21. The heathen came, but truly into Thine inheritance they came, for they who came as heathen were made Christians. They who came to invade Thine inheritance, were made coheirs of God; those whom I accounted enemies are become my defenders; I have as comrades those whom I esteemed adversaries. Thus has that been fulfilled which the prophet David spake of the Lord Jesus,that Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3. His Dwelling is in peace[106], there brake He the horns of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. For whose office, whose work is this but Thine, Lord Jesus? Thou sawest armed men coming to Thy temple, on the one hand the people groaning and collecting in a crowd that they might not seem to give up the Basilica, on the other hand the soldiers commanded to use force. Death was before my eyes, lest in the midst of all this madness should break out into licence. But Thou, O Lord plantedst Thyself in the midst, and madest the twain one. Thou restrainedst the soldiers, saying, If ye run to arms, if they who are within My temple are disturbed, Ps. xxx. 9. What profit is there in My blood? All thanks therefore be to Thee, O Christ. Itwas not an enemy, not a messenger but Ps. xxx. 11, 12. Thou O Lord hast delivered Thy people, Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
22. Thus I spoke, wondering that the Emperor’s mind could be softened by the zeal of the soldiers, by the entreaties of the Counts, by the prayers of the people. Meanwhile I am informed that a Secretary was come with the mandate. I retired a little, and he notified to me the mandate. ‘What has been your design,’ says he, ‘in acting against the Emperor’s orders?’ I replied, ‘What has been ordered I know not, nor am I aware what is alleged to have been wrongly done.’ He says, ‘Why have you sent presbyters to the Basilica? If you are a tyrant I would fain know it, that I may know how to arm myself against you.’ I replied by saying that I had done nothing which assumed too much for the Church, but when I heard it was filled with soldiers, I only uttered deeper groans, and though many exhorted me to proceed thither, I replied, ‘I cannot give up the Basilica, yet I must not fight.’ That afterwards, when I was told that the Imperial hangings were removed, and that the people required me to go thither, I had directed the presbyters to do so, but that I was unwilling to go myself, saying, ‘I trust in Christ that the Emperor himself will espouse our cause.’
23. If this seems like domineering, I grant indeed that I have arms, but only in the name of Christ; I have the power of offering up my body. Why, I asked, did he delay to strike if he considered my power unlawful? By ancient right Priests have conferred sovereignty, never assumed it, and it is a common saying that Emperors have coveted the Priesthood more often than Priests sovereignty. Christ fled that He might not be made a king. We have a power of our own. The power of a Priest is his weakness; 2 Cor. xii. 10. When I am weak, it is said, then am I strong. But let him against whom God has raised up no adversary beware lest he raise up a tyrant for himself. Maximus did not say that I domineered over Valentinian, though he complains that my embassage prevented his passing over into Italy. I added, that priests were never usurpers, but that they had often suffered from usurpers.
24. The whole of that day was past in this affliction; meanwhile the boys tore in derision the Imperial hangings. I could not return home, because the Church was surrounded by a guard of soldiers. We recited the Psalms with our brethren in the little Basilica belonging to the Church.
25. On the following day, the book of Jonah was read in due course, after which, I began this discourse; We have read a book, my brethren, wherein it is foretold that sinners shall return again to repentance. They are accepted on this footing, that their present state is considered an earnest of the future. I added that this just man was even willing to incur blame, rather than behold or denounce destruction on the city; and, since that prophecy was mournful, that he was also grieved because the gourd had withered; that God had said to the prophet, Jonah iv. 9. Art thou greatly angry for the gourd? and Jonah had answered, I am greatly angry. Then the Lord said, if the withering of the gourd was a grief to him, how much more ought he to care for the salvation of so many souls; and therefore that He had suspended the destruction which had been prepared for the whole city.
26. Immediate tidings are brought to me that the Emperor had commanded the soldiers to retire from the Church; and that the fine which had been imposed on the merchants on their condemnation should be restored. What joy then prevailed among the whole people, what applause, what congratulations! Now it was the day whereon the Lord delivered Himself up for us, the day whereon there is a relaxation of penance in the Church. The soldiers eagerly brought the tidings, running in to the altars, and giving the kiss, the emblem of peace. Then I perceived that God had smitten Ib. 7. the worm which came when the morning rose, that the whole city might be preserved.
27. These are the past events, and would that they were terminated, but the excited words of the Emperor show that heavier trials are awaiting us. I am called a tyrant, and even more than tyrant. For when the Counts besought the Emperor to go to the Church, and said that they did so at the request of the soldiers, he replied, ‘You woulddeliver me up to chains, if Ambrose bade you.’ I leave you to judge what awaits us after these words; all shuddered at hearing them, but there are those about him who exasperate him.
28. Lastly Calligonus the Grand Chamberlain[107] ventured to address himself specially to me. ‘Do you, while I live, despise Valentinian? I will have your head.’I replied, ‘May God grant you to fulfil your threat: I shall suffer as becomes a Bishop, you will act as befits an eunuch.’ May God indeed turn them aside from the Church; may all their weapons be directed against me, may they satiate their thirst in my blood!