Complete Extant Works of Saint Ambrose, Vol. I

allow you to fulfill what you threaten. For I will suffer what bishops suffer, and you will do what a eunuch does." (Ibid., no. 28) Nor was he less bold in writing to the tyrant Eugenius himself, who, having invaded the empire, had not feared to grant funds to the temples of idols in the year 392: "Although," he said, "imperial power may be great, nevertheless consider, Emperor, how great God is; He questions, He knows all things before they come to pass; He knows the inner secrets of your heart. You do not allow yourselves to be deceived, and yet do you wish to hide anything from God? Has this not entered your mind? For although those others acted so persistently, was it not your duty, Emperor, for the sake of the veneration of the supreme, true, and living God, to resist more persistently and to deny what was an injury to the sacred law?" (Epistle 57, no. 7) ... "How will you offer your gifts to Christ?... Although you are an emperor, you ought to be more subject to God. How will the priests of Christ distribute your offerings?" (Ibid., no. 8)

Ambrose was not at all hindered by these things from faithfully attending to his divine ministry and frequenting the sacred chair with the greatest praise; the relics of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, discovered through divine intervention, provided a new occasion for ascending that chair.

While he was thus commending such a great gift to the Church of Milan...