LETTER LI. [A.D. 390.]

This is the famous Letter addressed by S. Ambrose to Theodosius after the massacre at Thessalonica. The details of that occurrence are too familiar to need repeating here. In this Letter S. Ambrose explains to the Emperor why he had avoided meeting him on his return to Milan, and urges him with respectful and most affectionate, but firm remonstrance, to follow David in penitence as he had followed him in crime, and tells him that God Himself had in a vision forbidden him to offer the Sacrifice of the Eucharist in his behalf while he remained impenitent. The Letter, far from deserving Gibbon's scornful title of 'a miserable rhapsody on a noble subject,' may rather be regarded as a model of dignified remonstrance, well befitting an eminent prelate addressing a great earthly Sovereign.

AMBROSE, BISHOP, TO HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS.

1. VERY pleasant to me is the remembrance of your long friendship, and I also bear a grateful sense of those benefits which at my frequent intreaties you have most graciously extended to others. You may be sure then that it could not be from any ungrateful feeling that on your arrival, which I was wont to long for so ardently, I shunned your presence. The motives of my conduct I will now briefly explain.

2. I found that I alone in all your court was denied the natural right of hearing, in order to deprive me of the power of speaking too: for you were frequently displeased at decisions having reached me which were made in your Consistory. Thus I have been debarred from the common privilege of men, though the Lord Jesus says,  Nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest. Wherefore I did my utmost to obey with reverence your royal will, and I provided both for you and for myself; for you, that you should have no cause of disturbance, to which end I endeavoured that no intelligence should be brought me of the Imperial decrees; and as to myself, I provided against my not seeming to hear, when present, from fear of others, and thus incurring the charge of connivance, and also against hearing in such manner that while rny ears were open my mouth must be closed, and I must not utter what I heard, lest I should injure those who had fallen under suspicion of treachery.

3. What then was I to do? was I not to listen? But I could not close my ears with the wax of the old tales. Must I disclose what I heard? But then I had reason to fear that the same result which I apprehended from your commands would ensue from my own words; that they might become the cause of bloodshed. Was I then to be silent? But this would be the most miserable of all, for my conscience would be bound, my liberty of speech taken away. And what then of the text,  if the priest warn not the wicked from his wicked way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but the priest shall be liable to punishment, because he did not warn him?

4. Suffer me, gracious Emperor. You have a zeal for the faith, I own it, you have the fear of God, I confess it: but you have a vehemence of temper, which if soothed may readily be changed into compassion, but if inflamed becomes so violent that you can scarcely restrain it. If no one will allay it, let no one at least inflame it. To yourself I would willingly trust, for you are wont to exercise self-control, and by your love of mercy to conquer this violence of your nature.

5. This vehemence of yours I have preferred secretly to commend to your consideration, rather than run the risk of rousing it publicly by my acts, And so I have preferred to be lacking somewhat in duty rather than in humility, and that others should complain of my want of priestly authority, rather than that you should find any want of respect in me, who am so devoted to you; and this in order that you may restrain your emotions, and have full power of choosing what counsel to follow. I alleged as my reason, bodily sickness, which was in fact severe, and not to be mitigated but by more gentle treatment; still I would rather have died than not have waited two or three days for your arrival. But I could not do so.

6. An act has been committed in the city of Thessalonica, the like of which is not recorded, the perpetration of which I could not prevent, which in my frequent petitions before the court I had declared to be most atrocious, and which by your tardy revocation you have yourself pronounced to be very heinous: such an act as this I could not extenuate. Intelligence of it was first brought to a synod held on the arrival of the Galilean Bishops: all present deplored it, no one viewed it leniently; your friendship with Ambrose, so far from excusing your deed, would have even brought a heavier weight of odium on my head, had there been no one found to declare the necessity of your being reconciled to God.

7. Is your Majesty ashamed to do that which the Royal Prophet David did, the forefather of Christ according to the flesh? It was told him that a rich man, who had numerous flocks, on the arrival of a guest took a poor man's lamb and killed it, and recognizing in this act his own condemnation, he said,  I   have sinned against the Lord. Let not your Majesty then be impatient at being told, as David was by the prophet,  Thou art the man. For if you listen thereto obediently and say,  I   have sinned against the Lord, if you will use those words of the royal Prophet,  O come let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker, to you also it shall be said, Because thou repentest,  the Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. 

8. Another time, when David had commanded the people to be numbered, his heart smote him, and he said unto the Lord,  I   have sinned greatly in that 1 have done, and now, I   beseech thee O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. And Nathan the prophet was sent again to him, to offer him three things, to choose one of them, which he would; seven years famine in the land, or to flee three months before his enemies, or three days pestilence in the land.  And David said, I am in a great strait, let us now fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.  His fault lay in wishing to know the number of all the people which were with him, a knowledge which ought to have been reserved for God.

9. And Scripture tells us that when the people were dying, on the very first day and at dinner time, David saw the Angel that smote the people, he said,  Lo, I have sinned and done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let Thine hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father's house.  So the Lord repented, and commanded the Angel to spare the people, and that David should offer sacrifice: for there were then sacrifices for sin, but we have now the sacrifices of penitence. So by that humility he was made more acceptable to God, for it is not wonderful that man should sin, but it is indeed blameable if he do not acknowledge his error, and humble himself before God.

10. Holy Job, himself also powerful in this world, saith,  I covered not my sin, but declared it before all the people. And to the cruel king Saul Jonathan his son said,  Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; and  Wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause? For although he was a king he still would have sinned in slaying the innocent. Again when David was possessed of the kingdom, and heard that innocent Abner had been slain by Joab the Captain of his host, he said,  I   and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord for ever from the blood af Abner the son of Ner, and he fasted for sorrow.

11. This I have written, not to confound you, but that these royal examples may induce you to put away this sin from your kingdom; for this you will do by humbling your soul before God. You are a man; temptation has fallen upon you; vanquish it. Sin is not washed away but by tears and penitence. Neither Angel nor Archangel can do it. The Lord Himself, Who alone can say  I   am with you ; even He grants no remission of sin save to the penitent.

12. I advise, I entreat, I exhort, I admonish; for I am grieved that you who were an example of singular piety, who stood so high for clemency, who would not suffer even single offenders to be put in jeopardy, should not mourn over the death of so many innocent persons. Successful as you have been in battle, and great in other respects, yet mercy was ever the crown of your actions. The devil has envied you your chief excellence: overcome him, while you still have the means. Add not sin to sin by acting in a manner which has injured so many.

13. For my part, debtor as I am to your clemency in all other things; grateful as I must ever be for this clemency, which I have found superior to that of many Emperors and equalled only by one, though I have no ground for charging you with contumacy, I have still reason for apprehension: if you purpose being present, I dare not offer the Sacrifice. That which may not be done when the blood of one innocent person has been shed, may it be done where many have been slain? I trow not.

14. Lastly, I will write with my own hand what I wish should be read by yourself only. As I hope for deliverance from all tribulation from the Lord, it has not been from man, nor by man's agency that this has been forbidden me, but by His own manifest interposition. For in the midst of my anxiety, on the very night whereon I was about to set out, I saw you in a vision coming into the Church, but I was withheld from offering Sacrifice. Other things I pass over, which I might have avoided, but I bore them for your sake, I believe. May the Lord cause all things to turn out peacefully. Our God gives us divers admonitions, by heavenly signs, by prophetic warnings; and by visions vouchsafed even to sinners, He would have us understand that we ought to beseech Him to remove from us commotions, that He would bestow peace on you, our rulers, that the Church, for whose benefit it is that  we should have pious and Christian Emperors, may be kept in faith and tranquillity.

15. Doubtless you wish to be approved by God.  To every thing there is a season, as it is written;  It is time for Thee Lord, saith the prophet,  to lay to Thine hand, and, It is an acceptable time to God. You shall make your oblation when you have received permission to sacrifice, when your offering will be pleasing to God. Would it not be a delight to me to enjoy your Majesty's favour, and act in accordance with your will, if the case permitted it? Prayer by itself is a sacrifice; it obtains pardon while the oblation would be rejected, for the former is evidence of humility, the latter of contempt: for God Himself tells us that He prefers the performance of His commandments to sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses announces it to the people, Paul preaches it to them. Do that which you understand is for the time better. I  will have mercy, it is said,  and not sacrifice. Are not those therefore rather to be called Christians who condemn their own sin than those who think to excuse it?  The just accuses himself in the beginning of his words. He who, having sinned, accuses himself, not he who praises himself, is just.

16. I would that previously to this I had trusted rather to myself than to your accustomed habits. Remembering that you quickly pardon, and revoke your sentence, as you have often done, you have been anticipated, and I have not shunned that which I had no need to fear. But thanks to the Lord, Who chastises His servants, that they may not be lost. This I share with the prophets, and you shall share it with the saints.

17. Shall not I value the father of Gratian at more than my own eyes? Your other sacred pledges too claim pardon for you. On those whom I regarded with impartial affection I conferred by anticipation a name that is dear to me. You have my love, my affection, my prayers. If you believe my words, I call on you to act according to them; if, I say, you believe, acknowledge it, but if not, excuse my conduct in that I prefer God to my sovereign. May your gracious Majesty, with your holy offspring, enjoy in happiness and prosperity perpetual peace.

EPISTOLA LI.

 Adventum ejus non ingrato affectu se declinare, sed ne tacere cogeretur, aut offensionis causam praeberet. Iracundum esse Theodosium, sed ex se placabilem: ne igitur eum commoveret, valetudinem excusasse. Ingemuisse episcopos caedem Thessalonicensem, proinde in eluenda illa sanctorum imitandam poenitentiam,   1160A  sine qua peccatum non tollitur. Diabolum qui ei inviderit, vincendum. Non audere se, illo praesente, offerre sacrificium, a quo etiam divinitus fuerit deterritus: at ipsam poenitentiam sacrificium esse. Quod factum ejus non praeverterit, dolere se, quippe qui eum vere diligat. 

Augustissimo imperatori THEODOSIO AMBROSIUS episcopus.

1. Et veteris amicitiae dulcis mihi recordatio est, et beneficiorum, quae crebris meis intercessionibus summa gratia in alios contulisti, gratiae memini. Unde colligi potest quod non ingrato aliquo affectu adventum tuum semper mihi antehac exoptatissimum declinare potuerim. Sed qua causa hoc fecerim, breviter expediam.

 1160B 2. Soli mihi in tuo comitatu jus naturae ereptum videbam audiendi, ut et loquendi privarer munere; motus enim frequenter es quod ad me pervenissent aliqua, quae in consistorio tuo statuta forent. Ego ergo expers communis usus sum, cum dicat Dominus Jesus  nihil esse occultum, quod non manifestetur (Luc. VIII, 17). Verecundia igitur, qua potui, satisfeci imperiali arbitrio; et prospexi ne aut ipse causam commotionis habeas, cum id egerim, ne quid ad me de imperialibus deferatur statutis: aut ego cum fuero praesens, aut non audiam per metum omnium, et quasi conniventis famam subibo: aut ita audiam, ut mihi aures pateant, vox intercludatur; ut audita non possim eloqui, ne eos qui in suspicionem proditionis venerint, laedam in periculo.

 1160C 3. Quid igitur facerem? Non audirem? Sed aures non possem cera veterum fabularum claudere. Proderem? Sed quod in tuis jussis timerem, in meis verbis deberem cavere; ne 998 quid cruentum committeretur. Tacerem? Sed quod miserrimum foret omnium, alligaretur conscientia, vox eriperetur. Et ubi illud? Sed si sacerdos non dixerit erranti, is qui erraverit, in sua culpa morietur, et sacerdos reus erit poenae, quia non admonuit errantem (Ezechiel III, 19)?

4. Accipe illud, imperator auguste. Quod habeas fidei studium, non possum negare; quod Dei timorem, non diffiteor: sed habes naturae impetum,  1161A quem si quis lenire velit, cito vertes ad misericordiam: si quis stimulet, in majus exsuscitas, ut eum revocare vix possis. Utinam si nemo mitigat, nullus accendat! Libenter eum committo tibi: ipse te revocas, et pietatis studio vincis impetum naturae.

5. Hunc ego impetum malui cogitationibus tuis secreto committere, quam meis factis publice fortassis movere. Itaque malui officio meo aliquid deesse, quam humilitati: et requiri in me ab aliis sacerdotis auctoritatem, quam a te desiderari in me amantissime honorificentiam; ut represso impetu, integra esset consilii eligendi facultas. Praetendi aegritudinem corporis re vera gravem, et nisi a viris mitioribus vix levandam: vel emori tamen maluissem, quam adventum tuum biduo, aut triduo non  1161B exspectarem. Sed quid facerem, non erat.

6. Factum est in urbe Thessalonicensium quod nulla memoria habet, quod revocare non potui, ne fieret; immo quod ante atrocissimum fore dixi, cum toties rogarem: et quod ipse sero revocando grave factum putasti, hoc factum extenuare non poteram. Quando primum auditum est, propter adventum Gallorum episcoporum Synodus convenerat; nemo non ingemuit, nullus mediocriter accepit: non erat facti tui absolutio in Ambrosii communione, in me etiam amplius commissi exaggeraretur invidia, si nemo diceret Dei nostri reconciliationem fore necessariam.

7. An pudet te, Imperator, hoc facere quod rex propheta, auctor Christi secundum carnem prosapiae  1161C fecit David? Illi dictum est, quia dives qui haberet plurimos greges, unam pauperis ovem propter adventum hospitis eripuit et occidit; et cognito quod in hoc ipse argueretur, quia ipse fecisset, ait:  Peccavi Domino (II Reg. XII, 13). Noli ergo impatienter ferre, Imperator, si dicatur tibi: Tu fecisti istud, quod David regi dictum est a propheta. Si enim hoc sedulo audieris, et dixeris:  Peccavi Domino; si dixeris regale istud propheticum:  Venite adoremus, 999  et procidamus ante eum; et ploremus ante Dominum nostrum, qui fecit nos (Psal. XCIV, 6); dicetur et tibi: Quoniam poenitet te, dimittit tibi Dominus peccatum tuum, et non morieris (II Reg. XII, 13).

8. Iterum cum plebem numerari jussisset David, percussus est corde, et dixit ad Dominum:  Peccavi  1161D  vehementer, quod fecerim hoc verbum, et nunc, Domine, aufer iniquitatem servi tui, quod deliqui vehementer (II Reg. XXIV, 10). Et missus est iterum ad eum Nathan propheta, qui ei trium optionem conditionum offerret, ut quam vellet, eligeret: famem  1162A tribus annis in terra, aut tribus mensibus fugere a facie inimicorum suorum, aut triduo mortem in terra. Et respondit David:  Angustiae sunt tria haec vehementer; verumtamen incidam in manu Domini; quoniam multae misericordiae ejus nimis: et in manus hominis non incidam  (Ibid., 14). Culpa autem erat, quoniam voluit scire numerum totius plebis, quae secum erat: quod scire Deo soli debuit reservare.

9. Et cum, inquit, mors fieret in plebe, ipso primo die ad horam prandii cum vidisset David percutientem angelum in plebem, ait David:  Ego peccavi, et ego pastor malignum feci, et hic grex quid fecit? Fiat manus tua in me, et in domum patris mei (Ibid., 17). Itaque poenituit Dominum, et jussit angelo ut parceret plebi, sacrificium autem offerret David; erant  1162B enim tunc sacrificia pro delictis, haec nunc sunt sacrificia poenitentiae. Itaque ea humilitate acceptior Deo factus est: non enim mirandum peccare hominem: sed illud reprehensibile, si non se cognoscat errasse, non humiliet Deo.

10. Job sanctus et ipse potens in saeculo, ait:  Peccatum meum non abscondi, sed coram plebe omni annuntiavi (Job. XXXI, 33). Ipsi immani regi Saul dixit Jonathas filius suus:  Noli peccare in servum tuum David (I Reg. XIX, 4): et:  Ut quid peccas in sanguinem innocentem occidere David sine causa (Ibid., 5)? Quia etsi rex erat, peccabat tamen, si occideret innocentem. Denique etiam David cum jam regno potiretur, et audisset Abner innocentem occisum a Joab duce militiae suae, ait:  Innocens sum ego et  1162C  regnum meum amodo et usque in aeternum a sanguine Abner filii Ner (II Reg. III, 28); et jejunavit in dolore.

11. Haec ideo scripsi, non ut te confundam, sed ut regum exempla provocent, ut tollas hoc peccatum de regno tuo: tolles autem humiliando Deo animam tuam. Homo es, et tibi venit tentatio, vince eam. Peccatum non tollitur nisi lacrymis et poenitentia. Nec angelus potest, nec archangelus; Dominus ipse, qui solus potest dicere:  Ego vobiscum sum (Matth. XXVIII, 20); si peccaverimus, nisi poenitentiam deferentibus non relaxat.

12. Suadeo, rogo, hortor, admoneo; quia dolori est mihi, ut tu qui pietatis inauditae exemplum eras, qui apicem clementiae tenebas, qui singulos nocentes non patiebaris periclitari, 1000 tot periisse non  1162D doleas innocentes. Etsi in praeliis felicissime egeris, etsi in aliis quoque laudabilis; tamen apex tuorum operum pietas semper fuit. Id tibi invidit diabolus, quod habebas praestantissimum. Vince eum, dum habes adhuc unde possis vincere. Noli peccato tuo aliud  1163A peccatum addere; ut usurpes, quod usurpasse multis officit.

13. Ego certe in omnibus aliis licet debitor pietati tuae, cui ingratus esse non possum, quam pietatem multis imperatoribus praeferebam, uni adaequabam: ego, inquam, causam in te contumaciae nullam habeo, sed habeo timoris: offerre non audeo sacrificium, si volueris assistere. An quod in unius innocentis sanguine non licet, in multorum licet? Non puto.

14. Postremo scribo manu mea, quod solus legas. Ita me Dominus ab omnibus tribulationibus liberet; quia non ab homine, neque per hominem, sed aperte mihi interdictum adverti. Cum enim essem sollicitus, ipsa nocte qua proficisci parabam, venisse  1163B quidem visus es ad Ecclesiam; sed mihi sacrificium offerre non licuit. Alia praetereo, ut potui cavere: sed pertuli amore tuo, ut arbitror. Dominus faciat ut omnia cum tranquillitate cedant. Multifarie Deus noster admonet, signis coelestibus, prophetarum praeceptis: visionibus etiam peccatorum vult nos intelligere; quo rogemus eum, ut perturbationes auferat, pacem vobis imperantibus servet, fides Ecclesiae et tranquillitas perseveret, cui prodest christianos et pios esse imperatores.

15. Certe vis probari Deo. Omnis rei tempus, ut scriptum est:  Tempus, inquit,  faciendi, Domine (Eccles. III, 1); et:  Tempus beneplaciti Deus (Psal. CXVIII, 126). Tunc offeres, cum sacrificandi acceperis facultatem, quando hostia tua accepta sit Deo.  1163C Nonne me delectaret habere gratiam imperatoris, ut secundum voluntatem tuam agerem, si causa pateretur? Et simplex oratio sacrificium est: haec veniam refert, illa offensionem; quia haec habet humilitatem,  1164A illa contemptum: Dei enim vox est, quod malit ut fiat mandatum ejus, quam deferatur sacrificium. Clamat istud Deus, ad populum Moyses annuntiat, ad populos Paulus praedicat. Id facito quod intelligis in tempore plus facere.  Misericordiam, inquit,  malo quam sacrificium (Matth. IX, 13). Quare non illi magis sint Christiani, qui peccatum condemnant suum, quam qui defendere putant?  Justus enim  in exordio sermonis accusator est sui (Prov. XVIII, 17). Qui se accusat cum peccaverit, justus est, non ille qui se laudaverit.

16. Utinam, Imperator, etiam ante mihi potius credidissem, quam consuetudini tuae. Cum puto quod cito ignoscis, cito revocas, ut saepe fecisti; et tu praeventus es, et ego non declinavi, quod cavere  1164B non debueram. Sed gratias Domino, qui vult servulos suos castigare, ne 1001 perdat. Istud mihi commune est cum prophetis, et tibi erit commune cum sanctis.

17. An ego Gratiani patrem non oculis meis praeferam? Debent veniam sancta alia pignora tua. Dulce mihi nomen antetuli, quibus amorem communiter detuli. Amo, diligo, orationibus prosequor. Si credis, sequere; si, inquam, credis, agnosce quod dico: si non credis, ignosce quod facio, in quo Deum praefero. Beatissimus et florentissimus cum sanctis pignoribus fruaris tranquillitate perpetua, Imperator auguste.