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The Classical Latin Quotations in the Letters of St. Ambrose

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Extract

Saint Ambrose (c.A.d. 339–97), bishop of Milan, was one of the outstanding figures of the fourth century both from a political and from an ecclesiastical point of view.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1968

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References

page 187 note 1 For the type of education received by St. Ambrose see Marrou, H. I., A History of Education in Antiquity, trans. Lamb, G. (London, 1956).Google Scholar

page 187 note 2 Cf. Ep. xlv. 5 textual criticism; xlvii. 2 style; Ixxii. 24 correction of the scholar Aquila; xix. 2 footnote on Mesopotamia; et al.

page 187 note 3 Ellsperman, G. L., The Attitude of the Early Christian Latin Writers Toward Pagan Literature and Learning, Catholic University of America, Patristic Studies Ixxxii (Washington, 1949), 257.Google Scholar

page 188 note 1 Studies of SS. Augustine and Jerome and the Classics have been made by Testard, M., Saint Augustin et Cicéron (2 vols.), Études augustiniennes (Paris, 1958)Google Scholar, and Hagendahl, H., Latin Fathers and the Classics (Jerome), Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia vi (Göteborg, 1958).Google Scholar Cf. also Marrou, H. I., Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique (Paris, 1938)Google Scholar, and Cavallera, F., Saint Jérôme, sa vie et son œuvre (2 vols.), Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense (Louvain, 1922).Google Scholar

page 189 note 1 Wilbrand, G., S. Ambrosius quos auctores quaeque exemplaria in Epistulis componendis secuttis sit, Monasterii Guestfalorum, 1909, 46.Google Scholar

page 189 note 2 I take the identification to be this hut because Ambrose is speaking of the Romans' dissatisfaction with their own cults and their adoption of new, foreign ones; the deified Romulus—Quirinus being one of their indigenous cults and his hut one of the carefully preserved monuments of the city, cf. Vitr. 11, 1. There is a reference to R's activities as a shepherd in pastorales. Casas is plural either because it is a scornful generalization, or because there was more than one building called the Casa Romuli in Rome. Cf. Mackail's note on Aen. viii. 654 (Oxford, 1930), 329.Google Scholar

page 189 note 3 Thamin, R., Saint Ambroise et la morale chrétienne au IVe siècle (Paris, 1895), 314.Google Scholar

page 190 note 1 Ambrose's words are: ‘Aequalem, ut aiunt, vix reperit.’

page 190 note 2 Sonny, A., Zu den Sprichwörtern und sprichwörtlichen Redensarten der Römer, Archiv für lateinische Lexikographie und Grammatik, vol. 9 (1896), 61, records the expression as proverbial.Google Scholar

page 191 note 1 Messius, Arusianus, Exempla Elocutionum, ed. Keil, H., Grammatici Latini, vol. vii. (Leipzig, 1878), 447514.Google Scholar That Ambrose used him was shown by Buecheler, F., Coniectanea 11.Google ScholarRhein. Mus. 43 (1888), 293.Google Scholar

page 191 note 2 Landgraf, G., Die Hegesippus-Frage, Archiv für lat. L. u. G., vol. 12 (1902), 465–72.Google Scholar

page 192 note 1 Cf. Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, vol. 5, 1. 1366.Google Scholar

page 192 note 2 Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1922).Google Scholar

page 193 note 1 Diederich's word. Vergil in the Works of St. Ambrose, Catholic Univ. America, Pat. St. xxix (Washington, 1931), 121.Google Scholar

page 193 note 2 There is a v.l. celebrans in Virgil at this point. Possibly the occurrence of celerans in the Ambrosian text is a pointer in the direction that celerans is the correct reading in Virgil.

page 193 note 3 Aen. ix. 339; x. 723.Google Scholar

page 194 note 1 See Landgraf, , op. cit.Google Scholar

page 196 note 1 The Maurists' text reads here nutu gignentium, but I have adopted Ihm's emendation because it makes better sense. Also it is an expression which is frequent in Ambrose. Cf. Exp. Luc. viii. 29Google Scholar; Exp. Ps. xcviii. 5, 14Google Scholar; Exam. i. 8, 28Google Scholar; Cain ii. 8, 26Google Scholar; the reading in each case is nuda.

page 196 note 2 The passage from the De Fug. Saec. iii. 16 isGoogle Scholar: ‘Talis enim inquit nobis decebat (Hebrews 7: 26). Recta est elocutio, siquidem apud eos qui verborum et elocutionum dilectum habuerunt, huiusmodi invenitur dicente aliquo: locum editiorem quam victoribus decebat. Quod ideo non praeterii, ut sciamus quia apostolus naturalibus magis quam vulgatis aut secundum artem utitur verbis.’ The quotation is also preserved in Servius ad Verg. Aen. viii. 127Google Scholar where he says that decet usually takes the accusative and that this is an old usage.

page 197 note 1 Keil, , op. cit. 447.Google Scholar