XXVII. and prudence, the duties of his ecclefiaftical jurif- CHAP. diction; and, while he cheerfully renounced the vain and splendid trappings of temporal greatness, he condescended, for the good of the church, to direct the confcience of the emperors, and to controul the adminiftration of the empire, Gratian loved and revered him as a father; and the elaborate treatise on the faith of the Trinity, was defigned for the inftruction of the young prince, 'After his tragic death, at a time when the emprefs Juftina trembled for her own fafety, and for that of her fon Valentinian, the archbishop of Milan was dispatched on two different embassies, to the court of Treves. He exercised, with equal firmness and dexterity, the powers of his spiritual and political characters; and perhaps contributed, by his authority and eloquence, to check the ambition of Maximus, and to protect the peace of Italy. Ambrofe had devoted his life, and his abilities, to the service of the church. Wealth was the object of his contempt; he had renounced his private patrimony; and he fold, without hesitation, the confecrated plate, for the redemption of captives. The clergy and people of Milan were attached to their archbishop; and he deferved the esteem, without foliciting the favour, or apprehending the difpleafure, of his feeble fovereigns. The government of Italy, and of the young emperor, naturally devolved to his mother Juftina, a woman of beauty and fpirit, but who, in the 62 Ambrose himself (tom. iii epift. xxiv. p. 888-891.) gives the emperor a very fpirited account of his own embassy. D 4 midft His fuccefsful oppofition to the empress Juftina, XXVII. CHAP. midft of an orthodox people, had the misfortune of profeffing the Arian herefy, which fhe endeavoured to inftil into the mind of her fon. Juftina was perfuaded, that a Roman emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise · of his religion; and the proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and reasonable conceffion, that he should refign the ufe of a fingle church, either in the city or fuburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrofe was governed by very different principles "3. The palaces of the earth might indeed belong to Cæfar; but the churches were the houses of God; and, within the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful fucceffor of the apostles, was the only minifter of God. The privileges of Chriftianity, temporal as well as fpiritual, were confined to the true believers; and the mind of Ambrofe was fatisfied, that his own theological opinions were the ftandard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold any conference, or negociation, with the inftruments of Satan, declared, with modeft firmness, his resolution to die a martyr, rather than to yield to the impious facrilege; and Juftina, who resented the refufal as an act of infolence and rebellion, haftily determined to exert the Imperial prerogative of her fon. As fhe defired to perform her public devotions on the approaching festival 63 His own representation of his principles and conduct (tom. ii. epift. xx, xxi, xxii. p. 852-880.) is one of the curious monuments of ecclefiaftical antiquity. It contains two letters to his fifter Marcellina, with a petition to Valentinian, and the fermon de Bafilicis non tradendis. of XXVII. of Easter, Ambrofe was ordered to appear before CHAP. the council. He obeyed the fummons with the respect of a faithful fubject, but he was followed, without his confent, by an innumerable people: they preffed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the affrighted minifters of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requefted that he would interpofe his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to restore the tranquillity of the capital. But the promises which Ambrofe received and communicated, were foon violated by a perfidious court; and, during fix of the most folemn days, which Chriftian piety has fet apart for the exercise of religion, the city was agitated by the irregular convulfions of tumult and fanaticism. The officers of the household were directed to prepare, firft, the Portian, and afterwards, the new, Bafilica, for the immediate reception of the emperor, and his mother. The fplendid canopy and hangings of the royal feat were arranged in the customary manner; but it was found necessary to defend them, by a strong guard, from the infults of the populace. The Arian ecclefiaftics, who ventured to fhew themfelves in the streets, were expofed to the most imminent danger of their lives and Ambrofe enjoyed the merit and reputation of refcuing his perfonal enemies from the hands of the enraged multitude. But while he laboured to restrain the effects of their zeal, the pathetic vehemence of his fermons continually inflamed the angry and feditious tem per XXVII. CHAP. per of the people of Milan. The characters of Eve, of the wife of Job, of Jezabel, of Herodias, were indecently applied to the mother of the emperor; and her defire to obtain a church for the Arians, was compared to the most cruel perfecutions which Christianity had endured under the reign of Paganifm. The measures of the court served only to expofe the magnitude of the evil. A fine of two hundred pounds of gold was impofed on the corporate body of merchants and manufacturers: an order was fignified, in the name of the emperor, to all the officers, and inferior fervants, of the courts of justice, that, during the continuance of the public disorders, they should ftrictly confine themselves to their houfes and the minifters of Valentinian imprudently confeffed, that the most refpectable part of the citizens of Milan was attached to the cause of their archbishop. He was again folicited to restore peace to his country, by a timely compliance with the will of his fovereign. The reply of Ambrofe was couched in the most humble and refpectful terms, which might, however, be interpreted as a ferious declaration of civil war. "His "life and fortune were in the hands of the em" peror; but he would never betray the church of "Chrift, or degrade the dignity of the epifcopal "character. In fuch a caufe, he was prepared "to fuffer whatever the malice of the dæmon "could inflict; and he only wished to die in the "prefence of his faithful flock, and at the foot "of the altar; be had not contributed to excite, "but it was in the power of God alone to ap "pease, XXVII. "peafe, the rage of the people: he deprecated CHAP. "the scenes of blood and confufion, which were "likely to enfue; and it was his fervent prayer, "that he might not furvive to behold the ruin of "a flourishing city, and perhaps the defolation of "all Italy +." The obftinate bigotry of Justina would have endangered the empire of her fon, if, in this conteft with the church and people of Milan, fhe could have depended on the active obedience of the troops of the palace. A large body of Goths had marched to occupy the Bafilica, which was the object of the difpute: and it might be expected from the Arian principles, and barbarous manners, of these foreign mercenaries, that they would not entertain any fcruples in the execution of the most fanguinary orders. They were encountered, on the facred threshold, by the archbishop, who, thundering against them a fentence of excommunication, asked them, in the tone of a father and a mafter, Whether it was to invade the houfe of God, that they had implored the hospitable protection of the republic? The fufpenfe of the Barbarians allowed fome hours for a more effectual negociation; and the empress was perfuaded, by the advice of her wifeft counfellors, to leave the Catholics in poffeffion of all the churches of Milan; and to diffemble, till a 64 Retz had a fimilar message from the queen, to request that he, would appease the tumult of Paris. It was no longer in his power, &c. A quoi j'ajoutai tout ce que vous pouvez vous imaginer de refpect, de douleur, de regret, et de foumiffion, &c. (Memoires, tom. i. p. 140.) Certainly I do not compare either the caufes, or the men ; yet the coadjutor himself had fome idea (p. 84.) of imitating St. Am. brofe. more |