8. plane: as equivalent to certe is late Latin.

9. paradisi: a term taken from Greek by eccl. writers to designate "Heaven."

10. incolam . . . habitatorem supernae illius civitatis: metaphor. For the same thought, cf. Ap. Proph. Dav. 17, 83, fit supernae illius civis et incola civitatis quae descendit de coelo. For note on the heavenly Jerusalem, in this treatise cf. 2, note 1.

11. habitatorem: the only substantive in -tor in this treatise which was used by class. authors. Cf. Cic. N. D. 2, 56, 140.

12. illius civitatis: the use of the pronoun here seems to approach that of the definite article. Cf. 1, note 9.

13. augusto. hospitio: hyperbaton.

EPISTOLA LI.

Augustissimo imperatori Theodosio Ambrosius episcopus.

1. Et veteris amicitiae dulcis mihi recordatio est, et beneficiorum, quae crebris meis intercessionibus summa gratia in alios contulisti, gratiae memini. Unde colligi potest quod non ingrato aliquo affectu adventum tuum semper mihi antehac exoptatissimum declinare potuerim. Sed qua causa hoc fecerim, breviter expediam.

2. Soli mihi in tuo comitatu jus naturae ereptum videbam audiendi, ut et loquendi privarer munere; motus enim frequenter es quod ad me pervenissent aliqua, quae in consistorio tuo statuta forent. Ego ergo expers communis usus sum, cum dicat Dominus Jesus nihil esse occultum, quod non manifestetur. Verecundia igitur, qua potui, satisfeci imperiali arbitrio; et prospexi ne aut ipse causam commotionis habeas, cum id egerim, ne quid ad me de imperialibus deferatur statutis: aut ego cum fuero praesens, aut non audiam per metum omnium, et quasi conniventis famam subibo: aut ita audiam, ut mihi aures pateant, vox intercludatur; ut audita non possim eloqui, ne eos qui in suspicionem proditionis venerint, laedam in periculo.

3. Quid igitur facerem? Non audirem? Sed aures non possem cera veterum fabularum claudere. Proderem? Sed quod in tuis jussis timerem, in meis verbis deberem cavere; ne quid cruentum committeretur. Tacerem? Sed quod miserrimum foret omnium, alligaretur conscientia, vox eriperetur. Et ubi illud? Sed si sacerdos non dixerit erranti, is qui erraverit, in sua culpa morietur, et sacerdos reus erit poenae, quia non admonuit errantem.

4. Accipe illud, imperator auguste. Quod habeas fidei studium, non possum negare; quod Dei timorem, non diffiteor: sed habes naturae impetum, quem si quis lenire velit, cito vertes ad miseri

APPENDIX I.

EPISTOLA LI.

Ambrose the Bishop to the Most August Emperor Theodosius.

1. The recollection of your old friendship is sweet to me, and I also remember the kind favours which to my oft repeated intercessions, you most graciously have bestowed upon others. Whence it may be concluded that not on account of any ungrateful state of mind could I have shunned your arrival, for which heretofore I always longed. But why I did this I shall briefly explain.

2. I saw that from me alone among your courtiers the natural right of hearing had been taken away, so that I was also deprived of the privilege of speaking; for you were often disturbed because some decisions reached in your cabinet had become known to me. I therefore do not share in the common enjoyment, although the Lord Jesus says: "There is not anything secret that shall not be made manifest." Consequently with what reverence I could, I satisfied your imperial will, and I provided that you yourself should not have cause for uneasiness when I brought it about that nothing concerning the imperial statutes should be reported to me. Either when I shall be present, I shall not hear through fear of all, and through fear of subjecting myself to the charge of conniving, or I shall so hear that my ears will be open, my lips closed; so that I cannot relate what I have heard, for fear lest I should betray into danger those who have come under suspicion of treason.

3. What then should I have done? Should I not have heard? But I could not have sealed my ears with the wax of the old tales. Should I have spoken? But what I feared in your orders, I had to guard against in my words lest some deed of bloodshed would be committed. Should I have kept silence? But most wretched of all my conscience would have been bound, my voice snatched away. And what about this text: "But if the priest speak not to the erring, he who errs shall die in his sin, and the priest shall be guilty of punishment because he did not admonish the erring."

4. Bear august Emperor the following words. That you have zeal for the faith I cannot deny; that you have fear of God I do not disavow; but you have a natural impetuosity which if anyone

cordiam si quis stimulet, in maius exsuscitas, ut eum revocare vix possis. Utinam si nemo mitigat, nullus accendat! Libenter eum committo tibi: ipse te revocas, et pietatis studio vincis impetum

naturae.

5. Hunc ego impetum malui cogitationibus tuis secreto committere, quam meis factis publice fortassis movere. Itaque malui officio meo aliquid deesse, quam humilitati: et requiri in me ab aliis sacerdotis auctoritatem, quam a te desiderari in me amantissimo honorificentiam; ut represso impetu, integra esset consilii eligendi facultas. Praetendi aegritudinem corporis re vera gravem, et nisi a viris mitioribus vix levandam: vel emori tamen maluissem, quam adventum tuum biduo, aut triduo non exspectarem. Sed quid facerem, non erat.

6. Factum est in urbe Thessalonicensium quod nulla memoria habet, quod revocare non potui, ne fieret; immo quod ante atrocissimum fore dixi, cum toties rogarem: et quod ipse sero revocando grave factum putasti, hoc factum extenuare non poteram. Quando primum auditum est, propter adventum Gallorum episcoporum Synodus convenerat; nemo non ingemuit, nullus mediocriter accepit: non erat facti tui absolutio in Ambrosii communione. In me etiam amplius commissi exaggeraretur invidia, si nemo diceret Dei nostri reconciliationem fore necessariam.

7. An pudet te, Imperator, hoc facere quod rex propheta, auctor Christi secundum carnem prosapiae, fecit David? Illi dictum est, quia dives qui haberet plurimos greges, unam pauperis ovem propter adventum hospitis eripuit et occidit; et cognito quod in hoc ipse argueretur, quia ipse fecisset, ait: Peccavi Domino. Noli ergo impatienter ferre, Imperator, si dicatur tibi: Tu fecisti istud, quod David regi dictum est a propheta. Si enim hoc sedulo audieris, et dixeris: Peccavi Domino; si dixeris regale istud propheticum: Venite adoremus, et procidamus ante eum; et ploremus ante Domi

wishes to pacify you will quickly turn to mercy; if anyone excites it, you rouse it so much the more that you can scarcely restrain it. If no one soothes it, may no one inflame it. Gladly I commit it to yourself. You restrain yourself and by the exertions of piety you conquer your impetuous nature.

5. I preferred secretly, to commit this impetuosity to your own reflections, rather than run the risk of rousing you publicly by my deeds and so I preferred to fall short of my duty, than fail in humility; and preferred that others find the authority of a bishop wanting to me, rather than that you find the proper paying of honors lacking in me your dear friend; so that when impetuosity was curbed, the power of making a proper resolution might be unimpaired. I alleged illness of body, in reality this was severe and scarcely to be alleviated except in more quiet surroundings, still I should have preferred to die than not to await your coming two or three days. But what I would have done was not possible.

6. There happened in the city of Thessalonica something unheard of in the memory of man, which I could not prevent being done, nay rather that which I said before would be most cruel, when I petitioned you so often, and what you yourself considered a serious deed when too late you revoked it. When it was first heard of, a synod had convened because of the arrival of the Bishops of Gaul. There was no one who did not mourn, not one received the news with indifference. There was no acquittal for your deed in your communion with Ambrose. Hatred of the act would have been more intensified in me also, if no one had said that reconciliation with our God would be necessary.

7. Are you ashamed Emperor to do that which the prophetking David did, the author of the race of Christ according to the flesh. To him it was related that a rich man who had many flocks, because of the arrival of a guest, snatched away and killed the one sheep of the poor man; and realizing that he himself was blamed for this, because he had done it, he said: "I have sinned against the Lord." Do not bear it impatiently, O Emperor, if it be said to you: "You have done that which was spoken by the prophet to King David," For if you hear this with solicitude and say: "I have sinned against the Lord"; if you speak the following words of the Royal Prophet: "Come let us adore and fall down. before him, and weep before the Lord that made us," it shall be