bear the longing
for her, no longer seeing her in the body, and this causes you
terrible grief. Does not the saying of the Apostle touch you :
fact,
that is, one perfect in Christ is a new creature, because one
who is in the flesh is imperfect. The Lord Jesus Himself
says: 'My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he
is flesh.'
5
A man in the flesh is not in Christ, but if one is in
Christ he is a new creature, formed in the newness not of
nature, but of grace. The old things according to the flesh
2 2 Cor. 5.16.
3 Gal. 2.20.
4 2 Cor. 5.17.
5 Gen. 6.3.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 419
have passed away, all have become new. If the scribe in-
6
structed in the kingdom heaven knows not these things, he
of
is like the householder who
brings from his treasure new things
and old, not old without new, or new without old. So the
7
Church says: The new and
the old I have kept for thee.'
The old have passed away, that is, the hidden mysteries of
the Law all been made new in Christ.
have
This new creature of whom the Apostle speaks to
is the
the Galatians: Tor in Christ Jesus neither circumcision is of
8
any avail, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature/ through
which the flesh now renewed flourishes and, having borne
the thorns of inveterate sin in the past, finds now the fruit of
6 Matt. 13.52.
7 Cant. 7.13.
8 Gal. 5.6.
9 Ps. 102.5.
10 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.18.
11 Cf. John 1.29.
12 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.21.
420 SAINT AMBROSE
perhaps for a soul that had fallen from grace. Her offense
had led her into serious crimes so that she became hated
and, having been cast aside because of her stain of impurity
and the foul marks of wickedness and the stains of unbelief,
she became an object of pity and a person despised, far
removed from the grace of that spouse who had been worthy
to hear the words: l will espouse thee to me in faith and
e
2
justice and mercy.'
There is good cause to consider heran object of pity since
she has lost her claim to a reward and experienced so heavy
a loss of the dowry of virtue that she has been deprived of
the spouse of her virginity. According to our merits the Word
of God either lives or dies in us. If our desires and works are
good, the Word of God lives and works in us; if our thoughts
and deeds are dark, the Sun of Justice goes down. 3 He
teaches us to lament for such a soul. For, as those who have
the bridegroom must rejoice and feast, so must that soul
mourn when the spouse has been taken away, as it is said of
the Apostles in the Gospel 'for when the bridegroom shall be
:
4
taken away from them, then will they fast in those days.'
1 Joel 1.8.
2 Osee 2.19,20.
3 Cf. Mai. 4.2.
4 Matt. 9J5.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 42 1
sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy customs.'
And again He 'Go in peace into thy house,
says to her:
behold now I have heard thy voice and have
honored thy
face.
58
In the Canticles, too, these are the words of the
8 1 Kings 25.32,35.
9 Cant. 2.14.
10 Ps. 43.15.
11 Cf. Mich. 4.4.
12 Joel 1.8.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 423
itcome to evil, you may pare off the slough of your passion
and your idle feelings. Therefore, 'You will shave her head,'
are in his
he says, 'so that the eyes of the wise man, which
517
'And she will he
head, will suffer no harm. says,
sit/
in
18
lamenting her
the sins of
'thirty days thy house,'
the lies of her wicked father, the Devil, who
generation, 19
wishes to gather what he has not sown. Then, being
she
cleansed by the purification of this mystical number,
of the keys of marriage.
may get possession
that thou shalt go into her,'
Very aptly he says: 'And after
to enter completely into your soul, and recollect yourself
within her, and dwell in her, and stay with her, letting
all
spirit,
and endeavor to bring her to share your life, knowing
she will give you of her goods. Enjoying her favor, may you
20
say: 'And was a witty child and had received a good soul/
I
And she will answer: 'I will take you, and bring you into my
mother's house, into the chamber of her that bore me.' The
17 Eccle. 2.14,
18 Deut. 21.13.
19 Cf. Jer. 17.11.
20 Cant. 3.4.
21 Cf. Deut. 21.14.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 425
2 Jer. 17.11.
3 Several ancient authors, e.g., Aristotle Hist. Anim. 9.8,613B-614A,
describe the cleverness of the partridge with hunters.
4 Cf. 3 Kings 4.33.
5 Cf. Virgil, Aen. 11.716.
6 The Benedictine editors give the number 3 to this and the following
paragraph.
426 SAINT AMBROSE
spoke in heCain,spoke
Core.
10
He
spoke in the Jews
when they asked that gods be
made for them while Moses was receiving the Law. He
said of the Saviour: 'Let him be
spoke again when they
crucified, let him be crucified
and 'His blood be on us and
5
made king so that they might not walk with the Lord God
their king.
12
He spoke in every vain and wicked man.
With these words he has fostered a people who are not his
creation, for God made man to His own image and likeness, 13
and the Devil formed a fellowship with man by the cunning
of his words. has fostered the people of the Gentiles,
He
Therefore in the proverb
acquiring riches without judgment.
it is said of the greedy rich man that the partridge fostered
riches without judgment. But my Jesus, like a good judge,
does all with judgment, for He comes, as it is written, saying:
C
14
and the judgment of salvation.'
I speak justice
Therefore, He has robbed that partridge, the Devil, of
favor; He has taken from him the riches of the multitude
which evil fostered; He has called back the souls of the
Gentiles from error and the hearts of nations which were going
astray. And because He knew
that they were deceived by
the words of the Devil, He Himself, to loosen the chains and
bonds of long-standing error, spoke first in Abel, whose voice
of blood cried out.
15
He spoke in Moses to whom He said:
7 Ambrose here draws a false etymology for the word perdix from
perdo; the latter comes from per and do.
S Cf. Gen. 3.4,5-
9 Cf. Exod. 5.2.
10 Cf. Num. 16.2.
11 Matt. 27.23,25.
12 Cf. 1
Kings 8.5.
13 Cf. Gen. 1.27.
14 Isa. 63.1,
15 Cf. Gen. 4.10.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 427
17
'Why criest thou to me?' 16 He spoke in Josue son of Nun.
518
He spoke in David, who said: 'I cried to thee; save me.
He spoke in all the Prophets. So He says to Isaias: 'Cry'; and
19
he said: 'What shall I cry?' He spoke in Solomon, calling
to him with a mighty prophecy and wisdom: 'Come, eat my
20
bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you.'
He spoke in His own body like the beetle in the wood. 21 He
spoke to undo the Devil and overthrow him, saying: 'My
22
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' He spoke to
him
strip of his spoil when He said to the thief: 'Amen,
Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in
23
paradise.' Thus, when
Jesus spoke, that partridge was aban-
doned by his brood in the midst of his days.
Some persons have thought they should adopt that custom
of the partridge whereby she takes another's eggs, warms them
with her body, and tries by this false means to get the off-
spring of others. But (as they say to deceive the wary, for
even birds have certain tricks) when [the true mother] notices
either that the eggs have been seized, or the nest entered, or
the young harassed, deceived by false pretenses or deceptive
appearances, although she is the weaker one, she clothes and
arms herself with cunning. Then, when all the labor expended
on food has exhausted the one who is rearing them, when
the chicks begin to grow, she [the true mother] utters a cry
and with a sort of trumpet of love calls her brood to her.
They, roused with certain natural feelings, recognize their
parent and abandon her who had played them false. So,
when the one wishes to foster those who are not her brood,
she loses those whom she thought she would feed.
16 Exod. 14.15.
17 Cf. Josue 1.1.
18 Ps. 118.146.
19 Isa. 40.6,
20 Prov. 9.5.
21 Cf. Hab. 2.11.
22 Matt. 27.46.
23 Luke 23.43.
428 SAINT AMBROSE
In our last letter we wrote that we should set our soul free
from its enemies and form with it a bond of unbreakable
living. And since this discourse caused us to use an example
from Deuteronomy 1 where it treats of the man who had two
wives, the one lovable, the other hateful, you seem rightly
disturbed lest someone think he has received two souls, for
this cannot be.
Indeed, you very well that sometimes, when Scripture
know
uses an
allegory, may refer at one time to the type of the
it
express the fact that the son of the hated one has the rights
of the eldest. For, the eldest is the first-born, and the saints
are the first-born, because 'every male that opens the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord.' 2 Yet, not every first-born is
holy, for Esau was not holy although he was the first-born.
But the saints are the first-born, for you have in Numbers :
*Lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the children
of Israel in place of every first-born who opens the womb
among the children of Israel. Every first-born of Israel is
53
mine since the day when I struck every first-born of Egypt.
Accordingly, He receives the Levites instead of the first-born,
just as He
does the saints. We
know from the Epistle to the
Hebrews that the saints are first-born, for there you have:
'But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of
Jerusalem, and to the company of ten thousands of angels
4
and to the church of the first-born.' Thus, as the first-born
of the Church are the
saints, so also are the Levites, since
they also are first-born. They are not holy through their
order of birth, but by reason of their duty of holiness. For
5
Levi was the third son of Lia, not the first.
One who is sanctified opens the womb. What womb? Hear
6
the words; 'The wicked have departed from the womb.' In
fact, you know that the first-born is one who opens the womb ;
understand the womb of the good mother from whom the holy
do not depart, but sinners do. But the Levites are taken from
the midst of Israel, for they have nothing in common with
the people whose worldly first-born are destroyed. The
first-born of the world are of another mother, from whose
womb Paul was separated when he was called to the grace
7
of God. Thus separated from the midst of the people, he
received the Word, which is in the midst of our heart. So it
is said :'But in the midst of you there stands one whom you
do not see.' 8
That was not a purposeless digression which we made
from one Law to another in order to demonstrate that the
first-born is not the son of the lovable one, that is, of relaxa-
tion and words of the chapter express
pleasure, although the
this whenScripture says:
c
He
be unable to prefer the
will
eldest son of the loving wife since he knows the son of the
hateful one is the eldest/ 9 He is truly the eldest who is the
holy offspring of a holy mother, like the true mother from
whose womb true sons do not depart, but sinners do. So, he
4 Heb. 12.22,23.
5 Cf. Gen. 29.34.
6 Ps. 57.4.
7 Cf. Gal. 1.15.
8 John 1.26.
9 Deut. 21.17.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 431
who Is son not of a true mother is not true eldest, but like an
eldest son he is
helped by riches so that he will not be in
need; he is not honored that he may be rich. The other is
Abraham: 'Cast out the slave-girl with her son; for the son
312
of this slave-girl shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
This is meant by divine Revelation to refer more to the
10 ibid.
11 Cf. Apoc. 1.8.
12 Gen. 21.10.
13 Gen. 21.12.
43 2 SAINT AMBROSE
1
77. Ambrose to Irenaeus, greetings
You me why the Lord God does not now rain down
asked
manna He did on our fathers' people. If you reflect, you
as
will realize that He does, even daily, rain down manna from
heaven upon His servants. In fact, a corporeal manna is
found today in many places, but it is not now a matter of
2
such great wonder, because that which is perfect has come.
That which is perfect is the Bread from heaven, the Body
from a virgin, of which the Gospel tells us with sufficiency.
How much more excellent this is than what went before!
Those who ate that manna, or bread, are dead, but he who
3
eats this Bread will live forever,
But there is also a spiritual manna, the dew of spiritual
wisdom, which is shed from heaven upon those who are
resourceful and in search of it. This waters the minds of the
pious and puts sweetness into their mouths. Whoever ex-
periences this downpour of divine Wisdom is delighted, and,
needing no other food, lives not on bread alone but on every
word of God. 4 One who is more diligent seeks that which is
sweeter than honey. God's servant says to him: 'This is the
bread which God gave you to eat.' Hear what that bread is :
5
The word,
5
he says, 'which God hath commanded/ This
food, the command
of God, nourishes the soul of the wise
man, illumining and sweetening, shining with the gleam of
truth, blending, as with honeycomb, the sweetness of many
virtues and the word of Wisdom, for 'Well ordered words
6
are as a honeycomb/ as it is written in Proverbs.
Now, hear why it was small because the grain of mustard
:
7
seed which is compared to the kingdom of heaven is very
1 Undated.
2 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.10.
3 Cf. John 6.5.
4 Cf. Matt. 4.4.
5 Exod. 16.15,16.
6 Prov. 16.24.
7 Cf. Luke 13.19.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 433
the smoke of the prayers of the saints, went from the hand of
14
the angel before the sight of God.'
of the soul which
Small, too, are the navel and belly
ascends to Christ. Therefore, it is praised in the words of the
who Thy navel is like a round bowl never
spouse says:
wanting wine, thy belly is like a heap of tiny wheat among
515
It all kinds of learning and it is a
lilies. is
polished by
and in the knowl-
spiritual draught never failing in fullness
of heavenly secrets. The belly of the soul is mystic,- like
edge
the navel, and it receives not only strong food to strengthen
hearts, but sweet and fragrant
food by which it is delighted.
16
needs to be atoned
Perhaps Moses meant that this sacrilege
for by many and pious prayers.
In the Book of Kings, also, when the Lord revealed Him-
breeze first came
self toholy Elias, the whistling of a gentle 17
and then the Lord revealed Himself to him. Thus we may
learn that are fat and gross, spiritual things
are
bodily things
tender and fine and cannot be perceived with the eye. The
Spirit of described in the Book of Wisdom as
Wisdom is
18
subtle and lively, because in her is the spirit of understand-
ing, holy, one, manifold, subtle, lively;
and she grinds her
words before speaking so that she may not offend in any
mode or meaning. Finally, it will be said to Babylon when
she is about to be destroyed: 'And sound of millstone will
519
not be heard in thee any more.
This manna, therefore, was fine and it was gathered each
day, not kept for the day following, because
what wisdom
finds in a moment is more pleasing, nor is that more admirable
for being found in leisure time than what is struck at once
from the spark of genius. It may be that future mysteries are
revealed the manna kept until sunrise is unfit to be eaten
:
14 Apoc. 8.2-4.
15 Cant. 7.2.
16 I. e., the making and adoring of the golden calf.
17 CL 3 Kings 19.21.
18 Cf. Wisd. 7.22.
19 Apoc. 18.22.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 435
that is, it had grace only until the coming of Christ. When
the Sunof Justice arose, arfd the more resplendent sacraments
of Christ's Body and JEJtood gleamed, lesser things came to an
end and the people were to take that which is more perfect.
Farewell, and love us, because we also love you.
1
78. Ambrose to Irenaeus, greetings
question others have asked of you, why the Law was so severe
in pronouncing unclean those persons who wear garments of
the other sex, whether men or women, for it is written: *Let
not men's apparel cover a woman, neither shall a man be
clothed with a woman's garment, for he that doeth these
2
things is abominable before God.'
If you investigate the matter well, what nature herself
abhors must be unsuitable, for why do you want to seem not
a man when you were born one? Why do you assume an
appearance not yours? Why play the woman, or you, woman,
the man? Nature clothes each sex in its proper raiment.
Moreover, in men and women there are different customs,
different complexion, different gestures, gait, and strength,
different qualities of voice.
In the animals of the rest of creation, too, the form,
strength, and roar of the lion and lioness, of bull and heifer,
are different. Among deer, also, the stag and hind differ as
much in sex as in appearance, so that one can distinguish
them from a distance. Between birds and men there is an
even closer comparison regarding their clothing, for their
natural covering distinguishes the sex in them. The peacock
is
very beautiful, but his mate does not have feathers so
1 Undated.
2 Deut. 22.5,
436 SAINT AMBROSE
those who curl their hair like women also conceive and bear
children. The one sex is veiled; the other engages in war.
There is an excuse for those who follow their native customs,
barbarous as they are, the Persians, the Goths, the Armenians.
But nature is greater than one's native land.
What shall we say of those who consider it a sign of
luxury to have in their service slaves wearing curls and orna-
ments, while they themselves have long beards and the slaves
have streaming hair? It is to be expected that chastity will be
lost where the distinction of the sexes is not observed, and
long is a glory to her? Because her hair has been given her as
a covering.' 7 You must thus answer those who make inquiries.
Farewell, and love us as a son, because we as a parent
love you.
l
79. Ambrose to Irenaeus, greetings (Summer, 393 )
2
the sons of men/ and also: 'How beautiful are the feet of
3
those who bring good tidings.' Truly, nothing is more
beautiful than that Highest Good which is
exceedingly
beautiful to preach, the setting forth of a continuous dis-
7 1 Cor. 11.13-15.
the power not only to announce Christ but also to suffer for
Him.
As far as we are able, let us give our attention to that
which is beautiful, comely, and good; let us be occupied with
it, let us hold it in mind, so that by its glow
and light our
souls may become lovely and our minds transparent. For, if
our eyes are refreshed with green fields and beautiful groves,
after being clouded by mist, or if grassy hills take away the
blur of the sick man's gaze, while his pupils and eye-balls
seem to take on color, how much more does the eye of the
mind, when it gazes upon the Highest Good, turning to It
and feeding on It, become bright and shining, and so fulfill
c
the words of Scripture: My soul shall be filled as with
marrow and richness.'
4
One who
wisely understands the souls
of his flock cares for the grass of his field so that he will have
large pastures, for the sweet grasses make the lambs fatter,
and their milk is more healthful. The rich use these pastures,
they who 'have eaten and adored,' for it is the saint of God
5
gives rain to His earth in order to bless all the works of your
hands. The rain signifies the utterance of the Scripture which
bedews the soul which is rich and plentiful in good works so
10
that it
may have the rain of grace.
David went in search of the knowledge of this Good, as
he himself declares: 'One thing I have asked of the Lord;
this will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
:
that this is the Highest Good 'I believe that I shall see the
:
11
good things of the Lord in the land of the living.' Here
[on earth] He is sought; there [in heaven] he will be fully
seen lace to face. This Good is in the house of God, in His
secret abode and sanctuary. Again he says 'We shall be filled
:
our Highest Good, for He is the Good from Good, and from
a good tree is gathered good fruit. 16 Then, too, His spirit is
9 Deut. 28.11,12.
10 Cf. Deut. 32.2.
11 Ps. 26.4,13.
12 Ps. 64.5.
13 Ps. 127.5.
14 Isa. 52.7.
15 Cf. 1 Cor. 1.1.
16 Cf. Matt. 7.18.
440 SAINT AMBROSE
spoke am here' ;
23
that is, I who spoke in the Prophets, I am
present in thebody which I took of a virgin; I am present, the
inward likeness of God, the express image of His person; and
I am present as man. But who knows Me? They saw a man,
yet they believed that His works were greater than man. Was
24
it not as man that He than
wept for Lazarus, and greater
man that He raised him from the dead? Again, was it not as
man that He was scourged, and greater than man that He
25
took away the sins of all the world?
Let us hurry to Him in whom is that Highest Good, since
He Goodness Itself. He is the patience of Israel calling
is
32
to my above honeycomb to my mouth.'
lips,
What else can
a soul desire when she has once tasted the sweetness of the
Word, when she has once seen its brightness? When Moses
remained on the mountain forty days to receive the Law, he
had no need of food for the body. 33 Elias, going to that rest,
34
asked that his soul be taken away from him. Even Peter
himself, foreseeing on the mountain the glory of the Lord's
Resurrection, did not wish to come down, and said:
'Lord, it
is
good for us to be here.'
35
How great is the glory of that
Divine Essence, how great the graces of the Word at which
even angels wish to gaze! 36
The soul which beholds this Highest Good needs not the
body, and, knowing that she should have very little familiarity
with it, she shuns the world, she withdraws herself from the
chains of the flesh, she casts off all the bonds of earthly
pleasure. Thus Stephen beheld Jesus and had no fear of being
stoned; in fact, while he was being stoned he prayed, not for
himself, but for those by whom he was being murdered.
37
Paul, too, caught up into the third heaven, did not know
whether he was in the body or out of it; caught, I say, into
paradise, he no longer had need of the body, and after hear-
32 PS. 118.103.
33 Cf. Exod. 34.28.
34 Cf. 3 Kings 19.4.
35 Matt. 17.4.
36 Cf. 1 Peter U2.
anything, since
are all things?
46 Matt. 5.44,45,48.
47 Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 5.508,618.
48 Wisd. 9.15.
49 Rom. 11.36.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 445
goods upon all and borrows from others nothing for itself,
for it has no need of us. It says, too, in the person of man-
50
kind: 'You do not need my goods.' What is more lovely
than to approach Him and cling to Him? What pleasure can
be greater? What else can he desire who sees and tastes freely
of this fount of living water? what realms? what powers?
what riches? when he sees how pitiable are the condition?
of kings, how changeable the status of their power, how short
the span of this life, in how great bondage even sovereigns
must live, since they live at the will of others and not their
own.
Does any rich man make his way to eternal life unless he is
provided with money, the riches of virtue, the portion of all,
the only thing a rich man cannot have? Happiness does not
consist in using, but in seeing how you may despise these
riches, how you may consider them void of truth, judge them
vain and useless, 51 and love, instead, the beauty of naked
truth which discloses the utterly false vanities of the world.
Lift up your soul, those eyes of which the
eyes, then, my
Word of God 'Thou hast wounded me in the
says to you:
heart, O my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded me in the
heart with one of thine eyes.' 52 Go up to the palm, overcome
the world so that you may reach the height of the Word.
Leave aside the vain show of this world, leave aside its
wickedness. Bring, rather, goodness of heart which possesses
grace in the tree of life, provided she will wash her robes and
enter the city which is the true grace of the saints. There is
the tabernacle of God, around which the scribes of the Lord
are encamped, where neither day nor sun nor moon provide
light, but the Lord Himself is the light illuminating that whole
50 Ps. 15.2.
51 Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 10.630.
52 Cant. 4.8.
446 SAINT AMBROSE
54
Surely, He is not a
53
city, for He
the Light of the world,
is
inhabitant. Let him not again depart, nor retrace the steps,
I do not say, of the body, but of the heart. Let him not come
back from there. Behind him. is wantonness; behind is im-
purity. When Lot went to the mountains, he left behind the
sins of Sodom, but the woman who looked back could not
reach the higher ground. 56 Your feet should not turn back,
neither should your actions turn back. Your hands should
not hang idle, nor should the knees of your devotion and
faith become weak. Let no weakness cause your will to
backslide, nor evil deeds recur. You have made your entrance,
e
now remain. You have reached this place, stand firm. Being
57
safe, save thy life.'
In your ascent, take the straight path; it is not safe to turn
back. Here is is downfall. Here is the path
the road; there
a There is work in
upward; there, precipice. ascending,
danger in descending. The Lord who is powerful will protect
you if you are grounded and hedged round with the ramparts
of the Prophets and the bulwarks of the Apostles. For this
reason, the Lord says to you: 'Enter and tread the grape,
58
for the vintage time is here.' Let us be found within, not out
of doors. In the Gospel, too, the Son ofGod says: 'Let him
59
who is on the
housetop not go down to take his vessels.'
53 a. Apoc. 21.23.
54 Cf. John 8.12.
55 Cf. Luke 24.32.
56 Gen. 19.30.
57 Gen. 19.17.
58 Joel 3.13.
59 Luke 17.31.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 447
Surely, He does not mean our present dwelling but that one
60
of which He has spread the sky like a roof.'
c
valleys. Tor he is the God of the mountains and not the God
8
of the valleys.'
Those who dwelt in the houses of the plain where God
does not dwell could not have the house of God within them,
for this is the house which God sought from them so that they
might build up themselves and rear within themselves the
temple of God from living stones of faith. He did not want
buildings made with earthen walls or wooden roofs, for the
hand of an enemy would have been able to overthrow them.
He wanted that temple which is built in the hearts of men, to
9
whom it may 'You are the temple of God,' in
be said:
which the Lord Jesus might dwell and from there set out to
redeem all mankind. There also could be prepared a sacred
chamber in the womb of the Virgin where the King of
heaven might live and a human body become the temple of
God, which though it was destroyed, might yet be restored to
life on the third day.
10
Sensual persons who
dwell in vaulted houses and take
delight in coffered silver ceilings do not build a house
like
this. As they despise plain silver, so do they despise a simple
11
dwelling place. They add to the site of their homes; adding
more and more, they join one house with another, one
estate with another; they dig up the ground so that the very
earth itself gives way for their dwelling, and, like children of
the earth, they are laid up within her womb and hidden
within her. flesh. Plainly was of them that Jeremias said:
it
19
His whereby 'he knocked and it was opened to him/
acts,
and he would have gone down Into his soul that he might
feed therein upon the foo$ of sincerity and truth.
Because he has failed to hear, the word of Aggeus again
comes, saying: 'Rise from houses embossed and carved with
wickedness, and go up to the mount of heavenly Scriptures
and hew the tree of wisdom, the tree of life, the tree of
knowledge. Make straight your ways, order your actions so
that they may have the due order which is necessary and
20
useful for building the house of God.'
21
Unless you do this, heaven will not give her rain, that is
to say, the heavenly message which comes down on the hay
like dew will not cool the fevered motions of the passions of
19 Matt. 7.7.
20 Agg. 1.8.
21 Cf. Agg. 1.10.
22 Agg. 1.14.
23 Ps. 126.1.
24 Col. 1.16,17.
25 John 7.37.
452 SAINT AMBROSE
26
of Zabulon, stream by night/ that is to say, 'prophetic.'
'a
and earth, and seas and desert.' 29 He had moved them before
when He delivered His people from Egypt, 30 when there was
31
a pillar of the sky,
fire in a path through the waves, a wall
on the sea, a road in the water, and in the desert a harvest of
heavenly food provided each day, and a rock melted into
streams of water. He moved these, too, during the Passion of
the Lord Jesus, 32 when the sky was covered with darkness,
the sun was veiled in shadows, rocks were rent, graves opened,
the dead rose again, and the dragon vanquished on its own
waters saw the fishers of men not only sailing, but even
walking without peril, on the sea.
The dry land was moved, too, when the barren Gentile
nations began to ripen with the harvest of devotion and
faith, There was a movement of the desert and the Gentiles,
26 profluvium nocturnum.
27 Cf. 4 Kings 9.33-37.
28 Cf. Ps. 19.5.
29 Agg. 2.22.
30 Cf. Exod. 14.22-30.
31 Cf. Exod. 13.2L
32 Cf. Luke 23.44.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 453
1
people. Further, he is so highly esteemed among philosophers
that they say he has scarcely met his equal. He had read in
Exodus that Moses was bidden by God's command Tut off :
the shoes from thy feet/ 2 The same bidding was given to
Josue the son of Nun namely, that they who desired to
walk the way of the Lord should shake off the dust of the
road trampled by men. 3 He had also read the command
given to Moses to ascend the mountain with the priests while
the people stayed behind. 4 God first separated the priests from
the people and then commanded Moses to enter the cloud.
You see, then, the separation. See how among priests one
looks for nothing of a vulgar nature, nothing ordinary, noth-
ing in common with the interests and practice and character
of the undisciplined multitude. The priestly dignity demands
a prudent demeanor, different from that of the crowd, a
serious mode of life, an especial sense of gravity. How can
the priest expect the people to honor him if he possesses no
quality different from the people? Why should a man admire
you if he sees his own qualities in you; if he sees nothing in
you which he does not discover first in himself; if he finds in
you, whom he thinks he should respect, the very thing of
which he is ashamed in himself?
Let us tread beyond the opinions of the common herd, and
let us avoid the thoroughfares of ordinary living, and the
routes of the beaten road, and the footpath of the crowd
where he travels whose day is swifter than the courier, of
whom it is said: 'He fled away and did not see.' 5 Let us find
for ourselves the road where the conversations of the proud
to our
empty than vain tales to live in houses of clay, spend
and in of wealth, to think always of wealth,
days nights quest
and, like hired servants, to want our wages each day, and, as
they say crickets do, to live on the winds
of pleasure.
~r
7 Job 28.14.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 457
11
the way that leads to life! And few who find
there are it.'
the Egyptian who is a man, but [let us] not [keep away]
from God. Even the king of Egypt himself fell under the
8 Cf. Virgil Georg. 3.328.
9 Cf. Ibid. 2.154.
10 Cf. Ps. 117.19.
11 Matt. 7.14.
12 Prov. 2.13.
13 Isa. 31.1.
458 SAINT AMBROSE
You have intimated that you find difficulty with the text :
1
'Let us sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to God.'
The solution of your difficulty is to be found in the words of
Genesis that the Egyptians abominated the shepherd of the
2
flock, not so much because of the shepherd as because of the
flock. The Egyptians, you know, were tillers of the land, but
Abraham and Jacob and, later, Moses and David, were
shepherds, who put a sort of royal stamp upon this occupa-
tion.
The Egyptians, consequently, abominated the offerings of
sacrifice, that is, the perfect pursuit of the virtues and the
full pursuit of obedience. The very thing which they viciously
hated, good and pious act.
persons regard as a sincere per- A
son given to sensual pleasure hates the work of virtue ; the glut-
ton shuns it. The body of the Egyptian, given to pleasure, has
an aversion for the virtues of the soul, abominates restrictions,
and shuns the exercise of virtue and all works of this kind.
The very things which the Egyptian shuns he who is an
Egyptian rather than a mere man embrace these, knowing
what befits a man. Keep away from the things which they
14 Exod. 7.1.
1 Exod. 8.26.
2 Cf. Gen. 46.34.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 459
guides all
things?
The possession of God is owed to such as these, as Isaias
says: 'This is the inheritance of those who believe in the
3 Gen. 31.14,15.
4 Gen. 31.16.
460 SAINT AMBROSE
5
is the inheritance,' for
Lord.' aptly does he say: 'This
Very
that alone the inheritance; there is no other. The inheritance
is
5 Isa. 54.17.
6 Ps. 118.57,111.
7 Cf. Ps. 17.26,27.
8 Gen. 31.14.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 46 1
you really not understand that we can have no desire for his
company, and we are not held by the desire for riches or
delight in luxury which is sweet to worldlings. These we
consider pitiable and alien to us; these we think are full of
want and need.'
They add still another reason for their departure, the fact
that Laban had lost the true glory and store of good treasure
into which they were born. We were given strength of mind,
a good coinage, a spiritual money, stamped with the image
and likeness of God. He lost these because he chose the
splendid things of this world rather than those which are
true and useful for his life. The beauty of these escapes the
man who ignorant of the goods of heaven, since he has
is
9 Gen. 31.27.
462 SAINT AMBROSE
your gifts.
With guides like these one does not reach the Church of
Christ whither Jacob was directing his way, in order to lead
there the wealth of the nations, to bring in the riches of the
the shadows of
heathens, to transplant his posterity, fleeing
vain things, preferring to senseless images of virtue the breath-
serious matters to those that
ing beauty of virtue, preferring
how heathens adorn their
bring applause. You see the
10
the gold tried by the fire with which the just are tried. Did
I want your silver? You do not possess the silver, for you
have not the brightness of heavenly conversation. Perhaps I
hoped that you would give me some of your slaves
to serve
since all who belong to the Church are soldiers of God. Here
is the flock marked with all kinds of virtues, the flock which
1
83. Ambrose to Irenaeus
1 Undated.
2 Rom. 4.15.
3 Rom. 2.14,15.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 465
them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse
56
for their sin.
The Law was passed, first, to remove all excuse for sin,
lest any man might say: 'I knew no sin, for I received no
rule as to what to avoid.' Next, that it might make all men
4 Cf. Gen. 3.6.
5 Cf. Rom. 7.8.
6 John 15.22.
466 SAINT AMBROSE
7
God through their recognition of sin. It made
subject to
all subject, for it was given not only to the Jews, but it
reached also the Gentiles, and converts from the Gentiles
became their associates. Nor can that man possibly seem
for the Law
exempt who, being called, was found wanting,
bound those whom she called. Thus, the sin of all men caused
obedience. And as
subjection, subjection humility, humility
drew after her sin, so sin, on the contrary, begot
pride
obedience. Thus, the written Law, which seemed superfluous,
was needed to redeem sin from sin.
1
84. To Irenaeus
the same, but the odium of the penalty is not the same. Christ
would not allow one woman to be punished according to the
Law; these declare that too small a number has been punished.
But, where did Christ pass this judgment? He generally
thought fit to shape His discourse in accordance with the
characteristics of the place where He was teaching His
gift with which the wounds of the poor are healed and the
hunger of wayfarers is satisfied.
Therefore, what Christ now bestows you must spend spiritu-
ally. He gave to the people the silver of heavenly eloquence
Indeed, the Lord Himself said: 'I have not come to destroy
10
the Law, but to fulfill it.'
We read the significant words in the Psalms of David
regarding the fifteen degrees and that the sun had arisen
fifteen steps when Ezekias, the just king, received additional
11
years to his life. The Sun of Justice is represented about to
come to illumine with the light of His presence the fifteen
steps of the Old and New
Testament by which our faith
mounts up to eternal life. I believe that today's reading in the
12
is a mystery, the fact that he [Paul] stayed fifteen
Apostle
days with Peter. It seems to me that, while the holy Apostles
talked with one another about the interpretation of holy
Scripture, the brilliance of the full light shone upon them and
the shades of ignorance were dispersed. But let us go on to
discuss the forgiveness of the woman charged with adultery.
A woman guilty of adultery was brought by the Scribes
and Pharisees to the Lord Jesus and the malicious charge
was laid on her so that if He forgave her He might seem to
8 Eccle. 11.2.
9 Osee 3.1,2.
10 Matt. 5.17.
11 Cf. Isa. 38.8.
12 Cf. Gal. 1.18.
472 SAINT AMBROSE
When they heard these words they went out, one by one,
beginning with the eldest, and they sat down thinking about
themselves. And Jesus remained alone and the woman stand-
21
ing in the midst. It is well said that they went out, for they
did not wish to be with Christ. The letter is outside; the
mysteries, within. In the divine teachings they wanted, as it
were, the leaves of the tree and not its fruit, and they lived
in the shadow of the Law and were unable to see the Sun of
Justice.
Whenthey had gone, Jesus remained alone and the woman
standing in the midst. Jesus who was about to forgive sin
remains alone, as He Himself says: 'Behold the hour is
coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each
22
one to his own house, and to leave me
because no
alone,*
herald or but the Lord Himself, saved His
messenger,
23
people. He remains alone because no one can share with
Christ the task of forgiving sins. This is the task of Christ
alone who took away the sin of the world. 24 The woman
deserved to be forgiven, since she remained alone with Jesus
when the Jews withdrew.
Then Jesus, raising His head, said to the woman: 'Where
are they who accused thee? Has no one stoned thee?' And she
answered, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her: 'Neither
will I condemn thee. Go thy way and now see that you sin
no more/ 25 See, reader, the divine mystery and the mercy of
Christ. When the woman is accused, Christ bows His head,
but He raises it when an accuser is no longer there. Thus,
He wishes no one to be condemned, but all to be forgiven,
By saying 'Has no one stoned thee?' He quickly destroys all
the quibbling of the heretics. They say that Christ does not
know the day of judgment because He said: 'As for sitting
21 Cf. John 8.9.
22 John 16.32.
23 Cf. Isa. 63.8.
24 Cf. John 1.29.
25 John 8.10,11.
474 SAINT AMBROSE
3
now that you sin no more. He reformed the guilty one; He
did not forgive the crime. A person receives a heavier penalty
when he hates his fault and begins to condemn sin in himself.
When a guilty man is put to death, the person rather than the
fault is
punished, But, when the fault
forsaken, the for-
is
26 Matt. 20.23.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 475
kingdom of God.
In the first place, he points out that for good men the
greatest motive for the pursuit of virtue is the hope of rewards
and the inheritance of heavenly promises which are brought
within reach in the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.
Then he adds that not only has a way to paradise been
made anew for us through Christ, but also there has been
won for us the honor of a throne in heaven through our
partnership with the flesh of Christ's Body. You need no
longer doubt the possibility of your ascension, knowing that
your partnership with the flesh of Christ continues in the
kingdom of heaven, knowing that through His Blood re-
concilation was made for all things, those on earth and in
heaven (for He came down in order to fulfill all things), and
by His Apostles, Prophets, and priests establishing the whole
world and drawing together the Gentiles. Now, the purpose
of our hope is the love of Him, that we may grow up to Him
in all things, because He is the Head of all things, and by
the building up of love we all rise up to Him into one body, 2
according to the measure of our work.
We ought not despair of the members being united to
their Head, especially since from the beginning we have been
predestined in Him through Jesus Christ to be the adopted
sons of God, and He has ratified this predestination, main-
taining that which was foretold from the beginning, that A
C
man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his
1 Undated.
2 Cf. Eph. 4.15,16.
476 SAINT AMBROSE
3
wife; and the two shall become one flesh/ for it is a mystery
of Christ and of the Church. Therefore, if the union of
Adam and Eve is a great mystery in Christ and in the Church,
certain that as Eve was bone of the bones of her husband,
it is
because one who is in the middle, between the lot of the Old
it in
shady words and spoke what was not revealed. Hence,
the request for their inheritance by the daughters of Salphaad
was couched in obscure words, but by us the request is made
in the light of the Gospel and by the revelation of grace.
Let us therefore be the possession of God, let Him be our
portion, for in Him are the riches of His glory and of His
inheritance. Who but God alone is rich, for He created all
'Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right
hand of God.' 12 The grace in Him and His goodness have
7 Cf. Num. 27.1-6.
8 Cf. Eph. 2.4-6.
9 Ps. 109.1.
10 Cf. Luke 2.51.
11 Cf. Phil. 2.8.
12 Matt. 26.64.
478 SAINT AMBROSE
15
that we might all receive of His fullness.
First, He placed in the Church Apostles, who were filled
me, but the problem arising from your wish to have your
son marry your daughter's daughter is by no means paternal;
2
rather, it is unbecoming you as a grandfather and father.
Take thought of what you are suggesting, for in all that we
wish to do we should first ask its name and then determine
whether it is
praiseworthy or blameworthy. For example,
carnal intercourse with women is a pleasure to some persons
and even physicians say it is healthful. But we must consider
whether it is done with one's wife or a stranger, a married or
unmarried woman. Intercourse with one's wedded spouse he
calls marriage, but one who assails the honor of another's
wife commits adultery, whose very name generally checks so
daring an attempt. To slay an enemy is a victory; to slay a
criminal is justice; to slay an innocent man is murder, and
the man who takes thought of this stays his hand. For this
reason I beg you to consider what you are planning.
You wish to arrange a marriage between our children. I
ask you, should those be wed who are alike or unlike? If I
am not mistaken, they are generally called partners. In yoking
oxen to the plow or horses to the chariot, one chooses co-
partners of like age and appearance, that dispositions may
not contrast too much or dissimilarity be a blemish. You
are planning to have your son and your daughter's child wed,
that is,have him marry his sister's daughter, granted that he
to
is of a different mother than she who will be his mother-in-
1
Probably Aemilius Florus Paternus, proconsul of Africa in 393.
2 Marriage with a niece was forbidden by a law of Constantius; cf. Cod.
Theod. 3.12.1.
482 SAINT AMBROSE
all things are lawful but they do not edify. If the Apostle
also restrains our doing what does not edify, how can we
4 1 Cor. 6.12.
5 2 Cor. 5.17.
484 SAINT AMBROSE
6 agnatio.
7 cognatio.
being given, it is not said they fell into sacrilege. In fact, when
God's word was silent, sin stole upon them, so that they asked
for gods to be made for them. Under compulsion, Aaron
demanded their rings and the earrings of the women. Having
received these, he consigned them to the fire and the head
of a calf was molded.
We cannot excuse this great priest nor dare we condemn
him. Yet, he was not unwise in taking the rings and earrings
from the Jews, for those who were committing sacrilege could
have no mark of faith or ornaments for their ears. In fact, even
the patriarch Jacob buried the earrings of the Gentiles, along
with their statues of gods, when he buried them at Sichem,
so that no one might hear of the superstition of the Gentiles.
Moreover, he aptly said 'Take off your rings and the golden
:
3
earrings which are the earrings of your wives,' not to leave
the earrings to the men, but to show that men do not have
them. Fittingly, too, are earrings taken from women, lest
Eve again hear the voice of the serpent.
And because they had listened to sacrilege, having fashioned
their earrings, the image of sacrilege was made, for one who
hears poorly usually fashions a sacrilege. Events that followed
show why the calf's head was made: it signified that which
would occur either this nation would at a later time bring
3 Exod. 32.2.
4 Cf. 3 Kings 12.30.
486 SAINT AMBROSE
5 PS. 28.5,6.
6 Cf. Isa. 25.8.
7 1 Cor. 15.5435.
8 Ps. 109.7.
9 Exod. 32.27.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 487
body? These the good Levite slays in himself with the spiritual
sword which is the word of God, two-edged and strong.
It is the sword of the spirit which
pierces the soul, as it
was said to Mary: 'Thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that
the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. 511 Is not the
flesh joined to the soul by a certain fraternal union? Is not
10 1 Cor. 9.27.
11 Luke 2.35.
488 SAINT AMBROSE
1 Undated.
2 Deut. 28.23.
3 Cf. 3 Kings 17.1.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 489
54
dance? 'Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you, says
the Lord.
Farewell, and love us, because we love you.
1
89. Ambrose to Sisinnius
for me
your forgiving your son at my request for his having
married without your consent. It is more significant that
should have
your sense of duty rather than anyone's request
gained this from you. Assuredly, a priest's request makes
greater gains when virtue triumphs,
for his petition is merely
dictated by his sense of duty. Nature gained and so did your
of a request
son, and more fully so in that the consideration
virtue is lasting and
is only temporary while the habit of
natural affection is permanent.
The affair happened quite fittingly that you might regard
yourself as a father at the same time as you had just cause
for indignation. I prefer to admit the wrongdoing that your
the more. As a father
forgiving as a father may be praised
in
you were offended because you were entitled to choose,
accord with your own judgment, the one who was to become
a daughter, to whom you were to become a father. We
obtain children by nature or adoption, by nature through
chance, by adoption through choice. And we can be blamed
for those we adopt more than for our natural children, for if
natural children are degenerate, nature is blamed, but if
children by adoption or marriage prove unworthy, it is said
to be our own mistake. This was your reason for being angry
with your son and for forgiving him, too, for choosing his
4 Exod. 16.4.
1 Undated.
490 SAINT AMBROSE
1
90. Ambrose to Studius
I know well the love in your pure soul, your zeal for the
2
does he carry a sword, who judgment/ for he is the
gives
avenger of God against those who
do evil.
Although you understand this, you have determined to
make diligent inquiry. There are some persons outside the
Church, however who do not admit to communion in the
divine sacraments those who believe in capital punishment.
Some stay away on their own accord. 3 They are praised and
cannot be admonished in so far as we observe the authority
of the Apostle and do not refuse them Communion.
You see, then, what authority permits and what mercy
encourages. You will have no excuse, if you have
taken action,
and praise, if you have not done so. But, if you have been
prevented from acting, I nevertheless approve of your not
letting the guilty languish in prison, but,
more in the manner
2 Rom. 13.4.
3 It was customary in the early years of Christianity for persons to
refrain from Holy Communion after putting another to death by
enforcement of the law.
LETTERS TO LAYMEN 493
see that
as if herback; He as life restores her; like a
purchasing
fountain He washes her clean. And because when Jesus
inclines His head He does so that He may raise up those who
'Neither will I
have fallen, He, the redemption of sins, says:
38
condemn thee.
You have this model to follow. It is possible for the guilty
one to have hope of correction; if he is unbaptized, that he
can receive forgiveness; if he has been baptized, that he can
do penance and offer his body to Christ. How numerous are
the paths of salvation!
Thus, our predecessors preferred to be rather indulgent
toward judges, so that, while their sword was feared, the
madness of crime was checked and not aroused. But, if
Communion is refused, the punishment of the guilty seems
there be more tempering
avenged. Our elders preferred that
of the will than need of the law.
Farewell, and love us, for we also love you.
8 John 8.7-11.
499
perors, 8-10, 16-21, 26, 27, 30, Anysius, Bishop, 67, 203, 204
31, 34, 35, 38, 56-67, 200, 201, Aper, priest,
230
373, 374, 385, 396, 397, see Apollinaris, heretic, 126, 136,
also Gratian, et. al.; exhorta- 139, 140, 224
tions of, to bishops, 76-80, 102- apostasy, 9, 32
105, 153-163, 174-177, 239-241; Apostles, 264, 280, 281, 439, 453,
and friends, 67, 68, 102, 204, 478; see also Creed.
286; and Greek Fathers, vi; apotelesma, quality of rhetoric,
and heretics, 89, 137, 365; and 115
500
Balak, 73, 394 Cain, 80, 426
banquets, 462 Calanus, 298, 299
baptism, 73, 96, 240, 401 n., 404, Caleb, 402
448, 463; of desire, 27 calf,golden, 484
baptistry, 366 Calligonus, 375
barbarians, 15, 39, 60, 149, 150, Callinicum, synagogue at, 9-11,
202, 224, 368, 417; see also 385
Goths
calumny, 163 n.
Barbatianus, heretic, 323 Camillus, 39
basilicas, 12, 365-368, 372, 376
Campania, 149
Bassianus, Bishop, 103, 225 Candidianus, 70
Bauton, 58, 59, 63 Capharnaum, 242
Beirut, 12
Capua, Council of, 172, 173
belief, 252-254
Carthaginians, 39
Bellicius, 401-402
163 catechumens, 63, 366
Benjamin, tribe of,
blindness, of soul, 402 Christ, 78, 88, 100, 109, 111, 118,
132, 235, 236, 242, 249, 268,
blood, mystical separation of,
278-281, 284, 285, 295, 315,
308; of Christ, 467, 468
317-319, 322, 352, 356, 357,
Bologna, 4.17
361-363,377,393,408,418,419,
boundary stones, 89, 302 421, 439-441, 444, 454, 463,
burning, of buildings by enemy 475, 478, et passim; as Archi-
sects, 11, 12 tect, 480; Blood of, 467, 468; as
501
Bridegroom, 421; as Exemplar Coelestis, 48
of virtue, 16, 84, 86, 95, 226, cognatio, 484 n.
275, 279, 326, 463, 466, 477; as comets, 25 n.
Head of Mystical Body, 132, compassion, 361
277, 279, 389-390, 475, 479; confirmation, 401 n,
Incarnation of, 4, 87, 126, 138, conscience, 33, 80
139, 226, 227, 234, 235, 386, consolation, letters of, xi, 417-
449; as Judge, 249, 250, 322, 419; of sick, 401, 402
469; miracles of, 401-405, 470; Constantine, Emperor, 55
nature of, 55, 137, 139-143, Constantinople, Council of,
210, 338, 339; Obedience of, 217 n.; Church at, 221; im-
477; Passion of, 92, 93, 100, perial residence, 1 1
191, 192, 311, 361, 362, 452, Constantius, Bishop, 76, 230
463; as Physician, 253, 337, Constanthjs, Emperor, 49, 55 n.,
502
David, 22, 23, 31, 68, 87, 142, Elias, 145, 203, 264, 305, 331,
145, 146, 295, 308, 309, 320, 345, 349, 350, 371, 442, 448
339, 360, 395, 421, 422, 427, Eliseus, 202, 203, 318, 319, 332,
439, 458, 466, 471, 491 345, 379, 380, 448
503
sex not to
Eventius, Bishop, 230 garments, of opposite
excommunication, 62 n., 163 n. be worn, 435
extravagance, 149 Gaul, Church in, 219, 223
Ezekias, 232, 471 Gauls, beliefs of, 55
Gaza, basilica at, burned, 12
faith, 253, 254, 358, 411, 433 Geminianus, Bishop, 230
famine, 38, 44 Genesis, mystically considered,
fasting, 228, 229, 323, 326, 327, 135
330, 351 Genial, heretic, 230
father, of prodigal son, 491 Germinator, heretic, 230
Faustinus, 414, 416; the younger, Gervase and Protase, martyrs,
414 378
x,
Favez, C., xi n.
gluttony, 132, 458
Fegadius, 101
goat, as emissary, 316
Felix, Bishop, 102
God, 5, 24, 31, 32, 40, 65, 70, 71,
Felix, deacon, 30
114, 118, 131, 133, 135, 136,
Felix, heretic, 230
210, 211, 255, 409, 448, 449,
Felix, martyr, 376
452, 459, 465, 477, 488; ad-
festuca, 292 n.
dressed as our Father, 412;
fields, mystically considered, 438,
benefits of, to man, 259; law
439
of, 54; subordination of em-
fifteen, number, 471
perors to, 18
first-born, 430, 431
first-fruits, 277, 280 gold, 408, 462
504
Greek, Ambrose's knowledge of, Indicia, 160, 163
.
vi; customs of women, 436 indiction, 196
heretics, 211, 212 n., 223, 323, Isis, rites of, 144
329 Italy, 223, 417
Hermachus, 328 n.
505
Joseph, son of Jacob, 84-87, 147, Limenius, Bishop, 321 n.
506
Martroge, E, 152 n. Mithra, 48
martyr, 9; Ambrose's desire to Modena, 417
be, 284, 366, 373, 375, 380 monastery, in Achaia, 205
martyrdom, 94, 95 monks, and clerics, compared,
martyrs, 299, 300, 376, 379, 380, 347-349
383, 384 Moses, 31, 117, 118, 144, 145,
Mary, Virgin, 126, 134, 135, 158, 264, 298, 308-314, 327, 336,
15Q, 226-228, 333, 339, 361, 339-341, 360, 394, 433435, 455,
362, 487 458, 464, 484, 486, 487
Mary, sister of Moses (Miriam) , mothers, duties of, 361, 362
312, 333, 341, 394 Mystical Body. See Christ, Head
Mass, Sacrifice of, 6, 24, 25, 29, of
190, 366, 370, 396, 397
masters, duties of, 362 Nabal, 422
Maximian, Emperor, 28, 36 Nabor, 376
Maximus, Bishop, 230 Naboth, 306
Maximus, of Alexandria, 217 n., Nabuchodonosor, 14
220, 221 Narbonne, Bishops of, 207
Maximus, of Verona, 153, 154, Nathan, 22, 395
159-163 Nathaniel, 280
Maximus, usurper, viii, 16, 19 n., nature, described, 274; gifts of,
56, 57, 59-61, 284 n., 374, to man, 263;
progress of, 47,
375 n. 48
McGuire, M., 20 n., 25 n., 48 n., Nectarius, 220, 222, 345 n.
150 n. neighbors, 89
Melchisedech, 338 Nembroth, 416
Meletius, of Antioch, 217 n., neptis, 482 n.
507
oaths, of senators, 34 Pelagia, virgin, 299, 300
obedience, of Christ, 477 penance, 313-315, 462, 470
Origen, 236 n., 410 Pentateuch, 385
orphans, 80 perfection, in man, 259, 260, 479
Osiris, 195 n, persecution, 14, 44, 366-369
ousia, 220 n. Peter, St., 16, 77, 135, 137, 138,
244, 258, 303, 307, 326, 327,
pagans, 33, 34, 38, 39, 45, 49; 359, 404, 448, 471
508
priesthood, 174, 177 rites, foreign, in Rome, 48
priests, in lawsuits, 52, 120-124; Rome, Church at, 192, 222;
persecution of, 43; qualifica- Council of, 204
primacy of, n.;
tions of, 315, 316, 339, 342, 174, 215, 221; Senate house
374, 455, 456 at, 3840, 49
509
Apocalypse, 75, 114, 137, 138, 430, 431, 435, 438, 439, 488
232, 255, 269, 272, 276, 339, Ecclesiastes, 25, 38, 78, 107,
431, 434, 446 132, 137, 146, 192, 266, 298,
Baruch, 202 317-320, 361, 424, 471
Canticle o! Canticles, 68, 130, Ecclesiasticus, 25, 84, 205, 234,
231, 333, 390, 392, 419, 422, 248, 287, 332, 421, 448
424, 433, 434, 441, 445, 450, Ephesians, 79, 86, 238, 246,
454 257, 270, 319, 322, 325, 348,
Colossians, 104, 114, 200,229, 351, 372, 412, 423, 475480
280, 332, 353, 360, 388, 441, 2 Esdras, 332
443, 451, 467 3 Esdras, 290
1 Corinthians, 71, 73, 78, 87, 4 Esdras, 272, 447
95, 98, 100, 108, 119-122, 126, Esther, 331
129, 132, 138, 150, 197, 199, Exodus, 103-105, 107, 111,
226, 229, 236, 239, 246, 248, 116-118, 138, 149, 157, 193,
252-254, 256-258, 263, 268, 197-199, 228, 252, 264, 268,
276, 279-284, 286, 293-296, 279, 298, 308, 309, 311, 325,
300, 322-325, 327, 328, 332, 327, 331, 333, 336, 360, 392,
335, 337, 348, 351, 378, 386, 394, 402, 407, 426, 427, 429,
389, 396, 402, 408, 409, 423, 432, 433, 442, 443, 452, 455,
428, 432, 436, 437, 439, 443, 458, 472, 484-486, 489
449, 454, 483, 486, 487 Ezechiel, 7, 21, 142, 145, 227,
2 Corinthians, 5, 68, 83, 97, 250, 406
117, 126, 130, 137, 138, 192, Galatians, x, 113, 123, 128,
238, 252, 257, 264, 271, 273, 138, 143, 173, 191, 245, 246,
274, 281, 297, 308, 318, 320, 248, 249, 251, 252, 278, 281,
332, 347, 374, 406, 411, 418, 293, 294, 348, 405, 410, 411,
419, 443, 483 418, 419, 430, 471
Daniel, 64, 112, 130, 153, 159, Genesis, 4, 68, 76, 79, 80, 84,
161, 256, 264, 298, 323, 327, 87, 90, 92, 97-100, 115, 118,
331, 346 119, 130*132, 135, 136, 147,
Deuteronomy, 71, 89, 104, 113, 148, 156-158, 170, 174, 176,
114, 135, 175, 195, 205, 247, 229, 236, 241, 245-247, 251,
252, 258, 290, 291, 307, 309, 254, 257, 259, 261, 264, 265,
311, 312, 320, 336, 352, 393, 268, 280, 287-289, 297, 305,
395, 401, 409, 423, 424, 428, 326, 330, 358, 359, 361, 370,
510
384, 389, 393, 404, 414-416, Jonas, 229, 374
419, 426, 431, 446, 458-461, Josue, 31, 361, 395, 402, 427,
465, 476, 490, 491 451, 455
Habacuc, 80, 150, 264, 427 Judges, 17, 164, 167, 169, 176-
Hebrews, 74, 104, 126, 135, 181, 184-188, 298
145, 268, 271, 338, 339, 347, Judith, 331
360, 410, 430, 440, 453 1
Kings, 23, 87, 421, 422, 426
Isaias, 58, 69, 77, 79, 81, 98, 2 Kings, 15, 22, 23, 145, 395,
139, 141, 143, 146-148, 158, 449, 491
192, 226-228, 232, 237, 245, 3 Kings, 161, 204, 242, 305,
250, 257, 265, 268, 285, 291, 306, 320, 331, 349, 350, 371,
315, 319, 320, 332, 354, 356, 425, 434, 442, 448, 449, 485,
386, 388, 392, 409, 412, 426, 488
427, 437, 439, 449, 453, 457, 4 Kings, 17, 202, 203, 228,
460, 471, 473/486 263, 264, 305, 306, 318, 319,
Jeremias, 12, 140, 143, 151, 332, 380, 448, 452
192, 261, 262, 269, 271, 285, Leviticus, 100, 119, 175, 312,
385, 411, 424, 425, 449, 450, 316, 472
472, 493 Luke, 16, 20, 82, 88, 98, 106,
Job, 23, 291, 295, 296, 302, 110, 124, 134, 135, 158, 159,
304, 306, 369, 370, 377, 455, 170, 190, 192, 227, 228, 233-
456 235, 244, 254, 269, 280, 282,
Joel, 420, 422, 446, 447 284, 312, 315, 318, 320, 349,
John, 5, 71, 77, 90, 96, 109, 361, 386-393. 396, 409, 427,
112, 136, 140, 141, 192-194, 432, 433, 446, 452, 469-470,
235, 243, 250, 258, 261, 264, 472, 477, 487, 491
275, 280, 281, 283, 294, 300, 1 Machabees, 10
309, 311, 315, 317, 318, 322, 2 Machabees, 64, 65, 299
350, 357, 359, 361, 374, 377, Malachias, 267, 420
382-384, 390, 393, 395, 403-405, Mark, 377, 384, 403
408, 412, 419, 430, 432, 440, Matthew, 4, 8, 9, 24, 25, 36,
441, 443, 446, 447, 451, 465, 68, 77, 82, 93, 96-98, 100, 106,
468, 469, 472, 473, 478, 493, 109-111, 113, 118, 126, 135,
494 137, 140, 144, 146, 151, 153,
1
John, 198,253,271,323 158, 193, 204, 226-229, 232,
2 John, 214 235, 236, 238, 241-244, 250,
511
254, 255, 258, 263, 267, 276, 228, 229, 234-237, 240, 246,
280, 284, 287, 307, 314-316, 258, 260, 262, 264-266, 268,
318, 322, 326, 331, 337, 348, 269, 271, 274, 275, 282, 284,
350, 352, 358-361, 371, 381, 285, 288, 289, 294-296, 301,
388, 391-393, 401, 404, 406, 303, 306, 307, 309, 313, 317,
407, 411, 412, 419, 420, 426, 318, 320, 322, 323, 332, 336,
427, 432, 439442, 444, 451, 337, 339, 343, 349-352, 354-
453, 457, 463, 470-472, 474, 356, 360, 362, 369, 372, 373,
477, 493 377-379, 391, 403, 408, 419,
Micheas, 231-234, 237-240, 421, 422, 427, 430, 433, 437-
268, 394, 422 443, 445, 447, 450-453, 455,
Numbers, 72-74, 76, 104, 161, 457, 460, 462, 466, 470, 476,
176, 228, 311, 312, 338-342, 477, 486
394, 402, 405, 407, 426, 429, Romans, 8, 16, 65, 70, 84
477 93, 97, 110, 113, 133, 233,
Osee, 267, 420, 423, 440, 471 237, 241, 248, 249, 251, 256,
1
Paralipomenon, 285 260, 263, 268, 273-275, 277-
2 Paralipomenon, 68, 69 279, 281-283, 285, 297, 301,
1 Peter, 93, 253, 303, 304, 307, 307, 318, 326, 335, 340, 358,
353, 354, 363, 402, 412, 442 391, 404, 428, 444, 453, 463-
2 Peter, 258, 438 467, 492
Philemon, 101, 357 1 Thessalonians, 79
Philippians, 86-88, 109, 126, 1
Timothy, 83, 104, 140, 215,
136, 138-140, 143, 201, 242, 292, 331, 343-345, 436, 440,
271, 275, 282, 294, 304, 354, 450
360, 377, 447, 453, 477 2 Timothy, 8, 105, 109, 255,
Proverbs, 25, 38, 41, 78-82, 340, 386
106-108, 234, 250, 290-292, Titus, 214, 229, 343
300-304, 306, 310, 337, 343, Tobias, 175, 327
346, 353, 355, 415, 427, 432, Wisdom, 40, 69, 248, 273, 305,
438, 457 320, 434, 444, 448
Psalms, 7, 22, 25, 31, 58, 64, Zacharias, 83, 142, 453
68, 76-80, 84, 87, 104-106, 108-
110, 116, 124, 128, 133, 137- Secunclianus, heretic, 207, 208
139, 141, 145-147, 150, 175, seers, 44, 48
191, 192, 194, 200, 201, 209, senators, Christian, 34
512
Senones, 39 Spirit, Holy, 5, 6, 107, 108, 278,
speech, 79, 83, 84, 487; deceitful, 43 n., 55, 59-61, 63, 64, 202 n.,
82; freedom of, 6, 7; rules of, 208, 213, 216, 219, 223; and
118, 119 affair at Callinicum, 10-12,
513
385; Thessalonian massacre, burial of, 26-28; delegating
395, 396, 494 n. state revenues to
pagan tem-
Theophilus, Bishop, 172 ples, 32-33, 35; desire of, for
Therasia, 144 n. baptism, 27
Thessalonian massacre, 20 n., Valentinians, sect, 13, 17, 385
22, 200, 494 n. Vallio, 61
thief, on cross, 243, 244, 315, vengeance, 352
427 Venus, 48
Thomar, 156 Vercelli, Church of, 321, 345-
three, days, mystically consid- 348,413
ered, 470 Vestal virgins, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42
26, 27, 31, 37, 52, 53, 57, 59, Wady Eschcol, 394 n.
60, 63, 64, 208, 216; Ambrose's wages, defrauding of, 81, 82, 175
embassy in behalf of, 56 n., Waghorn, W. R,, 425 n,
57-63; asking basilica, 367 n., widows, 43, 80, 228, 324, 335;
371, 374, 375 n.; death and considered,
mystically 469;
514
mite, mystically considered, Wytzes, J.,
31 n., 32 n., 63 n.
470
wisdom, 292-301, 459; divine, Zabulon, 241, 452
309 310
.
Zaccheus, 314
witnesses, from hearsay, 160 n.
Zach 7
28Q
wives, duties of, 361
/euer J" * u
women, clothing of, in pagan
>
515
130223