AM BROS I us. delivered hy Caesar from the payment of this tri- bute. In B. c. 54, Caesar placed a legion and five cohorts, under the command of Q. Titurius Sabinus and L. Axirunc'ileius Cott.i, in the territories of the Eburones for the purpose of passing the winter there. But fifteen days after they had been sta- tioned in their territories, the Eburones revolted at the instigation of Ambiorix and Cativolcus, another chief, besieged the Roman camp, and destroyed almost all the Roman troops, after they had been induced by Ambiorix to leave their camp under promise of a safe-conduct. After their destruction Ambiorix hastened to the Aduatici and Nervii, and induced them, in conjunction with the Ebu- rones, to attack the camp of Q. Cicero, who was stationed for the winter amopg the Nervii. The firmness of Cicero, and the defeat of the Gauls on the arrival of Caesar, compelled Ambiorix to raise the siege. In the following years Ambiorix con- tinued to prosecute the war against Caesar, but though all his plans were thwarted, and the dif- ferent troops he raised were defeated by Caesar, he always escaped falling into the hands of the con- queror. (Caes. B. G. v. 24, 26—51, vi. 5, 29— 43, viii. 24, &c.; Dion Cass. xl. 5—10, 31, &c. ; Liv. Epit. 106.) According to Florus (iii. 10. § 8) he escaped the vengeance of the Romans by rieeing bevond the Rhine. L. AMBl'VIUS TU'RPIO. [Turpio.] AMBOLOGE'RA i^kn.%ooyi]pa from dm- §dXw and '.■rjpas " delaying old age," as a sur- name of Aphrodite, who had a statue at Sparta under this name. (Paus. iii. 18. § 1 ; Plut. Sympos. iii. 6.) [L. S.] AMBRA'CIA {'AfiepaKia), a daughter of Au- geas, from whom the town of Anibracia derived its nanic, (Steph. Byz. s. v.; Eustath. ad Diom/s. Pe- ricij. 492.) Other traditions represent her as a grand-daughter of Apollo, and a daughter of Mela- neus, king of the Dryopes. (Anton. Lib. 4.) A third account derived the name of the town from Ambrax, a son of Thesprotus and grandson of Lvcaon. (Steph. Byz. /. c.) [L. S.] 'AMBRU'SIUS ('AM^poV/os) ALEXANDRI'- NUS, a nobleman and courtier (S. Epiph. cuh. Hacr. 64. [44] § 3) flourished a. d. 230. At first a Valentinian (Euseb. H. E. vii. 18) and iMarcionist, he was won to the faith by Origen, whose con- stant fellow- student he became (Origen, Ep. ad Africnn. vol. i. p. 29), and was ordained deacon. (S. Ilier. Vir. Illnstr. 56.) He plied Origen with questions, and urged him to write his Com- mentaries ( ep7o5ia/cT7js ), supplying him Avith transcribers in abundance. He shone as a Con- fessor during the persecution of Julius Maximinus (Euseb. vi. 18) -. n. 236, and died between a. d. 247 and 253. His letters to Origen ({..aised by St. Jerome) are lost ; part of one exists ap. Origen, Lib. de Orat. c. 5. p. 208, a. B. (See Routh's Reliquiae Sacr. ii. p. 367.) Origen dedicated to him his Eihortation to Martyrdom ; Books against Cclsus; Cowmentary on St. Johii's Gospel; ajid On Prayrr. [A. J. C] AMBRO'SIUS, ST., bishop of Milan, was bom probably at Augusta Trevirorum {Treves)^ which was the seat of government for the province (if Gaul, of which his father was prefect. His biographers dilfcr as to whether the date of his birth was 333 or 340 a. d., but the latter is pro- bably the true date. Circumstances occurred in his infancy which were understood to portend his AMBROSIUS. I3y future greatness. His father having died, Am- brose, then a boy, accompanied his mother to Rome, where he received the education of an advo- cate under Anicius Probus and Symmachus. He began pleading causes at Milan, then the imperial residence, and soon gained a high reputition for forensic eloquence. This success, together with the influence of his family, led to his appointment (about 370 A. D., or a little later) as consular pre- fect of the provinces of Liguria and Aemilia, whose seat of government was Milan. The struggle between the Catholics and Arianu was now at its height in the Western Church, and upon the death of Auxentius, bishop of Milan, in 374, the question of the appointment of his successor led to an open conflict between the two parties. Ambrose exerted his influence to restore peace, and addressed the people in a conciliatory speech, at the conclusion of which a child in the further part of the crowd cried out '■ Ambrosins episcopus.' The words were received as an oracle from heaven, and Ambrose was elected bishop by the acclamation of the whole multitude, the bishops of both parties uniting in his election. It was in vain that he adopted the strangest devices to alter the determination of the people; nothing could make them change their mind (Paulin. Vit.Ambros. pp. 2, 3) : in vain did he flee from Milan in the night ; he mistook his way, and found himself the next morning before the gate of the city. At length he yielded to the express command of the emperor (Valentinian I.), and was consecrated on the eighth day after his baptism, for at the time of his election he was only a catechumen. Immediately after his election he gave all his property to the church and the poor, and adopted an ascetic mode of life, while the public adminis- tration of his office was most firm and skilful. He was a great patron of monasticism : about two years after his consecration he wrote his three books "De Virginibus," and dedicated them to his sister Marcellina. In the Arian controversy he espoused the orthodox side at his very entrance on his bishopric by demanding that his baptism should be performed by an orthodox bishop. He applied himself most diligently to the study of theology under Simplician, a presbyter of Rome, who after- wards became his successor in the bishopric. His influence soon became very great, both with the people and with the emperor Valentinian and his son Gratian, for w^hose instruction he composed his treatises " De Fide," and " De Spiritu Sancto." In the year 377, in consequence of an invasion of Italy by the northern barbarians, Ambrose fled to lllyricum, and afterwards (in Cave's opinion) visited Rome. After his return to Milan, he was employed by the court on important political aflfairs. When Maximus, after the death of Gratian (383), threat- ened Italy, Justina, the mother of the young em- peror Valentinian II., sent Ambrose on an em- bassy to the usurper, whose advance the bishop succeeded in delaying. At a later period (387), Ambrose went again to Treves on a like mission ; but Iiis conduct on this occasion gave such offence to Maximus, that he was compelled to return to Italy in haste. While rendering these political services to Jus- tina and Valentinian, Ambrose was at open va- riance with them on the great religious question of the age. Justina was herself an Arian, and had brought up the young emperor in the same tenets.
