Letter to an unknown person (Fabianus of Rome) "The holy Ambrose, genuinely dedicated to God, greets you warmly; who, thinking me to be industrious and to thirst greatly for the divine word, has put me to the test by his own industry and love for the holy studies; whence he has so surpassed me that I am in danger of giving up in the face of his propositions. For it is not possible to dine unless we are collating, nor after dining is it permitted to take a walk and give rest to the body, but even in those moments we are forced to do literary work and to correct the manuscripts, nor indeed is it permitted for us to sleep the whole night for the care of the body, as our literary work extends far into the evening; and I leave aside mentioning from dawn until the ninth hour, and sometimes the tenth; for all who wish to be industrious dedicate these times to the examination of the divine oracles and to readings.

Epistula ad ignotum (Fabianum Romanum) «Ὁ ἱερὸς καὶ θεῷ γνησίως ἀνακείμενος Ἀμβρόσιος πολλὰ προσαγορεύει σε· ὅστις νομίζων με φιλόπονον εἶναι καὶ πάνυ διψᾶν τοῦ θείου λόγου ἤλεγξε τῇ ἰδίᾳ φιλοπονίᾳ <καὶ> τῷ πρὸς τὰ ἅγια μαθήματα ἔρωτι· ὅθεν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν με παρελήλυθεν, ὥστε κινδυνεύειν ἀπαυδᾶν πρὸς τὰς αὐτοῦ προτάσεις. Οὔτε γὰρ δειπνῆσαι ἔστιν ὅτι μὴ ἀντιβάλλοντα, οὔτε δειπνήσαντα ἔξεστι περιπατῆσαι καὶ διαναπαῦσαι τὸ σωμάτιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἐκείνοις φιλολογεῖν καὶ ἀκριβοῦν τὰ ἀντίγραφα ἀναγκαζόμεθα, οὔτε μὴν ὅλην ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ τοῦ σώματος τὴν νύκτα ἔξεστιν ἡμῖν κοιμᾶσθαι, ἐπὶ πολὺ τῆς ἑσπέρας τῆς φιλολογίας παρατεινούνης· ἐῶ δὲ λέγειν καὶ τὰ ἕωθεν μέχρι τῆς ἐννάτης ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ δεκάτης ὥρας· πάντες γὰρ οἱ θέλοντες φιλοπονεῖν τοὺς καιροὺς τούτους τῇ ἐξετάσει τῶν θείων λογίων καὶ ταῖς ἀναγνώσεσιν ἀνατιθέασι.