Unknown→Emperor Theodosius I|c. 392 AD|ambrose milan
arianismgrief deathimperial politics
From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
To: Emperor Theodosius
Date: ~392 AD
Context: A grief-stricken letter on the death of the young Emperor Valentinian II, whom Ambrose had once opposed but later loved — he mourns both the man and the baptism he never had the chance to administer.
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius.
My silence was broken by the words of your Clemency. Until now, in the face of such sorrow, I had resolved to do nothing better, if I could manage it, than hide myself away. Since I could not withdraw from the world or resign my bishopric, I hid within silence.
I grieve — I confess it, with bitter grief — not only because Valentinian died so young, but because he had been so formed by faith and by your own teaching that he had developed a remarkable devotion to our God, and an affection for me that transformed our entire relationship. The man who once persecuted me now loved me. The man who once rejected me as an adversary now regarded me as a father.
I do not mention the old injuries to revive them, but as testimony to his conversion. The hostility was someone else's influence; the change of heart was his own — a change you planted in him, and which he held so firmly that he shut out even his mother's contrary persuasion [Justina, his Arian mother]. He boasted openly that I had raised him in the faith. He longed for me as a devoted father. He was so impatient for my return that when someone falsely reported I was on my way, he waited with excitement he could not contain.
And in those final, terrible days — even though he had holy and distinguished bishops near him in Gaul — he wrote asking me to baptize him. That letter is the last thing I received from him. It was not the wisest request — he had bishops readily at hand — but it was the most loving. It showed what I meant to him.
Shall I not mourn such a man? Shall I think him truly dead to me? No — he is more dead to me than to anyone, because I had more reason than anyone to rejoice in his transformation. I was giving thanks to God daily for the change in him. I was giving thanks to your Clemency for having formed him in the disciplines of your own faith and piety. And now he is gone — his life cut short before I could give him the sacrament he asked for.
I have been informed that marble is available for his tomb. I urge you: let the burial proceed quickly, for the sake of his sisters, who are anxious and grieving. The dead are honored not by delay but by dignity.
I mourn him as a father mourns a son. I commend him to God, who knows the intentions of the heart — and who knows that Valentinian desired baptism with all his soul, even if he did not live to receive it.
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
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From:Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
To:Emperor Theodosius
Date:~392 AD
Context:A grief-stricken letter on the death of the young Emperor Valentinian II, whom Ambrose had once opposed but later loved — he mourns both the man and the baptism he never had the chance to administer.
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius.
My silence was broken by the words of your Clemency. Until now, in the face of such sorrow, I had resolved to do nothing better, if I could manage it, than hide myself away. Since I could not withdraw from the world or resign my bishopric, I hid within silence.
I grieve — I confess it, with bitter grief — not only because Valentinian died so young, but because he had been so formed by faith and by your own teaching that he had developed a remarkable devotion to our God, and an affection for me that transformed our entire relationship. The man who once persecuted me now loved me. The man who once rejected me as an adversary now regarded me as a father.
I do not mention the old injuries to revive them, but as testimony to his conversion. The hostility was someone else's influence; the change of heart was his own — a change you planted in him, and which he held so firmly that he shut out even his mother's contrary persuasion [Justina, his Arian mother]. He boasted openly that I had raised him in the faith. He longed for me as a devoted father. He was so impatient for my return that when someone falsely reported I was on my way, he waited with excitement he could not contain.
And in those final, terrible days — even though he had holy and distinguished bishops near him in Gaul — he wrote asking me to baptize him. That letter is the last thing I received from him. It was not the wisest request — he had bishops readily at hand — but it was the most loving. It showed what I meant to him.
Shall I not mourn such a man? Shall I think him truly dead to me? No — he is more dead to me than to anyone, because I had more reason than anyone to rejoice in his transformation. I was giving thanks to God daily for the change in him. I was giving thanks to your Clemency for having formed him in the disciplines of your own faith and piety. And now he is gone — his life cut short before I could give him the sacrament he asked for.
I have been informed that marble is available for his tomb. I urge you: let the burial proceed quickly, for the sake of his sisters, who are anxious and grieving. The dead are honored not by delay but by dignity.
I mourn him as a father mourns a son. I commend him to God, who knows the intentions of the heart — and who knows that Valentinian desired baptism with all his soul, even if he did not live to receive it.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.