Complete Extant Works of Saint Ambrose, Vol. I

however, by humbling your soul before God. You are a man, and temptation comes to you; overcome it. Sin is not taken away except by tears and repentance. Neither an Angel can do it, nor an Archangel; the Lord Himself, who alone can say: I am with you. If we have sinned, He does not forgive except to those who offer repentance. I advise, I ask, I exhort, I warn; because it is a cause of grief to me that you, who were an example of unheard-of piety, who held the pinnacle of clemency, who did not allow individual guilty persons to be endangered, do not grieve that so many innocent ones have perished... I have no cause for defiance toward you, but one of fear: I do not dare to offer the sacrifice if you wish to assist. Or is that which is not permitted in the blood of one innocent person, permitted in the case of many?" (Epistle 51, to Theodosius, no. 5-12.)

Returning to Milan, Ambrose "went out to meet the Emperor, who was coming to the Church in his usual manner, and prohibited him from entering the sacred threshold with these words: You are unaware, I think, Emperor, of the gravity of the slaughter you have committed, and though your fury has now subsided, your reason has not yet grasped the crime that was admitted. For perhaps imperial power prevents you from recognizing the sin, and authority casts shadows over reason. Yet it is fitting to look at nature, which is transient and subject to death, and the original dust from which we were created and into which we are resolved. Nor,