Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10 (Chrysostom: Homilies on Matthew)

all the writings of St. Ambrose and consists of twenty-two addresses to the faithful, each address comprising one division of the Psalm. From various allusions, it would seem that the completed work dates from about A.D. 388.

14. Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam (Exposition of the Gospel according to Luke). The ten books of this commentary consist likewise of sermons in which St. Ambrose explained the Gospel during a period of one or two years, in 386 and 387.

III. ETHICAL WRITINGS

Among the ethical or moral writings of St. Ambrose, the first place is deservedly assigned to:
1. De Officiis Ministrorum (On the Duties of the Clergy). In three books, which are translated in this series.
2. De Virginibus (On Virgins). Three books concerning Virgins, addressed to his sister Marcellina in the year 377. Probably, like most of the treatises of St. Ambrose, it was revised from addresses, the first of which was delivered on the festival of St. Agnes, January 21. Judging from the opening chapter, this would seem to have been perhaps the very earliest of St. Ambrose's writings. The treatise is referred to by St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Cassian, and others.
3. De Viduis (On Widows). This shorter work concerning widows was probably written not very long after the last-mentioned treatise.
4. De Virginitate (On Virginity). A treatise on virginity, the date of which cannot certainly be fixed, but the work De Viduis is referred to in chapter 9.
5. De Institutione Virginis (On the Education of a Virgin). A treatise on the training and discipline of a virgin, addressed to Eusebius (either a bishop or a nobleman of Bologna) after St. Ambrose had admitted his niece to the rank of Virgins, probably about A.D. 391 or 392.
6. Exhortatio Virginitatis (Exhortation to Virginity). A commendation of virginity preached on the occasion of the consecration of a church at Florence by St. Ambrose, A.D. 393 or 394.

IV. SERMONS AND ADDRESSES

1. Contra Auxentium (Against Auxentius). A sermon against Auxentius An Arian bishop. concerning the giving up of the basilicas to the Arians, usually inserted between the twenty-first and twenty-second letters of St. Ambrose.
2. De Excessu fratris Satyri (On the Death of his Brother Satyrus). The two addresses on the occasion of the death of St. Ambrose's brother Satyrus, translated in this volume.
3. De obitu Valentiniani Consolatio (Consolation on the Death of Valentinian). The Emperor Valentinian having been murdered by Arbogastes, Count of Vienne, his body was brought to Milan and remained two months unburied. At last, Theodosius sent the necessary permit, and at the funeral solemnities, St. Ambrose delivered the address titled the "Consolation."
4. De obitu Theodosii oratio (Oration on the Death of Theodosius). A discourse delivered forty days after the death of the Emperor Theodosius before the Emperor Honorius at Milan.

V. THE LETTERS OF ST. AMBROSE

The Benedictine editors of St. Ambrose have divided his Epistles into two classes: the first comprising those to which they thought it possible to assign dates; the second, those which afford no data for a conclusion. Probably in many cases the exact year is not as certain as the editors have made it appear, but they seem arranged in a fairly probable consecutive order.

THE LETTERS

1. To the Emperor Gratian, in reply to his request for a treatise on the Faith. Written A.D. 379, before August, as Gratian came to Milan in that month.
2. To Constantius, a bishop, on episcopal duties, commending to him the care of the vacant see of Forum Cornelii (or Imola). Probably written about A.D. 379.
3, 4. To Cornelius, Bishop of Comum. The first is a friendly letter; the second contains an invitation to the consecration of a church by Bassianus, Bishop of Laus Pompeia (now Lodi Vecchio, near Milan). Written probably after A.D. 381.
5, 6. To Syagrius, Bishop of Verona, regarding a charge falsely brought against the virgin Indicia. They may have been written A.D. 380.