Saint Ambrose won his point, but a subsequent usurper, Eugenius, who favoured the heathen,
restored the altar and statue. It was only after the defeat of Eugenius by Theodosius in 394 that
the question was finally decided in favour of the Christians.
The bishop was, at first, on very friendly terms with the imperial court, and was employed on a
diplomatic mission to the usurper Maximus, who, it was feared, might invade Italy. But before
long a grave matter of controversy arose. The Empress Justina, as an Arian, requested that one
church in Milan might be ceded to the Arians, but Ambrose refused. The people sided with him,
and thronged the basilica in great crowds. Gothic soldiers, who were Arians, were sent to take
possession, but fraternized with the people. "The Counts and Tribunes," he says in a spirited
letter to his sister, * "came and urged me to cause the basilica to be quickly surrendered, saying
that the Emperor was exercising his rights since everything was under his power. I answered
that if he asked of me what was mine, that is, my land, my money, or whatever of this kind was
my own, I would not refuse it, although all that I have belonged to the poor, but that those
things which are God's are not subject to the imperial power. 'If my patrimony is required, enter
upon it; if my body, I will go at once. Do you wish to cast me into chains, or to give me to
death? It will be a pleasure to me. I will not defend myself with throngs of people, nor will I
cling to the altars and entreat for my life, but will more gladly be slain myself for the altars.' I
was indeed struck with horror when I learnt that armed men had been sent to take possession of
the basilica, lest while the people were defending the basilica, there might be some slaughter
which would tend to the injury of the whole city. I prayed that I might not survive the
destruction of so great a city, or it might be of the whole of Italy."
These fears were not exaggerated, as the Gothic soldiery were likely to break out into savagery,
as they did twenty-five years later in the sack of Rome.
Ambrose's strength lay in the support of the people. He was accused of inciting them, but
replied that "it was in my power not to excite them, but in God's hands to quiet them." None of
the Arians, he says, dared to go forth, as there was not one Arian among the
* Epistle XX.