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BR 1705 .F4 A57 1879
Thornton, R.
St. Ambrose; his life,
times, and teaching
ST. AMBROSE.
CfK jTatbrrs for (Dnglisib lUaiirio.
y
St. AMBROSE;
HIS LIFE, TIMES, AND TEACHING,
BY
R. THORNTON, D.D.
VICAR OF ST. John's, notting hill,
ASU LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN's COLLEGE, OXFOKn.
•lbl:sheu I n-der the direction of the tract
committee.
LONDON.
■SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTI.W KNOWLEDGE.
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS;
4, ROVAL exchange, AND 48, riCCAUII.I.Y.
nf:w yokk: fott, young, & co.
1879.
V. VMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS,
i;i<iiAT QLEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,
LONDON, W.C,
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1.
PAGE
BIRTH AND INFANCY (a.D. 340-341) .... 9
CHAPTER II.
YOUTH AND MANHOOD (a.D. 341-374) . . . 16
CHAPTER III.
THE EPISCOPATE (a.D. 374) 20
CHAPTER IV.
DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS (a.D. 374) . . . 24
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF VALENTINIAN I. (a.D. 374-375) • • 28
CHAPTER VI.
theodosius (a.D. 378-380) 32
6 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
SYNODS OF AQUILEIA AND ROME (a.D. 380-383) 36
CHAPTER VIII.
AUGUSTINE (a.D. 383-385) 44
CHAPTER IX.
CONFLICT WITH THE ARIANS (a.D. 385-386) . 49
CHAPTER X.
CHURCH -BUILDING. MAXIMUS AND JUSTINA.
(A.D. 386-387) 61
CHAPTER XI.
THEODOSIUS (a.D. 388) 70
CHAPTER XII.
THE SIN AND PENANCE OF THEODOSIUS (a.D.
389-390) 80
CHAPTER XIII.
EUGENius (a.D. 392-393) 93
CONTENTS. 7
CHAPTER XIV.
I'AGK
VICTORY AND DEATH (a.D. 394-395) .... lOO
CHAPTER XV.
THE END OF A GREAT LIKE (a.D. 395-397) . I08
CHAPTER XVI.
AMBROSE AS POET AND MUSICIAN I16
CHAPTER XVII.
ST. AMBROSE AS A THEOLOGIAN 122
CHAPTER XVIII.
ST. AMBROSE AS AN INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE 141
CHAPTER XIX.
AMBROSE AS A PASTOR 1 96
ST. AMBROSE. -=5^^=^.
CHAPTER, 1. "'^^" ""
\THH0L0(
lilRTH AND INFSilCY. r.-,.
A.D. 340-34
It is the year a.d. 340. Twenty-eight years have
passed since Constantine the Great saw, as he de-
clared, in vision the symbol of the Crucified, and was
bidden to hope for victory, temporal and eternal,
through Him alone ; twenty-eight years since the
tyrant Maxentius lost his power and his life at the
Milvian bridge ; twenty-seven since Constantine's
second edict, dated not from Rome, but from Milan,
released the Christians from the fear of persecution,
and launched the Cross on an unimpeded career of
conquest. It is fifteen years since the memorable
time when the three hundred and eighteen at Nicxa
affirmed, in the hapi)y word Consubstantial, the truth
of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, very Cod of
very Cod, made very man ; four since the unhappy
heresiarch Arius perished at Constantinople by a
strange and sudden death ; seven since the busy
brain of another enemy of the faith, not heretic, but
scoffer, lamblichus, of Chalcis in Syria (once the king-
dom of Herod Agrippa II.), was stilled in the grave ;
three since the great Emperor himself deceased,
B
lO ST. AMBROSE.
and left his empire to a triad of unworthy and in-
capable sons ; and but a few days since Constantine,
the eldest of them, grasping at the dominions of
Constans, the youngest, was slain by his partisans — a
death so well deserved, and yet so melancholy in its
circumstances, that we doubt whether to call its inflic-
tion an act of stern justice, or a miserable fratricide.
Julius I. is Bishop of Rome ; the mitre of Constanti-
nople is still worn by the pious Alexander, the aged
opponent of Arius. Eusebius, the historian and
courtly confessor of Constantine the Great, is sinking
into his grave at Ccesarea in Palestine. The great
St. Basil and his brother Gregory, afterwards named
of Nyssa, are children of eleven and nine at another
Cassarea in Cappadocia. At the same C^sarea his
friend, Gregory of Nazianzus, now a youth of fifteen,
has been receiving his early education, and is now
preparing, at Eusebius's Csesarea, for his finishing
studies at Alexandria and Athens. St. Epiphanius,
now thirty years old, is studying and praying at his
monastery of Ad, in Palestine, and St. Ephraem the
Syrian is similarly engaged at Nisibis. St. Cyril has
lately been ordained presbyter at Jerusalem. The
great Athanasius, now in his forty-third year, is at
Alexandria, contending at once against calumny and
heresy, and compelled to unite the vindication of his
own moral character with his strenuous defence of the
faith. St. Jerome is a boy of nine, eagerly preparing for
the time when he shall leave his Dalmatian home to
study in the great Roman metropolis. Another trans-
lator of the Scriptures, Ulfilas the Goth, is now about
the same age, and is being trained, somewhere in the
TIME OF HIS r.iR'rir, ii
fartlicr East, for his future work. Martin the Panno-
nian, destined hereafter to hold the episcopal office
at Tours during exactly the same years as Ambrose at
IMilan (374-397), is now serving in the army, a young
officer of four-and-twenty. Prince Julian, now some
nine years of age, is safe at the castle of Maccllum,
near Caesarea, with his brother Gallus, learning that
Christianity which he is ere long to reject for a philo-
sophized heathenism. Photinus, at Sirmium, is con-
cocting a heresy, to be published some three years
later, and promptly repudiated alike by Catholic and
Arian. At Carthage the Donatists have been availing
themselves of the Toleration Decree of 321 to propa-
gate that schism which was not the least of the causes
that WTOUght the destruction of the Church of
North Africa. It is a remarkable time, if any time
can be termed specially remarkable in the history of
that standing miracle, the Church of Christ. Many a
living Christian remembers vividly the horrors of the
tenth persecution ; not a few literally " bear in their
bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus" ; but things are
now strangely altered. Kings and rjucens are becoming
nursing fathers and nursing mothers of the Church ;
the Empire no longer persecutes, but recognizes Chris-
tianity ; and the only question, a question as yet un-
settled, is, which form it shall recognize, whether the
philosophical religion that Artemon and Paul ot
Samosata and Arius have embellished with their elo-
quence and systematized with all their intellectual
power, or the simple yet wondrous faith rcvonlcd in
Scripture, preached and witnessed by many n saint,
affirmed by the fathers of Niccca, and earnestly con-
n 2
12 ST. AMBROSE.
tended for by Athanasius, the faith of the CathoHc
Church, that Jesus Christ is " very God of very
God."
There is a commotion in the house of Ambrosius,
the Christian Prefect of the Gauls — lord lieutenant,
as ^ve should say, of France, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain.
Whether the house is at Treves, or Aries, or Lyons,
it is impossible to gather from the records we possess.
But, wherever it is, the Prelect is told that he is the
father of a third child and a second son, and decides
that the infant shall bear his own name, Ambrosius,
" the Immortal," a poetical equivalent of Athanasius,
the " Deathless."
Though the elder Ambrosius was a Christian, the
child was not brought to the font. The christening,
which now for many centuries has followed close upon
birth, was in the fourth century more usually deferred.
Infant baptism was practised, but it was the exception,
not the rule. The newly-born infant was claimed from
the powers of evil and dedicated to God by an office
of exorcism and benediction, in which salt and the
sign of the cross were employed ; but the Sacrament
of the new birth was postponed, not from the idea
that infants are incapable of grace, or that the benefits
of the Sacrament are limited to those who have
attained a particular stage of intellectual development,
but because Christians felt strongly that the Church's
one baptism was " for the remission of sins," and
habitually took what we may call an exaggerated and
rather Novatian view of the heinousness of post-
baptismal sin. Baptism was deferred as long as pos-
DELAY OF BAPTISM. 1 3
siblc, in order that the catechumen might receive in
it a i)lcnary absolution, not only from original guilt,
but also from actual sin, and might be in less
danger of staining the robe of the new-born through
the heedlessness of youth. And there was an un-
worthy notion, too, that an unbaptized man might
safely do much as he liked ; — " let him do what he
chooses, for he is not yet baptized '' is an expression
which St. Augustine has recorded for us; — but that,
once baptized, he was tied to a stricter life; and friends
were loth to curtail the possible pleasure of the
young, and bind them down to what was wrongly
imagined to be a round of gloomy austerities. Pre-
cisely the same error exists among ourselves, and
withholds many a one who has received Baptism and
Confirmation from the Lord's Table ; the careless-
ness about transgressions before baptism, the horror
at those committed after it, are by us transferred to
pre-Eucharistic and post-Eucharistic sins. It was this
dread of committing himself to too much which no
doubt led to the delay in the Baptism of Constantine
the Great. We must remember, also, that in the
earlier days of the Church, over and above the ordi-
nary temptations to which humanity is exposed, there
was a special danger of which we know nothing, that
of apostasy in persecution. It was natural for pious
parents to hesitate, and shrink from bringing an infant
to the laver of regeneration when it was not impossible
that they and all its Christian friends might be called
to bear witness in death to their Master's name, and
their little one be left an orphan, to be educated in a
Pagan home. Such reluctance was not right, perhaps;
14 ST. AMBROSE.
it would have been best to obey the Master's com-
mand, and leave the future to Him ; but it was cer-
tainly natural, and perhaps, under the circumstances,
hardly blamable, as arising from an exalted view of
the greatness of the Sacrament, and the holiness of
the baptized.
At the period of Ambrose's birth, and possibly in
his case, there was another reason which induced, or
rather compelled. Catholic Christians to delay Baptism.
So widely had Arianism spread, and so much had it
been patronized by those in high places, that it was
not always easy, and indeed was in some places im-
possible, to find a bishop or presbyter who could be
relied on to administer the sacrament with the valid
formula. The divinely revealed form of words was.
too often altered so as not to clash with the senti-
ments of the Arians ; and the orthodox were obliged
to defer baptism, lest in accepting the ministrations
of an Arianizing bishop they should be involved in
the difficulties attending a ceremony of doubtful
validity ; lest, if the officiant chose to employ an
irregular form, they should have to choose between
leaving the catechumen possibly unbaptized after all,
and incurring the risk of sacrilegious iteration of a
sufficient sacrament.
One story of the infancy of Ambrose has been pre-
served. His cradle had been placed in the open
court of the Prefect's house, no doubt for the sake of
air and coolness, since the cells which, under the
name of ciihicula^ were all that even the proudest
Roman mansions possessed as bed-chambers, must
have been sadly deficient in ventilation, and unsuit-
INFANCY. 15
able for nursery purposes. It was the time of year
when bees are abroad — probably the spring of 341, —
and a swarm entered the court, and settled upon the
sleeping infant's head, crawling in and out of the
mouth, as though it were the entrance to a hive. The
nurse was for endeavouring to drive them away ; and
had she carried out her intentions the child's life
would have been in deadly peril. Happily, the
father and mother were close at hand, and stopped
her forthwith, waiting, says Paulinus, to see what
would be the termination of the marvel ; or, as we,
looking at the occurrence in a more matter-of-fact
way, should imagine, understanding the habits of
swarming bees better than their domestic did. What-
ever the risk of leaving the creatures alone, the danger
of disturbing them would have been far greater. After
a time they quitted the cradle, and flew upwards till
they were out of sight ; and the Prefect, with a sigh
of relief, exclaimed, " If the boy lives, he will surely
turn out something great."
It was a natural exclamation enough when a son
had been preserved from what appeared a consider-
able peril. But the belief in omens still subsisted in
Gaul, and was not confined to the heathen ; indeed,
we can hardly say with truth that it has yet dis-
appeared from any part of the prefecture of Am-
brosius, even from those islands which formed its
north-western extremity ; and the event was held to
betoken the holy clo(]uence and sweet persuasiveness
which should, in time to come, distinguish the un-
conscious occupant of the cradle.
l6 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER 11.
YOUTH AND MANHOOD.
A.D. 341-374.
Of the boyhood of Ambrose we know nothing. ^Ve
may presume that he went through the childish
training so graphically described by St. Augustine in
his "Confessions" — the "three R's " {legere, scribere,
et iiumerare), the sing-song " one and one are two, two
and two are four," the Virgil and the Greek grranmar,
the scoldings for saying 'o7no instead of hoj/io. His
father appears to have remained in his high post under
Constantius, who, after the assassination of his brother
Constans by the followers of Magnentius in 350, re-
mained sole ruler of his illustrious parent's empire.
Three years after this event, however, the Prefect -was
removed by death, and the widowed mother took her
sons Satyrus (who seems to have had a second name,
Uranius) and Ambrose, and her daughter Marcellina,
who was about to take the vows as a member of a
religious order, to reside at Rome. Only a few months
later was born that saint on whose life, as we shall
see hereafter, Ambrose was to have so important an
influence, and through him on the whole history of
the Western Church — Aurelius Augustinus, of Tagaste
in Numidia, son of Patricius, a heathen, and Monica,
a fervent Christian. We have one anecdote of the
VAI.ENllNIAN I. 17
youth of Ambrose. He remarked that his mother
and sister usually kissed the hands of the clerg)', and
sportively offered them his own, saying, " You ought
to do the same to me" ; a joke for which he was very
properly reproved by his mother, but which his
biographer Paulinus considers to have been a fore-
shadowing of the high i)lace in the Church he was
destined to fill. This is the only record we possess
of this period of his life. Where he studied, and
under whom, we are alike ignorant ; we only know
that both he and his elder brother, Satyrus, applied
themselves with great success to the study of the law,
and that Ambrose was, moreover, remarkable for his
proficiency in Greek. His spiritual adviser was a
Roman priest named Simplician, whom he loved as
a father, and who, in spite of advanced age, became
his successor in the archiepiscopal dignity.
These unrecorded days of Ambrose's life were full
of stirring incident and varying fortune both for
Church and State. The treason, or folly, of the
Caesar Callus in Antioch was followed by his cai)ital
punishment, or murder, at Pola, in 354. Constantius,
the Arian, was succeeded in 361 by Julian, the philo-
soi)hical per\ert to heathenism ; his short but brilliant
tenure of power was followed by the still briefer reign
of the orthodox Jovian ; and the eleventh year of
Ambrose's residence at Rome saw Valentinian the
(ircat exercising the Imperial authority at Milan over
the West, and his weaker brother, Valens, at Constan-
tinople, beginning his struggle with Procojiius for the
emi)ire of the East.
Under the firm rule of Valentinian, orthodox but
1 8 ST. AMBROSE.
tolerant, the Western Church and people were far
happier than the East under Valens, whose feebleness
led him to persecute, while his unhappy perversion to
the Arian heresy ultimately directed that persecution
against the maintenance of the Catholic faith. Autho-
rities differ as to the date of his error ; one historian
(Theodoret) tells us he was orthodox till after 374^
and was led astray by his wife ; another (Socrates)
puts his Arianism earlier. But that he became Arian
there is no doubt.
And so ten years more passed away, while the
defeat or pacification of Alemanni and Burgundians
in Germany, of Picts and Scots in Britain, and of
Firmus the Moor in Africa, bore witness to the
wisdom that guided the strong hand which wielded
the sceptre of the West.
In due time Ambrose entered on the business of
an advocate, and practised in the Court of the Prae-
torian Prefect of Italy, an officer who, under a
military title, exercised such authority over the whole
of Italy, Rhaetia, and part of Africa, as Ambrose's
father had possessed over Gaul.
The briUiant young pleader attracted the attention
of Anicius Petronius Probus, who then filled this
important post ; he was soon made the Prefect's legal
adviser, and not long after, in the early part of 374,
was appointed President, or, as it was termed, Con-
sular, of Liguria and Emilia, with the rank of senator.
This appointment included both judicial and admini-
strative functions, and compelled him to take up his
residence in Milan, a city which was then disputing
with Rome the honour of being the civil metropolis
APPOINTED CONSULAR. 1 9
of Italy. Probus was a Christian, and a man of high
principle. He dismissed Ambrose to his new sphere
of duty with words which, before the year was ended,
had become prophetic : " Go, and conduct yourself
not as a judge, but as a bishop."
20 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER III.
THE EPISCOPATE.
A.D. 374.
The see of Milan was then filled, and had been
filled for 19 years, by Auxentius. A synod held at
Milan in 355 had required Dionysius, the orthodox
bishop, to subscribe an Arian creed, and on his refusal
driven him into exile, together with Liberius of Rome,
who made so bold a stand against heresy, and, if
Arian tales be true, so disgracefully repented of his
boldness. Auxentius, an adherent of Ursacius, bishop
of Singidunum (Belgrade), and Valens, bishop of
Mursa (Essek), the Arian leaders, was, under the
patronage of Constantius, substituted for Dionysius
in what was then called the metropolis of Italy.
A few months after the elevation of Ambrose to his
consular office, the see of Milan was vacated by the
death of this Auxentius, and the appointment of a
successor became the subject of the most violent
party feeling. The Arian faction strained every nerve
to obtain a metropolitan who favoured their views.
The emperor's inclination to the side of orthodoxy
was known ; the number of the adherents of the
Nicene faith had been steadily increasing ; and it was
seen pretty clearly that if the new prelate were of
ELKCTION OK A lUSHOP OI MILAN. 2 1
that number, Arianism in Italy would receive a mortal
blow.
Valentinian assembled the provincial bishops, with
whom the election lay, and urged them to be careful
whom they put on the metropolitan throne. " Let
him be," said he, " such a man as I myself may be
able to submit to, receiving the reproofs he may
administer (for I am but a man, and must needs
often offend) as a salutary medicine." The bishops
entreated the emperor to make the selection himself;
desirous, no doubt, of relieving themselves from the
invidious task, and dreading the exasjjcration which
their performance of it would infallibly i)roduce in
the party whose candidate was not the object of their
choice. The emperor, however, declined to accede
to their request, and dismissed them to their delibera-
tions. '' The task is too great for me," he said ;
" you who have received the Divine illumination will
come to a better determination than I could."
The church in which the Synod met was thronged
with people, and the ferment was so great that appre-
hensions were entertained lest it should break out into
a fray. The president, Ambrose, judged it to be his
duty to take measures for (juelling the tumult. He
entered the church, and exhorted the people to con-
cord and tranquillity. Immediately a cry arose, begun,
it issaid,byasingle voicelike that of a child, *' Ambrose
is bishop ! " lioth i)arties joined in accepting the
])roposal. With a unanimity more remarkable than,
and as vehement as, their former discord, they urged
Ambrose to undertake the sacred office, seeing as
they did how desirous he was of i)romoting unity and
2 2 ST. AMBROSE.
peace, and believing that the voice which first uttered
his name had proceeded from no noisy partisan on
earth, but firom some benevolent angel.
The Episcopate was in those days not only an
honourable distinction in itself, but recognized as such
by society : still it was not one to be coveted by all ;
least of all to be desired, in a worldly point of view,
in exchange for a high State appointment. Much
danger beset the prelate's path : much care and
wisdom, and a rigid self-denial, were demanded of
him. The old paganism was not yet extirpated : it
had to be confronted from time to time, and men were
not yet sure that Diocletian's persecution was the
Church's last tribulation till the coming of Antichrist.
And there was Arianism in all its forms, with its
kindred errors, to be met and combated, even in high
places, and on ecclesiastical and civil thrones. Nolo
episcopari was a very real sentiment with all : the
worldly man shrank from a trial which brought no
riches, and the timid from inevitable peril, while the
devout Christian could not but think within himself
" Who is sufficient for these things ? " and dread the
greatness of the task. Ambrose was reluctant to
undertake it. Mixed feelings, among which a humble
sense of his own deficiency was the most powerful,
though perhaps a distrust of the popular voice was
not altogether wanting, led him to endeavour to divert
from himself the sentence pronounced in his favour.
The expedients he resorted to, though quite in keeping
with the spirit of his age, seem to us somewhat
peculiar. Leaving the church, he proceeded forthwith
to his court, and then and there made a show of
giving orders for the application of the torture, hoping,
CONSECRATION TO THE EPISCOPATE. 23
it appeared, to impress the people with an idea that
he was both unjust and cruel. But they were not to
be deceived. They knew his character. A few
months of his rule had shown what manner of man
he was. They saw that his pretended tyranny was a
feint : " Thy sin be upon us," was the cry : for where
no sin was, save the venial one of self-excusatiort from
a weighty burden, the people might safely undertake
to bear it. Then he tried, in a somewhat singular
way, to persuade them that his moral character was
not unblemished. This was almost an actual false-
hood : but it lacked the poison of a real falsehood,
for it failed to deceive : " Thy sin be upon us," was
the cry again.
He next sought refuge in flight, but without suc-
cess : he was soon found and triumphantly brought
back to Milan. All thought that there was something
more than human in the circumstances of his election.
The emperor himself joined in the common belief,
and heartily accepting the choice of the people
ordered that the President should forthwith be bap-
tized and consecrated. The provincial bishops en-
dorsed the action of the prince and people. Ambrose
was compelled to consent to receive the oftice and
dignity thus enforced upon him by the whole body
of the faithful, and that not of their own mere
motion, but, as all agreed, under the manifest guidance
of a higher power. He only stipulated that the
officiating bishop at his baptism should be a Catholic,
and not an Arian. Within a week from his reception
of the sacrament he had been duly consecrated, and
was bishop of Milan and Metropolitan (December
7, 37-^)-
24 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER IV.
DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS.
A.D. 374.
If a general view of the difficulties of the episcopal
office led Ambrose to shrink from undertaking it, the
special circumstances of the times must have filled
him with dismay at finding himself one of the chief
pastors of the spiritual flock, entrusted with a charge
which seemed to place in his hands, for good or for
evil, both the earthly fortunes of a large portion of
Christ's holy Catholic Church, and the welfare of the
Christian faith and the Christian people. For Chris-
tians, alas ! were far from being united, though not
three centuries had passed since the Apostle of Love
bade farewell to the world, not three and a half since
the Divine Master Himself offi^red the One Sacrifice for
sin. The spirit of Antichrist, which even in St. Paul's
time wrought in the children of disobedience, had given
rise to many a sad schism, and many a falling away
from the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints. There were Manichaeans, who professed what
Socrates, the Church historian, calls a " Hellenizing
Christianity," a compound of GentiUsm and Gospel,
mingling the teachings of prophets and evangelists
with those of Zerdusht and other Eastern mystics.
HERESIES. 25
They held that there were two deities, two originators
of existence, an evil and a goon, ever in conflict, and
ever to remain so till a far-distant day of final triumph
for the latter. Priscillian the Spaniard was, in his
revived Gnosticism, beginning to teach somewhat
similar doctrines in the farther West. The heresy of
Paul of Samosata, and of the earlier Ebion, that Christ
was a mere man, and nothing more, was held and
taught by the followers of Photinus of Sirmium, a
prelate of high abilities, who, after his deposition in
351, wrote a powerful treatise against all heresies
except his own. The Arians, alike in their refusal to
accept the Catholic creed as enunciated at Nicaea,
were divided into at least three different schools or
parties. The Semi-Arians, or Homoiousians, though
they would not assert the Son to be of one substance
with the Father, were ready to acknowledge Him to
be of a substance absolutely and entirely like to that
of the Father ; not seeing that to admit a second
divine being like to the First Cause was in effect a
denial of the unity of God. The Acacians acknow-
ledged a likeness of substance, but not entire nor
absolute. The Anomoians, followers of Aetius, "the
godless," as he was called, and his pupil Eunomius, as-
serted the absolute unlikeness of the Son to the Father.
The Meletian schismatics in Egyi)t, and the Donatists
in North Africa, upheld, or were inclined to, the Arian
theology. Macedonius, the Semi-Arian patriarch
thrust on Constantinople for eight years from 351,
had given especial prominence to the logical outcome
of Arianism, by denying in set terms the Deity of the
Holy Spirit ; and his followers, called '* Pncumato-
\
26 ST. AMBROSE.
machi," or " opponents of the Holy Ghost," main-
tained the coequal Comforter to be but a creature, an
emanation, or an energy. While these denied the
" very God of very God," Apollinarius of Laodicea
and his sect assailed the perfect humanity of our
Lord, by teaching that He had no human soul, the
place of which was supplied by the Deity, and that
His body, instead of being born like that of a man,
was sent down from heaven. There were schisms,
too, as well as heresies. The Donatists and Meletians
have already been mentioned. The fanatical Euchites
or Enthusiastae, the Jumpers and Shakers of the
fourth century, had begun to disseminate their strange
fancies, and contemptuously to partake of the Holy
Eucharist as a thing which could do neither harm nor
good. Lucifer, Bishop of CagHari, the brave confessor
in 355 with Liberius of Rome and Dionysius of
Milan, had, owing to some squabble with Eusebius of
Vercelli, broken off from the communion of the
Church. His schism ultimately died out, but it was
looked upon as so serious at the time, that Sat}Tus,
the elder brother of Ambrose, when in Africa was ex-
tremely careful not to communicate with a Luciferian
bishop, holding orthodoxy of belief to be seriously
compromised by rending the body of Christ. Then
the Novatians, — setting up, as the Emperor Constan-
tine put it, a ladder by which they might ascend to
heaven by themselves, — denied communion to all
who had been guilty of post-baptismal sin; not putting
limits to God's mercy, but absolutely denying the
power of the Church to pronounce absolution in such
cases. And then, in addition to heresy and schism.
PAGANISM. 27
there was, as has been already observed, what still
remained of the power of the old religion, a dogged,
stubborn, resisting force, ready to league itself with
misbelief against the truth, and with the powers of
this world against the Church. " Manasseh, Ephraim,
and Ephraim, Manasseh ; and they together shall be
against Judah.' It was an unquiet time for a Catholic
prelate. Well might St. Basil, in replying to the an-
nouncement of his consecration made, according to
custom, by the new bishop of Milan, exhort him to
stand firm. There was much to make him quail.
c 2
28 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF VALENTINIAN I.
A.D. 374-375-
Ambrose, while receiving the education of a lawyer
and a statesman, had not confined himself to secular
studies. Though only a catechumen, he had been
allowed free access to the sacred writings and to the
works of commentators and divines, and had freely
availed himself of the permission. He was not
himself satisfied with his store of Christian learning.
" Hurried as I was," he says in his treatise on "Duties,"
written in 391, "from the seat of judgment and the
head-gear of a magistrate to the priesthood, I began
to teach you what I had not myself learnt. So it
came about that I began to teach before I began to
learn ; and I have to learn and teach at the same
time, because I had not had time to learn before."
Still there is little doubt that he was already well
prepared with theological learning; and so im-
mediately after his unlooked-for election and con-
secration he began to write and to preach. If we
must understand literally the expressions which he
makes use of in addressing his sister Marcellina, in
the preface to his three books " Of virgins," we must
conclude that his oratorical powers were not great :
ENTERS ON HIS DUTIES. 29
for he writes of himself as " unable to speak " {loqui
fuguco), and expresses a hope that he may be gifted
with the power, " like the dumb Zacharias, and the
ass of Balaam." But his expressions are probably
due to an excess of humility. The practised pleader
in the court of the Pnetorian prefect could hardly be
a man of slow speech and of a slow tongue. At all
events, if not an orator, he was a writer and a deep
thinker. Scarcely a single year passed from that of
his consecration to that of his death without the
composition and publication of some theological
treatise : sometimes evidently what had been orally
delivered, or the transcript of notes for viva voce
lectures : sometimes apparently never delivered, nor
intended for deliver)-, proceeding from the study
rather than from the pulpit. True, St. Jerome carps
at some of his productions, as not original, and spoilt
in the transference. But St. Jerome is not infallible ;
and there are those who think that Ambrose, in
altering and adopting, has improved what he has
touched, instead of appearing (to use St. Jerome's
phrase) like the daw in borrowed plumes.
Nor did he preach only, but at once began,
according to the Apostolic precept, to reprove, rebuke,
and exhort. He boldly remonstrated with the Em-
peror Valentinian respecting some malpractices of
the magistrates, and was answered with the respectful
courtesy due to his good intentions and his sacred
office. '* 1 knew hoiv bold you were, and with tliat
knowledge I not only did not oppose your election,
but voted in your favour. Apply now, as the divine
law enjoins, proper remedies to tlie failings of our
30 ST. AMBROSE.
souls." He seems to have taken the monarch at
his word ; for it was mainly owing to his influence
that a synod was soon after held in Illyricum, which
reaffirmed the Nicene faith, and its synodical letter,
together with an imperial rescript, was sent to the
bishops of Asia Minor.
There was, however, a difficulty which he soon had
to face, far more serious than that of lecturing a
willing emperor, or of addressing the assembled
Church, and drawing on the stores of a theology
which he had amassed, while all the while, — strange
as it seems to us, — he was disregarding the precept
" Repent and be baptized every one of you."
The winter (November) of 375 saw the sudden
death at Bregetio, on the Danube (near Presburg), of
the great and orthodox emperor Valentinian ; brought
about, it was said, by the conduct of the envoys of
the Quadi. The paroxysm of fury into which he
permitted himself to fall on hearing from them what
was intended for a humble apology, but which he
seems to have looked upon as an audacious prevari-
cation, caused the rupture of a large blood-vessel.
Surgical aid was, with some difficulty, obtained, but
to no purpose : the sufferer, after an ineffectual effort
to speak, accompanied with terrible struggling, soon
breathed his last. Justina, his empress and second
wife — espoused, if the scandal repeated by Socrates
be true, during the lifetime of his first wife Severa,
the mother of Gratian, — had become a pervert to the
Arian heresy, and had no friendly feeling towards the
Catholic who was clearing away the traces of the evil
work of Auxentius. During her husband's lifetime
CRATIAN AND VALENTINIAN 11. 3 1
she concealed her sentiments, or at least forbore from
expressing them ; but when the restraint of his
presence was removed, and she felt sure of the support
of her brother-in-law Valens, the Emperor of the East,
it became apparent that the orthodox had nothing to
look for from her but active and undisguised enmity.
Gratian, her stepson, who had now reached the age
of 17, was firmly attached to his father's faith, and
was proof against her persuasions ; but she used every
artifice — and for a time, we are told, with success —
to poison the mind of her own son Valentinian, whose
tender age at the time of his father's death (4 years)
left him completely in his mother's power.
Gratian had already been raised to tlie rank of
Augustus, and succeeded at once to the Imperial
throne; but, as the soldiers at Bregetio had proclaimed
his infant half-brother emperor, he consented to share
the dignity ; and Gratian and Valentinian the Second
became colleagues of their uncle Valens. The elder
had scarcely reached his twentieth year, when that
uncle's tragical death made them emperors of the
East as well as of the West.
32 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER VI.
THEODOSIUS.
A.D. 378-380.
The Huns, a Tartar race, had, after a defeat by an
Emperor of China about a century B.C., been gradually
moving westward. They had reached and crossed
the Volga, defeated the Alani, a tribe of Skyths who
then occupied the country of the Don Cossacks, and
joining the Alan warriors with their own forces, had
descended upon the Goths, who occupied the tract
north of the Danube, the modern Roumania. These
last, after an unsuccessful resistance, determined to
place the Danube between them and their savage
conquerors, and entreated permission of Valens to
settle themselves in Thrace, the modern Bulgaria and
Roumelia. The leave was given, but the Gothic
refugees were received with indignities which set
their spirits on fire ; and the Romans found too late
that they had introduced into their territory not a
band of slaves but a host of enemies. Under Fritigern
their leader, and aided by some of their old foes, the
Huns and Alani, the Gothic warriors encountered the
Romans, commanded by Valens in person, about
twelve miles from the city of Adrianople, and routed
them completely. According to one account, the
DEATH OF SATYRl'S.
33
emperor was killed in battle, and so mutilated that
his body could not be recognized ; others allege that
he was carried by his attendants into a cottage, which
was surrounded by the enemy and reduced to ashes
with all who were in it, only one youth escaping to
tell the tale. This terrible reverse, from which —
though it took place in the East — some date the
commencement of the fall of the Roman Empire,
happened on the 9th August, 378. Ambrose saw in
it a judgment on the heresy of Valens.
The Cioths did not fail to push their advantage.
They overran and laid waste the country towards the
west, as far as the Julian Alps. Devastation was
naturally followed by famine, and famine as naturally
by pestilence. The Bishop of Milan, at this time,
when, to use his own expression, everything was in
confusion through dread of barbaric invasion, was, in
addition to his grief at the reverses and sufferings of
his countrymen, visited with a domestic sorrow. Im-
mediately on his consecration he had placed all his
property in the hands of his brother Satyrus, who
undertook to perform those secular duties which
would have been an interruption to the spiritual work
of a prelate. The dishonesty of a certain Prosper,
who thought that he might easily evade payment of
a debt to an ecclesiastic, rendered it desirable for
Satyrus to undertake a journey across the Mediter-
ranean in order to recover a sum of money due from
him. Ambrose was very loth to allow his brother to
go, probably knowing his health to be delicate, and
fearing the roughness of the voyage in the late part ot
the year. Satyrus, however, insisted upon running
34 ST. AMBROSE.
the risk. He reached Africa, but was shipwrecked
and in great jeopardy; he transacted his business,
and returned to Milan with the money. But his
brother's fears had been too well founded. He had
scarcely reached his home before he was taken
dangerously ill, and in a few days he expired in the
bishop's arms, who was himself just recovering from
a sharp attack of illness, through which he had been
tenderly nursed by Marcellina. Two discourses, the
one perhaps pronounced, the other composed, on the
occasion, testify to the tender affection which the
brothers felt for one another, and the sure and certain
hope entertained by the survivor of a blissful reunion,
which should be clouded by no fear of separation.
Gratian was far from underrating the stupendous
difficulties which environed an Emperor of East and
West, and from overrating his own ability to cope
with them. He was but twenty when his uncle's
death left him — for his partner in the purple was a
child of seven — practically the sole head of a double
empire. Before six months had expired, he called
to his aid the ablest of his subjects, whose talents and
virtues have given a lustre to the imperial name. On
the 19th January, 379, at Sirmium, now Mitrovicz,
the capital of Pannonia, he bestowed — some say
forced — the diadem, the purple, and the title of
Augustus, on Theodosius, a Spaniard of Italica (Old
Seville), the birthplace of Trajan and Hadrian; a
worthy son of that great general Theodosius, whom
his jealous ministers had done to death not three
years before for the high crime of success in Britain
and Africa. To the new emperor was assigned as his
BISHOP OF SIRMIUM. 35
portion the dommion of Valens ; there were added to
it, however, Dacia and Macedonia, then under the
power of the victorious Goths, and caUing piteously
for a protector as well as a ruler. The year had not
ended before he had gained successes over the Goths,
which Ambrose considered as both a fulfilment of
Ezekiel's prophecy against Gog, and a punishment for
their Arianism. Theodosius received baptism shortly
after.
Ambrose, meanwhile, was not idle, nor, alas ! at
peace. The next year to that which witnessed the
elevation of Theodosius brought him into direct
collision with the empress dowager. The death of
the Bishop of Sirmium had rendered it necessary for
him to repair thither to take part in the consecration
of a successor. This city being the metropolis of Pan-
nonia and Illyricum, it was of the utmost importance
that its chief i)astor should be free from all suspicion
of heresy. Justina, who was residing at the place,
used all her influence, coupled with that of her
youthful son Valentinian, to procure the election of
an Arian, and to exclude the Bishop of Milan, who
was recognised as the leader of the Catholics, from
the churches. So high ran party feeling, that personal
violence was resorted to, and a girl of the Arian
faction actually laid hands upon the prelate himself.
The Catholics, however, carried their i)oint, and their
candidate Anemius was chosen and consecrated.
But Justina never forgave Ambrose his victory, and
kept up a continual intrigue for his removal from
Milan.
36 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER VII.
SYNODS OF AQUILEIA AND ROME,
A.D. 380-383.
About the end of 377 or the beginning of 378,
Gratian, when on the eve of going eastwards to assist
Valens in his troubles, had requested Ambrose to
furnish him with some written instruction on the
subject of the Nicene faith, which his stepmother,
his uncle, and his uncle's Gothic enemies agreed in
rejecting. Ambrose replied by sending him two
books " On the Faith." The emperor returned the
work, and was so pleased with it, that, after the load
of government had been lightened by the elevation
of Theodosius, he wrote a letter with his own hand
to Ambrose, begging him to send him the volume
again, and also to visit him, and afford him more
instruction. The teaching of Macedonius had ren-
dered it needful that the Deity of God the Holy
Ghost should be explained and proved, and Gratian
was anxious to be enlightened on this point as well as
on the special doctrine of the Council of Nicaea.
Ambrose sent the two books " on the Faith " as
requested, and subsequently added to them three
more books, supplementing the two he had already
produced on the coequal Deity of the eternal Son.
To the emperor's letter he replied in the first — or at
TRIAL OK I'ALI.ADirS. 37
least the first to which a definite date can be assigned
— which we have of a long series extending to
within a few months of his decease. The tone and
diction of the bishop's letter are peculiar, and scarcely
what we should expect from what we know of his
character. They savour more of the courtly consular
of Liguria than of the stern ascetic prelate of Milan.
He excuses himself for not immediately resorting to
the imperial presence, and asks to be permitted to
defer the writing of the desired work, promising to
set about it in process of time (we know that he had
the three books " on the Faith " in hand) ; and ends
with a flourish about glory and peace which would
sound almost like a sarcasm were it not coupled with
a benediction. The promise was fulfilled in less than
two years. Early in 38 1 Gratian received the three
books ** on the Holy Ghost.''
The results at once of this teaching and of the
election of an orthodox bishop of Sirmium were
speedily seen. Two Illyrian bishops, Palladius and
Secundianus, were known to be of the party which
declined to accept the Niccne creed; and their new
metropolitan lost no time in bringing them to trial.
A synod of bishops, from Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy,
was summoned ; and it is worthy of remark that it
was convoked by the emperor's authority, his rescript,
addressed apparently to the I'icarius of each of the
diocccses^ or civil departments, from which the members
of the synod came, being formally read by a deacon
at the opening of the synodical proceedings. By the
advice of Ambrose, this document states, who thought
it unnecessary to bring together a large number, the
aged and infirm bishops, and those who were not
38 ST. AMBROSE.
in good circumstances, were excused from attendance.
The synod met at Aquileia on the 3rd September,
381. This city appears to have been chosen in pre-
ference to ^Milan, not only as being more central,
but because there was less fear of such a tumult there
as might easily have been excited in the metropolis
of northern Italy. Thirty-three bishops took their
seats, three of them, the bishops of Marseilles, Orange,
and Lyons, being commissioners from Gaul, and two,
Felix and Numidius, from Africa : two presbyters also
took part in the council. The chair was taken (to
use our own familiar expression) by Valerian, bishop
of Aquileia ; but the proceedings were conducted
almost exclusively by the bishop of ^Milan.
Palladius demurred to the authority of the spiod,
and complained of the absence of the bishops of the
East, who, he thought, would have taken his part ;
appealing to a full council, before which he professed
himself ready to plead. But Ambrose disregarded
all his excuses, and simply put to him the question,
" Will you, or will you not, repudiate Arius and his
errors ?" To this question Palladius refused an answer.
He entered, however, into a verbal contest with
Ambrose, and one or tvvo of the other bishops, in
which he admitted that Christ is the Son of God, and
spoke of His " divHnit}'," but declined to admit Him
to be true God, or to speak of Him as equal to
the Father. His companion Secundianus tried a
little skirmish, but in vain. After a sitting which
lasted from early morning till i p.m., both were, as we
might expect, condemned by a unanimous vote,
together with a presbyter named Attains, who, after
signing at Nicaea, had fallen away from the faith.
COUN'CIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 39
The decision of the synod was announced in a short
letter to the churches of Gaul, and in a longer one
to the three emjierors (Gratian, Valentinian, and
Thcodosius), in which the members of the synod
thank them for convening it, and beg them to carr}^
out its decrees. They also request that the Photinians
in Sirmium may be prevented from holding meetings.
We are struck with the unqualified manner in which
this letter to Valentinian (now ten years old) denounces
the religion which his mother was teaching him. This
synodical was followed by a second, denouncing
Ursinus, the old opponent of Damasus, now Bishop
of Rome ; and a third, requesting that a council
might be held at Alexandria to put down the Arians.
The Aquilcian synod was not the only one that
met in the year 381. Theodosius, immediately after
his baptism in 380 by the hand of Ambrose's dear
friend Ascholius,i bishop of Thessalonica, began to
take steps to check the progress of Arianism. He
banished the principal adherents of that heresy, with
Hemophilus, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, at
their head ; and with the approval of a number or
bishops invited the great Gregory of Nazianzus to fill
the vacant post. For some reason or other,^ this
eminent man had been first appointed by his metropo-
litan St Basil to the obscure see of Sasima, and then
placed in his father's almost equally obscure see of
Nazianzus : his translation to the primacy of the East
' Or Acholius : the name is variously written.
' Some imagine that Basil was jealous of Gregory' ; but it
seems that Gregory was placed at Sasima by his own desire, in
order that he might be belter able to help Basil against the
ambitious scmi-.\rian, Anlhimus of Tyana.
40 ST. AMBROSE.
was objected to on the ground of its being contrary
to an ancient canon that a bishop should be removed
from one diocese to another. In the year 380, how-
ever, Gregory was Archbishop and Patriarch of Con-
stantinople, though he shortly afterwards retired to
Nazianzus. In May of the year 381 Theodosius
summoned the Eastern bishops to meet at the capital,
and deal with the Arian and other Church questions ;
especially the heresy of Macedonius, the deposed
predecessor of Demophilus, who denied the personal
Deity of the Holy Ghost. This synod is reckoned
as the second of the (Ecumenical Councils, its
determinations having been accepted and endorsed
by the whole Church, although the 150 prelates who
composed it belonged to the eastern portion of the
empire.
A large assembly of western bishops met at Rome
in the next year (382) in a synod, which was attended,
among others, by the celebrated St. Jerome, and
formally proposed that a council should be held at
Rome. This scheme had already been pressed, in a
less formal way, on Theodosius in two letters from
the Italian bishops ; and it appears that Ambrose was
the leading spirit among them. In the earlier of the
two documents the Italians show themselves to be
labouring under a strange misconception of the state
of Church politics at Constantinople. They are ready
to give up Gregory Nazianzen, and incline to take the
part of Maximus, the Apollinarian heretic, against the
orthodox Nectarius, who had been chosen to fill the
high post from which the gentle and peace-loving
Gregory had determined to retire. They fancy the
consecration of Nectarius to have been irregular. As
REMOVAL OF ALTAR OF VICTORY. 41
lie was elected and consecrated much in the same
manner as Ambrose himself, being chosen by the
popular voice while holding the office of ])rcetor, the
Western bishops could not with any fairness complain.
In their second letter they still ask for the Council,
but apologise for their errors.
The prelates of Constantinople replied to the pro-
posal by a syTiodical letter, showing the great difficulty
of carrying out the scheme ; and called upon their
brethren in the West to acquiesce in their statement
of the Christian faith, and especially of the doctrine of
the Holy Trinity as enunciated at Nica^a. The epistle
is addressed "To the noble lords and pious brethren
and fellow - ministers, Damasus, Ambrose, Brito,
Valerian, Ascholius, Anemius, Basil, and the other
holy bishops assembled in the great city of Rome."
The name of the bishop of Milan, we see, stands second
in the list, next after that of the bishop of Rome.
During this stay in the city where his youth had
been spent, Ambrose had not only the great pleasure
of meeting his friend Ascholius, and of visiting his
sister Marcellina, but also the satisfaction of witness-
ing the removal of one of the last relics of paganism.
The altar of victory which used to stand in the
Senate-house had been, some thirty years before, re-
moved by the order of the Emperor Constantius, who,
though persuaded to take the part of the Arians, had
no fondness for heathenism ; Theodorct, indeed,
thinks that he was a Catholic at heart. Julian had,
naturally enough, ordered it to be replaced, and there
it had remained till this year (382), when Gratian,
who, we may remember, was under the guidance,
D
42 ST. AMBROSE.
sought by himself, of the Bishop of Milan, com-
manded that it should be taken away. The non-
Christian or neutral senators, we understand, disap-
proved of this, as we might expect ; but we gather
from a letter of Ambrose to Valentinian in the next
year that a petition for its removal had been drawn up
by the Christian senators, sent to Damasus, Bishop of
Rome, and by him entrusted to Ambrose, probably as
being most in communication with the imperial court.
This was the last work that the pious emperor was
permitted to do for Christianity. His zeal for the
orthodox faith had brought upon him the hatred of
those who still adhered to the paganism of Augustus,
Diocletian, and Julian, and of the half-Christian fol-
lowers of Arius and his disciples. We almost seem
to trace in the accusations brought against him the
secret influenceof Justina, who hated her stepson with a
stepmother's hatred, and Ambrose, his trusted adviser,
as one by whom her intrigues at Sirmium had been
foiled, and whose retention of the episcopal throne at
Milan was a continued and unpleasing proof of her own
weakness, and the popularity of himself and his faith.
Gratian's youthful spirits (he was not five-and-
twenty) led him to indulge freely, perhaps too freely,
in the pleasures of the chase. He was interested in
the strange customs and dress of the Alani, whom
the Gothic victory at Adrianople in 378 had brought
under his observation. With the heedlessness of
youth, he took a body of these barbarians into his ser-
vice as yeomen of the guard, and was unwise enough
to appear from time to time arrayed for sport in the
Skythic hunting-dress. These errors in judgment, or
failures in good taste, venial in a private nobleman,
MURDER OF GRATIAN. 43
were exaggerated into criminality in an cmj^eror. And
Gratian was too mild and gentle to hold firmly the
government of an empire composed of discordant
elements, and ready to fall to pieces from its own un-
wieldiness. Discontent, once suggested, flew rapidly
from west to farther west ; and the soldiery of Britain
and Gaul were soon roused to revolt. They were
headed by Maximus, a Spaniard, a disappointed
rival of his countryman Theodosius. He was in
command in Britain ; but to rule in our islands was
not then the glorious office which God's providence
and fifteen centuries have since made it, and he longed
for a higher title and wider power. With little diffi-
culty he induced his soldiers to compel him to as-
sume the imperial purple, and forthwith invaded
Gaul. Gratian went to meet him ; but, deserted by
his troops, fled to Lyons, where he was led to believe
that he would find himself in safety. The promises
he relied on were untrustworthy. Andragathias, one
of the officers of Maximus, gained access to him by
an unworthy stratagem. Enclosing himself in a car-
riage drawn by mules, such as ladies were accustomed
to travel in, and giving out that it contained the wife
of the Emperor, he met Gratian just as he was about
to cross the Rhone and enter the city. The guards
were deceived, and permitted him to approach, an
opportunity of which he instantly availed himself by
putting the Emperor to death : the victim in his last
moments called on his beloved Ambrose. This tragic
event happened on the 25th August, 383. One feels
almost glad to know that the assassin perished by his
own act about five years after.
D 2
44 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER VIII.
AUGUSTINE.
A.D. 383-385-
Theodosius had only just succeeded (October, 382)
in reversing the result of the terrible battle of Adri-
anople. He had brought the Goths to terms, but
the Eastern Empire was as yet in no condition to take
vengeance on a successful rebel in the West. He
preferred to temporize.
The empress-mother was compelled at this con-
juncture to lay aside her open enmity to Ambrose.
Much as Justina detested the Bishop of Milan, it was
to him that she was compelled to entrust the delicate
duty of meeting and making terms with the conqueror.
His diplomacy was at once dignified and successful ;
and it was arranged, with the consent of Theodosius,
that Maximus should confine himself to the farther
side of the Alps, taking Treves for his capital, and that
Valentinian should retain Italy, Africa, and Illyricum.
Maximus at first rather demurred to these conditions,
and demanded that the boy-emperor and his mother
should at once repair to his court ; but Ambrose was
firm in refusing to accede to this proposal ; he
remained in Gaul till a messenger had been sent to
Milan and returned with a decided negative, and
DISPUTE ABOUT THE ALTAR OF VICTORY. 45
Maximus felt himself compelled to give way. The
body of the murdered emperor, however, remained
in the possession of the concjueror, who was unwilling
to allow it to be conveyed to Italy, lest the soldiery
should be exasperated at the sight ; and the bishoj)
was unable to persuade him to surrender it to his
relatives.
Not many months were permitted to elapse after
the death of Gratian before an attempt was made to
induce his brother to reverse the decision respecting
the altar of victory in the Senate-house. Ambrose
wTote at once most strongly to the emperor, entreat-
ing him not to think of doing such an indignity to
the memory- of his father and brother, and to God. The
matter was formally brought fonvard in a document pre-
sented by Symmachus, the Prefect of Rome, to Valen-
tinian, Theodosius, and his son Arcadius, who had
been already associated with his father in the Eastern
empire. It sounds strangely, this last dying groan of
imperial heathendom ; and the very fact of its being
addressed in the first instance to Valentinian, who
was known to be under his mother's influence, leads
us to surmise that the antagonism between the half-
Christianity of the Arians and the refined paganism
of Julian was felt to be far from hopeless. That
Jesus must be all, or is nothing, is a truth which we
read in almost every page of the Church's histor\-.
as it may be recognized in almost every moment of
our spiritual life. Symmachus pleads, with a show of
reason, that Valentinian I., a fervent Christian, left
the old arrangement untouched, and that Valentinian
1 1, might fairly follow his example. But even an
46 ST. AMBROSE.
Arian would scarcely be moved by his argument that
the famine which had lately visited Italy was a
punishment for the sacrilege of disendowing the
vestal virgins. The paper was forwarded to Am-
brose, who sent a crushing rejoinder. He addressed
himself to Valentinian only, who was still unbaptized,
and under Arian teaching ; he was quite sure of
Theodosius, the spiritual child of his saintly friend
Ascholius. Symmachus had written much concerning
the protection afforded to Rome by her tutelary gods,
the dignity and purity of her priests and virgins.
Ambrose shows that the old gods of Rome more
often than not failed to defend their worshippers ;
contrasts the Christian priests and virgins with the
vestals and sacrificuli of the pagan system ; reminds
the emperor that the famine in south Italy could
scarcely be considered a proof of Divine wrath, since
in the same year north Italy had a fair harvest,
Rhaetia, Pannonia, and Gaul one considerably above
the average ; and ends with an aj'gimie?ihif?i ad vere-
cundiam, which retorts a similar argument used by
Symmachus : " If those Christian emperors are com-
mended who refrained from altering the arrangements
of their pagan predecessors, much more will you be
commendable if you decline to reverse the decision
of your Christian predecessor." It need scarcely be
said that the plaint of the pagan party was uttered in
vain.
The calling forth of Ambrose's address to the
emperor was not the only advantage done by Sym-
machus to the Church unwittingly. In this same
year (384) the Milanese being in want of a public
AUGUSTINE. 47
teacher of rhetoric, ai)plied to Rome, with a request
•that one might be sent them. The Prefect selected a
man of some thirty years of age, an African by birth,
but of liigh abihties, who had been teaching in Rome
with great success. He was not exactly a pagan, but
he was a Manichcean, which was, in the Prefect's view,
nearly as good. He gladly accejited the appointment,
the more so as he hoi)ed to make the acquaintance of
Ambrose, whose rhetorical i)owers — though the pos-
sessor himself made' light of them — had a wide repu-
tation. His name was Aurelius Augustinus. The
providence of God has brought it about, through his
meeting with Ambrose, that he is known to us as Saint
Augustine. The bishop received his visitor courteously,
and seems to have fascinated him at once. Far supe-
rior to Faustus, the great Manichxan preacher, he
supplied the doubter with what he had been yearning
after. While the philosopher had nothing but a vain
and unsatisfying deceit to ofter to that hungering
soul, the man of God strengthened and refreshed it
with the truth as it is in Jesus. " Read Isaiah, the
evangelical jjrophet," was his advice to the neophyte ;
" study his words carefully, but remember that the
letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. The things of God
must be spiritually discerned."
Soon Ambrose was visited by the mother of his
Manichaean scholar, the saintly Monica. She was
now to see the son of so many tears (as a worthy
bishoj) many years before had termed him) brought
into the true fold, persuaded of the true faith, lighted
by the true light. The well-known talc of Augustine's
wonderful conversion belongs to his life rather than
48 ST. AMBROSE.
to that of Ambrose. It was not till two years later,
the Easter of 387, that the wanderer was finally
received into the Church; and we read with enhanced
interest the instruction which Ambrose is then be-
lieved to have delivered for the benefit of the cate-
chumens, and especially the exposition of the doctrine
of the two sacraments, which is preserved for us under
the title "Of the Mysteries."
ENMITY OF JUSTINA. 49
CHAPTER IX.
CONFLICT WITH THE ARIANS.
A.I). 385-3S6.
Meanwhile Justina, who had by this time forgotten,
ur learnt to undervalue, the loyal services of Ambrose
when Maximus was threatening captivity and ruin,
began again to display openly her enmity to him and
his faith. She demanded that one of the churches in
Milan should be surrendered for the use of the Arians.
To grant this would have been not to make a charit-
able concession to the weakness of well-meaning and
ignorant brethren, but to give up the authority of the
great Council of Niccea, and of that second Council
at Constantinople which had reaffirmed its decisions.
It would have been to allow by implication that the
l)oint at issue between Arius and Athanasius was of
trifling importance, and not of the essence of Christ-
ianity. To yield up to the teachers of a half-Chris-
tian half-philosophical religionism the buildings so
lately won for the preachers of Evangelical truth
would have been not a laudable charity, but a culpa-
ble indiscretion, if not a surrender of a sacred trust.
Valcntinian's neglect to remove a heathen altar from
the Senate-house had been construed into a tacit
admission of the possible truth of the old religion of
5© ST. AMBROSE.
the land ; what inferences would be drawn from a con-
cession such as Justina required ? Ambrose felt, and
all the Catholics felt with him, that the demand must
be resisted to the death.
The greater part of what we know of the ensuing
events we learn from a letter of Ambrose to his sister
Marcellina.
It was now the fifth week in Lent, 385, and it seems
to have been the object of the empress to make
Easter a day of triumph over the Catholics. A
definite demand was made on her part, in the name
of her son the emperor, for the Portian basilica, or
church, outside the city walls (now called by the name
of St. Victor). Subsequently the " new " church,
within the walls, a larger and more convenient struc-
ture (now known as St. Nazaro Maggiore), was asked
for, though this latter claim does not seem to have been
pressed. The demand was made by officers of state,
purporting to act for the emperor; but Ambrose replied
that God's priest could not surrender God's temple.
On Palm Sunday the bishop had completed the
earlier duties in the " old " church, and was proceed-
ing with the Communion service, when news was
brought that the Portian church had been seized, and
that the state curtains, surrounding the place of honour
occupied by the imperial family, had been placed
there as a sign of its being in the possession of
Justina ; that the people were flocking to the place,
and had laid hold of Castulus, an Arian presbyter, to
whom they were not unUkely to do violence. Much
shocked at this, he interrupted the sacred office by
sending some clergy to rescue the man, and by a
ARIAN CLAIMS. 5 1
private prayer that no blood — save his own, if that
were needful — might be shed.
Severe punishments, both by way of fine and im-
prisonment, were inflicted on a number of wealthy
tradesmen who had taken part in the tumult, or were
accused of so doing. They all professed themselves
ready to suffer twice as much for their Church. The
l)eople about the court were enjoined not to appear
in public, and such threats were used that a terrible
persecution seemed near at hand. Again Ambrose
was asked to surrender the church : again he refused.
" It is not mine to give — all that is mine belongs to
the poor. It is not the emperor's, for it belongs to
God."
Troops were sent under arms to occupy the church;
and it seems as if from the first the fidelity of the
orthodox soldiers to their heretical mistress was more
than suspected, since a contingent of Goths, who
were Arians, formed i)art of the detachment. Am-
brose passed the whole of one day, apparently Tues-
day in Holy Week, in the church, dreading lest blood
should be shed, so strong was the feeling of the
people. At night he went home to rest, but returned
to his post on the Wednesday before sunrise. He
found the church surrounded with soldiers, but their
behaviour was quiet, and many of them made no
secret of their attachment to him and the Catholic
cause. The service of the day had commenced, when
he learnt that another church, the " new basilica," was
filled with people, who implored him to come to
them. He remained, however, where he was, and
preached. The lessons of the day were from the
52 ST. AMBROSE.
Book of Job, and he took occasion to speak of the
Christian virtues of faith and patience, commending
the people for their gentleness, so like that of Job,
and their faithful reply to the imperial menaces and
censures: "We do not fight, your Majesty, and we do
not fear, we only make our prayer." Then he showed
how the trials that beset Job had been permitted to
come upon him their pastor; the tempter had en-
deavoured to rob him of his spiritual heritage and his
spiritual children. Last of all, in the spirit of that
famous sermon which John Chrysostom preached
some eighteen years later against an empress, he in-
veighed against Justina in a way which scarcely com-
mends itself to our taste. " All the worst trials that
have assailed God's people have come through
women. Job's wife tempted him, saying, ' Curse God
and die,' and a woman now bids me, * Give up the
altar of God.' So Eve led Adam astray, Jezebel per-
secuted Elijah, and Herodias compassed the death of
John the Baptist." As the sermon proceeded, it was
announced to him (though, as it turned out, without
foundation) that the imperial curtains had been
removed from the Portian church, a token of yield-
ing on the part of his opponents. " How wonderful,"
he burst out, " are the dealings of God ! We have
this day sung in the Psalms ' O God, the heathen are
come into Thine inheritance.' Heathen and Goths,
and men of many a tribe and race, have come into
Thine inheritance, and seized on Thy temple. But
many of them have remained there : many of those
who came to invade the inheritance have been made
with us the heirs of God; 'there brake He the arrows
DEFENCE OF THE CHURCHES. 53
of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle.' "
He was pressed to go to one of the other churches,
but he still declined ; he sent, however, some pres-
byters to the Portian church, imagining that the
emperor had withdrawn his mother's claim. But he
was disappointed to find himself shortly after taken to
task by a messenger from the palace, who taxed him
with " tyranny." '' I would not go myself to the
church," was his reply, *' but I sent my presbyters,
because I believed that the emperor had at last come
round to our side. As to priestly tyranny, all that I
am guilty of is expressed in the words, ' When I am
weak, then am I strong.' The ministers of God have
often endured, but never practised, tyranny."
That night was passed in the church, for egress
was prevented by the soldiers. Like St. Paul in
))rison, the brethren spent their time in reciting psalms
and hymns. Next morning (Maundy Thursday)
Ambrose preached on the effects of penitence, from
the book of Jonah, which was read in the lessons for
the day. He had scarcely concluded when the
welcome news came that the soldiers were withdrawn
from the churches, and the sentences j)assed a few
days before remitted. The i)eople, soldiers and
civilians alike, testified their joy in the most lively
manner. At least that Easter was to be spent in
peace, though Ambrose foresaw troubles yet to come.
One of the ushers of the court, Calligonus, sent him
an insolent message, threatening to cut off his head
for oj)posing the emperor. Ambrose's rei)ly shows
how little he cared for these and similar menaces : he
considered them, Thcodoret says, as mere bugbears
54 ST. AMBROSE.
to frighten children with : " I hope you may be able
t)0 carry out your threat. I will suffer like a bishop,
and you may act the part of an usher."
He was right in supposing that the question was
not yet settled. The apparent triumph of the ortho-
dox only incensed Justina tlie more, just as their
victory at Sirmium had done five years before. In
386 she extorted from Valentinian an edict to the
effect that the Arians should be legally recognised,
and, as a necessary consequence, be permitted to
occupy some at least of the churches; and that it
should be a capital offence to presume to oppose
them, either publicly, or by presenting petitions
against them. The prime mover in this matter, and
no doubt the chief adviser of Justina, was a man of
indifferent character and savage disposition, a Skythian
by birth, named Auxentius. He was recognised by
the Arians of Milan as their bishop, but for conve-
nience, and to avoid unpopularity with the Catholics,
had ceased to call himself Auxentius, since that name
brought with it the recollection of the Arian predecessor
of Ambrose, and adopted the name Mercurinus. The
usual instructions for drawing out the edict were placed
in the hands of the chief secretary, Benevolus, who,
though not yet baptized, was an orthodox catechumen.
He expressed unwillingness to prepare such a docu-
ment, and was forthwith deprived of his office, and
compelled to retire from Milan to Brescia, while a
more accommodating minister was put into his place.
The empress and her adviser also induced the
young emperor to send Dalmatius, one of his officers,
to Ambrose, desiring him either to quit the city, or
DISPUTE WITH AUXENTIUS. 55
consent to meet Auxentius and dispute with him in
the imperial consistory before a certain number of
arbitrators or jurymen (judices) to be chosen by the
two disputants. He declined to accept either alter-
native, and on being termed " contumacious " by
Dalmatius, addressed a respectful, but firm and dig-
nified, remonstrance to the emperor himself. " It
was distinctly laid down as a principle," he said, " by
your august father, Valentinian I., that in matters of
faith and ecclesiastical order, priests should be tried
by priests. Are the laity to assume the right of
judging bishops? Will your Clemency take upon
yourself to do what your father deliberately asserted
to be beyond his authority when he said, * It is not
mine to judge between bishops'?" And here he
reminded the emperor that, being still unbaptized, he
could hardly claim to j)ronounce sentence respecting
a faith which had not yet been fully imparted to him.
As to the disputation with Auxentius, whom he him-
self did not recognise as a bishop, he respectfully
refused to hold any ; first, because he had no confi-
dence in the persons whom he proposed to appoint
as his arbitrators — the emperor had excused himself
from giving their names ; they might be — indeed there
was every reason to believe that some of them really
were — heathens or Jews : next, because the people,
as far as they were concerned, had already decided
the matter when they chose him (Ambrose) to be
their bishop : and thirdly, because such a dispute
would in effect be inconsistent with the new law,
which forbad any opposition being offered to the
Arians. If Auxentius chose to appeal to a synod, he
56 ST. AMBROSE.
would be there in his place as Bishop of Milan, but
he did not feel it consistent with the dignity of his
sacred office to appear before the emperor's consis-
tory ; he had once, indeed, appeared before such a
tribunal, but that was as an envoy on the emperor's
behalf (it was when he went to treat with Maximus) ;
he could not consent to undergo a trial before him.
And he was determined not to leave the city. In
past time he was always to be found, and could easily
have been dismissed ; to retire now would be in
effect to abandon his flock, and to surrender his
charge. " Could I be sure that my church would
not be handed over to the Arians, I would gladly
place myself at the disposal of your Piety ; but if I
alone am in your way, how is it that not my church
only, but all others, are threatened with aggression ?"
Such was the spirited reply which Valentinian, or
rather Justina, received to the demand conveyed to
the intrepid bishop. Meanwhile, precautions had
been taken by the Catholics to prevent the occupa-
tion of any of the sacred buildings by the Arians
without the employment of force. By the direction
of their pastors the people assembled in the churches,
and remained in them all day and all night, relieving
one another, of course, in turn, and passing the time
in the recitation of psalms and the singing of hymns.
Some of the latter were from the pen of Ambrose
himself, and were objected to as "deceiving" the
people, they spoke so distinctly of the ever-blessed
Trinity in Unity. We may presume the well-known
" yEterjia Christi viunera^'' with its bold ring and its
distinct Trinitarian doctrine, to have been one of them.
ANTIPHONAL CHANTING. 57
The mode adopted in reciting the Psahiis was that
whicli we term antiphonal, or alternating from side to
side. This mode was copied from the practice of the
Eastern Church. It was the fashion among the Jews ;
we find a trace of responsory chanting in Exod. xv. 21, —
" Miriam answered them," where the original language
shows that " them " (masculine) refers to the men who
had just uttered their choral song ; and in i Sam.
xviii. 7, the women "answered" one another as they
I)layed ; and we gather from Ezra iii. 11, and Nehem.
xii. 40, that it became the settled order in the second
Temple. The Eastern Christians no doubt learnt this
mode of reciting the Psalter from the Jewish ritual,
and .Vmbrose, as prelate of a Church which seems to
have had closer connection with Greece than other
Western churches, very naturally at this conjuncture
adojited the Oriental use, which continued in after-
times to be that of the Church of Milan. The Milanese
ritual still retains some of its original peculiarities;
the general practice of antiphonal chanting has spread
from northern Italy over the whole of the West.
Ambrose not only taught his flock at this time to
chant the Psalms, but also instructed them from the
Psalter. It is most probable that his remarks on the
cxi.xth Psalm were sermons delivered during this i)eriod
of trouble.
The occupants of the churches, though not actually
imprisoned within them, were kept in some sort of
restraint by a cordon of armed men thrown round
each building ; and some alarm having been caused
by a rumour or a fancy that these guards were likely
to proceed to violence, and still more by the report
£
58 ST. AMBROSE.
that their bishop was about to comply with the
Imperial request, and leave the city (an attempt to
arrest him they had already defeated by a demonstra-
tion of force), Ambrose took occasion at once to
calm their anxiety and to exhort them to firmness
by a sermon which he addressed to them on a day,
probably Palm-Sunday, when one of the New Testa-
ment lessons told of our Lord's entry into Jerusalem,
and one of those from the Old Testament was the
very appropriate passage containing the account of
Ahab's dealing with Naboth of Jezreel. " I am not
ntending to desert you," he said : " it is my custom
to show all due deference to a secular emperor, but,
in such a case as the present, not to surrender. I
fear neither threats nor sufferings ; they are but temp-
tations from the Evil One; and the Lord, who
' hath need ' of us, as He had of the creature we
have just read of in the lesson, will help us not to
give way. Remember how Elisha's servant, when his
eyes were opened, saw the troops of angels round
himself and his master; remember how the angel
was sent to St. Peter in the prison. But our lot may
be to suffer." And here the preacher adds that
apocryphal story of St. Peter's last hours at Rome, so
familiar to us from the striking picture of Caracci.
" After his triumph over Simon Magus, Peter excited
the jealousy of the heathen by his preaching, and
was entreated by the Christians to withdraw from the
city for a time, lest he should be seized and taken
from them. He left Rome accordingly by night.
Scarcely had he emerged from the city gate when he
saw the Lord coming to meet him. Astonished, he
DEFENCE OF THE CHURCHES. 59
asked, as he had once asked before, ' Lord, whither
goest Thou ? ' (Domtne^ quo vadis 1) ' I am coming,'
said the Divine Master, ' to be crucified again.' Peter
knew that Christ could not suffer again, for 'in that
He died, He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth.
He liveth unto God.' He felt that the second cruci-
fixion must be not in His Own Person, but in the person
of His ser\'ant, and forthwith returned to Rome, to
glorify the Lord Jesus by his own death on the cross.
So too, it may be, the Lord requires us to suffer with
Him. Come what may, our answer to the demand
of Auxentius will be that of Naboth in our lesson
to-day, ' The Lord forbid it me that I should give
the inheritance of my fathers unto thee,' the inheri-
tance of Dionysius, Eustorgius, Myrocles, and all
the confessors and martyrs who have preceded me here.
How well, too, the other lesson of to-day suits us in
our present condition ! The Jews, we read, would
have bid the Lord silence the children who were
uttering His praises ; and He would not, but went on,
and cast the worldly out of the House of God. So
when we utter the praises of Christ, our heretical
opponents are wroth, and threaten us with pains and
death : worse than the Gadarenes who could not bear
the presence of Christ, these men arc furious even
against His praises. But Auxentius and his crew,
who would drive out the faithful with the sword, shall
feel, not the sword indeed, but the scourge of the
Lord. You, brethren, know the truth that Christ is
God, and will maintain it against the vile synod of
Ariminum that pronounced Him a creature, and
against the Arians, who are for rendering unto Cxsar
L 2
6o ST. AMBROSE.
not the tribute due to him, which we are ready to pay
to the full, but the houses of God. A faithful emperor
is a son of the Church, but he is not lord over her."
With such unshaken firmness on the part of bishop
and people, it is not surprising that the Imperial party
perceived themselves to be in a weak minority, and
gave way. The Catholics, too, met with support
from an unexpected and influential quarter, such as
we may imagine they did not care for, and in a form
they would be disposed to deprecate. But it probably
had a great effect, nevertheless. The emperor Maxi-
mus, the usurping emperor, if that term may be
employed where there is no constitution and no rule
of succession, intimated to Valentinian his strong
disapproval of the measures taken against Ambrose,
and the manner in which he was being treated, recom-
mending the emperor to follow the example and
abide by the faith of his father; and hinted that
unless matters in this respect were altered for the
better, he himself might find it necessary to march
upon Milan. As we might expect, the persecution
of the orthodox, and of Ambrose in particular, came
to a sudden termination. The action of Maximus
was not entirely disinterested ; he wanted a cause of
complaint and a pretext for war, and was guided by
motives of policy quite as much as by a keen sense
of justice ; but one conceives a certain respect for
him, not merely as ha\'ing been (whether sincerely or
not) a champion of the true faith, but as having been
able to see the greatness of Ambrose's character, and
as having had the magnanimity to espouse the cause
of one who had so freely pleaded with him and so
dauntlessly withstood him.
\ NF.W HASIMCA. 6 1
CHAPTER X.
CHURCH-BUILDIXG. — MAXIMUS AND JUSTINA.
A.D. 386-387.
The reverence with which Ambrose was regarded was
soon after enhanced by a circumstance which was
considered at the time as a proof of Divine favour, —
the discovery of the bodies of the martjTS Gervasius
and Protasius. He had been requested to consecrate
a new church in the same manner as one which he
had not long before solemnly dedicated — the "Roman
basilica," as it was called, from being situated near
the Roman gate of Milan. " To do this," he said,
" I must find the remains of mart>Ts '' ; for the pre-
vailing custom then was to build churches, if possible,
over the tombs of those who had died for the faith, or
else, when they were built, to hallow them by placing
some martyr's earthly frame to rest within them.
Search had to be made, nor did it seem likely to be
rewarded, for Mediolanum had not been fruitful in
mart)Ts. The bishop was led to desire an excavation
to be made in front of the chancel of the church of
SS. Felix and Nabor, otherwise called St. Philip's. It
is still in existence, though not used as a place of
worship. There were found the remains of two
tall men, the skeletons quite complete, surrounded
by a quantity of blood. A corrupt practice had arisen,
62 ST. AMBROSE.
which later ages have only too faithfully copied, of break-
ing up such relics into fragments, carrying them about,
and disposing of them for money; and a law against
so doing was enacted by Theodosius in this very year.
These bodies were not so treated : they were carefully
embalmed and preserved entire, and were conveyed
for the night to the church of Fausta (now the chapel
of St. Satyrus). There they were watched, and the
next day transferred to the new church, close at hand,
which was called by the name of Ambrose himself.
As they passed, a blind man received his sight.
Such is the account given by Ambrose in a letter to
his sister Marcellina. The main points are repeated
by St. Augustine, who adds what Ambrose himself
stated in two sermons, of which he gives his sister a
sketch, that many cures were effected and many evil
spirits cast out by the instrumentality of the holy
martyrs.
The bodies were identified as those of Gervasius
and Protasius, two Milanese, who had suffered three
centuries before, in the time of Nero or Domitian.
Their place of burial had been forgotten, till the dis-
covery of their remains brought it to the recollection
of some old people, who remembered having heard
their names and read the inscription on their tomb.
The Arian party denied the bodies to be those of
martyrs at all, and derided the idea of miraculous
cures, accusing the bishop of having hired men to
personate demoniacs and to feign themselves to have
been healed of diseases. Ambrose, however, writes
apparently with the most perfect sincerity and good
faith; Augustine and Paulinus evidently believed most
RELICS. 63
implicitly in the truth of the whole story. The latter
is no doubt a credulous writer : the life, or rather the
memoir, of Ambrose, which we have under his name,
contains a number of mar\'els, which are due to a
loving but decidedly uncritical imagination. In this
case, however, he expresses himself as if from personal
knowledge. The man who received his sight was
named, he tells us, Severus, and was often seen by
him in later times as a constant worshipper in the
Ambrosian church. He says he was cured on touch-
ing the dress of the martyrs. Augustine, who writes
as an eyewitness, tells us that the man was well
known to all the citizens, and that he recovered his
sight on applying to his eyes a handkerchief with which
he had been permitted to touch the bier on which the
holy relics lay.
The affectionate interest with which the early
Church regarded the earthly remains of holy men,
and especially of martyrs, is scarcely intelligible to us :
we identify it with the thick crust of error which has
grown up in the Roman Church around the doctrine
of the communion of saints and the state of the
departed. We shrink from a history which, thanks to
papal perversion of the truth, seems to introduce us
to a superstitious, if not idolatrous, veneration of a
decaying creature. But what seems idolatry and
superstition in the nineteenth century, after the false
teachings of the thirteenth and the reaction of the
sixteenth, was not necessarily such in the fourth, any
more than the free expressions of an Ante-Nicene
writer about the Son of God prove bim to have held
the doctrine of Arius.
64 ST. AMBROSE.
We are, moreover, naturally reluctant to give cre-
dence to accounts of post-apostolic miracles. They
are not needed by us, says St. Chrysostom, nor ought
we to be grieved that we do not see them : they were
given for those that did not believe. So we habitually
reject each story as a whole, instead of criticising the
alleged miracle as such. In this case so distinct are
the expressions of Ambrose and his disciples, that we
cannot imagine them to have been simply mistaken, still
less to have been deceived by a series of cleverly-
arranged tricks; and we are forced either to admit that
things did happen much as they describe, or else to
believe, with the Arians and Gibbon, that the great
bishop of Milan was guilty of an impious fraud ; that
he not only wrote to his sister, but also in solemn
words, and in the name of his Master, asseverated, in
a consecrated place, and before a company of Chris-
tians, what he and many of them knew to be an abso-
lute falsehood ; and that he either deceived those
whom he taught, or persuaded them to conspire with
him in bearing testimony to the lie which he had
devised. Whether we consider the occurrence to
have been really miraculous or not, is quite another
question. Without pronouncing decisively for or
against the credibility of miracles later than a.d. igo,
we may at least suggest that we have here the account
of some exceptional phenomena, unscientifically given.
Those who think it more likely that a Christian bishop
should, with the connivance and approbation of other
Christians, invent, solemnly assert, and propagate, a
wicked untruth, than that cures apparently miraculous
should have been wrought as described, will of course
KAPTISM OF AUGUSTINK. 65
reject the whole tale ; while those who admire the
straightforward honesty of Augustine's treatise Dc
Mendacio will be disposed to think that he at least
believed, and felt assured that the teacher whom he
so revered believed also, what they have both recorded :
and that they, and Christian peoi)le generally, did
actually look upon what happened as a testimony
from above in favour of the martyrs, and, infcrcntially,
in favour of the Catholic doctrine.
The Paschal tide both of 385 and 386 had been a
time of alarm and disquiet for Ambrose. That of the
next year^ (3S7) was marked by a very different
event — the baptism of his spiritual scholar Augustine,
with his son Adeodatus, and his friend Alypius.
Tradition, which has been over-busy with the lives of
the saints, converting legend into history till history
is mistaken for legend, has introduced here a story
we could well wish it were possible to believe — that
the glorious " Te Deum" was composed by bishop
and neophyte in a burst of ecstasy immediately after
the performance of the sacred rite, and chanted
alternately by them as they returned from the bap-
tistery to their i)laces in the church. But it cannot
have been. It is interesting that Augustine mentions
the effect produced on him by the church music
which Ambrose had introduced the year before ; and
there is very little doubt, also, that it is to the period
of preparation of the catechumens of this year that
we must refer, besides other treatises, the short but
' There is some doubt whether this date be the correct one ;
but the chronology which fixes the event to lliis year in pre-
ference to 386 or 388 (I'.aronius) seems the most consistent.
66 ST. AMBROSE.
weighty exposition of the doctrine of the two sacra-
ments which we know by the title ''On the Mysteries."
It was not long after this that Ambrose was once
more called upon to appear in the character of a
statesman. Maximus, who had for the past three
years been observing with tolerable fidelity the com-
pact made with the Emperors Theodosius and Valen-
tinian after Gratian's death, repeated the intimation,
which he had not long before given under the pretext
of espousing the cause of Ambrose and orthodoxy, of
an intention to enter Italy and take the government
of the West into his own hands. Ambrose was des-
patched, as he had been in 383, to endeavour to
prevent the invasion. He expected a private au-
dience, as a mark of respect at once to his imperial
master's rank and his own episcopal dignity. This
being refused him, he declined to accept the saluta-
tion offered him by the would-be emperor, complain-
ing of the discourtesy which had compelled him to
transact his business in the public consistory. Maxi-
mus, in his turn, complained bitterly of him as having, in
conjunction with Bauto (a Frank general in the Roman
service, who had been consul in 385, and whose
daughter was the well-known Eudoxia, wifeof Arcadius,
and persecutor of St. Chrysostom), deceived him,
and prevented his pushing his first success. Ambrose
calmly pointed out that this charge was futile ; that
he had been guilty of no deception, and that all he,
and Bauto too, had done, was loyally to defend the
interests of the youthful emperor who had been
entrusted to their guardianship. He also renewed
his petition for the delivery of the body of Gratian ;
MAXIMUS ADVAXCKS ON MILAN. 67
and finally made an emphatic protest against the
cruel treatment of the Priscillianists, refusing to hold
communion with Ithacius, Idacius, and the other
bishops who had procured the capital punishment of
Priscillian. Though he had grievously erred from
the faith, his error did not justify the torture and
death of himself and his misguided followers.
The diplomacy of Ambrose was this time un-
successful. Abruptly dismissed, he forthwith quitted
Treves, where the interview had taken place, and
returned to Milan, where he warned the young
emperor not to trust the usurper, but to exercise the
utmost circumspection in dealing with him. Valen-
tinian, however, thought that another might succeed
where the bishop had failed, and sent a second
embassy in the person of Domninus, a man of Syrian
extraction and one of his officers. This man was,
with flattery and presents, easily cajoled by Maximus,
who persuaded him that he (Maximus) was likely to
prove a good friend to the emperor, and actually in-
duced him to take some troops back with him, under
pretence of giving aid against a barbarian raid on Pan
nonia. The envoy, instead of checking, really facilitated
the passage of the Alps ; and so completely had the
plans of the invader been organized, that an army
followed hard upon his footsteps, and appeared un-
expectedly before the w\alls of Milan.
Justina had obstinacy enough to defend a heresy
and to persecute an orthodox prelate, but not suffi-
cient nerve or courage to confront an invader and
fight for an empire. On the appearance of the army
from Gaul, she and Valentinian withdrew to Aquileia.
68 ST. AMBROSE.
Even this retreat did not seem secure. Embarking
at one of the ports of Istria, they sailed through the
Adriatic, and rounding the shores of Greece, uhi-
mately reached Thessalonica, one of the principal
seaports of the Eastern Empire. The flight of the
emperor and his mother seemed to absolve his
subjects from their allegiance, and at all events put
an end to that personal bond of union between
governor and governed which is so powerful in pre-
serving an hereditary monarchy, and so indispensable
to an elective empire. The Westerns submitted to
Maximus without a struggle. But a terrible time
followed. Piacenza, Modena, Bologna, and not a
few other towns and cities were taken, spoiled, and
partly overthrown, and many of their inhabitants
made captive. Ever active in doing good, Ambrose
exerted himself to procure means of ransom for these
miserable sufferers, and even went so far as to break
up and sell the sacred vessels of the churches to
procure the necessary funds. This proceeding was
made the ground of strong objection to him by the
Arian party, but defended by his friends, and notably
by Augustine.
Maximus, meanwhile, endeavoured to get the
Bishop of Rome on his side, and accordingly wrote
Siricius, who had succeeded Damasus in 384, a letter,
in which he professed the utmost respect for him and
his clergy and a deep attachment to the Catholic
faith. But that prelate was as wise as Ambrose, and
possibly had had the benefit of his counsel. Maxi-
mus did not gain him as an adherent ; and a decree
was shortly afterwards issued restoring the idols which
DEATH OF JUSTINA. 69
had been removed by the late emperor : the invader,
having failed to secure the Catholics, made a bid
for the heathen.
The capture of Milan was the last event of magni-
tude in the life of Justina. Worn out by the fatigues
of her flight, or broken down by disappointment and
shame, or overcome by exasperation at knowing that
Ambrose had escaped her, and was thenceforth to be
a power in Milan, she breathed her last in the middle
of the next year (388) ; whether in exile or not is un-
certain, but i)robably in her own home. Ambrose
was freed from an implacable foe, the Church from a
powerful protector of heresy, and the evil genius of
her son and of the Western Empire was no more.
70 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XL
THEODOSirS.
A.D. 388.
There could be no doubt of the policy which it behoved
Theodosius to adopt The weakness and confusion in
which he found his empire in 379, and from which it
had not recovered in 3 83, rendered it then expedient for
him to temporize : the strength and order to which
he had now brought his dominions made it not only
possible but necessarj- for him to offer a vigorous and
decided resistance to the invader of the West The
same ambition which had led Maximus to move from
Treves to Milan, would, if he were not checked and
forced to retire, lead him in a few years to push on
still further in the same direction : and it would be
better to forestall" such a movement, and to remove
the possibilit}^, rather than have to combat the
actuality, of an eastern invasion. Moreover it was
an admirable opportunity for satisf}-ing the warlike
longings of those barbarian subjects of the Empire
who had come from the north of the Danube, and
though settled, and as yet tolerably tranquil, were still
but half-tamed To employ their energies in a way
congenial to their tastes, and at the same time to
lessen their number, was both a safe and a politic
POLICY OK THEODOSIUS. 7 1
measure. And honour and justice led in the same
direction. The son of that Valcntinian to whom he
owed his early advancement, the brother of that
Gratian who conferred on him the Imperial dignity, was
now a fugitive and a suj)pliant within his dominions.
Could he with honour refuse him the counsel and aid
he sought, and stand by and see him dethroned
without a single word or blow in his favour ?
If we could find that Ambrose at this period had
paid a visit to the East, or had written to Theodosius,
we might well imagine that the voice which had t^vice
pleaded for Valentinian with the usurper had not been
silent before a duly-recognised emperor, and that the
Bishop of Milan had urged on the ruler of the East
the imperative duty of defending, and the shameful-
ness of deserting, his youthful colleague. Ambrose,
however, though he appears to have quitted Milan,
and found himself secure in that Aquileia which was
not a sufficiently safe refuge for the flying empress
and her son, does not seem to have gone any farther
eastward. His retirement was necessary, owing to the
confusion and tumult inseparable from the occupation
of a city by troops, even though they were received as
friends by the populace, who rather acquiesced in than
desired their presence. The bishop himself had in
fact nothing to fear, even had he been a man who
feared anything : for Maximus was on the side of the
orthodox, and, as we have seen, though passionate
and ambitious, was powerfully impressed in his favour.
Some men under such circumstances might have been
induced to take the part of one who was at least a
d€f(uto sovereign and a probable friend. But Ambrose
72 ST. AMBROSE.
had tact enough, as a statesman, to see that his was
not the winning side : and still more, as a Christian,
could not, whatever he might gain by it, entertain the
idea of deserting the cause of one who seemed to
have been confided to his care.
To the pohcy and the sense of honour, each of
which by itself would have been sufficient to determine
Theodosius in his line of action, a third motive was
subsequently added. He was a widower : his beloved
and saintly wife, Flaccilla (or Placilla, or Placida,
for we meet with all three forms of the name) had
died in 385, about a year after giving birth to his
second son, Honorius. The princess Galla, one of
the three daughters of Justina, made an impression
on him, which, mainly through the adroitness of her
scheming mother, resulted in her becoming his second
wife : and so to the other claims which Valentinian
had upon him was superadded that of a brother-in-law.
The envoys whom Maximus had sent to treat with
him were dismissed with an indecisive answer, for he
was not the man to throw away an opportunity by
premature disclosures. He made ready secretly, as
Maximus himself had done, and when all was ripe for
action marched suddenly upon the invader, stimulated
and assured of success by an Egyptian ascetic named
John, in whom he had great confidence. He took
the road to Milan : but all was decided before he
reached that city. The troops of Maximus encoun-
tered him (August 27) in Pannonia, at Sissek, on the
banks of the Save, and again at Pettau, on the Drave,
and were almost annihilated : their master fled to
Aquileia, while the wretched assassin Andragathias,
DEAIH OF MAXIMUS. 73
who was now commander of the fleet, and had hoped
to become the favoured and confidential minister ot"
a powerful potentate, flung himself despairing into the
river. The people, who had so readily given uj)
A'alenlinian for Maximus, were just as ready to sur-
render their new lord ; and Ambrose, the loyal friend
of the two emperors, was (probably) there, and, we
may be sure, did not jilead the cause of the vanquished
leader, who found himself compelled to fly, and fell
into the hands of the conqueror. He begged to be
allowed to live and become his lieutenant or depen-
dent : and for a while Theodosius seemed inclined
to spare, if not to employ him : but the remembrance
of Gratian was enough to extinguish any lingering
disposition to mercy, and Maximus was surrendered
to the soldiery, who lost no time in putting him to
death. That his followers were treated with the
utmost clemency was due mainly to the entreaties of
Ambrose. The victor with his army entered Milan
in triumj^h, where he passed the winter, and employed
himself in restoring order to the recovered dominions
of his youthful brother-in-law and colleague ; one of
his first measures being to rescind the order for the
restoration of idols.
He soon found himself brought into collision with
the bishoj), who had now returned to his own city,
and was as bold and determined in maintaining what
he conceived to be the interests of the Church against
an orthodox and victorious emperor, as he had been
when contending for the rights of the orthodox with
an heretical and weak-minded emi)ress. In this par-
ticular instance, while we admire his frankness, we
I
74 ST. AMBROSE.
cannot but feel that, according to the rules of justice
and charity, right was with the instincts of the em-
peror, whom he opposed and finally over-persuaded.
The Christians in a small town called Fort Cal-
linicus, at no great distance from Aquileia, had, pro-
bably during the time of anarchy which must have
succeeded the flight of Valentinian, in an outburst of
fanaticism burnt a Jewish synagogue which had been
erected in the town ; and about the same time cer-
tain monks in the same place had destroyed a chapel
belonging to the Gnostic sect known by the name of
Valentinians. The injured parties appealed to the
emperor Theodosius, who forthwith ordered that' the
bishop of the town where the outrage had taken place,
who was charged with having instigated it, should see
that the synagogue was properly rebuilt ; and added
that the monks should be punished for what they had
done in the matter of the chapel. With our tolerant
habits and different modes of thought, we can
scarcely understand the commission of the offence,
but, supposing it committed, are inclined to consider
the Imperial decree to have been most equitable, if
not too lenient to the offenders. We can agree with
Ambrose in his refusal to surrender churches to the
.Ajians ; we cannot understand his taking the part of
the rioters of Fort Callinicus. We should applaud a
prelate who declined to allow a church in his diocese
to be given up for Unitarian worship ; but we can
hardly imagine the bishop of a country city — say Ely
or Bangor — recommending the forcible demolition of
a synagogue or a Mormonite meeting-house ; or, sup-
posing for a moment his lordship to have been so in-
REFUSAL lO KKPI.ACF. A SVNACOGUK. 75
conceivably and ridiculously intolerant as to i)rocurc
such a breach of the peace, we should scarcely expect
the archbishop of his province to denounce the
natural proposal that he should replace the ruined
edifice. But things were difterent fifteen centuries ago,
and in Italy. Ambrose endeavoured to obtain a
modification of the emperor's order, and finding his
])roceedings of no avail, addressed a letter of remon-
strance to him. It begins with an apology for doing
what he felt to be his duty in expostulating, and a not
undeserved commendation of the fairness and kind-
ness of Theodosius. The writer then goes on to ex-
press his entire approval of the action of the bishoj),
and to avow himself ready to take on himself the
resix)nsibility of the deed, in temis which almost make
it seem as if he had really had some share in it. To
make a Christian bishop, he argues, replace a building
in which Christ is denied, or to punish people for de-
stroying a virtually heathen conventicle, where the
thirty-two sons of the system of Valentinus are
adored, would be to play the part of a second Julian,
and to let Jews triumph over God's Church ; the
synagogue so built might bear the inscription, "Temple
of Impiety, erected out of the spoils of Christians."'
To the argument that setting a house on fire must be
always punishable, whatever the character of the
house, he dexterously opposes the fact, that not only
had no notice been taken of the burning in past years
of the houses of several of the prefects at Rome, but
that a short time before, when the house of Nectarius,
bishop of Constantinople, had been burnt in an Arian
riot, Theodosius had been induced by his son Arcadius
F 2
76 ST. AMBROSE.
to overlook what had happened. Finally, he addsv
alluding skilfully to the late victory gained by the
person he is addressing, the majority of Christians at
Rome had prophesied the fall of Maximus because
he had published an edict in favour of the Jews under
somewhat similar circumstances after the burning of
a synagogue at Rome.
The letter is remarkable, as showing the feelings
then entertained towards the ancient people of God.
To the contempt and aversion felt for them by the
Italians, apart from all religious considerations, — a
sentiment of which we find abundant proof, for in-
stance, in the Satires of Juvenal, to mention no other
writer, — there was added the utter detestation and
loathing which every Christian thought it his duty to
entertain and express, as though each unfortunate
Israelite were personally chargeable with and respon-
sible for the murder of the Prince of Peace; that
scorn and hatred which in later times marked out the
Jewry and the Ghetto, and produced and won belief
for the story of Hugh of Lincoln, and such-like tales
of horror and profanation. It is strange to us to find
such sentiments not only held and avowed, but
gloried in, by a man like Ambrose.
Not satisfied with sending his letter, he took a still
more decisive step. A few days after, the emperor,,
as usual, attended church, and the bishop took occa-
sion to preach a sermon, of which he gives an account,
as we saw he did of some previous discourses, in a
letter to his sister. The Old Testament lesson of the
day was Numb, xvii., the account of Aaron's rod that
budded ; and the preacher deduced from it the priestly
SERMON I'RKACHKI) AT TMR F.MPF.ROR. 77
duty of rebuking and power of censure. 'I'he New
Testament lesson was from St. Luke vii., the story of
the forgiven sinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee.
"The Church,' he went on to say, "has tears to wash
the feet of Christ, and hairs to wipe them withal, oint-
ment to ])0ur on them, and kisses to imprint on them;
the synagogue, Hke the proud Pharisee, has none."
Then turning to the emperor, he reminded him how
many gifts God's providence had bestowed on him,
and bade him in return offer water and kisses and
ointment to the Body of Christ.
The drift of the sermon was palpable, and not least
so to the emperor himself. As Ambrose descended
from the i)ulpit, he exclaimed, " So, my lord bishop,
you have been preaching at me this morning !" The
bishop was about to celebrate holy communion, but
a little dialogue ensued here. Such conversational
interludes are permitted in synagogues among us at
the present day, but are considered so unseemly in
our churches, even after service is over, much more
in service time, that we read the story with some
surprise. Ambrose replied, " I have not been preach-
ing at you, but rather for your good." " ^Vell,"
replied the emperor, " my order about the rebuilding
of the synagogue by the bishop was a little too severe,
but that has been rectified. As to the monks, they
are guilty of many offences." On this Timasius, one
of the chief officers, who was standing by, began to
express himself strongly against the monks, when
Ambrose cut him short, telling him bluntly that he
\va.s talking to the emperor, not to him ; the emperor
he knew to be a God-fearin:^' man, he would deal
78 ST. AMBROSE.
with him (Timasius) very differently. One would
have thought that enough had now been said on
either side, considering the sacredness of the place
and time, and the rank of the two parties. But
Ambrose still remained standing before the emperor.
At last he said, " Give me some security with regard
to your future action in the matter, that I may be
able to make the oblation with a quiet mind." The
emperor nodded, but said nothing ; and still the
pertinacious prelate remained standing. " I will
have the rescript amended," said the emperor. But
Ambrose replied that that would not do for him ; the
whole proceedings must be quashed, so that there
might be no possibility of the Christians sustaining
any injury. The emperor promised it should be so,,
but the bishop was not satisfied till he had heard the
formula equivalent to " On my sacred word and
honour " {Age fide vied). These words were at last pro-
nounced, and Ambrose proceeded to the holy table.
This was not the only rebuff that Theodosius
received, and, to his great credit, received without
resenting, at the hands of Ambrose during the earl}'
part of his stay in Italy. He valued the man's in-
flexibility in the discharge of what he felt to be his.
duty, and saw clearly that such a faithful and intrepid
servant of his God and of his Church would be a
loyal adherent to his emperor. Fidelity to the Church
has been by some thought incompatible with loyalty
to the State, so that one's duty to God is best dis-
charged by resisting the powers ordained of Him ;
and, conversely, stanch Churchmen have been held
open to the charge of being disobedient subjects..
THE KMI'EKOR KKr.UK.Kl). 79
This was evidently not the view either of Theodosiiis
or Ambrose.
It was the custom in Constantinople that the
emi)eror, after making his offering at the holy table,
remained with the clergy in the sanctuary. On a
certain great festival (prokibly Christmas, 388^) which
occurred during his stay in Milan, Theodosius went
up and made his offering, and having done so,
remained, as he had been accustomed to do, where
he was. But the archdeacon was soon sent to desire
him to depart from the place assigned to clergy alone,
and to show him a [)ost of honour without, not within,
the holy place. " The purple," remarked the bishop,
"makes princes, but not priests." Ambrose's ad-
monition seems to have had a strong effect, for on his
return to Constantinople more than three years later,
Theodosius, being invited as usual to continue in the
sanctuary, declined to do so, adding a strong expres-
sion of approval of the conduct of the Milanese
prelate, who had taught him the diflerence between a
l>rince and a minister of the Church.
' The atTair is by some placed two years later, and at th:
time of the emperor's readmission to communion, but it more
probably occurred at this time.
8o ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XII.
THE SIN AND PENANCE OF THEODOSIUS.
A.D. 389-390.
In the early spring of the year 389 the two emperors
removed from Milan, and entered in triumph the
ancient capital of the Roman Empire. Short work
was made with those relics of heathenism which the
tolerance or weakness of preceding Christian emperors
had allowed to remain. Symmachus pleaded for the
altar of Victory; but as he had not long before written
a panegyric on Maximus, his advocacy rather damaged
his cause. Statues of gods were thrown down, the
pagan temples and chapels, said to amount to 424 in
number, were closed, the privileges of the pontifices,
flamines, and all the idolatrous hierarchy abolished,
and the offering of sacrifices forbidden : a special
commission was given to certain officers of rank to
search out and seize all instruments of idolatr)', and
to confiscate all heathen endowments for the use of
the emperor, the army, or the church. An appeal
for their restoration, supported by not a few Chris-
tians, was made to Valentinian ; but he absolutely
refused to listen to it. An edict which followed in
the next year was even more stringent in its character.
Any one offering sacrifice, or divining by entrails, was
JOVINIA.V. 8 1
declared guilty of high treason, and liable to capital
punishment ; the minor offence of using other pagan
obscrwinccs was forbidden under ])ain of forfeiture
of the building where the rite was performed, or of a
heavy fine.
While Theodosius was thus busily employed in
sweeping away all traces of religion other than that of
the Christian Church, the bishops were turning their
attention to the internal condition of the Church, and
waging war against heresy and heterodoxy, as the
€mjx.'ror was extiri)ating idolatry. Jovinian,an Italian
monk, a native either of Milan or Rome, and at one
time an inmate of a monastery maintained at Milan
by Ambrose, had broached certain opinions, which,
though we should entirely agree with some of them,
and consider others permissible, were by no means in
accordance with the general feeling of the majority of
Christians of the time. Those who contradict, with
whatever truth, the current opinions of their own day,
are often betrayed into maintaining, and still more often
accused of maintaining, some directly erroneous pro-
positions. Wiclif, and Luther, and Ridley, and Wesley,
said and wrote things that might better have been left
unsaid and unwritten ; and were charged with saying
and writing and doing much more, which in their
hearts they utterly rejected and abhorred. Jovinian
was no exception to the rule. Himself unmarried,
and of abstemious, if not ascetic, habits, he held that
celibacy and fasting were not in themselves meri-
torious, and that the married life was as holy as the
unmarried ; that all sins, as such, were ecjual in the
sight of (iod; and that all future rewards, as due
82 ST. AMBROSE.
only to the merits of Christ, would be equal also.
To these propositions he added, or was said to have
added, an indiscreet expression about the Virgin
Mary, and the doctrine that one could not sin after
baptism. For this he was styled a Manichaean, a
blasphemer, a wolf howling in the fold of Christ.
One does not see anything wolfish or blasphemous
even in his erroneous theories; and as to Manichaeism,
his depreciation of asceticism was opposed to Mani-
chaean theory, certainly ; though, according to Augus-
tine, the practice of the Manichagans of the time was
inconsistent with their principles, being extremely lax
and immoral.
Siricius, who had, as has been already mentioned,
succeeded Damasus as Bishop of Rome five years
before, held a synod of Roman clergy, which declared
Jovinian's teaching heretical, and excommunicated
him, with eight of his followers. The accused, who
had up to this time been living at Rome, then re-
moved to Milan, where their opinions had been first
published. The Bishop of Rome immediately sent
three of his presbyters with a letter addressed to the
Church of Milan, announcing the Roman decision and
sentence. The letter, it may be observed, contains
no trace whatever of any assertion of Papal authority.
The Milanese clergy soon met in synod, and repeated
the condemnation pronounced at Rome. The epistle
sent to Siricius in reply to his own, salutes him as a
brother (not as Vicar of Christ or Head of the
Universal Church), examines and answers some of
Jovinian's teachings, and announces the excommuni-
cation of their author and his adherents by an
MASSACRE AT THESSALOMCA. 8^.
unanimous vote of the Milanese synod. The (so-
called) heresy, Augustine remarks, was soon repressed,
and became extinct, never having gone beyond the
perversion of a few i)riests.
The organization of the West was a longer task
than Theodosius had calculated on. Instead of being
able to return to Constantinojjle witliin a few months
from the death of Maximus, it was more than three
years before he thought it safe — and even then he
was mistaken — to entrust the reins of government to
a mere youth like Valentinian, however promising,,
upright, and energetic. His absence from his own
dominions was far from being without its effect.
Personal rule requires that the personal presence of
the ruler should be continually felt ; his absence can
hardly be compensated even by the ablest of lieu-
tenants. The jjrotracted stay of Theodosius in Rome
and Milan was indirectly the cause of a terrible tragedy.
The peoi)le of Thessalonica, an important and
populous seaport and metropolis of the province of
Illyria, already well known to us as the refuge of
Valentinian and Justina, were on bad terms with the
magistrates of their city ; but their ill-temijer had for
a time vented itself in words rather than deeds.
Botheric, a Goth, the commander of the garrison,
had, in the early part of 390, imprisoned for a gross
offence one of the most ])opular charioteers of the
circus. The devotion of the Thessalonians to the
chariot-race was as entire as that of the i)eople of
Rome or Constantinople ; and the populace on the
dviy of the games lamented the absence of their
favourite, and clamoured fur his release. Botheric
^4 ST. AMBROSE.
was inflexible. Enraged by his stern refusal, and
already fancying themselves to have grounds for dis-
satisfaction with the ruling powers, they burst into
open rebellion, seized him and several of his officers,
murdered them brutally, and dragged their corpses
about the streets. Tidings of the riot were brought
to Milan. The Spanish blood of Theodosius was
roused at the news, and he began to threaten the
direst vengeance against the guilty city. But Am-
brose was at his side, and succeeded in calming his
excitement for the time, and obtaining from him a
promise that the affair should be calmly and judi-
cially dealt with. Unhappily, however, the bishop
"vvas required to preside at a S}Tiod which sat to
repeat formally the solemn protest which he had
already made before Maximus against the cruelty of
Ithacius, bishop of Sossuba, towards the Priscillianist
heretics. During his absence other counsellors came
to the emperor's side. They roused his fiery temper
by sensational accounts of the Thessalonian outrage,
and argued that lenity would be misplaced and dan-
gerous ; it might be construed into a confession of
-weakness, and instead of exciting admiration of his
calmness and justice, would only tend to inspire the
disloyal and excitable people of the East with the
hope of further impunity for still more grievous
offences. In an evil moment — for it was the work
of a short time — he yielded to the promptings of his
•own choleric disposition and his evil advisers, and
■sent orders that the people (assembled in the circus)
should be put to the sword.
The decree, unfairly obtained, was treacherously
MASSACRE AT THESSALONICA. 8$
executed. Not a word of the coming punislmient
was breathed in the doomed city. A fresh exliibition
of games was announced, and, in order to make the
number of victims as large as possible, the whole
l)coi)le were invited to witness it in the name of the
emperor. Absence, it was hinted, would be con-
sidered as an intentional mark of disrespect. Anxious
to stand well in his good graces after what had hap-
l)ened to incense him, the Thessalonians crowded
to the circus. Botheric's troops were ready : always
greedy of blood, they now thirsted for vengeance
also. The signal was given, and no games began^
but a promiscuous massacre. Before the sun had
set, seven thousand at least — some said more than
double the number — of all ages, sexes, stations, and
nationalities were lying silent in death ; mown down^
says Theodoret, like ears of corn at harvest-time.
A counter order eventually arrived from the emperor.
It put an end to the slaughter, but could not resusci-
tate the victims.
The dreadful news was communicated to Ambrose
in a letter from Anysius, the successor of his sainted
friend Ascholius in the bishojjric of Thessalonica. It
is a curious specimen of the rhetorical and inflated
epistolary style then in vogue. After giving Ambrose
to understand that a terrible blow had been struck
at their happiness and ijrosi)erity, the good bishop
goes on to entreat his kind offices with the emperor
in favour of the afflicted city: " for certain abandoned
and accursed men, tools of the devil, have torn her
locks and brought the baldness of reproach on
her head. She who once was beautiful and well-
56 ST. AMBROSE.
■favoured, with joyous eyes like Rachel, is now tender-
eyed, like Leah, with affliction ; she who was of good
address, is now covered with shame ; she who was
free of speech in joy, is now silent in disgrace ; she
-\vho once sheltered strangers, is now stripped bare by
strangers. And if Rachel now weeps at seeing all
her children slain, it is said to her, 'How is the
faithful city Zion become an harlot !' But she cries
aloud to you, father, from afar, like the woman of
Canaan; she falls down to you, as the woman with
the issue of blood to the Saviour, desiring to touch
the hem. of your dignity : and who can be her helper
but your HoUness? Guide the sacred ears of our
lords to pity ; exhort the pious, supplicate the com-
passionate, who under the seal of Christ have silenced
the Western thunder of tyranny, that they may have
mercy on those whom they have saved from the
barbarians, that they may rescue the vessel now
•sinking with all her crew. Let not the devil, who
raised the tumult, say, 'I have prevailed!' for even
God disregarded not a disobedient and gainsaying
people."
Ambrose was overwhelmed with horror at the
tragical tale, and confounded at the way in which
the emperor had been cajoled into violating his
promise ; his dismay was shared by the bishops who
were with him on the business of the synod. Theo-
■dosius was absent from Milan at the time when the
news came, but returned a few days after, and in due
■course of time proceeded to the church at which he
usually worshipped. He was met at the door by the
indignant prelate, who addressed him in a speech
EXCOMMUNICATION OF THEODOSIUS. 87
preserved by Theodoret, which cannot be better ex-
hibited than in the rendering of our own Hooker : —
" Emperor, it seemeth that how great the slaughter is
which thyself hast made thou weighest not ; nor, as
I think, when wrath was settled did reason ever call
to account what thou hadst committed. Notwith-
standing, know thou shouldst what our nature is,
how frail a thing and how fading ; and that the first
original from whence we have all sprung was the
ver)- dust whereunto we must slide again. Neither
is it meet that being inveigled with the show of thy
glistering robes thou shouldst forget the imbecility of
that flesh which is covered therewith. Thy subjects,
O emperor, are in nature thy colleagues ; yea, even
in ser\-ice thou art also joined as a fellow with them.
For there is one Lord and Emperor, the Maker of
this whole assembly of all things. With what eyes,
therefore, wilt thou look upon the habitation of that
common Lord ? With what feet wilt thou tread upon
that sacred floor? How wilt thou stretch forth those
hands from which the blood as yet of unrighteous
slaughter does distil? The body of our Lord all-
holy how wilt thou take into such hands? How
wilt thou put His honourable Blood unto that mouth,
the wrathful word whereof hath caused against all
order of law the pouring out of so much blood?
Dei)art, therefore, and go not about by after-deeds
to add to thy former ini(]uity. Receive that bond
wherewith from heaven the Lord of all doth give
consent that thou shouldst be tied, a bond which is
medi( inable, and procureth health."
The emperor retired, for he knew Ambrose to be
88 ST. AMBROSE.
inflexible. He either invited the bishop to meet him,
or proposed to visit him himself; but the prelate
declined, and addressed to him a letter, to the same
effect as his speech. He expresses in it his great
personal regard for him, and acknowledges his piety
and zeal, but hints in guarded words at his own dis-
appointment in finding that the emperor's natural
impetuosity had not been repressed by good counsel.
Then he denounces the Thessalonian crime, and de-
clares that penance, public penance, must be done
for it, after the example of David. Till it should be
done he could not celebrate the Eucharist in his
presence. This determination, he declares solemnly,
was forced on him in a dream, in which he saw the
emperor come to church, and found himself unable
to officiate at the holy table.
No reply was made to this letter, nor did either of
the parties move for a long time. The bishop had
spoken, and it was not for him to take the initiative,
or proffer a pardon which was not sought for. He
went on with his pastoral work and study, among
other things, holding a long conversation with two
eminent Persians, who had come to Italy on purpose
to visit and confer with him. The imperial offender
was perhaps unable to bring himself to a public con-
fession of his fault, or to comply with the terms on
which alone he could be admitted to the full privileges
of a Christian. His pride revolted at what his con-
science told him he deserved ; and so, though that
conscience was still active, he made no sign. In this
way eight months passed, while he remained still at
Milan.
INTERVIEW OF RUFINUS WITH AMIiKOSK. 89
Christmas-time now drew near, and all were pre-
])arin<; for the glad celebration of the Saviour's birth,
but the excommunicated emi)eror sat sorrowful in his
]>alace. Rufinus, the via^istcr palaiii — lord steward of
the household we might call him — ventured to ask
the cause of his grief. 'I'heodosius replied with tears,
" Vou are mocking me, Rufmus ; you do not com-
prehend the nature of my trouble. I am lamenting
my unhappy lot ; the holy Church is 0))en to slaves
and beggars, but is shut to me ; and heaven is closed
to me, for I remember the words of our Lord which
distinctly say, ' Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven.'" " Let me run," said Rufinus,
*' and i)ersuade the bishop to release you from your
bonds.' " You will not be able to do so," replied
the emperor; "I know the justice of his sentence,
and am sure that he will not violate the Divine law out
of respect for Imperial power." Rufinus, however,
eventually succeeded in obtaining leave to make trial
of the bishop. He seems to have treated the matter
all through with considerable levity, and probably did
not conceal his sentiments when he accosted him.
But he received a very different answer from what he
had expected. '' You are as impudent as a dog,
Rufinus," said the prelate. " It was you who advised
the horrible massacre, and yet you exhibit no shame ;
you neither blush nor tremble, though you have
offered such violence ta the image of God." The
lord steward, whose character Ambrose had not
untruly, though rather l)rus(|uely, described, i)erse-
vered in sjtite of this unfavourable reply, and remarked
that the emperor was coming, and would be there
90 ST. AMBROSE.
presently. " I warn you," was the answer, " that if he
does come, I shall prevent him from entering the sacred
portal. If he then chooses to convert his imperial
authority into tyranny, I shall gladly receive death at
his hand." Rufinus took a thoroughly anti-ecclesias-
tical view of the affair ; he would probably have been
happy to do for his master what some eight centuries,
later our Henry II. is said to have wished his courtiers
to do for him to an unaccommodating prelate — "rid
him of a proud priest " ; and would certainly, if he
had dared, have counselled its being done. He did
not, however, go so far as this, but simply sent a
message to Theodosius telling him of the result of his
interview with the bishop, and begging him to remain
in the palace. The message was delivered as the
emperor was either passing through or transacting
business in the Forum. Reluctant as he had felt to
submit to the direction of Am.brose, he was still less
inclined to be dictated to by his lord steward ; and
the attempt made to induce him to resist the authority
of the spiritual ruler perhaps confirmed him in the
intention of submitting to that authority, and hastened
its execution. "I will go," he exclaimed, " and re-
ceive the chastisement I deserve." Proceeding to
the consecrated precincts, he refrained from entering
the church, but went into a parlour where the bishop
was sitting, and begged for absolution. After the
behaviour of Rufinus, it is not surprising that Ambrose
looked upon the visit in the light of a menace, and
taxed the emperor with tyranny, insolence towards
God, and contempt of His laws. But he received an
assurance that he was mistaken. " I am come in na
rENITEN'CE OF THE EMPEROR. QT
spirit of rebellion against constituted laws, nor am 1
intending to force my way through the sacred gates.
I am here to beg that you will grant me release,
remembering the mercy of our common Lord, and
not close against me that door which He opens to
every penitent.'' The bishop evidently considered
the eight months' delay in making this request as a
contumacious resistance to spiritual authority, and an
obstinate refusal to exhibit or feel anything like true
contrition ; and it is far from imi)robable that men
from the court had expressed themselves to him in a
manner which by no means gave him a just idea of
the drift of Theodosius's thoughts. Those who had
advised the massacre and those who hated Ambrose
would join in using their utmost endeavours to
prevent the emperor from expressing sorrow for his
hasty and cniel order, and in doing all they could to
keep up an impassable breach between him and the
bishop.
The answer to the emperor's humble words was
still a stern one. " What penitence have you been
showing for your great fault ? ^^'hat remedy have
you applied to the incurable wound you have in-
flicted?" " It is your duty," answered the penitent,
" to prepare the remedies ; mine to accept what is
offered me." " Since, then," said Ambrose, " you
allow your temper to act the part of judge, and
permit anger instead of reason to pronounce sentence,
you must make a law which shall render such hasty
orders null and void. When a sentence of death or
confiscation of property is pronounced, let thirty days
elapse before it is put into execution. After this time
G 2
92 ST. AMBROSE.
has passed, and you have become cool, let your decree
be shown to you. You will then be able to decide
rationally whether it is just or not. If the latter,
then the writing can be destroyed ; if the former, it
may be ratified. Where the judgment is right, a little
delay will do no harm." The emperor consented.
The regulation suggested by Ambrose was not new to
him ; a similar rule had been laid down by Gratian,
but had been either forgotten, or not adopted by him-
self. The necessary document was speedily prepared
and signed, and the excommunication was removed.
Laying aside every ornament that could mark his
rank, Theodosius entered the church with a deep
sigh of relief, and fell prostrate on the floor, smiting
his breast, and crying, " My soul cleaveth unto the
dust : O quicken Thou me according to Thy word " ;
and with every sign of the profoundest compunction
besought and received absolution and readmission
to the communion of the Church. To the day of
his death he never ceased to deplore his error, and
was so watchful over himself and so careful not to
offend, that the more he was irritated the more ready
he was to pardon ; and offenders were said not to
fear, but to wish, to see him angry. Ambrose testified
his belief in the sincerity of his repentance by inscrib-
ing to him the book he had written in 384, entitled,
" The Defence of the Prophet David."
THKODOSIUS RETURNS TO THE EAST. 93
CHAPTER XI I r.
EUGENIUS.
A.D. 392-393-
After a stay of more than three years in Italy, the
greater part of which time was spent, not at Rome, the
old capital of the Republic, but at Milan, which, since
the time of Maximian, had become the chief city of
the empire, Theodosius hoped it to be safe, and felt
it to be high time, for him to return to his own
dominions. Accordingly in the early spring of 392
he took leave of Ambrose (Valentinian was absent in
Gaul), and set out for the East. During the time his
youthful colleague (now just twenty years old) was in
his company, he had carefully imparted to him sound
political instruction; and had combined with it earnest
exhortations to adopt the faith of his father and
brother, the true Christian faith. For the memory of
his mother Valentinian had probably but little respect ;
for Theodosius and Ambrose he entertained the
deepest reverence. His Arian leanings, if he ever
had any, were soon exchanged for an earnest desire
to be admitted to the membership of the Church;
and his hatred of idolatry was so decided, as to
make many believe that the adherents of the old
94 ST. AMBROSE.
religion had been for months engaged in a con-
spiracy against his life. Under these circumstances,
Theodosius had but little apprehension in leaving
Italy. The affairs of religion, he thought, would be
well provided for in the hands of an emperor now
become orthodox, and guided by such a counsellor as
the Bishop of Milan. The Far West, he imagined,
would be little disposed to rise, after the fate of
Maximus ; but, to make matters sure, he had appointed
to the post of commander-in-chief of Gaul a Frank
named Arbogastes, a man of great ability and energy,
loud in his protestations of fidelity to his patrons the
emperors. But the appointment was a mistake, and
a fatal one. The Frank, all the while that he seemed
to be holding the unquiet spirits of his province in
check, was secretly playing his own game. The troops
were corrupted, Franks were thrust into the most im-
portant military posts, and the loyal Italian servants
of Valentinian gradually eliminated, their places being
filled by friends of his own.
The young emperor had now been residing for some
time at Treves. So anxious had he become to be
received into the bosom of the Church, that he sent
and repeated a pressing invitation to Ambrose to come
to him and administer the Sacrament of Baptism,
which he was earnestly desirous of receiving at the
hands of one who had been so faithful to, and so highly
valued by, his father and his brother. Partly owing
to the news of some barbarian demonstration on the
Italian frontier, partly from a wish to meet Ambrose
half-way, he left Treves, and came southward as far
as Vienne. This independent movement, which
MIRDEK OF VAI.I NTIMAN. 95
betokened an intention to act without consuUinji
Arbogastes, was by no means satisfactory to that per-
sonage, whose intention was to detain his emi)eror in
a virtual captivity, which might some day be converted
into an actual one. His dissatisfaction was raised to
its utmost height when Valentinian placed in his
hands a formal dismissal from all his offices. Tearing
the document into shreds and flinging them on the
ground, the Frank insultingly replied, "My authority
was not given by you, and you are powerless to take
it from me." Valentinian had inherited the (juick
temper which was the death of his illustrious father.
In a transport of pardonable rage he snatched a sword
from one of his guards, and was with some difficulty
prevented from inflicting a mortal wound on his inso-
lent general. An emperor with a will of his own was
not to be tolerated by Arbogastes. A few days after —
it was Whitsun Eve, May 7, 392 — Valentinian was
found in his own chamber a corpse. The cause of
death was strangulation, nor was there the faintest
doubt as to the head that planned or the hands which
peq)etrated the deed. It was well known that the
<hamberlains of the palace had been tampered with,
and by whom. But to the villany of assassination the
barbarian general added the baseness of slander, and
attempted, though without the smallest success, to
persuade men that the pious young emjieror was a
suicide. He did not, however, detain the body, as
Maximus had done that of Gratian ; it was conveyed
to Milan, and, after resting in the palace, buried by
the direction of Theodosius. The Bishop of Milan
preached the funeral sermon, or, more correctly
96 ST. AMBROSE,
speaking, pronounced the funeral oration. He en-
larged on the moral purity of the deceased, his kind-
ness of heart, his devotion to his duty, and deplored the
loss sustained by the Christian cause. " Thou wert
smitten, O Church, on one cheek, when thou didst
lose Gratian : thou hast turned the other, now that
Valentinian has been taken from thee." The regret
expressed by some that he had died without receiving
Baptism, the preacher said, was needless ; he had
wished for it, and had sent for him to administer it :
there was no reason to doubt that the gift from above
which he had longed for was in effect bestowed on
him. As the martyrdom of catechumens was always
held to supply the place of the external administra-
tion of the Sacrament of regeneration, by the baptism
of blood, so it might be hoped that the murdered
youth was bathed in his own piety and holy desires.
There is more of rhetoric in the discourse, and, we
may add, more of the dignity of human merit, than is
quite suited to the taste of an English churchman :.
many of the Scriptural allusions are forced and far-
fetched ; and we cannot help wondering, as we read
the strong encomiums upon the departed, whether
Ambrose had forgotten that he of whom he spoke was
a few years before not only unbaptized, but an Arian.
Arbogastes was well enough acquainted with the
feelings of Romans to be quite aware that he must be
satisfied with the power of an emperor without the
name. A century and a half had not effaced the
remembrance of the brutal Maximin ; and notwith-
standing the success and renown of Philip, and
Diocletian, and Maximian, whose title to the. Romaru
EUGENIUS MADE EMPEROR. 97
name was more than questionable, it was clear that a
German who should attempt to copy him in his reign
over Italians would only be consigned by them to his
fate. A ])Ui)])et emperor must be set up, a degenerate
Roman, who would wear the purple and obey his
commander-in-chief. Such a person was soon found
in Kugenius, the rhetorician, his secretary and master
of the offices.
The new emperor sent without delay to announce
to Theodosius the unfortunate suicide (as he termed
it) of \'alentinian. Theodosius was once again obliged
to temporize, as he had done with IMaximus, and for
the same reason. The unhappy affair of Thessalonica
had shown him the risk he ran in being absent from
his dominions ; and Constantinople itself was far
from being quiet. He dismissed the envoys with an
e(iuivocal answer, and with the usual gifts of honour,
but at the same time began to prepare for another
civil war.
Eugenius had not long been invested with the
l)urple when a deputation from the pagan party at
Rome waited upon him to beg for the restoration of
heathen worship and the restitution of heathen endow-
ments. They were dismissed with an answer in the
negative ; for Eugenius was professedly a Christian.
A second deputation received a similar reply, but either
j^erceived some tendency to vacillation on the part
of the emperor, or, more i)robably, got a hint of
some inclination on the jiart of Arbogastes to favour
their demands. They i)ersevered, and Eugenius, while
still declining to restore the endowments to the temples,
agreed to i)resent some of them, as a favour, to certain
gS ST. AMBROSE.
•eminent persons, " of the Gentile observance," as the
euphemistic phrase ran ; coupling with this a relaxation
of the edicts of Theodosius which forbad all heathen
rites and ceremonies.
Not long after, the new ruler of the West crossed the
Alps and proceeded to IMilan. He had already sent a
letter to the bishop to announce his elevation, and to
intimate his intention of visiting the capital. To this he
received, at first, no answer. Nor did Ambrose await
his arrival, but thought it his wisest course to withdraw,
as he had done on the approach of IMaximus six years
before. He first retired to Bologna, and thence to
Florence : sending a letter addressed " To the most
clement Emperor Eugenius," in which he explained
the reason of his previous silence and of his with-
drawal from Milan to be the indulgence shown by a
Christian ruler to idolatry. The presenting the heathen
endowments to individuals was, he said, a mere quibble :
it could not deceive any one, least of all God.
*' Though the Imperial power is great," he ^vrote,
*' consider, sire, how great God is: He sees the
hearts of all, He questions the inner conscience. He
knows everything before it is done, He knows the
inmost recesses of your soul. You do not permit
yourself to be deceived ; do you try to conceal any-
thing from God? has this never occurred to your
mind ? however pertinacious they were with you,
was it not your part, sire, to be all the more pertina-
cious in your resistance, for the glory of the Most High,
the true and living God, and to refuse them what was
inconsistent with the Sacred Law ? Who grudges your
giving what you choose to others ? we do not pry into
AMBROSE AT FLOREN'CE. 99
your liberality, nor envy the advantages of others :
but we are interpreters of your faith. How will you
offer your gifts to Christ ? Emperor though you are,
you ought to be, all the more, the servant of (iod.
How will the priests of Christ dispense your gifts ? "
The letter, as we might expect, had no effect. It
was more imi)ortant for Arbogastes to conciliate a
party at Rome than to procure the doubtful advantage
of the bishop's residence at Milan : he boasted, we
are told, to some Frankish chiefs of being the prelate's
jntimate acquaintance and dear friend : but this was
only because of the exalted idea they entertained of
his power ; the wily barbarian had no objection to be
thought to stand in amicable relations to one whose
friendship was supposed to ensure victory : but he did
not want him in the capital. Nor did Eugenius care
to have one near him who would be continually
warning him of the sinfulness of tolerating idolatry,
and by whose orders he had already been denied the
privilege of worshipping in the churches. So Ambrose
still remained at Florence ; unwilling, he said, to be
near one who had mixed himself up with sacrilege.
Nor was he an unwelcome guest. Like his own
Milanese flock, the Tuscans were charmed with his
preaching.
ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XIV.
VICTORY AND DEATH.
A.D. 394-395-
The preparations of Theodosius were at last com-
plete, and on January lo, 394, he began to move
westwards. Eugenius and Arbogastes set out from
Milan to meet him, fulminating dire threats against
the Christians. The churches should be turned into
stables, and the whole clergy should feel the weight of
their vengeance when they returned, as they were
sure to do, in triumph. But Ambrose was not terri-
fied by such menaces, and had firm faith in the Provi-
dence which he believed to be watching over the
orthodox and lawful emperor. No sooner did he hear
of their departure than he started for Milan, and
arrived there on the ist of August. Meanwhile, the
usurper and his barbarian patron had reached the
banks of the Frigidus, a small stream which rises in
the Julian Alps, and joins the main stream of the
Isonzo at no great distance from Aquileia. Here
they awaited the coming of the Eastern emperor. An
indecisive skirmish, terminating rather to the disadvan-
tage of Theodosius, revealed the weakness of his bar-
barian allies and the inferiority of his numbers : the
Western commanders were inspired with fresh courage.
IJA'ITLE OF THE FRIGIDUS. 10 1
while the generals on the other side began to dcsiiair.
They recommended a cessation of hostilities, and ad-
vised their master to wait till the next spring, when
he might hope to take the field with an increased and
adequate force. But he saw that delay would be cer-
tain loss to himself and gain to his opponents, and
refused to retire. The Cross, he said, which was the
standard of his army, must needs prevail over the
image of Hercules, which was borne in the ranks of
the enemy. Entering a little chapel which stood on
the crest of the hill on which his men were encamped,
he prostrated himself, and spent the night in jjrayer.
About the time of cock-crow he was overpowered by
sleep. As he slept he thought he saw a vision. Two
men in white garments appeared to him, and an-
nounced themselves as the apostles St. John and St.
Philip. They bade him take courage, and engage the
enemy boldly, for that they were sent to be with him
and give him aid. This promise tallied with a prophecy
he had received before his march, from his old friend,
the ascetic John of Egypt, who predicted that he
would gain the victor}-, but with severe loss. Awak-
ing from his slumber, he finished his prayer, and then,
encouraging his men by an account of his dream, led
them on to battle, or, as his opponents thought, to
certain destruction. It was a bold step, certainly, for
Arbogastes had during the night sent a body of troops
to take him in the rear, and they could already be
seen occupying the passes that lay behind him. His
mind, however, was soon set at rest by a message
from the commanders of these troops. Had they
been friendly to their original leader, 'I'iieodosius
102 ST. AMBROSE.
would, in all human probability, have been, before the
close of the day, a fugitive or a prisoner ; but they
were disgusted with the Frank and his creature,
their master, and distrustful of their success or of
their skill, and were ready to desert them and
join the rival emperor. Besides these unhoped-
for aUies, Theodosius was favoured by the weather-
It was the 7 th of September, and the ground was
covered with dust, which a brisk wind at his back
blew into the face of the enemy, at the same time
retarding the tlight of their spears and arrows, and in-
creasing the velocity of those which were launched
against them. A slight appearance of reluctance
which presented itself in one place was dispelled by
the promptitude and zeal of the Eastern commander.
Leaping from his horse, he put himself at the head
of the loiterers, and cried, "Where is the God of
Theodosius ? " It need hardly be said that the
victory was decisive.
The miserable Eugenius was dragged by a party of his
o^vn men and hurled in fetters at the feet of the con-
queror. He pleaded for mercy, but in vain ; the soldiers
were not likely to listen to such an appeal, and Theo-
dosius himself could not but remember Valentinian.
Personally, the poor ^^Tetch was beneath contempt,
but he wore the puri:)le, and had been saluted em-
peror : it was not safe to spare him. Arbogastes fled,
and wandered for some days among the mountains,
desolate and desperate. But escape was hopeless,
and the high-spirited Frank, rather than fall into the
power of the victor, and die an ignominious death, or
sue for a yet more ignominious lite, decided the
matter for himself with the point of his own sword.
VILIOKV OF THEOUOSIUS. 1 OJ
Ambrose was made aware of the victor)- by a letter
from the emperor, which called upon him to render
special thanks to God for His merciful preservation
of the empire and His care of its ruler. The letter
contained a gentle hint that the bishop's protracted
absence from Milan looked as if he had begun to lose
Hiith in the writer's cause, or to fancy that he was
no longer an object of Divine favour and under the
l>rotection of Providence. Ambrose hastened to dis-
avow such a feeling, and to assure the emi)eror of the
real cause of his absence. He congratulated him
heartily on his success, and commended his pious
humility in the midst of triumph. " I took your
Piety's letter with me," he wrote, " and laid it on the
altar, and held it in my hand when I made the obla-
tion." Finally, he reminded him of the duty of being
merciful. There was every reason why he should refer
to this subject. A large number of persons, most of
them more or less compromised by adherence to
Eugenius, but some few of them guiltless of any but
compulsory submission to him, had taken refuge in
the churches. Ambrose knew, by experience, what
Theodosius's temper- was, and what direction the
counsel of his advisers was likely to take, and
dreaded both that the sanctity of churches might be
invaded, and that severity might be used towards men
who might be won by clemency, or, indeed, towards
those who had rather desen-ed encouragement and
consolation. He, therefore, not only mentioned their
rase in writing, but instructed Felix, his deacon (after-
wards Bishop of Bologna), who was the bearer of the
letter, to plead for them. Not long after, he wTotc
again to intercede on behalf of these wretched fugi-
104 ST. AMBROSE.
tives, mercy to whom would be a fit thank-ofifering for
victory. "Their tears," he said, "I cannot endure
without sending a supplication to forestall your
Clemency's coming." The emperor responded to his
appeal by despatching an officer to take charge of the
suppliants; and Ambrose thought it best not to trust
to letters, but to have a personal interview. He went
to Aquileia, and was received with every mark of
respect and affection. The emperor granted his
requests ; he knew, he said, how much he owed to the
prayers of iVmbrose ; he felt also, doubtless, that to be
merciful was to be wise. The event did not disap-
point him : the pardoned adherents of Eugenius were
among the most faithful to him and to his sons.
Theodosius was on the point of starting for ]\Iilan,
but Ambrose returned with all possible speed, 'and
was fortunate enough to be in the city in time to
receive him with those honours which he was glad to
see bestov/ed, not so much on a triumphant soldier as
on a God-fearing prince. There was in truth every
•cause for rejoicing. Once more there was a gleam of
hope for mourning Italy, a glimpse of peace for the
■distracted empire ; once more East and West were
united — though for the last time — under a single and
a capable head.
It was not to last long. The anxieties of rule, and
the fatigues and perils of the late campaign had told
upon Theodosius. But a few weeks had elapsed from
the date of his victory at the Frigidus, when he was
taken ill of dropsy. The unusual inclemency of the
weather, excessive rain and dense fog having prevailed
for many days, perhaps aggravated his disease ; at all
dp:ath of theodosius. 105
events, lie became convinced before very long tliat
his end was near. He had left Arcadius, the elder of
his sons, in charge of the East, and now sent for the
younger, Honorius, whom he intended to place on
the Western throne. The young Ccesar reached his
destination safely, and the satisfaction of seeing him
and his elder brother, who accompanied him, caused
the Imperial sufferer to rally for a short time ; so that
Arcadius felt justified in returning forthwith to the
Eastern capital, where his presence was needed.
A splendid show of horse and chariot races in the
Circus (a favourite exhibition at Milan, as indeed at
all Italian cities), in honour of the prince's arrival,
was fixed for January i6th, 395. The emperor
attended the morning's show, took interest in the
proceedings, and seemed to all to be in improved
health. But appearances were delusive. After the
midday meal the more aggravated symptoms of his
malady began to show themselves ; the exertion had
l)robably been too much for him. He was unable to
appear again at the races, and Honorius was com-
ix;lled to attend alone and represent him. He grew
rai>idly worse, and in the course of the night passed
away from the troubles of his high dignity to rejoin
his beloved Flaccilla in another world. In his la.st
moments he commended his young sons to the care
of the great Stilicho, husband of his niece Serena ;
then called for Ambrose, entreated him to be a father
to them, as he had been to Gratian and Valentinian,
and told him how very near to his heart was the wel-
fare of the Church of Christ.
It was determined that his body should not be
ii
I06 ST. AMBROSE.
interred at Milan, but should be conveyed to Con-
stantinople, there to lie with the remains of his pre-
decessors in the Empire of the East. Before its
departure, and forty days after his death, solemn
obsequies were celebrated at the city where he had
sinned the great sin of his life, w^here he had show^n
his deep penitence, where he had celebrated his last
triumph, and drawn his last breath. The funeral
oration could be spoken by none but Ambrose. The
rhetorical element, though present and palpable, is
not so painfully prominent in it as in that on the
death of Valentinian. The preacher spoke feelingly
of the ability, clemency, and many virtues of the
departed emperor, paying a compliment to the talents
of his sons and successors which a few years un-
happily showed to be entirely undeserved. Most of
all, however, he extolled his humble piety. " No
doubt," he said, " the devout emperor is now at rest,
in peace and light, in the company of the saints who
have gone before." An allusion to Constantine the
Great here led him to digress into an apparently
purposeless narration of the story — or rather the
strange legend — of the finding of the Cross by Helena.
Finally, he comforted poor little Honorius, who sat
crying bitterly at not being allowed to accompany his
father's body and go back to his brother Arcadius at
Constantinople, his old home. The preacher reminded
him that he was now an emperor, and had a solemn
duty towards all, so that he must no longer think of
his father only. " Do not fear," he concluded, " that
your father's triumphant remains, wherever they may
go, will appear shorn of honour. Italy does not
FUNERAL OF TIIEODOSIUS. I07
think so, she who has beheld magnificent triumphs,
and whose children, freed a second time from tyrants,
are waiting to extol the author of their liberty. Con-
stantinople does not think so, who sent forth her
prince a second time to victory, and, much as she
would, could not retain him. She looked for trium-
phal solemnities on his return, to do honour to his
victories; she looked for an emperor of the whole
world, surrounded with an army from Gaul, sui)portcd
by the forces of the whole world. But Thcodosius
now returns to her with higher power, with greater
glory, for it is a troop of angels that accompanies
him, a crowd of saints that follows him. Blessed
indeed is the city that is receiving an inhabitant of
Paradise, and will entertain, in the splendid abode
where his body is to rest, a denizen of the heavenly
city above."
H 2
loS ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XV.
THE END OF A GREAT LIFE.
A.D. 395-397-
Ambrose's own term was now drawing to a close.
He was in his fifty-fifth year, scarcely more than a
middle-aged man according to our reckoning. But
the anxieties and labours of twenty years had had
their effect upon him ; and his ascetic mode of life,
if it enhanced his spiritual powers, did not certainly
increase his physical strength. He allowed himself
no midday meal except on Sundays and saints' days,
and, owing to a fortunate peculiarity of his own
church, on Saturdays also ; the Saturday feast, we
learn, was one of the usages of the Church of Milan,
for in Rome the " Sabbath " (the day before the
Lord's Day) was kept as a fast. And at the same
time he was continually engaged in preaching, writing
(not by an amanuensis, but with his own hand), and
in giving counsel to those who resorted to him. The
wear of this branch of the pastoral office must have
been excessive. Numbers flocked to him to give
liim their confidences before performing that public
penance for sin which was customary at that time,
and to ask his advice and consolation ; and he threw
DANCER OF THE EMPIRE. IO9
himself heart and soul into each case, "rejoicing,"
says Paulinus, ''with them that did rejoice, and
weeping with them that did weep ; for he would weep
so with one who acknowledged his errors with a view
to penance, as to force him to weep also." His
assiduity about the due performance of the rites of
religion was equally great, and involved almost an
equal tax on his energies, for he would do single-
handed at baptisms what five bishops of his time
could scarcely perform together. When we remember
that at Milan in the fourth century '' a baptism "
implied commonly the immersion of a number of
adults, and was not confined to the pouring of
water on a few infants, we shall see that the bodily
fatigue of a solemn baptismal day to the officiating
bishop (for it was he, not the presbyters, still less
the deacons, who usually administered the sacrament)
must have been enormous.
The death of Theodosius, while it could have no
effect upon his austerities and his labours, must have
increased tenfold his anxieties for Church and State.
The Huns, a new and terrible enemy, were beginning
to threaten the East. The Goths, under Alaric, were
stirring in Greece. Gildo the Moor (the brother of that
Firmus whom the father of Theodosius had subdued
for Valentinian I. in 374) was a rebel, and all but in-
lependent, in Africa, and had proclaimed himself a
upporter of the persecuting Donatists. With a gentle
but unpromising boy of ten (Honorius) for emperor
of the West, and an equally gentle fool of eighteen (Ar-
<adius) ruling in the East, guided by the contemptible
ind irreligious Rufinus, the most dismal forebodings
no ST. AMBROSE.
respecting the Empire were inevitable. But the battle
of the Faith was already won in the West, and no one
had contributed more to the victory than the great
Bishop of Milan himself. That man could not fail to
leave his mark upon the Church who had brought a
Theodosius to do penance and converted an Augus-
tine. Three years later (398), John, the eloquent
and fearless preacher of Antioch, was to ascend the
patriarchal throne of Constantinople, and leave his
mark too behind him, as a champion of the truth in
the East, following up and completing the work of
Basil and Gregory Nazianzen. The Church was sure
to hold her own when it pleased her Divine Master to
send her such rulers as Ambrose and Chrysostom.
Stilicho, who was during the minority of Honorius
the virtual Emperor of the West, and had taken
care to prevent, by the death of Rufinus, the pre-
sence of a rival in the East, discovered soon that
the old spirit was not extinct in the Bishop of Milan.
One Cresconius, a criminal, had been condemned to
be exposed to the wild beasts in the iVmphitheatre.
Christianity had not yet succeeded in inducing the
Romans to lay aside their barbarous delight in the
sanguinary spectacles of the arena ; it has not yet led
their Spanish descendants to give up the bull-fight,
and only a century ago similar " sports " were not
unknown to the inhabitants of a western isle who
prided themselves on possessing a purer form of
Christianity than that of modern Spain, or, as some of
them even said, than that of Milan fourteen centuries
before. The unhappy wretch had managed to make
his escape, and fled for refuge into a church. Stilicho
SANXTL'ARV. Ill
was persuaded to order a detachment of soldiers to
drag him from the sanctuary. Disregarding the
protests and the resistance of the bishoj) and his
clergy, a body of men, headed, said the Catholic
gossip of the day, by some Arian officers (probably
Goths), forced their way into the sacred building and
tore the miserable Cresconius away.
The privilege of sanctuary would be justly con-
sidered by nations like ourselves, with a settled con-
stitutional government and a regular judicial system,
to be a meaningless and intolerable interference with
the due course of the law ; it was by no means without
its use at other times and among other people. It often
afforded a means of appeal against an unjust or too
rigorous sentence, against the passion of a despot, or
the baseness of a mercenary judge. It would nowadays
be a dangerous advantage to the guilty ; it was once
a shield to the innocent. Guilty therefore as the
man was, and little as Ambrose desired to infringe on
the majesty of the law or thwart its action, he felt
deeply moved at this desecration of his church by
the violent encroachment on its recognized privilege.
It was in his sight an insult to Him to Whom the
place was dedicated, and implied a disregard of its
sanctity which might eventually terminate in such
buildings being handed over for Arian worship, or
secular or even heathen purposes. Throwing himself
on his knees before the altar, he prayed with many
sighs and tears. Stilicho, meanwhile, had begun to
regret (we may believe for religious as well as political
reasons) the order he had given, and the intelligence
brought to him of the conduct of the bishop and
112 ST. AMBROSE.
clergy increased the feeling. It chanced that the
soldiers who had been foremost in the proceedings at
the church contrived, in some manner or other, to
get into the way of some African leopards which had
been let into the arena to do their murderous work,
and the beasts, not being able to distinguish between
criminals and executioners, had attacked and severely
wounded them. This occurrence, in which some
imagined that they saw the interposition of a Higher
Power, may possibly have influenced Stilicho still
further ; it certainly did not prejudice the people
against his decision, which was that the criminal's
life should be spared, and his sentence commuted to
exile. The Christians could overlook the arrest of a
malefactor within the walls of a church, provided
such arrest did not lead to the shedding of blood.
It was about the same time that Ambrose received
a deputation from a new convert to Christianity,
Fritigil, queen of the Marcomanni, a German tribe
inhabiting part of the modern Bohemia, and in past
times, with their allies the Sarmatian Quadi, a terrible
disquiet to the Roman Empire. The missionary who
won Fritigil to the faith had told her much of the
greatness of the Milanese prelate, to whom she
accordingly sent, entreating him to give her further
instruction. He replied by writing, and placing in
the hands of her messenger, a catechism, which she
gladly received. It has unfortunately been lost. He
did not forget the statesman ; with his religious
instruction he joined a recommendation, which she
acted upon, to persuade her husband to make peace,
and join in alliance with Rome.
HONORATUS OF VERCELLI. I I3
We find Ambrose in the same year (396) not only
seconding missionary endeavours, but also called
upon to remember his duty as archbishop. The
bishopric of Vercelli had become vacant by the
death of Limenius, and there was so much strife and
party feeling that no election could be made, and the
see had remained for some time unfilled. The
metropolitan was held responsible for this state of
things, either because he had thrown difficulties in
the way, or because he had neglected to take the
necessary steps towards reconciling the differences
and procuring an election. In either case the charge
against him was unfair, and without real grounds.
In self-defence, and in discharge of his archiepiscopal
duty, he addressed a long letter to the Church of
Vercelli. It is the last of his which we possess.
He urges Churchmen to lay their strife aside, and
be at peace, as though Christ Himself were standing
among them ; and then cautions them against
Sarmatio and Barbatianus, two monks whom he had
ejected from his monastery in 391 for teaching some
of the doctrines of Jovinian. Next he gives a sketch,
illustrated from Scripture, of the qualities needed in
their bishop, who ought to combine the virtues of the
clerical and monastic life ; and winds up with some
holy counsel to the laity : the rich, the young, the
married, masters, and servants, have their special
precepts in this fatherly exhortation. The episcopal
election was soon made ; the choice of the Church
fell upon Honoratus, who was consecrated as
l.imenius's successor.
It was not long after >vriting this letter, — sometime
114 ST. AMBROSE.
in February, 397, — that he was called upon to officiate
at the consecration of the Bishop of Pavia. After
returning from the service he was taken ill, and com-
pelled to retire to his bed. It was soon only too
evident to all that his danger was extreme. Stilicho,
who had learnt his worth from Theodosius and from
his own experience, felt that his loss would be a
terrible blow to Italy. Something must be done, he
thought, to bring it about that so valuable a life might
be spared. Summoning all the most influential and
valued of the bishop's friends, he by turns entreated
and commanded them to go to his bedside and bid
him pray to be permitted to live. They went and
proffered their strange request : the dying prelate
calmly replied, " I have not so lived among you as to
be ashamed to live on : but I do not fear to die,
for our Lord is good.'' The prayers, if offered, were
in God's providence not granted : the end drew visibly
nearer, and men began to think who should be chosen
to fill his place when he was taken from them. It
happened that four deacons (one of whom, Venerius,
afterwards became Bishop of Milan himself) were
standing at the farther end of the gallery in which his
couch was placed, and conversing, as they thought, in
a scarcely audible tone on this important question.
But either they forgot, in their warmth, to moderate
their voices, or the sick man's senses, as not un-
frequently happens, were preternaturally sharpened :
when they mentioned the name of Simplician, they
were terrified to hear the bishop express his approval by
exclaiming three times, ^' Old, but good." It is perhaps
unnecessary to add that Simplician was his successor.
DEATH. 115
He sank rapidly ; but as the outward man perished,
the inward man was renewed : the Lord Jesus, he told
Bassianus, bishop of Lodi, who liad been praying
with him, had come to his side and smiled upon him.
At last (it was Good Friday, April 3, 397) he ceased
to speak : he lay for some hours with his arms
stretched out in the form of the Cross, his lips moving,
but no sound audible. Midnight passed, and Hono-
ratus the newly-consecrated bishop of Vercclli, who
had been with him, had left his side, and was retiring
to rest, when he thought he heard a voice which
repeated thrice, *' Up, hasten, he is departing."
Without delay Honoratus entered the sick chamber,
and gave the dying prelate the Blessed Sacrament of
the Lord's Body and Blood. He received it, and a
moment after was at rest. It was Easter Eve, April
4, and his body was carried to the "greater" church :
thence on Easter Day to the church which bears his
name. There he was laid, close to his beloved brother
Satyrus. His funeral was attended by a throng of
all ranks and ages : and not Christians only, but
Jews and heathen, came to testify their respect
for the great and holy man who had departed from
among them. His catechumen Fritigil journeyed all
the way from her German home to see and speak
with him : but she came too late ; she could only
gaze weeping on his honoured tomb.
It6 ST. AMBROSK.
CHAPTER XVI.
AMBROSE AS POET AND MUSICIAN.
Upwards of eighty metrical compositions have been
ascribed to the pen of St. Ambrose. The great
majority of these are certainly the production of
different hands, and of a somewhat later age. There
are but twelve which' are considered to be indubitably
the composition of the great Bishop of Milan, and
two of these are found imbedded in liturgical hymns
of greater length. He seems, however, to have struck
a key-note of Church poetry. "I grant," says Grimm,
" that the hymns attributed to Ambrose, whom we
may justly call the father of Church song, are not all
his; I cannot, however, think that the hymns commonly
ascribed to him, but not recognised by editorial critics,
were composed later than a century or two after him,
they have so much of the simplicity of the others."
His metre is for the most part carefully regulated by
quantity, though in one or two instances he seems to
have neglected quantity for accent, so as to render it
necessary for those who recast the hymns of the
Roman Breviary in a strictly classical form to make
a few alterations. His lines occasionally rhyme, but
so irregularly as to make it pretty clear that the rhyme
was unintentional. There is no trace of the accen-
tuated metre, with set and perfect rhyme, of the later
Latin hymns.
rOETRV. 1 I 7
His style as a hymn-writer is throughout grave and
severe, but devout, and profoundly accurate in theo-
logical expression. More austere than his rontem-
l)urary Prudentius, and without any of the impassioned
fervour of such writers at St. Bernard, he yet impresses
us by his dignified simplicity. " We feel," says Arch-
bishop Trench, "as though there were a certain cold-
ness in his hymns, an aloofness of the author from his
subject, a refusal to blend and fuse himself with it.
Only after a while does one learn to feel the grandeur
of his unadorned metre, and the profound, though
it may have been more instinctive than conscious,
wisdom of the poet in choosing it, or to appreciate
that noble confidence in the surpassing interest of his
theme which has rendered him indifferent to any but
its simplest setting forth. It is as though, building an
altar to the living God, he would observe the Levitical
precept, and rear it of unhewn stones, upon which
no tool had been lifted. The great objects of faith in
their simplest expression are felt by him so sufficient
to stir all the deepest affections of the heart, that any
attempt to dress them up, to array them in moving
language, were merely superfluous. The passion is
there, but it is latent and repressed, a fire burning
inwardly, the glow of an austere enthusiasm, which
reveals itself, indeed, but not to every careless be-
holder. Nor do we presently fail to obsene how
truly these poems belonged to their time, and to the
circumstances under which they were produced : how
suitably the faith which was in actual conflict with,
and was triumphing over, the powers of this world,
found its utterance in hymns such as these, wherein
Il8 ST. AMBROSE.
is no softness, perhaps little tenderness, but a rock-
like firmness, the old Roman stoicism transmuted and
glorified into that nobler Christian courage, which en-
countered and at length overcame the world."
The grandest and noblest of his hymns, in the
opinion of all editors, is that for Advent. An almost
literal rendering of a portion of it may serve to give
an idea of its stern simplicity. The metre employed,
the rhymeless eight - syllable line, is that of the
original.
Redeemer of the nations, come,
Show them a virgin mother's Child :
Amazed be all the wondering world,
For such a birth beseems our God.
# * # #
" Out of His chamber" He proceeds,
That royal hall of purity,
" A giant," ' of two natures joined,
" To run His course " rejoicingly.
He goeth from the Father forth,
And to the Father speeds again,
Descending to the deep of hell,
Returning to the throne of God.
With the Eternal Father One,
With belt of flesh Thou girdest Thee,
The weakness of our mortal frame
So strengthening with enduring might.
' The "giants" of Gen. vi. 4 were considered to be creatures
of a double nature, the offspring of women wedded to spiritual
beings ; or, as the mythology of Hesiod has it, of Ouranos
(heaven), and Ge (earth). The term ' ' giant " is applied in
Ps. xix. 5 to the Sun of Righteousness : and this was imagined
to be because of His two natures. Human and Divine. It may
be as well to add that the Hebrew words rendered " giant " in
the two passages are quite different.
POETRY. I 1 9
Now brightly shines Thy manger-bed,
And night a new-born radiance breathes,
Which nightly shade shall never dim,
Which shines to faith eternally.
There is much severe beauty in the Matin Hymn.
The version given imitates its occasional rhyme.
O Partner of the Father's light,
Thyself the Light of Light, and Day,
With hymns we bring to end the night :
Be with us as we kneel and pray.
Remove the darkness of our minds.
And chase the demon troops away ;
Banished be slothfulncss by Thee,
Lest it o'erwhelm the idle soul.
So, Christ, have mercy on us all,
Who all believe and hope in Thee :
Blest to thy suppliant servants be
This early strain of holy psalm.
The contribution of Ambrose to the music of the
Western Church has been so thoroughly remodelled
and systematized by St. Gregory, that it is impossible
to determine exactly what and how much is due to
the master-mind of Milan. It seems clear^ that he
introduced the j)ractice of antiphonal chanting from
the East, and probably not a few of the melodies he
employed were from the same source. Some have
imagined that these melodies were a reproduction of
those used in the Temple service at Jerusalem, tradi-
tionally preserved both by Jews and Christians in the
churches and synagogues of the East, and that the
• Sec p. 57.
I20 ST. AMBROSE.
Ambrosian basilica, while the faithful kept their vigils
within its walls, resounded to strains in which David
and Solomon had joined some fourteen centuries
before. But our ignorance of the Hebrew gamut, and
the probability that it differed essentially from the
four Greek scales with which Ambrose was acquainted,
renders this opinion less tenable than beautiful. It
would certainly seem to link us yet more closely with
the chosen people under the older covenant if we could
think that not our psalter only, but our chant also, was
an inheritance from the sweet psalmists of Israel ; but
fact refuses to give way to sentiment.
Compared with the popular church music of our
own time, the Ambrosian music appears as severe as
the Ambrosian poetry. And yet, as the latter was a
comfort to St. Augustine when he lay awake and
thought sadly yet joyfully of his departed mother, so
the music touched his heart when first he joined in it
as a Christian. " How I wept," he says, " at Thy
hymns and canticles, touched to the quick by the
voices of Thy melodious Church ! Those voices
flowed into my ears, and the truth distilled into my
heart, and thence there streamed forth a devout
emotion, and my tears ran down, and it was well with
me therein." And though he elsewhere says he
dreaded lest he should give too much attention to the
sound, too little to the sense, and was disposed to
banish all chanting *rom the churches, save the simple
"plain tune, after the manner of distinct reading,"
used in Alexandria by the command of St. Athanasius,
he cannot help admitting the value of the Church's
song, and, by implication, commending the work of
MUSIC I 2 I
St. Ambrose in connexion with it. "When I remember
the tears 1 shed at the chants of Thy Church when
first I recovered my faith, and that I am moved not
by the chant, but by what is chanted, when it is
chanted with a clear voice and suitable modulation, I
acknowledge again the great usefulness of the insti-
tution."
122 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XVII.
ST. AMBROSE AS A THEOLOGIAN.
It is one of the marvels which meet us in the course
of ecclesiastical history, that Ambrose, the la^^yer and
unbaptized layman, becam.e in a week the profoundly
learned and devoted prelate.^ Though not yet bap-
tized, he had been early admitted a catechumen,
and no doubt had been allowed access to the Holy
Scriptures and to the writings of Christian authors,
both of his own and of earlier times. And of this
access he must have availed himself largely. Within
a few months from his baptism he writes a work, that
on Paradise, full of scriptural allusions and deep
divinity. That much of his theology is borrowed is
true : that is to say, we recognise in his writings that
he has been consulting the works of others ; and we
know as a fact that he was a good Greek scholar, and
a student of Philo, Origen, and Basil. But his depth
and accuracy are all his own. He \^Tites as one who has
read and thought too. The promising young advocate,
the busy lawyer and politician, the elegant scholar,
had not confined his studies to the things of this
world. Side by side with his Cicero and his Virgil,
' See pp. 28, 29.
THEOLOGV. 123
his yEschylus and his Plato, had been well-used rolls,
treating of higher matters than philosophy or law or
romance, — the eternal truths revealed by the Eternal
Spirit. And his spirit had communed with them.
The same God who in His providence had designed
to call him from the council-chamber to the altar had
in the same providence guided his mind not to things
temporal only, but to things eternal : so that when
the call came, the chosen vessel was not unprepared
for the Master's use. His legal training was not
without its happy effect : it moulded him into that
accuracy of thought and expression which is so
remarkable in all his writings. He does not, how-
ever, approve, as a nile, of teaching Christian mysteries
to the unbaptized. The doctrine of the sacraments,
if communicated before baptism to the uninitiated,
would, he thought, damage rather than edify.
We, in our Western Church, and in this nineteenth
centur}', are more interested than we are generally
aware in his theology and his theological method.
We are so accustomed to connect the great name of
Athanasius with that cardinal doctrine, the coequal
Deity of the Redeemer and the Sanctifier, that we
suffer its brilliancy to overpower the brightness of the
other scarcely less illustrious champions of the truth
as it is in Jesus. Yet it is the fact that the West owes
a vast debt to Ambrose. It was he more, perhaps,
than any other Western father, whose energy and
theological definiteness checked the wave of Arianism
which the semi-Christian Goths were bringing with
them, and which, but for him, would have spread
over Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Britain. Not in the
I 2
124 ST. AMBROSE.
synod of Aquileia only, but in almost every writing
that has come down to us from his pen, as in almost
every one of his public acts, we find him the devoted
defender of the Nicene teaching, that the Son is
consubstantial with the Father. But there is more
than this. Of all the Fathers, from St. Ignatius
down to St. Bernard, none exerted such an influence
over the Latin Church as St. Augustine of Hippo.
He is, without the possibility of gainsaying it, the
leading spirit of Western theology : " no sermon with-
out Augustine " is a Spanish proverb ; and we all
remember our own Chaucer's
* ' But I ne cannot boult it to the bren,
As can the holy Doctour Seynt Austen."
And not only so, but he was in an especial manner the
favourite of the chiefs of the Reformation. The same
fatalist tendency which, we would almost say, inevitably
characterized Augustine as a converted Manichaean,
the adversary of Pelagius, made him dear to those who
were lifting up their voices against the will-worship
and the Pelagian self-righteousness which connected
themselves with the teaching of Rome. To those
who felt and knew that " the way of man is not in
himself " even the horrors of " reprobation " seemed
nearer the truth than the idea of deserving grace of
congruity, or accumulating merit by ascetic self-
maceration, or profuse and inconsiderate almsgiving.
On the other hand, we can hardly help seeing that
the same Augustinian theosophy, coarsely stated and
unduly pressed, has exercised an unhappy influence
on our own times by being, to some extent at least,
ON THE FAITH. I 25
the source of no small portion of the infidelity of
these later days. Men have shrunk from belief in
the God of revelation, because He was represented
to them as One who deliberately created with the
l)urpose of consigning His creatures helplessly and
hopelessly to never-ending misery.
If then Augustine has so influenced for Western
Christians the middle ages, the Reformation, and the
nineteenth century, we cannot but be deeply interested
in one who had so much to do as Ambrose with
forming and directing the Christianity of Augustine.
For though in some points the scholar may have
broken away from the master, or modified his teaching,
still we must in the main be feeling the results of
Ambrose's mode of dealing with his noble convert We
cannot tell to what extent his calm judgment may have
negatively influenced that convert, and preserved him
from carrying to an erroneous extreme those principles
on which others have framed a mistaken, not to say-
repulsive, system of divinity. If Augustine is what
he is with the teaching of Ambrose, what might he
have been without that teaching? The bishop of
Milan was at least the guide of the guide of the
theology of the West.
The writings of Ambrose all abound with definite
theolog)' ; but the distinctly dogmatic treatises which
we have from his pen are those on the Faith, in five
books, on the Holy Ghost, in three books, on the
Incarnation, and on the Mysteries.
The history of the five books on the Faith (a.d.
378-9) has already been told. They are directed,
he informs us in the outset of the first book, mainly
126 ST. AMBROSE.
against the errors of Sabellius, Photinus, and Arius ;
and he briefly confutes all three from the opening
verses of St. John's gospel (i. § 56).
'•^ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginnifig with God. ' Was with God ' he says,
and repeats ' was ' four times. Where does the scoffer
find that He was not ? Elsewhere, too, St. John in his
Epistle says, That which was in the beginning : ' was '
has an indefinite extent; whatever explanation you
may devise, the Son ' was.' Our fisherman has in this
short paragraph excluded all heresies. ' That which
was in the beginning ' is not included in time nor
preceded by a beginning. So Arius may hold his
tongue. And that which ' Vv-as with God ' is not con-
fused by mixture, but kept distinct by the solid per-
fection of the Word which remains with the Father ;
so that Sabellius may be silent. And the Word was
God. Therefore this Word is not in the utterance of
speech, but in the designation of heavenly power, so
that Photinus is confuted. And as He ' was in the
beginning with God,' the inseparable unity of the
Eternal Divinity in the Father and the Son is plainly
taught, so that Eunomius^ is put to the blush."
And again (v. § 104): ^'' If David then in spii'it
call Him lord, how is He his son ? By one question
our Lord has shut out the Sabellians, the Photinians,
' Eunomius was a disciple of Aetius, who taught that the
Son was unlike [anomoios) in nature to the Father ; whence the
name of Anomoians given to his party. Eunomius was made
Bishop of Cyzicus about A.D. 360, but was soon afterwards
deposed for heresy.
ON THE FAITH. I27
and the Arians. For when it says The Lord said to
viy Lord, Sabellius is shut out, who will have it that
the Father is the same as the Son ; Photinus, who
judges according to the flesh, is shut out, because
none could be Lord of King David but One who is
God, for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou sen'c. \\o\.\\d a jirophet
reigning under the Law hold an opinion contrary to
the Law ? Arius is shut out, who hears that the Son
* sits at the right hand ' of the Father ; so that if he
argues from human usage, he convicts himself, and
pours back on himself the poison of his sacrilegious
argument, and, while he interprets the inequality of
Father and Son after human fashion, erring from the
truth in respect of Both, advances the One Whose
honour he seeks to diminish, being ready to own Him
to be first Whom he hears to be on the right hand.
The Manichaean is shut out also ; for He does not
deny Himself to be Son of David according to the
flesh, since when the blind men cried, Jesus, thou
Son of David, have ?nerey on us, He was pleased with
their faith, and stopped and healed them ; but He
declares that it does not agree with His proper eternity
that He should be named by the faithless ' son of
David ' only. For He is Son of God against Ebion,
Son of David against the Manichaeans ; Son of God
against Photinus, Son of David against ^Llrcion; Son
of God against Paul of Samosata, Son of David against
Valentinus ; Son of God against Arius and Sabellius,
inheritors of pagan error. Lord of David against the
Jews, who, when they saw the Son of God in the flesh,
with unholy madness believed Him to be a mere man.
128 ST. AMBROSE.
But in the Church's faith the Son of God the Father
and the Son of David is one and the same ; because
the mystery of the incarnation of God is the salvation
of the whole creation, as it is wTitten that He by the
grace ^ of God should taste death for every man ; that
is, that, without any suffering on the part of His
Divinity, the whole creation should be redeemed by
the price of the Lord's blood ; as it runs in another
place, the creature shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption. It is, therefore, one thing to be called
Son with reference to the Divine Substance, another
to be so called with reference to the taking flesh upon
Him : for in respect of the Divine generation the Son
is equal to God the Father, and in respect of His
taking flesh He is a servant; for He took on Him^
says the Apostle, the form of a servant ; but still the
Son is one and the same. On the other hand, in
respect of His glory He is Lord of the holy patriarch
David; according to the sequence of corporeal succes-
sion He is His son, not as coming short of Himself, but
as gaining for Himself the right of our adoption."
All passages of Scripture which seem to speak of
the Son as inferior to the Father are to be referred,
he shows, to Christ's humanity (ii. § 59) : "It was in
His human nature that He doubted, and was weary,
and rose again, for it is that which has fallen that
rises. In His human nature, too. He said that on
' St. Ambrose here reads "without" God instead of *'by
the grace " of God. Theodoret and Theophylact do the same,
alleging that the ordinary reading is Nestorian, separating the
Manhood from the Godhead of Jesus Christ. St. Ambrose
understands it of the impassibility of the Divine Nature.
ON THE FAITH. I 29
which a question is often raised, Afy Father is x^ra/t-r
than /. . . . He is less than the Father in His human
nature ; ran you wonder if He, speaking in the i)erson
of a man, called the Father greater, when in the per-
son of a man He said I am a worm and no man, and
again Ifc hhis brought as a sheep to the slaughter 1 If
in this respect you call Him ' less,' I cannot deny it ;
l)ut, to use the language of Scripture, He was not
born less, but 'made lower.* Why made lower?
Being in the form of God, Be thought it not robbery to
be equal witJi God, but tnade Himself of no reputation ;
not, certainly, relinquishing what He had, but assum-
ing what He had not, for He took o?i Him the form of
a seri'ant. In short, that we might know that He was
made lower by taking a body on Him, David showed
that he was prophesying of a man, by saying What is
man that Thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man
that Thou visitest him 1 Thou hast ?nade Him a little
hnver than the angels. And the apostle, intcr[)reting
this passage, says : IVe see Jesus, JVho 7cas made a little
laiver than the angels, for the sufferijig of death crowned
with glory and honour, that He without God ^ should
taste death for every man. . . . How well the apostle
has put it, without God should taste death for ei'ery
man, lest we should imagine that the suffering was of
His divinity, not of his flesh I "
Again, referring to a text continually alleged by the
Arians, he remarks : ** Hence we understand that
what was written of the Incarnation of the Lord, The
Lord created me the beginning of His 7i>ays, for His
' See preceding nolo.
130 ST. AMBROSE.
works} signifies that the Lord Jesus was created of a
virgin to redeem the works of the Father. It cannot
be doubted that this was said of the mystery of the
Incarnation, since the Lord took flesh to free His
works from the bondage of corruption, and to destroy,
by the suffering of His own Body, him who had the
power of death. For the flesh of Christ was for the
sake of the works, His Divinity before the works :
because He is before all things^ and by Him all things
consists
It would be wrong to omit the powerful logic by
which he substantiates that article of the Athanasian
creed, "the Son uncreate" (v. § 137).
"The Son is the Lord of Glory (for the apostle
speaks of ' crucifying the Lord of Glory') ; but gloiy
is not given to creatures ; therefore the Son is not a
creature.
" The Son is the ' express image' of the Father.
Now every creature is unlike heavenly existence ; but
the Son is not unlike God the Father ; therefore the
Son is not a creature.
" The Son tJiought it 7iot robbery to be equal with
God. Now no creature is equal_with God, but the Son
is equal ; therefore the Son is not a creature.
"Every creature is changeable; but the Son of
God is not changeable j therefore the Son of God is
not a creature.
^ Prov. viii. 22. The passage in the Hebrew was as it is
rendered in the Latin Vulgate and our Authorized Version,
' ' The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before
His works of old." But in the LXX., which St. Ambrose's
version follows, an itacism pointed out by St. Jerome has turned
" possessed" into "created."
ON THE FAITH. 131
"Every creature, by its own natural capacity,
receives the accidents both of good and of evil, and
perceives the abatement of them ; but with the Son
of God there can be no addition to or abatement
of His Divinity ; therefore the Son of God is not a
creature.
"God will bring rccry uwrk of His into judgment ;
but the Son of God is not brought into judgment, for
He Himself is Judge ; therefore the Son of God is
not a creature.
'• , . . . The Son quickens, as the Father ; for as
the Father raiseth up the dead and quiekeneth them, eirn
so the Son quiekeneth luhom He will ; the Son raises
as the Father does, the Son preserves as the Father
does ; how can He be unequal in power Who is not
unequal in grace ? So also the Son, as the Father,
does not destroy. Therefore, that no one should
fancy there were two Gods, or introduce a division of
power, He said / atid My Father are One. How can
a creature say this ? Therefore the Son of God is
not a creature.
" To be a king and to be a slave are not the same
thing. Now Christ is a king, and the son of a
king ; therefore the Son of God is not a slave. But
every creature is a slave, whereas the Son of God,
who from slaves makes sons of God, is no slave ;
therefore the Son of God is not a creature."
The discourse on the Lord's Incarnation was com-
posed and delivered, a.d. 382, at the request of two
Arian courtiers of Gratian. The two gentlemen,
after challenging the bishop to handle the subject,
were discourteous enough, according to Paulinus, to
132 ST. AMBROSE.
take a drive out in a gig when they ought to have
gone to church to hear his sermon, and suffered for
their offence by being thrown from their carriage and
killed.
The treatise, as we might expect, traverses much
the same ground with the five books on the Faith,
and the author confesses as much (ch. vii.). It is
necessary for him, however, not only to insist upon the
consubstantial Deity, but to maintain against oppo-
nents the perfect and sinless Humanity of Christ
(§ 59).
" It is written, they say, that the Word was made
flesh. It is wTitten, I do not deny it ; but consider
what follows, A7id dwelt among us [in 7is'\, that is, the
Word who took flesh dwelt in us, dwelt, that is, in
human flesh, and therefore was called Emmanuel,
that is, God with us. So the Word was made flesh
stands for ' was made man.' As also it says in Joel,
/ will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ; for this does
not mean upon irrational flesh, but a coming out-
pouring of spiritual grace on men is promised. Sup-
pose you take it literally, and imagine from the
expression the Word was made flesh that the Word of
God was changed into flesh, you cannot deny that it
is written of the Lord that He did no sin, but was
made sin. Was the Lord therefore changed into sin ?
No, but He was called sin because He took our sins
on Him. For the Lord was called a curse, not because
He was changed into a curse, but because He took on
Him the curse which belonged to us, for cursed is every
one, it says, that hangeth on a tree. You cannot then
wonder that it is written the Word was made flesh,
ON THE INXARNATION. 1 33
when the flesh was taken up by the Word of (}od ;
since it is written of the sin which He had not that
He was made sin, that is, not by nature and the
operation of sin, though He was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, but, in order that He might crucify our
sin in His flesh. He took upon Himself for us the
weaknesses of a body already liable to the conse-
quences of fleshly sin."
But the sinless body is not perfect man without a
soul (§§ 63, 68).
"And therefore, when He took man's flesh, it follows
that He took the perfection and fulness of incarna-
tion, for nothing in Christ is imperfect. Therefore,
He took flesh to raise it again ; He took a soul, but
a perfect, reasonable, human soul What use
would it have been to take flesh without soul, since
the flesh is certainly insensible, and the irrational
soul is neither liable to the consequences of sin, nor
worthy of reward ? He therefore took for us that
which in us was still in danger. What use is it to
me if He did not redeem the whole of me ? But He
did redeem the whole of man, who said, Are ye angry
at Me because I have made a man every whit whole on
the Sabbath day ? He redeemed the whole of me,
because the believer rises again into a perfect man,
not in part, but wholly."
And this perfect Ciod-man is the revelation of the
Father to men (§ 112).
" The Father then is holy, and the Father is per-
fect ; the Son too is holy and perfect, as the image
of God. The image of God, because all that belongs
to God is seen in the Son, namely eternal Divinity,
134 ST. AMBROSE.
Omnipotence, and Majesty, As, then, God is, so is
He seen in His image. Whence you must needs
believe the image of God to be such as God is. For
if you withdraw anything from the image, it will surely
appear withdrawn from Him Whose the image is ; if
you believe the image to be deficient, God will appear
in His image less than He really is. For as you
estimate the image, such will that Invisible One, of
Whom the image is, appear to you. The image said,
He that hath seen Me hath seeft the Father-. And as
you estimate Him whose image you believe the Son
to be, so of necessity must the Son be estimated by
you. Whence, as the Father is uncreate, the Son
also is uncreate ; as the Father is not deficient, the
Son is not deficient j as the Father is almighty, the
Son is almighty."
The three books on the Holy Ghost were ^vritten
at the request of the Emperor Gratian in the year
(a.d. 381) in which the doctrines of Macedonius and
the Pneumatomachi were condemned by the first
Council of Constantinople. Ambrose seems to allude
to the decline of the Arian party in the prologue :
*'Even Constantinople," he says, with a. slight under-
current of Occidental jealousy, " has now received the
word of God." He culled materials for the work
from Didymus, Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa,
Athanasius, and other writers ; and Jerome most
unfairly ridicules him as not having improved his
authors in the process of translation, and as having
produced a poor and weak result, embellished with
rhetorical graces, but wanting in power. A perusal
of the work impresses us with no idea of deficiency
ox THE HOLY GHOST.
j:)
on the part of the writer, but docs certainly confirm
us in tlie notion that the critic was not entirely free
from prejudice and jealousy. We may admit, however,
that the work is not perfection. 'Hiere is a tendency
to repetition, an occasional want of method, and
a frequent divergence into mystical interpretations of
Scripture very little to the point, which are blemishes
in an otherwise great and valuable whole.
The line of argument taken by Ambrose is the
simi)le and logical one that Divine attributes are
throughout Scripture given to the Holy Spirit ; that
in respect of grace, love, communion, pardon, light,
life, creation, operation, counsel, w411, He is One with
the other two Holy Persons ; that His Personality is
as clearly stated as that of the Son ; and that those
expressions which seem to convey the idea of Him
as a created or inferior being, are also applied to the
Son, so that if they do not disprove the Deity of
Christ, they cannot be held to throw any doubt on
the Deity of the Spirit. And the warning against
false teaching is very solemn (i. § 47).
" Consider carefully why the Lord said, J]7iosoever
speaketh a word ogaifist the Son of Afivi, it shall be
/orgtve?i him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come. Is there any
difference between the offence against the Son and
that against the Holy Spirit ? No ; for as the dignity
is one, so the injury is one. But if any one, misled
by the appearance of the human body \c>{ Christ],
thinks less highly than he should do of the flesh of
Christ (for we ought not to have low notions of that
136 ST. AMBROSE.
Flesh which is the palace of virtue and the fruit of
the Virgin), he is in fault, yet is not excluded from
pardon, which he may gain by faith. But if any one
denies the dignity, majesty, and power of the Holy
Ghost to be eternal, and imagines that devils are cast
out, not by God's Spirit, but by Beelzebub, there can
be no entreaty for pardon where there is the fulness
of sacrilege ; because he who has denied the Spirit,
has denied the Father and the Son, since the Spirit
of God is the same as the Spirit of Christ."
Ambrose does not hesitate to speak of the Holy
Ghost "proceeding" from the Father and the Son;
but he refers the " proceed" apparently to the tem-
poral mission of the Spirit (i. § 114).
" The Spirit, then, is not sent as if from a place,
nor does He proceed as from a place when He pro-
ceeds from the Son ; as the Son Himself, when He
says, / came forth froin the Father^ and am come into
the world, destroys all opinions which may be formed
of movement, as in bodies, from place to place.
Similarly, when we read that God is within or without,
we do not include God in, or separate Him from,
anybody. . . . Wisdom says, / ca7tie out of the mouth
of the Most High, not so as to be out of the Father,
but with the Father, because the Word was with God;
and not only with the Father, but in the Father ; for
He saith, / am in the Father, and the Father in Me.
But when He goes forth from the Father, He does
not retire from a place, or separate Himself as a body
from a body ; nor when He is in the Father is He
included as a body in a body. And the Holy Ghost,
when He proceeds from the Father and the Son, is
ON THE HOLY GHOST. 1 37
not separated from Father or Son ; for how can He
be separated from the Father who is the Breath of His
mouth? And this is at once a proof of His Eternity,
and an expression of the unity of His Divinity."
AVe find towards the end of the work an energetic
protest against Tritheism (iii. § 95).
'' According to our judgment that God is One, there
is understood one Divinity, and a oneness of Power.
As we say that God is One, both confessing the
Father with a true name of Deity, and not denying
the Son, so we do not exclude the Holy Ghost from
the unity of Deity : and yet we do not assert, but
deny, three Gods, because it is not oneness but
division of power that constitutes plurality. For how
can the unity of Divinity admit of plurality, when
plurality is of number, and the Divine nature does
not admit of number? (§ 106). But you may say,
l)erhaps, * If I call the Spirit Lord, I shall speak of
three Lords.' But when you call the Son Lord, do
you either deny the Son or acknowledge two Lords ?
Far from it, for the Son Himself said, Yc caiuiot scnc
hvo lords \tnaster5\ : but He did not deny Himself or
the Father to be Lord, for He called the Father Lord,
as you find it, / thank Tlice, O Father^ Lord of
Jieaven and earth ; and He spoke of Himself as Lord,
as we read in the Gospel, Ye call me Master and Lord,
and ye say well, for so / atn. But He did not si)eak
of two Lords ; on the contrary He showed that He
did not when He gave the warning, Ye cannot scne
tTt'o Lords. ¥oT there are not two Lords where the
Lordship is one ; because the Father is in the Son and
the Son in the Father, and therefore there is one
K
138 ST. AMBROSE.
Lord. ... So as we do not say there are two
Lords when we style both the Father and the Son
Lord, so we do not say there are three Lords, when
we confess the Spirit to be Lord. ... So also the
Father is holy, the Son holy, and the Spirit holy, but
there are not three Holies, because there is one Holy
God, one Lord. For there is one true Holiness, as
there is one true Divinity."
The one short tractate, "On the Mysteries" is
singularly in accordance with the teaching of our
Prayer Book as regards the number of the true
Evangelical Sacraments. The "mysteries" are not
seven, but two. Not only are we glad to find the
" two only " of our own Catechism thus upheld by the
authority of one of the four great doctors of the
West, but a special interest attaches to the work : it
is a reproduction of the course of instruction given
to the newly-baptized at Easter 387 ; and there is, as
we have seen, every reason to believe that Augustine
was one of them. They are solemnly reminded of
the various details in the ceremony of their admission
into the Christian Church; the entrance into the
baptistery, the renunciation of the devil, the turning
to the east, the descent into the water, the profession
of faith in the One coequal Trinity, the unction, the
gospel which tells how our Lord washed His disciples'
feet, and the chrisom vest. They are taught that the
element of the regenerating sacrament was prefigured in
the water of the primeval earth over which the Spirit
moved ; in the Flood ; in the cloud-covered sea
through which the Hebrews passed ; in the water of
Alarah, sweetened by the mystic wood ; in the Jordan,
ON THE MYSTERIES. 1 39
where Naaman washed and was cleansed ; in the
pool of Lethesda, stirred by the angel. Lut the water
is nothing in itself: (§ 19) : —
" You have been told not to believe only what you
see ; lest you should say, * Is this the great mystery
which eye hath not seen nor ear heard^ neither hath it
entered into the heart of man to eoneeire? I see water,
which I used ever)- day to see ; can it cleanse me,
whereas I often have gone down into it, and have
never been cleansed ? ' Learn from this that water
does not cleanse without the Spirit. And so you
have read that the three witnesses in Baptism are one,
the spirit, and the water, and the blood : because if
you remove one of them, the sacrament of baptism
does not exist. For what is water without the Cross
of Christ? a common element, without any sacra-
mental efficacy. But again, the mystery of regenera-
tion cannot be without water, for unless a man be born
again of water and of the Spirit, he eannot enter into
the kingdom of God. Now even the catechumen
believes in the Cross of Christ, for he too is signed
with it : 1 but unless heis baptized in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, he
cannot receive the remission of sins, nor obtain the
gift of spiritual grace."
From the font the newly-baptized proceed to the
altar, to partake in that holy feast of which David in
mystery sang in the 23rd Psalm; prefigured in the
' The form of admitting a catechumen included the use of
the sign of the cross (w p. 4). St. Augustine speaks of himself
in childhood as having been "signed with the sign of the Lord's
Cross, and salted with His salt." (Confcs. I. xi.)
K 2
I40 ST. AMBROSE.
gifts of Melchizedek, and the manna in the desert,
but far above either as the Hght is above the shadow,
the reaUty above the figure ; for Christ Himself is
there, to be the spiritual food of His people (§ 58) : —
"Whence also the Church, seeing the grace to be
so great, exhorts her children and her neighbours to
hasten together to the sacrament, saying, Eat^ O
friends; drink, yea. drink abundantly, O beloved.
What we eat and drink the Holy Ghost has expressed
for you by the Prophet elsewhere, saying, O taste and
see how gracious the Lord is, blessed is the man who
trusteth in Him. Christ is in that Sacrament, because
it is the Body of Christ : it is not therefore a bodily
but a spiritual food. Whence also the Apostle says
of its type, Our fathers did eat spiritual meat, and
dri?ik spiritual dri7ik ; for the Body of God is a
spiritual Body, the Body of Christ is the Body of a
Divine Spirit : for Christ is a Spirit, as we read :
The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord [A. K,
The breath of our nostrils, the a?toinied of the Lord.']
And in Peter's Epistle we have Chist suffered for us.
Finally this meat strengthe7is our heart, this drink makes
glad the heart of 7nan, as the Prophet has declared."
Ambrose evidently did not withhold the cup from
the laity, for these words are not addressed to priests,
and the theory of concomitance, invented to console
the laity for losing half their Eucharist, finds no place
in his writings. He did not hold the sacrament to be
" a bare sign, an untrue figure of a thing absent " ;
nor yet did he try to explain the mystery by any device
such as that of Transubstantiation, but was contented
to believe, without discussing or defining, the Real
Spiritual Presence.
SCRIPTURAL EXPOSITIONS. 14 1
CHAPTER XVIII.
ST. AMHROSE AS AN INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE.
Bv far the greater part of the works of St. Ambrose
consists of expositions of Scripture. All of these
appear, Hke his works of dogmatic theology, to have
been intended for delivery in public, either as set
discourses, or in the form of instruction given in
what the language of our Church and time would
call Bible Classes. We constantly meet with allusions
to passages in the service of the day, with parenthe-
tical observations and digressions, and with remarks
on incidents of the time, natural enough in a speech,
but unlikely to be met with in a carefully-arranged
treatise or commentar}'.
Of comments on the text of Scripture we have
two : the " Enarrations " on thirteen Psalms, in-
cluding the 119th, and an Exposition on the Gospel
of St. Luke. The other Expositions are exegetical
tractates on the events or i)ersonages of the Old
Testament. The " Hexaemeron," or account of the
six days of Creation, is, of course, a treatise on that
work of the Deity as recorded in the ist chapter
of Genesis ; the remainder are on Adam and Eve (or
Paradise), Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph, the blessings of the Patriarchs, Job,
David, Elijah, Naboth, Tobit.
Commentators, both Jewish and Christian, agree
142 ST. AMBROSE.
with St. Ambrose that of Scriptural exposition there
are at least three (if not four) methods. First comes
the historical, literal, or critical, expounding the written
Word with reference to its immediate meaning, the
time at which and the circumstances under which it
was written or spoken, and inquiring into its simple
literal import. Secondly, we have the practical,
moral, or tropological, examining the teaching of the
Word, and the rules which it gives for the direction of
our life and actions. Thirdly, there is the spiritual,
mystical, or anagogical, pointing out the more or less
hidden reference which it bears to Christ and His
Kingdom, whether in the way of type and figure, or
of implied and covert doctrine. It is to this latter
method that Ambrose mainly inclines. If we may
judge from his interpretations of Scriptural names,
and the extraordinary meanings he attaches to the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet in his Commentary
on the 1 1 9th Psalm, he was entirely ignorant of the
original language of the Old Testament : but we
know he was an excellent Greek scholar ; and he
adheres to the guidance of Origen, with whose writings
he was conversant, and everywhere seeks to unfold,
much as he did, the spiritual significance of the pas-
sage, event, or character, with which he is dealing.
Other portions of Scripture lend themselves more
readily, some to one, some to another of the three
methods ; but the Psalter, he says, adapts itself to
all (Ps. xxxvii. §1) : —
^' All Divine Scripture is either natural, or mystical,
or moral. Natural in Genesis, in which is expressed
how the heaven, seas, and earth were made, and how
this world was formed. Mystical in Leviticus, in
SPIRITUAL SENSE OF SCRIPTURK. 1 43
which is contained the mystery of the priesthood.
Moral in Deuteronomy, in which man's life is shaped
according to the precept of the Law. Whence also
Solomon's three books appear to be chosen out of a
number : Ecclesiastes out of the natural, Canticles
out of the mystical, Proverbs out of the moral. But
since the body of all the Psalms is one, there is no
division or distinction in them, but none of these
methods of teaching, whichever the case may require,
is omitted from them."
But of the excellence of the spiritual over the
other kinds of interpretation he speaks most strongly,
comparing the moral and mystical modes to the two
sisters of Bethany, and exalting the spiritual Mary far
above the practical Martha (Ps. i. ver, 3, § 42).
*' The mystical saves and delivers from death : the
moral is an ornament for decoration, not a help to
our redemption. That the mystical is more excellent
than the moral even our Lord Himself teaches in
His Gospel, saying of Mary, who sat at the Lord's
feet and heard His word, when Martha was busied
about serving, and complained that her own sister did
not help her in the duties of the table, Martha,
Martha^ Mary hath chosen that good part which shall
fiot be taken away from her. If she who waited on
Christ at table was not comparable to her who desired
to hear the word, what worker can we compare with
one who is anxious for the knowledge of eternal
things ? Yet so that faith is not wanting to the work
of the one, nor work to the knowledge of the other,
as in the case of ^Lary; lest either the leaves be
without fruit, or the fruit without its natural protec-
tion be uncovered and open to injury."
144 ST. AMBROSE.
Ambrose has no doubt about the Messianic im-
port of the Psalms. We find him distinctly laying
it down in the Preface to the Enarration on the
I St Psalm, § 8 :—
" What others announced by dark sayings appears
to be plainly and openly promised to him [David]
alone, that the Lord Jesus should be born of his
seed, as the Lord said to him. Of the fruit of thy body
shall I set upon thy seat. In the Psalms, therefore,
not only is Jesus born for us, but also takes on Him
the health-giving Passion, rests, rises again, ascends to
heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father. What
no man had taken upon himself to say, this Prophet
alone announced, and afterwards the Lord Himself
declared in the Gospel."
And he carries this principle out to the full : —
Ps. xxxvi. 9. — " Rightly it is said 7;^ Thy light shall
we see light ^ according to the saying, He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father. With Thee, therefore, O
Well of Life, we shall see the Father present. For
as Thou wast with the Father in the beginning, God
the Word, so the Father Who is in Thee is always
with Thee, for He is with Him in Whom He is. And
the Advent of our Lord and Saviour is foretold. Who
at His coming on earth declared, / and My Father are
One, that is. We are One Light, as We are One Name.
AVe are Both One by unity of Light and Name ; or
rather the Trinity is One by unity of substance, but
with the difference of each Person. Trinity signifies
a difference of Persons, Unity signifies Power. It
might be said to the Father too, For with Thee is the
7vell of life, that is, the Word was in Thee from Whom
life proceeded, and always was, because He was with
ON THE PSALMS. I45
Thee. All things were made by Him and in Him ;
and He is the Life of all, and has manifested Thee
to us, that men's hearts may be illuminated unto the
knowledge of Thy Majesty."
Ps. xxxviii. 10. — "Lastly, that you may know it is
rather to be understood of Christ, he has added. As
for the li^ht of mine eyes it also is gone from me. Who
is the true light of all but Christ Jesus, of Whom
John says, That icas the true Light which lighteth
rrery man that comcth into the 7Uorld 1 for He it is
AVho lightens both the bodily eyes and the mental
vision. Let us beg therefore that He will always pour
His light into us, and always be with us, as He was
with David, who therefore ventured to say. For with
Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see
light. He, indeed, as a prophet had seen a great
light : may his lantern shine for us, that we may not
err. And the Word is a lantern, as the Word is the
true Light, which lighteneth the whole world. Lord,
Thy Word is a lantern unto my feet.'*
Ps. xl. 10. — " /// the volume of the book it is written
of Me. Yes, it is written of Christ in the beginning
of the Old Testament that He should come, to do
the will of God the Father in the redemption of
mankind ; since it is >\Titten that He formed Eve, in
the likeness of the Church, to be a help to man.
For what can be a defence to us, in the weakness of
our body and the troubles of these times, but only
the grace given to the Church, whereby we are re-
deemed, and our faith, by which we live? In the
volume of the book it is written : Bone of my bones and
jlesh of my Jlesh. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife ;
146 ST. AMBROSE.
and they shall be 07ie flesh. Listen to one who tells
us who is speaking, and to what the mystery refers ;
This is a great mystery ; but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church^
Ps. xli. 9. — " What is hath laid great wait for
me ? The Greek has a word meaning hath magni-
fled ; and the Lord has movingly explained both
words in the gospel, saying, H^e that eateth bread
with me hath lifted up his heel against me. . . .
When I was a boy I saw a wrestler after throwing
his adversary strike his forehead with his heel, which
was a remarkable thing, because in it he insulted the
vanquished. And this is the meaning of the saying,
hath laid great wait for me; by this word the
Lord declares the arrogance of one who insulted
Him. Judas lifted up his heel against Christ when
he betrayed Him, but he did not lift it up un-
punished. Adam still lifts up the heel which was
wounded by the serpent. Christ, indeed, had washed
the feet of Judas, and he had heard Him say. He
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is
clean every whit. But what grace washed, treachery
had polluted. Judas, therefore, lifted up his heel
to his wounding. He did not truly hold the Head
who lifted up his heel against Christ. Adam lifted
up his heel against himself, Judas his against Christ,
and therefore the serpent wounded him more griev-
ously than others. He lifted up his heel, who offered
the treacherous kiss, to lay wait for his Master ; and
therefore it is written in the prophet, hath laid great
wait for me. He who lays wait practises some
trick by which he throws or wounds his adversary-.
ON THE PSALMS. I 47
Therefore Judas is said to have laid wait, because by
his kiss he inflicted a wound, by which he gave the
IK^rsecutors a sign to rush upon the Saviour. So he
laid wait like a serpent ; because a serpent injects
venom with his mouth, and wounds the heel with
his fangs; and Judas wounded not the Divinity of
Christ, but the end of the heel of His body. And
Judas, too, lifted up his heel like a proud and in-
solent wrestler, in order to smite the Saviour's head ;
but he could not strike the head of Christ, for the
head of Christ is God. He bound his own head
with the knot of the hideous halter, to take away
from himself the means of salvation."
The exposition on the 44th Psalm has a melan-
choly interest for us. It was the last work of the
great Milanese prelate, the unswerving champion of
the faith. It was never delivered; its concluding
sentences were dictated and committed to writing
only a few days before his decease. And in it he is
still true to his principle ; he still sees Jesus in the
Psalter, with a spiritual sight not darkened by the
weakness of the failing body, but intensified in its
keenness by the nearer approach of the brightness
of eternal day. Commenting on ver. 11 of this
Psalm, Thou hast given us like sheep appoi7ited for
meat., he says : " Our good Lord Jesus Christ Avas
made a sheep for our banqueting. Do you ask how ?
Listen to one who says, Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us; and consider how our forefathers
in figure divided and ate the lamb, signifying the
Passion of the Lord Jesus, on Whose sacrament we
feed daily. Through the Sheep Himself, therefore.
148 ST. AMBROSE.
they became flocks for meat, as Aquila says ; or
flocks for eating, as Theodotion expresses it ; or pas-
ture of the eaters, as Symmachus has it. But a good
banqueting is not to be feared, but to be desired by
the saints; for otherwise one cannot arrive at the
kingdom of heaven, since the Lord Himself has said,
Except ye eat My flesh, and drink My blood, ye shall
?iot have eternal life. It is clear, therefore, that our
Lord is the meat, the banquet, the nourishment of
the eaters, as He Himself says, / atn the livino Bread
which came dow?i from heaven. And that you may
know that, since He so came down, all has been
done for our sake, the holy Apostle says. We are all
one bread. Let us not fear, then, because we are
become sheep appointed for ?neat. For as the flesh
and blood of the Lord Himself has redeemed us, so
also Peter, and the holy Apostle Paul too, and the
other apostles, endured much for the Church when
they were beaten with rods, stoned, and thrust into
prison. For the Lord's people are made to stand firm,
and the Church has gained her increase by their
endurance of injuries and experience of dangers ;
since others hastened to martyrdom, seeing that no
loss befell the apostles by their sufferings, but that
by (the sacrifice of) this short life they gained immor-
tality."
So, again, on Ps. xlvi. 5. God shall help her, and
that right ea?'ly, he explains " right early " with a
minuteness equal to that of the acknowledged inter-
pretation of the xxii. Psalm.
" By this is signified that the resurrection early in
the morning brings us heavenly aid, driving away the
ON THE PSALMS. 1 49
ni-lU and restoring the day, as the Scripture says,
Aicake, thou that shrpcst^ and arise front the dead,
ami Christ shall ^ive thee lii^ht. See the mystery.
Christ suffered towards eventide; therefore it was
that according to the law the lamb was slain towards
eventide. It was in the morning that He rose ; for
so it is written, the first day of the iceek cometh Mary
Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the
sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the
sepulchre. Towards the evening of the world He is
slain, when the light was beginning to fail ; for the
whole world was in darkness and would have been
wrapixid in more miserable darkness still, had not
Christ, the Everlasting IJght, come to us from heaven
to pour out on mankind a season of innocence. So
the Lord Jesus suffered, and pardoned our sins by His
own blood; the light of a purer conscience shone out,
and the day of spiritual grace beamed forth. Whence
also the A[)Ostle says. The night is far spent, the day
is at handP
And on Ps. xlviii. 2 : —
" Beautiful for situation, the joy of the luholc earth,
is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the
Great King. \\'hy she is the joy of the whole earth
is clearly expressed : it is because the Lord Jesus has
gathered for Himself a Church from among sinners.
Therefore those who before were the sides of the north,
that is, associates and adherents of the devil, to whom
it is said, Aiuake, O north ivind, and come, thou
south, are made the faithful in Christ. For of them
is it said. They that trust in the Lord shall be as
Mount /ion ; nntl so they become the Mount Zion
150 ST. AMBROSE.
by the grace of Christ and the sacrament of bap-
tism."
Christ is the key to a difficult passage, Psahii
xlix. 14 : —
^^ Like sheep they are laid in the grave ; death shall
feed on the?n; and the upright shall have dominio7t
over the?n in the mortwig ; and their beauty shall con-
sume in the grave from their dwelling. Those who
would not let Christ feed them, death shall feed on
them. Who then would drive away the Good Shepherd,
Who lays doian His life for His sheep, because the
care of His flock pertains to Him ? Or who would
choose death the hireling, to be brought to him with
the due reward of deeds of wickedness ? Know, O
man, that Christ is the true Shepherd, Who feeds unto
life. Death has entered, and leads some to destruc-
tion, and devours those over whom it is able to prevail
because of their sins. Though they have in this life
eagerly pursued wealth and favour, that they might
have dominion over others, yet in the resurrection
servitude shall be theirs, when the brightness of the
morning dawns on the righteous, the figure of whom
is Jacob, set as a lord over his brother. And a
miserable servitude it will be, that, at the time when
others are called into the glory of light and splendour,
their glory will be waning and consuming in the
darkness of the grave."
On the Latin and Greek rendering of Psalm Ixii. i,
Shall 7iot my soul he subject imto God? {A. F., Truly
my soul waiteth upon God), Ambrose 'takes occasion
to make an affectionate reference, at some length, to
the memory of the pious Gratian, murdered in 2,^7,,
UN THK PSALMS. 151
some six years and more before the date of the
enarration (a.d. 390). And, as the versions agree in
reading for the words we translate they delight in lies
something which they rendered / ran in thirsty he
remarks on the guilty thirst of the tyrant who, as he
declares, devised at a banquet the murder of his
imixirial prisoner. But he has first shown the
reference of the first verse to Christ, and guarded
against misapprehension : —
" Subjection then is the supereminence of human
virtue, not the diminution of Divine power. For if
they say that the Son is less than and not equal to
the Father, because He was subject to God the Father,
is He therefore less than His mother, because He
was subject to His mother ? for we read of Joseph
and Mary, And He was subject unto them. However,
we do not lose but gain by that affection of His through
which the Lord Jesus has infused grace and faith into
us all, that He may make us with faithful spirit subject
to God the Father. Therefore with a new and pro-
found meaning the Aj)Ostle says that He will be
subject unto the Father in us, when there is in all the
fulness of faith, and a kind of unity in devotion.
For now, so long as we differ in opinion, we in a
manner lessen Christ's kingdom ; for all things are
not yet subject to Him whose kingdom is unity : but
z^Jun all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall
the Son also Himself be subject unto Him That put all
things under Him, that God jnay be all in all, as it is
written. For now He is above all in power ; but it is
needful that He be in all by will, and this will He will
have when He knows all that is within us to be full of
152 ST. AMBROSE.
Him and void of sin. Christ is not therefore yet subject
to the Father, because He is not yet all in all ; but
when Christ is all in all, God will be all in all.
Whence we gather that the kingdom of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is one :
because He who receives the Son receives also the
Father and the Holy Ghost : for the power, grace,
and operation of the Trinity is one."
It is perhaps in the Exposition on the 1 1 9th Psalm
that the powers of the preacher and commentator are
best seen. The work belongs to a.d. 385-6 ; years of
bitter persecution for the bishop at the hand of
Justina and the Arian party. Besides explaining the
Psalm, which he considered as a sort of miniature
of the whole Psalter, he quotes freely from the rest
of the Psalms, and from other books both of the Old
and New Testament, expounding as he quotes. He
uses the Canticles so largely that the chief part of the
comment on that book which has been compiled from
his works is drawn from this portion of them. The
literal, moral, and mystical senses have each of them
their due amount of attention ; and the heretic, the
Jew, and the philosopher alike become in turn the
object of the preacher's burning words. Sometimes,
it is true, the illustrations are quaint, but they are
always telling : —
(Verses 153 — 160). "Here begins the 20th letter
Res (Resh), which is interpreted by the Latin word
signifying ' head ' or ' primacy.' . . . All the vigour
of life and grace of beauty is in the head. The
snake is said, when it is pressed by danger, always to
hide its head, and, coiling itself into a circle, to
ON THE PSALMS. 153
defend this jxirt alone, leaving the rest of the body
exposed ; because it is said that if the vigour of the
head be ])reserved, it can repair the other members
when wounded. So do thou also keep the head, in
a moral sense, and in a mystical sense too. Christ is
the mystical Head, because by Him all things cofisist,
and He is the Head of the bod)\ the Church. He who
has lost this Head will not be able to derive any
advantage from living. In this alone we, who are
formed after the image of God, and the likeness of
virtues, differ from brutes. Faith separates us from
being like to animals void of reason. O ye human
serpents, keep well this Head : though all the limbs
be beaten, the whole body burnt in the fire, plunged
in the deep, or torn by beasts, yet if this Head be
guarded, life is unhurt, and safety assured ; for no
one can perish from whom Christ is not taken away."
All hearts will thrill in unison with the sweet earnest
prayer he draws from the conclusion of the Psalm.
*' seek Thy scn'ants, for I do ?wt forget Thy
commajidmcnts. Come then. Lord Jesus, seek Thy
servant, seek Thy weary sheep ; come, O Shepherd,
seek Joseph like a sheep. Thy sheep has strayed whilst
Thou wert delaying and staying on the mountains.
Leave Thy ninety and nine, and come and seek the
one that has strayed. Come without dogs, come
without evil workers, come without the hireling who
knows not how to enter by the door. Come without
helper, without any to announce Thee ; I have long
waited for Thy coming. I know Thou wilt come,
for I do not forget Thy commandments. Come not
ivith a rod, but /;/ loT'e and in the spirit of meekness.^'
L
154 ST. AMBROSE.
The ten books of " Expositions " on the gospel of
St. Luke are rightly called by this name rather than
by that of Commentary. They are by no means a
complete comment, but rather a series of sermonets
on certain passages of St. Luke, arranged in the order
of the gospel itself, or, as we should say, according to
chapter and verse. Their date of publication is fixed
at the same year of troubles and persecutions (386)
as the Enarrations on the 1 1 9th Psalm ; they were
probably delivered orally during the two years im-
mediately preceding their collection into a whole.
Auxentius the Arian is not indistinctly alluded to in
the comments on x. 3 : / se7id you forth as la??ibs
among wolves. And on ^^wars and commotions^'
(xxi. 9) we have another historical illustration : —
" None are better witnesses to the heavenly words
than ourselves, on whom the end of the world is
come. What wars and what rumours of wars we
have known ! The Huns rose against the Alans, the
Alans against the Goths, the Goths against the Tay-
fali and Sarmatae. The exiles of the Goths have
made us too in Illyricum exiles from our fatherland,
and the end is not by-and-by. How universal has been
famine, and epidemic, among oxen and other cattle,
as well as among men ! so that even in the case of
those of us who have not endured war, pestilence has
made us like people crushed by war."
There is a difference of opinion about the merits of
the Expositions. According to Rufinus, St. Jerome
(one of the most captious of critics) alluded to this
commentary when he said that of two works of
Ambrose one was dull both in sense and language,
ON ST. LUKE. 155
the other sportive in words but sleepy in meaning.
But Jerome was particularly and unreasonably jealous
of Ambrose, It is true, however, that the expositions
on St. Luke, though valuable, and full of thought and
sound theology, are not so lively and sparkling as
those on the Psalms. The author revelled in the
mystical, and seems therefore under constraint when
he is, by the nature of his text, rather confined to the
literal or moral. In fact, he takes every opportunity
of breaking away from his restraint into something at
least allegorical or figurative, if not absolutely mystical.
In dealing with the 3rd verse of the ist chapter, he
cannot speak of the deposit of the Gospel committed
to Theoi)hilus, *'one whom God loves," without a
figurative inteq:)retation of the moth and rust which
we are bound carefully to prevent from corrupting it.
The rust is covetousness, carelessness, worldly ambi-
tion : Photinus, Arius, Sabellius, the spirit of anti-
christ which denies the Incarnation, are moths that
lacerate the sacred vestures in the store. Again, the
food of the Baptist is significant. Ambrose does not,
as a modern preacher or lecturer might do, give a
graphic sketch of life in the wilderness, investigate
the nature of the locusts and the wild honey, and
discuss the question between the vegetarian and the
opposite view, but works out a somewhat far-fetched
meaning: —
"The food of the prophet is a mark of his ofifice,
and tells of a mystery. What so useless, in respect
of a man's duty, as catching locusts, and what so full
of meaning in respect of proi)hetic mystery ? For
locusts, the more unprofitable, idle, fleeting, wandering,
L 2
156 ST. AMBROSE.
noisy they are, the more fitly they represent the
Gentiles, who, without labour or profitable work,
without dignity, without voice, utter a melancholy
sound, but know nothing of the word of life. This
people is the food of prophets, because the larger the
number of them congregated together, the more plen-
tiful the advantage of prophetic speech. And the
grace of the Church is prefigured in the wild honey,
not found by the Jewish people in the hive of the
law, but scattered, by the wandering of the Gentiles,
over the fields, and the leaves of the forest, as it is
written. We found it in the fields of tJie wood^
Of a similar character, — not historical, but figura-
tive, — is his explanation of the difficult word in vi. i,
rendered in our version "second Sabbath after the
first," but literally "second-first Sabbath."
" It is curious that St. Luke says 'second-first,' not
* first-second,' for that which is best ought to be put
first. It is the second, because a first according to
the law went before it, and there was a punishment
prescribed if any one worked on it ; it is the first,
because the Sabbath according to the law, which was
first, is done away, and this, which was ordained
second, has become the first. For as it is lawful to
work on the Sabbath, and there is no punishment for
one who works, the very name of Sabbath did not
remain, its force according to the law being done
away. However, though one was first in order, the
other in principle, the latter was not therefore less
than the former, for the first Adam is not to be com-
pared with the second Adam ; tJie first man Adam
ivas made a living soul ; the last Adam was made
ON ST. LUKE.
D/
a quickening spirit . . . the first jfian is of the earth
eiirthy ; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. The
second was preferred before the first, for one was the
cause of death, the other of life. So also we have the
word * second-first' Sabbath; second in number, first
in grace ; fur the Sabbath in which men are exempted
from punishment is better than that for which a
l)unishment is prescribed. The law is first, the
(iospel second ; but fear is lower than grace."
Even a remark of. St. Paul which we should look
upon as to be understood literally, and literally only,
is made to bear a figurative sense : —
" // may be, he says, that I will abide, yea, and
7vinter with you ; and farther on, But I will tarry at
Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great door is opened unto
me. He winters with the Corinthians, because he
was troubled with their errors, and their affection
toward the service of God was cold ; he keeps Pente-
cost with the Ephesians, and imparts to them mys-
teries, and refreshes his soul, because he sees them to
be glowing with the warmth of faith."
A similar exposition is made, incidentally, of the
remark in St. John xviii. i8 : —
"/Z was cold. If we consider the time of year, it
could not be cold, but the cold was where Jesus was
not confessed, where there was none to sec the light,
where He was denied Who is a cons utning fire. So the
cold was that of the mind, not of the body. Lastly,
Peter stood near the coals because he was cold in
heart. The Jewish flame is hurtful, it burns, but docs
not give warmth. The fire is hurtful which si)riiik]es
the soot of error (so to speak) even over the minds of
158 ST. AMBROSE.
saints, at which even Peter's inward eyes were
darkened. Those were not eyes of flesh and blood,
but eyes of the mind, with which he saw Christ."
The parable of the barren fig-tree, again, is ex-
plained mystically, not morally ; the exposition, how-
ever, is not far-fetched, but most instructive and
edifying : —
" These three years I co7ne seeking fruit on this Jig-
tree. He came to Abraham, to Moses, to Mary ; that
is, He came in the sign, in the law, in the body. We
recognise His coming by its benefits. In one there
is purification, in another sanctification, in another
justification; circumcision purified, the law sanctified,
grace justified. One was in all, and all in One. For
none can be cleansed, but he who fears the Lord ;
none is fit to receive the law but he who is purified
from fault; none comes near to grace but he who
knows the law. Therefore the Jewish people could
neither be purified, because they had the circumcision
of the body, not of the heart ; nor be sanctified,
because they knew not the virtue of the law, follow-
ing the carnal rather than the spiritual {for we know
that the law is spiritual) ; nor be justified, because
they did not repent of their offences, and therefore
knew nothing of grace. Justly, therefore, no fruit was
found in the synagogue, and therefore it is commanded
to be cut down."
It is curious to light on a little confusion of names
which we are hardly prepared for in so accurate a
theologian, though it does not justify the sweeping
condemnation of the critic. Just as Polycrates and
Clement of Alexandria confounded Philip the deacon
ox ST. LUKE. 159
with Philip the apostle, and claimed the latter with
St. Peter as an apostolic precedent for marriage, so
Ambrose fails to distinguish the two (or three) who
bear the name of James. There went up into the
mount of transfiguration, he says, *' Peter, who re-
ceived the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; John,
to whom is committed the Lord's mother; James,
who first ascended the episcopal throne." Whether
James, the Lord's brother, first bishop of Jerusalem,
James the less, James the son of Alphieus, are one
or two persons, is not by any means a settled point ;
but Ambrose is clearly wrong in speaking of the son
of Zebcdee as first bishop.
Another mistake, or misconception, on the part of
the commentator is justly criticised by Jerome. He
joins with St Hilary of Poictiers (on St. Matthew
xxvi. 70) in a strange piece of special pleading in
favour of St. Peter in his denial of our Lord ; and all
will probably agree with Jerome's caustic remark that
it defends the erring disciple at the expense of the
truthfulness of Him who said Thou shalt deny Mc
thrice.
" But let us consider the form of his denial, which
I see to be differently stated by the different evan-
gelists. It was so new a thing for Peter to be able to
sin, that his sin could not be understood by the evan-
gelists. Therefore, when the maid stated to Peter
that he was of those who were with Jesus of Nazareth,
Matthew has set down that he first replied, I know not
7vhat thou sayest. So also Mark, who followed Peter,
and may have learnt more accurately of him. This
is the first utterance of Peter in his denial ; but he
l6o ST. AMBROSE.
does not seem in it to deny the Lord, but to withdraw
himself from the woman's betrayal of him. And
consider what he denied ; it was his being of those
who were with Jesus of Galilee, or as Mark puts it,
with Jesus of Nazareth. Did he deny having been
with the Son of God? It was only saying, I know
Him not as Galilean or Nazarene whom I know as
the Son of God. . . . Being asked. Art thou also one
of those who were with Jesus of Galilee ? he shrank
from the word of eternity; for those who had a
beginning of being ' were' not, that is to say, He
alone was Who was in the beginning. Finally, he
says, / a?n not ; for it belongs to Him alone to be
Who is always. Whence also Moses says, I AM hath
sent ??ie. . . . Lastly, according to Matthew, being
pointed out as having been with Jesus, he said, /
know not the man. . . . And he rightly denied Him
as man whom he knew to be God. . . . John has set
it down thus, that being asked by the maid whether
he were one of that man's disciples, he first replied /
a?n ?iot. He who was Christ's was not a man's apostle.
In fact, Paul also declared himself to be no man's
apostle, saying, Fatd, an apostle^ not of ?nen, neither by
man, but by Jesus Christ aftd God the Father. . . . The
answer is consistent in every case ; for he who said /
knozu ?iot the man, replied properly enough when asked
whether he were of 'the man's' disciples, I am ?iot.
He did not therefore deny himself to be Christ's
disciple, but a man's disciple. So both Peter and
Paul denied Him as man Whom they confessed to be
the Son of God. . . . Luke also has written that
Peter, when asked whether he was of them, answered
ON ST. LUKE. l6l
at first, / kfioic Jlim not. And he spoke well ; for it
were rash to say he knew Him whom the mind of
man cannot comprehend ; for 710 man knoiccth iJic
Son but the Father. Again, in his second reply,
according to Luke, Peter said, / am not. He had
rather, you see, deny himself than Christ. . . . And
at the third question he said, / knaiu not what thou
saycst, that is, ' I know nothing of your sacrilege.' "
The expositor himself is hardly satisfied with his
defence of the apostle, for he goes on thus : —
" We excuse him, but he made no excuse ; for an
ambiguous answer does not beseem one who con-
fesses Jesus, but an open confession. What use is
there in employing ambiguous words, if you wish to
appear to have made a denial ? So Peter is repre-
sented as not having answered thus of set purpose,
because wficn he thought thereon he 2uept."
His defence of Peter is, however, not owing to
anything approaching to the modern Roman view of
papal supremacy. He treated Damasus, as we
know, with respectful courtesy, but by no means
submissively ; and in the same spirit he deals with
the passage (St. Matt. xvi. 18) which was naturally
present to his mind when explaining the correspond-
ing portion of St. Luke (ix. 20) : —
"The Rock is Christ ; for they drank of that spi-
ritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was
Christ ; and He did not refuse to His disciple the
grace of that word, so that he too should be Peter,
as having from the Rock (petra) solidity of endurance,
firmness of faith. Strive therefore that thou also
mayst be a rock. Therefore look for the rock, not
1 62 ST. AMBROSE.
out of thyself, but in thyself. . . . Thy rock is
faith, the foundation of the Church is faith. If thou
be a rock, thou wilt be in the Church, for the Church
is on a rock. If thou be in the Church, the gates of
hell will not prevail against thee. The gates of hell
are the gates of death, and the gates of death cannot
be the gates of the Church."
Of the more literal part of the expositions, which,
as has been already observed, though valuable, is not
so brilliant as the comment on the Psalms, space will
allow but two specimens. One is the explanation of
the discrepancy between the later part of the two
genealogies of the evangelists Matthew and Luke.
"We remark that St. Matthew has stated that
Jacob, father of Joseph, was son of Matthan ; Luke
that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was son of Heli,
and he has described Heli as being son of Melchi.
How can there be two fathers, Heli and Jacob, to
one man? and how two paternal grandfathers,
Matthan and Melchi ? But if you search accurately,
you will find that according to the rule of the old
law two brothers were fathers of two half-brothers by
one wife. For it is related that Matthan, who was
descended from Solomon, had a son Jacob, and died,
leaving a wife living. Melchi then married her, and
she had a son Heli ; again Heli, his brother dying
without issue, took his brother's wife, and had a son
Joseph, who according to the law is called son of
Jacob."
The other passage is one containing his views on
one point at least of what we now term eschatology.
He seems, like Gregory of Nyssa and John of
ON ST. LUKE. 163
Damascus, to be following the teaching of Origen, his
favourite.
" He who docs not bring peace and love to
Christ's altar shall be bound hand and foot, and taken
and cast itiio outer darkness; there sJiall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. What is the outer darkness ? Are
there any prisons or quarries to be undergone there ?
By no means. But all who are outside the promises
of the heavenly commands are in outer darkness,
because the commandments of God are light, and
whoever is without Christ is in darkness, because
Christ is light in the darkness. Therefore there is no
gnashing of bodily teeth, nor any perpetual fire with
bodily flame, nor any bodily worm. But these
phrases are used, because as fever and worms are
produced from indigestion, so if any one does not
digest his sins, by the interposition of sobriety and
abstinence, but by mingling sin with sin brings on a
sort of indigestion with offences old and new, he
will be burnt with fire of his own, and consumed by
his own worms. Whence also Isaiah says, JValk in
the light of your fire^ and in the sparks that ye have
kindled. The fire is that produced by sorrow for
crime ; the worm is this, that the sins of the irra-
tional soul afflict the mind and sense of the guilty,
and, as it ^vere, prey on the bowels of his conscience ;
and these are engendered like worms in each man,
as if from the body of the sinner. In fact, the Lord
has declared the same by Isaiah, saying. They shall
look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed
against Me ; for their worm shall not die^ neither shall
tJuir fire be quenched."
164 ST. AMBROSE.
The Hexaemeron (a.d. 389). — The idea, and
much of the material, of these six sets of discourses on
the history of the Six Days of Creation, as given in
Gen. i., are taken from the Hexaemeron of St. Basil.
But Ambrose does not slavishly adhere to his model ;
Origen and Hippolytus were evidently in his mind
as he wrote, and he not only refers to Aristotle
and Plato, but quotes Virgil and Pliny by name. In-
deed, it is palpable that he had the Georgics by
heart.
The object of Moses, or rather of Him Who in-
spired Moses, was, he says, not to give us scientific
truths, nor to introduce us to the wisdom of the
Egyptians, but to teach us about God and our hope
in Jesus Christ. Yet the preacher cannot help
diverging into science and natural history, though he
generally endeavours to defend the divergence by
some moral lesson or mystical exposition drawn from
physical truth. Li the beginiiing^ he tells us, means
" in Christ," for all things 7vere made by Him^ arid
7vithout Him was not anything made. The sun repre-
sents Christ, and the moon the Church : the sun
knoweth his going down, refers to the Passion ; He
appoi?ited the ?noo?i for certain seasons, to the vicissi-
tudes of the Church, her alternating seasons of
persecution and peace. The gathering together of
waters tells of the Church, gathered from the valleys
of heresy and heathenism, and the morasses of self-
indulgence and impurity, into a community which is
founded upofi the seas and prepared upon the floods,
so that the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods
lift up their waves to the Lord of all. Beasts, birds,
THE HEXAEMERON. 165
fishes, reptiles, insects, all have their moral or
mystical lessons to teach us ; and the vine, and the
fig-tree, and the very grass of the field are not with-
out their warnings and their promises.
One reads with interest, not unmixed with amuse-
ment, the scientific belief of an educated Roman and
(jreek gentleman of the fourth century as contained
in these remarkable discourses. Ambrose is no
Darwinian: matter, he says, is not uncreated, but
had a commencement /// the hci^uuiing, that is, before
time began. It was created in the rough, and in
disorder, and moulded into regular form, that God
might display His power to arrange as well as to
create. Each plant and animal is produced afkr his
kind by a perpetual ordinance of the Author of all ;
and peculiarities, such as the neck of the camel and
the trunk and legs of the elephant, are the special
creation of God. Ambrose holds that the world is
spherical ; that the sun is naturally and not acci-
dentally hot, and that light must be distinguished
from the sun, being prior to the sun ; that the moon
influences the tides ; that eclipses of the moon are
caused by the earth's shadow ; that the circumference
of the earth is about 180,000 stadia (22,000 miles).
He considers the brain to be the centre of the
nervous system, and the heart of the arterial, and has
in other respects a fairly correct idea of human
l)hysiology. He is acquainted with the mode of
respiration in insects and fishes, knows the habits
of the hippopotamus and the elephant, and is aware
of the value of opium as a medicine. I le argues most
sensibly against astrology and the fatalism which it
1 66 ST. AMBROSE.
necessarily implies : once admit its principle, he
says, "and you cannot praise a good man or con-
demn a bad one, since each appears to correspond
to the necessity of his nativity"; Jonah was cast into
the sea, and afterwards rescued, the penitent thief
saved, the Apostles converted, St. Peter delivered
from prison, St. Paul cured of his blindness, and pre-
served from the viper, not by the power of a natal
star, but by the providence and grace of God. With
all these correct and reasonable notions we have, on
the other hand, the most extraordinary fancies, mis-
apprehensions, and fallacies. He holds, of course,
the doctrine of the four elements, though he rejects
the idea of the fifth, or quintessence. He believes,
or tells as if he believed, the old tales of the phoenix
and the halcyon; of the lion being terrified at a
white cock, and being cured of sickness by eating a
monkey ; of the elephant dreading a mouse, of the
bear licking its cubs into shape, of the wolf striking
a man dumb by looking at him unseen, of the eagle
holding up its young to see if they can face the sun
unmoved, with this addition, that the rejected eaglets
are taken and brought up by the coot. Quails, he
says, feed on hellebore ; blackberry leaves thrown on
a serpent will kill it ; vultures do not pair ; snakes
cure blindness with fennel; tortoises eat serpents,
and, if poisoned, take marjoram as an antidote ; the
cicada sings loudest at mid-day, because at that time
the air is purer. He gives a receipt worth trying,
though it is to be feared he attributes too much virtue
to it; mosquitoes, he tells us, can be kept off by
the use of an ointment made of wormwood boiled in
THE HEXAEMERON. 167
oil. The Suez Canal, one of the great facts of
our own days, is considered by him as an im-
possibility, after the failures of Sesostris and
Darius ; but no doubt a railroad and an electric
telegraph would have been placed in the same
category.
The work is a strange tissue of facts and fancies,
of the literal and the mystical, of science and reli-
gion. And yet there is in it nothing ridiculous, and
much that is admirable. The power and wisdom of
Ciod and the truth of Scripture are upheld in almost
every page; and, like a true evangelical teacher,
Ambrose finds Christ everywhere. We have seen
how Christ was for him "the beginning": he not
only begins, but ends with the Saviour ; for his con-
clusion runs thus : —
" Thanks, then, to our Lord God, who has made a
work in which to rest. He made the heaven, I do
not read that He rested ; He made the earth, I do
not read that He rested ; He made the sun, moon,
and stars, I do not read even then that He rested : but
I read that He made man, and then He rested,
having one whose sins He might forgive. Or, per-
haps, there was then a mystical intimation of our
Lord's coming Passion, in which it was revealed that
Christ was resting in man, appointing for Himself a
rest in the body, for the redemption of man, as He
Himself said, / laid Me doicn and slept ^ and rose up
(li^ainy/or the Lord sustained MeP
On Paradise (a.d. 375). — This book, or rather
set of sermons, is believed to be the earliest of
Ambrose's works. The discourses were delivered
1 68 ST. AMBROSE.
and collected in the year immediately following
his consecration. There is observable in them a
kind of juvenility of style, which is much what we
should expect to find in the first sermons of a
neophyte bishop of five-and-thirty. He is evidently
indebted to Philo, whom, indeed, he mentions by
name, remarking that as a Jew he could not com-
prehend the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, but was
compelled to confine himself to their bearing on
morals. While not rejecting the literal sense of the
Scripture on which he is commenting, Ambrose per-
mits, and inclines to, an interpretation partly mystical,
partly allegorical. The garden of Eden is the holy
soul ; the river that waters it is Christ. Pison, Gihon,
Hiddekel, and Phrath (the Ganges, the Nile, the
Tigris, and the Euphrates) represent the four virtues
of wisdom, purity, courage, and righteousness, which
characterize the four ages of the world ; the period
from the Creation to the Deluge being that of wis-
dom, that from the Deluge to the Law the age of
purity, the time of the Law the period of courage,
and that of the Gospel the age of righteousness. The
serpent is pleasure. Eve sense, Adam intellect; and
the temptation represents to us the depravation of
the intellectual man through the allurements of sen-
sual gratification. This interpretation the writer
adheres to in a letter to his friend Sabinus, some
years later. He next proceeds to examine a number
of heretical and infidel questions asked and objec-
tions raised. The most important is an objection or
difficulty which takes this form : " Did God know or
not that Adam would disobey ? if not, His wisdom is
PARADISE. 169
not infinite; if lie did, He gave a superfluous and
useless command." The answer is, God, though He
foreknew Adam's transgression, did not lay on him
any necessity of transgressing, any more than He
laid on Judas a necessity of betraying his Master.
Both might have abstained from sin : the fault lies
with the transgressor, not the giver of the com-
mandment. God is not unrighteous, who permits
humanity to be tried. How then, it is asked, since
the woman was the cause of man's fall, do we find it
said of Adam in his solitude, // is jwt good, while
man created male and female is pronounced very
good i 'I'he reply is that the woman was to be God's
instrument in producing souls whom He might save,
and still more in producing the Saviour of those souls;
for it is written, she shall be saved in child-bearing, a
promise which undoubtedly relates to the Messiah.
The allegorical exposition is here taken up again.
God walking in the garden is to be understood of
His varied modes of presence through the Holy
Scriptures, and of His varied dealings with the soul.
The (jucstion put to Adam, Where art thou ? inquired
not about his place, but his spiritual condition ;
" How low has thy sin brought thee, that thou fliest
from thy God !" And, lastly, the curse on the ser-
l)ent, on thy belly shall thou go, signifies the degraded
character of sensuality, and d//st shall thou eat, the
fact that it has to do with the earthly and bodily, not
with the spirit.
The book ends abruptly. It is extremely probable
that the last discourses on the Fall have not come
down to us. We look in vain for an explanation of
.M
lyo ST. AMBROSE.
the coats of skins, the guard set over the tree of Hfe,
and, above all, of the Messianic promise, It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel.
Cain and Abel. — This treatise, or set of dis-
courses, belongs also to the year 375, and is, we are
told at the outset, a continuation of the book on
Paradise. We observe in it the same juvenility of
style, and the same, or even greater, indebtedness to
Philo. The interpretation is allegorical throughout.
Ambrose begins by showing that Cain and Abel
represent respectively the worldly-minded and the
religious, and are a figure of the Synagogue and the
Church. He then digresses, and rambles freely, re-
marking discursively on Abraham, Isaac, Esau, Jacob,
Moses (whom he believes to have been translated,
not really dead and buried), and Pharaoh. Return-
ing to the point, he gives us a somewhat more literal
comment. The offerings of Cain and Abel furnish
an opportunity of giving advice on the subject of
prayer : we should offer to God the best produce of
our souls, and offer carefully : " Take care not to
speak without thought, for the lips of the thoughtless
lead him into evil ; take care not to extol thyself in
prayer, for the prayer of him that humbleth himself
shall pierce the clouds ; take care not to divulge
unwarily the mysteries of the Creed or Lord's Prayer ;
knowest thou not how grievous it is to commit sin in
prayer, where thou hopest for a remedy ? Surely the
Lord has taught by the prophet that this is a grievous
curse, saying, Let his prayer he turned into sin."
The Hebrew words which we render. If thou doest
well, shall thou not be accepted} a?id if thou doest not
NOAH AND THE ARK. I71
7tr//, sin Ucih at the door, are turned in the LXX. and
Latin into, If thou offer aright, but divide not ari^i^ht,
Jhou hast sinned ; be stilt : and the passage is explained
thus : Cain offered aright, but he did not divide
aright, for he offered not readily and quickly, but in
process of time; and of the fruit only, not, like Abel,
of the first-fruits. After the murder, we are told to
remark, it is not the loving brother, but the voice of
thy brotJicr's blood that calls for vengeance : and the
fratricide dreads temporal death more than eternal
judgment, while God spares him in mercy, to give
him space for repentance.
Noah and the Ark. — This work appears to have
been completed in 379, during the troublous time
following on the defeat and death of Valens, when
the author had himself just recovered from a dan-
gerous illness, and was lamenting the decease of his
only brother. Like the foregoing books, it contains
evident traces of Philo. It has come to us in an
imperfect state : the conclusion is as abrupt as that of
the Paradise ; there are at least two palpable lacunar ;
and St. Augustine twice quotes a passage from it which
is not found in our text.
Ambrose in this book distinguishes expressly be-
tween the literal and the '' higher" sense ; and in his
remarks on the various portions of the narrative is
careful to give each, first explaining the literal mean-
ing with its practical teaching, then stating the
allegorical significance. Of the spiritual sense,
strangely enough, we find nothing : of Noah as a
type of Christ, and the Ark as prefiguring the
Church, there is not a single word.
M 2
172. ST. AMBROSE.
For the "gopher" or cypress wood, the material
of the ark, the LXX. has " squared" planks; the
Vulgate renders it "smoothed" planks. St. Ambrose's
Latin version follows the Greek ; and he takes occa-
sion from the word to institute an extraordinary-
comparison between the fabric of the ark and that
of the human body. According to the " higher "
sense, which he then proceeds to develop, the open-
ing of the windows of heaven signifies mental
trouble, the breaking up of the fountains of the great
deep the perturbation of the body and its senses.
The waters prevail fifteen cubits uptaard, to show how
all the senses of men are overpowered by the flood of
passion ; for (he explains) there are five senses, and
each of them is threefold, comprising object, subject,
and act (as, for example, sight sees the visible) ; the
senses, therefore, are properly represented by thrice
five. The clean beasts mean the senses of the wise
man, the clean fowls his thoughts ; the raven is vice,
which loves the blood of passion and finds a home
in it ; the dove is virtue, which cannot rest in the
flood, but returns to the soul with the olive-leaf of
peace, and does not consent to dwell on the earth
till the tide of evil has passed away. As the green
herb have I given you all things proves, according
to the letter, the lawfulness of eating some kinds of
flesh : the higher sense is that irrational passions are
to be as subject to the wise man as herbs to the
gardener : the promise that there should no more be
a flood to destroy all flesh implies that God will re-
strain the force of human passion ; the bow in the
cloud is His power, which like a bow is now drawn isi
ABRAHAM. 173
jadgment, now slackened in mercy. Noah's drunken-
ness and nudity are not, as in the Hteral sense, an
offence and a warning, but a ground of praise ; for
they betoken the withdrawal of the wise from all
earthly thoughts and earthly gratifications.^ The
only Christian piece of symbolism occurs near the
end of the book, where the 350 years of Noah's life
after the P'lood are treated of The 300, like the
same number in the 318 servants of Abraham (such
is the e.xplanation given in the epistle attributed to
St. Barnabas and adopted by Ambrose in the book
on Abraham), is expressed by the Greek tau^ the sign
of the cross, and so signifies Christ ; the 50, the
jubilee number, represents the gift of the Spirit ; the
350 years therefore tell us of pardon and grace.
The two books on Ahraham, with several others,
belong to the year 387, the date of the baptism of
Augustine. The idea of the work may possibly have
been taken from Philo, but not the language and
expressions. In the first book Ambrose proposes to
follow the examples of Plato in his " Republic," and
Xenophon in his " Cyropa:dia." They drew the
pattern of a perfect commonwealth and a perfect
man ; he will sketch a wise and religious character.
But their patterns were mere fiction ; his will be far
superior, being the true history of a real servant of
Cod. So he goes through the Scriptural account of
Abraham's life, showing the practical lessons to be
learnt from it. The typical is not forgotten : Sarah
is the Church; as St. Paul shows ; Isaac carrying the
^ In \\\Q. Elijah Ambrose acceplalhc literal sense {sec p. 193).
174 ST. AMBROSE.
wood is Christ bearing His cross ; the ass on which
Isaac rode signifies the Gentiles ; and in seeing all
this Abraham saw Christ ; wherefore the Lord said,
Abj'aha??i rejoiced to see My day; and he saiv it, and
was glad. We are warned, in reading that God did
tempt Ab?'aJiani, not to confound God's temptations
with the devil's ; " the devil tempts that he may ruin^
God that He may crown." And we find here and
there pieces of Christian counsel : bishops should be
hospitable, like Abraham ; Christians ought not ta
marry Jews or heathen ; ladies are not to make the
earrings and bracelets of Rebekah a plea for excess.
in jewellery.
The text of the second book is not perfect. In it
Ambrose designs not to give the practical, but the
allegorical meaning, or " higher sense," of the life of
Abraham, just as he did (he says) when writing of
Adam and Eve.
Abraham is the wise soul. It must quit the
" Haran" of earthly passion, and go to "Bethel,'^
God's house, and there call upon His name ; it may
be driven by stress of circumstances to " Egypt,"
temptation and trial, but will soon depart thence
'' very rich," retaining all its virtues, and return ta
Bethel ; it will not be able to dwell with " Lot," a man
half inclined to sin, but will resign to him the earthl5r
joys of the " Jordan valley," and receive from God
the assurance of " possessing the whole land," since
nothing is wanting to the truly wise. When the
*' four kings," the sensual pleasures derived from the
four elements, overpower the " five kings," or five
senses, and take the waverer Lot captive, the wise
ISAAC AND THE SOUL. 175
soul, ill the power of the " 318," that is, of the cross
of Jesus, will rescue him ; and " Melchizedek," the
king of righteousness, will bestow His blessing. The
wise soul will take nothing of the earthly spoil, but
will, according to God's direction, offer to Him,
earth, sea, and air, or body, sense, and speech, under
the figure of the divided heifer, goat, and ram, toge-
ther with the undivided dove and pigeon, signifying
purity and grace ; the " smoking furnace," or be-
clouded humanity, which contemplates the offering,
will be followed by the "burning lamj)" of heavenly
illumination ; and God will promise to the progeny
of "Sarah," the Church, the possession of future
glory ; the mark of her children on earth will be the
" circumcision," or entire purification of the Spirit.
To the same year belong Isaac and the Soul, and
The Benefit of Death. In the former Ambrose
passes on from the wedlock of Isaac and Rebekah to
the spiritual union between the soul and its Lord, the
Church and her Master, the Spouse and the Bride ;
and at once enters upon a series of expositions on
texts from the Song of Songs, for which he is much
indebted to Origen's commentary on that book. One
of the most beautiful of the many sweet passages in
the comment is that on chap. v. ver. 2, 3 : —
** / sleep, but my heart waketh. . . . Though thou
be asleep, yet if Christ knows the devotion of thy
soul, He comes, and knocks at its door, and says,
Open to Me, My sister. \Vell is it said, sister, because
the marriage of the Word and the soul is spiritual
Souls know nothing of wedlock and earthly bonds,
but arc as the ani^els in heaven. Open, He says, to
176 ST. AMBROSE.
Me, but shut against strangers ; shut against the
world. Come not forth to things material, leave not
thine own light to seek another's ; material light
produces thick darkness, so that the brightness of
true glory is not seen. Open, then, to Me, but open
not to the enemy ; do not give place to the devil.
Open thyself to Me, be not straitened ; open thyself
wide, and I will fill thee. And since in going
through the world I have found too much trouble
and offence, and could not easily obtain a place to
rest in, do thou open thyself, that the Son of Man
may lay His head in thee^ for He cannot rest save on
the humble and meek. The soul hearing the cry,
Open to Me, My sister. My love, My dove. My un-
defiled, for My head is filled with deiv, that is, with
worldly temptations, being suddenly disturbed, and
ready to rise as she is bidden, replies, wafting the
perfume of aloes and myrrh, the signs of burial, /
have put off my coat, how shall I put it on 1 I have
washed my feet, how shall I defile them ? She is afraid
to rise up again to temptation, lest she come again to
crime and sin, and begin to pollute her steps and the
progress of her virtues with the traces of earth. Thus
does she give proof of the perfection of her virtue,
having won such love from Christ, that He comes to
her, and knocks at her door, and comes with the
Father, and sups with that soul, and she with Him,
as John says in the Revelation. For having heard
the call, CoJtie with Me from Lebanon, My spouse, with
Me from Lebanon, and knowing that in the flesh she
cannot be with Christ, but is with Him if she is so in
spirit, she conforms herself to His will, so as to be
THE nEN'EFlT OK DEATH. IJJ
conformed to the image of Christ, and is no more
conscious of the weeds of the flesh. . . . I have put
off my coafy hcnu shall I put it on i She has put off
that coat of skins which Adam and Eve received
after their sin, that coat of corruption and passion.
H(no shall I put it on ? She docs not seek to put it
on, but signifies that it is so cast away that it can be
her clothing no mofe. / ha-'c washed my feet, how
shall I defile them / that is, I washed my feet when I
came forth, and raised myself above that which is
earthly : how shall I defile them by returning into
the dark prison of passion ?"
In The Benefit of Death, Ambrose replies to the
question, *' As life is a good, must not its contrary,
death, be an evil ? " Of death, he says, there are three
kinds: i. Death in sin, which is evil; 2. Death to
sin, which is good : 3. The Separation of body and
soul, which is dreaded by some because it is called
destruction, and because of the pagan horrors con-
nected with the next world ; but it is really good, as
being a deliverance from sorrow and danger, an end
to sin, and the way to a better life. We must wait
for it patiently, and practise it, so long as we are here,
by self-denial and what is appropriately called morti-
fication. He then cjuotes the second book of Esdras
(vii. 32, 'i^'T^) which he appears to consider as authentic
and canonical, inquiring which was the earliest, Plato
or Esdras, and asserting that St. Paul followed Esdras,
and not Plato : and indeed, in a letter written in this
year to his friend Horontianus, he recommends the
study of the book. From the i)assage (quoted he
proceeds to lay down that departed souls remain.
178 ST. AMBROSE.
some in pain, some in bliss, till the Last Day. Of the
bliss of the latter there are seven gradations, for it is
written every o?ie in his ozvn order. The first is freedom
from temptation, through victory over the flesh ; the
second, freedom from care and dread ; the third, the
being, through remembrance of obedience, without
any fear of the judgment ; the fourth, rest in prevision
of coming glory ; the fifth, the 'sense of light and
freedom ; the sixth, the shining forth as the sun ; the
seventh, the confident anticipation of the vision of
God. Then comes the consummation of all, when
" we shall go to those who are sitting do\^m with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God,
because when bidden to the supper they did not make
excuse. We shall go where is the paradise of joy,
the garden of Eden, where the Adam who fell among
thieves no longer weeps over his wounds, where the
thief himself rejoices in his share of the heavenly
kingdom, where there are no clouds, no thunder, nO'
lightnings, no stormy wind, no darkness, no eventide,
where neither summer nor winter will vary the seasons.
There will be no frost, no hail, no rain, no need of
yonder sun, or moon, or stars, but the brightness of
God alone shall shine. For God will be the light of
all ; and that true Light which lighteth ez^ery man shall
beam on all. AVe shall go where the Lord Jesus has
prepared mansions for His servants, that where He
is we may be also. For so hath He willed it. Hear
Him telling what those mansions are : /;/ My Father^ s
house are many mansions ; and what His will is : /
will come again, saith He, and receive you unto My self y
that zuhere I am there ye may be also'^
retreat from the world. 1 79
Retreat from the World, or, Jacob in Padan-
ARAM, belongs also to the year 3S7, and, like many
other works of Ambrose, owes not a little to Piiilo.
Its object is, as the title shows, to point out the advan-
tage of retirement from the pursuit of worldly things,
and the withdrawal of the soul from the earth, as a
sort of representation or practice of death while the
body still remains in the world. Ambrose appeals
to the appointment of the six cities of refuge as
teaching us the need of such withdrawal ; and, it
must be added, entirely fails to make out his point
The cities where the accidental homicide was to be
sheltered from the avenger of blood cannot be made
to tell us anything about the duty of being unworldly.
With more propriety does he allege the advice of the
parents of Jacob, that he should flee from his brother
to Padan-aram ; though even here one fails to see
how Jacob in Laban's house, though certainly in re-
tirement from his home, could be considered as an
instance of shrinking from the world. Nor does St.
Paul, let down in a basket from the window in Damas-
cus, and flying from Aretas, teach us, as Ambrose
says, a lesson o{ JIis;/it from the world's intemperance
and impurity. The ejaculation of David, O that I
had wings like a dove^ has reference rather to escape
from enemies than from worldliness ; and can only
by a certain violence be made to api)ly, as Ambrose
makes it aj)ply, to the subject of his discourse.
Elijah, Elisha, St. John the Baptist, Lot in his retreat
from Sodom, and Susanna in her privacy, are far
more to the purpose ; he quotes them, but unfortu-
nately does not dwell on them. On the whole, this
£60 ST. AMBROSE.
book ; though eminently de\x>ut, and not inelegant in
its language, is the poorest and weakest of the saint's
writings^
Jacob and the Blessed Life. These two books
are also of the year 3S7. In the first, Ambrose shows
that the life of virtue is the truly blessed life : it is
attained by self-restraint on the part of men, wisdom,
and discipline, aided and fostered by the grace of
Christ. To Him we must cling, whatever may betide
us; for outward troubles do not interfere with the
blessed life in Him.
In the second book we are shown how Jacob (and
others), though under trial, enjoyed this blessed life.
This is brought out in a comment, partly moral,
chiefly mystical, on the various points in the life of
Jacob. Esau, we learn, represents the S\Tiagogue,
Jacob the Church ; the goodly raiment of Esau given
to Jacob is the privileges forfeited by the Tews and
^ven to the Church. The singular deWce of the rods
in the sheepfold is a preaching of the Trinity : for
the green poplar, hazel, and chestnut are in the LXX.
storax, walnut, and plane ; and of these storax, which
jields incense, signifies the Father, to whom incense is
offered ; walnut, of which Aaron's rod was made (so the
LXX. has it, instead of ''almond'), betokens the priest-
hood of the Son; and the plane-tree, on which vines are
trained (though Horace says the reverse ), is the s}-mbol
of the Holy Spirit. After Jacob's departure, Laban,
whose name means " white,"* for Safa/i is transformed
into an angel of light, demands his propert}- of Jacob,
and receives nothing, for the prince of this norld
£ameih, and hath nothing in Me, Here Jacob is a
JJIOOB. JOSEPH. l8l
type not of the Chmcfa, but of Christ ; and so he is
in the interpretatioD of his mairiage. Leah, die
tender-eyed, is the pmblind Law, Rachd the Chmdi
of the Gospel Both belong to the Loid; but He
lored Rachel first and best Lastly, Jaoob is the
likeness of dse human soul : the vrestling widi God
is striving to become like Him, the toodi of the
th^^ tnfjw^ the impoTtiDg the knovled^ of Christ
cmdfied, aiKl so, as A^ halted mptm kit th^k, the am
rose upon him, that is, Dirine illnminjli on came by
the teaching of the crossw
Blesed thns in his Hfe, the patriarch vas also
blessed in his death, when he uttered the prophetic
benedictions : so, too, was Joseph in prison, Isaiah
in martvTdom, Jeremiah in the dungeon, Daniel in
the lions' den, and the mother of the Maocabees»
when she and her sons soffered for the troth's sake.
This last aDnskn sends the author off into an aocxxmt
of the sofiering of tfas Maccabees, with a warm pane-
gyric on their firmness mider the cmd petsecntiaa of
the triant Antiodms, with which the book <XMiciodes.
The discooTses on Joseph and the blessdvGS or
THE Patriarch?, delivered later on in the year 387,
and ocrilected into two books, are, like the seocod on
Jacob, almost entirely mysticaL In the fianner
Joseph is set before ns as a type oi Christ, and the
events of his life are shown to be figures of some-
thing connected with the Saviour. His sheaf adoied
by the sheaves, and himself by the son, moon, and
stars, tell of the Deity of Christ, and his fittho^
rd>uke of the hlindnrss of the Jews, who reacted
tibeir Lord. He is sent to sedL hs bieUu en, is hated
152 ST. AMBROSE.
by them, they seek to slay him, and finally hand him
over to the heathen : just so it was with Christ. The
coat stripped off him is the flesh of Christ, and this
alone was torn and stained with blood j the Deity of
Christ could not suffer. Brought down into Egypt^
Joseph was a type of the Lord, who came down to
sinful men.
Here the stream of Evangelical interpretation is
interrupted. We expect to hear how Joseph in his
temptation was a figure of our Lord in His, and how
in descending into the prison and in coming out of
it he foreshowed the burial and resurrection of Jesus.
But we find none of this ; only a tirade against
women and courtiers. Evidently Ambrose had not
forgotten his disputes wdth Justina and the usher
Calligonus.
From the advance of Joseph to dignity the thread
is taken up again. His ring, and vesture, and chariot,
signify the priesthood, wisdom, and dignity of Jesus ;
his Egyptian wife is the figure of the Gentile Church;
the resort of all to him for food shows how all must
come to Jesus for the food of their souls. And so
his brethren came to him without Benjamin at first, as
the Apostles came to Christ without St. Paul, of whom
Benjamin is the representative ; as Benjamin was
kept in his old home, so St. Paul was kept from
Christ by the Law. But at last Benjamin is permitted
to go, and Reuben the Law, and Judah the Gospel,
are sureties for him. The cup in the sack is the
special gifts which St. Paul enjoyed : " He gives not
all things to all men. Corn is given to many, the
cup to one. ... It is not every one, but the prophet
THE r.LESSIXCS OF THE PATRIARCHS. 1 83
only, wlio says, 1 7inll receive the cup of salvation^ and
call on the name of the Lord.'^ Then Joseph causes
all men to go out from before him, for Christ was
sent to the house of Israel only, and then embraces
Benjamin, as Christ revealed Himself to St. Paul, and
embraced him with the arms of His mercy. Pharaoh
is glad, that is, the Gentile Church rejoices over the
redemption of the Jews ; and finally, Jacob is brought
by his sons from starving Canaan to Joseph and
abundance, even as God's people are brought from
the trammels of the Law into the abundant grace of
the Church of Christ.
The history of Joseph is naturally followed by the
BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS, an exposition almost
exclusively Messianic of the benedictions in chapter
xlix. of Genesis. As Ambrose renders from the
LXX. version, his text differs largely from the Vulgate,
Latin, and from ours. The blessing, or rather
censure, of Reuben does not, as the Jews erroneously
imagine, refer to the sin he had committed ; the
reference is not to the past, but to the future. It
foretells the insults and death of Christ ; and the
"couch" is the Cross, on which saints rest, but which
was " defiled " when Christ's body was nailed on it
by the Jews. Similarly the censure of Simeon and
Levi is prophetic. It does not refer to their dealings
with the Shechemites, which were excusable if not
praiseworthy, or Moses would not have uttered a
blessing on Levi, to be fulfilled in the fact that our
Lord was connected with that tribe, as we gather
from the priestly names Levi and Nathan in His
genealogy as given by St. Luke. It was fulfilled
184 ST. AMBROSE.
when the priests and scribes took counsel against
Jesus and put Him to death, for Simeon was the
tribe of scribes, and Levi that of priests. Judah, the
lio7i's whelps betokens the Son of God. Fro7n the
prey is rendered by the LXX. and Ambrose, " from
the rod," an expression which is referred to the rod
out of the stem of Jesse. He stooped doicni, ivho shall
raise him up ? foretells the burial of Christ, and His
resurrection through His own power, not another's.
Shilo is rendered in LXX. (according to the reading
which Ambrose adopts), " he for whom it is re-
served " ; and this is interpreted of Christ, for Whom
the Church is gathered together and reserved. The
ass bound to the vine represents the Gentile Church
bound to the True Vine ; the garments are the
Manhood washed in wine^ that is, filled with the
spirit and purified, and the clothes washed in the blood
of grapes^ are the nations cleansed by the blood of
Him who hung like a grape on the cross. The eyes
glad (a. v. red) with wine, are prophets who see
visions by the Spirit ; the teeth whiter than (a. v. white
with) milk, are Apostles, who, cleansed and whitened
by grace, feed first themselves and then others on
milk as a preparation for stronger food ; as it is said,
/ have fed you with milk and not with meat, for
hitherto ye were not able to bear it. Zabulon is the
Church, a haven from the storms of heresy, and the
sea of unbelief; and his border shall be unto Zidon,
that is, she receives sinners and Gentiles. Issachar
"desired the good, resting between the lots"; such
is the LXX. rendering of the strong ass crouching
down between two burdens^ and prefigures Him Who
THE r.LESSINGS OF THK PATRIARCHS. 1S5
chose the good, and rested between the Old and
New Testaments. He saw tJic latid^ that is, the
nations of the earth, that it was pleasant, for by grace
they should bring forth good works in abundance ;
and He bcnved His shoulder to bear the cross and the
sins of men. Dan is antichrist, the judge and the
tyrant. But he will not prevail over God's chosen ; the
serpent bit the heel of Christ, so that He fell ; but He
fell not on His face, He fell backward, and so still
looked up to God; and even thus His people will still
wait for the Lord's salvation. In his version of the
blessing of Gad, Ambrose's Greek halts. The word we
render "troop" is in the LXX. "a pirate-crew,'' cor-
rectly enough. Misled bya similarity of words, Ambrose
translates the passage " temptation tempted him,
and he himself tempted them forthwith " ; and under-
stands it of the treacherous (questions asked of Christ,
and the questions which He put in reply. Asher is
of course the Bread of Life, and the royal dainties he
yields are the Holy Eucharist. The Hebrew word
for "hind" also means "the bough of an oak";
and the blessing of Naphthali in the LXX. runs " a
bough at liberty, yielding beauty in its produce."
Ambrose makes it "a vine." In the discourses on
Jacob, the vine is Christ ; here he considers the
" vine at liberty" to be the people of God, a branch
of the True Vine, showing growth in grace. Joseph,
both in the sermons on Jacob and in these, is a type
of Christ. The fruitful l>ouj>^h is with Ambrose " son
to be ennobled," and over tlie wall, " return to me,"
referring plainly, he says, to Christ's ascension and
return to the Father ; the blessings prevailing unto
N
1 86 ST. AMBROSE.
the utmost hound of the everlasting hills are His head-
ship over all.
Benjamin, as in the previous book, is a type of
St. Paul. He (in Ambrose's version) " shall eat still
in the morning, and towards evening distribute meat
to princes " ; for St. Paul was a wolf when he perse-
cuted, but as Apostle of the Gentiles distributed
spiritual food to princes, as to Sergius Paulus and
Publius of I^Ialta.
The Defence of the Prophet David (384) is
another set of Scriptural expositions. They were de-
livered to meet the difficulty felt and expressed by some
in seeing a man of God in an adulterer and murderer.
Ambrose explains that God allows His saints to
show weakness, in order that they, as St. Paul says,
may not be exalted above measure^ and that we, seeing
them to be of like infirmity with ourselves, may not
think it hopeless to imitate them. David, however,
is to be highly commended, because with all the
temptations of rank and power surrounding him, he
only fell once. The goodness of his character is
seen in his treatment of Saul, Absalom, Shimei ; in
his choice of the punishment for his pride in num-
bering the people ; in his refusal of the water of
the well of Bethlehem, — though therein is a mystery,
for he really wanted not material water, but the
precious blood of Jesus, who was born at Bethlehem.
After this exordium begins a short " Enarration" on
the fifty-first Psalm, the expression of David's peni-
tence \ and, as such, his own defence of himself It
has much evangelic teaching in it : Wash nie, speaks
to the Christian of holy baptism ; I acktiowledge my
TOBIAS. 1S7
transgressions J of Christian penitence ; Thou shall open
viy It'pSy of forgiveness; the sacrifices of righlcoiisncss^ of
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The Complaint of Job and David might beentitled.
On the Miser}' of Man. The discourses comprised in
these four books belong most Hkely to the sad year
383, when famine and sword afflicted the Empire, and
Church and State ahke were thrown into mourning
by the death of Gratian. Ambrose shows, in a
running comment on portions of the book of Job and
of the Psalter, how each in his own way bewails the
\\Tetchedness of men ; Job sternly and vehemently,
David more gently, as befits the hart panting after
the waterbrooks, the type of Christ. Job laments
our weakness and ignorance, our continual trials and
temptations, the fears that beset us. David in the
Psalms speaks of sorrow and tears, and complains
how God appears to forsake us, and the righteous
seems to be confounded with the wicked. Both
unite in surprise at the prosperity of the ungodly.
The true consolation is to be found in thoughts
of the providence of God, and in the possession of
Christ. The ungodly may prosper for the present,
but they lose their future.
The discourses on Tobias (377), Elijah and Fast-
ing (390), and Naboth the Jezreelite (395), pertain
rather to the pastor than the theologian. They are
neither expositions of Scripture nor statements of
doctrine, but strong protests against the common
and fiishionable vices of the day. Those on Tobias
are among Ambrose's earlier sermons. Tliey are
directed against the money-lender. This personage
N 2
l88 ST. AMBROSE.
has always been a difficulty ; he is a trouble to us
now in India, and indeed is known and dreaded all
over the East, while the West is far from being in-
sensible of his presence. Nor was he less of a
trouble in earlier times, and among the Romans.
The Twelve Tables in B.C. 450 tried to meet the
evil by fixing the legal maximum rate of interest at
unciariumfeniis, one-twelfth of the capital per year of
ten months, or, as we should express it, 10 per cent,
per annum. The Lex Genucia in 341 prohibited
the taking of interest entirely ; but it was impossible
to enforce the law, and the maximum legal rate was
eventually fixed at cenfestmce, or 12 per cent, which
arrangement continued till the time of Justinian,
who altered the rate to 6 per cent. But extortionate
and illegal demands were not rare : Tacitus sighs
over the evil of usury, and Horace alludes to 60
per cent, paid in advance. In the Christian Church
there always was a feeling against lending money on
interest, and Ambrose denounces it. It has been
imagined that he did not object to all interest, but
only to an illegal and enormous rate ; but he quotes
too distinctly the texts hath not given his money upon
iisury, and lends, hoping for nothing again, to allow us
to think that he would tolerate usury even in the
most modest form. What he would have permitted
in our days, with our national debts and our regular
systems of banking and credit, is another question.
The fair dealing of Tobit, who demanded no interest
from Gabael on the money deposited with him, and
almost apologized for asking for the principal, sup-
plies the preacher with a text for a bitter invective
USURY. 189
against the evil of money-lending. He points his
discourse here and there with a play on words;
fenus, interest, is compared with fa'num^ hay, and
aiiOy the dicer, with ieo, the lion ; and he does not
hesitate to compare the usurer with Judas and the
devil. We have a graphic description of the tricks
practised by the man of money in order to get the
prey into his claws. *' I shall have to break up my
family plate to accommodate you ; it will be a great
loss to me; what amount of interest will compensate
for the loss of the workmanship ? But I will do it
for you as a friend, and when you pay me I can have
the plate re-made. Let me have the interest on the
I St of the month regularly, and I will not i)ress for
the principal, if you cannot make it up." Then we
have the swarm of harpies that crowd about the man
who has borrowed money ; it soon runs away, for
the perfumer, and spice-dealer, and poulterer, and
fishmonger, and wine-merchant, are all at him; he
lives splendidly, till at last the money-lender makes
his call, and then he is in sad trouble ; he sells his
fine clothes and his wife her jewels for half their
value, to pay the interest only. Again, we are sho>vn
the usurer at the side of a young man of fortune, just
come into his property: "a capital estate for sale,
an admirable investment — I can find the i)urchase-
money, and it is at your service." The interest is
allowed to accumulate, and is added to the principal,
till the debtor is at the creditor's mercy, and passes
his days and nights in misery-, trembling at every
knock. And so at last children have been sold to
pay their father's debts, and the rites of burial have
190 ST. AMBROSE.
been refused to persons who died unable to pay. In
one of these cases, Ambrose tells us, he ordered the
funeral procession to go and stop in the front of
the creditor's house till he was shamed into giving
way. Then the money-lender watches gamblers,
incites them to continue their play, and volunteers to
lend money when needed ; and thus even Huns,
though subject to no one else, have been obliged to
succumb to him. The borrower, however, is not
without blame ; he should not accept a loan if he
has no prospect of being able to pay; and it is
absurd to swallow the bait when the hook is so
plainly to be seen ; even a fish would not be so
foolish. It may be objected, why does the bishop
go out of his way to attack an old-established cus-
tom ? this money-lending and usury-taking is no new
fashion. "No more is sin," is the reply, "it is the
oldest of fashions ; but this is no plea in its favour."
On the whole, we had better follow the example of
Tobit : the only usury that is not MTong is spiritual
profit ; the best interest is to be looked for hereafter,
not here.
The sermons on Elijah and Fasting deal with the
luxury, and especially the drunkenness, of the day.
Ambrose is an ascetic, and a strict temperance man ;
he admits, however, the lawfulness of a moderate
use of wine. " God knew," he says, speaking of the
vine in the Hexaemeron, "that wine temperately
drunk procured health and increased discretion,
^ . . but when immoderately taken was the cause
of crime. . . . Abundance of corn, wine, and
©il given us by the Lord from the dew of heaven is
ELIJAH AND FASTING. I9I
reckoned among the choicest blessings." And, in
the Abraham^ *' so drink as not to be overtaken."
But the picture that he draws in these discourses of
the habits of his day with regard to into.xicating
liquor is very darkly shaded We feel a sort of grim
comfort in learning that things are no worse in this
respect now among ourselves than they were at Milan
fifteen centuries ago. He describes men without a
shirt to their backs, or a halfpenny to pay for the
day's expenses, let alone the next day's, sitting in
front of the taverns, and chattering grandly on poli-
tics, or what not, with an occasional fight, while they
drink out a week's earnings ; he takes us to the
officers' mess, where, decked out with their gilded
belts, Babylonian sashes, and golden gorgets, and
with a grand display of plate on the table, they drink
before dinner, drink at dinner, and after dinner drink
heavily against one another — in all such parties to
refuse to drink the Emi)eror's health is considered a
mark of disaffection. At last, after bragging loudly
of their martial exploits, they are hoisted up on their
horses by their grinning attendants, only to roll off
again, or fall dead drunk on the floor, and are carried
home on their shields. Others have a way of
swilling large bumpers at a draught ; to take breath
is an offence, and the offender must pay forfeit. Nor
is the evil confined to men ; women may be seen in
the streets behaving indecorously under the influence
of licjuor, to the amusement of dissipated young men
and their own deep disgrace. The results are profli-
gacy, disease, insanity — the preacher describes, in-
deed, some of the symptoms oi delirium tremens — and
192 ST. AMBROSE.
poverty also ; but for intemperance there would be
no slavery. Gluttony and luxurious living, too, are
despicable ; one does not like to think of the alter-
cations between the master and his cook about the
price of fish, foie gras, and pheasants, and the hard
work, and hard beatings besides, in the kitchen which
attend upon a great dinner.
Denunciations of luxurious living, and the extrava-
gance which is its companion, are not confined to
these discourses. We hear in the Cain and Abel of
the saloon with its sculptured walls, of the marble floor
covered with slopped perfumes and spilt wine, with
fish-bones and faded flowers ; of the laughter, plaudits,
and general din of the guests : in the Tobias of the
absinthe bitters and the rare desserts : in the
Hexaemeron of fowls stuffed with oysters, gilded
chandeHers, carefully-tended warming apparatus, ivory
couches, droves of slaves : in the Naboth of the
money frittered away on silk and jewels : in the 7wtes.
on St. LuJze (vii. 25) of the effeminate gentlemen who
must needs dress in silk, because woollen was so
heavy.
Fasting and sobriety, he proceeds to say, are best
for the health both of soul and body ; no one ever
hurt himself by fasting. The first law given to man,
Thou shaltnot eat of it, recommended fasting (Ambrose
says nothing of the freely eat of the previous verse),
and its violation was man's ruin. Abstinence is
recommended to us in many ways. Animals set us
an example ; the very elephants do not drink too
much ; they do occasionally imbibe immense quanti-
ties of water, but this is only to discharge it from
NABOTH THE JEZREELITE. 1 93
their trunks on some offending tradesman.' Noah's
one offence of drunkenness was committed in ignor-
ance, and is a warning to us ; Lot and Haman warn
us also ; and Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel,
Judith, John the Baptist, tell us of the s})iritual
blessings of temperance.
The sermons finish in a manner we are scarcely
prepared for. The preacher launches out into a
denunciation of commerce, as ministering to luxury.
" God made the sea, not to be sailed upon, but
because of the beauty of the element. ... It is tossed
with storms, you ought therefore to dread it, not to
use it." He ends with an earnest exhortation to the
unbaptized no longer to delay their reception of the
Sacrament.
Nahoth the Jezreelite is the title of Ambrose's
last sermons, for the discourses on the 44th Psalm
were left unfinished. They contain an eloquent and
withering denunciation of the rich who neglect the
poor. Some squander their money on self-indulgence,
dress, and wine, and dainties. Others are misers, sa
stingy that one of them, when served with an egg,,
complained bitterly that a fowl had been killed.
These heaj) uj) their corn year after year till their very
bams are bursting with the food kei)t back from sale
till the price is higher. Meanwhile the poor, even
those engaged in ministering to luxury, are stan'ing^
One, after many agonies, sells his children for bread,,
and struggles with himself which he sliall let go first;
' It is amusing to fin«l this traditional Indian story of the
elephant's revenge as early as the fourth ccntur)*.
T94 ST. AMBROSE.
another prefers suicide to perishing with hunger ; and
only hesitates which mode of death he shall prefer.
And the unfeeling rich come to church all the while,
and fast too, but for their own advantage only, with-
out a thought of their poorer brethren. This is not
the true way of storing or of being rich. " If thou
wilt be rich, be poor unto the world, that thou mayest
be rich unto God. He that is rich in faith, in sim-
plicity, in mercy, in wisdom, in knowledge, he is rich
unto God. There are those who in poverty have
abundance, and those who in the midst of riches are
in want. The poor have abundance, whose deep
povei'ty abounded unto the riches of their liberality: rich
men have lacked and hungered." And again, "/
have no room where to bestow my fruits. You have
the means of making room, never fear. I take you at
your own word. You have much goods laid up for
7?iany years^ you may have abundance both for your-
self and for others. You enjoy the general good
harvest, v^hy pull down your bams ? I will show you
where you may better bestow your corn, where you
may fence it in well, so that thieves may not be able
to take it away. Enclose it in the heart of the poor,
where no weevil can devour it, no lapse of time
damage it. You have garners, the laps of the poor :
you have garners, the houses of widows : you have
garners, the mouths of infants, so that it may be said
to you, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou
hast perfected praise. These are garners which last
for ever, these are barns which no future plenty can
require you to pull down. ... Be a spiritual hus-
RICH AND POOR. 1 95
"bandman : sow wliat will bring you gain. It is good
to sow in widows' hearts. If the earth renders you
fruits more plentiful than it received, how much more
will the recompense of mercy render to you many
tiuKs what you have bestowed ! '*
196 ST. AMBROSE.
CHAPTER XIX.
AMBROSE AS A PASTOR.
The influence which Ambrose seems from the first to
have acquired and exercised over all that came in
contact with him would show him, had we no other
proof of it, to have been no ordinary man. It was
not because he was a safe man for a judicious com-
promise, but because of his sterling and recognised
value, that he was elevated from the magistrate's
bench to the episcopate by the well-nigh unanimous
voice of a diocese. He must have been singularly
gentle and courteous, for both the Valentinians,
Gratian, and Theodosius, loved him ; but there must
have been something about him beyond mere gentle-
ness and courtesy, for Valens and Justina were afraid
of him, while they hated him, and all his compro-
vincial bishops and brother metropolitans looked up
to and respected him, even if they did not entirely
agree with him. The great Augustine, we know,
venerated him. The Persian nobles who visited him
at the time of the penitence of Theodosius were full
of admiration when they left him. AVhether the
mosaic said to represent him is a real likeness or not
is uncertain, but it shows just that mixture of firmness
and gentleness which we should expect in the features
of the young Consular elevated by his own great merits^
AMBROSE AS A PASTOR. 197
and the grand Bishop, the master-mind in his own
day of the Western Church. And we read much
about him to the same effect. He was firm enough
with Palladius and Auxentius : he had, as we have
scon, the moral courage to break up the Church plate
in order to raise money for the ransom of captives
taken in the civil wars,' and to brave all the Arians'
comments on the proceeding, with all their ferocious
obloijuy ; but still, as we have also seen, his biographer
tells us " he was one of those who rejoice 7i'ith them
t/iat do rejoice^ and weep with them that weep.'' The
secrets of confidential intercourse do not seem in
those days to have been very closely guarded, for we
arc further told " he uttered to none the causes of the
offences which any one confessed to him, save only
to God, with Whom he interceded, leaving a good
example to priests who should come after him, that
they should be intercessors with God, rather than
accusers before men." And yet we fail to trace the
same character in those of his letters which have come
down to us. They are kindly, but stiff in the extreme.
They are principally concerned with Scripture and
theology ; the expositions they contain are mostly
of the mystical kind, often very far-fetched. The
coldness remarkable in his poetry shows itself in his
correspondence. He writes to his sister, and always
with the coldest respect, styling her " your holiness";
he condoles with Faustinus on the death of his sister
in a frigid imitation of Sulpicius's letter to Cicero on
the death of Tullia ; he encourages some clergy who
• Sie page 68.
198 ST. AMBROSE.
had got disheartened under difficulties and were
thinking of throwing up their orders ; gives Vigilius
advice on his consecration ; expresses his profound
respect for Simplician, and discusses some theological
questions for him ; and thanks Felix, bishop of Como,
for a present of some remarkably fine truffles, all in
the same correct but chilly strain.
The three books On the Duties of Ministers
(391) may be considered as a pastoral work, although
they are by no means intended for the ministers of the
Church alone. They contain a system of Christian
ethics, framed, Ambrose himself tells us, on the model
of Cicero's well-known three books, "On Duties," and
addressed to his sons in the faith, just as Cicero's
work was addressed to Marcus, his son. Duties, says
Cicero, are concerned with virtue (honestum) and
utility (utile). The first book must therefore discuss
virtue, the second utility, and the third must compare
the two together, and different degrees of the two
with one another. The Christian pastor and moralist
follows on the same lines, but he introduces a new
element, unknown to, or disregarded by, Panastius
and his Roman disciple — the future life. All good,
and all utiHty, must be ultimately measured by
reference to God and eternity. After a preface, some-
what in the Ciceronian style, he proceeds to discuss,
in the first book, the virtues of mercy and compassion,
modesty, decorum, freedom from anger, moderation ;
and after a somewhat digressive examination of these,
during which he diverges to the subjects of Divine
Providence, omniscience, and justice, and to the right
way of managing the voice and gestures, of conversing,
THE DUTIES OF MINISTERS. 199
preachincT, and arguing, he proceeds to a more set
treatment of four heads of the virtuous. These he
specifies as — i. Wisdom or prudence, the origin of
the other three ; 2. Justice, the safeguard to society,
to be combined with benevolence, both active and
passive ; 3. Courage, both passive, in the form of
calmness and endurance, and active, in the form of
warHke braver)-, as exhibited in the Maccabees ;
4. Self-restraint, or temperance.
In the discussion are inserted some hints to Le-
vites, who hold the " mifiistcriiim " (deacons), and to
those who have received " sacerdotium,'^ or priesthood,
a term which includes the presbyterate and episco-
pate. They are to take care and not to go to too many-
convivial parties, lest they have to listen to, and per-
haps join in, something objectionable ; they are not
to make too many jokes, nor to modulate their voices
like actors ; the young deacons are never to visit
ladies except in the company of a priest or bishop.
The marriage of clergy is not highly approved, but is
permitted, for Ambrose complains that whereas sons
generally elected their father's profession in secular
callings, especially the military, the sons of clergy
rarely took to the ministry. But it is distinctly laid
down that a second marriage is unlawful to a cleric,
and is a bar to holy orders, even if contracted before
baptism.
In the second book Ambrose, like Cicero, treats of
the useful, or to use another word, of happiness.
This consists in knowledge of Ciod and freedom
from sin, tjuite irrespective of external circumstances
of abundance or need ; for many things which are
200 ST. AMBROSE.
held to be good are really hindrances to the Chris-
tian. Thus utility coincides with virtue ; and the
conditions of utility are love and confidence. For
inspiring the latter we need wisdom and justice;
love is promoted by a judicious liberality shown in
acts of kindness, such as redeeming prisoners, and
giving dowries to poor orphan girls. But liberality
must not be injudicious. Here we have some hints
which would almost suit almsgivers and charity-
organizers among ourselves. " A sober measure
must be observed, especially by priests, so as to dis-
pense not in proportion to the loudness of the appeal,
but the justice of the case ; for in no other business
is there such greediness in asking. Sturdy fellows,
who have no plea but their vagabondism, come and
expect to run away with all the money intended for
the relief of the poor ; and they are not satisfied with
a trifle -, they ask for more, making their clothes an
argument in favour of their request, or trying to get
their receipts increased by some pretence about their
birthday. . . . Many pretend they are in debt ;
the truth should be looked into. Others complain
that they have been sufferers by robbery ; the injury
must be proved, or their person known, that they
may be relieved more freely." Remember that
Joseph did not give away corn, he sold it, and did
far more good by adopting that course. To these
hints are added, as in the previous book, some pieces
of advice to clergy. They should value good society ;
if they seek ecclesiastical honours, they should do so
in the right way, not by favouring the rich, but by
showing kindness to the poor ; and, above all things.
THE DUTIES OF MINISTERS. 20I
they should avoid avarice ; they should keep their
churches in good order, and be liberal to all. One
of their great duties is to preserve intact the deposits
of widows, after the example of the Bishop of Pavia.
This prelate had in his custody some money belong-
ing to a widow, which was claimed under an im-
perial warrant. By Ambrose's advice, he absolutely
refused to give it up ; and so stoutly did he defend
the deposit that he at last got his own way, and
saved the old lady's property.
The third book declares comparison between virtue
and utility to be impossible, because in Christian morals,
as has been before laid down, the good and the useful
are the same. The rule where duties appear to conflict
is not to seek one's own. If the question be put, as it
is by Cicero from Hecato, whether in a shipwreck a
drowning wise man may take away a plank from a
fool, the answer is (like Hecato's), certainly not ; we
must think of others, not of ourselves. Following
his model, Ambrose in this book cites a number of
cases of adherence to, or violation of, duty. Some
of them are classical, as that of the faithful friends
Damon and Pytheas, the Pythagoreans, and the way
in which Pythius the Sicilian swindled Canius in
the sale of an estate, as told by Cicero himself.
Some of them are Scriptural or apocryphal ; and it is
curious to find the singular tale of the sacred fire
hidden by the priests at the Captivity, and recovered
by Nehemiah (the priest, Ambrose calls him), as
related in the 2nd book of Maccabees, alleged as an
instance of fidelity, and also as containing a ty])c of
holy baptism. Again we have advice to the clergy.
o
202 ST. AMBROSE.
They must not think too much of gain ; they must
not hunt for legacies, nor mix themselves up with
lawsuits about money ; and vows which cannot be
fulfilled without doing wrong, like Herod's and
Jephthah's, are not to be adhered to. (We may
remark that Ambrose is of opinion that Jephthah's
daughter was actually put to death.) And, to con-
clude, in dealing with our friends we must be frank
with them, ready to bear much for them and from
them, for friendship is a holy thing ; but we must
not do wrong for a friend's sake, any more than for
our own.
The two books On Penitence, assigned to the year
384, may, though partly of a theological character,
most correctly be placed under the head of pastoral
writings. The first book is almost entirely devoted
to combating the error of the Novatians, the Ply-
mouth Brethren of the 3rd and 4th centuries, who
denied the Church's power of granting absolution,
and refused communion to all who had been guilty
of post-baptismal sin. Their founder, Novatian,
opposed the election of Cornelius as successor to
Fabian, Bishop of Rome, in 250, on the ground of
inclination to undue laxity of discipHne; and his
followers got (Eusebius says, took) the name of
Kathari, or Puritans. But we meet with hints that
Novatian's character was not irreproachable; his
rival, Cornelius, describes him as an unprincipled
fellow ; and Ambrose says his schism was not the
result of offended purity so much as of mortification
at not being himself elected bishop. The sect, as is
usual with sects, split into two parties one allowing
NOVATIANISM. 203
absolution to lesser sins, the other, with Novatian
himself, rejecting it entirely. Though it does not
clearly ai)pear that the Novatians limited in set terms
the mercy of God, and affirmed the necessary perdi-
tion of all who sinned after baptism, yet they seem
to have expressed themselves as if there were but
little hope for the guilty. " Those whom Christ
intercedes for, Novatian accuses. Those whom
Christ has redeemed unto salvation, Novatian con-
demns unto death. To those to whom Christ says,
Take My yoke tipon you, a?id learn of Me, for I am
meek, Novatian says, ' I am ruthless.' On those to
whom Christ says. Ye shall find rest unto your souls^
for My yoke is easy and My burden is light, Novatian
lays a heavy burden, and a hard yoke." Ambrose
shows that their opinion is opposed to all the pas-
sages of Scripture which speak of God's mercy and
Christ's death for man. They argued, as extreme
Calvinists now argue, that to adopt any opinion but
theirs was to make God changeable ; to which he
replies that God has declared to us that He is mer-
ciful ; for the Lord luill not cast off for ever. Their
objection that man cannot be the instrument of for-
giveness, an objection against absolution not alto-
gether unknown in our own day, is simply answered
by pointing out that, according to their own i)ractice,
ba])tism, which conveyed remission of sin, and the
laying of hands on the sick, which brought bodily
health, were ministered by men. "To deliver to
Satan," an expression of St. Paul, does not mean, as
the Novatians seemed to think, the abandonment of
sinners, but their chastisement by the operation of
o 2
204 ST. AMBROSE.
the evil one, as Job was by God's permission troubled
and afflicted by him. And the same Apostle con-
trasts the binding and loosing powers of the Church
in his question, Shall I come unto you with a rod, or
171 love and in the spi7-it of 7?ieek7iess ? The rod is ex-
communication, the spirit of meekness is restitution
to the sacraments, with a reference, probably, to the
saving spiritual effect of Christian discipline.
In the second book the subject is treated generally,
and without express reference to Novatian error. The
passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews, // is im-
possible to renew the7n again unto repentance, cannot be
meant by St. Paul to overthrow his own teaching : he
sent absolution to the excommunicated Corinthian on
his penitence, and therefore cannot have denied the
possibiHty of such forgiveness. The real meaning of
the text is that baptism cannot be repeated. The
only sin that cannot be forgiven is blasphemy against
the Spirit, that is, heresy and schism and guilt
obstinately persevered in. Even Simon Magus had
a place of repentance proffered him ; even Judas
Iscariot might have obtained pardon, if he had
offered his penitence not to Jews, but to Christ.
Then Ambrose earnestly exhorts sinners to penitence,
and tears, and self-accusation, and avowal of their
errors ; not forgetting, as we know was his wont, to
identify himself with his penitents. " Call then," he
says (he has been speaking of the raising of Lazarus),
" Thy servant forth. Though bound with the chains
of my sins, my feet tied, and my hands fastened, and
already buried with dead thoughts and works, at Thy
call I shall come forth free, and be found one of
PENITENXE, VIRGINITY. 205
those that sit at meat at Thy feast, and Thy house
shall be filled with precious ointment, if Thou keep
him whom Thou hast deigned to redeem. For it will
be said, See how he, not nurtured in the Church's
bosom, not trained from boyhood, but hurried from
the tribunal, snatched from the vanities of this world,
made familiar with the chorister's hymn instead of the
court-crier's voice, remains in the priesthood, not by
his own goodness, but by the grace of Christ, and sits
down with the guests at the heavenly table. Preserve,
O Lord, that gift of Thine which Thou didst bestow
on me even though I fled from it. For I knew I was
not worthy to be called a bishop, because I had given
myself to this world ; but by Thy grace I am what I
am."
As a theologian Ambrose was, we have seen,
strenuous and indefatigable in teaching and defending
the Deity of the Son and the Spirit. As a pastor he
was equally strenuous and equally indefatigable in
urging Christians, and Christian maidens especially,
to abstain from marriage. He has left no less than
six books of discourses preached on the subject,
eloquent, earnest, almost fanatical ; of the three de-
grees of chastity, wedlock as exemplified in Susanna,
widowhood in Anna, virginity in the Blessed Virgin,
he holds up the third as the only real and glorious
virtue. Though he qualifies his words here and there
with a faint admission that marriage is not unlawful,
not a crime, and that he must not be held to dissuade
marriage, he expresses himself so strongly on the
evils of wedlock and the blessings of celibacy, that
we are not at all surprised at being told that the girls
206 ST. AMBROSE.
of North Italy took the vows in troops, and that
ladies actually locked up their daughters to prevent
their going to hear him preach. There were at this
time a number of monasteries for men, but few
convents for women ; we read of one at Bologna, but
there seems to have been none in Milan. Those who
took the vow of perpetual virginity received consecra-
tion at the hand of the bishop, and put on a veil,
called maforte, but continued to live at home. They were
required to dress and live plainly, to spend much
time in prayer and the recitation of the Psalter, and
to avoid visiting and entertainments. So intense was
Ambrose's admiration of this unmarried life in women,
that he mentions with approval the case of St. Pelagia
of Antioch, a girl of fifteen, who, with her mother and
sisters, committed deliberate suicide rather than
comply with the wishes of those who desired them to
accept husbands ; and quotes with some satisfaction
what we should consider an unfilial and unfeeling
reply on the part of a young lady, who being asked at
her consecration whether she thought her father, if he
had been living, would have approved of her remain-
ing unmarried, answered, " Perhaps he was removed
by death in order that there might be no bar to my
carrying out my wishes." " Very religious," observes
Ambrose, "though not quite so affectionate."
He began his teaching on celibacy very early.
The three books On Virgins, inscribed to his sister
Marcellina, and one On Widows, belong to the year
377. " A priest of three years' standing," is the term
he applies to himself; "even my fig-tree," he says,
" will bear fruit after three years."
VIRGINITY. 207
The Discourses On Virgins, and the one book On
ViGiNiTY (378), all take the same line: the unmarried
is the angelic life ; impurity brought down angels to
earth (for so, we have already seen, Ambrose inter-
prets Gen. vi. 2), and purity raises earthly maidens to
heaven : the Song of Songs shows that women should
be wedded to Christ only ; and we have numberless
examples of the beauty of virginity : St. Agnes, the vir-
gin martyr of twelve in the tenth persecution, on whose
festival the first of the sermons was preached ; St.
Thecla, the disciple of St Paul, whom the lion refused
to touch ; the maiden martyr of Antioch, preserved
from disgrace by a Christian soldier who changed
clothes with her, and had the honour of dying with
her ; and above all, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus,
the pattern of the virginal life. We cannot help remark-
ing that with all the honour that is paid by Ambrose
to the memory of St. Mary, he does not say a word
about her assumption or her intercession : her very
entrance into heaven is spoken of as an event to
come.
The book on Widows was addressed to a widow
lady, who after violent affliction at her bereavement was
thinking of marrying again. Ambrose advises her to
remain under a vow of widowhood, which he con-
siders next in merit to absolute celibacy ; not, he
says, because second marriages are unlawful, but
because they are inexpedient.
In the year 392 Ambrose consecrated,, or, as the
phrase went, instituted, a young lady named after him,
Ambrosia, the granddaughter of his great friend
Eusebius of Bologna. The sermon preached by the
208 ST. AMBROSE.
bishop on the occasion was, with a few additions, sent
to Eusebius shortly after. It repeats the old argu-
ments, with some good advice as to the rule of life of
a consecrated virgin, and is especially to be noted as
containing a very distinct dogmatic assertion of the
perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin, in spite of
the caution of St. Basil, that it is a subject we had
better not meddle with.
In the next year (393) Ambrose, as we have already
seen, retired from Milan to Bologna on the approach
of Eugenius. At Bologna he became possessed of
some relics of the martyrs Agricola and Vitalis.
These he conveyed to Florence, and placed in a new
church which he was invited to consecrate in that
city. The church was built at the expense of a rich
widow, named Juliana. The consecration sermon
was preached by Ambrose himself One is amused
to read that, having in the course of it spoken of the
foundress, by a slip of the tongue, as Judaea, instead
of Juliana, he dexterously turns his mistake to good
account : "My tongue made no mistake, but a defini-
tion, for i7i JudcEa {Jewry) is God kfiowfi." The
sermon, or the book into which it has been developed,
is entitled " An Exhortation to Virginity." The
preacher begins by addressing both young men and
young women in the name of Juliana, and exhorting
them to give themselves to that celibate life to which
she had already dedicated not only her three daughters,
but also her son Laurentius, now a minister of the
church of her foundation ; and after seconding the
exhortation warmly in his own person, prays for a
blessing on the church and those who offered it and
VIRGINITY. 209
themselves to God : " When Thou dost look upon
that salutary offering, whereby the sin of this world
is done away, look also on these offerings of holy
chastity, and preserve them with Thy continual help,
that they may become to Thee an odour of a sweet
savour, offerings acceptable, pleasing to the Lord
Christ, and that Thou mayest deign to keep their
whole spirit, soul, and body blameless until the day
pf Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."
2io st. ambrose
The Works of St, Ambrose.
The undoubtedly authentic writings of St. Ambrose
are as follows, arranged as far as possible in chrono-
logical order : —
A.D.
375. Paradise. One book.
Cain and Abel. Two books.
377. Virgins. Three books.
Widows. One book.
Tobias. One book.
378. Virginity. One book.
379. The Faith. Five books.
Noah and the Ark. One book.
On the Decease of his Brother Satyrus.
Faith in the Resurrection. A Second Book
on the Decease of Satyrus.
381. The Holy Spirit. Three books.
382. The Incarnation. One book.
383. The Complaint of Job and David. Four
books.
384. Defence of the Prophet David. One book.
Penitence. Two books.
386. Commentary on Ps. cxix.
Commentary on St. Luke. Ten books.
387. Abraham. Two books.
Isaac and the Soul. One book.
The Benefit of Death. One book.
The Mysteries. One book.
Retreat from the World. One book.
Jacob and the Blessed Life. One book.
Joseph. One book.
WORKS. 211
387. The Blessings of the Patriarchs. One book.
389. Hexaemeron, or the Six Days of Creation.
Six books.
390. Commentary on Ps. i., xlvi., xlviii., xlix., Ixii.
EHjah and Fasting. One book.
391. The Duties of Ministers. Three books.
392. Speech of Consolation on the Death of
Valentinian II.
The Institution of a Virgin. One book.
393. Exhortation to Virginity. One book.
394. Commentary on Ps. xxxvi.-xli.
395. Speech on the Death of Theodosius.
Naboth the Jezreelite. One book.
397. Commentary on Ps. xliv. (Left unfinished.)
Eighty-four Letters, from a.d. 379-A.D. 396.
Seven Public Letters, between a.d. 381 and
A.D. 389.
Twelve Hymns.
Theodoret has preserved a Greek version of a
fragment of a lost work, " An Exposition of the
Faith "; and another lost work, " On the Sacrament
of Regeneration, or on Philosophy, against Plato," is
alluded to by St. Augustine in his " Retractations." 1
St. Ambrose himself speaks of a commentary of his
own on Isaiah, which is often referred to by St.
Augustine.
A second " Defence of David,"
' The occasion of the allusion is curious. Augustine stated
in his work " On Christian Doctrine" that Ambrose said Plato
learnt of Jeremiah in Egypt. In the Retractations Augustine
admits he was wrong, and shows, from the work alhided to,
that Ambrose was of a different opinion. The idea involves a
gross anachronism, of course, as Augustine himself shows in his
"City of God."
212 ST. AMBROSE.
A Virgin's Fall, in one book,
The Sacraments, in six books,
are sometimes attributed to Ambrose, but most pro-
bably are not from his pen.
The following have also been attributed to him,
but are undoubtedly spurious : —
The Fall of Jerusalem. Five books.
Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles.
Commentary on the Seven Visions in the Apo-
calypse.
The Forty-two Resting-places of the Children of
Israel.
The Trinity.
The Orthodox Faith.
The Dignity of the Priesthood.
To a Consecrated Virgin.
Sixty-three Sermons.
Four Epistles.
Two Prayers before Mass.
The Holy Ghost.
Penitence.
Seventy Hymns.
The Two Genealogies of Christ.
The Dignity of Man's Condition.
An Exorcism.
The Acts of St. Sebastian.
The Conflict of Vices and Virtues.
The Calling of the Gentiles.
The Customs of the Brahmins.
Epistles of Certain Philosophers.
Two Letters about a Monk possessed with a devil.
Explanation of the Creed.
Letter to St. Jerome on the Faith.
( 213 )
CHRONOLOGY.
A.D.
325. Council of Niccea. Birth of St. Gregory Nazianzen.
326. St. Athanasius, at 28, made Bishop of Alexandria.
329. Birth of St. Basil.
331. Birth of St. Gregory Nyssen and St, Jerome.
335. Arian Synod at Tyre. First exile of St. Athanasius.
236. Death of Arius. Marcus Bishop of Rome, on the death
of St. Silvester.
337. Death of Constantine the Great. Julius I. Bishop of
Rome.
338, St. Athanasius restored.
340. Constantine II. killed at Aquileia. Death of Alexander,
Bishop of Constantinople, who is succeeded by Paul.
Death of Eusebius. Birth of St. Ambrose.
341. Second exile of St. Athanasius. 7th Council of Antioch.
343. Photinus begins his heretical teaching.
347. Birth of St. Chrysostom. Council of Sardica. St.
Athanasius restored.
348. Birth of Prudentius, the Christian poet.
349. Synod of Sirmium against Photinus.
350. Death of Constans. St. Hilary Bishop of Poictiers.
Magnentius proclaimed Emperor in the West.
351. Condemnation of Photinus by a semi- Arian Council.
Macedonius Bishop of Constantinople.
352. Liberius Bishop of Rome.
353. St. Ambrose removes to Rome on his fathers death.
Death of Magnentius.
354. Birth of St, Augustine. Death of the Cnesar Gallus.
Marcellina receives the consecration of a sister from
Liberius on Christmas-Day.
355. The Arian Synod of Milan banishes Liberius, Bishop of
Rome, Dionysius of Milan, and Lucifer of Cagliari,
Third exile of Athanasius. Auxentius Bishop of
Milan,
356. St. Hilary of Poictiers banished by Constantine,
357. Liberius (according to Arian accounts) subscribes the
Arian creed and returns to Rome.
( 2H )
359' Synod of Ariminum, in which the Catholics are deceived
into surrendering the term Consubstantial. Mace-
donius deposed from Constantinople, and replaced by
Eudoxius.
361. Julian succeeds Constantine.
362. Fourth exile of St. Athanasius.
363. Julian killed in Persia, and succeeded by Jovian. St.
Athanasius restored. Felix II. Bishop of Rome. Com-
mencement of Luciferian schism.
364. Death of Jovian. Valentinian I. and Valens Emperors.
366. Damasus Bishop of Rome.
373. Death of St. Athanasius. Defeat of Firmus the Moor.
374. St. Ambrose, while holding the office of Consular of
Liguria, is elected Bishop of Milan, baptized, and
consecrated. St. Martin Bishop of Tours.
375. Death of Valentinian I. Gratian and Valentinian II.
become Emperors.
376. Embassy of Ulfilas to Valens.
378. Battle of Adrianople : defeat and death of Valens.
Death of St. Basil and of Ephraem Syrus. St. Gregory
Nazianzen appointed Bishop of Constantinople.
379. Theodosius becomes Emperor : defeats the Goths. Death
of Satyrus, brother of St. Ambrose.
380. Baptism of Theodosius. Priscillian condemned at the
Council of Saragossa.
381. Council of Constantinople. Synod of Aquileia, and
condemnation of Palladius and Secundianus. Law of
Theodosius against the Arians. St. Gregoiy Nazianzen
confirmed in the Bishopric of Constantinople : resigns,
and Nectarius is appointed.
382. Synod at Rome.
383. Murder of Gratian : first embassy of St. Ambrose to
Maximus.
384. St. Ambrose's dispute with Symmachus. St. Augustine
comes to Milan. Siricius Bishop of Rome. Priscil-
lian put to death.
385. Conversion of St. Augustine. St. Ambrose defends the
Churches against Justina and the Arians.
( 2-5 )
386. Consecration of a new basilica at Milan. Death of St.
Cyril of Jerusalem.
3S7, Baptism of St. Augustine. St. Ambrose's second em-
bassy to Maximus. Flight of Justina and Valentinian.
388. Death of Justina. Defeat and death of Maximus. The
riot at Antioch. St. Chrysostom's homily "On the
Statues."
3S9. Theodosius and Valentinian at Milan. Condemnation of
Jovinian.
390. Massacre at Thessalonica. Excommunication and peni-
tence of Theodosius.
392. Murder of Valentinian II. Eugenius emperor. St.
Ambrose retires to Florence.
394. Battle of the Frigidus : defeat and death of Eugenius and
Arbogastes.
395. Death of Theodosius : Arcadius and Honorius emperors.
Marriage of Arcadius and Eudoxia. St. Augustine
Bishop of Hippo. The Huns invade the East. Death
of Rufinus.
396. Message to St. Ambrose from Fritigil, Queen of the
Marcomanni. Alaric the Goth escapes from Stilicho.
397. Death of St. Ambrose, on Easter Eve, April 4. He is
succeeded by Simplician.
398. St. Chrysostom Bishop of Constantinople. Gildo the
Moor, defeated by his own brother Mascezel, commits
suicide.
399. Anastasius I. Bishop of Rome. Marriage of Honorius
to Maria, daughter of Stilicho.
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