Complete Extant Works of Saint Ambrose, Vol. I

...drawn to the pasturing of the flocks of Christ.

He resisted firmly when Symmachus argued vigorously before Valentinian II that the altar of Victory should be restored within the Roman Senate house. Being appointed an arbiter of peace to the tyrant Maximus by the same Valentinian, or rather by his mother Justina who was managing the reins of the kingdom in place of that younger prince, he managed to avert war from the empire. However, when that Arian matron demanded that a church be handed over to the Arians, the pontiff replied fearlessly that it was not permitted for a bishop to hand over the sacred houses of God to be profaned by the impious. From this arose a most bitter persecution against the holy doctor; soldiers were surrounding the sacred churches on all sides; Catholics were being thrown into prison; the hand-over of the church was being urged...