THAT this and the following letter were addressed to the
same person is clear from their contents, especially from the
commencement of Letter xxvi. Whether Studius and Irenæus were
two names of the same person, as the Benedictines suggest,
or whether there is any error in either title, cannot be
ascertained for certain. Is it not most probable that the name
of Irenæus, to whom a long series of letters follows, has been
affixed to one immediately preceding them by mistake, and that
we should put ‘Studio’ for ‘Irenæo’ at the head of xxvi?
The letter deals briefly with the question which Studius, a
layman apparently and a judge, puts to S. Ambrose, whether he
did violence to his duty as a Christian in sentencing criminals
to death. S. Ambrose replies that it is lawful, but recommends
merciful dealing wherever possible, in hope of amendment of life.