Letter 9: Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful Emperor and most blessed Augustus Valentinian.

LETTER 21. [Argument:] Ambrose excuses himself for not having come to the imperial council when summoned, asserting that in a matter of faith or of ecclesiastical concern no one ought to sit in judgment except priests; and that he is not being contumacious in this, since he does not wish to inflict an injury upon his own order. He adds that Auxentius would perhaps choose Jews or unbelievers in the place of judges, that is, men most hostile to Christ; that he does not refuse to dispute about these things in the Church or in a synod; and that he would in the end have said these things in person, had he not been forbidden by his fellow bishops and by the people. To the most merciful Emperor, and most blessed Augustus VALENTINIAN, AMBROSE the bishop. 1. Dalmatius, tribune and notary, by mandate, as he alleged, of your Clemency, approached me, demanding that I too should choose judges, just as Auxentius had chosen. He did not, however, express the names of those who had been demanded; but he added this, that there would be a contest in the council, with the judgment of your Piety as arbiter. 2. To this matter I respond, as I think, fittingly. Nor ought anyone to judge me contumacious, when I assert this, which your father of august memory not only answered in word, but even sanctioned by his own laws: that in a matter of faith or of any ecclesiastical order, he ought to judge who is neither unequal in office nor dissimilar in right; for these are the words of the rescript, that is, he willed that priests should judge concerning priests. Moreover, if a bishop should also otherwise be accused, and the case of his conduct had to be examined, he willed that this too should pertain to episcopal judgment. 3. Who then has responded contumaciously to your Clemency? He who desires you to be like your father, or he who wishes you to be unlike him? Unless perhaps the judgment of so great an emperor is reckoned cheap by some -- an emperor whose faith was approved by the constancy of his confession, and whose wisdom is proclaimed by the advances of an improved commonwealth. 4. When have you heard, most merciful Emperor, that laymen have judged concerning a bishop in a matter of faith? Are we then so bent down by a certain flattery that we are forgetful of priestly right, and that what God has given to me, this I myself should think ought to be entrusted to others? If a bishop is to be taught by a layman, what will follow? A layman, then, will dispute, and a bishop will listen; a bishop will learn from a layman. But surely, if we review either the sequence of the divine Scriptures, or the ancient times, who is there who would deny that in a matter of faith -- in a matter of faith, I say -- bishops are accustomed to judge concerning Christian emperors, not emperors concerning bishops? 5. You will, God favoring, be advanced even further by the maturity of old age, and then you will judge of this -- what sort of bishop he is who subjects priestly right to laymen. Your father, God favoring, a man of riper age, used to say: 'It is not mine to judge between bishops'; your Clemency now says: 'I ought to judge.' And he, baptized in Christ, thought himself unfit for the weight of so great a judgment; your Clemency, for whom the sacraments of baptism are still reserved to be earned, arrogates to itself judgment concerning the faith, though it has not yet known the sacraments of that very faith? 6. What sort of judges he has chosen, however, we can leave to conjecture, since he fears to disclose their names. Let them plainly come, if there are any, to the Church; let them listen along with the people -- not that anyone should sit as judge, but that each may have an examination according to his own disposition, and choose whom he will follow. The matter concerns the priest of this Church: if the people shall hear him, and think that he disputes better, let them follow his faith; I shall not envy it. 7. I pass over the fact that the people have already judged; I am silent that they demanded from your Clemency's father the man whom they have; I am silent that your Piety's father pledged that there would be quiet for the future, if the one chosen should accept the priesthood. This faith of the promises I have followed. 8. But if he boasts of the assent of certain foreigners, let him be bishop there, whence come those who think he ought to be endowed with the name of the episcopate. For I neither know him as a bishop, nor do I know whence he is. 9. Where do we settle this, Emperor -- that you have already declared your own judgment; indeed have even given laws, leaving it free to no one to judge otherwise? For when you prescribed this to others, you prescribed it also to yourself: for an emperor enacts laws which he himself should be the first to keep. Do you wish, then, that I should make the experiment, so that those who are chosen as judges should begin either to go against your sentence, or at any rate to excuse themselves, because they could not oppose an imperial command so severe and so strict? 10. But this is the part of a contumacious, not a modest, priest. Behold, Emperor, you already in part rescind your own law; but would that it were not in part, but altogether! For I would not wish your law to be above the law of God. The law of God has taught us what we should follow; human laws cannot teach this. They are accustomed to extort a change from the timid; they cannot inspire faith. 11. Who then will there be who, reading that throughout so many provinces it has been commanded in a single moment that whoever opposes the emperor should be struck with the sword, that whoever has not surrendered God's temple should at once be slain -- who, I say, is there who could, either as a single man or among a few, say to the emperor: 'Your law does not meet my approval'? It is not permitted to priests to say this; is it permitted to laymen? And shall he judge concerning the faith who either hopes for favor, or fears to give offense? 12. Then shall I myself bring it about, that I should choose lay judges, who, when they have held to the truth in faith, would be either proscribed or put to death, as the law passed concerning the faith decrees? Shall I therefore expose men either to prevarication or to punishment? 13. Ambrose is not of such worth that for his own sake he should cast down the priesthood. The life of one man is not of so much worth as is the dignity of all priests, on whose counsel I have dictated these things, they intimating that perhaps even some gentile or some Jew might be among those chosen by Auxentius, to whom we would be handing over a triumph over Christ, if we should commit a judgment concerning Christ to them. What else delights such men but to hear an injury done to Christ? What else can please them, except (which God forbid) that the divinity of Christ should be denied? With such men he plainly agrees well, [the Arian], who calls Christ a creature -- which even gentiles and Jews most readily confess. 14. This was written in the synod of Ariminum; and deservedly I shudder at that council, following the treatise of the council of Nicaea, from which neither death nor the sword shall be able to separate me. This faith your Clemency's parent also, Theodosius the most blessed emperor, both follows and has approved. This faith the Gauls hold, this the Spains, and they keep it with a pious confession of the divine Spirit. 15. If there is to be discussion, I have learned to discuss in the Church: which my elders did. If there is to be a conference concerning the faith, this conference ought to belong to the priests, as was done under Constantine, the prince of august memory, who sent ahead no laws beforehand, but gave free judgment to the priests. It was done also under Constantius, emperor of august memory, heir of his father's dignity; but what began well was consummated otherwise. For the bishops had at first written a sincere faith; but while certain men wished to judge concerning the faith within the palace, they so contrived that by circumventions those episcopal judgments were altered. Yet they at once recalled the sentence that had been bent aside. And surely the greater number at Ariminum approved the faith of the council of Nicaea, and condemned the [Arian] decrees. 16. If Auxentius appeals to a synod, in order to dispute concerning the faith (although it is not necessary that on account of one man so many bishops should be wearied, who, even if he were an angel from heaven, ought not to be preferred to the peace of the Churches), when I shall have heard that a synod is being gathered, I myself will not be absent. Take away the law, then, if you wish there to be a contest. 17. I would have come, Emperor, to the council of your Clemency, to suggest these things in person, if either the bishops or the people had permitted me, saying that concerning the faith the matter ought to be treated in the Church in the presence of the people. 18. And would that, Emperor, you had not given notice that I should proceed whither I wished! Daily I went out; no one kept guard over me. You ought to have appointed me to go where you had wished, since I myself was offering myself to all. Now it is said to me by the priests: 'It makes no great difference whether you abandon the altar of Christ willingly, or hand it over; for when you have abandoned it, you will hand it over.' 19. And would that it were clearly evident to me that the Church would by no means be handed over to the Arians! I would offer myself of my own accord to the judgment of your Piety. But if I alone make a disturbance, why is it commanded that all the other Churches too be invaded? Would that it might be confirmed that no one should trouble the Churches! I desire that the sentence concerning me, such as it seems good, be pronounced. 20. Worthily, then, Emperor, receive the fact that I could not come to the council. I have not learned to stand in the council except for you; and I cannot contend within the palace, who neither seek nor know the secrets of the palace. 21. I, Ambrose the bishop, have offered this little book to the most merciful Emperor, and the most blessed Augustus Valentinian. SERMON AGAINST AUXENTIUS ON THE SURRENDER OF THE BASILICAS. [Argument:] About to relieve the people's anxiety on account of the imperial command, he sets forth his own response, and adds that he did not go to the council, because he had feared the surrender of the basilica. Then, having challenged his adversaries to dispute in the Church, he denies that he is terrified by arms; and, recalling his response concerning the sacred vessels, he testifies that he is prepared for the contests. He shows that God's decree cannot be eluded, nor His protection overcome, but that He wills to suffer the same in His servants. Since he himself was not previously captured, it is clear how vainly the heretics make their tumult. Then, having applied the history of Naboth, and Christ's entry into Jerusalem, to the present affair, he censures Auxentius's cruel law; and, having resolved the Arians' objections, he proclaims that he will gladly dispute before the people: declaring that Auxentius has already been condemned by the pagans whom he had chosen as judges, just as also by Paul and by Christ Himself. He says that the same heretic appeals to Caesar, having forgotten the previous year; and that the [Arians], while they kindle envy against the servants of Christ, are far worse than the Jews: for the Church prefers the image not of Caesar, but of Christ. After which, having added a few things about his response and his hymns, he declares that he is not disobedient, but that the emperor is a son of the Church, and that Auxentius is more than a Jew. 1. I see that you are suddenly disturbed beyond your custom, and that you are [keeping watch over] me. I wonder what this is, unless perhaps because you have seen or heard that I was approached through tribunes by an imperial mandate, that I should depart hence whither I wished; and that if any wished, they should have the power of following. You feared, then, that I might desert the Church, and that while fearing for my own safety, I should leave you? But you were able to notice what I myself also commanded: that there could be no will in me to desert the Church; because I would fear the Lord of the world more than the emperor of this age; and that surely, if some force should lead me away from the Church, my flesh could be driven out, not my mind; that I was prepared, that if he did what is wont to be of royal power, I would undergo what is wont to be of a priest. 2. Why then are you disturbed? Willing, I will never desert you; coerced, I do not know how to resist. I shall be able to grieve, I shall be able to weep, I shall be able to groan: against arms, soldiers, and Goths too, my tears are my arms; for such are the defenses of a priest. Otherwise I neither ought nor am able to resist; but to flee and abandon the Church is not my custom, lest anyone should interpret it as having been done out of fear of a graver punishment. You yourselves also know that I am accustomed to defer to emperors, not to yield; to offer myself gladly to punishments, and not to fear what is being prepared. 3. Would that I were secure that the Church would by no means be handed over to the heretics? I would go gladly to the emperor's palace, if this befitted the office of a priest -- that I should contend in the palace rather than in the Church. But in the council Christ is not wont to be the accused, but the judge. Who would deny that the cause of faith ought to be conducted in the Church? If anyone is confident, let him come here: let him not look to the judgment of the emperor, which is already inclined, as he has made plain by the law he passed, in that he assails the faith; nor to the hoped-for zeal of certain partisans. I do not allow anyone to sell the injury of Christ. 4. The soldiers poured around, the clash of arms, by which the Church is encompassed, do not terrify my faith; but they agitate my mind, lest while you hold me, some destructive thing should arise for your safety. For I myself have already learned not to fear; but I have begun to fear more for you. Permit, I beg, your priest to engage; we have an adversary who provokes; for our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, as the apostle said (1 Pet. 5:8). Without doubt he has received -- he has received (we are not deceived, but admonished) -- the power of tempting in this manner; lest perhaps by the wounds of my body I might be recalled from my intent of faith. You also have read that the devil tempted holy Job with many such things: at the last he sought, and received, power of this kind, that he might tempt his body, which he covered over with sores. 5. When it had been proposed that we should now hand over the vessels of the Church, I rendered this response: that I, if anything of mine were demanded -- whether an estate, or a house, or gold, or silver, that which was of my own right -- would gladly offer it; but that I could pluck nothing from the temple of God, nor hand over that which I had received to be guarded, not handed over. Then, that I was also consulting the emperor's own welfare; because it was expedient neither for me to hand it over, nor for him to receive it; let him receive the voice of a free priest -- if he wishes to be consulted for his own good, let him withdraw from doing injury to Christ. 6. These things are full of humility, and, as I think, full of that affection which a priest owes to the emperor. But because our struggle is not only against flesh and blood, but also, what is graver, against the spiritual forces of wickedness which are in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12), that tempter the devil, through his ministers, increases the contest, and judges that it must be tried out by the wounds of my body. I know, brethren, that these wounds which we receive for Christ are not wounds by which life is lost, but propagated. Permit, I beg, that there be a contest: it befits you to be spectators. Consider that if a city has either an athlete, or one skilled in some other noble art, it desires to offer him for the contest. Why in greater matters do you reject what you have been accustomed to wish even in lesser? He fears not arms, not barbarians, who does not fear death, who is held back by no pleasure of the flesh. 7. Surely, if the Lord has assigned us to this contest, in vain have you displayed so many sleepless watches and vigils, night and day: the will of Christ will be fulfilled. For our Lord Jesus is omnipotent -- this is our faith; and therefore what He commands to be done will be fulfilled: nor does it befit us to go against the divine sentence. 8. You have heard what was read today: the Savior commanded through the apostles that the colt of the ass be brought to Him, and instructed that if anyone should resist, it should be said: 'The Lord has need of its service' (Luke 19:35). What if even now He has commanded that this colt of the ass -- that is, of that animal which is accustomed to carry a heavy burden, as is the human condition, to which it is said: 'Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you: take my yoke, for it is light' (Matt. 11:28) -- what if, I say, He has now commanded this colt to be brought to Him, having sent those apostles who, already stripped of the body, bear the form of Angels incomprehensible to our eyes? Will they not, if resistance is made by anyone, say: 'The Lord has need of its service'? If the desire of this life resists, if flesh and blood resist, if bodily intercourse resists -- because perhaps to some we seem agreeable. But he who loves us here will love us much more, if he allows us to become a victim of Christ; because to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, is much better; although to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account (Phil. 1:23). There is nothing therefore that you should fear, most beloved brethren; for I know that whatever I shall suffer, I shall suffer for Christ. And I have read that I ought not to fear those who can kill the flesh. And I have heard Him saying: 'He who loses his soul for my sake shall find it' (Matt. 10:39). 9. Therefore, if the Lord wills, it is certain that no one will withstand. But if He still defers our contests, why do you fear? A servant of Christ is wont to be hedged about not by bodily guard, but by the providence of the Lord. 10. You were disturbed because you found the twin doors open, which a certain man, captive in his eyes [i.e., blind], while seeking his own lodging, is recorded to have opened. In this matter recognize that human guard avails nothing. Behold, one man who lost the office of sight loosed all your defenses, and mocked the watches; but the Lord did not lose the guard of His own mercy. Was it not two days before, as you remember, that this too was found -- that on the left side of the basilica there was an open passage by which a man entered, which you thought was closed and fortified? The armed men had indeed hedged the basilica, they explored these and those approaches: they were suffused with blindness, so that they could not see what was open: and so through very many nights you are not ignorant of what was open. Cease therefore to be anxious; because this will be what Christ commands, and what it is expedient to be. 11. Finally, I shall bring forth to you examples of the Law. Elisha was sought by the king of Syria, an army had been sent to capture him, he was surrounded on every side: his little servant began to fear; because he was a little servant, that is, he was not of a free mind and a free power. The holy prophet asked that his eyes be opened, and said: 'Look back, and see how many more there are for us than against us.' And he looked back, and saw thousands of angels (2 Kings 6:14 ff.). You have noticed, then, that they who are not seen guard the little servants of Christ more than they who are seen. But even those, if they guard, guard when called upon by your prayers: for you have read that those very men who sought Elisha entered Samaria to him whom they were eager to capture; whom they were not only unable to harm, but were saved by the intercession of the very man against whom they had come. 12. Peter the apostle too may set forth for you an example of both things (Acts 12:4 ff.). For when Herod sought and seized him, he received him into prison; for the little servant of God had not withdrawn, but had stood ignorant of fear. The Church was praying for him, but the apostle was resting in prison, which is a sign of one who does not fear. An Angel was sent to rouse the sleeper, by whom Peter, brought forth from prison, escaped death for a time. 13. The same Peter afterward, when Simon was conquered, while he was sowing the precepts of God among the people, and teaching chastity, stirred up the minds of the gentiles: and when they sought him, the Christian souls besought him to yield for a little while. And although he was desirous of suffering, yet he was bent by consideration of the people praying; for he was asked to reserve himself for instructing and confirming the people. Why say more? At night he began to go out by the walls, and seeing Christ meet him at the gate and enter the city, he said: 'Lord, whither do you go?' Christ answered: 'I come to be crucified again.' Peter understood that the divine response pertained to his own cross; for Christ could not be crucified again, who had put off the flesh by the suffering of death undergone: 'For in that he died, he died to sin once; but in that he lives, he lives to God' (Rom. 6:10). Peter understood, then, that Christ was to be crucified again in his little servant. And so of his own accord he returned; he gave a response to the Christians who questioned him, and being immediately seized, he honored the Lord Jesus through his own cross. 14. You see therefore that Christ wills to suffer in His little servants. What if to this little servant too He says: 'I will that he remain, but you follow me' (John 21:22); and He wills to taste the fruit of this tree? For if His food was to do the will of the Father (John 4:34), likewise it is His food to feast upon our sufferings. Did not -- to take an example from the Lord Himself -- when He willed, He suffered; and when He was sought, He was found? But when the hour of His suffering had not come (John 7:30), He passed through the midst of those seeking Him, and they seeing Him could not hold Him? Which assuredly clearly shows that when the Lord wills, each one is found and seized; but what He defers, even if it meets the eyes of those seeking, is not held. 15. Did I myself not go out daily, either for the sake of visiting, or proceed to the martyrs? Did I not pass by the royal palace going and returning? And yet no one held me, though they had the will to drive me out, as they afterward disclosed, saying: 'Go out of the city, and go where you wish.' I was expecting, I confess, something great, either the sword for the name of Christ, or fire: but they offered me delights instead of sufferings; but the athlete of Christ demands not delights, but his own sufferings. Let no one therefore disturb you, that they either prepared a carriage, or that hard words, as it seemed to him, were hurled from the mouth of Auxentius himself, who calls himself a bishop. 16. Very many were relating that assassins had been sent ahead, that the penalty of death had been decreed: neither do I fear those things, nor do I desert these. For whither shall I go away, where all things are not full of groaning and of tears; when throughout the Churches the catholic priests are ordered to be cast out, those resisting to be struck with the sword, all the decurions to be proscribed, unless they fulfill the command? And these things were written by the hand and dictated by the mouth of a bishop, who, to prove himself most learned, did not omit an ancient example, for we read in the prophet that he saw a flying sickle (Zech. 5:1): imitating this, Auxentius directed a flying sword through all the cities. And Satan transfigures himself into an angel of light, and in evil imitates His power (2 Cor. 11:14). 17. You, Lord Jesus, in one moment redeemed the world: shall Auxentius in one moment slaughter so many peoples, as far as in him lies -- some by the sword, others by sacrilege? He seeks my basilica with a bloody mouth, with bloodstained hands. To him the present reading well responded: 'But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my justices?' (Ps. 49:16), that is, peace and fury do not agree, Christ and Belial do not agree (2 Cor. 6:15). You remember too what was read today concerning Naboth, a holy man, the possessor of his own vineyard, importuned by a royal demand, that he should give his vineyard; where the king, the vines having been cut down, wished to sow cheap pot-herbs, and that he answered: 'God forbid that I should hand over the inheritance of my fathers'; that the king was grieved, because another's right was denied to him by a just reply, but he was deceived by a woman's counsel. Naboth defended his vines even with his own blood (1 Kings 21:1 ff.). If he did not hand over his own vineyard, shall we hand over the Church of Christ? 18. What then was responded by me contumaciously? For I said when approached: 'God forbid that I should hand over the inheritance of Christ.' If he did not hand over the inheritance of his fathers, shall I hand over the inheritance of Christ? But this too I added: 'God forbid that I should hand over the inheritance of the fathers' -- that is, the inheritance of Dionysius, who died in exile in the cause of faith; the inheritance of Eustorgius the confessor; the inheritance of Myrocles, and of all the faithful bishops before. I answered what is the part of a priest: what is the emperor's, let the emperor do. He will sooner take away my life than my faith. 19. But to whom shall I hand it over? The present reading of the Gospel ought to teach us what is sought, and by whom it is sought. For you have heard read, that when Christ sat upon the colt of the ass, the children were crying out, and the Jews bore it ill (Luke 19:35). At last they importuned the Lord Jesus, saying that He should make them be silent; He answered: 'If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out' (Luke 19:40). Then, having entered the temple, He cast out the money-changers, and the chairs, and those selling doves in the temple of God. This reading indeed was recited by no arrangement of ours, but by chance: which is well fitted to the present times. Always, then, the praises of Christ are the blows of the perfidious. And now when Christ is praised, the heretics say that sedition is stirred up: the heretics say that death was being prepared for these men; and truly they have death in the praises of Christ. For how can they bear His praises, whose weakness they proclaim? And so today too, when Christ is praised, the madness of the Arians is scourged. 20. The Gerasenes could not bear the presence of Christ (Luke 8:37); these men, worse than the Gerasenes, cannot endure even the praise of Christ. They see the children singing in harmony the glory of Christ; because it is written: 'Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise' (Ps. 8:3). They mock that little age full of faith, when they say: 'Behold, what are they crying out?' But Christ answered them: 'If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out' (Luke 19:35), that is, the stronger will cry out, the young men too will cry out, the riper in age will cry out, the old men too will cry out: those stones already made solid unto that Stone of which it is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has been made the head of the corner' (Ps. 117:22). 21. Invited, then, by these praises, Christ enters His own temple, and takes a scourge, and casts the money-changers out of the temple (John 2:15). For He does not suffer the slaves of money to be in His own temple, He does not suffer those to be in His own temple who sell the chairs. What are the chairs, but honors? What are the doves, but simple minds, or souls following a faith candid and pure? Shall I then bring into the temple him whom Christ excludes? For he is commanded to go out who sells dignities and honors: he is commanded to go out who wishes to sell the simple minds of the faithful. 22. Therefore Auxentius is cast out, Mercurinus is excluded. There is one portent, two names. For lest it should be known who he was, he changed his appellation for himself; so that, because here he had been Auxentius an Arian bishop, in order to deceive the common people whom that man had held, he should call himself Auxentius. He changed, then, his appellation, but he did not change his perfidy: he put off the wolf, but he put on the wolf. It profits nothing that he changed his name: what he is, is recognized. In the parts of Scythia he was called one thing, here he is called another: he has names according to the regions. He has therefore now two names; and if he proceeds hence to another place, he will have a third too. For how will he suffer that an appellation should remain to him as the indication of so great a crime? He did lesser things in Scythia; and so he blushed, that he changed his appellation: more wicked things he has dared here; and will he wish, wherever he proceeds, to be betrayed by his own name? He will write with his own hand the blood of so many peoples, and will he be able to stand firm in mind? 23. The Lord Jesus was excluding a few from His temple, Auxentius left no one. From His temple Jesus casts out with a scourge, Auxentius with a sword: Jesus with a scourge, Mercurinus with an axe. The kindly Lord drives out the sacrilegious with a scourge; the wicked man persecutes the pious with the steel. Concerning whom you well said today: 'Let him carry his laws with him.' He will carry them, even if he is unwilling: he will carry his conscience, even if he does not carry the little document: he will carry his soul inscribed with blood, even if he does not carry a letter inscribed with ink. 'Your fault, O Judah, is written with an iron stylus and an adamantine point, and written in your breast' (Jer. 17:1), that is, written there, whence it proceeded. 24. Does this man even dare to make mention of disputing to me, full of blood, full of gore? Who thinks that those whom he could not deceive by speech must be struck with the sword, dictating bloody laws by mouth, writing them by hand, and thinking that a law can command faith to men? He has not heard even that which was said today: 'Since a man is not justified by the works of the Law' (Gal. 2:16), or: 'Through the Law I am dead to the Law, that I may live to God' (Gal. 2:19), that is, through the spiritual law he is dead to the bodily interpretation of the Law. And let us too, through the law of our Lord Jesus Christ, die to this law, which sanctions the decrees of perfidy. Not the law gathered the Church together, but the faith of Christ. For the law is not of faith: but the just man lives by faith (Gal. 3:11). Faith therefore, not law, makes the just man; because justice is not through the law, but through faith in Christ. But he who repudiates faith, and prescribes the rights of law, himself testifies that he is unjust, because the just man lives by faith. 25. Shall anyone, then, follow this law, by which the council of Ariminum is confirmed, in which Christ was called a creature? But they say: 'God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law' (Gal. 4:4). Therefore they read 'made,' that is, created. Do they not consider this very thing which they propose, that Christ is said to be made, but of a woman -- that is, He was made according to the birth from the Virgin, who according to the divine generation was born of the Father? They have read too today, that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). Is Christ then a curse according to His divinity? But why He is called a curse, the Apostle teaches you, saying that it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' (Gal. 3:13), that is, He who in His own flesh took our flesh, in His own body our infirmities and our curses, that He might crucify them; for He was not cursed, but in you He was cursed. Finally you have it elsewhere: 'He who knew no sin, was made sin for us'; because He took our sins upon Himself, that He might abolish them by the sacrament of His passion (2 Cor. 5:21). 26. These things, brethren, I would have disputed before him among you more fully: but being certain that you are not ignorant of the faith, he shrank from your examination, and chose for himself some gentiles, almost four or five men, as cognizers -- if indeed he chose any: whom I would wish to be present in the assembly of all, not that they should judge concerning Christ, but that they should hear the majesty of Christ. Yet they have already pronounced concerning Auxentius, whom, though disputing daily, they did not believe. What greater condemnation of him than that, without an adversary, he was vanquished before his own judges? Therefore we already hold their sentence too against Auxentius. 27. And because he chose the gentiles, he is rightly to be condemned; because he dismissed the precepts of the Apostles, since the Apostle says: 'Dare any of you, having a matter against another, be judged before the unjust, and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints shall judge this world?' (1 Cor. 6:1, 2). And below he says: 'Is there not so any wise man among you, who is able to judge between his brethren? But brother contends with brother in judgment, and this before unbelievers?' (1 Cor. 6:5, 6). You see that what he has brought forward is against the authority of the Apostle. Choose you whether we ought to follow Auxentius or Paul as our master. 28. But why should I speak of the Apostle, when the Lord Himself cries out through the prophet: 'Hear me, my people. You who know judgment, in whose heart is my law' (Isa. 51:7). God says: 'Hear me, my people. You who know judgment'; Auxentius says: 'You do not know judgment.' You see that he already despises God in you, who refuses the sentence of the heavenly oracle? 'Hear me,' He says, 'my people,' says the Lord. He does not say: 'Hear, you gentiles.' He does not say: 'Hear, you Jews.' For now the people who had been God's people has been made a people of error: and that which was a people of error has begun to be God's people, because it has believed in Christ. This people therefore judges, in whose heart is the divine law, not the human: a law written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God: not engraved on paper, but signed upon the heart: a law of grace, not of gore (2 Cor. 3:3). Who then does you injury -- he who refuses your audience, or he who chooses it? 29. Shut in on every side, he flees to the cunning of his fathers. He wishes to stir up envy concerning the emperor, saying that a young man, a catechumen, ignorant of sacred reading, ought to judge, and to judge in the council. As though indeed last year, when I was summoned to the palace, when in the presence of the chief men the matter was being treated before the council, when the emperor wished to seize the basilica -- as though I was then broken by contemplation of the royal hall, did not keep the constancy of a priest, or departed with my right diminished? Do they not remember that when the people learned that I had sought the palace, it rushed in so that they could not bear its force; when, to a military count who had gone out with light-armed troops to put the multitude to flight, all offered themselves to slaughter for the faith of Christ? Was I not then asked to soothe the people with much speech? to pledge my faith that no one would invade the Basilica of the Church? And although my office was demanded as a benefit, nevertheless because the people had come to the palace, envy was stirred up against me. Into this envy, then, they desire me to return. 30. I called back the people, and yet I did not escape the envy: which envy indeed I think must be tempered, not feared. For what should we fear for the name of Christ? Unless perhaps that ought to move me which they say: 'Ought not then the emperor to receive one basilica, to which he may proceed? And Ambrose wishes to be able to do more than the emperor, so as to deny the emperor the means of going forth?' When they say this, they are eager to entrap our words, like the Jews who tempted Christ with a cunning speech, saying: 'Master, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?' (Matt. 22:17). Is envy always stirred up against the servants of God concerning Caesar? And does impiety summon this to itself as a calumny, that it may put forward the imperial name as a screen? And can these men say that they do not have the sacrilege of those whose teaching they imitate? 31. And yet see how much worse the [Arians] are than the Jews. They asked whether He thought the right of tribute should be paid to Caesar; these wish to give the right of the Church to the emperor. But as the perfidious follow their own author, so let us too answer the things which the Lord and our Author taught us. For Jesus, considering the guile of the Jews (Matt. 22:18 ff.), said to them: 'Why do you tempt me? Show me a denarius.' And when they had given it, He said: 'Whose image does it have, and inscription?' Answering, they said: 'Caesar's.' And Jesus said to them: 'Render the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God.' Therefore I too say to those who object to me: 'Show me a denarius.' Jesus saw Caesar's denarius, and said: 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and the things that are God's to God.' Can they then offer Caesar's denarius for the occupying of the Basilicas of the Church? 32. But in the Church I know one image, that is, the image of the invisible God, of which God said: 'Let us make man to our image and likeness' (Gen. 1:26); that image of which it is written, that Christ is the splendor of glory, and the image of His substance (Heb. 1:3). In that image I behold the Father, as the Lord Jesus Himself said: 'He who sees me, sees also the Father' (John 14:9). For this image is not separated from the Father, which taught me the unity of the Trinity, saying: 'I and the Father are one' (John 10:30); and below: 'All things whatsoever the Father has are mine' (John 16:15). And concerning the Holy Spirit, saying that He is the Spirit of Christ, and that He received of Christ, as it is written: 'He shall receive of mine, and shall announce it to you' (John 16:14). 33. What then was not humbly answered by us? If he seeks tribute, we do not deny it. The fields of the Church pay tribute: if the emperor desires the fields, he has the power of claiming them; none of us intervenes. The contribution of the people can overflow to the poor: let them not make envy concerning the fields, let them take them, if it pleases the emperor: I do not give, but I do not deny. They seek gold; I can say: I do not seek silver and gold. But they make envy, because gold is paid out. Nor do I dread this envy. I have treasurers: my treasurers are the poor of Christ, this treasure I know how to gather. Would that they would always ascribe this crime to me, that gold is paid out to the poor! But if they object that I require a defense from them, I do not deny it, but I even court it. I have a defense, but in the prayers of the poor. Those blind and lame, the feeble and the old, are stronger than robust warriors. Finally, the gifts of the poor bind God; because it is written: 'He who gives to the poor lends to God' (Prov. 19:17). The garrisons of warriors often do not merit divine grace. 34. They say too that the people were deceived by the songs of my hymns. Plainly I do not deny this either. That is a great song, than which nothing is more powerful. For what is more powerful than the confession of the Trinity, which is daily celebrated by the mouth of the whole people? They all strive in rivalry to confess the faith, they know how to proclaim in verse the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. They have all become teachers, then, who scarcely could be disciples. 35. What then can be more obedient than that we should follow the example of Christ, who, found in appearance as a man, humbled Himself, being made obedient even unto death (Phil. 2:7, 8)? Finally He freed all through obedience: 'For as through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one many shall be made just' (Rom. 5:19). If therefore He was obedient, let them receive the teaching of obedience, to which we cleave, saying to those who make envy for us concerning the emperor: 'We render the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God' (Matt. 22:21). The tribute is Caesar's, it is not denied: the Church is God's, it surely ought not to be adjudged to Caesar; because the temple of God cannot be of Caesar's right. 36. That this was said with honor to the emperor no one can deny. For what is more honorable than that the emperor should be called a son of the Church? When this is said, it is said without sin, it is said with grace. For the emperor is within the Church, not above the Church; for a good emperor seeks the help of the Church, he does not refuse it. As we say these things humbly, so we set them forth constantly. But some threaten fires, the sword, deportation. We have learned, as servants of Christ, not to fear. To those who fear not, terror is never grave. Finally it is written: 'The arrows of children have become their wounds' (Ps. 63:8). 37. Enough, then, has been answered, it seems, to the things proposed. Now I question them, what the Savior questioned: 'Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men?' (Luke 20:4). And the Jews could not answer Him. If the Jews did not dissolve the baptism of John, shall Auxentius dissolve the baptism of Christ? For that baptism is not from men, but from heaven, which the Angel of great counsel brought down to us (Isa. 9:6), that we might be justified before God. Why then does Auxentius think that the faithful peoples must be rebaptized, baptized in the name of the Trinity; when the Apostle says: 'One faith, one baptism' (Eph. 4:3): and let him say that he is the adversary of men, not of Christ; when he spurns the counsel of God, and condemns the baptism, which Christ gave us for the redeeming of our sins (Luke 7:30).

EPISTOLA XXI. Excusat Ambrosius quod vocatus non venerit ad consistorium, asserens in causa fidei vel ecclesiastica judicare nisi sacerdotes neminem debere; nec se in eo contumacem, quod injuriam ordint suo non inurat. Addit Auxentium forte Judaeos aut infideles electurum judicum loco, id est, Christi inimicissimos: nec recusare quominus in Ecclesia vel in synodo de his disputaret: haec demum se coram fuisse dicturum, nisi a coepiscopis et populo esset prohibitus. Clementissimo imperatori, et beatissimo Augusto VALENTINIANO, AMBROSIUS episcopus. 1. Dalmatius me tribunus et notarius mandato, ut allegavit, clementiae convenit tuae, postulans ut et ipse judices legerem, sicut elegisset Auxentius. Nec tamen expressit eorum nomina, qui fuerant postulati: sed id addidit, quod in consistorio esset futura certatio, arbitro pietatis judicio tuae. 2. Cui rei respondeo, ut arbitror, competenter. Nec quisquam contumacem judicare me debet, cum hoc asseram, quod augustae memoriae pater tuus non solum sermone respondit, sed etiam legibus suis sanxit: In causa fidei vel ecelesiastici alicujus ordinis eum judicare debere, qui nec munere impar sit, nec jure dissimilis; haec enim verba rescripti sunt, hoc est, sacerdotes de sacerdotibus voluit judicare. Quinetiam si alias quoque argueretur episcopus, et morum esset examinanda causa, etiam haec voluit ad episcopale judicium pertinere. 3. Quis igitur contumaciter respondit clementiae tuae? Ille qui te patris similem esse desiderat, an qui vult esse dissimilem? Nisi forte vilis quibusdam tanti imperatoris aestimatur sententia, cujus et fides confessionis constantia comprobata est, et sapientia melioratae reipublicae profectibus praedicatur. 4. Quando audisti, clementissime Imperator, in causa fidei laicos de episcopo judicasse? Ita ergo quadam adulatione curvamur, ut sacerdotalis juris simus immemores, et quod Deus donavit mihi, hoc ipse aliis putem esse credendum? Si docendus est episcopus a laico, quid sequetur? Laicus ergo disputet, et episcopus audiat: episcopus discat a laico. At certe 861 si vel Scripturarum seriem divinarum, vel vetera tempora retractemus, quis est qui abnuat in causa fidei, in causa, inquam, fidei episcopos solere de imperatoribus Christianis, non imperatores de episcopis judicare? 5. Eris, Deo favente, etiam senectutis maturitate provectior, et tunc de hoc censebis qualis ille episcopus sit, qui laicis jus sacerdotale substernit. Pater tuus, Deo favente, vir maturioris aevi, dicebat: Non est meum judicare inter episcopos; tua nunc dicit clementia: Ego debeo judicare. Et ille baptizatus in Christo inhabilem se ponderi tanti putabat esse judicii: clementia tua, cui adhuc emerenda baptismatis sacramenta servantur, arrogat de fide judicium; cum fidei ipsius sacramenta non noverit? 6. Quales autem elegerit judices, possumus existimationi relinquere, quando eorum nomina timet prodere. Veniant plane, si qui sunt, ad Ecclesiam: audiant cum populo, non ut quisquam judex resideat, sed ut unusquisque de suo affectu habeat examen, eligat quem sequatur. Agitur de istius Ecclesiae sacerdote: si audierit illum populus, et putaverit melius disputare, sequatur fidem ejus: non invidebo. 7. Omitto quia jam ipse populus judicavit: taceo quia eum, quem habet, de patre tuae clementiae postulavit: taceo quia pater pietatis tuae quietem futuram spopondit, si electus susciperet sacerdotium. Hanc fidem secutus sum promissorum. 8. Quod si de aliquorum peregrinorum assentatione se jactat, ibi sit episcopus, unde sunt ii, qui eum episcopatus putant nomine esse donandum. Nam ego nec episcopum novi, nec unde sit scio. 9. Ubi illud constituimus, Imperator, quod jam ipse tuum judicium declarasti; immo etiam dedisti leges, nec cui esset liberum aliud judicare? Quod cum praescripsisti aliis, praescripsisti et tibi: Leges enim imperator fert, quas primus ipse custodiat. Visne igitur experiar, ut incipiant ii, qui judices eliguntur, aut adversus tuam venire sententiam, aut certe excusare quod imperatoris tam severo, et tam districto imperio non potuerint obviare? 10. Sed hoc contumacis, non modesti est sacerdotis. Ecce, imperator, legem tuam jam ex parte rescindis: sed utinam non ex parte, sed in universum! legem enim tuam nollem esse supra Dei legem. Dei lex nos docuit quid sequamur, humanae leges hoc docere non possunt. Extorquere solent timidis commutationem, fidem inspirare non possunt. 862 11. Quis erit igitur ille, qui cum legat per tot provincias uno momento esse mandatum, ut quicumque obviaverit imperatori, feriatur gladio: quicumque Dei templum non tradiderit, protinus occidatur? quis, inquam, est qui possit vel unus, vel inter paucos dicere imperatori: Lex tua mihi non probatur? Non permittitur hoc dicere sacerdotibus, permittitur laicis? Et judicabit de fide, qui aut gratiam sperat, aut metuit offensam? 12. Deinde ipse committam, ut eligam judices laicos, qui cum tenuerint fide veritatem, aut proscribantur, aut necentur, quod lex de fide lata decernit? Ego igitur aut praevaricationi offeram homines, aut poenae? 13. Non tanti est Ambrosius, ut propter se dejiciat sacerdotium. Non tanti est unius vita, quanti est dignitas omnium sacerdotum, quorum de consilio ista dictavi, intimantibus ne forte etiam gentilis esset aliquis, aut Judaeus, qui ab Auxentio esset electus, quibus traderemus de Christo triumphum, si de Christo judicium committeremus. Quid illos aliud, nisi Christi injuriam audire delectat? Quid illis aliud potest placere, nisi (quod absit) ut Christi divinitas denegetur? Cum iis plane bene convenit [Ariano], qui creaturam Christum dicit, quod etiam gentiles ac Judaei promptissime confitentur. 14. Hoc scriptum est in Ariminensi synodo; meritoque concilium illud exhorreo, sequens tractatum concilii Nicaeni, a quo me nec mors, nec gladius poterit separare. Quam fidem etiam parens clementiae tuae Theodosius beatissimus imperator et sequitur, et probavit. Hanc fidem Galliae tenent, hanc Hispaniae, et cum pia divini Spiritus confessione custodiunt. 15. Si tractandum est, tractare in Ecclesia didici: quod majores fecerunt mei. Si conferendum de fide, sacerdotum debet esse ista collatio, sicut factum est sub Constantino augustae memoriae principe, qui nullas leges ante praemisit, sed liberum dedit judicium sacerdotibus. Factum est etiam sub Constantio augustae memoriae imperatore, paternae dignitatis haerede: sed quod bene coepit, aliter consummatum est. Nam episcopi sinceram primo scripserant fidem: sed dum volunt quidam de fide intra palatium judicare, id egerunt, ut circumscriptionibus illa episcoporum judicia mutarentur. Qui tamen inflexam statim revocavere sententiam. Et certe major numerus Arimini, Nicaeni concilii fidem probavit, [Ariana] decreta damnavit. 863 16. Si ad synodum provocat Auxentius, ut de fide disputet (licet non sit necesse propter unum tot episcopos fatigari, qui etiam si angelus de coelo esset, paci Ecclesiarum non deberet praeferri);, cum audiero synodum congregari, et ipse non deero. Tolle igitur legem, si vis esse certamen. 17. Venissem, imperator, ad consistorium clementiae tuae, ut haec coram suggererem; si me vel episcopi, vel populus permisissent, dicentes de fide in Ecclesia coram populo debere tractari. 18. Atque utinam, Imperator, non denuntiasses, ut quo vellem pergerem! Quotidie prodibam, nemo me asservabat. Debuisti me, quo volueras, destinare, quem ipse omnibus offerebam. Nunc mihi a sacerdotibus dicitur: Non multum interest, utrum volens relinquas, an tradas altare Christi; cum enim reliqueris, trades. 19. Atque utinam liquido mihi pateret quod Arianis Ecclesia minime traderetur! sponte me offerrem tuae pietatis arbitrio. Sed si ego solus interstrepo, cur etiam de aliis omnibus invadendis Ecclesiis est praeceptum? Utinam confirmetur, ut Ecclesiis nullus molestus sit! Opto ut de me, qualis videtur, sententia proferatur. 20. Dignanter igitur, Imperator, accipe quod ad consistorium venire non potui. Ego in consistorio nisi pro te stare non didici: et intra palatium certare non possum, qui palatii secreta nec quaero, nec novi. 21. Ego Ambrosius episcopus hunc libellum obtuli clementissimo imperatori, et beatissimo augusto Valentiniano. SERMO CONTRA AUXENTIUM DE BASILICIS TRADENDIS. Populi ob imperialem jussum sollicitudinem levaturus, responsum suum exponit, additque ad consistorium se non ivisse, quod basilicae traditionem esset veritus. Tum adversariis ad disceptandum in Ecclesia provocatis, negat se armis exterreri: suoque de sacris vasis responso memorato, paratum se ad certamina esse testatur. Eludi non posse Dei decretum, nec praesidium ipsius superari, sed in servis suis pati eumdem velle. Cum ipse antea non fuerit captus, liquere quam inaniter haeretici tumultuentur. Deinde ubi Nabuthae historiam, et Christi ingressum in Jerusalem rei praesenti accomodavit, Auxentii perstringit crudelem legem, solutisque Arianorum objectionibus, libenter se coram populo disputaturum praedicat: Auxentium vero jam a paganis, quos in judices elegerat, damnatum, sicut et a Paulo et Christo ipso. Quod idem haereticus ad Caesarem provocaret, eum oblitum anni superioris: et [Arianos], dum servis Christi conflant invidiam, multo pejores esse Judaeis: Ecclesiam enim non Caesaris, sed Christi praeferre imaginem. Sub quae ubi pauca de suo responso et hymnis adjecit, se non inobedientem, at imperatorem Ecclesiae filium, et Auxentium plusquam Judaeum esse declarat. 1. Video vos praeter solitum subito esse turbatos, atque [asservantes] mei. Miror 864 quid hoc sit, nisi forte quia per tribunos me vidistis aut audistis imperiali mandato esse conventum; ut quo vellem, abirem hinc: et si qui vellent, sequendi potestatem haberent. Metuistis ergo ne Ecclesiam desererem, et dum saluti meae timeo, vos relinquerem? Sed quid et ipse mandaverim, potuistis advertere: deserendae Ecclesiae mihi voluntatem subesse non posse; quia plus Dominum mundi, quam saeculi hujus imperatorem timerem: sane si me vis aliqua abduceret ab Ecclesia, carnem meam exturbari posse, non mentem: paratum me esse, ut si ille faceret, quod solet esse regiae potestatis; ego subirem, quod sacerdotis esse consuevit. 2. Quid ergo turbamini? Volens numquam vos deseram, coactus repugnare non novi. Dolere potero, potero flere, potero gemere: adversus arma, milites, Gothos quoque lacrymae meae arma sunt; talia enim munimenta sunt sacerdotis. Aliter nec debeo, nec possum resistere: fugere autem et relinquere Ecclesiam non soleo; ne quis gravioris poenae metu factum interpretetur. Scitis et vos ipsi quod imperatoribus soleam deferre, non cedere: suppliciis me libenter offerre, nec metuere quae parantur. 3. Utinam essem securus quod Ecclesia haereticis minime traderetur? Ad palatium imperatoris irem libenter, si hoc congrueret sacerdotis officio; ut in palatio magis certarem, quam in Ecclesia. Sed in consistorio non reus solet Christus esse, sed judex. Causam fidei in Ecclesia agendam quis abnuat? Si quis confidit, huc veniat: inclinatum jam vel imperatoris judicium, quod lata lege patefecit, quod impugnat fidem: vel sperata ambientium quorumdam studia non requirat. Non committo, ut quisquam vendat injuriam Christi. 4. Circumfusi milites, armorum crepitus, quibus vallata est Ecclesia, fidem non terrent meam: sed mentem exagitant, ne dum me tenetis, perniciosum aliquid vestrae oboriatur saluti. Ego enim jam didici non timere: sed vobis timere plus coepi. Sinite, quaeso, vestrum sacerdotem congredi: habemus adversarium qui lacessit; adversarius enim noster diabolus, sicut leo rugiens circuit, quaerens quem devoret, ut apostolus dixit (I Pet. V, 8). Accepit sine dubio, accepit (non fallimur, sed admonemur) tentandi hujusmodi potestatem; ne forte corporis mei vulneribus possim a fidei intentione revocari. Legistis et vos quia multis his tentavit sanctum Job diabolus: ad postremum potestatem hujusmodi petiit, et accepit, ut tentaret corpus ejus, quod perfudit ulceribus. 865 5. Cum esset propositum ut Ecclesiae vasa jam traderemus, hoc responsi reddidi: me, si de meis aliquid posceretur, aut fundus, aut domus, aut aurum, aut argentum, id quod mei juris esset, libenter offerre: templo Dei nihil posse decerpere, nec tradere illud, quod custodiendum, non tradendum acceperim. Deinde consulere me etiam imperatoris saluti; quia nec mihi expediret tradere, nec illi accipere; accipiat enim vocem liberi sacerdotis, si vult sibi esse consultum, recedat a Christi injuria. 6. Haec plena humilitatis sunt, et, ut arbitror, plena affectus ejus quem imperatori debet sacerdos. Sed quia lucta nobis est non solum adversus carnem et sanguinem; sed etiam, quod gravius est, adversus spiritalia nequitiae, quae sunt in coelestibus (Ephes. VI, 12), tentator ille diabolus per ministros suos certamen auget, vulneribus corporis mei experiendum arbitratur. Scio, fratres, vulnera haec, quae pro Christo excipimus, non esse vulnera, quibus vita non amittitur, sed propagatur. Sinite, quaeso, esse certamen: spectatores vos esse decet. Considerate Quia si quidem habet civitas vel athletam, vel alterius nobilis artis peritum, optat offerre certamini. Cur in majoribus rebus repudiatis, quod vel in minoribus velle consuestis? Non metuit arma, non barbaros, qui mortem non timet, qui nulla carnis voluptate retinetur. 7. Certe si Dominus huic nos certamini deputavit, frustra pervigiles tot noctibus et diebus custodias exhibuistis et excubias: implebitur Christi voluntas. Omnipotens enim noster est Dominus Jesus, haec est fides nostra; et ideo quod fieri mandat, implebitur: nec convenit nos divinae obviare sententiae. 8. Audistis quod hodie lectum sit: Pullum sibi asinae Salvator per apostolos jussit adduci, mandavitque ut si quis resisteret, diceretur: Dominus operam ejus desiderat (Luc. XIX, 35). Quid si et nunc pullum istum asinae, hoc est, ejus animalis quod gravem sarcinam portare consuevit, sicut est humana conditio, cui dicitur: Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis, et onerati estis, et ego vos reficiam: tollite jugum meum, quia leve est (Matth. XI, 28); quid si inquam, pullum istum ad se modo jussit adduci, missis apostolis illis, qui jam exuti corpore incomprehensibilem oculis nostris Angelorum speciem gerunt? Nonne si ab aliquo resistatur, dicent: Dominus operam ejus desiderat? Si resistat vel vitae hujus cupiditas, si resistat caro et sanguis, si resistat conversatio corporalis; quia aliquibus forsitan grati videmur. Sed qui nos hic diligit, multo amplius diliget, si sinat fieri hostiam Christi; quia dissolvi, et cum Christo esse multo melius: etsi manere in carne magis necessarium propter vos (Philip. I, 23). Nihil est ergo quod vereamini, fratres dilectissimi; scio enim quia quidquid passus fuero, pro Christo patiar. Et 866 legi quod eos timere non debeam, qui possunt carnem occidere. Et audivi dicentem: Qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, inveniet eam (Matth. X, 39). 9. Ergo si vult Dominus, certum est quod nullus obsistat. Quod si adhuc nostra differt certamina, quid veremini? Servum Christi non custodia corporalis, sed Domini providentia sepire consuevit. 10. Turbati estis quia apertas reperistis geminas fores, quas captus oculis quidam, dum hospitium proprium repetit, patefecisse memoratur. In quo cognoscite quod nihil suffragetur humana custodia. Ecce unus qui videndi munus amisit, solvit vestra universa munimina, et custodias lusit: Dominus autem suae misericordiae custodiam non amisit. Nonne ante biduum, ut meministis, etiam illud repertum est, quod a parte laeva basilicae ingressus quidam pervius fuit, quem putabatis clausum esse atque munitum? Sepserunt nempe armati basilicam, explorabant hos atque illos aditus: caecitate perfusi sunt, ut quod apertum erat videre non possent: itaque per plurimas noctes quod apertum fuerit, non ignoratis. Desinite ergo sollicitari; quia hoc erit, quod Christus jubet, et quod esse expedit. 11. Denique exempla vobis Legis proferam. Elisaeus quaerebatur a rege Syriae, missus erat exercitus qui eum caperet, circumvallatus erat undique: coepit timere ejus servulus; quia servulus erat, hoc est, non erat liberae mentis et liberae potestatis. Petivit aperiri ejus oculos sanctus propheta, et ait: Respice, et vide quanto plures sint pro nobis, quam contra nos. Et respexit, et vidit angelorum millia (IV Reg. VI, 14 et seq.). Advertistis igitur quod servulos Christi ii magis custodiant, qui non videntur, quam qui videntur. Sed et illi si custodiunt, vestris custodiunt orationibus advocati: legistis nempe eos ipsos, qui Elisaeum quaerebant, ingressos esse Samariam ad eum ipsum, quem capere gestiebant: cui non solum non potuerunt nocere; sed ipsius adversus quem venerant, intercessione servati sunt. 12. Petrus quoque apostolus utriusque rei vobis edat exemplum (Act. XII, 4 et seq.). Nam ubi eum Herodes quaesivit et cepit, recepit in carcerem; non enim recesserat Dei servulus, sed steterat timoris ignarus. Orabat pro eo Ecclesia, sed apostolus in carcere quiescebat, quod est indicium non timentis. Missus est Angelus qui dormientem excitaret, per quem Petrus productus e carcere, mortem ad tempus evasit. 13. Idem Petrus postea, victo Simone, cum praecepta Dei populo seminaret, doceret castimoniam, excitavit animos gentilium: quibus eum quaerentibus, christianae animae deprecatae sunt, ut paulisper cederet. Et quamvis esset cupidus passionis, tamen contemplatione populi precantis inflexus est; rogabatur enim ut 867 ad instituendum et confirmandum populum se reservaret. Quid multa? Nocte muros egredi coepit, et videns sibi in porta Christum occurrere, urbemque ingredi, ait: Domine: quo vadis? Respondit Christus: Venio iterum crucifigi. Intellexit Petrus ad suam crucem divinum pertinere responsum; Christus enim non poterat iterum crucifigi, qui carnem passione susceptae mortis exuerat: Quod enim mortuus est, peccato mortuus est semel: quod autem vivit, vivit Deo (Rom. VI, 10). Intellexit ergo Petrus quod iterum Christus crucifigendus esset in servulo. Itaque sponte remeavit; interrogantibus Christianis responsum reddidit, statimque correptus, per crucem suam honorificavit Dominum Jesum. 14. Videtis igitur quod in servulis suis pati velit Christus. Quid si et huic servulo dicit: Illum volo manere, tu autem me sequere (Joan. XXI, 22); et de hac arbore gustare vult fructum? Nam si illius cibus erat, ut faceret voluntatem Patris (Joan. IV, 34): itidem cibus illius est, ut nostris passionibus epuletur. Nonne, ut de ipso Domino sumamus exemplum, quando voluit, passus est: et cum quaereretur, inventus est? quando autem hora non venerat passionis (Joan. VII, 30), per medium quaerentium transibat, et videntes eum tenere non poterant? Quod utique evidenter ostendit quia quando Dominus vult, unusquisque invenitur et capitur: quod autem differt, etiamsi quaerentium occurrat oculis, non tenetur. 15. Ergo ipse non quotidie vel visitandi gratia prodibam, vel pergebam ad martyres? non regiam palatii [c 1Kb] praetexebam eundo atque redeundo? Et tamen nemo me tenuit, cum exturbandi me haberent, ut prodiderunt postea, voluntatem, dicentes: Exi de civitate, et vade quo vis. Exspectabam, fateor, magnum aliquid, aut gladium pro Christi nomine, aut incendium: at illi delicias mihi pro passionibus obtulerunt; sed athleta Christi non delicias, sed passiones suas exigit. Nemo ergo vos turbet, quod aut carrum praeparaverunt, aut dura, ut videbatur sibi, Auxentii ipsius, qui se dicit episcopum, ore jactata. 16. Plerique narrabant percussores praemissos, poenam mortis esse decretam: nec illa timeo, et ista non desero. Quo enim abibo, ubi non omnia plena gemitus sint, atque lacrymarum; quando per Ecclesias jubentur ejici catholici sacerdotes, resistentes gladio feriri, curiales 868 proscribi omnes, nisi mandatum impleverint? Et haec episcopi manu scripta et ore dictata, qui se ut probaret doctissimum, vetus non omisit exemplum, legimus enim in propheta quod viderit falcem volantem (Zach. 5, 1): hanc imitatus Auxentius gladium volantem per omnes urbes direxit. Et Satanas transfigurat se in angelum lucis, et in malum imitatur ejus potentiam (II Cor. XI, 14). 17. Tu, Domine Jesu, uno momento mundum redemisti: Auxentius uno momento tot populos, quod in ipso est, trucidabit, alios gladio, alios sacrilegio? Meam basilicam petit cruento ore, sanguinolentis manibus. Cui bene praesens respondit lectio: Peccatori autem dixit Deus: Quare tu enarras justitias meas (Psal. XLIX, 16)? id est, non convenit paci et furori, non convenit Christo et Belial (II Cor. VI, 15). Meministis etiam quod lectum est hodie Nabuthe (22, q. 8, c. Convenior, þ Nabuthe), sanctum virum possessorem vineae suae, interpellatum petitione regia, ut vineam suam daret; ubi rex, succisis vitibus, olus vile sereret, eumque respondisse: Absit ut ego patrum meorum tradam haereditatem; regem contristatum esse, quod sibi esset alienum jus relatione justa negatum, sed muliebri consilio deceptum. Nabuthe vites suas vel proprio cruore defendit (III Reg. XXI, 1 et seq.). Si ille vineam non tradidit suam, nos trademus Ecclesiam Christi? 18. Quid igitur a me responsam est contumaciter? Dixi enim conventus: Absit a me ut tradam Christi haereditatem. Si ille patrum haereditatem non tradidit, ego tradam Christi haereditatem? Sed et hoc addidi: Absit ut tradam haereditatem patrum, hoc est, haereditatem Dyonisii, qui in exsilio in causa fidei defunctus est, haereditatem Eustorgii confessoris, haereditatem Myroclis, atque omnium retro fidelium episcoporum. Respondi ego, quod sacerdotis est: quod imperatoris est, faciat imperator. Prius est ut animam mihi, quam fidem auferat. 19. At cui tradam? Praesens lectio Evangelii docere nos debet, quid petatur, a quibus petatur. Audistis nempe legi, quod cum Christus super pullum asinae sederet, clamabant pueruli, et moleste ferebant Judaei (Luc. XIX, 35). Denique interpellaverunt Dominum Jesum, dicentes ut faceret eos tacere; respondit: Si hi tacuerint, lapides clamabunt (Ibid., 40). Deinde ingressus templum, ejecit nummularios, et cathedras, et columbas vendentes in templo Dei. Lectio nempe ista nulla 869 nostra dispositione recitata est, sed casu: quae praesentibus bene aptatur temporibus. Semper ergo Christi laudes verbera perfidorum sunt. Et nunc cum laudatur Christus, dicunt haeretici quia seditio commovetur: dicunt haeretici quia his mors parabatur; et vere mortem habent in laudibus Christi. Quomodo enim laudes ejus ferre possunt, cujus infirmitatem praedicant? Itaque et hodie cum laudatur Christus, Arianorum amentia verberatur. 20. Geraseni praesentiam Christi ferre non poterant (Luc. VIII, 37), isti pejores Gerasenis nec laudationem Christi sustinere possunt. Vident pueros Christi gloriam concinentes; quia scriptum est: Ex ore infantium et lactentium perfecisti laudem (Psal. VIII, 3). Irrident istam aetatulam fidei plenam, cum dicunt: Ecce quid clamant? Sed respondit iis Christus: Si hi tacebunt, lapides clamabunt (Luc. XIX, 35), hoc est, fortiores clamabunt, clamabunt et juvenes, clamabunt et maturiores, clamabunt et senes: isti lapides ad illum jam solidati lapidem, de quo scriptum est: Lapidem quem reprobaverunt aedificantes, hic factus est in caput anguli (Psal. CXVII, 22). 21. His igitur laudationibus invitatus templum suum Christus ingreditur, et flagellum prehendit, et ejicit de templo nummularios (Joan. II, 15). Non patitur enim in suo templo pecuniae esse vernaculos, non patitur in suo templo esse eos, qui vendant cathedras. Quid sunt cathedrae, nisi honores? Quid sunt columbae, nisi simplices mentes, vel animae fidem candidam et puram sequentes? Ego ergo inducam in templum, quem Christus excludit? Jubetur enim exire, qui dignitates vendit et honores: jubetur exire, qui vendere vult simplices mentes fidelium. 22. Ergo Auxentius ejicitur, Mercurinus excluditur. Unum portentum est, duo nomina. Etenim ne cognosceretur quis esset, mutavit sibi vocabulum; ut quia hic fuerat Auxentius episcopus Arianus, ad decipiendam plebem, quam ille tenuerat, se vocaret Auxentium. Mutavit ergo vocabulum, sed perfidiam non mutavit: exuit lupum, sed induit lupum. Nihil prodest quod mutavit nomen: quid sit agnoscitur. Alius in Scythiae partibus dicebatur, alius hic vocatur: nomina pro regionibus habet. Habet ergo jam duo nomina; et si hinc alio perrexerit, habebit et tertium. Quomodo enim patietur ut maneat ei vocabulum ad tanti sceleris indicium: Minora fecit in Scythia; et ita erubuit, ut mutaret vocabulum: sceleratiora hic ausus est; et volet, quocumque perrexerit, nomine suo prodi? Tantorum populorum sanguinem manu sua scribet, et poterit consistere animo? 23. Paucos excludebat Dominus Jesus de templo suo, Auxentius nullum reliquit. De templo suo Jesus flagello ejicit, Auxentius gladio: Jesus flagello, Mercurinus securi. Pius Dominus flagello 870 exturbat sacrilegos; nequam persequitur pios ferro. De quo bene dixistis hodie: Leges suas secum ferat. Feret, etiamsi nolit: feret conscientiam suam, etsi non fert chartulam: feret sanguine inscriptam animam suam, etsi atramento inscriptam epistolam non feret. Scripta est, Juda, culpa tua graphio ferreo et ungue adamantino, et scripta in pectore tuo (Jerem. VII, 1), hoc est, ibi scripta, unde processit. 24. Is mihi etiam audet mentionem facere tractandi, plenus sanguinis, plenus cruoris? Qui quos non potuerit sermone decipere, eos gladio putat esse feriendos, cruentas leges ore dictans, manu scribens, et putans quod lex fidem possit hominibus imperare. Non audivit et id quod hodie dictum est: Quoniam non justificatur homo ex operibus Legis; (Galat. II, 16), aut: Per Legem Legi mortuus sum, ut Deo vivam (Ibid., 19), id est, per legem spiritalem interpretationi Legis est mortuus corporali. Et nos per legem Domini nostri Jesu Christi moriamur huic legi, quae sancit decreta perfidiae. Non lex Ecclesiam congregavit, sed fides Christi. Lex enim non est ex fide: Justus autem ex fide vivit (Galat. III, 11). Justum ergo fides, non lex facit; quia non est per legem justitia, sed per fidem Christi. Qui autem fidem repudiat, et legis jura praescribit, ipse se testatur injustum, quia Justus ex fide vivit. 25. Hanc ergo legem quisquam sequatur, qua firmatur Ariminense concilium, in quo creatura dictus est Christus? Sed aiunt: Misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub Lege (Galat. IV, 4). Ergo, factum, legunt, hoc est, creatum. Nonne hoc ipsum considerant, quod proposuerunt, quia factus dicitur Christus, sed ex muliere, hoc est, secundum partum Virginis factus est, qui secundum divinam generationem ex Patre natus est? Legerunt et hodie, quia Christus nos redemit de maledicto Legis, factus pro nobis maledictum (Galat. III, 13). Numquid maledictum Christus secundum divinitatem est? Sed quare maledictum dicatur, Apostolus te docet, dicens quia scriptum est: Maledictus omnis, qui pendet in ligno (Ibid.), hoc est, qui in carne sua nostram carnem, in suo corpore nostras infirmitates et nostra maledicta suscepit, ut crucifigeret; non enim ille maledictus, sed in te maledictus. Denique habes alibi: Qui peccatum non cognovit, sed pro nobis peccatum factus est; quia nostra peccata suscepit, ut sacramento suae passionis aboleret (II Cor. V, 21). 26. Haec ego, fratres, coram ipso apud vos plenius disputarem: sed certus non ignaros vos esse fidei, vestrum refugit examen, et gentiles quosdam quatuor aut quinque ferme homines elegit cognitores sibi, si tamen aliquos elegit: quos vellem adesse in coetu omnium, non ut de Christo judicent, sed ut majestatem audiant Christi. Tamen illi jam de Auxentio pronuntiaverunt, cui tractanti quotidie non crediderunt. Quae major ejus condemnatio, quam quod 871 sine adversario apud judices suos victus est? Ergo et ipsorum sententiam contra Auxentium jam tenemus. 27. Et quod gentes elegit, jure damnandus est; quia Apostoli praecepta dimisit, cum Apostolus dicat: Audet aliquis vestrum adversus alterum habens negotium, judicari apud iniquos, et non apud sanctos? Aut nescitis quoniam sancti de hoc mundo judicabunt (I Cor. VI, 1, 2)? Et infra ait: Sic non est inter vos sapiens quisquam, qui possit judicare inter fratres: sed frater cum fratre judicio contendit et hoc apud infideles (Ibid., 5, 6)? Vides quia quod ille obtulit contra auctoritatem Apostoli sit. Vos eligite utrum Auxentium an Paulum sequi debeamus magistrum. 28. Sed quid dicam de Apostolo, cum ipse Dominus clamet per prophetam: Audite me, populus meus. Qui scitis judicium, quorum in corde lex mea est (Esai. LI, 7). Deus dicit: Audite me, populus meus. Qui scitis judicium; Auxentius dicit: Nescitis judicium. Videtis quia jam Deum contemnit in vobis, qui sententiam coelestis refutat oraculi? Audite me, inquit, populus meus, dicit Dominus. Non dicit: Audite, gentes. Non dicit: Audite, Judaei. Jam enim populus Dei qui fuerat, populus erroris est factus: et qui populus erroris erat, populus Dei esse coepit, quia in Christum credidit. Iste ergo populus judicat, cujus in corde lex divina est, non humana: lex non atramento scripta, sed spiritu Dei vivi: non in charta exarata, sed in corde signata: lex gratiae, non cruoris (II Cor. III, 3). Quis igitur vobis injuriam facit, qui recusat vestram, an qui eligit audientiam? 29. Conclusus undique, ad versutiam patrum suorum confugit. De imperatore vult invidiam commovere, dicens judicare debere adolescentem catechumenum, sacrae lectionis ignarum, et in consistorio judicare. Quasi vero superiore anno quando ad palatium sum petitus, cum praesentibus primatibus ante consistorium tractaretur, cum imperator basilicam vellet eripere; ego tunc aulae contemplatione regalis infractus sim, constantiam non tenuerim sacerdotis, aut imminuto jure discesserim? Nonne meminerunt quod ubi me cognovit populus palatium petisse, ita irruit, ut vim ejus ferre non possent; quando comiti militari cum expeditis ad fugandam multitudinem egresso obtulerunt omnes se neci pro fide Christi? Nonne tunc rogatus sum, ut populum multo sermone mulcerem? sponderem fidem, quod Basilicam Ecclesiae nullus invaderet? Et cum pro beneficio meum sit officium postulatum; tamen quod populus ad palatium venisset, mihi invidia commota est. In hanc igitur invidiam me redire desiderant. 30. Revocavi populum, et tamen invidiam non evasi: quam quidem invidiam ego temperandam 872 arbritor, non timendam. Quid enim timeamus pro Christi nomine? Nisi forte illud movere me debet, Quod aiunt: Ergo non debet imperator unam basilicam accipere, ad quam procedat: et plus vult Ambrosius posse, quam imperator; ut imperatori prodeundi facultatem neget? Quod cum dicunt, apprehendere sermones nostros gestiunt, sicut Judaei qui Christum versuto sermone tentabant dicentes: Magister, licet tributum dare Caesari, aut non (Matth. XXII, 17)? Semperne de Caesare servulis Dei invidia commovetur? Et hoc ad calumniam sibi arcessit impietas, ut imperiale nomen obtendat? Et isti possunt dicere quod eorum non habeant sacrilegium, quorum imitantur magisterium? 31. Et tamen videte quanto pejores [Ariani] sint, quam Judaei. Illi quaerebant utrum solvendum putaret Caesari jus tributi; isti, imperatori volunt dare jus Ecclesiae. Sed ut perfidi suum sequuntur auctorem; ita et nos quae nos Dominus et auctor noster docuit, respondeamus. Considerans enim Jesus dolum Judaeorum (Ibid., 18 et seq.), dixit ad eos: Quid me tentatis? Ostendite mihi denarium. Et cum dedissent, dixit: Cujus imaginem habet et inscriptionem? Respondentes dixerunt: Caesaris. Et ait illis Jesus: Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei, Deo. Ergo et ego dico illis, qui mihi objiciunt; Ostendite mihi denarium: Jesus Caesaris denarium vidit, et ait: Reddite Caesari, quae Caesaris sunt, et quae Dei sunt Deo. Numquid de Ecclesiae Basilicis occupandis possunt denarium offerre Caesaris? 32. Sed in Ecclesia unam imaginem novi, hoc est, imaginem Dei invisibilis, de qua dixit Deus: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram (Gen. I, 26); illam imaginem, de qua scriptum est; quia Christus splendor gloriae, et imago substantiae ejus (Hebr. I, 3). In ista imagine Patrem cerno, sicut dixit ipse Dominus Jesus: Qui me videt, videt et Patrem (Joan. XIV, 9). Non enim haec imago a Patre est separata, quae unitatem me docuit Trinitatis dicens: Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30); et infra: Omnia quaecumque habet Pater, mea sunt (Joan. XVI, 15). Et de Spiritu sancto, dicens quia Spiritus Christi sit, et de Christo accepit, sicut scriptum est: Ille de meo accipiet, et annuntiabit vobis (Ibid., 14). 33. Quid igitur non humiliter responsum a nobis est? Si tributum petit, non negamus. Agri Ecclesiae solvunt tributum: si agros desiderat imperator, potestatem habet vindicandorum; nemo nostrum intervenit. Potest pauperibus collatio populi redundare: non faciant de agris invidiam, tollant eos, si libitum est imperatori: non dono, sed non nego. Aurum quaerunt, possum dicere: Argentum et aurum non quaero. Sed invidiam faciunt, quia aurum erogatur. Nec ego hanc invidiam perhorresco. Habeo aerarios: aerarii mei pauperes Christi sunt, hunc novi congregare thesaurum. 873 Utinam hoc mihi semper crimen ascribant, quia aurum pauperibus erogatur! Quod si objiciunt quod defensionem ab iis requiram, non nego, sed etiam ambio. Habeo defensionem, sed in orationibus pauperum. Caeci illi et claudi, debiles et senes robustis bellatoribus fortiores sunt. Denique munera pauperum Deum obligant; quia scriptum est: Qui largitur pauperi, Deo fenerat (Prov. XIX, 17). Praesidia bellatorum divinam saepe gratiam non merentur. 34. Hymnorum quoque meorum carminibus deceptum populum ferunt. Plane nec hoc abnuo. Grande carmen istud est, quo nihil potentius. Quid enim potentius quam confessio Trinitatis, quae quotidie totius populi ore celebratur? Certatim omnes student fidem fateri, Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum norunt versibus praedicare. Facti sunt igitur omnes magistri, qui vix poterant esse discipuli. 35. Quid igitur obaudientius potest esse, quam ut Christi sequamur exemplum, qui specie inventus ut homo, humiliavit semetipsum factus obediens usque ad mortem (Philipp. II, 7, 8)? Denique omnes per obedientiam liberavit: Sicut enim per inobedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt plurimi, ita et per unius obedientiam justi constituentur multi (Rom. V, 19). Si ergo ille obediens, accipiant obedientiae magisterium, cui nos inhaeremus, dicentes iis qui nobis de imperatore invidiam faciunt: Solvimus quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo (Matth. XXII, 21). Tributum Caesaris est, non negatur (23, quaest. 8, c. Conventior, þ Tributum): Ecclesia Dei est, Caesari utique non debet addici; quia jus Caesaris esse non potest Dei templum. 36. Quod cum honorificentia imperatoris dictum nemo potest negare. Quid enim honorificentius, quam ut imperator Ecclesiae filius esse dicatur? Quod cum dicitur, sine peccato dicitur, cum gratia dicitur. Imperator Enim intra Ecclesiam, non supra Ecclesiam est; bonus enim imperator quaerit auxilium Ecclesiae, non refutat. Haec ut humiliter dicimus, ita constanter exponimus. Sed incendia aliqui, gladium, deportationem minantur. Didicimus Christi servuli non timere. Non timentibus numquam est gravis terror. Denique scriptum est: Sagittae infantium factae sunt plagae eorum (Psal. LXIII, 8). 874 37. Satis igitur propositis responsum videtur. Nunc illos interrogo, quod Salvator interrogavit: Baptismum Joannis de coelo est, an ex hominibus (Luc. XX, 4)? Et non potuerunt respondere ei Judaei. Si baptismum Joannis non solverunt Judaei, Auxentius solvit baptismum Christi? Non enim istud ex hominibus est baptismum, sed de coelo, quod detulit nobis consilii magni Angelus (Esai. IX, 6), ut justificemur Deo. Cur igitur rebaptizandos Auxentius fideles populos putat, baptizatos in nomine Trinitatis; cum Apostolus dicat: Una fides, unum baptisma (Ephes. IV, 3): et se hominum dicat adversarium esse, non Christi; cum consilium Dei spernat, et condemnet baptismum, quod Christus nobis ad redimenda nostra peccata donavit (Luc. VII, 30).