Commentary on Numbers

Ambrose of Milan (340–397)

Therefore, the soul says: Aminadab has placed me in the chariot (Song of Solomon VI, 11). Therefore, the soul is the chariot that sustains a good charioteer. If the chariot is the soul, it has horses, either good or bad. Good horses are the virtues of the soul, while bad horses are the passions of the body. Therefore, a good charioteer restrains and recalls the bad horses, while inciting the good ones. The good horses are four: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. Bad horses have anger, desire, fear, and injustice. Sometimes the horses themselves disagree with each other, and either anger prevails or fear, and they hinder each other and slow down their pace. But good horses fly, and they rise from the ground to higher things, and uplift their soul: especially if they have a pleasant yoke and a light burden, as the one saying: Take my yoke upon you; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew, XI, 29). He himself is the charioteer who knows how to govern his own horses, so that the race is equal for all. If prudence is faster, justice slower, he urges with his own whip the slower one; if temperance is more mild, fortitude harder, he knows how to yoke the…

See also

• More works by Ambrose of Milan

Enable JavaScript to read the full text and search the library.