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489 Jews, seeing that all the misfortunes which befell the Christians in Julmn the Apostate's rei^n were laid upon their shoulders. CDUtiuuinjr in this strain

the

Ambrose implored llie emperor to recall his edict. The emperor made no reply to this appeal but his

silence, instead of disconeerlinf: theenerf;eticchurclinian, simply indu< ed him to take advantage of the

opportunity which a visit by Theodosiiis to Milan in the winter of :!HH-S9 offered, to speak upon the Tiiatter from the pulpit in the emperor's presence (" Kpist." xl., xvi. 111;)). He was, however, shrewd enouirh to appeal to imperial nmu;nanimity, and with the most favorable result; for after the service Theodosius f^rceted the bishop with the words, "Thou hast l)reache(l apiinst me!" "'Not against thee, but in thy behalf " was the prelate's ready reply and, takin.i; advantage of the emperor's passiufj humor, he succeeded in obtaining his jiroraise that the sentence should be completely revoked. In this maimer, this altogether discreditable alTair ended in the victory of the Church, with the very natural conseijuence that thereafter the prospect of immiuiity thus afforded occasioned spoliations of synagogues all over the empire. That Ambrose could nevertheless occasionally say a good word for the Jews is shown by a pa.s.S!ige in his "Enarratio in Psabnos" (i. 41. xiv. 94:i). in which be remarks." Some Jews exhibit purity of life and much diligence and love of study."

1

That in his lileniry activity Ambrose drew extensively upon Philo is well known: the fact even gained for him the name of "Philo Cliristianus," the Christian Philo (Aueher, introduction Ambrose, to Philo, "(Jua'Stiones el Solutiones"). the "Chris- He was the cliamul through which tian many types and personitications origPhilo." inating with the Alex.indrian .lewish philosopliy were eniliodied in both the art and the liteniture of the Jliddle Ages down to Dante. So closely does he follow Philo that many corrupt passiigesof the hitler's text may be emended through Ambrose's (piotation of them, and many misreadings may in this way be corrected (compare Forster, " Ambrosius, Uischof von Mailand." p. 180, and the Vienna editicai of And)rose. xxii. pt, i. 360). Examples of Ambrose's indebtedness to Pbilo are to be found in his interpretation of the four rivers of Paradi.se (compare Ambrose, " De Paradiso," iii. 14, xiv. iMO, with Philo, " Leg. AUegr." xix. )as the four cardinal virtues, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. The law concerning the children of the two wives (Dent. xxi. 1.5) is explained by Ambrose (" De Abel et Cain," i. 4, xiv. 322) almost exactly in the Words of Philo ("De Abel et Cain," v.). Philo interprets Adam as signifying "reason ": Eve, "emotion." Aiiibros(

has

it;

"Adam mentem

diximus;

Evam

esse siguilicavimus" ("De Abrahamo," ii. 1, xiv. 455). For a complete collection of allegorical interpretations dniwn by Ambrose from Philo. see Siegfried "Philo von Alexandria," pp. 3T1-H7. This collection will serve to show his in<lebtrdness to Philo. not only in the matter of actual allegorical imagery borrowed from liim and the adoption of his rulis of inlerprilatioii. but also in the numerous echoes of

sensum

Philonic doctrines concerning (iod and man which Besides Philo, the IV. Maccabees therein abound. exerted great inllueiice upon Ambrose, parlieidarly in regard of his homilelie styli which in later days was regarded as miapproaehably tine. Freudentlial shows how he cpioted long extracts from this book in his sermons, freipn^ntly. Indeed, wcird for word, liut in a n to these .leandrian soureis it is not so geni'ially known that there are luimerous traces of Palestinian Jewish intlui'iiee upon Amliros*-. thi^

Amberer

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

489

Ambrose

Such Palestinian

interpretations as that of the explanation of Jacob's blessing (Gen. xlix. as referring to circumstances in the careers of the sons Palestinian ("De Henedictione Patrum," ii. 8, iii. Influence 2. xiv. 076-677) may have been derived upon Am- from hearsay. That he adopts the brose. Jewish conception of the Antichrist as springing from the tribe of Dan ("De IJened. Patr." vii. 32, xiv. 6.S4) does not necesSiirily prove his acciuaintance w itli rabbinical lifictrine at tirst hand for at this period the Church as a whole had adopted the .lewish conception of Antichrist. Ambrose's remark ("De Fide," iii. 11, 88, xvi. 007) that Melchi/.edek was not "an angel, as the Church hath received it from Jewish nonsense," but a holy man, shows that he was not above palming olT as Jewish what is distinctly not so, for his statement is controverted by the oid Ilaggadah which identities Melchi/.edek with Shem, as K|iii>banius (" Adv. Ilaer." ii. 1. etc. (.see Ginzberg. " Mouatsschrift." )



189!),

]).

But Ambrose's familiarity with Jewish

49.5).

traditions

is

evidenced

Abrahamo," ii.

xiv.

1,

(" De Abraham means "one

such statements as

liy

4.5.5)

that

who

crossed over." This does not indicate, as has been charged, that he confuses Abraham with Eber; but thai he follows the well-known Haggadah (Gen. H. xlii. 8) that Abraham is called "Ibri" (Gen. xiv. 13) because he "came over" the river Eujilmites. That he confuses Korah's "children " with Korah's "followers" (see Forster, "Ambrosius," p. 31(1). also originates in Palestinian tradition; an old baraita (Said). 1104), conuuenting on Ntim. xxvi. ll."uolwithslanding the children of Korah died not," makes the statement that in Gehenna, into which Korah's conspirators descended, "a stronghold was formed for the children of Korah where they seated themselves and siuig hymns." Ambrose's explanation that God brought all the animals before Ailam. in order that he might note that each male had its female ("De Paradiso," i. 11, xiv. 299), is the old Haggadah in Gen. R. xvii. 11. He states that Adam exceeded the truth when he told Eve not to touch the Tree of Life (I.e. i. 12. xiv. 303), just

narrated in " Ab. R. N." i., ed. Schechter, iv. he sjiys that angels visiting Abraham a.sked where Sarjh was, in order to point out to him her moilesty in avoiding strangers (" De Abrahamo," i.

as

is

When

end), he is drawing upon Jewish tradition (B. M. That Ainbro.se misiiuotes and misunderstands 87«). 5,

many

should not be surprising wlien years sedulously studied at Thus the feet of Jewish rabbis did the same. Ilaggadot

Jerome

— who

for

many

—

Ambrose makes Barak the Vidius,"

i.

8.

".son

"of Deborah ("De

45; xvi. 248), whereas the Midrash de-

him to have been her " husband " (Tanna debe Eliyahu H. vii. Valk. on Jud. v. 1 see also L. Ginzberg, "Haggada bei den Kirchenvatern." p. 5). Ambrose as a strenuous opponent of the Jews on the one hand, and as a faithful i)upil of Jewish tradition and Jewish teachers on the other. alTords a curious illustration of the peculiar treatment which Judaism has encountered at the hands of individuals See also IlK(iKsii-iMs. as well as nations. clares





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