LETTER XXXVIII. [A.D.387.]

In this Letter S. Ambrose continues the subject, maintaining that the truly wise man is not only free but rich also, illustrating his statements with instances from the Old Testament.

AMBROSE TO SIMPLICIAN, GREETING.

1. When we lately pointed out, taking our theme from the epistle of the Apostle Paul, that every wise man is free, we seemed to have fallen into philosophical discussion. But afterwards, in reading the epistle of the Apostle Peter, I perceived that every wise man is also rich: and this he says without distinction of sex, for he writes that all a woman's ornaments consist in a virtuous life, not in costly jewels,  Whose adorning, he says,  is not that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and, of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but the hidden man of the heart. 

2. Here then are two things, both that there is a man within the man, and that he is rich who seeks not for himself the enjoyment of any riches. And he has well said,  the man of the heart, in that the whole man of wisdom is hidden, as is wisdom itself, which is not seen but understood. No one before Peter used such an expression as,  the man of the heart; for the outward man consists of many members, but the inward man of the heart is entirely full of wisdom, full of grace, full of beauty.

3.  In that, he says,  which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. And he is truly rich, who can appear rich in the sight of God, in whose sight the earth is small, the world itself is narrow, but God considers him only to be rich who is rich for eternity, who lays up the fruit not of riches, but of virtues. And who is rich before God but that meek and quiet spirit which is never corrupted? Does not he appear to you to be rich, who possesses peace of mind and the tranquillity of rest? who desires nothing, is not tossed by the storms of lust;, despises not old things, seeks not new, so as by his constant desire to become poor in the midst of riches?

4. That peace is truly rich, which  passeth all understanding. Peace is rich, modesty is rich, faith is rich, for  to the faithful the whole world is a possession. Simplicity is rich, for there are also the riches of simplicity; for she scrutinizes nothing, has no mean, no suspicious, no deceitful thoughts, but pours herself forth with pure affection.

5. Goodness too is rich, and if a man preserve it he is fed by the riches of the heavenly inheritance. To quote also the more ancient examples of Scripture,  Happy, it is said,  is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore  despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ....  in famine He shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;  ....  the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee, and thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace. For the vices of this flesh being subdued, and those passions which are wont to war against the soul, your tabernacle shall be undisturbed, your house without offence, your seed shall not fail, your posterity shall be as the smell of a fruitful field, your burial as the harvest. For while others are looking for theirs to fail, the heap of your corn will be carried ripe into the heavenly garners.

6. Fit it is that the righteous ever lendeth, while the wicked man is in want. He lendeth justice, he lendeth the commandments of God to the poor and needy; but the fool does not possess even that which he believes himself to possess. Do you suppose that he can be said to possess, who brooding over his treasure night and day, is troubled by covetous and wretched anxiety? Such a one truly wants; although to others he appears rich, to himself he is poor, because he who is still grasping after more and desiring more uses not that which he possesses. For where there are no bounds to desire, what profit can there be in riches? No man is rich who cannot carry away with him that which he has, for that which is left behind, is not our own but another's.

7. Enoch was rich who carried away with him that which he had, and laid up all the riches of his goodness in the heavenly treasure-house; he was  taken away lest that wickedness should alter his understanding. Elias was rich, who riding in a chariot of fire carried the treasures of his virtues up to the heavenly mansions. Not small were the riches he left to his heir, and yet he himself did not lose them. Who would have called him poor even then, when being himself in need of the sustenance of daily food, he was sent to the widow that he might be nourished by her, when at his voice the heaven was shut and opened, when at his word the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil failed not for three years, but overflowed; when it was replenished not diminished by use? Who would call him poor at whose word there came fire down from heaven, whom the river impassible by others could not retard, retiring back to its source that the prophet might pass over dry-shod?

8. Ancient history tells us of two neighbours, king Ahab and the poor Naboth; which of these do we believe to be the richer, which the poorer? The one, endowed with the royal support of riches, insatiable and not to be replenished with wealth, coveted the little vineyard of the poor man; the other, despising in his mind the golden fortunes of kings, and imperial treasures, was content with his own vines. Does not he appear richer and more kingly, who was sufficient to himself, and controlled his own desires, coveting nothing that belonged to another? Does not he, on the other hand, appear most needy, in whose eyes his own gold was accounted vile, and another man's vine precious. But learn for what reason he was most needy: because  riches unjustly gotten are vomited up again, but  the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit, and flourishes like a palm-tree. 

9. Is not he more needy than the poor man, who pass-eth away like a shadow? To-day the ungodly is in great power, to-morrow he is not, and his place can no more be found. But what is it to be rich, unless it be to abound? But who abounds whose mind is contracted, and therefore straightened, and what abundance can there be in straits? He therefore is not rich who does not abound. Wherefore David says well,  The rich lack and suffer hunger ; for although they possessed the treasures of the Divine Scriptures, they still lacked in that they did not understand, and hungered in that they tasted not the food of spiritual grace.

10. Nothing can therefore be richer than the temper of the wise man, nothing poorer than that of the fool. For since the kingdom of God belongs to the poor, what can be richer? And therefore the Apostle says well,  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Well also David, who  had as great delight in the way of the heavenly testimonies as in all manner of riches. And Moses says expressly,  Naphtali, satisfied with favour. Now Naphtali means when translated, 'abundance' or 'increase.' So that to be satisfied and to abound go together, but where there is the hunger of desire and insatiable lust, there truly is poverty. But since scarcely any desire of money or of this world can be satisfied, it is added,  full with blessing. 

11. It is in accordance with these principles that the Apostle Peter has declared that the ornament of women consists not in gold and silver and apparel, but in the secret and hidden man of the heart. Wherefore let no woman put off the dress of piety, the ornament of grace, the inheritance of eternal life.

Farewell: love me, for I love you.

EPISTOLA XXXVIII.

 Sapientem esse divitem, neque hic ullum sexum excipi se didicisse ex Petri epistola, cujus locus enucleatur. Pacem aliasque virtutes divites esse, divitumque   1096A  ordini Enoch atque Eliam annumerandos. Post quae Achab et Nabuthe inter se comparatis, propositum problema confirmatur. 

AMBROSIUS SIMPLICIANO salutem.

1. Videbamur proxime in disceptationes incidisse philosophiae, cum de apostoli Pauli epistola sumentes exordium, tractaremus quod omnis sapiens liber. Verum postea, cum Petri apostoli epistolam legerem, adverti quod omnis sapiens etiam dives: nec sexum exceperit, qui feminas ornatum omnem non in pretiosis monilibus, sed in bonis moribus habere scripserit:  Non enim, inquit,  extrinsecus capillorum implicatio, aut auri circumpositio, aut habitus vestimentorum ornamentum, sed ille absconditus cordis homo  (I Petr. III, 3, 4).

2. Duo sunt igitur et esse hominem in homine, et  1096B illum esse divitem, qui sibi nullarum divitiarum usum requirat. Pulchre autem cordis hominem dixit, eo quod totus sapientiae sit absconditus, sicut ipsa sapientia, quae non videtur, sed intelligitur. Nemo ante Petrum tali expressione usus est, ut diceret cordis hominem; exterior enim homo plurima in se membra habet: interior autem cordis homo totus plenus sapientiae est, plenus gratiae, plenus decoris.

3.  In incorruptione, inquit,  quieti et modesti spiritus, qui est ante Deum dives (Ibid.). Et vere dives, qui in conspectu Dei potest dives videri, in cujus conspectu terra exigua, mundus ipse angustus est: sed solum illum Deus divitem novit, qui sit dives aeternitate, qui non opum, sed virtutum fructus recondat.  1096C Quis autem ante Deum dives, nisi quietus et modestus spiritus, 942 qui numquam corrumpitur? Nonne tibi videtur dives, qui habet pacem animi, tranquillitatem quietis; ut nihil concupiscat, nullis exagitetur cupiditatum procellis, nec vetera fastidiat, et nova quaerat, et semper desiderando, fiat in summis divitiis inops?

4. Ea est pax vere dives, quae superat omnem mentem (Philip. IV, 7). Dives pax, dives modestia, dives fides;  Fideli enim totus mundus possessio est (Prov. XVII, 6): dives simplicitas; sunt enim et divitiae simplicitatis, quae nihil discutit, nihil contractum, nihil suspectum, aut frudulentum putat, sed puro se fundit affectu.

5. Dives bonitas, quam si quis servaverit, pascitur  1096D in divitiis coelestis haereditatis; et ut antiquioribus exemplis Scripturae utamur:  Beatus, inquit,  vir, quem arguit Dominus. Admonitionem autem Dei ne recusaveris. . . . . In fame liberabit te a morte, in praelio de manu ferri liberabit te, et a flagello linguae te abscondet . . . . .   1097A  Ferae bestiae pacificae erunt tibi, et scies quod in pace erit domus tua (Job. V, 17). Mitigatis enim carnis hujus vitiis, et passionibus, quae militare adversus animam solent, tabernacula tua sine perturbatione erunt, domus sine offensione, semen sine defectu, posteritas sicut odor agri pleni, sepultura sicut messis. Siquidem quando alii suum defectum arbitrantur, tunc acervus tritici tui supernis maturus infertur apothecis.

6. Merito justus semper fenerat, iniquus indiget. Ille justitias fenerat, fenerat mandatum Dei pauperibus et egenis: at vero insipiens et quod putat se habere, nequaquam possidet. An putas illum possidere, qui thesauro suo die ac nocte incubans, avara et misera torquetur sollicitudine? Ille vero eget, et  1097B si aliis dives videtur, sibi pauper est; quia non utitur eo quod habet, qui adhuc alia rapit, alia desiderat: ubi enim nullus cupiditati modus, qui fructus divitiarum? Nemo est dives, qui quod habet, secum hinc auferre non potest: quod enim hic relinquitur, non nostrum, sed alienum est.

7. Dives Enoch, qui quod habuit secum transtulit, et omnem illum bonitatis suae censum coelestibus intulit receptaculis (Gen. V, 25): qui ideo  raptus est, ne cor ejus malitia mutaret (Sap. IV, 11). Dives Elias, qui virtutum suarum thesauros curru igneo sublimis sedibus aethereis invexit (IV Reg. II, 11). Et tamen iste non mediocres divitias haeredi reliquit, quas ipse non amitteret. Quis hunc pauperem vel tunc dixerit, cum victus quotidiani indigens  1097C alimonia, mitteretur ad viduam, ut pasceretur ab ea; quando ad ejus vocem coelum claudebatur et aperiebatur, quando ad ejus verbum hydria farinae et vas olei non deficiebat per triennium, sed abundabat: nec minuebatur usu, sed replebatur (III Reg. XVII, 9 et seq.)? Quis illum pauperem dixerit, ad cujus voluntatem descendebat ignis (IV Reg. I, 14), quem invia aliis flumina non concludebant (IV Reg. II, 8), sed in 943 suum fontem recurrebant; ut sicco propheta transiret pede?

8. Duos finitimos vetus historia describit (III Reg. XXI, 1 et seq.), regem Achab, et pauperem Nabuthen; quem horum pauperiorem, quem ditiorem credimus? Alter regali fulcro divitiarum praeditus, inexplebilis insatiabilisque opibus suis, exiguam pauperis vineam  1097D desideravit: alter despiciens animo βασιλέων τὰς  1098A πολυ χρύσους τύχας, imperialesque gazas, suo erat contentus palmite. Nonne videtur hic magis dives, hic magis rex, qui sibi abundabat, suas regebat cupiditates; ut nihil alienum concupisceret? ille autem egentissimus, cui aurum suum vile, alienus palmes pretiosissimus aestimabatur? Sed qua ratione egentissimus, cognosce: quia divitiae injuste congregatae evomuntur (Job XX, 15); radix autem justorum manet (Prov. XII, 12), et ut palma floret (Psal. XCI, 13).

9. An non egentior paupere is, qui tamquam umbra praeterit (Psal. CXLIII, 4)? Hodie impius exaltatur, cras non erit, nec invenietur aliquis locus ejus (Psal. XXXVI, 35, 36). Quid est itaque divitem esse, nisi abundare? Quis autem abundat, qui sit animo  1098B contractior? Qui autem animo contractior, utique angustior: quae igitur in angustiis abundantia? Non ergo dives, qui non abundat. Unde pulchre David:  Divites, inquit,  eguerunt, et esurierunt (Psal. XXXIII, 10); quoniam cum haberent Scripturarum thesauros coelestium, eguerunt qui non intellexerunt, et esurierunt qui nullum spiritalis gratiae gustarunt cibum.

10. Nihil igitur affectu sapientis ditius, nihil insipientis egentius. Nam cum regnum Dei pauperum sit (Matth. V, 3), quid esse locupletius potest? Et ideo praeclare Apostolus:  O altitudo, inquit,  divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei (Rom. XI, 33)! Praeclare etiam David, qui in via testimoniorum coelestium, quasi in omnibus divitiis, delectabatur (Psal. CXVIII,  1098C 14). Expresse Moyses, qui ait:  Nephthalim satietas accipientium (Deut. XXXIII, 23). Nephthalim, abundantia significatur Latina interpretatione, vel dilatatio. Ibi ergo abundantia, ubi satietas: ubi autem fames cupiditatum, ubi inexplebilis appetentia; ibi utique paupertas. Sed quia vix ulla rei pecuniariae vel mundi hujus cupiditas satietatem habet; ideo addidit:  Et replebitur benedictione (Ibid.).

11. Secundum haec Petrus apostolus definivit non in auro et argento et indumentis feminarum esse ornamentum, sed in occulto cordis homine atque abscondito (I Pet. III, 3); unde nulla se exuat cultum pietatis, ornatum gratiae, vitae aeternae haereditatem. Vale, et nos dilige; quia nos te diligimus.