Letter 18: Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful Emperor Eugenius.

LETTER LVII. He explains to Eugenius why he did not wait for him at Milan; then, after reviewing the things that had been done under Valentinian and Theodosius on the occasion of Symmachus's report, he freely reproaches that same usurper because, by granting funds for idols to their temples, he had set before his eyes neither the fear of God nor the regard of others for himself; and, setting against this man's transgression the example of the Hebrews, he says that this was the reason he had not written back to him; nevertheless he declares that in the future he will use with him the same freedom of speech that he has employed with other princes. To the most merciful emperor Eugenius, Ambrose the bishop. 1. The cause of my withdrawal was the fear of the Lord, toward whom I am accustomed to direct all my actions, as far as I am able, and never to turn my mind away from him, nor to value any man's favor more than Christ's. For I do no injury to anyone, if I prefer God to all; and, trusting in him, I am not afraid to tell you emperors what I judge according to my own understanding. Therefore what I did not keep silent before other emperors, neither before you, most merciful Emperor, will I keep silent. And so that I may keep to the order of events, I will briefly review the things that bear upon this matter. 2. The most distinguished Symmachus, when he was prefect of the City, had made a report to Valentinian, emperor of august memory, the younger, that he should order to be restored to the temples the things that had been taken away. He performed his part in keeping with his own zeal and worship. Surely I too, a bishop, was bound to recognize my own part. I presented two petitions to the emperors, by which I made known that a Christian man could not restore the funds for sacrifices; and that I had indeed not been the instigator when they were taken away; yet that I would become the instigator in preventing them from being decreed; and, further, that he would seem to be himself giving them to the images, not restoring them. For what he himself had not taken away, he was not, as it were, himself restoring; but by his own decision he was bestowing it upon the expenses of superstition. Finally, that if he did this, either he would not come to the Church, or, if he came, it would happen that either he would not find a priest, or would find one resisting him in the Church. Nor could it be put forward as an excuse that he was a catechumen, since it is not permitted even to catechumens to supply funds to idols. 3. My petitions were read in the consistory; there were present the most distinguished in the honor of the office of master of the soldiers, Bauto the count, and Rumoridus, himself also of the same rank, devoted to the worship of the heathen nations from the earliest years of his boyhood. Valentinian at that time heard my suggestion, and did nothing except what the principle of our faith demanded. They too agreed with their count. 4. Afterward I also made this known in person to the most merciful emperor Theodosius, and did not hesitate to say it to his face; and when an embassy of the senate of this kind had been made known to him, although not the whole senate had requested it, he at last granted his assent to my representation; and so for some days I did not approach him, nor did he take it amiss; because I was not acting for my own advantages, but, in what was profitable both to himself and to my soul, I was not ashamed to speak in the sight of the king (Psalm 118:46). 5. Again, to Valentinian, prince of august memory, an embassy sent by the senate into the Gauls was able to extort nothing; and certainly I was absent, nor had I then written anything to him. 6. But when your clemency took up the helm of empire, it was afterward discovered that those grants had been made to men preeminent in the commonwealth, but men of heathen observance; and perhaps it may be said, august Emperor, by you who did not yourself restore them to the temples, but bestowed them upon those well deserving of you. But you know that one must act steadfastly for the fear of God, which is also frequently done for the sake of liberty not only by priests, but even by those who serve in your armies, or are reckoned in the number of the provincials. While you were emperor, the envoys petitioned that you should restore them to the temples; you did not do it. Again others demanded it; you resisted; and afterward you thought you should bestow them upon those very men who had petitioned. 7. Although the imperial power is great, yet consider, Emperor, how great God is: he sees the hearts of all, he questions the inner conscience, he knows all things before they come to pass, he knows the inner things of your breast (Acts 1:24; Daniel 13:42). You do not allow yourselves to be deceived, and do you wish to hide anything from God? Did this not fall upon your mind? For although they were pressing so persistently, was it not for you, Emperor, to resist more persistently for the veneration of the most high and true and living God, and to deny what was an injury to the sacred law? 8. Who envies you, because you bestowed upon others the things you wished? We are not scrutinizers of your liberality, nor envious of others' advantages; but we are interpreters of the faith. How will you offer your gifts to Christ? Few will judge what you have done; all, what you wished: whatever they have done will be yours; whatever they have not done will be theirs. Although you are emperor, you ought rather to be subject to God. How will the priests of Christ dispense your gifts? 9. There was a question of this kind in former times; and yet persecution itself yielded to the faith of the fathers, and heathenism gave way. For (2 Maccabees 4:18 and following) when the five-yearly contest was being held in the city of Tyre, and the most wicked king of Antioch had come to watch it, Jason appointed managers of the sacred rites, that the men of Antioch should carry from Jerusalem three hundred didrachmas of silver, and give them for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the fathers did not give the money to the heathen, but, with faithful men sent, they protested that it should not be paid out for the sacrifice of the gods, since that was not fitting, but be given for other expenses. And it was pronounced that, because he who had sent the silver had said it was sent for the sacrifice of Hercules, it ought indeed to be received for that purpose for which it had been sent; but because those who had brought it resisted in keeping with their own zeal and worship, so that it might not be applied to the sacrifice, but to other necessities, the money was handed over for the construction of ships; even if they sent it under compulsion, nevertheless it was not for sacrifice, but for other expenses of the commonwealth. 10. In short, those who had brought it could certainly have kept silent; but they were wounding the faith, because they knew where it was being conveyed; and therefore they sent men fearing God, to bring it about that the things which had been sent should be assigned not to the temple, but to the expenses of the ships. For they entrusted the money to those very men who would plead the causes of the holy law: the one made judge of the matter was the one who absolved their conscience. If men placed under another's power took such precautions, what you ought to have done, O Emperor, cannot be doubted. You, surely, whom no one was compelling, whom no one held in his power, ought to have consulted the priest. 11. I certainly, when I resisted then, although I resisted alone, yet did not wish it alone, nor alone advised it. Since therefore I am bound by my own words both before God and before all men, I understood that one thing was not permitted to me, another was not fitting, except that I should take counsel for myself; because I could not modestly entrust myself to you. Certainly I long suppressed, long concealed my grief, and thought that nothing should be made known to anyone; but it is not now permitted me to dissemble, nor was it free to me to keep silent. Therefore even in the beginnings of your reign I did not write back to you when you wrote, because I foresaw that this would come to pass. Finally, when you asked back for a letter, since I myself did not write back, I said: This is the cause, that I judge it must be extorted from him. 12. Yet when an occasion arose for my office, on behalf of those who were bearing the care of him, I both wrote and asked; that I might show that in the causes of God the just fear of him is in me, and that I do not value flattery more than my own soul: but in those matters in which it is fitting for you to be petitioned, that I too display the diligence owed to your power, as it is also written: To whom honor, honor; to whom tribute, tribute (Romans 13:7). For since I have shown deference to a private man with my inmost heart, how would I not show deference to an emperor? But you who wish deference to be shown to you, allow that we show deference to him whom you wish to be approved as the author of your empire.

EPISTOLA LVII. EUGENIO cur eum Mediolani non exspectaverit, explicat: deinde iis quae sub Valentiniano et Theodosio relationis Symmachi occasione facta fuerant, recensitis, eumdem tyrannum quod sumptus idolorum templis concedendo, nec Dei timorem, nec aliorum de se existimationem ante oculos habuerit, libere arguit; oppositoque ipsius praevaricationi Hebraeorum exemplo, hanc ait fuisse causam cur ad eum non rescripserit; se tamen in posterum libertate, quam apud alios principes adhibuerit, cum eodem usurum. Clementissimo imperatori EUGENIO AMBROSIUS episcopus. 1. Secessionis mihi causa timor Domini fuit, ad quem omnes actus meos, quantum queo, dirigere, neque umquam ab eo mentem deflectere, nec pluris facere cujusvis hominis, quam Christi gratiam consuevi. Nemini enim facio injuriam, si omnibus Deum praefero; et confidens in ipso, non vereor vobis imperatoribus dicere, quae pro meo captu sentio. Itaque quod apud alios imperatores non tacui, nec apud te, clementissime Imperator, tacebo. Atque ut ordinem rerum custodiam, strictim recensebo, quae ad hoc spectant negotium. 2. Retulerat vir amplissimus Symmachus, cum esset praefectus Urbis, ad Valentinianum augustae memoriae imperatorem juniorem, ut templis, quae sublata fuerant, reddi juberet. Functus est ille partibus suis pro studio et cultu suo. Utique etiam ego episcopus partes meas debui recognoscere. Dedi libellos imperatoribus duos, quibus significarem sumptus sacrificiorum christianum virum non posse reddere: et non fuisse quidem me auctorem, cum tollerentur; auctorem tamen fieri, quominus decernerentur: deinde quia dare eos ipse simulacris videretur, non reddere. Quod enim ipse non abstulerat, non quasi ipse reddebat: sed arbitratu proprio largiebatur ad superstitionis impensas. Postremo si fecisset, aut non veniret ad Ecclesiam, aut si veniret, futurum ut aut sacerdotem non inveniret, aut inveniret sibi in Ecclesia resistentem. Nec ad excusationem obtendi posse, quod esset catechumenus; cum non liceat etiam catechumenis sumptus idolis subministrare. 3. Lecti sunt libelli mei in consistorio, aderat amplissimus honore magisterii militaris Bauto comes, et Rumoridus, et ipse ejusdem dignitatis gentilium nationum cultui inserviens a primis pueritiae suae annis. Valentinianus tunc temporis audivit suggestionem meam, nec fecit aliud, nisi quod fidei nostrae ratio poscebat. Acquieverunt etiam comiti suo. 1011 4. Postea etiam clementissimo imperatori Theodosio coram intimavi, atque in os dicere non dubitavi, cui intimata senatus legatione hujusmodi, licet non totus senatus poposcerit, insinuationi meae tandem assensionem detulit, et sic aliquibus ad ipsum non accessi diebus, nec moleste tulit; quia non pro meis commodis faciebam, sed quod et ipsi, et animae meae proderat, in conspectu regis loqui non confundebar (Psal. CXVIII, 46). 5. Iterum Valentiniano augustae memoriae principi, legatio a senatu missa intra Gallias, nihil extorquere potuit: et certe aberam, nec aliquid tunc ad eum scripseram. 6. Sed ubi clementia tua imperii suscepit gubernacula, compertum est postea donata illa esse praecellentibus in republica, sed gentilis observantiae viris; et fortasse dicatur, Imperator auguste, qui ipse non templis reddideris, sed bene meritis de te donaveris. Verum nosti pro Dei timore agendum esse constanter, quod etiam pro libertate frequenter fit non solum a sacerdotibus; sed etiam ab his qui vobis militant, aut in numero habentur provincialium. Te imperante, petierunt legati, ut templis redderes, non fecisti: iterum alteri postulaverunt, renisus es; et postea ipsis, qui petierunt, donandum putasti. 7. Etsi imperatoria potestas magna sit, tamen considera, Imperator, quantus sit Deus: corda omnium videt, conscientiam interiorem interrogat, novit omnia, antequam fiant, novit interna pectoris tui (Act. I, 24; Dan. XIII, 42). Ipsi falli vos non patimini, et Deum vultis celare quidquam? Hoc non cecidit in animum tuum? Quamvis enim illi agebant tam perseveranter, nonne tuum fuit, Imperator, pro Dei summi et veri et vivi veneratione perseverantius obsistere, et negare, quod erat in injuria sacrae legis? 8. Quis invidet, quoniam quae voluisti, aliis donavisti? Non sumus scrutatores vestrae liberalitatis, nec aliorum commodorum invidi; sed sumus interpretes fidei. Quomodo offeres dona tua Christo? Pauci aestimabunt quid feceris; omnes, quid volueris: quidquid illi fecerint, tuum erit: quidquid non fecerint, suum. Etsi es imperator, Deo subditus magis esse debes. Quomodo sacerdotes Christi tua munera dispensabunt? 9. Fuit hujusmodi quaestio temporibus superioribus; et tamen fidei patrum ipsa cessit persecutio, et gentilitas detulit. Nam (II Mach. IV, 18 et seq.) cum ageretur agon quinquennalis in civitate Tyro, et ad spectandum venisset Antochiae rex sceleratissimus, Jason ordinavit sacrorum procuratores, ut ab Hierosolymis Antiochenses ferrent 1012 didrachmas argenti trecentas, et illas darent ad sacrificium Herculis: verum patres non gentilibus dederunt pecunias, sed viris fidelibus missis, protestarunt non erogari ad deorum sacrificium, quia non congruebat, sed in alios sumptus dari. Et pronuntiatum est, quia ille ad sacrificium Herculis missum dixerat argentum, suscipi quidem debere in id, quod erat missum: sed quia illi, qui detulerant, resistebant pro studio et cultu suo; ut non sacrificio proficerent, sed aliis necessitatibus, traditae sunt pecuniae ad constructionem navium: etsi coacti miserunt, non tamen ad sacrificium, sed ad alios sumptus reipublicae. 10. Denique qui attulerant, utique potuissent tacere: sed laedebant fidem, quia sciebant quo deferrentur; et ideo miserunt viros timentes Deum, qui agerent, ut non templo, sed ad impensas navium, quae missa fuerant, deputarentur. Ipsis enim crediderunt pecunias, qui causas agerent sanctae legis: judex rerum effectus fuit, qui absolvit conscientiam. Si positi in aliena potestate, sic praecavebant, quid te oportuerit facere, o Imperator, dubitari non potest. Tu utique quem nemo cogebat, nemo habebat in potestate, debuisti ab sacerdote consulere. 11. Ego certe quando tunc restiti, etsi solus restiti, tamen non solus volui, nec solus id suasi. Quoniam igitur meis vocibus et apud Deum et apud omnes homines teneor; aliud mihi non licere intellexi, aliud non oportere, nisi ut consulerem mihi; quia non potui tibi credere modeste. Certe diu pressi, diu texi dolorem, nulli quidquam intimandum putavi; dissimulare mihi nunc non licet, tacere liberum non fuit. Ideo etiam in primordiis imperii tui scribenti non rescripsi, quia istud praevidebam futurum. Denique reposcenti litteras, cum ipse non rescriberem, dixi: Haec causa est, quod extorquendum ei arbitror. 12. Tamen ubi causa emersit officii mei, pro his qui sollicitudinem sui gerebant, et scripsi et rogavi; ut ostenderem in causis Dei timorem mihi justum inesse, nec pluris me facere adulationem, quam animam meam: in his vero, in quibus vos rogari decet, etiam me exhibere sedulitatem potestati debitam, sicut et scriptum est: Cui honorem, honorem: cui tributum, tributum (Rom. XIII, 7). Nam cum privato detulerim corde intimo, quomodo non deferrem imperatori? Sed qui vobis deferri vultis, patimini ut deferamus ei, quem imperii vestri vultis auctorem probari. Christian Latin The Latin Library The Classics Page