Ad Virginem Devotam

To a Consecrated Virgin. Chapter One. — (Ps. 44:11-12) Listen, daughter, and be victorious: incline your ear, and forget your people, and the house of your father; for the King has desired your beauty; for He Himself is the Lord your God, and they shall worship Him. You have devoted yourself to be His bride; you are called a woman consecrated to God. What business have you with worldly men, or what dealings do you have with them? Why do you wish to know them? The perdition which they themselves pursue? If you seek chastity, they do not have it; if you seek faith, who among them is faithful, whom you would accompany? If, however, you seek Christ, He does not dwell in them. I know not what you seek, what friendships or what stories you have with them. You have devoted your soul to destroying all things which are of this world; how then do you seek the world, which you have renounced? Do you wish to return to your vomit like a dog, or like a sow washed clean again to wallowing, as it is written (1 Pet. 2:22), the Apostle saying: If I destroy something, I will rebuild it again, I make myself a transgressor of the law (Gal. 2:18). He himself repeats again, saying: Whatever is in the world is lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes (1 John 2:17): that which is not of God, but of this world. Likewise elsewhere he says: If anyone wishes to be a friend of this world, he will be constituted an enemy of God (James 4:4). What do you say, you who are consecrated to God? Why do you wish to please men? What do you desire, or what do you seek?

If you seek God, He is with you; but if you seek a man, you have not vowed this. What are men? Men of this world: and the world passes away, and its desire; but he who does what is written endures forever (1 John 2:48). What you desire, I know not. If gold, silver, if precious stones, if splendid clothing, this did not please you with God, this God does not admire, but a contrite and humble heart (Psalm 1:19). Why do you seek men of the world, whom the holy apostle Paul judges, saying: Whose God is their belly, and glory in their shameful parts, who savor earthly things: but our conversation is in heaven (Philippians 3:19-20)? If therefore we have our conversation in heaven, we ought to seek those things which are above, where Christ is, not those which are upon the earth (Colossians 3:1). I ask, sister, who are these men of this world? You do not follow your spiritual brothers, and you follow carnal men: who, if they are not rebuked, will murmur. You have cast your pearls before swine, who trample them under their feet, and turning back, dash you to pieces. Have you not heard: Shun dogs, shun evil workers (Philippians 3:2)? Who are these? Men of this world, who do not follow the footsteps of Christ. I ask you, what do they show you; tell me. Chastity, which they do not have? What of faith, which they do not find? doctrine, which they do not follow, except the diabolical wisdom of this world? fasting, which they hate? abstinence, which they judge? humility, which they oppress?

sobriety, which they neglect? a sincere mind, which they do not have, unless it is double? modesty, which they cast away from themselves? But I do not know what you wish to study with them. all CAPUT It. — But what do you say? I, however, turn them to me. But if they have turned to you, it is not expedient for you. What does the wolf seek with the lamb? or what does the dog seek, except bread? But why does the lion roar (Isaiah 31:4), except for prey? You yourself guard that chaste woman, if you can. What do you wish to teach, which you yourself do not do? as the Apostle says: Do not believe every spirit; but test the spirits, if they are from God (1 John 4:1). But if you receive teaching from them, they will teach you what they do, or what they follow: lust, fornication, lewdness, avarice, fraud, uncleanness, impudicity, luxury, drunkenness, dishonesty, foul speech, folly, sorceries, homicides, anger, quarrels, and all malice. What do you say, wretched woman, or what excuse do you make? You vowed your soul, to withdraw from those men: now what do you seek? I ask, do you not blush, when they make up stories about you, saying: Behold, a woman devoted to God, who follows us; she has abandoned her way, and through the boundaries of her field she has wandered, she has not found the way of her dwelling. Come, let us anticipate her, and lead her into our way. You have fallen, wretched woman, on the road... and spacious, which leads to death.

It seems to you to be good, which is evil: you follow them mindlessly, and you do not know that you are falling straight into a pit. Do you not remember that the way which leads to life is narrow and confined (Matt. 7:13-14)? Does it seem laborious to you, which becomes good: have you forgotten that it was said: "For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven" (Acts 14:21)? Now, however, you wish to follow your own will. Have you not read Solomon saying: "Good things are created good from the beginning for the good, and likewise evil things for the impious and sinners" (Ecclus. 39:30)? And again, with him teaching: "The beginning of man's life will be judged spiritually" (Ibid.). The spiritual judges all things, but itself is judged by no one (1 Cor. 2:45). Where are you, devoted virgin? The spiritual one indeed judges others, but you yourself are judged. Why do you seek them out? What has a faithful person to do with an unfaithful one (2 Cor. 6:15)? Or what part has a holy man with the flesh? You can be a virgin in body, but not with a corrupted mind. Your eyes, moreover, are blinded by the excessive ardor of lust, in which a beam lies hidden; your ears are filled with every kind of male filth; your feet, indeed, are swift, and are not slow to go to the door. Where is holiness? where is modesty? where is sobriety? where is gravity? where is chastity? where is propriety? where is faith? where is continence? where is a pure mind? Where are all those things for which you had pledged your faith, which you have lost? For it would have been better for you not to have made a vow and to have acted, than to have made a vow and not to have acted (Ecclus. 5:4).

You cannot serve two masters, either God or mammon, as it is written (Matt. 6:24). When you pervert, you are overthrown (Ps. 17:27). An old cloth cannot be sewn with a new one; for it tears its strength, and a worse rent is made (Matt. 9:16). Flying things gather with those like themselves; and truth returns to those who work it. Far be it that you be called my sister, you who associate with such persons. Either make a good tree, and its fruits good: or make a bad tree, and its fruits bad. Each tree is known by its fruit (Matt. 12:33). Moreover, whatever a man is, with such a one he joins you (Ecclus. 13:20). The dove sent forth from the hand of man immediately returned to him into the ark: but the raven, sent forth, followed after flesh (Gen. 8:7); which you also wish to follow, so that you do not return to the door of Christ. You have fellowship with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the air: like the raven, you do not remember the Lord, who freed you from the flood: you do not seek your shady and good nest, where you had temporal rest. The storm is not before your eyes, and you have forgotten the charity of Christ, and you pursue the false charity of men of this world, who have no charity in themselves except a diabolical one: they follow other flesh, and do not cease until they die.

Go away, wretched woman, from those men; do not eat your choice meats, let your own people overthrow you, and you be left naked and despoiled, as in a cucumber patch. But now what will you do, since you are naked and despoiled? You will go to your neighbors, whom you formerly hated, asking them for a covering for your shame: but they are unwilling to give, saying: Where is your splendid garment, which you used to wear before? What do you say, and what do you answer her whom the cold has bound? They even rejoice in your evils, which have come upon you. Then you will lament, saying: Woe is me, wretched one, to whom such things have come! What good did that captivity do me, which captured me, wretched and unhappy? Where shall I go from your Spirit, and from your face, where shall I flee? If I ascend into heaven, you are there: if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings before dawn, and dwell in the farthest sea; even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me (Ps. 138, and following). Then you will say: I will go and return to my first husband; because it was better for me then than now (Hos. 2, and following): who gave me my garments, and my oil in its season. But now what shall I do? Then you will return to your house with weeping, whence you had gone out rejoicing. You will sit in the corner of your house, mourning and sad, weeping day and night, seeking someone who will mourn with you, and there will be none: and those who console you, you will not find.

And they will give you alms, whom you once hated; and they will shake their heads over you, saying: Behold, she who was devoted to God has now become like dung on the road, and like a city that is stormed. Where is her chastity? Where are all those things that followed her? For they have abandoned her; because chastity was their dowry: she lost chastity, and all those things fled. But now what will you do, wretched woman? Where are those whom you pursued? Let them ransom you if they can. What exchange can you give for your soul, which you defrauded through your disobedience, so that you would not listen to your brothers or sisters, who showed you not to join yourself with worldly men? Now what shall we do for you, or what shall we say, you who would not listen to us, except to lament over you ourselves, saying: Spare, O Lord, spare? May He perhaps deign to hear our weeping and groaning, so that He may give you the will to turn to Him again; so that you may remember your sins, saying: With how many loaves does my father’s hired men abound, while I perish of hunger? I will arise, therefore, and go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your daughter, receive me as one of your handmaidens, so that I may live (Luke 15 and following). What if perhaps that fatted calf has been slain for you? For I am jealous for you; I have betrothed you to one husband, to exhibit you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

I fear that just as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, so your senses may be corrupted and fall away from the charity which is in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 11 and following). CHAPTER III.—See therefore and beware of those men, so that you may be called my sister and lady. Enter your chamber, close the door, and pray to your Father (Matt. 6:6); may He give you a good mind and understanding, that you may know whom you ought to follow and whom to avoid; for there are many who pretend to be what they are not, but lie: and you do not know that your soul is at stake; lest they lead you captive, like an ox that is led to slaughter; or like a dog, to be tied up. Do not hasten like a bird into a snare. Listen to me, remove your foot from them, sit diligently in your house, work with your hands at what is good; so that you may have something to share with those in need. Pray without ceasing, and do not appear easily in the streets. Fight the good fight, run more swiftly; so that you may grasp that in which you have been grasped by Christ (Phil. 3:12). Let men hear you and rejoice in your good spirit and in the mind by which you live. Give alms, and behold, all things will be clean for you (Luke 11:41). Do not be reluctant to visit the sick; for by these things you will be strengthened in love. You will not swear at all, neither by truth nor by falsehood: but let your speech be: Yes, yes; No, no; for whatever is more than this is from evil (Matt. 5 and following).

Be angry, and do not sin, to make excuses for sins with men who work iniquity (Ps. 139:4). Humble yourself, daughter, before the Lord; for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5). Draw near to the Lord, that He may enlighten you, and you will not blush in His sight (Ps. 33:6). Withdraw from the pleasure of the world, and clothe yourself with the constancy of virtue. Put off the garments of this world, and put on the tunic of perpetuity. Abandon the foods of this world, and take for yourself the holy of holies. Remember that Sidrach, Misach, Abdenago, and Daniel refused the meats and wine of the Gentiles, and took for themselves herbs and legumes (Dan. 1 and following). Remember that the Maccabean mother suffered because of pork, and her sons were roasted or fried in oil (2 Macc. 7:1 and following). Walk, daughter, in holy habit, with modesty, and sobriety, and gravity. Put aside falsehood, speak truth with your neighbor. Pray, my daughter, without ceasing; fast frequently, and give alms; for alms frees from death, and does not allow one to go into darkness (Tob. 4:11). Alms is a good gift, which cleanses all filth and squalor. You will be blessed, if when you have read all these things, you do them. Be zealous for what is good, so that you may forget what is evil. May the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you, with the blessing with which He deigned to bless our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Pray for me, daughter; for I am also anxious about you, as it is written: Pray for one another (James 5:16). Likewise, a brother helping a brother will be exalted (Prov. 4:19). May the Lord exalt you in holiness and love, as it is written: He who loves his brother has fulfilled the Law (Rom. 13:8). May the Lord fulfill all your petitions (Ps. 19:7). May God the Father grant this to you through Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord and God, king, judge, savior, and redeemer, who is blessed with the Holy Spirit, throughout all ages of ages, amen. A WARNING CONCERNING SERMONS HITHERTO PUBLISHED UNDER THE NAME OF AMBROSE. Of the sermons which one may peruse in the older editions of our Ambrose, almost no one has made mention who has not recognized that a considerable part of them is wrongly attributed to that same holy man, and that they circulate among the works of other Fathers, especially those of the blessed Maximus. The Roman edition not only failed to remedy this inconvenience, but also wished to add others more abhorrent to the Ambrosian genius and style than those first ones. But this is not the only fault of that same edition in this matter; for besides, it also sent not a few sermons torn from their own class into alien places, and changed many things, both in the titles and in the context itself, by its own authority, so that they might seem more Ambrosian; whence it happened that even otherwise very shrewd men were led into error.

Wherefore, to free future readers from this kind of fraud, we have decided to recall for examination all Sermons that bear the name of Ambrose in any editions whatsoever. In this scrutiny, after applying the greatest diligence and severity we could muster, among those same Sermons—except for four discourses, namely, on the funeral of Valentinian, on the funeral of Theodosius, on not handing over the Basilicas, and on the Relics of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, which we have published in their proper places—we have found absolutely none that we could judge, with any appearance of truth and likelihood, to be attributable to Ambrose. Indeed, everything there seemed to us so greatly at variance with the holy Doctor’s style and method of treatment that we have no doubt that all who examine these same sermons with due attention will go over to our opinion. Therefore, as for Cassiodorus (On the Institutions of Divine Letters, ch. 5) affirming that in his time homilies or sermons existed that bore the name of Ambrose on their title, unless he is believed to have been deceived in his memory or by someone’s false report, it must be said that those copies have long since perished. As for the manuscripts in which are contained those sermons that are now attributed to that same Bishop, we consider them to be of no authority. For, for the most part, they either exhibit a more recent hand, or they were books serving choral use, namely lectionaries and homiliaries, whose very slight importance no one will deny.

But it is not sufficiently safe to trust even the older codices in this matter. For experience teaches that, the more they became marketable, the more often the great names were inscribed by antiquarians upon the homilies or sermons of which they consisted. This very thing is clearly recognized in these sermons; for although we have no older copies of them than the Lyon codex, whose various readings we owe to the friendship of the most renowned Baluze, and the Gallic codex, which our own Mabillon attests was written a thousand years ago and was examined and scrutinized by him, nevertheless each of these codices contains sermons—the Gallic one falsely displaying Augustine as author, the Lyon one falsely displaying Ambrose—and the greater part of them must be restored to Saint Maximus, as Mabillon himself acknowledges concerning the Gallic ones. From this judgment you may determine the status of the Lyon codex, since both codices present nearly the same sermons.

Nor indeed will anyone wonder that so many sermons are ascribed to the blessed Maximus, since it is not unknown how great a preacher this Saint was. That a not inconsiderable part of his sermons has been transcribed under the name of Ambrose, besides the aforementioned frauds of scribes, could also have happened from this: that when he had diligently examined the works of our holy Doctor, and had inserted large fragments from them, especially from the Commentary on Luke, excerpted verbatim, he gave careless scribes an opportunity for error. Hence likewise one may perhaps conjecture that no other author is to be sought for the books or sermons on the Sacraments than the same Maximus; to which conjecture place and time lend support. What we have said thus far makes it clear that only the sermons which were reduced into the form of books by Ambrose himself, from which the first volume is almost entirely composed, and also a great part of the second, are certainly to be called Ambrosian. We, therefore, will not seem to have acted rashly in that we have published none of those which we here consider among the true and verified works of the holy Doctor. Since, however, of these some exist only in Ambrose, while others are also published elsewhere, we will present only the former, lest the volume increase with less useful weight. Yet, that it may be more evident that we have by no means used an overly free judgment, we will briefly prefix to the beginning of each sermon the reasons by which we were led to judge that it was not Ambrosian.

Nor, therefore, shall we contend, if any of our readers should claim those same sermons for our Ambrose with stronger arguments. As for those discourses which circulate among the works of other Fathers, since they labor, above all others, under the additional prejudice that they have been assigned no more to Ambrose than to Maximus or to some other, we have cut them off with less hesitation. Lest this change cause trouble for anyone, provision will be made by a double index. In the first, the omitted sermons will be arranged in such an order that one may perceive at a single glance not only what place each formerly held in the Ambrosian editions, but also among which Father it is found. In the second index, a threefold series of those sermons which we retain will be woven together so that all the Ambrosian editions—namely, the old, the Roman, and our new one—are compared, placed opposite one another. But first, certain things pertaining specifically to the omitted sermons must be noted.

Sermons on the Time. — The first two, namely the first and third of the Roman edition, are attributed to Augustine in a Gallic codex, but in the Corbeian and Germanensian, and many others, they are given to Maximus, whom they wholly breathe. The same may be said of the following, whose inscription the Lyons codex presents as true: "To be said before the Nativity of the Lord." The fourth of the omitted ones, which is the sixth of the Roman edition, is assigned to Caesarius in the Augustinian Appendix. To this opinion we do not object, content merely to have noted that there are comparisons in it which, since they are read in the sermons mentioned above, seem to argue interpolation. Likewise, the sermon omitted after these, that is, the twelfth of the said edition, the same Appendix attributes to Caesarius; no one, surely, who has read it will attribute it to Ambrose. Nor shall we discuss the following one, which you may also find in the appendix of Augustine's sermons, in any other way. For since some manuscripts ascribe it to Ambrose, some to Augustine, we affirm it with the Corbeian manuscript.

Whoever takes this up finds in the often-cited Appendix only the beginning from these words: "The Lord says in the Gospel," etc. The Gallic codex similarly divides it, so that the same words serve as the beginning of a new sermon. How inept this division is can be recognized at first glance. Moreover, this sermon, as well as the following one, which seems to be its continuation, is rightly assigned to Maximus by many; but that one which the Roman edition numbers as the twenty-fourth has long since been claimed for the same bishop. Of the next two, the former was once placed as the fifty-sixth among the Augustinian sermons; now it has been restored to Caesarius, whose style it closely resembles. The latter, moreover, has been returned to the same Father with no less justification; yet a considerable part of it is inserted into a certain sermon of Rabanus, whose heading is: "On the Fast of the Lord, and the Reason for the Lenten Fast." The thirty-ninth sermon of the Roman edition is inscribed thus: "Why Christ fasts in the desert," etc. This is the one hundred forty-seventh in the Augustinian Appendix, and two others, namely the thirty-seventh and the thirtieth, of which the former discusses the first temptation of Christ, the latter the second, are by one and the same author, and certainly not by Ambrose. For they are as far removed from his style as they are close to that of Maximus.

The one placed as number forty-one in the Roman edition, of which large fragments are detected in the homily of Rabanus Maurus for the third Sunday of Lent, is assigned in the Augustinian Appendix to Saint Caesarius. Yet the remark that Gennadius records—that Maximus wrote sermons on the special fast of Lent—fits Laud poorly, and it is not a matter for jest. But from elsewhere it seems no less to be of Caesarius than the twenty-sixth sermon of the Roman edition, which no one doubts was written by him. The forty-second of the aforementioned edition has absolutely nothing that does not savor of Saint Maximus. The same is likewise to be determined concerning the forty-seventh, whose beginning the same Roman edition wrongly altered, and which Gennadius indicates is owed to Maximus under this title: "On Judas the Traitor." To these let the forty-eighth be added, and those dependent on it, the forty-ninth and fiftieth. For that these are Maximus's, nothing does not proclaim. But we cannot but here expostulate with the Roman editors, who, both elsewhere and especially in the last of these sermons, did not hesitate to change many things contrary to other editions and manuscripts.

Sermon fifty-one, just like the two immediately following, is also found among the Maximiani. And we have no doubt that these are the very ones which are recorded by Gennadius under these titles: On the Cross of the Lord, On His Tomb, On His Resurrection. Likewise, sermons fifty-five and fifty-six belong to the same Maximus, the latter being a continuation of fifty-three, just as fifty-seven is. Sermon fifty-eight is restored to Caesarius in the Augustinian Appendix; why it was ever attributed to Ambrose has absolutely no basis. But nor did sermon sixty deserve to be considered under the same name by any better right. For besides the fact that in the editions of Maximus and in not a few manuscripts it is claimed for him, what is said in it about the baptism of the Apostles almost contradicts what may be read in the Apology of David, chapter 9, number 50. As for sermon sixty-one, besides other evidence, this also claims it for Maximus: that it seems to echo sermon fifty-seven, which we said above belongs to that same bishop. However, what is mentioned here about the fast on the Saturday before Pentecost does not agree with what was handed down on the same subject in sermon sixty; and therefore some doubt may arise as to whether it should perhaps be referred to an author more recent than the same Maximus.

Sermon sixty-four is nothing other than Basil’s homily on that saying from the Gospel according to Luke: “I will destroy my storehouses,” etc., with some parts added and some parts cut away. We have seen that Ambrose used the same Basilian homily in his book On Naboth; yet from this one cannot infer that Ambrose is also the author of this sermon. Indeed, if the passages in that same book which Ambrose imitated from that homily are compared with this sermon, it will immediately be recognized that our Doctor interpreted Basil’s sentiments in a far more noble manner than the translator of this sermon, who, rendering word for word in a servile fashion, is as far removed from Ambrose as possible in his entire style, and especially in those passages which he wove in from his own. Sermon sixty-six, which also appears under the same number in the Appendix of Augustinian sermons, Mabillon thinks can be referred to the eleventh, which he himself published as Maximus’s. However, its style, in our judgment, differs so much from this Father’s manner of writing that we would more readily assign the same sermon to some later author.

In the Roman edition, several sermons on the seasons were included, of which we have presented the first three—namely, those on the Basilicas and on the funerals of the Emperors Valentinian and Theodosius—each in its proper place. The fourth, however, we wished to leave to Maximus alone, whose style it savors, and which already bears his name in the Patruni Library. Sermons on the Saints.—The second of the sermons, which they call on the Saints, was published under both Augustine and Maximus; but for this one, not only the diction, but also its affinity with the fifty-eighth sermon, claims it for the latter. The fifth sermon, which was delivered by Ambrose on the martyred brothers Gervasius and Protasius, we have placed among the letters; that this is its genuine location has been demonstrated in the Admonition prefixed to them. The sixth sermon was long ago assigned to Maximus, and it is not obscure that it was spoken by none other than the Bishop of Turin. The tenth, which in the Appendix to the Works of Augustine is said to be more truly attributable to Ambrose than to Augustine, seems to us, however, to be rightly denied to both, and on equal grounds. For if you examine its diction, you will freely confess that it is no more Ambrose’s than Augustine’s, and you will at the same time observe that its author appears to be later than Chrysostom.

You will also find the twelfth in the Augustinian Appendix, but besides that it exists among Maximus’s works, and by the consensus of scholars it is attributed to him. Nor should a different judgment be made concerning the thirteenth, since it is a continuation of the twenty-fourth sermon on the seasons, which we have seen above to be by Maximus. A certain fragment of the seventeenth is prefixed in the Roman edition, which was omitted in the ancient copies; but the same Augustinian Appendix presents this sermon in its entirety. Moreover, to make it clear that there is nothing Ambrosian in that sermon, it need only be compared with what Ambrose wrote about Saint Lawrence in his books On the Duties of the Clergy. The eighteenth is read among the sermons of Maximus, in which his talent and style are discerned. The twentieth is also to be found among Maximus’s works. If, however, it is to be ascribed to him, as seems likely, then it will be necessary that it was inscribed by some learned person concerning Saint Michael for the reason that on this feast the Gospel which is the subject of that same sermon was customarily read. In the same Turin edition the twenty-first exists with its true title, namely that On Hospitality; and thus it is credible that this is the very one which Gennadius testifies was written by that same Bishop on Avarice and Hospitality. Therefore the Roman edition had no reason to inscribe it as On the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist.

Sermons from the earlier volumes. — The sermon *On the Forbidden Tree* leads the order in the Appendix of Augustine. In the same place it is observed that this sermon has variations in Ambrose, but these were introduced by editors either for the sake of elegance or for a greater affinity with the Ambrosian style. It is not surprising, therefore, that someone of more learned judgment, deceived by these, thought that nothing prevented the same sermon from being attributed to the holy Doctor. Its author is plainly unknown. The Manichaeans are indeed attacked there, but not strictly, since they do not deny that wine is good. For this reason, it must be that they were either Marcionists or those heretics whom Ambrose refutes in the book *On Paradise*, where the same subject is treated, but in a far different manner. Two sermons on Saint Elisha, in the first part of the *Museum Italicum*, our Mabillon had published as not yet having been made public. But the cause of the error should be attributed to the confusion in the Roman edition, where they had been placed in the wrong location. For the rest, we will by no means resist their being said to be by Maximus.

The heading of chapter VII of Job has this genuine inscription: "On not fearing carnal enemies; and on giving thanks after a meal"; for Gennadius indicates this very title, and also signifies that it is found in Maximus, in whom the same is also present. The expositions or sermons on Psalms 21, 109, and 117 are rightly considered among the works of Maximus. In the Ambrosian editions, the first one presents certain passages of these sermons which are not found in Maximus, but these are of no great importance. The third, however, has been restored to the same Maximus in the Roman Breviary. The exposition on chapter 31 of Proverbs, in Augustine, to whom it is ascribed, can be read in its pure form, and without those additions which the Roman edition wove into it in order to make it appear more Ambrosian. Two sermons on alms, on chapter 3 of Ecclesiasticus, are attributed to Saint Maximus, whose style they beautifully reflect, in his own editions as well.

Another view must be taken concerning the homily on the first chapter of Isaiah; but not even concerning the two homilies on the chapter of Daniel; for these are not all unfolded in Maximus, and are affirmed to be his by Gennadius, indicated by the inscription of chapter XIII of each. The first of the homilies on chapters III and IV of Jonah is of no other than Maximus, whose editions of the same Father, as also Gennadius, assert it: the latter, however, was published in the Museo Italico under the name of Maximus by Mabillon. That he thought it not yet published is to be attributed to the confusion of the Roman edition. Finally, since the homily on the first chapter of Malachi is a continuation of the homily on the seventh chapter of Job, which we have previously proved to be by Maximus, it is manifest that it belongs to the same author.