Letter 15: Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful Emperor Eugenius.

Ambrose, bishop, to the most merciful Emperor Eugenius. 1. My reason for withdrawing was the fear of God, 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 the grace of Christ. For I do no one an injury if I prefer God to all; and, trusting in him, I am not afraid to tell you emperors what I feel according to my understanding. Therefore, what I have not kept silent before other emperors I will not keep silent before you either, most merciful Emperor. And, to preserve the order of events, I will briefly review the matters that bear on this affair. 2. The most distinguished Symmachus, when he was Prefect of the City, had submitted a petition to Valentinian, the younger emperor of august memory, that he should order the temples to be given back what had been taken from them. Symmachus discharged his part according to his own zeal and worship. Surely I too, as bishop, was bound to acknowledge my part. I presented two memorials to the emperors, in which I made known that a Christian man could not restore the funds for sacrifices; that I had indeed not been the one who took them away, but I was nevertheless prepared to act so that they should not be decreed; and further, that he would seem to be giving them to idols himself, not restoring them. For what he himself had not taken away, he was not restoring as if it were his own; rather, he would be bestowing it by his own decision upon the expenses of superstition. Finally, that if he did so, either he would not come to the Church, or, if he came, it would happen that he would either find no priest, or find one resisting him in the Church. Nor could it be offered as an excuse that he was a catechumen, since it is not lawful even for catechumens to supply funds to idols. 3. My memorials were read in the consistory. Present were Bauto, a count most distinguished by the honor of the office of master of the soldiers, and Rumoridus, himself of the same rank, who had been devoted to the worship of the pagan nations from the earliest years of his boyhood. Valentinian at that time heard my suggestion, and did nothing other than what the principle of our faith demanded. They likewise yielded to their colleague the count. 4. Afterward I also made this known in person to the most merciful Emperor Theodosius, and I did not hesitate to say it to his face; and although not the whole Senate had asked it, when a legation of the Senate of this kind had been brought to his notice, 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 advantage, but, since it profited both him and my own soul, I was not ashamed to speak in the sight of the king [Psalm 119:46]. 5. Again, when a legation was sent by the Senate to Valentinian, the prince of august memory, within the territories of Gaul, it could extort nothing; and indeed I was away, nor had I written anything to him at that time. 6. But when your Clemency took up the helm of the empire, it was learned afterward that those grants had been made to men preeminent in the state, but men of pagan observance. And perhaps it may be said, august Emperor, that you yourself did not restore them to the temples, but bestowed them on men who had deserved well of you. Yet you know that for the fear of God one must act steadfastly, as is also frequently done for the sake of liberty, not only by priests, but also by those who serve in your armies, or are reckoned among the provincials. While you were ruling, legates asked that you restore them to the temples; you did not do it. Again others demanded it; you resisted. And afterward you thought the grant should be made to those very men who had asked. 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 secret places of your heart [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 occur to your mind? For although those men were acting so persistently, was it not your duty, Emperor, to resist still more persistently for the veneration of the most high, true, and living God, and to refuse what was an injury to the sacred law? 8. Who envies you because you have given to others what you wished? We are not scrutinizers of your generosity, nor are we envious of others' advantages; but we are interpreters of the faith. How will you offer your gifts to Christ? Few will weigh what you have done; all will weigh what you wished. Whatever those men do will be yours; whatever they do not do will be theirs. Although you are emperor, you ought to be all the more 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 the very persecution gave way to the faith of the fathers, and the pagan world deferred. For [2 Maccabees 4:18 and following], when the five-yearly games were being held in the city of Tyre, and the most wicked king had come from Antioch to watch them, Jason appointed managers of the sacred rites to carry three hundred silver didrachmas from the people of Jerusalem to Antioch, and to give them for the sacrifice of Hercules. But the fathers did not give the money to the pagans; rather, sending faithful men, they protested that it should not be paid out for a sacrifice to the gods, because that was not fitting, but should be given for other expenses. And it was pronounced that, since the man had said the silver was sent for the sacrifice of Hercules, it ought indeed to be received for the purpose for which it had been sent; but because those who had brought it resisted, according to their own zeal and worship, so that it should not go toward the sacrifice but toward other necessities, the money was handed over for the building of ships: even though they sent it under compulsion, it was nevertheless not for sacrifice, but for other expenses of the state. 10. In short, those who had brought it could certainly have kept silent; but they were wounding the faith, because they knew to what end it was being conveyed; and therefore they sent men who feared God, to see to it that what 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 cause of the holy law; and the judge of the matter turned out to be one who absolved their conscience. If men placed under another's power took such precautions, there can be no doubt what you ought to have done, O Emperor. 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 did I alone urge it. Since therefore I am bound by my own words both before God and before all men, I understood that one course was not permitted me, another not fitting, except to take counsel for myself; because I could not modestly entrust myself to you. Indeed I long suppressed it, I long concealed my grief, and thought nothing ought to be disclosed to anyone; but now it is not permitted me to dissemble, nor was I free to keep silent. For this reason, when you wrote to me at the very beginning of your reign, I did not write back, because I foresaw that this would happen. Finally, when you demanded a letter, since I myself was not writing back, I said: This is the reason, that I think it is something to be extorted from him. 12. Yet when the occasion of my duty arose, I both wrote and made requests on behalf of those who bore concern for themselves; so that I might show that in the causes of God a just fear of God is in me, and that I value flattery no more than my own soul; but in those matters in which it is fitting that you be petitioned, I show also 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 from the depths of my heart, how should I not show it to an emperor? But you who wish deference to be shown to you, allow us to show it 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.