Cum jam glandes atque arbuta sacræ
Deficerent silvæ et victum Dodona negaret.
Georg. i. 158.
76 – Valentinian the 1st, as Symmachus mentions above, had
tolerated the heathen rites, and this he here represents
as having availed to win the special favour of the gods.
77 – This an official title of honour. There were three
ranks among those who held office under the Emperors,
1 Illustres, 2 Spectabiles, 3 Clarissimi, which is the
one here applied to Symmachus. The latter was applied to
all senators: the other two were reserved for the higher
offices of state. See Gibbon, ch. xvii.
78 – He is referring apparently to Galba, Otho, and Vitellius,
but somewhat exaggerates the brevity of their reigns.
Galba reigned nearly seven months, Otho three months,
Vitellius nearly eight months.
79 – The captive Emperor is Valerian, who, A.D. 260, was taken
prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, and treated with the
utmost indignity. The other is his son Gallienus, and S.
Ambrose’s expression with regard to him may be explained
by a sentence of Gibbon, (ch. xi. init.) ‘Under the
deplorable reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, the empire
was oppressed and almost destroyed by the soldiers, the
tyrants, and the barbarians.’
80 – S. Ambrose refers here to a law of Valentinian’s,
forbidding the Clergy from receiving bequests from widows
and unmarried females. It was addressed to Damasus, Bishop
of Rome. S. Ambrose’s caution in de Off. Min. 1, 20, 87,
shews that control was needed. S. Jerome, speaking of this
law says, ‘I do not complain of the law, but grieve that
we have deserved it.’
81 – In the provincial towns the political power in the times
of the Emperors had passed into the hands of the curia or
provincial Senate; and, with the power, many burdensome
and extensive duties, were laid upon the curiales or
decurions, as they were called. (See § 15.) Exemption from
these had been granted first by Constantine; afterwards,
as it was found that persons sought Holy Orders in order
to evade civil duties, the privilege was restrained: and
various changes were introduced by different Emperors.
A full outline of the various laws is given in a learned
note in Newman’s Fleury, vol. i. p. 162. where the text is
speaking of S. Ambrose’s Letter to Theodosius, (infr. Lett.
xl.) where he again complains of the same hardship. The
subject is also more fully dealt with by Bingham Antiq.
B. V. ch. iii. § 14–16.
82 – ‘Conferte’ is here adopted as a manifest emendation of
‘conferet.’ The transfer of two letters is a common
mistake of copyists.
83 – This was the case in Julian’s reign, as may be seen in
Theod. iii. 12.
84 – The reading of all the other Edd. ‘sacri nemoris’ for
‘agri nemorum’ is here adopted, as yielding a clearer
sense.
85 – Pannonia was at this time divided into three provinces,
viz. Pannonia Prima and Secunda, and Valeria Ripensis.
86 – Rhaetia Secunda was the name given to Vindelicia when
separated again from Rhaetia proper, shortly before the
time of Constantine: it had been united to it about the
end of the first century.
87 – The Reading ‘nuda gignentium’ is adopted from Ed. Rom. The
phrase occurs in Sallust Jug. 79, 6. ‘Gignentia’ is used
for plants, trees &c. The clause ‘quae nos’ &c. is strange,
but probably refers to the torpidity of winter, which is
felt by man as well as by the lower creation.
88 – This passage seems suggested by reminiscences of Virgil,
the phrase ‘absconditam pretio humum’ possibly from Aen.
iv, 211. urbem Exiguam pretio posuit, while in the latter
part S. Ambrose perhaps had in his mind the description of
Evander’s town in Aen. viii. See especially ll. 347–366.
89 – The story of Cybele being brought to Rome, and landing
outside the city, where the little stream of the Almo
joins the Tiber, is told at length by Ovid, Fast. iv.
250–348. In commemoration of the washing of the Statue
and sacred implements at the landing, an annual ceremony
was maintained, which seems to have been popular, from
the numerous allusions to it in later writers. See Lucan
1. 600, Martial iii. 47. 2, Stat. Silv. v. 1. 222, Sil.
Ital. viii. 365, all quoted in Dict. of Geogr. When the
rites were performed away from Rome, the nearest river
was conventionally made the Almo for the time. It is
remarkable that Ammianus Marcellinus xxiii, 3, 7. mentions
as one of the Emperor Julian’s lasts acts, his keeping the
day of this rite, when on his last campaign against the
Persians, and performing all the ceremonies at Callinicum
or Nicephorium on the Euphrates.
90 – Venus Cælestis is a Latin equivalent of Ἀφροδίτη οὐρανία,
and this name was transferred, according to Herodotus
(Bk. i. ch. 105.) to the Phœnician goddess Astarte,
or Ashtaroth. The same author also (B. i. ch. 131.)
identifies Aphrodite with the Persian goddess Mitra,
which however is shewn by Prof. Rawlinson, ad loc., to be
an error, as Mithras is the sun-god of the Persians. The
Temple of Venus Cælestis, or Astarte, at Carthage was very
shortly after this time converted into a Christian Church,
as recorded by Gibbon on the authority of Prosper Aquitan.
(ch. xxviii).
91 – S. Ambrose’s repeated assertions, that the Christians
formed a majority in the Senate, are characterised by
writers unfavourable to Christianity as unfounded, but
they produce no proof. Gibbon (ch. xxviii. note 12.)
simply says that it is an assertion ‘in contradiction to
common sense.’ But as a large majority of the Senate voted
for the abolition of the worship of Jupiter about the same
time, as Gibbon himself records, common sense would seem
rather to agree with S. Ambrose.
92 – Referring to the unhappy end of Gratian who in the
previous year (A.D. 383.) had been overpowered by Maximus,
who revolted in Britain, and attacked him in Gaul. His
troops deserted him and he was put to death by Maximus’
orders.
93 – Pompeius was murdered, as he landed in Egypt, after
escaping from Pharsalia, by Achillas an Eunuch and one of
the guardians of king Ptolemy.
94 – Tomyris queen of the Massagetæ. See the story in Herod.
i. 214.
95 – This is the first of the famous Hamilcars, the one who led
the great invasion of Sicily in B.C. 480, and was totally
defeated by Gelon. Herodotus, B. vii. ch. 167, tells the
story to which S. Ambrose alludes as the account given by
the Carthaginians of his end.
96 – S. Ambrose is alluding to the famous story of Julian
burning his fleet, after crossing the Tigris to attack
Sapor, king of Persia, in his dominions. This was regarded
afterwards by the Christians as an act of judicial
blindness. See Augustine de Civ. Dei iv. 29, v. 21.
Ammianus, xxiv. 7. asserts that he repented of the order
as soon as it was issued, but was too late to stop the
flames. Gibbon endeavours to justify the act, and says,
‘had he been victorious we should now admire his conduct.’
See his narrative in ch. xxiv. The author of his life in
the Dict. of Ant. styles it ‘the best thing he could have
done, if his march into the interior of Persia, had been
dictated by absolute necessity.’ Setting these hypotheses
aside, and looking only at the actual result, we may
fairly think that the Christian interpretation of the
facts, even if over-strongly expressed, is the truer.