Letter 50057: You have written to me requesting that I meet with you.

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: The usurper Eugenius Date: ~393 AD Context: A remarkable letter to the usurper Eugenius [a former rhetoric teacher who was proclaimed emperor by the Frankish general Arbogast after the death of Valentinian II in 392]. Ambrose refuses to meet him and warns that his alliance with pagan senators will cost him divine favor. Ambrose, Bishop, to Eugenius. You have written to me requesting that I meet with you. I must decline, and I owe you an explanation for the refusal. I do not question that you hold power in the West. Power is a fact, and I am not so naive as to pretend that facts do not exist. But the manner in which you acquired that power [Valentinian II was found dead, officially a suicide, under circumstances widely suspected to be arranged by Arbogast, the Frankish military commander who then elevated Eugenius] raises questions that no amount of protocol can suppress. More troubling than your accession is what you have done since. You have restored the subsidies for pagan worship that your Christian predecessors removed. You have returned the Altar of Victory to the Senate house [the same altar Ambrose had fought to keep removed under Valentinian II]. You have allied yourself with the pagan party of Symmachus and Flavianus, and in exchange for their political support, you have sold the cause of Christ. I fought this battle once before, under Valentinian, and I will not surrender now what I won then. The Altar of Victory will not stand in the Senate with my consent, and I will not offer the sacrifice of the Mass in the presence of a ruler who has placed that altar above the cross. If you wish to reign as a Christian emperor, act like one. If you prefer to court the pagans, then do not expect the Church to bless what it has always opposed. I pray for your soul, Eugenius, even as I refuse your invitation. The two are not incompatible. God be your judge — and may you fare better before his tribunal than I fear you will.

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