Treatise of St. Ambrose of Milan “On Duties” in the Ancient and Christian Tradition

In December 44 BC. e. Marcus Tullius Cicero completed the treatise “On the Duties to the Son Marcus” (De officiis ad Marcum filium), the last of a series of great philosophical texts that he created shortly before his death. The source of inspiration and thoughts for Cicero was the work of Panaetius of Rhodes (180–109 BC). Panaetius was the teacher of Posidonius of Rhodes, from whom Cicero himself studied. One can argue for a long time about the philosophical views of Cicero himself, because it is known that he also studied with the Stoic Diodotus, with the Epicurean Phaedrus and with Philo from the New Academy, so in his writings we find a complex conglomerate of ideas from many philosophical schools. It is no coincidence that in his programmatic philosophical work “On the Limits of Good and Evil” 1 Cicero chooses the form of dialogue - not only imitating Plato, but also allowing representatives of different philosophical schools to speak about their teaching. (Cicero was proud of the fact that he taught Roman philosophers to speak Latin; in the treatise “On the Nature of the Gods” we find an argument that although many before him studied with the Greeks, they could not communicate anything to their fellow tribesmen, since they could not find words in Latin, but Cicero is confident in himself and is not afraid of being defeated by the Greeks in a verbal competition (see: nat. 1.8). In another way in the treatise “On the Limits of Good and Evil” (1.10; 3.5), he several times emphasizes the superiority of the Latin language over the Greek 2). In the writings of Cicero, philosophical terminology and a conceptual apparatus for expressing philosophical categories were developed; he created new words, turning to Greek verbal material. But in the history of Roman Stoicism, Cicero occupies a special place 3 - largely thanks to Cicero, Stoic ideas were accepted by Christian authors and, in a rethought form, entered Christian ethical teaching. An example of such ideological processing is the treatise of St. Ambrose of Milan “On Responsibilities” 4. Chronology of texts by St. Ambrose presents a complex and confusing problem 5 . The text we are considering probably dates from the period between 386 and 389. 6 The saint called it, following Cicero, “On Duties” 7, under this title the treatise is also known. Augustine of Hippo 8. The author did not hide the fact that the text was created not only under the influence of Cicero’s work of the same name, but was also directly oriented towards him (the saint calls his predecessor by name several times, for example, twice in off. 1.24; 1.43, 82, 180, although for the most part he refers to him with the words: ferunt, nonnuli putant, legimus) 9 . Like Cicero's treatise, the work of St. Ambrose consists of three books and is addressed to the sons of the faith, the clergy of Milan, to whom St. Ambrose shows Christian virtues, contrasting them with Roman ones, citing examples from the Bible as examples, thus we can say that St. Ambrose had two sources - the Bible and Cicero. Following Cicero, Ambrose discusses the worthy (honestum) in the first book, the useful (util) in the second book; in the third book, the saint, following Cicero, was going to compare the worthy and the useful, but comes to the conclusion that the worthy and the useful do not contradict each other and are in close connection: one is impossible without the other. Why St. Ambrose creates this text and chooses Cicero's text as his literary model? To answer this question, it is necessary to reflect on the circumstances and conditions of the appearance of this work. In the early 80s of the 4th century. St. Ambrose already had significant influence not only in the church hierarchy of the Western part of the Roman Empire, but also among government officials. The Roman Pope Damasus turned to him with a request to influence the Emperor Gratian (a letter from the Roman Council of 378 was preserved among the collection of letters of the saint 10), the emperor, in turn, asked him for instructions in the faith 11, namely St. Ambrose was sent to the usurper emperor Maximus Magnus with an embassy 12. Against this background, the words of the blessed one sound dissonant. Jerome of Stridon in his letter to Eustochius (epist. 22 “On the preservation of virginity,” 384) 13, where the author, mentioning Ambrose’s work “On Virgins,” immediately criticizes him, indirectly accusing him of plagiarism 14, rhetorical pomp and flattering words 15. In the same letter to Blessed Eustochia. Jerome tells his famous dream of how he fell ill, was almost dying and was presented to the throne of the Judge, who exclaimed: “You are a Ciceronian, not a Christian!” With tears, Jerome promised not to read ancient authors and not to keep their books in his library. All of ecclesiastical Rome, of course, knew about the illness and vision of the blessed one. Jerome, who vividly described this event. In the person of Cicero, Blessed. Jerome condemned his past, his education, his culture, as usual, decisively and in very harsh terms. Also, Jerome’s unkind words addressed to St. Ambrose could not go unnoticed 16. We will try to show that the treatise “On Duties” appeared as a response to the criticism of the blj. Jerome. St. Ambrose drew attention to the criticism and obvious hostility of the famous cleric 17, but chooses an intellectual and polemical form of response 18. At the beginning of the treatise, he says: “My accuser seeks to arouse my anger, to force me to respond in kind, to do the same as he did” (off. 1. 18). Wanting to show the illegality of the conclusions, the haste and thoughtlessness of Jerome’s statements, St. Ambrose uses the figure of Cicero as a symbol of the struggle for Christian culture. The saint turns to more than one work by Cicero; we find in Ambrose’s text “On Duties” allusions and quotes from at least seven treatises: “On Friendship”, “On Old Age”, “On the Limits of Good and Evil”, “On the Nature of the Gods”, “Tusculan Conversations”, “The Orator”, “On the Orator” 19. The saint realizes several of his theses: ancient authors borrowed their ideas from even more ancient Old Testament literature, 20 thus Roman culture turns out to be in some way the heir of Old Testament antiquity; the thoughts of ancient authors can be supported by examples from sacred history 21, in addition, even examples from ancient life, Greek or Latin, can be understood as Christian examples, drawing the correct conclusions. If we look at the text “On Duties” as an essay that implements these theses, then the polemical passages that we encounter in the text will become clearer. Among the creations of St. Ambrose, the proposed text occupies a special place; it is an instructional text that has become a precedent in Christian literature and formed a new genre - although the works of Isidore of Seville “On Church Duties” or “Pastoral Rules” of St. Gregory the Great does not follow the model of the Mediolan saint in the set of theses and examples, but one can trace the logic of presentation common to him. The treatise “On Duties” is one of the first texts that deals with Christian ethics, the principles and norms of behavior of Christians and Christian pastors. This creation is also unusual in that it carried not only the form, themes, vocabulary and, often, thoughts of the work of the 1st century. BC e. The author is predominantly stoic, but it shows the commonality of universal human virtues, drawing timeless, intercultural and non-national parallels. The author Christianizes the ideas of his ancient predecessor, enriching Christian culture with new images. In particular, St. Ambrose turns (off. 1. 115–121) 22 to the traditional Stoic tetrad, or quadriga, of the four virtues (wisdom - sapientia or prudentia, justice or righteousness - iustitia, courage - fortitudo, moderation - temperantia) 23 . Transferring the quadriga of Stoic virtues into the Christian ethical system, St. Ambrose understands in a new way the source of virtue in man; for him, virtue is a way of expressing God’s grace (off. 1. 116–121). St. Ambrose focuses readers' attention on the fact that he is creating a new text based on the work of a pagan author, thus this text was originally supposed to be perceived as a Christian philosophical treatise. This was a creative process of creating an original work, albeit using the ideas of an ancient author 24: the saint thought about the logic of the presentation of the material, looked for appropriate terms, introduced his own reasoning and examples from the Holy Scriptures, and systematized the thoughts of the apostolic epistles. Unlike blzh. Jerome for St. Ambrose had no dilemma whether or not to use Cicero's texts in search of expressions and words that adequately convey Christian intuitions. He freely draws from the rich river of Cicero’s eloquence, and not only terms, but also philosophical argumentation, ideas, and a system of ethical views. At the same time, he argues with Jerome: if for Jerome the Latin translation of the texts of the Holy Scripture sounds rude, then St. Ambrose finds rhetorical figures, philosophical reasoning, and correctness of language in the biblical books. But, addressing his contemporaries with teachings, he uses a form familiar to them, thus giving a new moral and ascetic imperative to his readers. Quoting the words of Cicero 25 in his treatise “On Virgins” 26, St. Ambrose calls Cicero a worldly teacher (saecularium doctor), which is reminiscent of calling the Apostle Paul a teacher of the pagans (doctor gentium, 1 Tim 2.5). For the translation, the Latin text published by the French scientist Maurice Testard 27 was used; the translator also consulted Krabinger's old edition 28 . When working on the text, existing translations into English 29, Italian 30, and German 31 were taken into account. Of particular note is Ivar Davidson's excellent modern bilingual edition, which contains detailed commentary and an extensive bibliography. Davidson's edition is also good because the translator provides numerous quotations from Cicero, which make it possible to trace even the lexical relationship between the two texts. In our edition, we limited ourselves to footnotes to the Latin text of Cicero’s “De officiis” and to the translation of this treatise into Russian 32. Treatise of St. Ambrose of Milan “On Duties” was very popular in Russia; the first translation into Church Slavonic, entitled “On the Duties of Ministers,” appeared in 1776; later it was republished several times under different titles: “On Positions,” “On the Duties of Clergy,” “On the Priestly Order,” “On the Importance and Properties of the Priestly Order” 33 . In 1908 in Kazan, G. Prokhorov translated the treatise into Russian 34. A new translation of Treatise 35 was completed by the outstanding Russian Latinist Nikolai Alekseevich Fedorov shortly before his death on June 26, 2016. Marcus Tullius Cicero. About the limits of good and evil. Paradoxes of the Stoics / Trans. N. A. Fedorova; Comm. B. M. Nikolsky; Entry Art. N. P. Grinzer. M„ 2000. If you count how many words from the Greek language were introduced into Latin usage by Cicero and other Roman authors, it turns out that Cicero in this list exceeds the rest of the writers combined (see: Oksala R. Die Griechischen Lehnwörten in den Prosaschriften Ciceros. Helsinki, 1953). On Cicero’s Stoicism, see: Colich M. L. The Stoic tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. P. 1: Stoicism in Classical Latin Literature. Leiden, 1985, pp. 61–158. It is interesting that Maurice Testard, who published Cicero’s treatise in 1953, became the publisher of St. Ambrose: Saint Ambroise. Les devoirs. De officiis.Texte établi, traduit et annoté / Par M. Testard. (Coll. des Universités de France). P.: Les Belles Lettres, 1984–1992. Reprint: 2000 in Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. See: Visona G. Cronologia ambrosiana. Bibliografia ambrosiana (1900–2000). Milano: Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Roma: Città Nuova, 2004. (SAEMO; 25/26). P. 127–129. Some researchers indicate 390 as the date of the final edition of the text (see: Palanque J.-R. Saint Ambroise et l'Empire romain: Contribution à l'histoire des rapports de l'Église et de l'État à la fin du IV e siècle. P., 1933. P. 527). Cm.: off. 1. 23, 25, 65, 231; 2. 1, 25. Moorish publishers at the end of the 17th century. They called this work “On the Duties of the Clergy” (De officiis ministrorum). See y blzh. Augustine: epist. 82.21. Lactantius already addressed Cicero’s treatise “06 Duties” in his “Divine Institutions” (see: Davidson I. Introduction // Ambrose. De Officiis / Ed. with introduction., transl. and comment. by Ivor J. Davidson. 2 vols. Oxford: Univ. Press, 2002. P. 15, 22–24. Hereafter – Davidson). Cm.: epist. ex. c. 7 (see: Ambrose of Milan, St. Collected works. T. 4. 4.2. M., 2015. P. 355–367). See the letter of Emperor Gratian: Ambrose of Milan, St. Collection creativity T. 5. M., 2016. pp. 38–39. About the circumstances of the appearance of the saint’s treatise “On Faith” (books 1–2 date back to late 380 – early 381). Although the message was addressed to Eustochia, the daughter of the Roman matron Pavla, it was intended for the general public as followers of the blessed one. Jerome and his enemies. By that time, the atmosphere of hostility around Jerome in Rome, where both the author of the message and its addressee were, was thickening, which forced him to leave Rome as soon as his patron, Pope Damasus, died. Jerome openly accused St. Ambrose plagiarized in the preface to his translation of Didymus the Blind's "On the Holy Spirit" (387). For more details, see: Nautin R. L’activité littéraire de Jérôme de 387 à 392 // Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie. 1983. No. 115. P. 253–273; Duval Y.-M. L’originalité du De virginibus dans le mouvement ascétique occidental: Ambroise, Cyprien, Athanase // Ambroise de Milan. XVI e centenaire de son élection épiscopale. Dix études // Èd. Y.-M. Duval. P., 1974. P. 29–53; Adkin N. Ambrose and Jerome: The Opening Shot // Mnemosyne. 1993. Vol. 46, Fasc. 3. P. 364–376. In a letter to Nepotian (epist. 57.393) Blessed. Jerome says that his essay on virginity to Eustochia was “stoned,” although “I did not offend anyone, no one’s name was indicated, even allegorically, my speech did not touch anyone in particular, there was a general discussion about vices” (Jerome, blessed. Selected letters // Diesperov A. Blessed Jerome and his age / Compiled and commented by A. A. Stolyarova. M., 2002. P. 205). Perhaps the saint is talking about his attitude towards criticism of the blj. Jerome in off. 1. 233, when he writes that he personally could not forgive if he was accused of a crime, although he would forgive the offense. Wed. words of St. Ambrose from the beginning of the first book “06 duties”: “I saw many who fell into sin because of their speeches, and none who remained silent. Therefore, how much more difficult it is to learn to remain silent than to speak! I know that the majority speak because they do not know how to remain silent” (1.5); “Close your lips so that they do not open, so that your speech knows the measure and limit, and your verbosity does not invite you to sin” (1.12); “When we are scolded, irritated, bullied and challenged, then we should remain silent” (1. 17). Cicero's works "06 Oratore" and "Orator" in content gravitate more toward the philosophical than to the rhetorical part of Cicero's legacy. Even in his early work “On Finding” (De inuentione, 80 BC), Cicero speaks of combining eloquence with wisdom. See epist. 55, and also: off. 1. 31, 79–80, 92, 126, 132–135, etc. For more information, see: Kamesar A. Ambrose, Philo and the Presence of Art in the Bible // Journal of Early Christian Studies. 2001. 9/1. P. 73–103. On the role of examples from Holy Scripture in the treatise, see: Dantu S. La place et le role de l’Ecriture dans le De officiis ministrorum d’Ambroise. Dijon, 1970; Consolino F. E. Gli exempla maiorum nel De officiis di Ambrogio e la duplice eredita dei cristiani // La tradizione: forme e modi. XVIII Incontro di studiosi dell'antichita cristiana, Roma, 7–9 maggio 1989. Rome, 1990. P. 351–369; Mohrmann M. E. Wisdom and the Moral Life: The Teachings of Ambrose of Milan. Ph. D. Diss. University of Virginia (VA), 1995. Cp. y Cicero: off. 1. 15 ff. Cm.: Classen C. J. Der platonischstoische Kanon der Kardinal-tugenden bei Philon, Clemens Alexandrinus und Origenes // Kerygma und Logos: Festschrift Carl Andresen / Ed. A. M. Ritter. Göttingen, 1979, pp. 68–88. About the four virtues, calling them uirtutes cardinales, St. Ambrose says in many of his texts, including early ones: ex. fr. 1.57; sacr. 3.9; parade 14, etc. Here it would be useful to paraphrase the well-known expression that Christian theology would be impossible without the Greek language, honed by such philosophers as Plato, and to say that theology in Latin would be impossible without Cicero and the terminological base he created based on Stoic teaching. Compare: Colish M. L. Cicero, Ambrose, and the Stoic Ethics: Transmission or Transformation? // The Classics in the Middle Ages. Papers of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies / Ed. by A.S. Bernardo and S. Levin. Binghamton (NY), 1990, pp. 95–112. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies; 69). Wed. in Cicero: Mur. 6.13. “No one dances,” said one worldly teacher, “when sober, except perhaps a madman” (3.25). Saint Ambroise. Les devoirs. De officiis.Texte établi, traduit et annoté / Par M. Testard. 2 vols. P.: Les Belles Lettres, 1984–1992. S. Ambrosii episcopi Mediolanensis. De officiis ministrorum / Recogn. et and. J. G. Krabinger. Tubingen, 1857. Ambrose. De officiis / Edited with an introduction., transi, and comment. by I. J. Davidson. 2 vols. Oxford, 2002. Sancti Ambrosii episcopi Mediolanensis. De officiis / Introd., trad., not. e ind. G. Banterle // Sant’Ambrogio. Opere morali I: I trust. Milano: Biblioteca Ambrosiana; Roma: Città Nuova, 1977. (SAEMO; 13). Marcus Tullius Cicero. Vom rechten Handeln: Lateinisch und deutsch / Eingel. u. Ubers. von K. Büchner. Zurich; Stuttgart, 1964. Marcus Tullius Cicero. About old age. About friendship. 06 responsibilities / Transl. from Latin and comment. V. O. Gorenshteina; Ed. prepared by V. O. Gorenshtein, M. E. Grabar-Passek, S. L. Utchenko. M.: Nauka, 1993 (reprint 1974). A detailed bibliography was compiled by V. Nikitin, see: Ambrose of Milan. Two books about repentance, etc. / Introductory article. and bibliogr. V. A. Nikitina; Lit. ed. V. Andreeva. M., 1997. pp. 38–30. This translation was reprinted in 1995. Comments compiled by N. A. Kulkova.