Primary source · Latin
On the Death of Theodosius
Ambrose of Milan · 25 February AD 395
What this text is
The funeral oration for the emperor who did public penance — 'I have loved a man who esteemed a reprover more than a flatterer' — with the legend of Helena and the finding of the Cross told at length.
Public-domain translations
Literal gloss of the Latin (De obitu Theodosii 34, 40)
I have loved a man who stripped himself of the imperial insignia in public and bewailed his sin in the church… Helena sought the nails of the Lord, and found them; from one she made a bridle, from the other a diadem — wisdom on the head, devotion in the hand.
Manuscript witnesses
Carolingian tradition
9th c. onwardDe obitu Theodosii, preached over the body forty days after death.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 16 (Migne)
1845Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Milan, 25 February AD 395 — the funeral of the emperor who did penance
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Sancti Ambrosii opera (CSEL 73)Otto Faller, 1955Critical edition of the funeral orations.
- Ambrose of Milan: Political Letters and Speeches (TTH 43)J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, 2005Annotated translation with the political context.