Footnotes.
1 – The word in the original is Sacerdos. It is constantly
used by S. Ambrose and other writers of his time for
Bishops, though they sometimes add a qualifying epithet,
‘Summus Sacerdos.’ But even alone it is used where the
writer is clearly speaking of Bishops, and of Bishops
quâ Bishops. Thus it occurs frequently in the Proceedings
of the Council of Aquileia, which is itself styled
‘Sacerdotale Concilium.’ See the Article ‘Bishop’ by Mr.
Haddan in Dict. of Chr. Ant. Vol. 1 p. 210 b., who refers
also to Bp. Taylor, Episc. Assert. § 27. It has therefore
been rendered ‘Bishop’ throughout this volume, wherever
it is plain that the reference is to Bishops, and ‘Priest’
wherever it is used in a more general way.
2 – This forms the two first books of the ‘De Fide’ still
extant among the works of S. Ambrose. The other three
books were added afterwards, as S. Ambrose explains at the
beginning of Bk. iii, to maintain his statements against
the attacks of heretical teachers. The Treatise, ‘De
Spiritu Sancto,’ in 3 books, was sent afterwards in
381 A.D.
3 – Nivei. This is the reading all MSS. Ed. Rom. has ‘vivi,’
which would agree better with the text of S. John.
4 – The Benedictine reference for the first of these texts
is Prov. xiv. 3. _The lips of the wise shall preserve
them_, with which the Sept. and Vulg. agree. In the second
the English Vers. has _The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge_. Here S. Ambr. agrees with the Sept.
5 – Forum Cornelii was on the Via Æmilia, about 23 miles S.E.
of Bononia. It was at this time in the Province Æmilia.
The modern name is Imola.
6 – The Benedictine Editors refer this to the ravages of the
Goths after Valens’ defeat at Hadrianople A.D. 375. It is
on this that they found the date of the letter, but the
reference is somewhat vague.