47. There is a play here on the word 'aerarios,' as connected with ' aerarium' the treasury. The aerarii were the lowest class of people at Rome, and so S. Ambrose calls the 'pauperes Christi' his aerarii, while at the same time they are the treasures of the Church.
48. Prov. xix. 17.
49. S. Augustine mentions in his Confessions (ix. 7.) S. Ambrose's introduction both of Hymns and chanting during this period of trial. 'Then was it first instituted that, after the manner of the Eastern Churches, Hymns and Psalms should be sung, lest the people should wax faint through the tediousness of sorrow; and from that day to this the custom is retained, divers, yea, almost all Thy Congregations throughout other parts of the world following herein.' Oxf. Transl. He speaks in the same passage of the behaviour of the people: 'The devout people kept watch in the Church, ready to die with their Bishop Thy servant.' He also dwells on the effect produced on himself, these events happening shortly before his conversion. 'How did I weep in Thy Hymns and Canticles, touched to the quick by the voice of Thy sweet-attuned Church! The voices flowed into mine ears, and the Truth distilled into mine heart, whence the affections of my devotion overflowed, and tears ran down, and happy was I therein.' Ib. ix. 6. It is quite possible that some of the twelve Hymns, acknowledged by the Benedictine Editors as genuine, were then first sung. Among them are the well-known 'Aeterna Christi munera,' 'Aeterne rernm Conditor,' 'Deus Creator omnium,' and others, whose strains are now familiar in English versions.
50. Phil. iii. 7.
51. Rom. v. 19.
52. Ps. lxiv. 7. vulg.
53. S. Luke xx. 4.
54. Is. ix. 6.
55. Eph. iv. 5.
56. This is said to be the Church now called 'S. Ambrose the greater.' The Roman Church is the one called in the previous letter the ' New Basilica,' and also the Church of the Apostles. It was probably called 'Romana' from being near the Porta Romana.
57. S. Augustine says that it was revealed to him in a dream.
58. These were e0nergou&menoi , or persons possessed by evil spirits. On them see Bingh. Antiq. iii. 4, 6. The laying on of hands was part of the rite of exorcism.
59. The text stands 'arriperetur urna,' nor is there any variation of MSS. noted. But it seems absolutely necessary to read 'una.' An 'urna' could have nothing to do with the matter. It might hold ashes, but surely not the bones of two men of marvellous size. The histories founded on the letter all tacitly adopt the emendation, and speak of 'a woman among the possessed.' See Fleury. B. xviii. 46. Tillemont in Vit.
60. now of S. Vitalis and S. Agricola Fleury p. 104. Eng. Tr.
61. This is distinctly asserted by S. Augustine in all the three passages referred to in the Introduction.
62. Ps. xix. 1,
63. Phil. iii. 20.
64. S. Mark iii. 17.
65. S. John i. 1.
66. Ib. 18.
67. Job. xxxiii. 1.
68. Ps. xix. 2.
69. Ps. cxiii. 5,6.
70. Ps. cxiii. 7,8.
71. Ib. 9.