Ambrose of Milan, Letters

The Letters of Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, divided into two classes. The first of them contains the ones that can be correctly presented in ch

LETTER LX. [A.D.393.]

IN this Letter S. Ambrose urges Paternus not to break the laws both of God and man by promoting a marriage between his son and his daughter's daughter, who were within the forbidden degrees of relationship, and shews him what confusion would arise from such an union.

AMBROSE TO PATERNUS.

1. I HAVE read your greeting, my like-minded friend Paternus, but the question on which you ask my advice, wishing to marry your son to your grand-daughter by your daughter, is by no means paternal, but unworthy of you both as grand-father and as father. Consider therefore what it is you ask about, for in all that we wish to do, we ought first to investigate the nature of the deed, and then we shall be able to estimate whether it is worthy of praise or blame. For instance, carnal intercourse with women is a pleasure to some, physicians even say it is healthful to the body; but we must consider whether it be with a wife or a stranger, with a married or an unmarried woman. If a man have commerce with one who is espoused and given to him he calls it marriage; he who assails the chastity of one who belongs to another commits adultery, by the very name of which the temerity of the attempt is generally repressed. To slay an enemy is accounted a victory, to slay a criminal is justice, to slay an innocent man murder, and if a man is conscious of this he withholds his hand. Wherefore I beg that you also will consider what it is you propose.

2. You wish to arrange a marriage between our children. But I would ask whether you would have equals or those who are unequal joined together? if I mistake not, they are wont to be called 'pairs 06-12 12. 1 compares. .' He who yokes oxen to the plough, or horses to the chariot, chooses pairs, that both their age and their form may harmonize, that there be no natural difference, nor blemish of diversity. You are proposing to unite your son and your grand-daughter by your daughter, that is, that he should marry his sister's daughter, true though it is that he was born of a different mother from his professed mother in law. Consider what restraint is implied in the very names; he is called her uncle, she is called his niece. Does not the very sound of the names 06-13 13. a The argument here turns on the Latin words. 'Avunculus,' uncle, is a mere diminutive of 'avus,' grandfather; and the one word 'neptis' is used both for niece and granddaughter without any distinction. recal you, when the one has in it the sound of grand-father, and the other refers alike to uncle and to grand-father? How great again is the confusion of the other terms? You will be called both grand-father and father in law, she too will receive the different names of niece and daughter in law. The brother and sister also will exchange different names, she will be the mother in law of her brother, he the son in law of his sister. The niece will marry her uncle, and the affection of these your unstained offspring be exchanged for an irregular love.

3. On this point you tell me that the holy man your Bishop is looking for my sentiments. I cannot think or believe this. For if this were so, he would himself have chosen to write, but by not doing so he has intimated that he considers there is no ground for doubt upon the point. For how can there be any such doubt, when the prohibition of marriage between first cousins extends, according to the Divine law, to those who are related in the fourth degree. But this is the third degree, which even by the civil law seems to be excepted from the fellowship of marriage.

4. But let us first inquire what are the decrees of the Divine law, for you allege in your letters that an union between such persons must be considered as allowed by that Law, in that it is not forbidden. I however assert that it is actually forbidden; for seeing that first cousins are forbidden slighter familiarities, much more must I deem this forbidden which contains within it the bond of a much closer union. For he who affixes censure to lighter offences does not acquit but rather condemn heavier ones.

5. But if you consider it to be permitted because it is not specially forbidden, neither will you find it forbidden by the words of the Law that the father should take his daughter to wife. But is this lawful, merely because it is not forbidden? By no means; it has been interdicted by the law of nature, by that law which is in the hearts of each of us, by the inviolable rule of piety, on the ground of nearness of kin. How many things of this kind will you find which are not forbidden in the law promulgated by Moses, but which are yet forbidden by the voice of nature.

6. There are many things which are lawful, but which are not expedient, for all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient, all things are lawful, but all things edify not. If then the Apostle recalls us even from those things which edify not, how can we imagine that may be done which is not permitted by the oracle of the Law, and which edifies not, because it differs from the rule of piety? Yet those very things in the old Law which were more severe were mitigated by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.

7. What is so usual as a kiss between an uncle and a niece, which he owes to her as a daughter, she to him as a parent? Will you therefore cast suspicion on this kiss of unoffending piety by proposing such a union, will you deprive your beloved offspring of a sacrament so venerable?

8. But if the Divine law pass by you unheeded, at least the laws of Emperors, from whom you have received such ample honours, ought not to have been so disregarded. Now the Emperor Theodosius forbad even cousins by either the fathers' or mothers' side to be united under the name of marriage, and affixed a severe penalty upon any rash union of brothers' children. And yet these are equal as regards each other, but, as they are bound together by the ties of mankind and brotherly union, he would have them owe their birth to piety.

9. But you will say this rule has been relaxed in favour of some. The law however is not prejudiced thereby, for that which is [not] 06-14 14. b The 'not' is inserted according to the suggestion of the Benedictine Editors. There seems a contradiction in terms without it. enacted for general use is only profitable to him in whose favour the relaxation takes place, and so the odium is much less. Now although we read in the Old Testament of one calling his wife his sister, it is unheard of that any man should marry his niece and call her his wife.

10. It is indeed a curious plea which leads you to assert that your grand-daughter is not connected with your son, her uncle, by any close bond, merely because they have no relationship by the father's side ^{12
12. 1 compares.}. As if an uterine brother and sister, born that is, of the same mother but by a different father, would be united together when of a different sex, for as much as they have no relationship by the father's side ¹³, but are only united to each other by the mother's side.

11. You ought therefore to relinquish your intention, which, even were it lawful, would not tend to propagate your family, for your son owes to us grand-children, your dear grand-daughter owes to us great-grand-children.

Farewell to you and all yours.

[Footnotes moved to end and renumbered. Biblical references and running titles omitted.]

06-11. a The Magister officiorum was a sort of Chief Secretary of state, both for home and foreign affairs. A summary of his duties may be, seen in Gibbon ch. xvii, iv, 2. It was the influence which this post gave him over Theodosius which enabled Rufinus to stir the Emperor's passionateness to the crime of Thessalonica.

06-22. a The adjective Portuensis generally refers to the town called Portus, which grew up in the times of the Emperors on the harbour of Ostia. It is probable therefore that the reference is to some work of which the person spoken of had the superintendence.

06-33. a As Lake Larius was sometimes called Lacus Comacinus in the times of the Emperors, (Dict of Geogr. voc. Comum,) it is probable that the 'Comacinae rupes' were some familiar rocks on its margin. The comparison to a bull is simply an adaptation of Virgil's 'Et faciem tauro propior,' Georg. iii. 58.

06-44. a The word 'bonis' must certainly here be inserted in the text, 'uterque alienae magis ordinationis vitiis quam suis bonis fretus,' as suggested by the Benedictine Editors. It occurs just below in tbe corresponding sentence, 'suis potius bonis quam alieno vitio defendi.'

06-55. b He is sometimes spoken of as Bishop of Nairsus in Dacia Mediterranea (see Note in p. 67.) but Tillemont (note 43 in Life of S. Ambrose) has made it probable that there were two Bishops of the name of Bonosus,one of Nairsus, and the other of Sardica, the latter of whom is the one dealt with by the Synod of Capua.

06-66. a He is referring to the 'Memorial of Symmachus.' p. 94. The 'two petitions,' libellos duos, are Letters 17 and 18.

06-77. 2 Macc. iv. 18 sqq.

06-88. b He means that the reason why he declines all communication with Eugenius, who wished to secure his great political influence on his side, was, that he felt sure that Eugenius, though at present temporising with both parties, would in the end yield to the pressure of the pagan party, and restore the revenues to the heathen temples. 'Extorquendum' is, in accordance with late Latin idiom, a mere future passive.

06-99. 1 confusus fuerit.

06-1010. 2 confundar

06-1111. a See Letter xliv. 9, and note e there.

06-1212. 1 compares.

06-1313. a The argument here turns on the Latin words. 'Avunculus,' uncle, is a mere diminutive of 'avus,' grandfather; and the one word 'neptis' is used both for niece and granddaughter without any distinction.

06-1414. b The 'not' is inserted according to the suggestion of the Benedictine Editors. There seems a contradiction in terms without it.

EPISTOLA LX.

PATERNUM filio neptem ex filia uxorem tradere cogitantem a proposito ipsa nominum consideratione deterret. Id legi divinae congruum negat, itemque pietati ac Caesareis constitutionibus: tum solutis quibusdam 1183B objectiunculis, eadem nuptias non expedire confirmat.

AMBROSIUS PATERNO.

1. Paterni quidem unanimi mei salutationem legi, sed consultationem haudquaquam paternam; ut velis filio neptem copulare ex filia: sed nec avo te, nec patre dignam. Itaque quid consulueris, considera; omne enim quod agere volumus, prius nomen facti ejus interrogemus, et tunc utrum laude an vituperatione dignum sit, aestimabimus. Verbi gratia, misceri mulieri quibusdam voluptas est, medicorum etiam pueri corporibus utile ferunt: sed considerandum utrum conjugi, an extraneae; deinde nuptae, an innuptae. Si quis 1018 desponsata sibi et tradita 1183C utatur, conjugium vocat: qui alienae expugnat pudorem, adulterium facit, cujus vel solo nomine reprimitur plerumque tentandi audacia (27, q. 2; c. Quis desponsata). Hostem ferire victoria est, reum aequitas, innocentem homicidium: quod si quis 1184A perspiciat animo, revocat manum. Ergo etiam tu quid consulas, quaeso tecum retractes.

2. Conjugium vis inter filios nostros componere. Quaero utrum pares copulandi, an impares sint? Sed, nisi fallor, compares appellari solent. Boves qui jungit ad aratrum, equos ad currum, pares eligit, et ut aetas conveniat et forma, nec natura discrepet, nec decoloret diversitas. Tu copulare paras filium tuum, et neptem ex filia, hoc est, ut accipiat sororis suae filiam, diversa licet matre quam socrus editus. Interroga nominum religionem: nempe avunculus iste illius, illa hujus neptis vocatur. Nec ipse te revocat sonus nominum; cum hic avum resonet, illa hoc nomen ad avunculum, quod ad avum referat? Quanta deinde etiam reliquorum confusio vocabulorum? 1184B Idem avus et socer vocabere, ea quoque tibi neptis et nurus diverso nomine nuncupabitur. Mutuabuntur etiam fratres diversa vocabula, ut illa socrus fratris sit, iste gener sororis. Nubat avunculo suo neptis, et immaculatorum pignorum charitas illecebroso amore mutetur.

3. Super hoc igitur meam a sancto viro episcopo vestro exspectari sententiam dicis. Non opinor, neque arbitror. Nam si ita esset, et ipse scribendum putasset: non scribendo autem significavit quod nequaquam hinc dubitandum arbitraretur. Quid enim est, quod dubitari queat; cum lex divina etiam patrueles fratres prohibeat convenire in conjugalem copulam, qui sibi quarto sociantur gradu? Hic autem gradus tertius est, qui etiam civili jure a consortio 1184C conjugii exceptus videtur.

4. Sed prius sacrae legis scita interrogemus; praetendis enim in tuis litteris, quod permissum hoc divino jure connubium hujusmodi pignoribus existimetur, eo quod non sit prohibitum. Ego autem et prohibitum 1185A assero; quia cum leviora interdicta sint de patruelibus fratribus, 1019 multo magis hoc quod arctioris est plenum necessitudinis, interdictum arbitror. Qui enim leviora astringit, graviora non solvit, sed alligat.

5. Quod si ideo permissum putas, quia specialiter non est prohibitum; nec illud prohibitum sermone Legis reperies, ne pater filiam suam accipiat uxorem. Numquid ideo licet, quia non est prohibitum? Minime; interdictum est enim naturae jure, interdictum est lege, quae est in cordibus singulorum: interdictum est inviolabili praescriptione pietatis, titulo necessitudinis. Quanta hujusmodi invenies non esse interdicta lege per Moysen edita, et tamen interdicta sunt quadam voce naturae!

1185B 6. Multaque sunt, quae licet facere, sed non expedit; omnia enim licent, sed non expediunt (I Cor. VI, 12): omnia licent, sed non aedificant. Si ergo etiam ab iis nos revocat Apostolus, quae non aedificant; quomodo faciendum putamus, quod et non licet Legis oraculo, et non aedificat, discrepante pietatis ordine? Et tamen illa ipsa vetera, quae fuerant duriora, temperata sunt per Evangelium Domini Jesu: Transierunt vetera, ecce facta sunt nova (II Cor. V, 17).

7. Quid tam solemne quam osculum inter avunculum et neptem, quod iste quasi filiae debet, haec quasi parenti? Hoc igitur inoffensae pietatis osculum suspectum facies de talibus cogitando nuptiis, et religiosissimum sacramentum caris pignoribus eripies.

1185C 8. Sed si divina et praetereunt, saltem imperatorum praecepta, a quibus amplissimum accepisti honorem, haudquaquam praeterire te debuerunt. Nam Theodosius imperator etiam patrueles fratres et consobrinos vetuit inter se conjugii convenire nomine, et severissimam poenam statuit, si quis temerare ausus esset fratrum pia pignora; et tamen illi invicem sibi aequales sunt: tantummodo quia propinquitatis necessitudine et fraternae societatis ligantur vinculo, pietati eos voluit debere, quod nati sunt.

1186A 9. Sed dicis alicui relaxatum. Verum hoc legi non praejudicat; quod enim in commune statuitur, ei tantum proficit, cui relaxatum videtur, longe diversa invidia. Illud tamen licet in veteri Testamento legimus, ut aliquis uxorem suam sororem diceret; istud inauditum, ut quisquam neptem suam in uxorem accipiat, et conjugem dicat.

1020 10. Jam illud pulcherrimum, quod negasti neptem tuam avunculo suo tuo filio propinquo semini convenire; quia non agnationis copuletur necessitudine. Quasi vero et uterini fratres, id est, diverso patre, sed eadem matre geniti, possint diverso sexu inter se in conjugium convenire; cum et ipsi agnationis jus habere non queant, sed cognationis tantum sibi titulo connexi sint.

1186B 11. Unde oportet ab ea discedas intentione, quae etiamsi liceret, tamen tuam familiam non propagaret: debet enim tibi filius noster nepotes, debet etiam neptis charissima pronepotes. Vale cum tuis omnibus.