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except for the shameful deeds in the heresies. For he himself seemed to have undertaken an ascetic life, as has been previously shown by me above; wherefore some say that his breastplate had fallen from excessive discipline, both fasting and abstinence from animate beings. Come now, then, let us set forth his very own words from the first psalm, along with the theories in it, and what he dogmatized, in his own words, so that some may not say that the things said by us against him have been slandered. And not that he fell away from the truth absolutely only in the first psalm, but, as I have often said, also in every exegesis. But because of the bulk of his work, having collected here from the aforementioned psalm, from one or two or three words let us reveal the whole of his 2.415 wickedness concerning the faith and take care to speak necessarily against them. And immediately the passage of each word is thus, so that you may know, O beauty-loving hearer, that he most manifestly dogmatized that the Son of God is a creature, and from his audacity concerning the Son you may know that he introduced the Holy Spirit as a creature of a creature. Therefore, let us from the beginning take up the psalm, up to the word itself, as Origen himself said: Beginning of Origen's on the 1st Psalm. 6. The divine words say that the divine scriptures are locked and sealed with the “key of David,” and perhaps also with a seal, about which it is said, “the impression of a seal, a holy thing to the Lord,” that is, by the power of God who gave them, which is signified by the seal. Concerning, then, their being locked and sealed, John teaches in the Apocalypse, saying, “and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one will open. I know your works. Behold, I have given before you an opened door, which no one is able to shut.” And after a little, “And I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw another strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?’ And no one was able in heaven nor on the earth nor under the earth to open the book, nor to look at it. And I wept, because no one was found worthy to open the book nor to look at it. And one of the elders says to me, ‘Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and its seven 2.416 seals.’” And concerning its being sealed only, Isaiah thus says: “And all these words will be to you as the words of this sealed book, which if they give to a man who knows letters, saying, ‘Read this,’ he will say, ‘I cannot read it, for it is sealed.’ And this book will be given into the hands of a man who does not know letters, and he will say to him, ‘Read this.’ And he will say, ‘I do not know letters.’” For these things must be considered to be said not only about the Apocalypse of John and about Isaiah, but also about all divine scripture, which is admittedly filled, even by those who are moderately able to understand divine words, with enigmas and parables, and dark sayings and other various kinds of obscurity, which are difficult for human nature to grasp. Which the Savior, wishing to teach, also says, as the key was with the scribes and Pharisees who were not striving to find the way to open it: “Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you do not let those who are entering go in.” 7. These things have been said by us in the proem, as we are compelled by your great love of learning and entreated by your goodness and your modesty, holy Ambrose, to descend into a very great and admittedly overwhelming contest for us and our condition. And that for a long time I was holding back, because of knowing the danger not only of speaking about the holy things, but much more of

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πλὴν τῶν ἐν ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν αἰσχρουργιῶν. ἔδοξε γὰρ αὐτὸς καὶ ἀσκητικὸν βίον ἐπανῃρῆσθαι, ὡς καὶ ἄνω μοι προδεδήλωται· διὸ καὶ τὸν θώρακα αὐτοῦ φασί τινες ἀπὸ ὑπερβολῆς πολιτείας, ἀσιτίας τε καὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων πεπτωκέναι. φέρε δὴ οὖν αὐτὰς τὰς αὐτοῦ λέξεις παραθησόμεθα ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου ψαλμοῦ μετὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ θεωριῶν, καὶ ὧν ἐδογμάτισεν, αὐτοῖς τοῖς λόγοις, ἵνα μή τινες εἴπωσι τὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ ὑφ' ἡμῶν λεγόμενα σεσυκοφαντῆσθαι. καὶ οὐχ ὅτι πάντως μόνον ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ ἐξέπεσε τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλὰ ὡς πολλάκις εἶπον, καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῃ ἐξηγήσει. διὰ δὲ τὸν ὄγκον τῆς αὐτοῦ πραγματείας ἀπὸ τοῦ προειρημένου ψαλμοῦ συλλέξαντες ἐνταυθοῖ, ἀπὸ τῆς μιᾶς ἢ δύο ἢ τριῶν λέξεων τὸ πᾶν τῆς 2.415 περὶ τὴν πίστιν μοχθηρίας αὐτοῦ ἀποκαλύψωμεν κατ' αὐτῶν τε εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαίως ἐπιμελησώμεθα. καὶ ἔστιν εὐθὺς ἑκάστης λέξεως τὸ ἐδάφιον οὕτως, ὅπως γνῴης, ὦ φιλόκαλε ἀκροατά, ὅτι φανερώτατα τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ κτίσμα ἐδογμάτισε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τόλμης γνῷς ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον κτίσμα κτίσματος εἰσηγήσατο. ἀπ' ἀρχῆς οὖν ἀναλέξωμεν τὸν ψαλμόν, ἕως αὐτῆς τῆς λέξεως, ὡς αὐτὸς Ὠριγένης ἔφη· Τῶν Ὠριγένους εἰς τὸν ˉα ψαλμὸν ἀρχή. 6. Κεκλεῖσθαι καὶ ἐσφραγίσθαι τὰς θείας γραφὰς οἱ θεῖοί φασι λόγοι τῇ «κλειδὶ τοῦ ∆αυίδ», τάχα δὲ καὶ σφραγῖδι, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται τό «ἐκτύπωμα σφραγῖδος, ἁγίασμα κυρίῳ», τουτέστι τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ δεδωκότος αὐτὰς θεοῦ τῇ ἀπὸ τῆς σφραγῖδος δηλουμένῃ. περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ κεκλεῖσθαι καὶ ἐσφραγίσθαι ὁ Ἰωάννης ἀναδιδάσκει ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει λέγων «καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Φιλαδελφίᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· τάδε λέγει ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ ἀληθινός, ὁ ἔχων τὴν κλεῖν τοῦ ∆αυίδ, ὁ ἀνοίγων καὶ οὐδεὶς κλείσει καὶ κλείων καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀνοίξει· οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα· ἰδού, δέδωκα θύραν ἐνώπιόν σου ἀνεῳγμένην, ἣν οὐδεὶς δύναται κλεῖσαι αὐτήν». καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα «καὶ εἶδον ἐπὶ τὴν δεξιὰν τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον βιβλίον γεγραμμένον ἔσωθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν, κατεσφραγισμένον σφραγῖσιν ἑπτά. καὶ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον ἰσχυρὸν κηρύσσοντα ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· τίς ἄξιος ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ λῦσαι τὰς σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ; καὶ οὐδεὶς ἠδύνατο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ οὔτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὔτε ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον οὔτε βλέπειν αὐτό. καὶ ἔκλαιον, ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἄξιος εὑρέθη ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον οὔτε βλέπειν αὐτό. καὶ εἷς ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων λέγει μοι· μὴ κλαῖε, ἰδού, ἐνίκησεν ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἡ ῥίζα ∆αυίδ, ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σφρα2.416 γῖδας αὐτοῦ». περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἐσφραγίσθαι μόνον ὁ Ἠσαΐας οὕτως «καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν τὰ ῥήματα πάντα ταῦτα ὡς οἱ λόγοι τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου τοῦ ἐσφραγισμένου, ὃ ἐὰν δῶσιν αὐτὸ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐπισταμένῳ γράμματα, λέγοντες· ἀνάγνωθι ταῦτα, καὶ ἐρεῖ· οὐ δύναμαι ἀναγνῶναι, ἐσφράγισται γάρ. καὶ δοθήσεται τὸ βιβλίον τοῦτο εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπου μὴ ἐπισταμένου γράμματα, καὶ ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ· ἀνάγνωθι τοῦτο. καὶ ἐρεῖ· οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι γράμματα». ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ μόνον περὶ τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰωάννου καὶ τοῦ Ἠσαΐου νομιστέον λέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ πάσης θείας γραφῆς, ὁμολογουμένως κἂν παρὰ τοῖς μετρίως ἐπαΐειν λόγων θείων δυναμένοις πεπληρωμένης αἰνιγμάτων καὶ παραβολῶν, σκοτεινῶν τε λόγων καὶ ἄλλων ποικίλων εἰδῶν ἀσαφείας, δυσλήπτων τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει. ὅπερ διδάξαι βουλόμενος καὶ ὁ σωτήρ φησιν, ὡς τῆς κλειδὸς οὔσης παρὰ τοῖς γραμματεῦσι καὶ Φαρισαίοις οὐκ ἀγωνιζομένοις τὴν ὁδὸν εὑρεῖν τοῦ ἀνοῖξαι, τό «οὐαὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς νομικοῖς, ὅτι ἤρατε τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς γνώσεως· αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσήλθετε, καὶ τοὺς εἰσερχομένους οὐκ ἀφίετε εἰσελθεῖν». 7. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῖν ἐν προοιμίῳ λέλεκται, εἰς μέγιστον ἀγῶνα καὶ ὁμολογουμένως ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν ἕξιν ἡμῶν ἀναγκαζομένοις ὑπὸ τῆς πολλῆς σου φιλομαθείας καὶ δυσωπουμένοις ὑπὸ τῆς χρηστότητός σου καὶ τῆς μετριότητος, ἱερὲ Ἀμβρόσιε, κατελθεῖν. καὶ ὅτι γε ἐπὶ πολὺ ἀναδυόμενόν με, διὰ τὸ εἰδέναι τὸν κίνδυνον οὐ μόνον τοῦ λέγειν περὶ τῶν ἁγίων, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλέον τοῦ