The Two Books of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, on the Decease of His Brother Satyrus.

 Book I.

 1. We have brought hither, dearest brethren, my sacrifice, a sacrifice undefiled, a sacrifice well pleasing to God, my lord and brother Satyrus. I did

 11. He wept for what affected us, not Himself for the Godhead sheds no tears but He wept in that nature in which He was sad He wept in that in whic

 21. I feel, indeed, that my mind is touched by the repetition of thy services and the enumeration of thy virtues, and yet in being thus affected I fin

 31. So then, brother, I esteem thee happy both in the beauty of thy life and in the opportuneness of thy death. For thou wast snatched away not from u

 41. For if at any time there was a discussion between me and my holy sister on any matter, as to which was the preferable opinion, we used to take the

 51. But in what words can I set forth his simplicity? By this I mean a certain moderation of character and soberness of mind. Pardon me, I beseech you

 61. So that one may rightly say that the Holy Spirit has this day told us by the voice of the boy reader: “He that is innocent in his hands and of a c

 71. And certainly if they have ever found any consolation who have thought that death is the end of sensation and the failing of our nature, how much

 Book II.

 1. In the former book I indulged my longing to some extent, lest too sharp remedies applied to a burning wound might rather increase than assuage the

 11. Let, then, grief be patient, let there be that moderation in adversity which is required in prosperity. If it be not seemly to rejoice immoderatel

 21. We know, however, that it survives the body, and that being set free from the bars of the body, it sees with clear gaze those things which before,

 31. And who said this but he who asked for and obtained wisdom, to know how the world was made, and the power of the elements, the course of the year,

 41. But what remedy? “Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have a physician, let us

 51. All things, indeed, are believed to be, either because of experience, or on grounds of reason, or from similar instances, or because it is fitting

 61. However, before the season comes, those things also are not believed, for every season is not suited for the raising of seeds. Wheat is sown at on

 71. But let us now hear the prophet himself, who speaks thus: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord led me forth in the Spirit, and placed m

 81. And this was not the only instance which our Lord Jesus Christ set forth, but He raised others also, that we might at any rate believe more numero

 91. So, then, man rose because man died man was raised again, but God raised him. Then it was man according to the Flesh, now God is all in all. For

 101. We see, then, that heaven is open to virtue, and that this is the privilege not only of a few: “For many shall come from the east and from the we

 111. Yet it is not every one’s business to sound each trumpet, nor every one’s business to call together the whole assembly, but that prerogative is g

 121. And therefore “blessed is he who keepeth the words of this prophecy,” which has revealed the resurrection to us by clearer testimony, saying: “An

 131. But I have seen what you, Gentiles, think of each other, and indeed it ought not to seem strange that you who worship beasts should believe that

31. And who said this but he who asked for and obtained wisdom, to know how the world was made, and the power of the elements, the course of the year, and the dispositions of stars, to be acquainted with the natures of living creatures, the furies of wild beasts, and the violence of winds, and to understand the thoughts of man!54    Wisd. vii. 7, 17 ff. How, then, should mortal matters be hidden from him, from whom heavenly things were not hidden? He who penetrated the thoughts of the woman who was claiming the child of another, who by the inspiration of divine grace knew the natures of living creatures which he did not share; could he err or say what was untrue with regard to the circumstances of that nature, which he found in his own personal experience?

32. But Solomon was not the only person who felt this, though he alone gave expression to it. He had read the words of holy Job: “Let the day perish wherein I was born.”55    Job iii. 3. Job had recognized that to be born is the beginning of all woes, and therefore wished that the day on which he was born might perish, so that the origin of all troubles might be removed, and wished that the day of his birth might perish that he might receive the day of resurrection. For Solomon had heard his father’s saying: “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, that I may know what is lacking unto me.”56    Ps. xxxix. [xl.] 4. For David knew that what is perfect cannot be grasped here, and therefore hastened on to those things which are to come. For now we know in part, and understand in part, but then it will be possible for that which is perfect to be grasped, when not the shadow but the reality of the Divine Majesty and eternity shall begin to shine so as to be gazed upon by us with unveiled face.57    1 Cor. xiii. 12.

33. But no one would hasten to the end, except he were fleeing from the discomfort of this life. And so David also explained why he hastened to the end, when he said: “Behold Thou hast made my days old, and my being is as nothing before Thee, surely all things are vanity, even every man that liveth.”58    Ps. xxxix. [xxxviii.] 5 [LXX.]. Why, then, do we hesitate to flee from vanity? Or why does it please us to be troubled to no purpose in this world, to lay up treasures, and not know for what heir we are gathering them? Let us pray that troubles be removed from us, that we be taken out of this foolish world, that we may be free from our daily pilgrimage, and return to that country and our natural home. For on this earth we are strangers and foreigners; we have to return thither whence we have come down, we must strive and pray not perfunctorily but earnestly to be delivered from the guile and wickedness of men full of words. And he who knew the remedy groaned that his sojourn was prolonged, and that he must dwell with the unjust and sinners.59    Ps. cxx. [cxix.] 5. What shall I do, who both am sinful and know not the remedy?

34. Jeremiah also bewails his birth in these words: “Woe is me, my mother! Why hast thou borne me a man of contention in all the earth? I have not benefited others, nor has any one benefited me, my strength hath failed.”60    Jer. xv. 10 [LXX.]. If, then, holy men shrink from life whose life, though profitable to us, is esteemed unprofitable to themselves; what ought we to do who am not able to profit others, and who feel that it, like money borrowed at interest, grows more heavily weighted every day with an increasing mass of sins?

35. “I die daily,”61    1 Cor. xv. 31. says the Apostle. Better certainly is this saying than theirs who said that meditation on death was true philosophy, for they praised the study, he exercised the practice of death. And they acted for themselves only, but Paul, himself perfect, died not for his own weakness but for ours. But what is meditation on death but a kind of separation of body and soul, for death itself is defined as nothing else than the separation of body and soul? But this is in accordance with common opinion.

36. But according to the Scriptures we have been taught that death is threefold.62    Cf.S. Ambr. de Bono Mortis, c. 9, and In Luc. vii. 35. One death is when we die to sin, but live to God. Blessed, then, is that death which, escaping from sin, and devoted to God, separates us from what is mortal and consecrates us to Him Who is immortal. Another death is the departure from this life, as the patriarch Abraham died, and the patriarch David, and were buried with their fathers; when the soul is set free from the bonds of the body. The third death is that of which it is said: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.”63    S. Matt. viii. 22. In that death not only the flesh but also the soul dies, for “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”64    Ezek. xviii. 4. For it dies to the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt. But this death is not the discharge from this life, but a fall through error.

37. Spiritual death, then, is one thing, natural death another, a third the death of punishment. But that which is natural is not also penal, for the Lord did not inflict death as a penalty, but as a remedy. And to Adam when he sinned, one thing was appointed as a penalty, another for a remedy, when it was said: “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I had commanded thee that of it alone thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the ground in thy labor; in sorrow shalt thou eat its fruit all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return to the earth from which thou wast taken.”65    Gen. iii. 17 ff. [LXX.].

38. Here you have the days of rest from penalties, for they contain the punishment decreed against the thorns of this life, the cares of the world, and the pleasures of riches which shut out the Word. Death is given for a remedy, because it is the end of evils. For God said not, “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of the woman thou shalt return to the earth,” for this would have been a penal sentence, as this one is, “The earth under curse shall bring forth thorns and thistles to thee;” but He said: “In sweat shalt thou eat thy bread until thou return to the earth.” You see that death is rather the goal of our penalties, by which an end is put to the course of this life.

39. So, then, death is not only not an evil, but is even a good thing. So that it is sought as a good, as it is written: “Men shall seek death and shall not find it.”66    Rev. ix. 6. They will seek it who shall say to the mountains: “Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us.”67    S. Luke xxiii. 30. That soul, too, shall seek it which has sinned. That rich man lying in hell shall seek it, who wishes that his tongue should be cooled with the finger of Lazarus.68    S. Luke xvi. 24.

40. We see, then, that this death is a gain and life a penalty, so that Paul says: “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”69    Phil. i. 21. What is Christ but the death of the body, the breath of life? And so let us die with Him, that we may live with Him. Let there then be in us as it were a daily practice and inclination to dying, that by this separation from bodily desires, of which we have spoken, our soul may learn to withdraw itself, and, as it were placed on high, when earthly lusts cannot approach and attach it to themselves, may take upon herself the likeness of death, that she incur not the penalty of death. For the law of the flesh wars against the law of the mind, and makes it over to the law of error, as the Apostle has made known to us, saying: “For I see a law of the flesh in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law of sin.”70    Rom. vii. 23. We are all attached, we all feel this; but we are not all delivered. And so a miserable man am I, unless I seek the remedy.

31. Et quis hoc dixit, nisi ille qui sapientiam poposcit et impetravit (Sap. VII, 7); ut sciret compositionem orbis terrarum, et virtutem elementorum, anni cursus, et stellarum dispositiones, non ignoraret naturas animalium, et iras colligeret bestiarum, vim ventorum, et cogitationes hominum deprehenderet? Quem igitur non latuerunt coelestia, quemadmodum laterent mortalia? Qui cogitationem 1323B mulieris investigavit sibi infantem vindicantis alienum (III Reg. III, 27), qui naturas animalium, quas non acceperat, divina tamen gratia aspirante cognovit (Sap. VII, 20): hic de suae conditione naturae, quam in se expertus est, errare aut mentiri potuit?

32. Sed non solus hoc sensit, etsi solus expressit. Legerat sanctum dixisse Job: Pereat dies ille, in quo natus sum (Job. III, 3); et cognoverat nasci malorum omnium esse principium: et ideo diem quo natus est, perire optavit; ut tolleretur origo incommodorum: et optavit perire diem generationis suae; ut diem resurrectionis acciperet. Audierat etiam Salomon dixisse patrem suum: Notum fac mihi, Domine, finem meum, et numerum, dierum meorum; ut sciam 1323Cquid desit mihi (Ps. XXXVIII, 5). Noverat enim David non posse id quod perfectum est, hic comprehendi, et ideo ad ea quae sunt futura, properabat. Nunc enim ex parte scimus, et ex parte cognoscimus: tunc autem id quod perfectum est, poterit comprehendi; cum revelata facie nobis speculandae majestatis aeternitatisque divinae coeperit relucere non umbra, sed veritas (I Cor. XIII, 12).

33. Nemo tamen festinaret ad finem, nisi vitae istius fugeret incommoditatem. Et ideo etiam David quare ad finem festinet, exposuit dicens: Ecce veteres posuisti dies meos,et habitudo mea tamquam nihil ante te: verumtamen universa vanitas, omnis homo vivens (Ps. XXXVIII, 6). Quid igitur moramur 1143 fugere vanitatem? aut quid nos delectat in hoc saeculo 1323D vane conturbari, thesaurum pecuniarum condere, 1324A et ignorare cui congregamus haeredi? Petamus amoveri a nobis plagas, eripi nos ex insipienti saeculo, carere peregrinatione diuturna, ad illam redire patriam et naturalem domum. In hac enim terra advenae sumus atque peregrini (Ephes. II, 19): remigrandum eo, unde descendimus: ambiendum et obsecrandum non perfunctorie, sed obnixe; ut a dolis et ab iniquitate loquacium liberemur. Et ille qui remedium noverat, prolongatum tamen suum ingemit incolatum, et cum peccatoribus et iniquis se habitare deplorat (Ps. CXIX, 5). Quid ego faciam, qui et peccatum habeo, et ignoro remedium?

34. Hieremias quoque quod generatus sit, et ipse deplorat his verbis, dicens: Heu me, mater! ut quid me peperisti virum causam dicentem judicii in omni 1324Bterra? Non profui,neque profuit mihi quisquam: virtus mea defecit (Jerem. XV, 10). Si igitur sancti viri vitam fugiunt, quorum vita etsi nobis utilis, sibi tamen inutilis aestimatur; quid nos facere oportet, qui nec aliis prodesse possumus, et nobis vitam hanc quasi fenebrem pecuniam usurario quodam cumulo gravescentem onerari in dies peccatorum aere sentimus?

35. Quotidie morior, Apostolus dicit (I Cor. XV, 31). Melius utique, quam illi, qui meditationem mortis philosophiam esse dixerunt: illi enim studium praedicarunt, hic usum ipsum mortis exercuit. Et illi quidem propter se: Paulus autem ipse perfectus moriebatur non propter suam, sed propter nostram infirmitatem. Quid autem est mortis meditatio, nisi 1324C quaedam corporis et animae segregatio; quia mors ipsa non aliud quam corporis atque animae secessio definitur? Sed hoc secundum communem opinionem.

36. Secundum Scripturas autem triplicem esse mortem accipimus. Una est cum morimur peccato, Deo vivimus (Rom. VI, 10). Beata igitur mors, quae culpae refuga, Domino dedita, a mortali nos separat, immortali nos consecrat. Alia mors est vitae hujus excessus, qua mortuus est patriarcha Abraham, patriarcha David, et sepulti sunt cum patribus suis; cum anima nexu corporis liberatur. Tertia mors est, de qua dictum est: Dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos (Matth. VIII, 22). Ea morte non solum caro, sed etiam anima moritur: Anima enim quae 1324Dpeccaverit, ipsa morietur (Ezech. XVIII, 4). Moritur 1325A enim Domino, non naturae infirmitate, sed culpae. Sed haec mors non perfunctio hujus est vitae, sed lapsus erroris.

37. Una ergo est mors spiritalis, alia naturalis, tertia poenalis. Sed non quae naturalis, eadem poenalis; non enim pro poena Dominus, sed pro remedio dedit mortem. Denique Adae peccanti praescriptum est aliud pro poena, aliud 1144 pro remedio; pro poena, cum dicitur: Quoniam audisti vocem uxoris tuae, et manducasti de ligno, de quo praeceperam tibi ab eo solo ne manducares, maledicta terra in operibus tuis: in tristitia manducabis fructum ejus omnibus diebus vitae tuae. Spinas et tribulos germinabit tibi, et edes pabulum agri. Cum sudore vultus tui manducabis panem tuum, donec revertaris in 1325Bterram, de qua assumptus es (Gen. III, 17 et seq.).

38. Habes poenarum ferias, quia adversus spinas saeculi hujus et sollicitudines mundi, voluptatesque divitiarum, quae Verbum excludunt, poenam includunt (Luc. VIII, 12); mors pro remedio data est, quasi finis malorum. Non enim dixit: Quoniam audisti vocem mulieris, reverteris in terram; haec enim esset poenalis sententia, quemadmodum est illa: Maledicta terra spinas et tribulos germinabit tibi; sed dixit: Manducabis panem tuum in sudore, donec revertaris in terram. Vides mortem magis metam esse nostrarum poenarum, qua cursus hujus vitae inciditur?

39. Ergo mors non solum malum non est, sed etiam bonum est. Denique pro bono quaeritur, sicut 1325C scriptum est: Quaerent homines mortem et non invenient eam (Apoc. IX, 6). Quaerent enim illi qui dicturi sunt montibus: Cadite super nos, et collibus: Operite nos (Luc. XXIII, 30). Quaeret etiam anima illa, quae peccat. Quaerit dives ille positus in inferno, qui vult digito Lazari refrigerari linguam suam (Luc. XVI, 24).

40. Videmus itaque quod et mors haec lucrum est, et vita poena est. Unde et Paulus ait: Mihi vivere Christus est, et mori lucrum (Phil. I, 21). Quid est Christus, nisi mors corporis, spiritus vitae? Et ideo commoriamur cum eo, ut vivamus cum eo. Sit quidam quotidianus usus in nobis, affectusque moriendi; ut per illam, quam diximus, segregationem a corporeis cupiditatibus anima nostra se discat extrahere, 1325D et tamquam in sublimi locata, quo terrenae adire libidines, et eam sibi glutinare non possint, suscipiat mortis imaginem, ne poenam mortis incurrat. Repugnat enim lex carnis legi mentis, et 1326A eam legi erroris addicit, sicut Apostolus revelavit, dicens: Video enim legem carnis meae repugnantem legi mentis meae, et captivantem me in lege peccati (Rom. VII, 23). Omnes impugnamur, omnes sentimus: sed non omnes liberamur. Et ideo infelix ego homo, nisi remedium quaeram.