962 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
Upper Ital J ; wliereupon Probus, prefect of Italy, gave liins the remarkable advice, afterwards interpreted as an involuntary propliecy: "Go, and act not the judge, but the bishop." He administered tliis office with justice and mildness, enjoying universal esteem.
The episcopal chair of Milan, the second capital of Italy, and frequently the residence of the emperors, was at that time occupied by the Cappadocian, Auxentius, the head of the Arian party in the West. Soon after the aixival of Ambrose, Auxentius died. A division then arose among the people in the choice of a successor, and a dangerous riot threatened. The governor considered it his duty to allay the storm. But while he was yet speaking to the people, the voice of a child suddenly rang out : " Let Ambrose be bishop ! " It seemed a voice of God, and Arians and Catholics cried, Amen.
Ambrose was at that time a catechumen, and therefore not even baptized. He was terrified, and seized all possible, and even most eccentric, means to escape the responsible office. He was obliged to submit, was baptized, and eight days afterwards, in 374, was consecrated bishop of Milan. His friend, Basil the Great of Caisarea, was delighted that God had chosen such a man to so important a post, who counted noble birth, wealth, and eloquence loss, that he might win Christ.
From this time forward Ambrose lived wholly for the church, and became one of the greatest bishops of ancient Christendom, full of Roman dignity, energy, and administrative wisdom, and of the unction of the Holy Ghost, lie began his work with the sale of his great estates and of his gold and silver for the benefit of the poor; reserving an allowance for his pious sister Marcella or Marcellina, w^ho in early youth had taken the vow of virginity. With voluntary poverty he associated the strictest regimen of the ascetic spirit of his time ; accepted no invitations to banquets ; took dinner only on Sunday, Saturday, and the festivals of celebrated martyrs ; devoted the greater })art of the night to prayer, to the hitherto necessarily neglected study of the Scriptures and the Greek fathers, and to theological writing ; preached every Sunday, and often in the week; was accessible to all, most accessible to the poor
§ 175. AMBROSE. 963
And needy; and administered his spiritual oversight, pa^ ticularly ]iis instruction of catecliiimens, with the greates* tidelitj.
The Arians he vigorously opposed by word and act, and contributed to the victory of the Nicene faith in the West. In tliis work he behaved himself towards the Arian empress Justina with rare boldness, dignity, and consistenc}', in tho heroic spirit of an Atlianasius. The court demanded the cession of a catholic churcli for the use of the Arians, and claimed for them equal rights with the orthodox. But Ambrose asserted the entire independence of the church towards the state, and by perseverance came off victorious in the end. It was his maxim, tiiat the emperor is in the church, but not over tlie church, and tlierefore has no right to the church buildings.
He did not meddle in secular matters, nor ask favor of the magistracy, except when he could put in a word of intercession for the unfortunate and for persons condemned to death in tliose despotic times. This enabled him to act the more independently in liis spiritual office, as a real prince of the church, fearless even of the emperor himself. Thus he declared to the usurper Maxim us, who desired church fellowship, that he would never admit him, unless he should do sincere penance fur the murder of the emperor Gratian.
"When the Roman prefect, Symmachus, the noblest and most eloquent advocate of the decaying heathenism of his time, implored the emperor Yalentinian, in an apology for the altar of Victory which stood in the hall of the Roman senate, to tolerate the worship and the sanctuaries of the ancient gods, Ambrose met him with an admiralile reply, and prevented the granting of his request.
The most imposing appearance of our bishop against the temporal power was in his dealing with Theodosius, when this truly great, but passionate and despotic, emperor, enraged at Thessalonica for a riot, had caused many thousand innocent persons to be put to death with the guilty, and Ambrose, interesting himself for the unfortunate, like a Nathan with David, demanded repentance of the emperor, ai d refused him the holy communion. "How wilt thou," said he to him ic