The Society for Ancient Languages
Week Four
AMBROSE OF MILAN TO THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS |
LETTER XL (DECEMBER 388) |
CLEMENTISSIMO PRINCIPI, AC BEATISSIMO IMPERATORI THEODOSIO AUGUSTO AMBROSIUS EPISCOPUS |
TO THE MOST CLEMENT AND BLESSED EMPEROR THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS, AMBROSE, BISHOP |
| Exercitus semper jugibus fere curis sum, imperator beatissime: sed numquam tanto in aestu fui, quanto nunc; cum video cavendum ne quid sit, quod ascribatur mihi etiam de sacrilegii periculo. Itaque peto ut patienter sermonem meum audias. Nam si indignus sum, qui a te audiar; indignus sum, qui pro te offera cui tua vota; cui tuas commitas preces. Ipse ergo non audies eum, quem pro te audiri velis? Non audires pro se agentem, quem pro aliis audisti? Nec vereris judicium tuum, ne cum indignum putaris, quem audias, indignum feceris, qui pro te audiatur? | I am continually beset with almost unending cares, O most blessed Emperor, but never hae I felt such anxiety as now, for I see that I must be careful not to have ascribed to me anything resembling an act of sacrilege. I beg you, therefore, give ear with patience to what I say. For, if I am not worthy of a hearing from you, I am not worthy of offering sacrifice for you, i to whom you have entrusted the offering of your vows and prayers. Will you yourself not hear one whom you wish heard when he prays in your behalf? Will you not hear one who pleads in his own defense, one whom you have heard plead for others. And do you not fear for your own decision that, if you think him unworthy to be heard by you, you will make him unworthy of being heard for you? |
| Sed neque imperiale est libertatem dicendi denegare, neque sacerdotale, quod sentias, non dicere. Nihil enim in vobis imperatoribus tam populare et tam amabile est, quam libertatem etiam in iis diligere, qui obsequio militiae vobis subditi sunt. Si quidem hoc interest inter bonos et malos principes, quod boni libertatem amant, servitutem improbi. Nihil etiam in sacerdote tam periculosum apud Deum, tam turpe apud homines, quam quod sentiat, non libere denuntiare. Siquidem scriptum est: Et loquebar in testimoniis tuis in conspectu regum, et non confundebar (Psal. Cxviii, 49); et alibi: Fili hominis, speculatorem te posui domui Israel, in eo, inquit, ut si avertatur justus a justitiis suis, et fecerit delictum; quia non distinxisti ei, hoc est, non dixisti quid sit cavendum, non retinebitur memoria justitiae eius, et sanguinem eius de manu tua exquiram. Tu autem si distinxeris justo, ut non peccet, et ipse non peccaverit, justus vita vitet; quia dixisti ei: et tu animam tuam liberabis (Ezech. iii, 17-19). | It is not fitting for an emperor to refuse freedom of speech, or for a bishop not to say what he thinks. There is no quality in you emperors so popular and so lovable as the cherishing of liberty even in those whom you have subdued on the battlefield. In fact, it spells the difference between good and bad emperors that the good love liberty; the bad, slavery. And there is nothing in a bishop so fraught with danger before God, so base before men, as not to declare freely what he thinks. Indeed, it is written: 'And I spoke of thy precepts in the presence of kings and I was not ashamed, and elsewhere: 'Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel, in order, it is said, 'that if the just man shall turn away from his justice and shall commit iniquity, because thou hast not given him warning,' that is, not told him what to guard against, 'his righteousness shall not be remembered, and I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou warn the righteous that he sin not, and he doth not sin, the righteous shall surely live because thou hast warned him, and thou wilt deliver thy soul. |
| Malo igitur, imperator, bonorum mihi esse te cum, quam malorum consortium; et ideo clementiae tuae displicere debet sacerdotis silentium, libertas placere. Nam silentii mei periculo involveris, libertatis bono juvaris. Non ergo importunus indebitiis me intersero, alienis ingero sed debitis obtempero, mandatis Dei nostri obedio. Quod facio primum tui amore, tui gratia, tuae studio conservandae salutis. Si id mihi vel non creditur, vel interdicitur: dico sane divinae offensae metu. Nam si meum periculum te exueret, patienter me pro te offerrem, sed non habenter; malo enim te sine meo acceptum Deo esse et gloriosum periculo. Sin autem silentii mei dissimulationisque culpa et me ingravat, nec te liberat malo importuniorem me, quam inutiliorem aut turpiorem judices. Siquidem scriptum est, dicente sancto apostolo Paulo, cuius non potes doctrinam refellere: Insta oppertune, importuna; argue, obstera, increpa in omni patientia et doctrina (II Tim. iv, 2). | I would rather, O Emperor, have partnership with you in good deeds than in evil. Therefore, the bishop's silence should be disagreeable to your Clemency; his freedom, agreeable. You are involved in the peril of my silence, but you are helped by the boon of my freedom. I am not, then, intruding in bothersome fashion where I have no obligation; I am not interfering in the affairs of others; I am complying with my duty; I am obeying the commands of our God. This I do, first of all, out of love for you, in gratitude to you, from a desire to preserve your well-being. If I am not believed or am forbidden a hearing, I speak, nonetheless, for fear of offending God. If my personal peril would set you free, I should offer myself patiently, though not willingly, for you, for I would rather you were acceptable to God and glorious without peril to me. But, if the guilt of silence and untruthfulness should weigh heavily upon me and set you free, I had rather you think me too bothersome than useless and dishonest. Indeed, it is written in the words of the holy apostle Paul, whose teaching you cannot disprove: 'Be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and teaching.' |