Letter 14: Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius.

Ambrose to the Emperor Theodosius. 1. The address of your Clemency has broken my silence; for in matters so sorrowful I had resolved upon nothing better to do than, if it could be done, to hide myself away. But since I could not lie hidden in some place of retirement, nor depart from my priesthood, I at least concealed myself within silence. 2. For I grieve, I confess it, with bitter grief, not only because Valentinian the Augustus has departed at so untimely an age, but also because, formed in the faith and by your instructions, he had put on so great a devotion toward our God, and had come to rest upon me with such affection, that he now loved the one whom before he persecuted; the one whom before he repelled as an adversary, he now regarded as a parent. This I have brought forth not in remembrance of the old injury, but as testimony of his conversion. For that former feeling was another's, this was his own, which, having been poured into him by you, he so held fast that he shut out his mother's persuasion. He used to put forward that he had been nurtured by me; he longed for me as for a diligent father; and when my coming was falsely reported by certain persons, he waited for it impatiently. Indeed, in those very days of public grief, although he had holy and most exalted priests of the Lord within Gaul, he thought it should be written that he might nevertheless be initiated by me in the sacraments of baptism: and though this was not done reasonably, he nonetheless testified his affection toward me in a loving manner. 3. Shall I not, then, breathe after this man with my inmost spirit, and embrace him in the secret depths of my mind and heart? Shall I think him dead to me? Nay rather, the more dead to me. What thanks I was rendering to the Lord, that he had been so converted toward me, that he had been so amended, as though he had put on the character of some older age; what thanks to your Clemency, that you had not only restored him to his kingdom, but also, what is more, had instructed him in the disciplines of your faith and piety! Shall I then not grieve that he, whole in his years, before he obtained the grace of the sacraments which he desired, has met with sudden death? You have refreshed my soul, in that you yourself also have deigned to bear witness to my grief. You, Emperor, I hold as the arbiter of my affection, you as the interpreter of my mind. 4. But there will not be lacking other times for weeping: now concerning his burial, since your Clemency has written that it is thus to be arranged here. If he has departed without his share of baptism, what I may have learned of this I have for now suppressed. There is here a most beautiful porphyry basin, and most fitting for uses of this kind; for Maximian too, the colleague of Diocletian, was buried in this manner. There are most precious slabs of porphyry, with which may be clothed the cover by which the royal remains are to be enclosed. 5. This had been prepared, but a rescript of your Clemency was awaited: by the receipt of which your holy daughters, the sisters of your son Valentinian, have been revived; they afflict themselves in grievous ways, and they were the more agitated because for a long time nothing was being written to them. From this, no small comfort has come to them; but while the remains lie unburied, they by no means spare themselves; for it seems to them that they are keeping a daily funeral for their own brother. And in truth, although they are never without great weeping and grievous grief, yet as often as they go to him, they return drained of blood. They themselves, therefore, will be cared for, and so will the most beloved remains, if the burial is hastened, lest they be utterly dissolved by the summer's heat; for we have scarcely gotten through the previous summer. 6. I keep your charge, and commend it to the Lord. May the Lord love you, because you love the servants of the Lord.

EPISTOLA LIII. Causam silentii sui aperiens, VALENTINIANI obitum maxime propter summam ejus in Deum pietatem atque in se benevolentiam luget. Deinde nuntiato ad ejusdem sepulturam sibi praesto esse marmor, ut ea sororum illius causa maturetur, suadet. AMBROSIUS THEODOSIO imperatori. 1. Silentium meum rupit sermo clementiae tuae; nihil enim in tam tristibus rebus melius facere in animum induxeram, quam si fieri posset, me ipsum abdere. Sed quia in secessu aliquo delitescere et sacerdotio exire non poteram, vel silentio intra me latebam. 2. Doleo enim, fateor, dolore acerbo, non solum quod immatura aetate Valentinianus augustus decesserit, sed etiam quod informatus fide, ac tuis institutis tantam devotionem erga Deum nostrum induerat, atque tanto in me incubuerat affectu, ut quem ante persequebatur, nunc diligeret: quem ante ut adversarium repellebat, nunc ut parentem putaret. Quod ego non pro recordatione injuriae veteris exprompsi, sed pro testimonio conversionis. Illud enim alienum, hoc suum, quod a te infusum sibi ita tenuit, ut matris persuasionem excluderet. Ille se a me nutritum praeferebat; ille ut sedulum patrem desiderabat, ille simulato a quibusdam adventus mei nuntio, impatienter praestolabatur. Quin etiam illis ipsis publici doloris diebus, cum sanctos et summos sacerdotes Domini intra Gallias haberet; ut a me tamen sacramentis baptismatis initiaretur, scribendum arbitratus est: quod etsi non rationabiliter, amabiliter tamen erga me suum studium testificatus est. 3. Hunc ergo non intimo anhelem spiritu, secretisque mentis atque animi visceribus amplectar? Hunc mihi mortuum putem? Immo mihi magis mortuum. Quas ego Domino deferebam gratias, quod ita in me conversus esset, quod ita emendatus, quasi senioris cujusdam aetatis mores induisset: quas clementiae tuae, quod eum non solum regno reddidisses; sed etiam, quod est amplius, instituisses fidei et pietatis tuae disciplinis? Hunc ergo non doleam, aevi integrum, antequam sacramentorum quae 1003 desideravit, adipisceretur gratiam, repentina obisse morte? Refrigerasti animum, quod etiam ipse dignatus es ferre testimonium meo dolori. Te, Imperator, arbitrum teneo affectus mei, te meae mentis interpretem. 4. Sed flendi tempora alias non deerunt: nunc de sepultura ejus, quoniam scripsit clementia tua ita hic procurandam. Si exsors recessit baptismatis, quid cognoverim, nunc repressi. Est hic porphyreticum labrum pulcherrimum, et in usus hujusmodi aptissimum; nam et Maximianus Diocletiani socius ita humatus est. Sunt tabulae porphyreticae pretiosissimae, quibus vestiatur operculum, quo regales exuviae claudantur. 5. Hoc fuerat praeparatum, sed exspectabatur rescriptum clementiae tuae: cujus perceptione recreatae sunt sanctae filiae tuae, filii tui Valentiniani sorores, quae se gravibus afficiunt modis; et amplius exagitabantur, quod diu nihil scriberetur sibi. Unde iis non parum accessit solatii, sed dum inhumatae sunt reliquiae, nequaquam sibi parcunt; videntur enim sibi germani sui quotidianum funus tenere. Et re vera cum sine fletu magno ac sine dolore gravi numquam sint; tamen quotiescumque eo accedunt, exsangues revertuntur. Et ipsis igitur consuletur, et charissimis exuviis, si acceleretur sepultura, ne aestivo penitus solvantur calore; vix enim superiorem aestatem transegimus. 6. Mandatum tuum servo et commendo Domino. Diligat te Dominus, quia tu Domini servos diligis. 1010