Letters to Valentian against the restoration of the Altar of Victory

The publication presents two letters of St. Ambrose of Milan to Emperor Valentinian I (Epistle XVII and XVIII), dated 384. The central theme of the letters is a strong protest against the initiative to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate Curia of Rome, as well as against the allocation of public funds for pagan sacrifices. In Epistle XVII (18 chapters) of St. Ambrose writes that a Christian emperor cannot promote pagan rites, for this is contrary to his faith and duty to God. He reminds Valentinian that the power of the sovereign is sanctified by serving the One God, and not by pagan deities, whom Scripture calls demons. The bishop condemns the attempt to revive the privileges of priests and vestals, emphasizing that Christians should not become accomplices in idolatry. St. Ambrose warns: signing a decree on the restoration of the altar will become a sacrilege and will cause resistance from the bishops, and the church itself will refuse to accept the emperor’s gifts if he supports pagan rituals. Epistle XVIII (Chapter 41) is devoted to criticism of the message of the prefect Symmachus, who demanded the return of the altar to Victory. St. Ambrose consistently refutes the three main arguments of Symmachus: - supposedly Rome cannot exist without ancient rites; - the need to pay salaries to the vestals and priests; - the threat of general hunger if pagan sacrifices are abandoned. The saint shows the historical inconsistency of these arguments, pointing out that the pagan gods did not save Rome from Hannibal or the Gauls, and victories were achieved by the valor of warriors, and not by rituals. He contrasts the pagan veneration of idols with the Christian faith and reminds that the welfare of the state and the salvation of souls are possible only through the rejection of pagan customs. See also: Bishop and Empire: Ambrose of Milan and the Roman Empire in the 4th century M.M. Kazakov Letters XVII and XVIII, to Valentinian with protest against the restoration of the altar to Victory Ambrose Bishop - to the most excellent sovereign and most Christian Emperor Valentinian. 1. Just as all the people who are under Roman rule serve you, the earthly emperors and sovereigns, so you yourself serve Almighty God and the sacred faith. Otherwise, salvation cannot be ensured if everyone does not truly honor the true God, and this is the God of Christians, Who rules over everything; He Himself alone is the true God, Whom the sincere soul reveres: “the gods of the pagans are demons” (1 Cor. 10:20), as Scripture says. 2. Therefore, everyone who serves this true God and who accepts His sincere worship with emotional emotion, without pretense, does not condescend, devotes devotion and reverence to the faith. In general, if not this, then at least no one should be an accomplice in the veneration of idols and in the implementation of wicked cults. For no one will mislead God, to whom everything is revealed, even the secrets of the heart. 3. Therefore I wonder how you, a most Christian emperor, who has shown faith in the true God, with zeal in the faith itself, prudent and pious, could awaken in anyone the hope that the altar of the pagan gods should be restored at your direction, and also that funds should be allocated for impious sacrifices, which have already been accepted so long ago either by the fisc or the state treasury, that it will seem that you will give them what is more yours, than you will give them back what you have. 4. And those who never spared our blood, who destroyed the very buildings of the churches, are complaining about the losses. They want you to grant them privileges, those who, by the last law of Julian, denied us the usual need to speak and teach; and those privileges with which Christians were often deceived, since with some of these privileges, partly through ignorance, partly by evading the burdensomeness of public needs, they wanted to confuse us, and due to the fact that not everyone had enough firmness, many fell 1 even during the time of Christian sovereigns. 5. But regarding these privileges, if they had not already been abolished, I would prove that they were removed by your authority; but since they had previously been suspended or prohibited almost throughout the world by many sovereigns, in Rome they were also abolished by your grace's brother Gratian of most august memory for reasons of true faith, and rescripts were issued for their abolition; I ask, either do not destroy what was established in accordance with the true faith, or do not cancel the instructions of your brother. In state affairs, if something is established, no one will consider you strange than if a rule about religion is violated. 6. Let no one be deceived by your youth: if the one who demands this is a pagan, he should not entangle your mind with the chains of his superstitions, but he should encourage and teach you with special zeal how you should strive for the true faith, for with such inspiration of truth he defends the empty. And I advise you to consider the merits of famous men; but the true God must be preferred to all. 7. If military matters are discussed, the opinion of a person experienced in battles is sought, the loyalty of his advice is confirmed; when it comes to religion, think about God. There is no harm to anyone if Almighty God is preferred to him. He has his own opinion. Do not think of forcing someone who does not want to read what he does not want; This same thing is allowed to you, Emperor, and let everyone endure it patiently, if he cannot force the Emperor to do what he would painfully endure if the Emperor wanted to force him. The state of hypocrisy is usually unpleasant for the pagans themselves; for everyone must openly defend the faith and follow the plan of his mind. 8. Regarding the fact that if anyone who calls himself Christians thinks that such an important decree will be made, do not let mere words captivate your mind, do not let empty names mislead you. Whoever advises it, and whoever decrees it, sacrifices; yet one sacrifice is more tolerable than the fall of all. Under such circumstances the entire Christian senate is in danger. 9. If today some pagan emperor, who in fact does not exist, would erect an altar to idols and force Christians to gather to it so that they would participate in sacrifices, so that the breath and lips of the believers would be filled with ashes from the altar, the soot of sacrilege, the children of the conflagration; and in that curia he would pronounce a decision that those who swore at the altar of idols would be forced to thus agree to this decision (for the same reason they explain the location of the altar, so that thanks to their oath, as they themselves think, every meeting would act for the general benefit, although the curia is already filled with Christians in large numbers), a Christian who would be forced to come to the senate to carry out such a will must consider this persecution; what would really happen, because with the help of violence they are forced to gather. Therefore, by you, Emperor, Christians are forced to take an oath before the altar? What does it mean to take an oath if you do not acknowledge the divine power of the one whom you certify as the patron of your faith? When you are an emperor, they ask and demand that you order the construction of an altar and provide funds for unholy sacrifices? 10. But this cannot be decreed without blasphemy; Therefore, I ask you not to decree, pass judgment or sign such decrees. I, as a priest of Christ, turn to your faith; all of us, bishops, would turn to you if this incredible and unforeseen came to the ears of men, that it would either be proposed in your consistory or a petition submitted by the Senate. But it was not that this requirement was proclaimed by the Senate: few pagans took advantage of the common name. After all, almost two years ago, when they tried to achieve the same thing, St. Damasus, a priest of the Roman Church, chosen by the will of God, sent me a complaint that was filed by Christian senators, and in very large numbers, complaining that they had not ordered anything of the kind, that they did not agree with such requests of the pagans, that they had not given consent to the petition. They also complained publicly and privately that they would not come to the Curia if such a thing was decreed. Is it right for you in your times, that is, in Christian times, for you to deprive Christian senators of their dignity and leave the pagans to fulfill their wicked aspirations? I sent this complaint to your honor's brother, from where it became known that it was not the Senate that sent ambassadors asking for expenses for superstitious rites. 11. But perhaps they will say: why were they not present in the Senate before that when that petition was drawn up? They said enough of what they wanted by not being present; enough has been said by what was said to the emperor. Finally, we are surprised if the private people of Rome are deprived of the freedom of resistance by those who do not want you to be free not to order what you do not approve or to observe your opinion. 12. And therefore, remembering the ambassadorial duties recently entrusted to me, I appeal once again to your faith, I appeal to your conscience, so that you either decide not to give an answer to the second such petition of the pagans, or would not add the signature of sacrilege to such an answer. As a last resort, turn to the father of your grace 2 - Emperor Theodosius, with whom you used to consult in almost all matters of great importance. Nothing matters more than religion; There is nothing more sublime than faith. 13. If this is a civil case, the objection of the opposing party is respected; this is a religious matter, and I, the bishop, am appealing. Let me have a copy of the sent report so that I can give a more complete answer; and let the father of your grace know about everything and deign to give an answer. Of course, if something else is decided, we bishops will not be able to bear it with peace of mind and ignore it; you will be allowed to enter the church, but there you will not find a priest or you will find resistance in his person. 14. What will you answer to the priest who tells you: the church does not ask for your gifts, because you decorated a pagan temple with gifts? The altar of Christ does not accept your gifts, because you made a sacrifice to the altar of idols, because your voice, your hand and your signature, your deed. The Lord Jesus rejects and does not accept your helpfulness, because you were obliging to idols; he told you: “You cannot serve two masters” (Matthew VI,24). Virgins dedicated to God do not have your privileges, and the Vestals restore them? Why do you need the priests of God, to whom you preferred the petitions of the wicked pagans? We cannot accept the mistakes of others. 15. What would you answer to these words? What are you, who fell, still a boy? Every age is a coming of age for Christ, every age is filled with God. Childhood faith is not recognized: after all, even children with fearless lips recognized Christ before the persecutors. 16. What would you answer to your brother? Will he not tell you: I did not consider myself defeated because I left you as emperor; I did not grieve over death because I had you as my heir; I did not lament that I was leaving imperial power, because I believed that my orders, especially as regards the divine religion, would be preserved for all ages? I have extolled these glorious names of pious virtues; I presented them as spoils won from the world, as trophies taken from the devil, as spoils won from all enemies, and in them is eternal victory. What more could my enemy take from me? You canceled my decisions, what the one who took up arms against me has not yet done. Now my body is pierced by an even more dangerous weapon - that my brother has condemned my decisions. The best part of me is in danger because of you; That one was only the death of the body, this one was the death of virtue. Now I have been deprived of power, and, what is even harder, I have been deprived of you as myself; and I am deprived of that which even my opponents praised in me. If you have found the desired consolation, you have condemned my faith; if you gave in against your will, you betrayed yours. So, more seriously, I am in danger because of you. 17. How would you also answer your father, who would turn to you with even greater indignation, saying: you judged me, my son, in the worst way, when you thought that I showed leniency towards the pagans? No one reported to me that there was an altar in that Roman curia; I never believed in such wickedness that in that general meeting of Christians and pagans, pagans offer sacrifices; this means that the pagans mock the Christians present, and Christians are forced against their will to participate in sacrifices. Many and varied crimes were committed while I was emperor; I punished everyone who was captured; If then someone disappeared, should anyone say in my defense that no one informed me? You judged me worse if you thought that my power was preserved by someone else’s superstition, and not by my faith. 18. From here, as can be seen, the emperor, if anything like this is decreed, damage will be caused first to God, then to father and brother; I ask that you do what you know will promote your salvation before God. Late summer – early autumn 384 Ambrose Bishop - to the most excellent sovereign, the most merciful emperor Valentinian Augustus. 1. When the most illustrious man, the prefect of the city of Symmachus, turned to your mercy to return to its original place the altar, which had been removed from the Senate Curia of the city of Rome, you, emperor, despite your youth and inexperience, showed yourself to be a veteran of faith and virtue and did not approve of the requests of the pagans; As soon as I found out about this, I sent you a letter in which, although I expressed everything that seemed necessary to me, I nevertheless asked you to give me a copy of Symmachus’ report. 2. Therefore, without questioning your faith, but with prudence and confidence in goodwill, I respond in this document to the arguments of the report, turning to you with one request: do not look for elegance of expression here, but take into account only the force of facts. For, as the Holy Scripture teaches, the language of wise and learned people is gold: it sparkles with beautiful, sonorous Phrases, as if reflecting its precious shine, captivating the eyes with the appearance of beauty and blinding them with this external radiance. But gold turns out to be valuable only on the outside, but on the inside it is a simple metal. I ask you, consider and examine the sayings of the pagans; they speak weightily and sublimely, but they defend what is far from the truth. They talk about God but worship idols. 3. Thus, the most illustrious prefect of the city, in his report, put forward three propositions which he considers indisputable: he says that Rome demands the fulfillment of its old rites, that the Vestals and priests must be paid salaries, and that refusal to pay the priests will entail a general famine. 4. As stated in the first part of the report, Rome is shedding tears, plaintively begging for the restoration of old rituals. Pagan shrines, he says, drove Hannibal away from the city walls and prevented the Gauls from entering the Capitol. In reality, while the power of the shrines manifested itself, weakness betrayed them. Hannibal insulted Roman shrines for a long time and, although the gods fought with him, the conqueror reached the very walls of the city. Why did the gods allow Rome to be besieged? Who were they fighting for? 5. Indeed, what can I say about the Gauls, who would not have been prevented by Roman relics from entering the Holy of Holies of the Capitol, if they had not been betrayed by the frightened cry of the geese? What magnificent defenders of Roman churches! Where was Jupiter then? Or was it his voice heard in the goose's cry? 6. But why should I deny that their shrines fought for the Romans? However, Hannibal also worshiped the same gods! Therefore, the gods can choose whoever they want. And if the shrines won among the Romans, then, therefore, they were defeated among the Carthaginians, and if they triumphed over the Carthaginians, then it means that they did not bring good luck to the Romans. 7. So this disgusting complaint of the Roman people is exhausted. Rome did not order pagans to pronounce it. On the contrary, he addresses them with completely different words. Why,” he says, “do you stain me with blood every day, sacrificing entire herds of innocent animals? The guarantee of your victory is not in fortune telling by entrails, but in the valor of the warriors. I conquered the world with a different art. My soldier was Camillus, who drove the victors from the Tarpeian rock and tore down their banners, already raised above the Capitol: those who were not defeated by the pagan gods were defeated by military valor. What can I say about Attilius, whose very death was the fulfillment of military duty? The African achieved his triumph not among the altars of the Capitol, but in the battle ranks, fighting Hannibal. Why do you insist so much on the religious rituals of our ancestors? I hate the faith that Nero professed. What can I say about emperors for two months and the end of their reign, so close to the beginning? And is it really new for barbarians to go beyond their borders? After all, those two were not Christians with whom an unprecedented accident occurred when one of them, the captured emperor, and the other, who received power over the world, declared that the rituals that promised victory turned out to be false. Wasn't there an altar of Victory then? I regret my errors: on my gray head is the red reflection of shameful bloodshed. But I, an old man, am not ashamed to be reborn along with the whole world. It's never too late to learn the truth. Let him be ashamed who is unable to improve in his old age. In old age, it is not the gray hair that deserves praise, but the character. There is no shame in changing for the better. In only one way was I like the barbarians, in that I still did not know God. Your sacrifice is a rite of sprinkling with the blood of animals. Why are you looking for the voice of God in dead animals? Come and join the heavenly host on earth. Here we live, and there we will fight. Let God himself, who created me, teach me the mysteries of heaven, and not a man who failed to know himself. Whose words about God can I trust more than God himself? And how can I believe you, who admit themselves that they do not know whom they worship? 8. You can come to knowledge of the great secret, he says, in more than one way. I say: everything you know was taught to us by God himself. What you are trying to unravel has been revealed to us by the incarnate Divine Wisdom itself. Your ways are different from ours. You ask the emperor for peace for your gods, but we ask Christ for peace for the emperors themselves. You worship the work of your own hands, but we consider it an insult to see God in what can be done by human hands. God does not want to be worshiped in stone. After all, even your philosophers laughed at this. 9. Therefore, if you deny that Christ is God, because you do not believe in his death (for you do not know that only the flesh died, and not the deity, and that now none of the believers will die at all), then who could be more foolish than you, whose veneration contains insult, and insult - veneration? Oh, this is veneration full of insult! You don't believe that Christ could die. Oh, this obstinacy full of reverence! 10. It is necessary to return, he says, altars to idols, and to churches their ancient decorations. Let them demand this, but only from those who share their superstitions: the Christian emperor was accustomed to honoring the altar of Christ alone. Then do they compel godly hands and faithful lips to aid them in their sacrilege? Let the voice of our emperor pronounce the name of Christ alone and speak only of him whom he feels, for “the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.” Did any pagan emperor erect an altar to Christ? And while the pagans demand the restoration of what was, their example reminds us with what respect Christian emperors should treat the religion they follow; after all, once upon a time pagan emperors sacrificed everything to their superstitions. II. We started our business a long time ago, but they have been grasping for something that doesn’t exist for a long time. We are proud of the blood shed, they are concerned about the costs. What we consider a victory, they regard as a defeat. Never have the pagans brought us greater benefit than at the time when, on their orders, Christians were tortured, expelled and killed. Religion has made a reward of what unbelief considered a punishment. What greatness of soul! We grew up thanks to losses, thanks to need, thanks to sacrifices, but they do not believe that their customs will be preserved without financial help. 12. Let the Vestals, he says, retain their privileges. Let those say this who are unable to believe that virginity can exist unselfishly; let those who do not trust virtues appeal to greed. However, how many of these virgins received the promised reward? Hardly seven Vestals received. This is the whole number of those who combine in themselves the decoration of the head with infulas, the garments of the purple dye of murex, the splendor of a litter surrounded by a retinue of servants, the greatest privileges, enormous benefits, and, finally, a fixed time of chastity. 13. Let them lift up the eyes of soul and body, let them see a chaste people, people of unselfishness, a society of virgins. Not decorating the head with bandages, but wearing a cover of purity, noble chastity, not seeking, but rejecting the temptations of beauty; not those purple decorations, not the pomp of luxury, but the habit of abstinence from food, not privileges, not benefits; in the end, everything is such that you think that something is holding her back from passion when she fulfills her duties. But while duties are fulfilled, passion is aroused. Her chastity increases from losses. Not the virginity that is bought for a price, not the virtue that passion has mastered; not the purity for which a price is set for a short time at an auction. The first victory of integrity, which is ashamed of the temptation of passion for gain, is to conquer the strong desire for wealth. Let's still use generous funds to pay virgins. What gifts will be abundant for Christians? What funds will be sufficient for the state treasury? Or if they believe that only the Vestals should be paid, is it not a shame that those who appropriated everything for themselves during the reign of pagan emperors should not consider the same during the reign of Christian sovereigns that our share should be common? 14. They complain that also their priests and ministers should not be entitled to public maintenance. How much noise arose because of these words! But on the other hand, recent laws have denied us even the inheritance of private property, and no one complains, because we do not consider this a damage, because we do not grieve over losses. If a priest seeks the privilege of avoiding the curial burden, he must cede possession of all the property and inheritance of the ancestors. If this concerned them, how would the pagans strengthen this complaint that the priest acquires free days for his ministry at the cost of losing his entire fortune and buys the benefit of the obedience of the people with the loss of all private property. Referring to the protection of the common good, he would console himself with the retribution of domestic needs, since he did not sell his service, but acquired grace. 15. Compare the cases. You want to excuse the decurion, while the church is not allowed to excuse the priest. Wills were written to temple servants; no pagan is excluded, no extreme conditions, no excessive modesty; Of all, only one clergyman is denied the common right, the one who alone undertakes common prayer for all and performs a common service; nothing from the will, at least from respectable widows, no donations. And where guilt cannot be detected in behavior, punishment for serving is still established. What a Christian widow leaves in her will to the priests of churches matters, but what she leaves to the servants of God does not matter. I put all this out not because I am complaining, but so that they know that I am not complaining; for I prefer that we have less money than grace. 16. But they repeat: what was either donated or left to the church was not touched. Let them themselves say who took away from the churches the gifts that were brought by Christians. These gifts, if they were given to the pagans, would be better to return than to cause damage. Is it only now that justice is justified and equality is required? Where then was this opinion, when, having plundered all the property of Christians, they were deprived of the very breath of life and were forbidden to pay the last debt of burial, which was never denied to any of the dead? Those whom the pagans cast into the abyss were brought back by the sea. The victory of faith is that they themselves condemn the actions of their ancestors, condemn their deeds. But what is the point, after all, in their asking favors from those whose actions they condemn? 17. However, no one refuses gifts to churches and those intended by will; only landed property was taken away because that which they protected by religious right was not piously used. Why didn’t we fulfill our duties as we are the ones who use our example? The Church owns nothing except faith. What is donated is income. Church property is spent on the poor. Let them count how many captives the churches ransomed, how much food they distributed to the poor, how many exiles they provided the means to live. So, their land ownership, not their rights, was taken away from them. 18. This is what happened: severe punishment was sent for wickedness - vengeance by the famine of the people; since what had previously benefited the clergy began to be used for the benefit of everyone. For this reason, therefore, as they say, thirsty lips licked up the pitiful moisture released from the trees by the stripped tree bark. For this reason, Chaonian fruits were replaced by acorns; on the other hand, reduced to food for livestock and food for the unfortunate vanquished, shaking the oak trees, they quenched their painful hunger in the forests. It is easy to see in this new wonders of the earth that had never happened before when pagan superstition overflowed the entire earth! In fact, when was the abundant sacrifice of the farmer deceived by the fruitless sowing of oats, and the hope of the peasants who coveted the fruits of the plants was deceived by the furrow? 19. And why did the Greeks receive divinations from oak trees, if not because they considered the means of forest nutrition a gift from heavenly religion? After all, they believed that these were their gifts from the gods. Who, if not the pagans, worshiped the Dodon trees when they paid homage to the bitter food of the forest land? It is incredible that their indignant gods should assign as punishment what they were in the habit of graciously giving as a gift. 20. What kind of equality is this if those who mourn the deprivation of the means of life of a few priests themselves would deny this to everyone when the punishment was more severe than the guilt deserved? So, the reason that connects the deluded world with this kind of punishment is not suitable; how, when the crops are still green, the hope of the whole year would suddenly die. 21. Of course, many years ago the rights of temples throughout the world were abolished; and only now did it occur to the gods of the pagans to punish them with anger for their grievances? Is this why the Nile did not change its usual course to avenge the losses of the city priests, who could not take revenge themselves? 22. But even if they believed so, that last year the insults of their gods were avenged, then why did they neglect them this year? Now the rural population does not feed on the torn roots of plants, do not seek relief in wild berries, do not extract food from thorn bushes: but rejoicing at the successful work, while they themselves were surprised at their harvest, they satisfied their hunger by satiating their desires - the earth returned the harvest to us with interest. 23. Who, therefore, is so unaccustomed to human experience that he can be amazed at the succession of years? And yet, even last year, as we know, many provinces were abundant in food. What can I say about Gaul, who were richer than usual? The inhabitants of Pannonia sold the wheat that they did not use for sowing; and fertile Rezia suffered envy on account of her fertility; after all, by the fact that she is usually more protected from hunger, her fertility aroused enmity towards herself; Liguria and Venetia were fed by the bread of autumn. So, that year did not fade because of sacrilege, but this year blossomed with the fruits of faith. Let them also try to deny that the vineyards abounded in a bountiful harvest. So, we have received the harvest with interest, and have additional benefits from the grape harvest. 24. The last and most significant point remains: should you, emperors, restore those means of assistance that would be useful to you; for he says: let them (the gods) protect you, and be honored by us. This is what, most faithful sovereigns, we cannot bear, since they reproach us with the fact that they pray to their gods using your name; and you did not order that monstrous sacrilege be committed, but they interpreted your inattention as consent. Let them have their defenders; their own, if they can, will protect what they worship. After all, if they cannot help those who revere them, how can they protect you who do not revere them? 25. But, he says, the rites of the ancestors must be protected. What is it about the fact that everything subsequently progressed for the better? The world itself, which was first formed from related elements thanks to an incorporeal first cause in the young firmament, or was covered in darkness and cold with still randomly confused entities; subsequently, did he not receive, through the orderly distinction of heaven, seas and earth, those forms of things that seem beautiful? The lands, freed from damp darkness, marveled at the new sun. The days did not shine at first, but as time passed they sparkled with increasing light and increasing warmth. 26. The moon itself, which is symbolized by prophetic prophecies as the image of the church, when it first remains, rising in the monthly cycles, is hidden from us in darkness, and gradually filling its horns or freed from the solar region, blushes with a clear splendor of brilliance. 27. The earth previously did not know how to produce fruits: then, when the busy farmer began to dominate the fields and cover the shapeless soil with vineyards, it lost its wild character, softened by cultivation. 28. The beginning of the year itself, which colored us with the same habit of plant gravity, but in the process of smooth movement it comes to life with spring flowers, and at the end it ripens with fruits. 29. We also have infantilism of feelings at an early age, but changing over the years, we discard the knowledge of our first experience. 30. So, let them say that everything should have remained in its beginnings, that they do not like the world covered with darkness, which is illuminated by the brilliance of the sun. And how much more pleasant it is to remove darkness from the soul than from the body; and so that the light of faith shines more than the sun. Therefore, the youth of the world, like all things, must flicker so that the venerable old generation follows the old faith. Those who care about this, let them blame the harvest because fertility came late; let them blame the grape harvest because it occurs at the end of the year; let them blame the olive tree because it is the last to bear fruit. 31. Therefore, our harvest is the faith of souls; the grace of the church is a collection of blessings that have been strengthened in the saints since the beginning of the world, but have recently spread among the people; so that everyone would pay attention to the fact that faith in Christ did not penetrate into rude souls (after all, there is no wreath of victory without an opponent), but the opinion that had previously taken root was rejected that what was true becomes rightfully preferable. 32. If ancient rites are pleasant to them, why are foreign cults successful at the same time in Rome? I am silent about the land covered with expensive buildings and shepherd's huts that resist counterfeit gold. Why should I answer directly what they complain about: that they have adopted statues of captured cities, and vanquished gods, and foreign rites of worship, in imitation of foreign superstition? Then where does the example come from that Cybele washes her chariot in the river representing Almon (a tributary of the Tiber)? Where did the Phrygian soothsayers and the unjust Carthaginian gods, always hated by the Romans, come from? And she who is revered by the inhabitants of Africa as heavenly, by the Persians as Mithras and by the majority as Venus - the difference in names does not express the diversity of deities. So they believed that victory is a goddess, who in any case is a gift, and not a power; given, but not dominated, by legions, not by the power of religion. So, is this goddess great, who is appropriated by the troops, or gives the outcome of battles? 33. They ask that this altar be erected in the senate building of the city of Rome, that is, where the majority of those who gather are Christians. All churches have altars, and there is also an altar in the Church of Victories. Since they find pleasure in quantity, they celebrate their sacrifices everywhere. What is this, if not a mockery of faith, to demand sacrifice on this altar? Is it bearable for a pagan to make sacrifices while a Christian is present? Let them perceive, he says, even against their will, smoke with their eyes, music with their ears, ashes with their throats, incense with their nostrils, and let the soot rising from our altars be allowed to cover their turning away faces. Are baths, porticoes, courtyards filled with statues not enough for them? What if this general meeting must also suffer a common fate? The pious part of the Senate will be bound by the votes of those who solemnly swear and join the sacraments. If rejected, it will seem that they are deceiving; if they agree, they will clearly show sacrilege. 34. Where, he says, will we swear allegiance to you and your laws? Therefore, your reason, which is contained in the laws, finds approval and receives loyalty through the rites of the pagans? Not only from those present, but even from those absent, and, moreover, emperors, your faith is subject to blows, because you force if you command. Constantius, of most august memory, being not yet initiated into the sacred mysteries, would have considered himself tainted if he had seen that altar. He ordered it to be removed, he did not order it to be returned. The first was done by order, the second was not ordered. 35. Let no one flatter himself because of his absence. He who intervenes in the minds is more present than he who witnesses with his eyes. After all, binding with the mind means more than connecting with the body. The Senate in your person has a leader who convenes meetings, it meets for you, it leaves its conscience to you, and not to the gods of the pagans; He prefers you to his children, but not to his faith. This is the love that is sought, this is the love that is more valuable than dominion, if the faith that serves dominion is secure. 36. But perhaps someone cares that that most faithful sovereign was abandoned to the mercy of fate; as if the reward of merit were considered transitory for the present time. After all, what wise man does not know that the difficulties of human affairs are located in a certain circle, and also in regular repetition, since they do not always have the same result, but change their position and change the alternation. 37. Who more prosperous than Gnaeus Pompeii would the Roman churches mourn? However, although he encircled the earth's circle with three triumphs, defeated in battle, a fugitive from war and an exile from the borders of his empire, he fell at the hands of the eunuch Canopeus. 38. Who more famous than Cyrus, the Persian king, would all the eastern lands give? He, too, although he defeated the most powerful sovereigns who resisted him and kept them submissive, died, struck down by the weapon of a woman. And this king, who even released the vanquished, leaving with honor, the king, whose severed head was placed in a wineskin full of blood, upon orders to drink his fill, was the subject of ridicule by the female power. And, moreover, in this journey of life, not equal was rewarded for equal, but something completely different. 39. Who will we find more devoted to sacrifices than the Carthaginian leader Hamilcar? Who, all the time the battle was going on, took risks and made sacrifices between the ranks of the combatants; and when he realized that his side was defeated, he threw himself into the sacrificial fire so that he could at least put out with his body what, as he learned, did not bring him anything useful. 40. What can I say about Julian? Who, very trusting the answers of the soothsayers, deprived himself of the opportunity to seek help. Therefore, in ordinary destruction there is no general loss, for our promises deceived no one. 41. I answered those who challenged me as if I had not been challenged, for my desire was to refute the relation, and not to display superstitions. But their very communication, Emperor, should make you more cautious. After all, while telling about previous sovereigns that the earlier ones honored the numerous rites of their fathers, the recent ones did not eliminate them; I would also add: if the example of the old religion does not matter, neglect of the latest examples will matter; It is clearly shown what you owe to your faith, so that you do not follow the example of pagan rites, and what you owe to piety, so that you do not violate your brother’s decrees. If, on their part, they would praise the neglect of those sovereigns who, although they were Christians, did not at all abolish the pagan decrees, how much more praise should you give to brotherly love, since you should have neglected, although you may not have admitted it, the abolition of your brother’s decrees, and now you will defend what, in your opinion, unites both your faith and the close ties of brotherhood. Those. abandoned the Christian faith. Theodosius is here called the father of Valentinian in the sense of the oldest emperor. You might be interested in: