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Ambrose, On the Duties of the Clergy (De officiis ministrorum)

Editors' preface

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IN TRES LIBROS DE OFFICIIS

ON THE THREE BOOKS ON DUTIES

ADMONITIO.

ADMONITION.

Cum honorabilem inter caeteros fideles in Dominico grege locum obtineant sacri ministri, non potuit Ambrosius omnibus parochiae sibi creditae ordinibus instituendis nunquam non intentus, egregiae illius portionis partes iis praeceptis destitutas relinquere, quibus et ipsa pervenire ad congruam suo muneri sanctimoniam valeret, et virtutum exemplo in eadem via plebi praeire. Hinc origo horum librorum; nam cum prius voce clericos suos informare ad pietatem sedulo studuisset, postea ne datae praeceptiones ex eorum animis paulatim effluerent, easdem in operis legitimi corpus redactas ipsis quasi manu ac sinu semper ferendas tradere constituit. Jure igitur eidem Operi titulum fecit De Officiis Ministrorum, quem nos ex manuscriptis fere omnibus ac notae melioris restituimus.

Since the sacred ministers hold an honourable place among the rest of the faithful in the Lord's flock, Ambrose, who was never other than intent on instructing all the orders of the parish entrusted to him, could not leave the members of that distinguished portion destitute of those precepts by which it might both attain the holiness befitting its office and go before the people on the same road by the example of its virtues. Hence the origin of these books; for when he had first diligently striven to form his clergy to piety by word of mouth, afterwards, lest the precepts given should little by little slip from their minds, he resolved to hand the same to them gathered into the body of a proper work, to be carried always, as it were, in hand and in bosom. Rightly, therefore, did he give this Work the title On the Duties of Ministers, which we have restored from almost all the manuscripts, and those of the better sort.

In primo libro (cap. 1), statim causis illis quibus ad scribendum inductus esset, non sine ingenua sui demissione propositis, ostendit (cap. 2 et seq.) silentium optimum esse loquendi magistrum, et maxime utile retinendum: ejus vero leges Prophetam regem ante Pythagoram et multo praestantius nobis dedisse (cap. 10, num. 31). Tum propositum suum aggressus, unde oriatur vox Officium (cap. 8 et 9), quae sit ejus significatio, et quot in partes distribuatur (cap. 11), scite explicat: admonet autem ante omnia Christiano viro cavendum esse ne, philosophorum more, honestum aut utile ex vita praesenti metiendum putet, sed ex futura. Officium medium in praeceptorum, perfectum vero in consiliorum evangelicorum observatione positum dicit, idque philosophis sterili tantum in speculatione fuisse cognitum. Deinde (cap. 12 et seq.) confutatis quibusdam erroribus, ad singula Officiorum genera accedit. In adolescentibus praecipue commendat (cap. 17 et seq.) illum pudorem, qui non modo exteriorem habitum regit, et in motu, incessu, sermone, et victu elucet; verum etiam internas componit facultates, Dei scilicet timore, veneratione parentum, et perturbationum animi moderatione. Et haec quidem declarat potissimum requiri in clericis; quippe quos omni ex parte tam recte constitutos esse oporteat, ut, nullam invidis calumniandi ansam praebentes, exemplo bonae conversationis cunctis praeluceant. Postea (cap. 24 et seq.), de virtutibus, quas cardinales vocant, instituta disceptatione, eas astruit fontes esse totius honesti atque decori, quod hujus libri argumentum est. Quamvis autem illas virtutes separari ab invicem non posse fateatur, de singulis tamen sejunctim agit; et primo loco post prudentiae definitionem (cap. 27), sapientes paganos demonstrat incidisse in ea vitia quae cum ipsa pugnare non ignorabant. Eadem ratione tractat de justitia (cap. 28 et seq.), cujus diversas partes examinat, maxime vero liberalitatem ac benevolentiam. De fortitudine autem verba faciens (cap. 35 et seq.), eam in duobus consistere docet, in rerum externarum despicientia, et in eo, ut quis res magnas, arduas, plenasque laborum et periculorum suscipiat atque exsequatur. Qua occasione editos in veteri foedere viros (cap. 40 et seq.), a quibus bellica gloria profani heroes superentur, exemplis probat: sed Christianam fortitudinem asserit in terrenarum rerum despicientia, injuriarum calamitatumque tolerantia, et perpessione saevissimorum pro Christi fide suppliciorum esse positam. Postremo de temperantia dicere adorsus (cap. 43 et seq.), omnia ejus munera explicat, quorum illa praecipua sunt, tranquillitas animi, studium mansuetudinis, honesti cura, decori consideratio: quibus adjicitur illud placitum, minori honestati majorem semper esse praeponendam.

In the first book (ch. 1), having at once set out, not without a candid humility about himself, the reasons by which he was led to write, he shows (ch. 2 ff.) that silence is the best master of speaking, and most profitable to keep; and that its laws were given to us by the Prophet-king before Pythagoras, and far more excellently (ch. 10, no. 31). Then, taking up his purpose, he skilfully explains whence the word Duty arises (chs. 8 and 9), what its meaning is, and into how many parts it is divided (ch. 11); but above all he warns that a Christian man must beware lest, after the manner of the philosophers, he think the honourable or the useful is to be measured by the present life rather than by the life to come. The middle duty, he says, lies in the observance of the precepts, but the perfect duty in that of the evangelical counsels, and this was known to the philosophers only in barren speculation. Next (ch. 12 ff.), having refuted certain errors, he comes to the several kinds of Duties. In young men he especially commends (ch. 17 ff.) that modesty which not only governs the outward bearing and shines forth in movement, gait, speech and food, but also orders the inward faculties, namely by the fear of God, reverence for parents, and the moderation of the passions of the soul. And these things, he declares, are required above all in clerics, since they ought to be so rightly ordered in every respect that, giving the envious no handle for calumny, they may shine before all by the example of a good manner of life. Afterwards (ch. 24 ff.), having opened a discussion of the virtues which they call cardinal, he maintains that they are the springs of all that is honourable and seemly, which is the subject of this book. And although he acknowledges that those virtues cannot be separated from one another, he nevertheless treats each of them separately; and in the first place, after the definition of prudence (ch. 27), he shows that the pagan wise men fell into those vices which they well knew to be at war with it. In the same way he treats of justice (ch. 28 ff.), whose various parts he examines, but above all liberality and benevolence. Speaking next of fortitude (ch. 35 ff.), he teaches that it consists in two things, in contempt of external things, and in a man's undertaking and carrying through great and arduous things, full of toils and dangers. On this occasion he proves by examples that the men set forth in the Old Covenant (ch. 40 ff.) surpass the profane heroes in the glory of war; but he asserts that Christian fortitude lies in contempt of earthly things, in the endurance of injuries and calamities, and in the suffering of the most cruel torments for the faith of Christ. Lastly, undertaking to speak of temperance (ch. 43 ff.), he explains all its offices, of which these are the chief: tranquillity of soul, the pursuit of gentleness, care for the honourable, regard for the seemly; to which is added that maxim, that the greater honourableness is always to be preferred to the lesser.

Ab ipso limine secundi libri eamdem honestatem felicitati ortum praebere ubi demonstravit (lib. II, c. 1), philosophorum ac Ciceronis circa hujus vitae supremum bonum errores refellit (cap. 2 et seq.), in cognitione divinitatis, et fructu bonae operationis illud situm esse patefaciens. Cum vero ad idem honestum per bonum utile perveniatur, de hoc disputat in toto libro; cumque hoc ipsum et consistat in pietate, et ab honesto sit indivisum (cap. 6 et seq.), comparari non posse docet, nisi earum virtutum beneficio, quae claram apud homines existimationem charitatemque nobis acquirunt. Porro triplicem hominum conciliandorum rationem tradit (cap. 7 et seq.), ut quis scilicet eorum amorem beneficentia, fidem justitia et prudentia, nec non in tenuibus ac praestantibus factis sibi devinciat. Haec omnia illustrat appositissimis exemplis, et maximam partem ex divina auctoritate sumptis; sed nihil magis pium excogitari potest, quam illa praecepta, quibus ad opera misericordiae (cap. 15 et seq.) et officia omnia quae ad mutuam hominum inter se societatem pertinent, informat, simulque vitia proscribit.

At the very threshold of the second book, when he has shown (bk. II, ch. 1) that this same honourableness gives rise to happiness, he refutes the errors of the philosophers and of Cicero concerning the supreme good of this life (ch. 2 ff.), making plain that it lies in the knowledge of the Godhead and in the fruit of good working. And since one comes to that same honourable through the useful good, he discusses this throughout the whole book; and since this very thing both consists in piety and is undivided from the honourable (ch. 6 ff.), he teaches that it cannot be gained except by the help of those virtues which win us a bright esteem and affection among men. Further, he sets out a threefold way of winning men (ch. 7 ff.): namely, that one binds to oneself their love by beneficence, their trust by justice and prudence, and also by slight and by eminent deeds. All these things he illustrates with most apt examples, for the greatest part taken from divine authority; but nothing more devout can be devised than those precepts by which he forms men to the works of mercy (ch. 15 ff.) and to all the duties that belong to the mutual fellowship of men with one another, and at the same time proscribes the vices.

In tertio libro honestum cum utili comparat sanctus Praesul, sed nos admonere (lib. III, cap. 2) nequaquam negligit, haec duo bonorum genera in justis viris insolubili nodo conjuncta esse; atque

In the third book the holy Prelate compares the honourable with the useful, but by no means neglects to warn us (bk. III, ch. 2) that in just men these two kinds of goods are joined by an indissoluble knot; and

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adeo collationem hanc non institui, nisi ex vulgi opinione haec ipsa sejungentis. Hoc enim generale placitum constituit, ut bonus vir nihil alteri detrahendum putet, nec alterius incommodo suum lucrum augeri velit (Ibid., num. 13). Quod cum naturalibus humanisque legibus, tum divinis ex utroque Testamento petitis probat (cap. 3 et seq.); iis vero quae contra isthaec sibi objicit, illam adhibet solutionem, Christianis viris ab exemplo Christi, qui alienae utilitati suam nunquam anteposuit, non discedendum. Inde colligit in omni actu atque contractu, semper et in quocunque casu honestum utili praeferri oportere (cap. 5 et seq.); etiam si maxime constaret fraudem nostram Deo perinde atque hominibus fore ignotam. Addit hanc legem ab ipso Deo sancitam esse, atque adeo ad veteres fabulas non recurrendum, ut astruatur res certissima; Christianam enim religionem hujus exempla (cap. 9 et seq.) in magnis illis viris suppeditasse, qui ea vere exsecuti sunt, quae habebantur pro miraculis apud paganos. Ad postremum maxima quaeque Romanorum exempla sacris heroibus omni ex parte inferiora esse ostendit (cap. 15 et seq.).

…so that this comparison was established only by the common opinion which separates these very things. For he lays down this general principle, that the good man should think that nothing is to be taken from another, and should not wish his own gain to be increased by another's loss (ibid., no. 13). This he proves both from natural and human laws and from divine laws drawn from each Testament (ch. 3 ff.); and to the objections he raises against himself on these points he applies this solution: that Christian men must not depart from the example of Christ, who never set His own advantage before another's. Hence he concludes that in every act and contract, always and in whatever case, the honourable ought to be preferred to the useful (ch. 5 ff.), even if it were quite certain that our fraud would remain unknown to God as well as to men. He adds that this law was ordained by God Himself, and that there is therefore no need to have recourse to the old fables to establish a thing most certain; for the Christian religion has furnished examples of it (ch. 9 ff.) in those great men who truly performed what among the pagans was held to be miraculous. Finally he shows that all the greatest examples of the Romans are in every respect inferior to the sacred heroes (ch. 15 ff.).

Non diffitemur Ambrosium sequendam sibi proposuisse Ciceronis in Officiis suis oeconomiam, sed Ciceronem ipsum libros Panaetii et Hecatonis multo addictius imitatum esse audacter affirmamus. Manifesto enim significat sanctus Antistes non alio consilio sese Oratoris imitationi operam dedisse, nisi ut in eo, qui prae caeteris honestatis exactae leges profitebatur, falsa praecepta paganae ethices fortius confutaret; ac simul etiam palam faceret, quanto intervallo christianae institutiones quidquid unquam inter gentiles perfectius fuit, antecederent. Passim explodit inanem illam eloquentiae affectationem, quam idem Cicero nusquam non ostentat. Subinde vero in hoc incumbit, ut quidquid praestantius in morum disciplina tradiderunt philosophi, ex nostris auctoribus totum illud desumptum esse clare demonstret. Imprimis autem ejusdem Tullii fastum evertit, ejusque scita de ultione atque ambitione funditus tollit. Sed illud caput longe gravissimum, a Cicerone tamen vix delibatum, summa contentione firmare studet, praecipua nempe officia nostra Deum spectare, et omnia nostra facta dictave ad ejus gloriam esse referenda: illud quoque alterum, de quo ne per somnium quidem Orator, vitam praesentem viam esse ad immortalem, bonisque operibus illuc perveniri, obnixe probat. Ad haec praecipit a terrenis bonis animum abstrahendnm, coercendam severiori castigatione corporis lasciviam, condonandas inimicis offensiones et injurias, majora beneficia illis praestanda, qui nos atrocius et injustius divexavere.

We do not deny that Ambrose set himself to follow the arrangement of Cicero in his Offices; but we boldly affirm that Cicero himself imitated the books of Panaetius and Hecato far more slavishly. For the holy bishop plainly indicates that he applied himself to imitating the Orator with no other design than this: that in the person of him who above all others professed the laws of exact honourableness he might the more forcibly refute the false precepts of pagan ethics, and at the same time make it plain by how great an interval Christian teachings surpass whatever was ever more perfect among the gentiles. Here and there he hisses off the stage that empty affectation of eloquence which the same Cicero displays everywhere. Repeatedly, indeed, he applies himself to showing clearly that whatever the philosophers handed down of greater excellence in moral discipline was all taken from our authors. Above all he overturns the arrogance of that same Tully, and utterly abolishes his maxims on revenge and ambition. But that by far the weightiest head, barely touched upon by Cicero, he strives with the utmost effort to establish: namely, that our chief duties look towards God, and that all our deeds and words are to be referred to His glory; and that other point too, of which the Orator never so much as dreamt, that the present life is the way to the immortal life and that it is reached by good works, he proves with all his might. In addition he enjoins that the mind be drawn away from earthly goods, that the wantonness of the body be restrained by more severe chastisement, that offences and injuries be forgiven to enemies, and that greater benefits be bestowed on those who have harassed us most cruelly and unjustly.

Verum ut curiosus lector facilius cognoscat quibus in rebus cum Cicerone consentiat, aut ab eo discrepet Ambrosius noster, locos omnes tum Officiorum, tum aliorum operum ejusdem auctoris, quos sanctus Praesul visus est respicere, in inferiori margine exhibuimus. Qua ratione statim innotescet Ambrosium a M. Tullio ibi desciscere, ubicunque utriusque affinitas non subnotatur. Hinc etiam fiet compertum quanto judicio eosdem libros utilissimis praeceptis refertos esse dixerit Augustinus (epist. 82, ad Hieron., num. 21), quamque merito ipsos lactenus universi in pretio habuerint, quemadmodum ex manuscriptis omnium aetatum, quos reperias in bibliothecis, intelligitur.

But so that the curious reader may more readily recognize in what matters our Ambrose agrees with Cicero or differs from him, we have set out in the lower margin all the passages, both of the Offices and of the other works of the same author, which the holy prelate appears to have had in view. By this means it will at once become known that Ambrose departs from M. Tullius wherever an affinity between the two is not noted below. Hence too it will become evident with what judgement Augustine said that these same books are full of most useful precepts (Ep. 82, to Jerome, no. 21), and how deservedly all have hitherto held them in esteem, as is understood from the manuscripts of every age that one may find in libraries.

Quapropter quis ferre possit Christianum auctorem de hisce libris ausum discere: Scripsit de officiis etiam D. Ambrosius, credo, ut pueris inculcaret religionem. Verum ego religionem ex Scripturis divinis censeo hauriendam esse, de civilibus moribus matim audire Ciceronem. Quae sententia utrum Ambrosio an sacris paginis graviorem inurat injuriam, definitu non facile est. Etenim cum hi mores civiles, non alii sint quam humani actus ex prudentia aliisque virtutibus cardinalibus instituendi, nonne immanis contumelia est profanam ethicen praeponere illis praeceptis quae super hac re prophetis afflavit sanctus Spiritus, aut Christus ipse ore proprio apostolis dictavit suis? Non jam ergo mirum, si libros istos, in quibus moralem Christi disciplinam sanctus hic Doctor interpretatur insuper habeat heterodoxus: talibus enim Patrum contemptus familiaris est. Caeterum ansam dubitandi an eosdem libros unquam legerit, ipse supeditat, cum de his scribit: Credo ut pueris inculcaret religionem; non enim pueris, sed Ecclesiae ministris omnium aetatum destinatos esse ipsemet Ambrosius non paucis locis, et operis inscriptio in codicibus longe plurimis, ut jam dictum est, testificatur. Verumtamen licet Auctori erudiendi clericos consilium fuerit, nihilominus cuilibet conditioni hoc idem opus utile esse inficietur nemo; nam cum clerici ad superiores quibus obtemperant, et inferiores quos ipsi regunt, ordinem habeant; inde factum est, ut praecepta illic permulta contineantur, communi omnibus fructu referta.

Wherefore who could bear that a Christian author should have dared to say of these books: "The blessed Ambrose also wrote on duties, I suppose in order to instil religion into boys. But I think religion is to be drawn from the divine Scriptures; on civil morals I would rather hear Cicero." Whether this opinion brands the graver injury upon Ambrose or upon the sacred pages is not easy to determine. For since these civil morals are nothing other than human acts to be ordered by prudence and the other cardinal virtues, is it not a monstrous insult to prefer a profane ethics to those precepts which the Holy Spirit breathed into the prophets on this matter, or which Christ Himself dictated with His own mouth to His apostles? It is no wonder, then, if a heterodox writer disregards these books, in which this holy Doctor expounds the moral discipline of Christ: for contempt of the Fathers is familiar to such men. Moreover, he himself furnishes occasion to doubt whether he ever read these same books, when he writes of them: "I suppose in order to instil religion into boys"; for that they were intended not for boys but for the ministers of the Church of every age, Ambrose himself testifies in not a few places, as does the title of the work in by far the most manuscripts, as has already been said. Nevertheless, although the Author's design was to instruct clerics, no one will deny that this same work is useful to every condition of life; for since clerics have a relation both to superiors whom they obey and to inferiors whom they themselves govern, it has come about that very many precepts are contained there, full of profit common to all.

Haec eadem utilitas in causa fuit cur iidem libri non solum toties exarati sint, verum etiam a multis in compendii aut excerptorum formam redacti. Excerpta ex illis extant in uno manuscripto Lyrensis monasterii; compendium autem in uno codice Ecclesiae Carnutensis, connexionibus ac transitionibus apte concinnatum, cujus apographum D. le Feron ejusdem insignis Ecclesiae canonicus et sorbonicus doctor cura sua descriptum ad nos transmisit. Non imus inficias, quin prodierit ab antiqua manu istud exemplar, sed alia multa eodem illo antiquiora nobis suppetunt. Namque ut Benignianum annorum 800, Vaticana tria, Laudunense, Crespeiense, ac Bigotianum annorum circiter 700, praetermittamus, solum Colbertinum, alias Thuaneum ante 1000 annos haud dubie confectum, quatuor ut minimum saeculis superat Carnutense. Cum porro in omnibus illis codicibus Officia nostra in tres libros distribuantur, id evidenti argumento est Carnutense nihil aliud esse nisi epitomen: in quam quidem contrahi opus illud haud aegre potuit, unde exempla et excursiones absque sensus damno licet eximere.

This same usefulness was the reason why these books were not only copied so many times but also reduced by many into the form of a compendium or of excerpts. Excerpts from them survive in one manuscript of the monastery of Lyre; and a compendium, neatly put together with connecting passages and transitions, in one codex of the Church of Chartres, a transcript of which M. le Feron, canon of that same distinguished church and doctor of the Sorbonne, had copied by his own care and sent to us. We do not deny that this exemplar came from an ancient hand, but we have many others more ancient than it. For, to pass over the Benignian of 800 years, the three Vatican manuscripts, the Laon, the Crépy and the Bigot manuscripts of about 700 years, the Colbert manuscript alone, otherwise the Thou manuscript, made without doubt 1000 years ago, surpasses the Chartres manuscript by at least four centuries. Since, moreover, in all those codices our Offices are divided into three books, this is clear proof that the Chartres manuscript is nothing but an epitome: into which that work could indeed be contracted without difficulty, since its examples and digressions can be removed without harm to the sense.

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