ON THE DUTIES OF THE CLERGY.

INTRODUCTION.

St. Ambrose, highly esteeming the dignity of the ministerial office, was very desirous that the clergy of his diocese should live worthily of their high vocation and serve as good, profitable examples to the people. Consequently, he undertook this treatise, setting forth the duties of the clergy and taking as a model Cicero's treatise, De Officiis ("On Duties").

The author states that his object is to impress upon those he has ordained the lessons he had previously taught them. Like Cicero, he treats of what is right, becoming, or honorable (decorum) and what is expedient (utile), but with reference not to this life, but to the life to come. In the first book, he teaches what is becoming; in the second, what is expedient; and in the third, he considers both in conjunction.

In the first book, he divides duties into "ordinary" (or the way of the commandments), which are binding upon all alike, and "perfect" (which consist in following the counsels). After treating of elementary duties, such as those towards parents and elders, he touches upon the two principles that guide the mind—reason and appetite—and shows that what is becoming consists in thinking of good and right things and in the subjection of appetite to reason. He provides certain rules and examples, ending with a discussion on the four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

In the second book, passing from what is becoming to what is expedient, he points out that we can only measure true expediency by referring to eternal life—in contrast to the errors of heathen philosophers—and shows that expediency consists in the knowledge of God and in good living. Incidentally, he shows that what is truly becoming is indeed what is expedient, and he ends the book with several chapters of practical considerations.

In the third book, he treats of the duties of perfection and establishes the rule that in everything, we must inquire what is expedient, not for individuals, but for many or for all. Nothing is to be striven for that is not becoming; everything must give way to this, not only expediency but even friendship and life itself. By many examples, he then proves how holy men sought after what was becoming and thereby secured what was expedient.

St. Ambrose's object in basing his treatise on the lines of Cicero's work seems to have been to confute some of the false principles of heathenism and to show how much higher Christian morality is than that of the Gentiles. The treatise was probably composed about A.D. 391.