LETTER LXXXIII. 

In this letter S. Ambrose praises Sisinnius for forgiving his son, who had married without his leave, and eompares him with some of the Saints of the Old Testament, and with the father in the parable of the prodigal son.

AMBROSE TO SISINNIUS.

1. Your forgiving our son at my request for having married a wife without your knowledge I attribute to your natural affection rather than to your regard for me; for it is better that natural affection should have gained this from you than any one's request. Assuredly it is in the triumph of virtue that the priest's petition has its chief success, for he then obtains most when virtue is powerful, his petition must always coincide with the dictates of natural affection. And nature and your son obtained the more fully their request, in that the consideration of requests is usually a brief matter, whereas the habit of virtue is lasting and natural affection permanent.

2. It was indeed worthily done to recognize yourself to be a father, particularly since your cause for indignation was a just one; for I prefer to admit the fault, so that your fatherly indulgence may gain higher praise; for it was as a father that you were offended; since you had a claim to exercise the choice of your judgment as to one to whom you were to become a father, and who was to be to you in the place of a daughter. For we obtain children either by nature or adoption; in nature it is a matter of chance; in adoption, of judgment; and we are more liable to blame in the case of our adopted than of our natural offspring; because it is ascribed to nature if our children by birth should happen to be degenerate, but that those who become ours by adoption or other such tie should prove unworthy of it is ascribed to our own mistake. You had therefore cause of displeasure against your son in this his choice of a wife to himself; you have also reason for forgiving him. For you have obtained a daughter for yourself without the danger of making a selection for yourself; if he has married well, he has obtained for you this advantage; if he has been deceived, you will make them better by receiving them into favour, but worse by disowning them.

3. It is with riper judgment that a father chooses a bride for his son, but when she is brought by the son to his father, when she enters her father-in-law's roof as the chosen of her husband, their purpose of obedience is stronger, the son fearing lest his election should be disapproved, the daughter-in-law that her attentions may not be acceptable. While the distinction of the paternal choice elevates the one, the other is humbled by the fear of giving offence and bowed down by modesty. The son will not be able to throw blame on the wife, as if he himself were not answerable for any of those causes of offence which are wont to occur; on the contrary he will strive more diligently to obtain approbation of his judgment in regard of his wife, of his obedience in regard of himself.

4. You have therefore acted the part of a good parent and pardoned readily, but still upon supplication; before this was made, you would have been not pardoning but sanctioning. When this was done, to defer pardon any longer would have been unprofitable to them and very painful to yourself, for your paternal affection could no longer have held out.

5. Determined by motives of high devotion, Abraham, obeying the oracle of God, offered his son for a whole burnt sacrifice; and, as if destitute of natural affection, drew his sword, that no delay might obscure the brightness of the offering. But when he was commanded to spare his son he willingly sheathed his sword, and he who with this faithful intention was hastening to offer up his only son with still more zealous piety hastened to substitute a ram as a sacrifice.

7. Joseph also, in order to get his younger brother to him, feigned anger against his brethren on the plea, that they had concerted an act of fraud. But when Judah, one of his brethren, fell at his feet, while the others wept, he was moved and overcome by fraternal affection and was no longer able to maintain his assumed severity, but sending away all witnesses he told them they were his brethren, and he that very Joseph whom they had sold. He added that he remembered not his own wrong, making brotherly excuses for the malice of their betrayal of him, and referring what was so blameworthy to higher and deeper causes; forasmuch as by the providence of God it must needs so have been, to the end that by passing over into Egypt he might supply his kindred's need of provisions from another country, and in the time of dearth assist in supporting his father and his father's sons.

8. And what shall I say of holy David, who at the petition of one woman suffered his mind to be softened, and with paternal compassion received into his house his degenerate son, stained with his brother's blood?

9. So that father in the Gospel, when the younger son had spent all the substance he had received from his father by riotous living, yet when he returned confessing that he had sinned against him, moved by the humility of a single sentence, gave him an affectionate greeting, fell upon his neck, commanded the best robe and a ring and shoes to be brought forth, and having thus honoured him with a kiss, and loaded him with gifts, entertained him with a sumptuous banquet.

10. You have become an imitator of these by that parental affection whereby we approach nearest to the Divine likeness, and therefore I have exhorted our daughter that, though it he winter, she should undertake the toil of the journey, for that she will pass the winter more commodiously not only in the mansion, hut also in the bosom of her father, now that wrath has given place to pardon. Moreover, that you may fully assimilate yourself to the likeness and pattern of the saints, you have accused those who by concocted falsehoods endeavoured to excite your mind against your son.

Farewell; love me, for I also love you.

EPISTOLA LXXXIII.

SISINNIUM  propter veniam filio, qui se inconsulto uxorem duxerat, datam commendat; et commodis quibusdam quae ille ex eo relaturus erat, memoratis, eumdem hac ignoscendi facilitate sanctorum vestigiis institisse   1279C   ostendit. 

AMBROSIUS SISINNIO.

1. Quod filio nostro remisisti meo rogatu, quia te  1280A inconsulto, uxorem acceperat, pietati magis tribuo, quam nostro amori; plus est enim pietatem ipsam de te impetravisse, quam cujusque petitionem. Certe sacerdos tunc magis impetrat, cum virtus praevalet; sacerdotis enim petitio doctrina pietatis est. Impetravit igitur natura, impetravit filius eo plenius, quia postulati contemplatio temporalis solet esse: virtutis autem diuturnus habitus, et jugis animorum inductio.

2. Pulchre itaque gestum, ut te patrem recognosceres: simul quia justa indignatio fuit; malo enim culpam fateri, ut plus laudetur paterna indulgentia: sed et ipsa paterna offensio fuit, quoniam venturam in locum filiae tuo debuisti eligere judicio, cui fieres pater. Namque aut natura filios suscipimus,  1280B aut electione; in natura casus est, in electione judicium: magisque in adoptatis offendimus, quam in genitalibus filiis; quia genitales filios esse degeneres, ad naturam refertur; adscitos vel adoptione vel copula dedecores esse nostro errori ascribitur. Fuit ergo quod succenseres filio, sed fuit 1104 etiam quod remitteres; quia sibi uxorem elegit. Acquisisti filiam sine electionis periculo. Si bonam duxit, tibi acquisivit gratiam: si erravit, recipiendo meliores facies, refutando deteriores.

3. Maturiore quidem consilio puella filio a patre traditur: sed majore obsequii proposito a filio ad patrem ducitur, et a viro lecta ingreditur soceri domum; dum metuit et filius displicere judicium suum, et nurus ministerium. Illam paternae electionis praerogativa  1280C attollit atque erigit; istam offensionis humiliat metus, inclinat verecundia. Non habebit filius, quod in uxorem referat, quasi exsors culpae, si quid  1281A fortasse offensum sit, quod habet usus; immo amplius elaborabit, ut in utroque suum possit probari, et in uxore judicium, et in se obsequium.

4. Fecisti igitur quod boni parentes, ut cito ignosceres, sed obsecratus; nam antequam rogareris, non erat ignoscere, sed factum probare. Deinde diutius differre veniam, et tibi acerbum, et illis inutile; neque enim paterna viscera diutius tolerare possent.

5  et 6. Summae devotionis proposito Abraham filium suum secundum oraculum Dei offerebat in holocaustum; et quasi exsors naturae, exerebat gladium, ne mora sacrificium decoloraret; tamen ubi abstinere a filio jussus est, gladium libenter recondit: et qui immolare unigenitum, fidei intentione properabat,  1281B majore pietatis studio festinavit ovem subrogare sacrificio (Gen. XXII, 6 et seq.).

7. Joseph quoque (Gen. XLIV, 15 et seq.), ut fratrem juniorem teneret, simulabat iracundiam fratribus, et compositam furti fraudem; indignatus tamen, cum advolveretur ad genua ejus unus ex fratribus Judas, flerent alii, fraterno victus et compassus affectu, diutius tenere non potuit simulationem severitatis: remotisque arbitris, aperuit fratribus quod germani sui essent, et ipse esset Joseph, quem vendidissent: nec se memorem suae esse injuriae, et fraternae venditionis acerbitatem fraterne excusare, atque id quod posset arguere, ad altiores causas referre; eo quod ita oportuisset fieri, procurante Deo; ut 1105 transiret in Aegyptum, qui gentem  1281C suam frugis externae egentem pasceret, ut sterilitatis tempore alendis patri et filiis subsidio foret.

8. Quid autem de sancto David loquar, qui degenerem filium, et fraterno oblitum sanguine, ad unius mulieris petitionem paternis visceribus mentem emollitus domo recepit (II Reg. XIV, 12)?

9. Ipse ille Evangelicus pater adolescentiorem filium, qui prodegerat omnem substantiam a patre acceptam vivendo luxuriose, regredientem tamen unius sermonis inflexus humilitate, quod in patrem peccasse se fatebatur, occursu pio fovit, supra collum ejus cecidit, primam illi stolam, annulum et calceamenta deferri jussit; atque honoratum osculo, donatum munere, admirabili suscepit convivio (Luc. XV, 22).

 1281D 10. Horum te imitatorem praebuisti pietate patria, qua proxime ad Deum accedimus; et ideo ego prompte filiam nostram adhortatus sum, ut etiam hiemali tempore viae laborem exciperet, commodius  1282A hibernatura non solum in hospitio, sed etiam in affectu paterno, cum jam successerit indignationi gratia: quandoquidem ut plene te ad similitudinem atque imitationem sanctorum referres, eos accusavisti, qui compositis mendaciis animum tuum adversum filios excitandum arbitrati sunt. Vale, et nos dilige; quia nos te diligimus.