Letter 12: Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful prince and most blessed Emperor Theodosius.

Ambrose, bishop, to the most merciful prince and most blessed Emperor Theodosius Augustus. 1. I am almost always beset by continual cares, most blessed Emperor; but never have I been in so great a turmoil as now, when I see that I must take care lest there be anything which might be charged to me even as the danger of sacrilege. And so I ask that you patiently hear my words. For if I am unworthy to be heard by you, I am unworthy to make offering on your behalf, unworthy to be the one to whom you entrust your vows and your prayers. Will you then not yourself hear the one whom you wish to be heard on your behalf? Will you not hear him pleading for himself, whom you have heard pleading for others? And do you not fear your own judgment, that when you have thought him unworthy to be heard, you will have made him unworthy who pleads on your behalf? 2. But it is neither imperial to deny freedom of speech, nor priestly to refrain from saying what you think. For there is nothing in you emperors so popular and so beloved as to cherish liberty even in those who are subject to you by the obedience of military service. Indeed this is the difference between good and bad princes: that the good love liberty, the wicked love servitude. There is also nothing in a priest so dangerous before God, so shameful before men, as not to declare freely what he thinks. For it is written: "And I spoke of your testimonies in the sight of kings, and was not confounded" [Psalm 119:46]; and elsewhere: "Son of man, I have set you as a watchman to the house of Israel," so that, He says, if the righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, because you did not distinguish for him — that is, you did not say what must be guarded against — the memory of his righteousness shall not be retained, and I will require his blood at your hand. But if you distinguish for the righteous man, so that he does not sin, and he himself does not sin, the righteous man shall live in life, because you spoke to him; and you shall deliver your own soul [Ezekiel 3:17-19]. 3. I prefer therefore, Emperor, to be in the company of the good with you, rather than of the wicked; and so the silence of a priest ought to displease your clemency, and his liberty to please it. For by the danger of my silence you are entangled, by the good of my liberty you are helped. I do not therefore intrude inopportunely into things not my concern, nor thrust myself into others' affairs: but I obey what is owed, I obey the commands of our God. This I do first out of love for you, for your sake, out of zeal for preserving your salvation. If this is either not believed of me, or forbidden me, I speak plainly out of fear of offending God. For if my danger would free you, I would patiently offer myself on your behalf, but not gladly; for I prefer that you be acceptable and glorious before God without danger to me. But if the fault of my silence and dissimulation both burdens me and does not free you, I prefer that you judge me too importunate rather than too useless or too base. For it is written, as the holy Apostle Paul says, whose teaching you cannot refute: "Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, beseech, rebuke with all patience and teaching" [2 Timothy 4:2]. 4. We too, therefore, have one to displease whom is the greater danger; especially since even emperors are not displeased that each man perform his own office, and you patiently hear each one making his suggestion according to his duty; indeed you reprove him if he does not use the order of his service. What then you gladly accept in those who serve you in arms, can this seem troublesome in priests, when we speak not what we wish, but what we are commanded? For you know it is written: "When you stand before kings and governors, do not consider what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in you" [Matthew 10:19-20]. And yet if I speak in matters of the commonwealth, although justice must be preserved there too, I am not bound by so great a fear if I am not heard; but in the cause of God whom will you hear, if you do not hear the priest, by whose sin there is greater danger? Who will dare to tell you the truth, if the priest does not dare? 5. I know you to be pious, merciful, mild, and tranquil, having the faith and fear of the Lord at heart: but for the most part some things deceive us. Some have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge [Romans 10:2]. Lest therefore this also creep upon faithful souls, I think it must be guarded against. I know your piety toward God, your gentleness toward men: I am bound by the benefits of your indulgences. And therefore I fear the more, I am the more anxious; lest you yourself afterward condemn me by your own judgment, because through my dissimulation or flattery you did not avoid a fall. If I saw a sin committed against me, I ought not to be silent; for it is written: "If your brother sins against you, reprove him first, then rebuke him before two or three witnesses" [Matthew 18:15ff.]. If he does not hear you, tell the Church. Shall I then be silent in the cause of God? Let us therefore consider what it is that I fear. 6. It has been reported by the Count of the military forces of the East that a synagogue was burned, and that this was done at the instigation of the bishop. You have ordered that the others be punished, and that the synagogue be rebuilt by the bishop himself. I do not maintain that the bishop's testimony should have been awaited; for priests are moderators of crowds, eager for peace, except when they too are moved by injury to God or contempt of the Church. Suppose, on the other hand, that this bishop was more fervent in the burning of the synagogue, more timid in judgment: do you not fear, Emperor, lest he yield to your sentence? Do you not fear lest he prove a traitor to his faith? 7. Do you not also fear what is going to happen — lest he resist your Count in words? It will therefore be necessary that he make him either a traitor or a martyr: both alien to your times, both like persecution, if he is either compelled to betray his faith or to undergo martyrdom. You see to what the outcome of the case inclines. If you think the bishop strong, beware the martyrdom of one who is the stronger: if inconstant, avoid the fall of one who is the weaker: for he is the more bound who has compelled the weak to fall. 8. With this condition put before him, I think the bishop will say that he himself scattered the fires, compelled the crowds, gathered the people; lest he lose the occasion of martyrdom, and so he will substitute the stronger for the weak. O blessed lie, by which one acquires for himself the absolution of others, for the sake of his own grace! This, Emperor, is what I too have asked; that you avenge yourself rather upon me: and if you think this a crime, that you charge it to me. Why do you direct judgment against the absent? You have a present, you have a confessing, defendant. I proclaim that I burned the synagogue, or certainly that I commanded those men to do it; lest there be a place in which Christ is denied. If it is objected to me, why did I not burn the one here? It has already begun to be consumed by divine judgment: my work has been made unnecessary. And if the truth is sought, I was the more sluggish for this reason, because I did not think this ought to be avenged. What should I have done — what would be done by no avenger without reward? These words touch shame, but they recall grace; lest there happen that by which the offense of the most high God is incurred. 9. Yet let it be granted that no one charge the bishop with this task; for I have entreated your clemency: and although I have not yet read that this has been revoked, let us nevertheless suppose it revoked. What if others, more timid, while they dread death, offer that the synagogue be rebuilt from their own resources; or the Count, when he learns this was first decreed, himself orders it to be rebuilt from the assessed property of the Christians? You will have, Emperor, a Count who betrays his faith, and to him you will entrust the victorious standards, to him the labarum — that is, the name consecrated by Christ — that he may restore a synagogue which knows not Christ? Order the labarum to be carried into the synagogue, and let us see whether they do not resist. 10. There will then be a place made for the perfidy of the Jews out of the spoils of the Church: and the patrimony which has been acquired for Christians by the favor of Christ, shall this be transferred to the offerings of the perfidious? We read that temples were anciently built for idols from the spoils of the Cimbri, from the plunder of the remaining enemies. The Jews will write this inscription on the front of their synagogue: "The temple of impiety, made from the spoils of the Christians." 11. But the consideration of discipline moves you, Emperor. Which then is greater? The appearance of discipline, or the cause of religion? Censure must yield to devotion. 12. Have you not heard, Emperor, that when Julian had ordered the temple at Jerusalem to be rebuilt, those who were doing the clearing were burned by divine fire? Do you not take care lest even now this happen? You so far ought not to have ordered it, that Julian ordered it! 13. What is it, then, that moves you? Is it because some public building was burned, or because it was the site of a synagogue? If you are moved by the burning of a most worthless building (for what could there have been in so ignoble a fort?), do you not recall, Emperor, how many houses of prefects at Rome have been burned, and no one avenged it? Indeed, if any emperor wished to reprove the deed more severely, he rather aggravated the case of him who had been struck by so great a loss. What then would be more worthy to be deemed avengeable, if indeed it had to be — the burning of some part of the buildings of the fort of Callinicum, or that of the city of Rome? Not long ago at Constantinople the bishop's house was burned, and the son of your clemency interceded with his father; so that you should not avenge both his own injury — that is, the injury of the emperor's son — and the burning of the priestly house. Do you not consider, Emperor, lest in this case too, when you have ordered it avenged, he again intervene that it not be avenged? But it was rightly obtained by the son from the father; for it was fitting that he himself first remit his own injury. It was rightly divided with a distinction of grace, so that both the son might be asked on behalf of his own injury, and the father on behalf of the son's injury. Hence there is nothing that you should reserve for the son, and see that you take nothing away from God. 14. There is therefore no fitting cause for so great a commotion, that on account of the burning of a building so severe a vengeance should be taken upon the people: much less because a synagogue was burned, a place of perfidy, a house of impiety, a receptacle of madness, which God Himself has condemned. For thus we read through the mouth of Jeremiah, when the Lord our God says: "And I will do to the house upon which my name is invoked, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh: and I will cast you out from my face, as I cast out your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim. And do not pray for this people, and do not ask mercy for them, and do not approach me on their behalf: for I will not hear you. Or do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah?" [Jeremiah 7:14ff.]. God forbids that He be entreated for those whom you think ought to be avenged. 15. But certainly, if I were to argue by the law of nations, I would say how many basilicas of the Church the Jews burned in the time of Julian's reign. Two at Damascus, of which one has scarcely been repaired — but at the Church's, not the synagogue's, expense: the other basilica bristles with shapeless ruins. Basilicas were burned at Gaza, at Ascalon, at Berytus, and in almost all those places, and no one sought vengeance. A basilica was also burned at Alexandria by the heathen and the Jews, which alone surpassed the rest. The Church was not avenged; shall the synagogue be avenged? 16. Shall the burned shrine of the Valentinians also be avenged? For what is it but a shrine, in which there is an assembly of heathen? Although the heathen call upon twelve gods, these worship thirty-two Aeons, whom they call gods. For concerning these too I have learned that it was reported and commanded that vengeance be taken upon the monks, who — when the Valentinians blocked the road by which, singing psalms according to old custom and usage, they were proceeding to the festival of the Maccabean martyrs — moved by their insolence, burned the shrine of the Valentinians, hastily built in some rural village. 17. How many are ready to offer themselves to such a choice; since they remember that in the time of Julian, the man who threw down an altar and disrupted a sacrifice, when condemned by the judge, made himself a martyr? And so that judge who heard him was ever after regarded as nothing but a persecutor; no one thought him worthy of meeting, no one ever thought him worthy of a kiss. And if he were not already dead, I would fear, Emperor, lest you avenge yourself upon him — although he did not escape heavenly vengeance, surviving in his heir. 18. But it is reported that the investigation was committed to a judge, and that it was written that he ought not to have reported the matter but to have avenged it: and that the offerings carried off must also be sought out. I will pass over other things: basilicas of the Churches were burned by the Jews, and nothing was restored, nothing demanded back, nothing sought. But what could a synagogue have had in a far-off fort, when the whole of whatever is there is not much, nothing precious, nothing abundant? What then could have been seized in the fire by Jews laying their schemes? These are the arts of the Jews, who wish to slander; so that, while they complain of these things, the military censure of judgment may be ordered outside the regular course, and a soldier be sent — one perhaps to say what someone here once said before your arrival, Emperor: "How will Christ be able to help us, who fight for the Jews against Christ? Who are sent to avenge the Jews? They lost their own armies, and they wish to lose ours." 19. Into what slanders, moreover, will they not break out, who slandered even Christ with false testimonies? Into what slanders will they not break out, men who are liars even concerning divine things? Whom will they not say to have been authors of sedition? Whom will they not attack, even those whom they do not know; so that they may behold countless ranks of the Christian people in chains, that they may see the captive necks of the faithful commons, that the little servants of God may be hidden away in darkness, that they may be struck with axes, given to the fires, handed over to the mines, lest the punishment pass too quickly? 20. Will you give this triumph to the Jews over the Church of God? This trophy over the people of Christ? These joys, Emperor, to the perfidious? This festival to the Synagogue, these mournings to the Church? The people of the Jews will record this solemnity among their feast days; and will surely number it among those days on which they triumphed either over the Amorites, or over the Canaanites, or were able to be freed from Pharaoh king of Egypt, or from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They will add this festival, signifying that they have triumphed over the people of Christ. 21. And although they themselves deny that they are bound by the Roman laws, so that they regard the laws as crimes, yet now they think they ought to be vindicated as if by Roman laws. Where were these laws, when they themselves burned the roofs of the consecrated basilicas? If Julian did not avenge the Church, because he was a betrayer of the faith: will you, Emperor, avenge the injury of the synagogue, because you are a Christian? 22. And what will Christ say to you hereafter? Do you not recall what He commanded to holy David through the prophet Nathan [2 Samuel 7:8ff.]? "I chose you, the least of your brothers, and from a private man I made you emperor. I placed of the fruit of your seed upon the imperial throne. I subjected to you barbarian nations, I gave you peace, I led your enemy captive into your power. You had no grain for the sustenance of your army; by the hand of your very enemies I opened the gates to you, I opened the storehouses: your enemies gave you their supplies, which they had prepared for themselves. I confounded the counsels of your enemy, so that he stripped himself bare. I so bound the usurper of the empire, and so fettered his mind, that although he still had abundant means of fleeing, yet with all his men, as if fearing lest anyone of yours should perish, he shut himself in. I gathered his Count and his army from the other side of nature — those whom I had before scattered, lest they unite for partnership in war — into a reinforcement for your victory. I commanded your army, drawn together from many untamed nations, to keep the faith and tranquillity and concord as of a single people. When there was the utmost danger lest the faithless designs of the barbarians penetrate the Alps, within the very rampart of the Alps I conferred victory upon you, so that you conquered without loss. I therefore made you triumph over your enemy, and you give my enemies a triumph over my people." 23. Was not Maximus on this account abandoned, who — before the very days of the expedition, when he had heard that a synagogue at Rome was burned — had sent an edict to Rome, as if an avenger of public discipline? Whereupon the Christian people said: "Nothing good threatens this man. This king has become a Jew: we have heard him as a defender of discipline" — whom soon Christ tested, He who died for sinners [Romans 5:6]. If this was said of mere words, what shall be said of vengeance? That man therefore was at once defeated by the Franks, by the nation of the Saxons, in Sicily, at Siscia, at Petavio: everywhere, in short, throughout the lands, he was conquered. What has the pious man in common with the perfidious? Together with the impious man, even the examples of impiety must be abolished. What harmed that man, the thing by which the conquered man gave offense — this the conqueror ought not to follow, but to condemn. 24. And so I have recounted these things to you not as to one ungrateful, but I have numbered them as conferred by right; so that, admonished by them, you to whom more has been conferred may love the more. Finally, the Lord Jesus said this to Simon when he answered Him: "You have judged rightly" [Luke 7:43]. And immediately turning to the woman who anointed His feet with ointment, who bears the type of the Church, He said to Simon: "Therefore I say to you: her many sins are forgiven, because she has loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, the same loves less" [Luke 7:47]. This is the woman who entered the house of the Pharisee, and cast out the Jew, but acquired Christ. For the Church excluded the Synagogue: why is it tried again, that in the case of Christ's servant — that is, from the breast of faith, from the house of Christ — the Synagogue should exclude the Church? 25. These things, Emperor, out of love and zeal for you I have brought together into this discourse. For I am indebted to your benefits, by which, at my entreaty, you freed very many from exile, from prisons, from the penalties of final death; so that I ought to prefer, for the sake of your salvation, not even to fear giving offense to your spirit (no one uses greater confidence than he who loves out of affection: no one surely ought to wound one for whom he takes thought) — lest in one moment I lose the grace toward any priest conceived through so many years. And yet I do not deprecate the loss of grace, but the danger to your salvation. 26. And yet how great a thing is it, Emperor, that you should think nothing must be sought out or avenged which to this day no one has sought out, no one has ever avenged? It is a grave thing that your faith should be put at risk for the Jews. When Gideon had slain the consecrated calf [Judges 6:31], the heathen said: "Let the gods themselves avenge their own injury." Who is there to avenge the Synagogue? Christ, whom they slew, whom they denied? Or will God the Father avenge those who do not receive the Father either, since they have not received the Son? Who is there to avenge the heresy of the Valentinians: which your piety in what manner does it avenge, since you have ordered them to be excluded, and not allowed to usurp the opportunity of assembling? If I set before you Josiah, a king approved by God, you will condemn in these men that which was approved in him. 27. Certainly, if too little faith is granted to me, order those whom you consider bishops to be present: let it be discussed, Emperor, what ought to be done with the faith preserved. If in financial matters you consult your Counts, how much more in the cause of religion is it just that you consult the priests of the Lord! 28. Let your clemency consider how many liers-in-wait the Church has, how many spies: if they find a slight crack, they will fix in their sting. I speak after the manner of men: but God is feared more than men, who by right is even preferred to emperors. If anyone thinks deference must be paid to a friend, to a parent, or to a kinsman, I have rightly judged that deference must be paid to God, and that He must be preferred to all. Take thought for yourself, Emperor, or suffer me to take thought for myself. 29. What shall I answer afterward, if it shall be discovered that, authority being given from this source, some of the Christians were killed either by the sword, or by clubs, or by leaden weights? How shall I cleanse this deed? How shall I excuse it before the bishops, who now — because for thirty and countless years certain presbyters who have served in their rank, or ministers of the Church, are drawn back from the sacred office and assigned to the municipal council — groan grievously? For if those who serve you in arms are protected for a fixed term of service, how much more ought you to consider those who serve God! How, I say, shall I excuse this before the bishops, who complain about clerics, and write that the churches are being laid waste by grievous oppression? 30. This, however, I wished to come to the notice of your clemency; concerning this, as it pleases you, you will deign to consult and temper according to your own judgment: but that which torments me, and rightly torments me, shut out and cast away. You yourself do whatever you have ordered to be done: or if that man is not going to do it, I prefer that you be the more merciful, than that he not do what he was ordered. 31. You have those in whose case you still owe it to invite and earn the clemency of the Lord toward the Roman empire; you have those for whom you may hope for more than for yourself: let their grace, their salvation, meet you in this discourse. I fear lest you commit your cause to another's judgment. Everything is still untouched for you. In this I bind myself to our God on your behalf, and do not fear the oath. Can it possibly displease God that something is amended for the sake of His honor? You will certainly change nothing in that letter, whether it has been sent, or has not yet been sent: order another to be dictated, which is full of faith, full of piety. It is open to you to amend; it is not open to me to dissemble. 32. To the people of Antioch you forgave your own injury, you recalled the daughters of your enemy, you gave them to be reared in the care of a relative, you sent to the mother of your enemy expenses from your treasury. This so great piety, this so great faith toward God will be obscured by this deed. You therefore, who spared your armed enemies, and preserved your foes; do not, I beg, think that vengeance must be taken upon Christians with so great zeal. 33. Now I ask you, Emperor, that you not receive disdainfully one who fears both for you and for myself; for it is the saint's voice: "To what end was I made to see the affliction of my people" [1 Maccabees 2:7], that I should incur the offense of God? I certainly have done what could be done more honorably; so that you might rather hear me in the palace, lest, if it were necessary, you hear me in the Church.

EPISTOLA XL. Ab imperatore audiri se postulat, affirmans in principe laudari facilitatem; tacere se sine utriusque periculo non posse; nec regibus displicere libertatem; illum vero, quamvis pius sit, decipi posse; sententiam de synagoga reparanda esse periculosam, cum episcopum martyrio vel praevaricationi exponat. In hanc rem exemplo Juliani proposito, rescripti causae refelluntur, maxime quod Judaei plures usserint ecclesias. Hinc agitur de Valentinianorum, qui gentilibus pejores declarantur, fano, ac donariis, quae dicebantur sublata, extenuatis, januam ad calumnias Judaeis aperiri, triumphumque de Christo dari demonstratur. Hac de re allegorica instituitur Domini expostulatio; postquam deterretur Maximi exemplo Theodosius, neve Judaeos aut haereticos ulcisci velit, admonitus, denuo stimulatur ad clementiam. Clementissimo principi, ac beatissimo imperatori THEODOSIO augusto AMBROSIUS episcopus. 1. Exercitus semper jugibus fere curis sum, Imperator beatissime: sed numquam tanto in aestu fui, quanto nunc; cum video cavendum ne quid sit, quod ascribatur mihi etiam de sacrilegii periculo. Itaque peto ut patienter sermonem meum audias. Nam si indignus sum, qui a te audiar; indignus sum, qui pro te offeram, cui tua vota, cui tuas committas preces. Ipse ergo non audies eum, quem pro te audiri velis? Non audies pro se agentem, quem pro aliis audisti? Nec vereris judicium tuum, ne cum indignum putaris, quem audias, indignum feceris, qui pro te audiatur? 2. Sed neque imperiale est libertatem dicendi denegare, neque sacerdotale, quod sentias, non dicere. Nihil enim in vobis imperatoribus tam populare et tam amabile est, quam libertatem etiam in iis diligere, qui obsequio militiae vobis subditi sunt. Siquidem hoc interest inter bonos et malos principes, quod boni libertatem amant, servitutem improbi. Nihil etiam in sacerdote tam periculosum apud Deum, tam turpe apud homines, quam quod sentiat, non libere denuntiare. Siquidem scriptum est: Et loquebar in testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum, et non confundebar (Psal. CXVIII, 46); et alibi: Fili hominis, speculatorem te posui domui Israel, in eo, inquit, ut si avertatur justus a justitiis suis, et fecerit delictum; quia non distinxisti ei, hoc est, non dixisti quid sit cavendum, non retinebitur memoria justitiae ejus, et sanguinem ejus de manu tua exquiram. Tu autem si distinxeris justo, ut non 947 peccet, et ipse non peccaverit, justus vita vivet; quia dixisti ei: et tu animam tuam liberabis (Ezech. III, 17-19). 3. Malo igitur, Imperator, bonorum mihi esse tecum, quam malorum consortium; et ideo clementiae tuae displicere debet sacerdotis silentium, libertas placere. Nam silentii mei periculo involveris, libertatis bono juvaris. Non ergo importunus indebitis me intersero, alienis ingero: sed debitis obtempero, mandatis Dei nostri obedio. Quod facio primum tui amore, tui gratia, tuae studio conservandae salutis. Si id mihi vel non creditur, vel interdicitur: dico sane divinae offensae metu. Nam si meum periculum te exueret, patienter me pro te offerrem, sed non libenter; malo enim te sine meo acceptum Deo esse et gloriosum periculo. Sin autem silentii mei dissimulationisque culpa et me ingravat, nec te liberat; malo importuniorem me, quam inutiliorem aut turpiorem judices. Siquidem scriptum est, dicente sancto apostolo Paulo, cujus non potes doctrinam refellere: Insta opportune, importune; argue, obsecra, increpa in omni patientia et doctrina (II Tim. IV, 2). 4. Habemus ergo et nos cui displicere plus periculi sit; praesertim cum etiam imperatoribus non displiceat suo quemque fungi munere, et patienter audiatis unumquemque pro suo suggerentem officio; immo corripiatis, si non utatur militiae suae ordine. Quod ergo in iis libenter accipitis, qui vobis militant, num hoc in sacerdotibus potest molestum videri; cum id loquamur, non quod volumus, sed quod jubemur? Scis enim lectum: Cum stabitis ante reges et praesides, nolite cogitare quid loquamini; dabitur enim vobis in illa hora quid loquamini: non enim vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus Patris vestri, qui loquitur in vobis (Matth. X, 19, 20). Et tamen si in causis reipublicae loquar, quamvis etiam illic justitia servanda sit, non tanto astringar metu, si non audiar; in causa vero Dei quem audies, si sacerdotem non audias, cujus majore peccatur periculo? Quis tibi verum audebit dicere, si sacerdos non audeat? 5. Novi te pium, clementem, mitem, atque tranquillum, fidem ac timorem Domini cordi 948 habentem: sed plerumque aliqua nos fallunt. Habent aliqui zelum Dei, sed non secundum scientiam (Rom. X, 2). Ne igitur hoc etiam fidelibus animis obrepat, cavendum arbitror. Novi pietatem tuam erga Deum, lenitatem in homines: obligatus sum beneficiis tuarum indulgentiarum. Et ideo plus metuo, amplius sollicitor; ne etiam ipse tuo me postea judicio condemnes, quod mea aut dissimulatione aut adulatione prolapsionem non evitaveris. Si in me peccari viderem, non deberem tacere; scriptum est enim: Si frater tuus in te peccaverit, corripe illum primo, deinde increpa, duobus aut tribus testibus (Matth. XVIII, 15 et seq.). Si te non audierit, dic Ecclesiae. Causam ergo Dei tacebo? Quid igitur sit, quod metuam consideremus. 6. Relatum est a comite orientis militarium partium incensam esse synagogam, idque auctore factum episcopo. Jussisti vindicari in caeteros, synagogam ab ipso exaedificari episcopo. Non astruo exspectandam fuisse assertionem episcopi; sacerdotes enim turbarum moderatores sunt, studiosi pacis, nisi cum et ipsi moventur injuria Dei, aut Ecclesiae contumelia. Sit alioquin iste episcopus ferventior in exustione synagogae, timidior in judicio: non vereris, imperator, ne acquiescat sententiae tuae; ne praevaricetur, non times? 7. Non etiam vereris, quod futurum est; ne verbis resistat comiti tuo? Necesse erit igitur ut aut praevaricatorem aut martyrem faciat: utrumque alienum temporibus tuis, utrumque persecutionis instar, si aut praevaricari cogatur, aut subire martyrium. Vides quo inclinet causae exitus. Si fortem episcopum putas, caveto martyrium fortioris: si inconstantem, declina lapsum fragilioris: plus enim astringitur, qui labi infirmum coegerit. 8. Hac proposita conditione, puto dicturum episcopum quod ipse ignes sparserit, turbas compulerit, populos conduxerit; ne amittat occasionem martyrii, et pro invalidis subjiciat validiorem. O beatum mendacium, quo acquiritur sibi aliorum absolutio, sui gratia! Hoc est, imperator, quod poposci et ego; ut in me 949 magis vindicares: et si hoc crimen putares, mihi ascriberes. Quid mandas in absentes judicium? Habes praesentem, habes confitentem reum. Proclamo quod ego synagogam incenderim, certe quod ego illis mandaverim; ne esset locus in quo Christus negaretur. Si objiciatur mihi, cur hic non incenderim? Divino jam cremari coepit judicio: meum cessavit opus. Et si verum quaeritur, ideo segnior fui, quia non putabam hoc vindicandum. Quid facerem, quod nullo ultore sine praemio foret? Tangunt haec verecundiam, sed revocant gratiam; ne fiat quo Dei summi contrahatur offensio. 9. Esto tamen, nemo episcopum ad hoc munus conveniat; rogavi enim clementiam tuam: et licet ipse hoc revocatum adhuc non legerim, revocatum tamen constituamus. Quid si alii timidiores, dum mortem reformidant, offerant ut de suis facultatibus reparetur synagoga; aut comes ubi hoc compererit primo constitutum, ipse de christianorum censu exaedificari jubeat? Habebis, imperator, comitem praevaricatorem, et huic vexilla committes victricia, huic labarum, hoc est, Christi sacratum nomine, qui synagogam instauret, quae Christum nesciat? Jube labarum synagogae inferri, videamus si non resistunt. 10. Erit igitur locus Judaeorum perfidiae factus de exuviis Ecclesiae: et patrimonium, quod favore Christi acquisitum est christianis, hoc transferetur ad donaria perfidorum? Legimus templa idolis antiquitus condita de manubiis Cimbrorum, de spoliis reliquorum hostium. Hunc titulum Judaei in fronte synagogae suae scribent: Templum impietatis factum de manubiis christianorum. 11.Sed disciplinae te ratio, imperator, movet. Quid igitur est amplius? disciplinae species, an causa religionis? Cedat oportet censura devotioni. 12. Non audisti, imperator, quia cum jussisset Julianus reparari templum Hierosolymis, divino, qui faciebant repurgium, igne flagrarunt? Non caves ne etiam nunc fiat? Adeo a te non fuit jubendum, ut Julianus hoc jusserit! 950 13. Quid tamen movet? Utrum quia quodcumque aedificium publicum exustum est, an quia synagogae locus? Si aedificio incenso moveris vilissimo (quid enim in tam ignobili castro esse potuit), non recordaris, imperator, quantorum Romae domus praefectorum incensae sint, et nemo vindicavit? Immo si quis imperatorum voluit factum severius reprehendere, ejus magis qui tanto est perculsus dispendio, causam gravavit. Quid igitur dignius, ut Callinici castri in parte aliqua aedificiorum incendium, an urbis Romae vindicandum aestimaretur, si oporteret tamen? Constantinopoli dudum domus episcopi incensa est, et filius clementiae tuae intercessit apud patrem; ut et suam, hoc est, filii imperatoris injuriam, et domus sacerdotalis incendium non vindicares. Non consideras, Imperator, ne et hoc cum vindicari jusseris, ipse iterum interveniat, ne vindicetur? Sed bene illud acquisitum est a patre filio; dignum erat enim, ut suam injuriam prius ipse donaret. Bene illud cum gratiae distinctione divisum est, ut et filius pro sua, et pater pro filii injuria rogaretur. Hinc nihil est quod filio reserves, et vide ne quid Deo deroges. 14. Non est ergo causa tantae commotioni idonea; ut propter aedificii exustionem in populum tam severe vindicetur: multo autem minus quia synagoga incensa est, perfidiae locus, impietatis domus, amentiae receptaculum, quod Deus damnavit ipse. Sic enim legimus per os Hieremiae, dicente Domino Deo nostro: Et faciam domui, ubi invocatum est nomen meum super ipsam, in qua confiditis vos, et loco quem dedi vobis et patribus vestris, sicut feci Selon: et projiciam vos a facie mea, sicut projeci fratres vestros omne semen Ephraem. Et tu noli orare pro populo isto, et noli postulare illis misericordiam, et neque accesseris ad me pro illis: quia non exaudiam te. Aut non vides quid isti faciunt in civitatibus Juda (Jerem. VII, 14 et seq.)? Deus se pro illis prohibet rogari, quos tu vindicandos putas. 15. At certe si jure gentium agerem, dicerem quantas Ecclesiae basilicas Judaei tempore imperii Juliani incenderint. Duas Damasci, quarum una vix reparata est, sed Ecclesiae, non 951 synagogae impendiis: altera basilica informibus horret ruinis. Incensae sunt basilicae Gazis, Ascalonae, Beryto, et illis fere locis omnibus, et vindictam nemo quaesivit. Incensa est basilica et Alexandriae a gentilibus et Judaeis, quae sola praestabat caeteris. Ecclesia non vindicata est, vindicabitur synagoga? 16. Vindicabitur etiam Valentinianorum fanum incensum? Quid est enim nisi fanum, in quo est conventus gentilium? Licet gentiles duodecim deos appellent, isti triginta et duos Aeonas colant, quos appellant deos. Nam et de ipsis comperi relatum et praeceptum, ut in monachos vindicaretur, qui prohibentibus iter Valentinianis, quo psalmos canentes ex consuetudine usuque veteri pergebant ad celebritatem Machabaeorum martyrum, moti insolentia incenderunt fanum eorum in quodam rurali vico tumultuarie conditum. 17. Quanti se offerre habent tali optioni; cum meminerint tempore Juliani illum, qui aram dejecit, et turbavit sacrificium, damnatum a judice fecisse martyrium? Itaque numquam alias ille judex, qui audivit eum, nisi persecutor habitus est; nemo illum congressu, nemo illum umquam osculo dignum putavit. Qui nisi jam esset defunctus, timerem, Imperator, ne in eum tu vindicares, quamquam vindictam coelestem non evaserit, suo superstes haeredi. 18. Sed refertur cognitionem mandatam judici, scriptumque eo quod non referre debuerit, sed vindicare: requirenda quoque sublata donaria. Omittam alia: incensae sunt a Judaeis Ecclesiarum basilicae, et nihil redditum est, nihil repetitum, nihil quaesitum. Quid autem habere potuit synagoga in castro ultimo; cum totum quidquid illic est, non multum sit, nihil pretiosum, nihil copiosum? Quid deinde incendio potuit rapi Judaeis insidiantibus? Artes istae sunt Judaeorum volentium calumniari; ut dum ista queruntur, mandetur extra ordinem militaris censura judicii, mittatur miles fortasse dicturus quod hic aliquando ante tuum, Imperator, dixit adventum: Quomodo poterit nos Christus juvare, qui pro Judaeis adversus Christum militamus? qui mittimur ad vindictam Judaeorum? Suos perdiderunt exercitus, nostros volunt perdere. 952 19. In quas praeterea non prosiliant calumnias, qui etiam Christo falsis testimoniis calumniati sunt? In quas non prosiliant calumnias homines et circa divina mendaces? Quos non auctores seditionis fuisse dicant? Quos non appetant, etiam quos non recognoscant; ut catenatorum ordines innumeros spectent de christiano populo, ut captiva videant colla plebis fidelis, ut condantur in tenebras Dei servuli, ut feriantur securibus, dentur ignibus, tradantur metallis, ne poena cito transeat? 20. Hunc dabis triumphum Judaeis de Ecclesia Dei? hoc tropaeum de Christi populo? haec gaudia, Imperator, perfidis? hanc celebritatem Synagogae, hos luctus Ecclesiae? Referet Judaeorum populus hanc solemnitatem in dies festos suos; et inter illos profecto numerabit, quibus aut de Amorrhaeis, aut de Chananaeis triumphavit, aut de Pharao rege Aegypti, aut de Nabuchodonosor regis Babyloniae manu liberari potuit. Addet hanc celebritatem, significans se de Christi populo triumphum egisse. 21. Et cum ipsi Romanis legibus teneri se negent, ita ut crimina leges putent; nunc velut Romanis legibus se vindicandos putant. Ubi erant istae leges, cum incenderent ipsi sacratarum basilicarum culmina? Si Julianus non est ultus Ecclesiam; quia praevaricator erat: tu, Imperator, ulcisceris synagogae injuriam, quia christianus es? 22. Et quid tecum posthac Christus loquetur? Non recordaris quid David sancto per Nathan prophetam mandaverit (II Reg. VII, 8 et seq.)? Ego te de fratribus tuis minorem elegi, et de privato imperatorem feci. Ego de fructu seminis tui in sede imperiali locavi. Ego tibi subjeci nationes barbaras, ego tibi pacem dedi, ego tibi inimicum tuum in potestatem tuam captivum deduxi. Frumentum non habebas ad exercitus alimoniam, ipsorum hostium manu patefeci tibi portas, aperui horrea: dederunt tibi hostes tui commeatus suos, quos sibi paraverant. Ego perturbavi hostis tui consilia, ut se ipse nudaret. Ego ipsum usurpatorem imperii ita vinxi, ac mentem ejus ligavi, ut cum haberet adhuc fugiendi copiam, tamen cum omnibus suis tamquam metuens, ne quis tibi periret, ipse se clauderet. Ego comitem ejus atque exercitum ex 953 altera parte naturae, quos ante disperseram, ne ad belli societatem coirent, ad supplementum tibi victoriae congregavi. Ego exercitum tuum ex multis indomitis convenam nationibus, quasi unius gentis fidem et tranquillitatem et concordiam servare praecepi. Ego cum periculum summum esset ne Alpes infida barbarorum penetrarent consilia, intra ipsum Alpium vallum victoriam tibi contuli, ut sine damno vinceres. Ego ergo te triumphare feci de inimico tuo, et tu de plebe mea das meis inimicis triumphum. 23. Nonne propterea Maximus destitutus est, qui ante ipsos expeditionis dies, cum audisset Romae synagogam incensam, edictum Romam miserat, quasi vindex disciplinae publicae? Unde populus christianus ait: Nihil boni huic imminet. Rex iste Judaeus factus est: defensorem istum disciplinae audivimus, quem mox Christus probavit, qui pro peccatoribus mortuus est (Rom. V, 6). Si de sermone hoc dictum est, quid de ultione dicetur? Ille igitur statim a Francis, a Saxonum gente, in Sicilia, Sisciae, Petavione: ubique denique terrarum victus est. Quid pio commune cum perfido? Abolenda cum impio sunt etiam impietatis exempla. Quod illi nocuit, quo victus offendit; hoc non sequi debet, sed damnare, qui vicit. 24. Itaque illa tibi non quasi ingrato recensui, sed quasi jure collata numeravi; ut his admonitus, cui plus collatum est, plus diligas. Denique hoc respondenti Simoni dixit Dominus Jesus: Recte judicasti (Luc. VII, 44). Statimque conversus ad mulierem quae pedes ejus unguento unxit, typum Ecclesiae gerens, ait Simoni: Propter quod dico tibi: remissa sunt peccata ejus multa, quoniam dilexit multum. Cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit (Ibid., 47). Haec est mulier quae in domum Pharisaei intravit, et ejecit Judaeum, Christum autem acquisivit. Ecclesia enim Synagogam exclusit: cur iterum tentatur, ut apud Christi famulum, hoc est, de pectore fidei, de domo Christi Synagoga excludat Ecclesiam? 25. Haec ego, Imperator, amore et studio tui in hunc sermonem contuli. Debeo enim beneficiis tuis, quibus me petente, liberasti plurimos de exsiliis, de carceribus, de ultimae necis poenis; 954 ut malle debeam pro salute tua etiam offensionem tui animi non timere (nemo majore fiducia utitur, quam qui ex affectu diligit: nemo certe debet laedere, qui sibi consulit) ne tot annorum conceptam cujuscumque sacerdotis gratiam uno momento amittam. Et tamen non damnum gratiae deprecor, sed salutis periculum. 26. Quamquam quantum est, Imperator, ut quaerendum aut vindicandum non putes, quod in hunc diem nemo quaesivit, nemo umquam vindicavit? Grave est fidem tuam pro Judaeis periclitari. Gedeon cum occidisset sacratum vitulum (Judic. VI, 31), dixerunt gentiles: Dii ipsi injuriam suam vindicent. Quis habet Synagogam vindicare? Christus quem occiderunt, quem negaverunt? An Deus Pater vindicabit eos, qui nec Patrem recipiunt, dum Filium non receperunt? Quis habet Valentinianorum haeresim vindicare: quam pietas tua quomodo vindicat, cum eos excludi jusserit, nec conveniendi usurpare copiam (IV Reg. XXII, 2)? Si Josiam tibi objiciam regem Deo probatum, hoc in istis damnabis, quod in illo probatum est. 27. Certe si mihi parum fidei defertur, jube adesse quos putaveris episcopos: tractetur, Imperator, quid salva fide agi debeat. Si de causis pecuniariis comites tuos consulis, quanto magis in causa religionis sacerdotes Domini aequum est consulas! 28. Consideret clementia tua quantos insidiatores habeat Ecclesia, quantos exploratores: levem rimam si offenderint, figent aculeum. Secundum homines loquor: caeterum plus hominibus Deus timetur, qui etiam imperatoribus jure praefertur. Si amico aliquis, si parenti aut propinquo deferendum existimat, recte ego et deferendum Deo, et eum praeferendum omnibus judicavi. Consule tibi, Imperator, aut patere me consulere mihi. 29. Quid respondebo postea, si compertum fuerit, data hinc auctoritate, aliquos christianorum aut gladio, aut fustibus, aut plumbeis necatos? Quomodo hoc purgabo factum? Quomodo excusabo apud episcopos, qui nunc quia per triginta et innumeros annos presbyteri quidam 955 gradu functi, vel ministri Ecclesiae retrahuntur a munere sacro, et curiae deputantur, graviter gemunt? Nam si qui vobis militant, certo militiae tempore servantur; quanto magis etiam eos considerare debetis, qui Deo militant! Quomodo, inquam, hoc excusabo apud episcopos, qui queruntur de clericis, et impressione gravi vastari scribunt ecclesias? 30. Hoc tamen in notitiam clementiae tuae pervenire volui; de hoc, ut placet, arbitrio tuo consulere et temperare dignaberis: illud autem quod me angit, et jure angit, exclude atque ejice. Ipse facis, quidquid fieri jussisti: aut si ille facturus non est, malo te magis esse clementem, quam illum non fecisse, quod jussus est. 31. Habes in quibus Domini adhuc debes circa imperium Romanum invitare et emereri clementiam; habes quibus amplius, quam tibi speres: illorum gratia, illorum salus te in hoc sermone conveniat. Timeo ne causam tuam alieno committas judicio. Integra adhuc tibi sunt omnia. In hoc me ego Deo nostro pro te obligo, nec verearis sacramentum. Numquid Deo displicere poterit quod pro ejus emendatur honorificentia? Nihil mutaveris certe in illa epistola, sive missa, sive nondum missa est: dictari jube aliam, quae plena fidei, plena pietatis sit. Tibi integrum est emendare, mihi non est integrum dissimulare. 32. Antiochenis tuam donasti injuriam, inimici tui filias revocasti, nutriendas apud affinem dedisti, matri hostis tui misisti de aerario tuo sumptus. Haec tanta pietas, tanta erga Deum fides hoc facto obfuscabitur. Tu igitur qui armatis pepercisti hostibus, et servasti inimicos tuos; ne, quaeso, tanto studio putes vindicandum in christianos. 33. Nunc te, Imperator, rogo, ut non aspernanter acceperis me et pro te et pro me timentem; sancti enim vox est: Ut quid factus sum videre contritionem populi mei (I Mach. II, 7), ut offensam incurram Dei? Ego certe quod honorificentius fieri potuit, feci; ut me magis audires in regia, ne, si necesse esset, audires in Ecclesia.