16. I wish, Sir, that I had before this trusted myself rather than your habit of mind, thinking how you quickly pardon and quickly revoke your orders, as you have often done. You have been anticipated and I have not shrunk from what it was my duty not to shun. But thanks be to the Lord who willeth to chastise his servants, that he may not destroy them. I share this now with the prophets; you will share it one day with the saints. 17. Shall I not value the father of Gratian 29 more than my own eyes? Your other sacred offspring must pardon me. I have put a name sweet to me before those whom I love equally. I love you, I hold you in affection, I attend you with my prayers. If you believe me, do as I say. If you believe me, acknowledge the truth of my words. If you do not believe me, forgive me for putting God first. May your Majesty be blessed with all happiness and prosperity, and, together with your sacred offspring, enjoy perpetual peace.

29 If Gratian here is still the emperor, as Palanque and Dudden suppose, with the Benedictine editors, "father" is applied to the older emperor. But we should have far better sense if we could accept the theory of Rauschen that Theodosius had had a son by his second wife, Galla, and named him Gratian. Then Ambrose gracefully apologizes to the elder brothers Arcadius and Honorius, sons of Flaccilla, for mentioning the baby first (antetuli).

Letter 57: Ambrose and Eugenius

V

INTRODUCTION

ALENTINIAN'S POSITION IN THE WEST DEPENDED on the support and loyalty of the Frankish Count Arbogast, commander of the Roman army in Gaul. They quarrelled, and the young emperor, having vainly attempted to dismiss the Count, turned to Theodosius for help, which was not given in time. Ambrose was on his way to Gaul to baptize Valentinian when he heard that the emperor had been found dead in his palace on the 15th May, A.D. 392. Whether it was murder or suicide we do not now know. As Theodosius did not at once reveal his policy, Ambrose did nothing about Arbogast, and when in August the general, who as a pagan could have no hope of the imperial throne, raised Eugenius to the purple, it was again uncertain whether Theodosius would acknowledge him as his legitimate colleague. So Ambrose did not answer the two letters in which Eugenius sought recognition by the bishop of the western capital.

Early in 393 it became clear that Theodosius intended to break with Eugenius, who therefore turned to the pagan party for assistance, and, with Arbogast, entered Italy, where he was not opposed. Ambrose avoided him by leaving Milan. Letter 57, which treats him as at least de facto emperor, upbraids him for his concessions to paganism and, without using the word, excommunicates him, once again using spiritual sanctions for actions which Ambrose looked at from the standpoint of religion and took to be under a bishop's disciplinary authority, but which were also acts of State for which a case might be made.

The introduction to Letter 17 (p. 190) will help to explain many details in the present letter. While Eugenius was at Milan, the ecclesiastical situation there must have been very difficult, for the clergy would not admit him to communion.

Ambrose absented himself, mostly at Florence. The decisive clash between Theodosius and Eugenius took place in the Julian Alps on 5th and 6th September, A.D. 394, when the victory of Theodosius at the River Frigidus put an end to the pagan revival. Ambrose afterwards found it necessary to assure Theodosius that he had not withdrawn from Milan because he despaired of the Christian emperor's success, but in order to avoid the sacrilegious Eugenius. He had returned on the 1st August, as soon as Eugenius left the city.

Letter 57

THE TEXT

Bishop Ambrose to the most gracious Emperor Eugenius.

1. The reason for my departure was the fear of the Lord, by whom I endeavour to direct all my actions. It has never been my way to turn my mind away from him, or to count any man's favour of more value than the favour of Christ. I wrong no one when I prefer God to all, and, trusting in him, I am not afraid to say to you emperors what, to the best of my ability, I think right. So I shall not refrain from saying to you, most gracious Emperor, what I have not refrained from saying to emperors before you. To keep the order of events, I will review concisely the relevant facts.

2. When the most honourable Symmachus was Prefect of Rome, he sent a Memorial to the Emperor Valentinian II of august memory, asking him to order the restoration of their confiscated revenues to the temples. He did his duty in accordance with his own feeling and his own religion. It was no less incumbent upon me to take account of my duty as bishop. I presented two petitions to the emperors in which I pointed out that a Christian could not restore funds for sacrifices. I said that I had not been responsible for their confiscation, though I did now propose that they should not be decreed. I added that he would be thought to be granting them to the idols himself, not restoring them. He could not really restore what he had not personally taken away. Rather, he was of his own motion making a gift to meet the expenses of superstition. Finally, if he did it, either he should not come to church, or else, if he came, he would not find a bishop there or he would find one prepared to resist him in church. I told him that he could not excuse himself on the ground that he was only a catechumen, since even catechumens are not allowed to provide funds for idols.

3. My petitions were read in the Consistory. The most honourable Count Bauto, holding the office of Magister Militum, was present, and so was Rumoridus, a man of the same rank and an adherent of heathen worship from his early childhood. At that time Valentinian listened to my advice and did nothing contrary to the necessary demands of our faith. The counts also agreed with their master.1

4. Later, I gave my views verbally to the most gracious Emperor Theodosius, not hesitating to speak to him face to face. When he was informed of the delegation from the Senate (though the request did not come from the whole Senate), he at last accepted my version of the affair, and then for a few days I did not go to see him. He did not take this ill, because I was not seeking my own advantage, but, to his benefit and my own soul's, "I was not ashamed to speak in the sight of the king".2

5. A second delegation from the Senate to prince Valentinian of august memory, when he was in Gaul, failed to extort anything from him. I was not there, and had not written to him on that occasion.

6. Sometime after your Grace had taken up the reins of government, we learned that the revenues had been granted subsequently to persons eminent indeed in public life, but pagans by religion. And it may perhaps be said, your Majesty, that you did not restore them to the temples but granted them to men who had deserved well of you. But you know that the fear of God requires us to act with constancy, as is often done in the cause of liberty, not only by bishops, but also by those in your service and by the ordinary inhabitant of the provinces. When you became emperor, the delegates asked you to restore the funds to the temples. You did not. A second time others made the same request. You refused. And subsequently you thought fit to give them to the very men who made the petition!

7. The power of the emperor is indeed great; but consider, Sir, how great God is. He sees the hearts of all, he questions the innermost conscience, he "knows all things before they are done", he knows the secrets of your breast. You do not allow anyone to deceive you, and do you expect to hide anything from

1 The Benedictine text has adquieverunt etiam comiti suo, which is nonsense. Palanque accepted Seeck's conjecture comites duo. Wytzes, feeling that duo here would be unusual Latin, suggested dno, i.e., domino; and Palanque, reviewing his book, accepted this.

2 Ps. 119 (118):46.

3 Ecclus. 23:20.