# On Tobit - Author: [Ambrose](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/ambrose/) - Latin title: *De Tobia* - Date: ca. 380-390 (approximate) - Source: Karl Schenkl, ed., Sancti Ambrosii opera, pars II, CSEL 32.2 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1897), digital text OpenGreekAndLatin/csel-dev (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 32.2, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Karl Schenkl, ed., CSEL 32.2 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1897) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/ - Passages: 93 ## On Tobit 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 32.2:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ambrose introduces a brief sermon summarizing the virtues of Tobit after the reading of the book. ### Latin text Lecto prophetico libro, qui inscribitur Tobis, quamuis plene nobis uirtutes sancti prophetae scriptura insinuauerit, tamen conpendiario mihi sermone de eius meritis recensendis et operibus aput uos utendum arbitror, ut ea quae scriptura historico more digessit latius nos strictius conprehendamus uirtutum eius genera uelut quodam breuiario colligentes. ### English translation (Claude) The prophetic book entitled Tobit has been read. Although Scripture has set out the virtues of the holy prophet fully for us, I think I should use a brief discourse before you to review his merits and works, so that what Scripture has arranged at length in the manner of a history we may take in more compactly, gathering the kinds of his virtues as in a kind of summary. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 1:1 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose calls Tobit a “prophet” and his book “prophetic.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 1 (CSEL 32.2:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/1). ## On Tobit 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 32.2:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Tobit, though just and merciful, bore captivity patiently, judging it less than his sins deserved. ### Latin text fuit uir iustus misericors hospitalis: et hoc uirtutum choro praeditus subiit aerumnam captiuitatis, quam ferebat humiliter atque patienter, communem magis iniuriam quam priuatam dolens nec sibi uirtutum suffragia nihil profuisse deplorans, sed magis eam sibi contumeliam minorem peccatorum suorum pretio inlatam arbitratus. ### English translation (Claude) He was a just man, merciful, hospitable; and though endowed with this choir of virtues he underwent the hardship of captivity. He bore it humbly and patiently, grieving more over the common wrong than over his own, and not lamenting that the support of his virtues had done him no good, but rather judging that this disgrace had been inflicted on him as a lesser price than his sins deserved. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 1:3 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 2 (CSEL 32.2:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/2). ## On Tobit 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 32.2:519–520 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Tobit kept burying the dead despite a royal ban and was restored only after losing his property. ### Latin text edictum meruit, ne quis ex filiis captiuitatis mortuum sepulturae daret; at ille interdicto non reuocabatur magis quam incitabatur, ne deserere officium pietatis mortis metu uideretur; erat enim misericordiae pretium poena mortis. talis flagitii deprehensus reus uix tandem per amicum potuit direpto patrimonio egenus exul restitui suis. ### English translation (Claude) He brought on himself an edict that none of the children of the captivity should give burial to the dead; but the prohibition did not hold him back so much as it spurred him on, lest he seem to abandon a duty of piety out of fear of death; for the price of mercy was the penalty of death. Caught as guilty of such a ‘crime,’ he was at last, with difficulty, restored to his family through a friend, his property plundered, himself poor and an exile. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 1:17-22 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Cf. Tob 1:17–22. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 3 (CSEL 32.2:519–520; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/3). ## On Tobit 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 32.2:520 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Tobit left his meal to bury an unburied body. ### Latin text iterum in his uersabatur officiis, si quid alimenti foret, peregrinum cum quo cibum sumeret quaerens. itaque cum fessus a sepulturae reuertisset munere, adpositis sibi edendi subsidiis misso filio quaerebat consortem conuiuii. dum conuiua adcersitur, nuntiatis insepulti corporis reliquiis conuiuium deserebat nec putabat pium, ut ipse cibum sumeret, cum in publico corpus iaceret exanimum. ### English translation (Claude) Again he busied himself with these duties, seeking a stranger with whom to share his food whenever there was any. So when he had come back weary from the work of burial and the means of a meal were set before him, he sent his son to look for a companion at table. While the guest was being fetched, news came of the remains of an unburied body, and he left the meal; he did not think it devout to take food himself while a lifeless body lay in public. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 2:1-7 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Cf. Tob 2:1–7. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 4 (CSEL 32.2:520; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/4). ## On Tobit 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 32.2:520 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Burying the dead is a great duty of mercy, since the dead cannot repay it. ### Latin text hoc illi cotidianum opus, et magnum quidem; nam si uiuentes operire nudos lex praecipit, quanto magis debemus operire defunctos! si uiantes ad longinquiora deducere solemus. quanto magis in illam aeternam domum profectos, unde iam non reuertantur? ego inquit Iob super omnem infirmum fleui. quis infirmior defuncto, de quo dicit scriptura alibi: supra mortuum plora? Ecclesiastes autem ait: cor sapientium in domo luctus, cor autem stultorum in domo epularum. nihil hoc officio praestantius, ei conferre qui tibi iam non possit reddere, uindicare a uolatilibus, uindicare a bestiis consortem naturae. ferae hanc humanitatem defunctis corporibus detulisse produntur: homines denegabunt? ### English translation (Claude) This was his daily work, and a great one; for if the law commands us to cover the naked who are living, how much more ought we to cover the dead! If we are accustomed to escort travellers on longer journeys, how much more those who have set out for that eternal home from which they will never return? “I,” says Job, “wept over everyone who was weak.” Who is weaker than one who has died, of whom Scripture says elsewhere: “Weep over the dead”? And Ecclesiastes says: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools in the house of feasting.” Nothing is more excellent than this duty: to bestow it on one who can no longer repay you, to protect a sharer of your nature from the birds, to protect him from the beasts. Wild animals are said to have shown this humane care to dead bodies; will human beings refuse it? ### Scripture references - Job 30:25: quotation, high confidence - Eccl 7:4 (7:5 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Isa 58:7: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 22:11 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Weep over the dead” is Sir 22:11. “The law commands” to cover the naked: cf. Isa 58:7 and Tob 1:17. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 5 (CSEL 32.2:520; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/5). ## On Tobit 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 32.2:520–521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Blinded, Tobit bore it without complaint, refused anything dishonestly gained, and never reclaimed his deposited money until old age. ### Latin text Tam sancto fessus officio propheta dum requiescit in cubiculo suo, cadenti de passerum nido albugine caecitatem incidit. nec conquestus ingemuit nec dixit: haec merces laborum meorum? fraudari se magis doluit obsequiorum quam oculorum munere nec caecitatem poenam, sed inpedimentum putabat. et cum uictum mercede leuaret coniugis, ne quid furtiuum domum suam intraret cauebat. uxor haedum pro mercede acceperat; at ille plus honestati quam pietati consulens cui suam debebat alimoniam conmendauerat proximo suo, quam toto uitae suae spatio in tanta indigentia non poposcit. uix ubi se fessum uidit et depositum senectute, insinuauit filio non tam cupiens conmendatum reposcere quam sollicitus ne fraudaret heredem. ### English translation (Claude) While the prophet, wearied by so holy a duty, was resting in his room, he fell into blindness from the white droppings falling from a sparrows’ nest. He did not groan in complaint or say: “Is this the reward for my labors?” He grieved more at being deprived of the means of his services than of his eyes, and he thought his blindness not a punishment but a hindrance. And when he was relieving their living by his wife’s wages, he took care that nothing stolen should enter his house. His wife had received a kid as wages; but he, consulting honesty more than his own sustenance, would not withhold good faith from the one to whom he owed his food. He had entrusted money to his neighbor, and in all his life, in such great need, he did not ask for it back. Only when he saw himself worn out and laid low by old age did he make it known to his son, not so much wishing to reclaim the deposit as anxious not to defraud his heir. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 2:10-14 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Cf. Tob 2:9–14; 4:1–2, 20. The words “would not withhold good faith … money” are supplied by the editor in angle brackets; the sentence is difficult and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 6 (CSEL 32.2:520–521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/6). ## On Tobit 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 32.2:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lending to the needy is good, but lending at interest is evil and forbidden by the law, as Tobit taught his son. ### Latin text quod igitur conmendauit pecuniam et non faenerauit, iusti seruauit officium; malum est enim faenus, quo quaeruntur usurae. sed non illud faenus malum, de quo scriptum est: faenera proximo tuo in tempore necessitatis illius. nam et Dauid ait: iustus miseretur et commodat. aliud illud faenus est iure exsecrabile, dare in usuram pecuniam, quod lex prohibet. sed Tobis hoc refugiebat, qui monebat filium, ne praeceptum domini praeteriret, ut ex substantia sua elemosynam faceret, non pecuniam faeneraret, non auerteret faciem suam ab ullo paupere. haec qui monet condemnat usuras faenoris, ex quo multi quaestum fecerunt et multis conmodare pecuniam negotiatio fuit. et quidem eam prohibuere sancti. ### English translation (Claude) So in depositing his money rather than lending it at interest he kept the duty of a just man; for that lending by which interest is sought is evil. But that lending is not evil of which it is written: “Lend to your neighbor in the time of his need.” For David too says: “The just man shows mercy and lends.” That other lending is rightly accursed: to give money at interest, which the law forbids. Tobit shunned this, and he warned his son not to pass over the Lord’s command: to give alms from his substance, not to lend money at interest, not to turn his face from any poor man. One who gives such warnings condemns the interest of moneylending, from which many have made gain, and for many lending money has been a business. And indeed the saints forbade it. ### Scripture references - Ps 37:26 (36:26 Vulg.): quotation, medium confidence - Ps 112:5 (111:5 Vulg.): allusion, medium confidence - Exod 22:25: allusion, medium confidence - Lev 25:36: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 23:19: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 29:2 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence - Tob 4:7 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Lend to your neighbor …” is Sir 29:2. “The just man shows mercy and lends” combines Ps 37:21, 26 and Ps 112:5. The law forbidding interest: Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36–37; Deut 23:19. Tobit’s counsel: Tob 4:7. Ambrose plays on faenus, which means both “loan” and “interest.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 7 (CSEL 32.2:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/7). ## On Tobit 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 32.2:521–522 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lend freely without expecting return; lost money gains righteousness and mercy. ### Latin text quo grauius malum faenus est, eo laudabilior qui illud refugit. da pecuniam, si habes: prosit alii quae tibi est otiosa. da quasi non recepturus, ut de lucro cedat, si reddita fuerit. qui non reddit pecuniam reddit gratiam. si fraudaris pecunia, adquiris iustitiam; iustus est enim qui miseretur et commodat. si amittitur pecunia, comparatur misericordia; scriptum est enim: qui facit misericordiam faenerat proximo. ### English translation (Claude) The more serious an evil moneylending is, the more praiseworthy is the one who shuns it. Give money if you have it; let what lies idle with you benefit another. Give as if you will not get it back, so that, if it is returned, it counts as gain. One who does not return the money returns gratitude. If you are cheated of money, you acquire righteousness; for the just man is he who shows mercy and lends. If money is lost, mercy is gained; for it is written: “He who shows mercy lends to his neighbor.” ### Scripture references - Ps 112:5 (111:5 Vulg.): allusion, medium confidence - Luke 6:35: echo, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 29:1 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The closing quotation is Sir 29:1 (Vulgate 29:1). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 8 (CSEL 32.2:521–522; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/8). ## On Tobit 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 32.2:522–523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The rich refuse to lend to the needy, even swearing falsely that they have nothing. ### Latin text Multi dispendii metu non faenerant, dum fraudem uerentur, et hoc est quod petentibus consueuerunt referre. horum unicuique dicitur: perde pecuniam propter fratrem et amicum et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem. pone thensaurum tuum in praeceptis altissimi, et proderit tibi magis quam aurum. sed obsurduerunt aures hominum ad tam salutaria praecepta et maxime diuites aere illo pecuniae suae aures clausas habent. dum pecuniam numerant, responsa non audiunt. simul ut aliqui necessitate constrictus aut pro suorum redemptione sollicitus, quos captiuos barbarus uendat, rogare coeperit, statim diues uultum auertit, naturam non recognoscit, humilitatem supplicis non miseratur, necessitatem non subleuat, fragilitatem communem non considerat, stat inflexibilis, resupinus, non precibus inclinatur, non lacrimis mouetur, non heiulatibus frangitur, iurans quod non habeat, immo et ipse faeneratorem requirat, ut necessitatibus subueniat suis. quid addis duritiae et auaritiae tuae sacramentum? non absolueris periurio, sed ligans. ### English translation (Claude) Many do not lend for fear of loss, being afraid of fraud, and this is what they usually reply to those who ask. To each of them it is said: “Lose money for the sake of a brother and a friend, and do not hide it under a stone to be lost. Put your treasure in the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold.” But men’s ears have grown deaf to such saving precepts, and the rich above all have their ears stopped with the bronze of their money. While they count their money they do not hear the answers. As soon as someone, pressed by necessity or anxious to ransom his own whom a barbarian is selling as captives, begins to ask, the rich man at once turns away his face. He does not recognize their common nature, does not pity the humility of the suppliant, does not relieve his need, does not consider their common frailty. He stands unbending, head thrown back; he is not swayed by prayers, not moved by tears, not broken by wailing. He swears he has nothing, indeed that he himself is looking for a moneylender to meet his own needs. Why do you add an oath to your hardness and avarice? You are not cleared by perjury, but bound. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 29:10-11 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Sir 29:10–11 (Vulgate 29:13–14). “Bronze” (aere) plays on aures, “ears.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 9 (CSEL 32.2:522–523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/9). ## On Tobit 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 32.2:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The moneylender, cold to a plea for help, becomes warm at the mention of interest and binds the borrower in lasting debt. ### Latin text at ubi usurarum mentio facta fuerit aut pignoris, tunc deiecto supercilio faenerator adrisit et quem ante sibi cognitum denegabat eundem tamquam paternam amicitiam recordatus. osculo suscipit, hereditariae pignus caritatis appellat, Here prohibet. quaeremus, inquit, domi si quid nobis pecuniae est, frangam propter te argentum paternum, quod fabrefacti est. plurimum damni erit. quae usurae conpensabunt pretia emblematorum? sed pro amico dispendium non reformidabo. cum reddideris, reficiam. itaque antequam det, recipere festinat et qui in summa subuenire se dicit usuras exigit. calendis inquit usuras dabis, faenus interim, si non habueris unde restituas, non requiro. ita ut semel det, frequenter exagitat et semper sibi debere efficit. hac arte tractat uirum. itaque prius eum chirographis ligat et adstringit uocis suae nexibus. numeratur pecunia, addicitur libertas, absoluitur miser minore debito, maiore alligatur. ### English translation (Claude) But when interest or a pledge is mentioned, then the moneylender lowers his brow and smiles; the man he had denied knowing before, he now recalls as if from a friendship of his father’s. He receives him with a kiss, calls him the pledge of an inherited affection, and tells him not to weep. “We will look at home,” he says, “to see whether we have any money. For your sake I will break up my father’s silver, which is finely wrought. It will be a great loss. What interest will make up the value of the inlaid work? But for a friend I will not shrink from the loss. When you pay me back, I will have it made again.” So before he gives, he hurries to get back, and he who says he is helping with the principal demands interest. “On the Kalends,” he says, “you will pay the interest; the principal, meanwhile, if you have nothing to repay it with, I will not ask for.” So, to give once, he harasses often, and makes sure the man is always in his debt. This is the art with which he handles the man. First he binds him with written bonds and ties him with the bonds of his own word. The money is counted out, liberty is made over; the poor wretch is released from a smaller debt and bound to a greater. ### Translation notes - “Tells him not to weep”: the digital text reads “Here prohibet,” which is garbled; translated by sense (perhaps flere, “to weep”). “Finely wrought” renders the corrupt “fabrefacti est” by sense. The Kalends were the first day of the month, when interest fell due. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 10 (CSEL 32.2:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/10). ## On Tobit 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 32.2:523–524 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The rich exploit the poor through interest, giving harm where help is sought. ### Latin text talia sunt uestra, diuites, beneficia: minus datis et plus exigitis. talis humanitas, ut spolietis etiam, cum subuenitis. fecundus uobis etiam pauper ad quaestum est. usurarius est egenus: cogentibus uobis habet quod reddat, quod inpendat non habet. misericordes plane uiri quem alii absoluitis uobis addicitis. usuras soluit qui uictu indiget. an quicquam grauius? ille medicamentum quaerit, uos offertis uenenum: panem implorat, gladium porrigitis: libertatem obsecrat, seruitutem inrogatis: absolutionem precatur, informis laquei nodum stringitis. ### English translation (Claude) Such are your kindnesses, you rich: you give less and demand more. Such is your humanity, that you despoil even while you help. Even a poor man is fruitful for your gain. The needy man is a debtor of interest: under your compulsion he has something to repay, but nothing to spend. Merciful men indeed! The one whom others set free you make over to yourselves. He who lacks food pays interest. Is anything harsher? He seeks medicine, you offer poison; he begs for bread, you hold out a sword; he begs for freedom, you impose slavery; he prays for release, you tighten the knot of a hideous noose. ### Scripture references - Matt 7:9: echo, low confidence ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 11 (CSEL 32.2:523–524; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/11). ## On Tobit 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 32.2:524 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: David laments usury in the city before speaking of Judas’s betrayal; the moneylender is like the devil. ### Latin text Hanc praecipue iniustitiam deplorat sanctus Dauid dicens: uidi iniquitatem et contradictionem in ciuitate. et non defecit inquit de plateis eius usura et dolus. itaque cum proditionem Iudae subiecerit, hoc praemisit, siue quod ultra sacrilegii inuidiam coniuratis dominicae necis faenoris crimen adcederet siue quod tantum sacrilegium satis abundeque usura faenoris ultum iret. mali faeneratores, qui dederunt pecuniam, ut interficerent salutis auctorem, mali et isti qui dant, ut interficiant innocentem. et iste quoque qui pecuniam acceperit ut proditor Iudas laqueo se et ipse suspendit. ipsum quoque Iudam hoc maledicto putauit esse damnandum, ut scrutaretur faenerator eius substantiam. quia quod proscriptio tyrannorum aut latronum manus operari solet, hoc sola faeneratoris nequitia consueuit inferre. doctiores autem ipsum faeneratori putant diabolum conparatum, qui res animae et pretiosae mentis patrimonium faenore quodam usurariae iniquitatis euertit. sic sumptu capit, sic auro inlicit, sic reatu inuoluit, sic caput pro thensauro reposcit. ### English translation (Claude) Holy David especially laments this injustice, saying: “I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.” And, he says, “usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.” And when he went on to speak of the betrayal of Judas, he put this first, either because the crime of moneylending was added, beyond the odium of sacrilege, to those who conspired in the Lord’s death, or because so great a sacrilege would be amply avenged by the usury of moneylending. Wicked moneylenders were those who gave money in order to kill the author of salvation; wicked also are these who give in order to kill the innocent. And that man too who took money as the betrayer, Judas, himself hanged himself with a noose. He thought Judas himself should be condemned with this curse, that the moneylender should search out his substance. For what the proscription of tyrants or the hand of robbers usually accomplishes, the wickedness of the moneylender alone regularly brings about. More learned men, however, think that the devil himself is compared to a moneylender, who overturns the goods of the soul and the patrimony of a precious mind by a kind of loan of usurious iniquity. So he catches by expense, so he entices with gold, so he entangles in guilt, so he demands the head in place of the treasure. ### Scripture references - Ps 55:9 (54:10 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 55:11 (54:12 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 109:11 (108:11 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:5: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:15: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Ps 55:9, 11 (Vulgate 54:10, 12); the psalm’s complaint of betrayal by a friend (Ps 55:12–14) is read of Judas. The curse “let the moneylender search out his substance” is Ps 109:11 (Vulgate 108:11), applied to Judas (cf. Acts 1:20). Judas’s hanging: Matt 27:5. “Head” (caput) also means the principal of a loan. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 12 (CSEL 32.2:524; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/12). ## On Tobit 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 32.2:524–525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lenders who take pledges worth more than the loan are the real debtors. ### Latin text quid uobis iniquius, qui nec sic capitis estis solutione contenti? quid uobis iniquius, qui pecuniam datis et uitam obligatis et patrimonium? accipitis aurum argentumque pro pignore et adhuc illum debitorem dicitis qui uobis plus credidit quam accepit a uobis? uos creditores adseritis, qui amplius debeatis, uos inquam dicitis creditores, qui non homini, sed pignori credidistis. ### English translation (Claude) What is more unjust than you, who are not satisfied even with repayment of the principal? What is more unjust than you, who give money and bind a life and a patrimony? You take gold and silver as a pledge, and do you still call him a debtor who has entrusted more to you than he received from you? You claim to be creditors, though you owe more; you, I say, call yourselves creditors, who trusted not a man but a pledge. ### Translation notes - Ambrose plays on creditor (“one who trusts”). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 13 (CSEL 32.2:524–525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/13). ## On Tobit 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 32.2:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Puns on the words for interest and capital show usury’s worthlessness and cruelty; God freed the fathers from usury. ### Latin text bene faenus appellatur, quod datis: ita uile ac faeneum est. sortem dicitis quod debetur. etenim uelut urna ferali misera sors uoluitur perituri debitoris luenda supplicio. stant pallentes rei ad sortis euentum. non sic trepidant de quorum damnatione sors ducitur, non sic deiecti ac suspensi pauitant de quorum captiuitate expectatur sortis euentus. illic enim unius captiuitas, hic plurimorum addicitur. et fortasse ideo sors, quia in euentu sunt patrimonia, quae sub hac sorte uoluuntur. magnum et memorabile beneficium dei. hoc specialiter ore prophetico praedicatur, quod in patres contulit, quia ex usuris et iniquitatibus liberauit eos. et proprie ait: ex usuris liberauit eos, quia usurae inferunt seruitutem, quasi diceret: ex seruitutis uinculo ereptos reddidit libertati. ### English translation (Claude) Rightly is what you give called faenus, “interest”: it is as cheap and worthless as faenum, hay. What is owed you call the sors, the “lot.” And indeed, as in a funeral urn, the wretched lot is shaken, to be paid off by the punishment of a debtor about to perish. The defendants stand pale awaiting the fall of the lot. Those for whose condemnation a lot is drawn do not tremble so; those dejected and anxious ones whose captivity hangs on the fall of the lot are not so afraid. For there one man’s captivity is decreed, here that of many. And perhaps it is called the lot because patrimonies are at stake, turning over under this lot. A great and memorable kindness of God is proclaimed especially by the prophet’s mouth, which he conferred on the fathers: that he set them free from usuries and iniquities. And he says aptly, “from usuries he set them free,” because usuries bring slavery; as if to say: he rescued them from the chain of slavery and restored them to liberty. ### Scripture references - Ps 72:14 (71:14 Vulg.): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose puns on faenus (interest) and faenum (hay), and on sors, which means both “capital” and “lot.” The prophetic text is Ps 72:14 (Vulgate 71:14), “from usuries and iniquity he will redeem their souls,” cited loosely. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 14 (CSEL 32.2:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/14). ## On Tobit 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 32.2:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Debt, like sin, puts the debtor in mortal danger. ### Latin text graue uocabulum debitorum. debita peccata dicuntur, debitores quoque criminosi appellantur; sic enim et isti sicut illi de capite decernunt. culpae tamen habent nominum suorum ut factorum diuersitatem: debita quamuis diuersae quantitatis unum habent nomen, unum onus, unum periculum. nescit ergo quid poscat infelix qui pecuniam petit mutuam: quid accipiat ignorat. ### English translation (Claude) A grievous term is that of “debtors.” Sins are called debts, and criminals are also called debtors; for these too, like those, are judged on a capital charge. Faults, however, have a difference of names as of deeds; debts, though of differing amounts, have one name, one burden, one danger. So the unhappy man who asks for a loan of money does not know what he is asking; he does not know what he is receiving. ### Scripture references - Matt 6:12: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - On sins as debts cf. Matt 6:12. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 15 (CSEL 32.2:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/15). ## On Tobit 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 32.2:525–526 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lent money is restless as the sea and shipwrecks the borrower like Charybdis and the Sirens. ### Latin text Non nouit pecunia faeneratoris uno diutius loco stare solita transire per plurimos. uno teneri nescit sacculo, uersari ac numerari expetit: usum requirit, ut adquirat usuram. fluctus quidam est maris, non fructus. pecunia numquam quiescit. labitur uelut scopulo inlisa: ita gremium debitoris percutit et continuo relabitur eo, unde processit. cum murmure uenit, cum gemitu reuertitur. frequenter tamen placidum stat uentis mare, semper faenoris unda iactatur. mergit naufragos, expuit nudos, uestitos exuit, insepultos relinquit. nummum ergo petis et naufragium suscipis. hinc Charybdis circumstrepit, hinc Sirenes, quae uoluptatis specie et canorae dulcedinis suauitate in uada caeca deductos repetendae domus, ut ferunt fabulae, spe et cupiditate fraudabant. ### English translation (Claude) The moneylender’s money does not know how to stay long in one place; it is accustomed to pass through many hands. It cannot be held in one purse; it wants to be turned over and counted; it requires use, so as to acquire usury. It is a kind of tide of the sea, not a harvest. Money never rests. It slips away as if dashed on a rock: so it strikes the lap of the debtor and at once slips back to where it came from. It comes with a murmur and returns with a groan. Yet often the sea lies calm under the winds, but the wave of interest is always tossed. It drowns the shipwrecked, spits them out naked, strips the clothed, leaves them unburied. So you ask for a coin and take on a shipwreck. On one side Charybdis roars around you, on the other the Sirens, who, as the fables tell, by a show of pleasure and the sweetness of their song lured men into hidden shoals and cheated them of the hope and desire of returning home. ### Extrabiblical texts - Homer, Od. 12 (Homer, Odyssey): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose plays on fluctus (wave) and fructus (fruit). Charybdis and the Sirens are from Homer, Odyssey 12. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 16 (CSEL 32.2:525–526; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/16). ## On Tobit 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 32.2:526–527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Flatterers and sellers of luxuries descend on the borrower and urge him to spend, in the words of Wisdom 2. ### Latin text statim uenditores unguenti et diuersarum specierum inruunt uelut canes quidam sagaci praedae uagantis odore perstricti, uenatores, piscatores, aucupes, caupones quoque miscentes mero aquam, qui nobilitatem uetusti generis et patriae ac natalem diem uini circumsonent. circumstantes repente parasiti quem ante solebant spernere salutant, deducunt, ad laetitiam prouocant, ad sumptum incitant dicentes: uenite et fruamur bonis quae sunt et utamur creatura tamquam iuuentute celeriter. uino pretioso et unguentis nos impleamus, et non praetereat nos flos temporis. coronemus nos rosis, antequam marcescant. nullum pratum sit, quod non pertranseat luxuria nostra: ubique relinquamus signa laetitiae, quoniam haec est pars nostra et haec est sors. ### English translation (Claude) At once sellers of perfume and of various spices rush in like hounds caught by the keen scent of roaming prey: hunters, fishermen, fowlers, innkeepers too who mix water with the wine and loudly praise the nobility of its ancient stock, its country, and its vintage. Parasites suddenly crowd round and greet the man they used to despise; they escort him, invite him to merriment, urge him to spend, saying: “Come, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and let us use the creation as in youth, eagerly. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let not the flower of the time pass us by. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither. Let there be no meadow which our luxury does not pass through; everywhere let us leave signs of our merriment, for this is our portion and this our lot.” ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 2:6-9 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Wis 2:6–9. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 17 (CSEL 32.2:526–527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/17). ## On Tobit 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 32.2:527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The true “lots” are the two Testaments; clinging to Scripture would have saved the borrower. ### Latin text et uere sors omnis illorum facta est, tu autem remanes exors bonorum. non talis sortis tibi scriptura monstrauit, non inter tales sortes Dauid sanctus memorat dormiendum dicens: si dormiatis inter medias sortes. nam si in medio illarum dormisses sortium, id est ueteris et noui testamenti, non te pecuniae cupiditas in uoraginem deterrimi faenoris demersisset, sed gratia spiritalis fidei tibi dedisset argentum et in speciem auri diuinae sapientiae institutione formasset. etenim si nos unum testimonium diuinae scripturae posuimus et luxuriosum illud conuiuium declinauimus, utique potuit et iste saluari. si oraculis caelestibus inhaesisset. ### English translation (Claude) And truly their whole lot has been spent, while you remain without a lot of good things. Scripture did not show you lots of that kind; it is not among such lots that holy David says we should sleep, when he says: “If you sleep among the middle of the lots.” For if you had slept in the middle of those lots, that is, of the Old and New Testaments, the desire for money would not have plunged you into the abyss of the worst moneylending; rather, the grace of spiritual faith would have given you silver and fashioned you into the likeness of gold by the instruction of divine wisdom. Indeed, if we have set down one testimony of divine Scripture and turned away from that luxurious banquet, surely this man too could have been saved, had he clung to the heavenly oracles. ### Scripture references - Ps 68:13 (67:14 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Ps 68:13 (Vulgate 67:14), whose next words speak of the wings of a dove covered with silver and gold, behind Ambrose’s image. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 18 (CSEL 32.2:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/18). ## On Tobit 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 32.2:527–528 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: After the borrowed feasting comes ruin: the lender hounds the debtor, whose goods and slaves are sold, yet the principal is still owed. ### Latin text Reuertamur tamen ad conuiuium, non ut eius degustemus epulas, sed cauendas aliis demonstremus. oneratur mensa peregrinis et exquisitis cibis, adhibentur nitentes ministri magno empti pretio, sumptu maiore pascendi, bibitur in noctem, dies conuiuio clauditur, ebrietati deficit. surgit ille uini plenus, uacuus opum, dormit in lucem, euigilans somnium putat. etenim ut in somnis sibi uidetur subito diues ex paupere, sic etiam egenus ex diuite. dum defluit interim pecunia. usura superfluit. tempus minuitur, faenus augetur: thensaurus exinanitur, sors accumulatur. paulatim conuiuae se subtrahunt, sponsores conueniunt: mane faenerator pulsat ad ianuas, queritur dies solutionis transisse praescriptos, iniuriis uigilantem adoritur, in somnis dormientem excitat. non noctes quietae, non dies suauis est, non sol iucundus. detrahuntur paulatim auratae ac sericae uestes et ueneunt dimidio minoris. ponit cum lacrimis ornamenta coniux iam tristior empta carius, uendenda uilius. in auctione pueri constituuntur mensae ministri et male adsueti emptorem auertunt. offertur pecunia creditori: uix inquit haec soluit usuram, caput debes. ### English translation (Claude) Let us nevertheless return to the banquet, not to taste its dishes but to show others that they are to be avoided. The table is loaded with foreign and exquisite foods; gleaming servants are brought in, bought at a great price and fed at greater expense; the drinking goes on into the night; the day closes with the banquet and gives out before the drunkenness does. He rises full of wine, empty of wealth; he sleeps until daylight and on waking thinks it was a dream. For just as in sleep a man seems to himself suddenly rich from poor, so he is suddenly poor from rich. Meanwhile, while the money flows away, the interest overflows. Time diminishes, the interest grows; the treasure is emptied, the principal is heaped up. Little by little the guests withdraw; the sureties gather. In the morning the moneylender knocks at the doors, complains that the appointed days of payment have passed, assails him with insults while awake, rouses him from sleep. No night is quiet, no day pleasant, no sun cheerful. Little by little the gilded and silk garments are taken off and sold at half price. With tears the wife, now sadder, lays aside her ornaments, bought dear and to be sold cheap. The slaves who waited at table are put up at auction, and, badly trained, they put buyers off. The money is offered to the creditor: “This,” he says, “barely pays the interest; you owe the principal.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 19 (CSEL 32.2:527–528; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/19). ## On Tobit 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 32.2:528 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The debtor’s plight is worse than a soldier’s, for his ruin is his own fault. ### Latin text redit exhausto patrimonio capitis reus et imminuto faenore, accipit indutias tristiores bellicis quasi post biduum proeliaturus. in bello enim incerta uictoria, hic certa inopia: illic se clipeo tegit, hic nudus occurrit: illic lorica pectus includit, hic carcere totus includitur: illic manus telis onerat, armat sagittis, hic aere uacuas offert uinculis adligandas. ducitur plerumque uterque captiuus: ille habet quem accuset aduersum belli euentum, hic praeter se quem accuset non habet. nihil est intolerabilius ea miseria, quae excusari non potest. acerbat conscientia pondus iniuriae. ### English translation (Claude) His patrimony exhausted and the interest reduced, he goes back still liable for the principal; he receives a respite more grim than a truce in war, as though he must fight again in two days. For in war victory is uncertain, here poverty is certain; there a man covers himself with a shield, here he goes to meet the foe naked; there a breastplate encloses his chest, here he is wholly enclosed in prison; there he loads his hands with weapons and arms them with arrows, here he offers them, empty of money, to be bound with chains. Often both are led off captive: the one has the fortune of war to blame, the other has no one to blame but himself. Nothing is more unbearable than misery that cannot be excused. Conscience makes the weight of the injury bitterer. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 20 (CSEL 32.2:528; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/20). ## On Tobit 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 32.2:528–529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The ruined debtor remembers Scripture’s counsel to live on his own resources. ### Latin text tunc secum reputat, tunc scripturas recordatur, tunc dicit: nonne mihi scriptum est: bibe aquam de tuis uasis et de puteorum tuorum fontibus. quid mihi cum puteo faeneratoris, ubi et aqua includitur? suauiora erant holera cum securitate quam alieno partae epulae cum sollicitudine. non oportuit aliena quaerere. deinde incideram debita, de meis oportuit fontibus remedium quaerere. erant domi uasa minutiora. melius erat ministerium deesse quam cibum, melius uestem uenalem proponere quam libertatem addicere. quid profuit quod publicare paupertatem meam uerecundatus sum? ecce alius publicauit. ### English translation (Claude) Then he takes stock with himself, then he remembers the Scriptures, then he says: “Was it not written for me: ‘Drink water from your own vessels and from the springs of your own wells’? What had I to do with the moneylender’s well, where even the water is shut in? Vegetables with security were sweeter than a feast got from another’s money with anxiety. I should not have sought what belonged to others. Then, when I had fallen into debt, I should have sought the remedy from my own springs. There were smaller vessels at home. Better to lack servants than food, better to put my clothing up for sale than to make over my liberty. What good was it that I was ashamed to make my poverty public? See, another has made it public.” ### Scripture references - Prov 5:15: quotation, high confidence - Prov 15:17: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Prov 5:15. The vegetables recall Prov 15:17. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 21 (CSEL 32.2:528–529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/21). ## On Tobit 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 32.2:529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The debtor’s regret comes too late; he should have cut expenses at the start. ### Latin text ego nolui nutritores uendere, ecce alius adiudicat. sera haec consideratio. tunc decuit metuisse tuis, cum acciperes aliena: tunc decuit succurrere, cum uulnera prima proserperent. melius fuerat in principio tenuare sumptum et necessitatem debiti rei familiaris angustiis ableuare quam ut ad horam ditatus alienis postea exuereris et propriis. ### English translation (Claude) “I did not want to sell my nurses; see, another is assigning them by judgment.” This reflection comes late. You should have feared for your own things when you took what belonged to others; you should have applied help when the first wounds were spreading. It would have been better at the start to cut expenses and to relieve the necessity of debt by the straits of your household than, enriched for an hour with others’ goods, to be stripped afterwards even of your own. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 22 (CSEL 32.2:529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/22). ## On Tobit 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 32.2:529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Moneylenders prey on rich young heirs, tempting them to buy with borrowed money. ### Latin text Accusamus debitorem. quod inprudentius se gesserit, sed tamen nihil nequius faeneratoribus, qui lucra sua aliena damna arbitrantur et dispendio suo deputant quidquid ab aliis possidetur. aucupantur heredes nouos, adulescentulos diuites explorant per suos, adiungunt se simulantes paternam atque auitam amicitiam, uolunt domesticas eorum cognoscere necessitates. si quam causam inuenerint, accusant uerecundiam, pudorem arguunt, quod non ante de se speratum fuerit atque praesumptum; sin uero nullos laqueos alicuius necessitatis offenderint. intexunt fabulas, aiunt nobile praedium esse uenale, amplam domum, accumulant prouentus fructuum, annuos reditus exaggerant, hortantur ut coemat. similiter faciunt pretiosas uestes et monilia nobilia praedicantes. neganti se habere pecuniam ingerunt suam dicentes: utere ut tua; ### English translation (Claude) We blame the debtor for having acted too imprudently; but nothing is more wicked than the moneylenders, who reckon others’ losses their gain and count as their own loss whatever others possess. They hunt for new heirs; through their agents they spy out rich young men; they attach themselves to them, pretending a friendship from father’s and grandfather’s time; they want to learn their household needs. If they find some occasion, they reproach their modesty and chide their shyness for not having hoped and presumed on them earlier. But if they come upon no snares of any necessity, they weave tales: they say a fine estate is for sale, a spacious house; they pile up its yields of produce, exaggerate its annual returns, and urge him to buy. They do the same, praising costly garments and fine necklaces. When he says he has no money, they press their own on him, saying: “Use it as your own; ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 23 (CSEL 32.2:529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/23). ## On Tobit 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 32.2:529–530 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The lenders lure the young man into pledging his ancestral property, then press him for payment. ### Latin text de fructibus emptae possessionis pretium multiplicabis, debitum reddes. praetendunt alienos fundos adulescenti, ut eum spolient suis: tendunt retia, simul ut indagine cincta spatia fuerit ingressus, cogunt eum in retia cautionum, laqueos usurarum; petunt obligari sibi auitum praetorium, paternum sepulchrum. praestituitur dies solutioni, dissimulatur conuentio, quando potest solutio sustineri. ubi satis securum reddiderint, repente ingruunt et instant uehementius, causanti incumbunt dicentes: tu possides tua praedia, nos nostram pecuniam non habemus: aurum dedimus, lignum tenemus: tibi fructuum emolumenta procedunt, nobis nihil accrescit pecuniae. otiosa causatio est: saltem renouetur chirographum ### English translation (Claude) from the produce of the property you buy you will multiply the price and repay the debt.” They hold out others’ farms to the young man in order to strip him of his own. They spread their nets; as soon as he has entered the ground ringed by the hunters’ toils, they drive him into the nets of bonds and the snares of interest. They ask that his grandfather’s country house, his father’s tomb, be pledged to them. A day is set for payment; the agreement is overlooked while payment can be put off. When they have made him secure enough, they suddenly fall on him and press harder; when he makes excuses they bear down on him, saying: “You have your estates, we do not have our money. We gave gold, we hold wood. The profits of the produce come to you; nothing accrues to us of the money. Your excuse is idle; at least let the bond be renewed.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 24 (CSEL 32.2:529–530; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/24). ## On Tobit 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 32.2:530–531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The debtor lives in fear of the lender, and God sees both, condemning the one’s greed and the other’s folly. ### Latin text Itaque dum primo adulescens nihil putat de uestibus suis aut etiam possessionibus esse uendendum aut ad haec facienda poscit dilationem, usurae adplicantur ad sortem, adcumulatur centesima. iam suspirare incipit, iam malum suum agnoscere. die ac nocte usuram cogitat, quicquid occurrerit, faeneratorem putat, quicquid crepuerit, uocem sibi uidetur faeneratoris audire. si habes, cur non soluis? si non habes, cur malum malo adiungis et de uulnere quaeris remedium? cur cotidie obsidionem pateris faeneratoris, expugnationem times? uetus sententia est: faeneratoris et debitoris sibi occurrentium prospectum amborum facit dominus. alter quasi praedam requirit, alter aperta quasi praeda declinat: ille quasi leo quaerit quem deuoret, iste quasi bos iuuenculus praedonis impetum reformidat: ille quasi accipiter unguibus olorem quaerit inuadere, iste quasi anser aut fulica mauult se uel in praerupta deicere uel in profunda demergere quam istum humani corporis accipitrem sustinere. quid cotidie fugis? etsi non occurrat faenerator, occurrit tibi inopia tamquam bonus cursor. ambos ergo uidet dominus, faeneratorem et debitorem, occurrentes sibi ambos spectat testis alterius iniquitatis, alterius iniuriae: illius auaritiam condemnat, huius stultitiam. ille gressus debitoris singulos numerat, aucupatur deflexus: iste continuo post columnas caput obumbrat; nullam enim habet debitor auctoritatem. ambobus in digitis usurarum repetitur saepius calculatio. par cura, sed dispar allectus: alter laetatur incremento faenoris, alter cumulo debitionis adfligitur, ille quaestus numerat, hic aerumnas. ### English translation (Claude) And so, while the young man at first thinks that nothing of his clothing or even of his possessions need be sold, or asks for a delay in doing so, the interest is added to the principal and the monthly hundredth piles up. Now he begins to sigh, now to recognize his trouble. Day and night he thinks of the interest; whatever he meets he takes for the moneylender; whatever creaks, he seems to hear the moneylender’s voice. If you have it, why do you not pay? If you do not have it, why do you add evil to evil and seek a remedy from the wound? Why do you endure the moneylender’s siege every day and dread the storming? It is an old saying: “When the moneylender and the debtor meet, the Lord looks upon them both.” The one seeks his prey like a dog; the other, like prey in the open, turns aside. The one like a lion seeks whom he may devour; the other like a young bullock dreads the robber’s attack. The one like a hawk seeks to seize a swan with his talons; the other like a goose or a coot prefers to throw himself over cliffs or plunge into the depths rather than endure this hawk of human form. Why do you flee daily? Even if the moneylender does not meet you, want meets you like a good runner. So the Lord sees both, the moneylender and the debtor; he watches both as they meet, a witness of the one’s iniquity and the other’s injury; he condemns the one’s avarice, the other’s folly. The one counts every step of the debtor and lies in wait for his turnings; the other at once hides his head behind the columns, for a debtor has no standing. On the fingers of both the reckoning of interest is gone over again and again. Equal care, but unequal pull: the one rejoices at the growth of interest, the other is crushed by the pile of debt; the one counts his gains, the other his hardships. ### Scripture references - Prov 29:13: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 5:8: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Monthly hundredth”: centesima, interest of one percent a month. The “old saying” is Prov 29:13, in a form close to the Greek. “Like a lion seeks whom he may devour” echoes 1 Pet 5:8. “Dog” is supplied by the editor in angle brackets. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 25 (CSEL 32.2:530–531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/25). ## On Tobit 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-26 - Source: CSEL 32.2:531–533 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The debtor flees the lender in terror like a hunted beast or hooked fish, and is at last forced to sell even his family tomb. ### Latin text Quid fugis hominem, quem poteras et non timere? quid fugis aut quousque fugies? si quis pulsauerit nocte, faeneratorem putas: sub lectum ilico. si quem subito intrare senseris, tu foras exsilis. canis latrat, et cor tuum palpitat, sudor effunditur, anhelitus quatit, quaeris quid mentiaris ut faeneratorem differas, et, cum dilationem inpetraueris, gaudes. funere tuo simulat se faenerator grauari, sed libenter inpertit: quasi uenator, qui feram cinxerit, securus est praedae. tu oscularis caput, amplecteris genua et quasi ceruus sagittae toxico ictus paululum procedens tandem uictus ueneno procumbis aut quasi piscis, qui fuscina fuerit infixus, quocumque fugerit uulnus uehit. et uere piscis ille in esca mortem deuorat, ille hamum gluttit, dum cibum quaerit, sed tamen hamum non uidet, quem tegit praeda: tu hamum cernis et gluttis. hamus tuus faenus est creditoris, hamum uoras et uermis te semper adrodit. ipsa est esca, quae decipit. itaque et tibi faenoris nec cibus usui est et hamus uulneri. an ignoras quia semel inlaqueatus nodo se magis, si fugiat, ipse constringit et intra retia positus fugiendo magis deicit super se retia? in plateis fugis, cum intra parietes tutus esse non possis. inuenit te, cum uoluerit, faenerator. denique ubi tempus impleueris. sicut lupus nocte inruit, dormire non sinit, expectato die ad publicum trahit aut tabulis uenditionis cogit suscribere. ut fureris pudoris dispendium, subscribis ilico uenditurus auitum sepulchrum, paterno sane ut praetexatur aliquid uerecundiae. emitur ieiunum solum, iactatur quod infecunda uendiderit, dispendiis onerauerit uenditorem, et superioris temporis adscribuntur dispendiis damna praesentis. mox et laudata uenduntur et inferuntur iam non instrumenta, sed uincula. ### English translation (Claude) Why do you flee a man whom you could have had no need to fear? Why do you flee, or how long will you flee? If anyone knocks at night, you think it is the moneylender: under the bed at once! If you sense someone suddenly coming in, you leap outside. A dog barks, and your heart pounds, sweat pours out, panting shakes you; you look for a lie to put off the moneylender, and when you have got a delay you rejoice. The moneylender pretends to be burdened by your ruin, but he grants it gladly: like a hunter who has ringed in a beast, he is sure of his prey. You kiss his head, embrace his knees, and like a stag struck by a poisoned arrow you go on a little and at last fall, overcome by the poison; or like a fish pierced by a trident, wherever it flees it carries its wound. And indeed that fish swallows death in the bait; it gulps the hook while seeking food, but still it does not see the hook, which the morsel covers. You see the hook and swallow it. Your hook is the creditor’s interest; you devour the hook and the worm always gnaws at you. It is the bait itself that deceives. And so the food of interest is of no use to you, and the hook serves only to wound. Or do you not know that one once caught in a noose tightens it the more on himself if he flees, and one caught in the nets pulls the nets down on himself the more by fleeing? You flee through the streets, since you cannot be safe within your walls. The moneylender finds you when he wishes. At last, when you have filled up the time, he rushes in like a wolf at night, does not let you sleep, and at daybreak drags you into public or forces you to sign the deeds of sale. To escape the loss of face, you sign at once, ready to sell your grandfather’s tomb, sparing your father’s, of course, so that some cover of decency may be kept. The hungry soil is bought; the complaint is thrown at him that he has sold barren land and loaded the seller with expenses, and the losses of the present are added to the losses of the former time. Soon even the lands that were praised are sold, and what is brought in is no longer the means of farming but chains. ### Translation notes - “To escape” renders the corrupt “ut fureris” by sense. The sentence about the sale of barren land is difficult and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 26 (CSEL 32.2:531–533; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/26). ## On Tobit 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-27 - Source: CSEL 32.2:533 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Abandoned by friends, the debtor hides in shame and wishes for death. ### Latin text Tamen adhuc quaerenti fideiussores tribuuntur indutiae, non ut praedam libertatis inueniat, sed ut consortem seruitutis adiungat, qui se societ aerumnoso. at quid iuuare potest alienae calamitatis accessio? iam et amici fugiunt, conuiuae non recognoscunt: ipse quoque conspectus omnium refugit et ut pugil ictus uarios concertantium ita iste honestorum uitat occursus et sollicitus, ubi in aliquem offenderit, uigilanti exit obtutu. redit paratus ad uincula, redit mortem optans, cogitans eam sibi, si moreretur, (moram> inferre. redit misere se ipse condemnans, quod alienam pecuniam non refugerit et faeneratoris se aere deuinxerit. ### English translation (Claude) Still, when he looks for sureties, a respite is granted him, not so that he may find a way to freedom, but so that he may add a partner in slavery to share his misery. But what help can the addition of another’s calamity bring? Now his friends too flee, his table companions do not recognize him; he himself shuns the sight of everyone, and as a boxer dodges the various blows of his opponents, so he avoids meeting respectable men, and anxious lest he run into anyone, he goes out with a watchful eye. He returns ready for chains, returns wishing for death, thinking that, if he died, it would bring him a respite. He returns, wretchedly condemning himself for not having shunned another’s money and for having bound himself by the moneylender’s bronze. ### Translation notes - “A respite” (moram) is supplied by the editor. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 27 (CSEL 32.2:533; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/27). ## On Tobit 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-28 - Source: CSEL 32.2:533–534 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: For every borrower who repaid, many have been driven to suicide by debt. ### Latin text o quantos miseros aliena fecerunt bona? quid tibi, inquit ut bibas aquam Geon? quid inquam tibi, ut biberes calicem faeneratoris? multi inquit mutuati ad tempus et necessitatibus consuluerunt suis et pecuniam reddiderunt). et quanti se propter faenus strangulauerunt? illos consideras, hos non numeras. reminisceris euasisse aliquos, non reminisceris oppetisse: nummos redditos imputas, laqueos adpetitos non conputas, quos deformitati tam dedecoris conuentionis plerique uerecundiores ad contumeliam, fragiliores ad iniuriam expetito interitu praetulerunt opprobrium uitae amplius quam mortis supplicium pertimescentes. ### English translation (Claude) O how many wretches have others’ goods made! “What have you to do,” he says, “with drinking the water of Gihon?” What, I say, have you to do with drinking the moneylender’s cup? “Many,” someone says, “have borrowed for a time, met their needs, and repaid the money.” And how many have strangled themselves because of interest? You consider those, you do not count these. You remember that some escaped; you do not remember that some perished. You reckon the coins repaid; you do not count the nooses sought, which many, too modest to bear insult or too frail to bear injury, have chosen by seeking death rather than the disgrace of so shameful an agreement, fearing the reproach of life more than the punishment of death. ### Scripture references - Jer 2:18: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Jer 2:18, in the form of the Greek (“the water of Gihon”). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 28 (CSEL 32.2:533–534; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/28). ## On Tobit 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-29 - Source: CSEL 32.2:534 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ambrose has seen children sold at auction for their father’s debt. ### Latin text Uidi ego miserabile spectaculum, liberos pro paterno debito in auctionem deduci et teneri calamitatis heredes, qui non essent participes successionis, et hoc tam immane flagitium non erubescere creditorem. instat urguet addicit. mea inquit nutriti pecunia pro alimonia seruitium recognoscant, pro sumptu licitationem subeant. agitetur hasta de pretiis singulorum. non inmerito hasta agitatur, ubi caput quaeritur: non inmerito ad auctionem peruenitur, ubi sors poscitur. haec est faeneratoris inhumanitas, haec debitoris stultitia, ut filiis, quibus pecuniam non relinquit, libertatem auferat, pro testamento chirographum dimittat, pro emolumento hereditatis syngrapham obligationis. quid sibi uult paterni in liberos scriptura maledicti, ubi nulla est impii offensa peccati? an potest durius aliquod esse maledictum grauiusque seruitium? et illa saepe post mortem habet defunctus conpendia, quod non spectat miserias filiorum. ### English translation (Claude) I myself have seen a pitiable sight: children led to auction for a father’s debt, held as heirs of his calamity though they had no share in his inheritance, and the creditor not blushing at so monstrous a crime. He presses, urges, claims them. “Raised on my money,” he says, “let them acknowledge slavery in return for their keep; let them undergo bidding in return for the expense. Let the spear be raised over the price of each one.” Not without reason is the auction spear raised where a head is sought; not without reason does it come to auction where the lot is demanded. This is the moneylender’s inhumanity, this the debtor’s folly: that from the children to whom he leaves no money he takes away freedom; instead of a will he leaves a bond; instead of the profit of an inheritance, a contract of obligation. What does Scripture’s curse of a father upon his children mean, where there is no offense of impious sin? Or can any curse be harsher, any slavery heavier? And the dead man often has this advantage after death, that he does not see the miseries of his children. ### Scripture references - Exod 20:5: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The spear (hasta) marked a public auction; “head” (caput) and “lot” (sors) also mean the principal of a loan. The curse on children is perhaps Exod 20:5; Deut 5:9. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 29 (CSEL 32.2:534; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/29). ## On Tobit 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-30 - Source: CSEL 32.2:534–535 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Fathers even sell their own children to pay their debts. ### Latin text uendit plerumque et pater liberos auctoritate generationis, sed non uoce pietatis et ad auctionem pudibundo uultu miseros trahit dicens: 'soluite, filii, gulae meae sumptum, soluite paternae mensae pretium; uomite quod non deuorastis, reddite quod non accepistis, hoc meliores, quod uestro pretio redimitis patrem, uestra seruitute paternam emitis libertatem. ### English translation (Claude) Often a father himself sells his children by the authority of begetting, though not with the voice of love, and drags the poor things to auction with shamefaced look, saying: “Pay, children, the cost of my gluttony; pay the price of your father’s table. Vomit up what you did not devour, give back what you did not receive; you are the better for this, that by your own price you redeem your father, by your own slavery you buy your father’s freedom.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 30 (CSEL 32.2:534–535; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/30). ## On Tobit 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-31 - Source: CSEL 32.2:535 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: God’s rebuke “To which creditor have I sold you?” shows that being sold to a moneylender is the worst punishment. ### Latin text Esto ut aliquis qui subuenire possit accedat. quis tantam expleat Charybdin, quis rationes faeneratoris agnoscat, quis auaritiam satiet. quae non iste pretia exaggeret, cum uiderit redemptorem? non enim suo magis lucro quam alieno detrimento pascitur. uera profecto, uera est utpote dei diuina sententia. qui cum iratus esset propter impietatem populi Iudaeorum, quod post deos abiret alienos, cui inquit faeneratori uendidi uos? uenditur enim qui obligatus fuerit faeneratori et uenditur non uno pretio, sed cottidiano, uenditur non cum definitione, sed cum accessione diuturna. noua usurarum auctio per menses singulos, noua sub cotidiana licitatione uenditio. qui plus optulerit trahit semper, uenalis addicitur, numquam quasi uenditus aestimatur. magna igitur uis caelestis sententiae. non satis iudicauit dominus dicere: cui uendidi uos? addidit faeneratori. offensus nihil potuit grauius inuenire, quo uindicaret in perfidos. derelictus expostulat, cur ita fugerint salutis auctorem, quasi faeneratori eos alicui dominus uendidisset digna poena dominum relinquentis. habent serui quod amplius quam carceris poenas et uincula reformident, habent liberi quod paueant pro libertatis incuria. ### English translation (Claude) Suppose someone who can help comes forward. Who could fill such a Charybdis, who could understand the moneylender’s accounts, who could satisfy his avarice? What price will he not inflate when he sees a redeemer? For he feeds not so much on his own gain as on another’s loss. True indeed, true is the divine sentence, as God’s own. When he was angry at the impiety of the Jewish people because it went after foreign gods, he said: “To which moneylender have I sold you?” For one who has been bound to a moneylender is sold, and sold not at one price but at a daily price; he is sold not with a limit but with a lasting increase. There is a new auction of interest every month, a new sale under daily bidding. Whoever offers more always drags him off; he is knocked down as merchandise, never valued as one already sold. Great, then, is the force of the heavenly sentence. The Lord did not think it enough to say: “To whom have I sold you?” He added: “to a moneylender.” Offended, he could find nothing harsher with which to punish the faithless. Forsaken, he remonstrates with them for fleeing the author of salvation, as if the Lord had sold them to some moneylender, a penalty fit for one who abandons the Lord. Slaves have something to fear more than the penalties of prison and chains; free men have something to dread for their carelessness of freedom. ### Scripture references - Isa 50:1: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Isa 50:1. Ambrose applies the prophet’s rebuke of Israel; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 31 (CSEL 32.2:535; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/31). ## On Tobit 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-32 - Source: CSEL 32.2:535–536 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Moneylending leads to apostasy; the debtor sells himself by his own fault. ### Latin text simul illud aduerte quod faeneratio praeuaricationis materia iudicata sit, quod is facile recedat a domino qui faeneratori se potuerit obligare; faenus enim radix mendacii, causa perfidiae est. ego uos inquit non uendidi, sed peccatis uestris uenditi estis. ergo qui se faeneratori obligat ipse se uendit et quod peius est, uendit se non aere, sed culpa. ### English translation (Claude) Notice at the same time that moneylending has been judged a cause of transgression, since one who could bind himself to a moneylender easily departs from the Lord; for moneylending is the root of lying, the cause of faithlessness. “I did not sell you,” he says, “but you were sold by your sins.” So one who binds himself to a moneylender sells himself, and what is worse, sells himself not for bronze but for guilt. ### Scripture references - Isa 50:1: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Isa 50:1, paraphrased. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 32 (CSEL 32.2:535–536; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/32). ## On Tobit 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-33 - Source: CSEL 32.2:536 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The devil is the moneylender of sin, whose bond against humanity Christ cancelled by paying debts he did not owe. ### Latin text Quis iste peccati est faenerator nisi diabolus, a quo Eua mutuata peccatum obnoxiae successionis usuris omne genus defaenerauit humanum? denique quasi malus faenerator chirographum tenuit, quod postea dominus suo cruore deleuit. etenim quod mortis erat scriptum apicibus debuit morte dissolui. faenerator ergo diabolus. denique ostendebat saluatori diuitias suas dicens: haec omnia tibi dabo, si procidens adoraueris me. at uero dominus aeris solutor alieni nihil ipsi debebat, qui poterat dicere: ecce uenit huius mundi princeps et in me suum non inuenit nihil. nihil debebat, sed soluebat pro omnibus, sicut ipse testatur dicens: quae non rapui tunc exoluebam. ### English translation (Claude) Who is this moneylender of sin but the devil, from whom Eve borrowed sin and so put the whole human race in debt with the interest of a liable inheritance? Indeed, like a wicked moneylender he held the bond which the Lord afterwards blotted out with his own blood. For what had been written in the letters of death had to be dissolved by death. So the devil is a moneylender. Indeed, he showed the Savior his riches, saying: “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” But the Lord, the payer of others’ debts, owed him nothing, he who could say: “Behold, the prince of this world comes and finds nothing of his in me.” He owed nothing, but he paid for all, as he himself testifies, saying: “What I did not steal, I then paid back.” ### Scripture references - Col 2:14: allusion, high confidence - Matt 4:9: quotation, high confidence - John 14:30: quotation, high confidence - Ps 69:4 (68:5 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:6: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The bond: Col 2:14. The temptation: Matt 4:9. “The prince of this world comes …”: John 14:30. “What I did not steal …”: Ps 69:4 (Vulgate 68:5), applied to Christ. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 33 (CSEL 32.2:536; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/33). ## On Tobit 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-34 - Source: CSEL 32.2:536–537 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The lender’s “hundredth” (monthly interest) is a bitter parody of the hundredth sheep that Christ saved. ### Latin text quid distat malitia huius principis mundi? faenerator pecuniae caput obligat, manum tenet, sortem ducit, centesimam exigit. o nomen triste de dulci! dominus ouem centesimam liberauit - illa centesima salutis, haec mortis est — et terra bona centuplum fructum reddit. uae his qui dicunt quod amarum est dulce et quod dulce amarum! quid amarius usura, quid dulcius gratia? nonne hoc ipso sermone, quo centesimam appellant, reuocare deberent in memoriam redemptorem, qui uenit centesimam ouem saluare, non perdere? ### English translation (Claude) How does the malice of this prince of the world differ? The moneylender binds the head with money, holds the hand, draws the lot, demands the hundredth. O sad name from a sweet one! The Lord set free the hundredth sheep (that hundredth is of salvation, this one of death), and good ground yields a hundredfold fruit. Woe to those who say that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet bitter! What is more bitter than usury, what sweeter than grace? Should they not, by the very word with which they name the hundredth, call to mind the Redeemer, who came to save the hundredth sheep, not to destroy it? ### Scripture references - Luke 15:4: allusion, high confidence - Matt 13:8: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 5:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Head, hand, lot, hundredth: caput (principal), manus (bond), sors (capital), centesima (one percent monthly interest). The hundredth sheep: Luke 15:4; Matt 18:12. The hundredfold: Matt 13:8. “Woe to those …”: Isa 5:20. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 34 (CSEL 32.2:536–537; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/34). ## On Tobit 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 32.2:537 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The lender is the “exactor” of the Gospel, and even the name “creditor” is a deception. ### Latin text quis grauior exactor est? et hoc triste nomen. denique dominus ait: populus meus, exactores uestri circumscribunt uos, et in euangelio habes: dum uadis cum aduersario tuo ad magistratum, da operam liberari ab illo, ne forte perducat te ad iudicem et iudex tradat te exactori et exactor mittat te in carcerem. quis iste sit exactor agnosce, qui etiam nouissimum quadrantem exigit et idem se creditorem uocat atque in hoc etiam nomine fraudem facit ut qui ueneni poculum melle inlinit. ut sub grato odore mors lateat atque inlita calicis ora uim fraudis abscondant. creditor praetexitur quasi fidelis et quasi incredulus, ad quem fidelis obpignorat. ### English translation (Claude) Who is a harsher exactor? And this too is a sad name. Indeed the Lord says: “My people, your exactors cheat you”; and in the Gospel you have: “While you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, make an effort to be freed from him, lest he bring you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the exactor, and the exactor put you in prison.” Recognize who this exactor is, who exacts even the last farthing. And the same man calls himself a creditor, and even in this name he commits fraud, like one who smears a cup of poison with honey, so that death may lie hidden under a pleasant smell and the smeared rim of the cup may conceal the force of the fraud. The creditor puts forward his name as though he trusted, yet he is as one who does not trust, to whom the trusting man gives a pledge. ### Scripture references - Isa 3:12: quotation, medium confidence - Luke 12:58: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:26: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “My people …” is Isa 3:12 in a free form. The Gospel passage is Luke 12:58–59 (cf. Matt 5:25–26). Creditor means literally “one who trusts.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 35 (CSEL 32.2:537; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/35). ## On Tobit 36 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-36 - Source: CSEL 32.2:537–538 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ambrose recalls lenders holding a corpse as a pledge and mocks them for it. ### Latin text Quotiens uidi a faeneratoribus teneri defunctos pro pignore et negari tumulum, dum faenus exposcitur? quibus ego adquieui libenter, ut suum constringerent debitorem, ut electo eo fideiussor euaderet; haec sunt enim faenoris leges. dixi itaque: tenete reum uestrum et, ne uobis possit elabi, domum ducite, claudite in cubiculo uestro carnificibus duriores, quoniam quem uos tenetis carcer non suscipit, exactor absoluit. peccatorum reos post mortem carcer emittit, uos clauditis: legum seueritate defunctus absoluitur, uobis tenetur; certe hic sortem suam iam memoratur implesse. non inuideo tamen pignus uestrum reseruare. nihil interest inter funus et faenus, nihil inter mortem distat et sortem: personat, personat funebrem ululatum faenebris usura. nunc uere capite minutus est quem conuenitis; uehementioribus tamen nexibus alligate, ne uincula uestra non sentiat. durus et rigidus est debitor et qui iam non nouerit erubescere. unum sane est, quod non timere possitis, quia poscere non nouit alimenta. iussi igitur ### English translation (Claude) How often have I seen the dead held by moneylenders as a pledge and burial refused while interest was demanded! I gladly agreed with them that they should bind their debtor, so that, with him taken, the surety might go free; for these are the laws of moneylending. So I said: “Hold your defendant, and so that he cannot slip away from you, take him home, shut him in your room, you who are harsher than executioners; for the one you hold the prison does not receive, the exactor releases. The prison lets go those guilty of sins after death; you shut them up. By the severity of the laws the dead man is released; by you he is held. Surely this man is now said to have fulfilled his lot. Still, I do not begrudge you keeping your pledge. There is no difference between funeral and interest, nothing between death and the lot: usurious interest sounds, yes sounds, the funeral wail. Now truly he whom you are suing has suffered loss of his head; yet bind him with stronger bonds, so that he does not fail to feel your chains. The debtor is hard and stiff, and one who no longer knows how to blush. One thing indeed you need not fear: that he will ask for food.” So I ordered ### Translation notes - Ambrose puns on funus (funeral) and faenus (interest), mors (death) and sors (lot, capital), and on capite minutus (“lost his head” or “suffered loss of civil status”). The sentence continues in the next section. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 36 (CSEL 32.2:537–538; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/36). ## On Tobit 37 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-37 - Source: CSEL 32.2:538–539 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ambrose had the corpse carried to the lender’s house until the lender himself carried it to burial. ### Latin text leuari corpus et ad faeneratoris domum exsequiarum ordinem duci; sed etiam inde clausorum mugitu talia personabant. ibi quoque funus esse crederes, ibi mortuos plangi putares, nec fallebat sententia nisi quod plures constabat illic esse morituros. uictus religionis consuetudine faenerator — nam alibi suscipi pignora etiam ista dicuntur — rogat ut ad tumuli locum reliquiae deferantur. tunc tantum uidi humanos faeneratores, grauari me: tamen ego eorum humanitatem memorabam prospicere, ne postea se quererentur esse fraudatos, donec feretro colla subiecti ipsi defunctum ad sepulchra deducerent, grauiore maerore deflentes pecuniae suae funus. ### English translation (Claude) the body to be lifted and the funeral procession to be led to the moneylender’s house; but from there too sounds of wailing such as this rang out from those shut in. There too you would have believed there was a funeral, there you would have thought the dead were mourned; nor was the impression false, except that it was clear more were going to die there. Overcome by the custom of religion (for elsewhere even such pledges are said to be accepted), the moneylender asked that the remains be carried to the place of burial. Only then did I see humane moneylenders. I pretended to be put out; yet, mindful of their humanity, I took care that they should not complain afterwards that they had been cheated, until, putting their own necks under the bier, they themselves carried the dead man to the tomb, weeping with deeper grief for the funeral of their money. ### Translation notes - “I pretended to be put out” renders the difficult “grauari me” by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 37 (CSEL 32.2:538–539; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/37). ## On Tobit 38 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/1/#p-38 - Source: CSEL 32.2:539–540 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Moneylenders profit from gamblers’ losses and rule over them like tyrants. ### Latin text Aliud non minoris acerbitatis accipite. obseruant isti aleatorum conuenticula et perdentis aerumnam commoditatem suam iudicant. spondent pro singulis: uarios primo sors ludit euentus, ad diuersos saepe transfertur uictoria stipendiaque eius uicissim atque aerumna mutantur. omnes uincuntur et uincunt, faenerator solus adquirit: penes alios inane nomen quod uicerint, penes solum faeneratorem fructus est, non annuus, sed momentarius: illi soli lucrum faciunt in omnium detrimento, illis solis est usura uictoriae. uideas reliquos subito egentes, repente diuites, deinde nudos, singulis iactibus statum mutantes. uersatur enim eorum uita ut tessera, uoluitur census in tabula, fit ludus de periculo et de ludo periculum; quot propositiones tot proscriptiones. clamor plaudentium, fletus despoliatorum, gemitus deplorantium. sedet inter hos creditor ut tyrannus, damnans unumquemque sorte capitali, agitat hastas, feralem instituit de singulorum exuuiis auctionem. alios proscriptioni addicit, alios seruituti: non tanti occisi sub tyrannis sunt. uitae igitur hanc aleam rectius dixerim quam pecuniae; sub momento fertur quod ualeat in aeternum. ebrietas iudicat et nullus appellat. habet et alea suas leges, quas fori iura non soluant. notatur, si credi potest, infamia qui putauerit renitendum et infamium sententia grauius quam censura iudicialis inurit opprobrium, quoniam qui apud iudicem damnantur apud illos gloriosi sunt, qui apud illos damnantur et apud iudicem criminosi sunt. nobile Moyses constituit seniorum iudicium: hi tamen de leuioribus iudicabant, uerbum graue, hoc est de potioribus negotiis Moysi iudicio reseruare consueuerant. hic dicitur: aleonum concilium iudicauit, et plus eorum timetur potentia quam leonum. inter has feras uiuis, faenerator, atque uersaris, his bestiis cibum eripis, his taetrior aestimaris, his crudelior plus timeris. ### English translation (Claude) Hear another thing no less bitter. These men watch the gatherings of gamblers and judge the misfortune of the loser to be their own advantage. They stand surety for each one. At first chance plays out various outcomes; victory often passes to different players, and its rewards and misery change in turn. All are beaten and all win; the moneylender alone gains. With the others the name of having won is empty; with the moneylender alone is the fruit, not yearly but momentary. They alone make profit from the loss of all; to them alone belongs the interest of the victory. You may see the rest suddenly needy, suddenly rich, then stripped, changing their condition with each throw. Their life turns like a die; their fortune rolls on the board; play is made of danger, and danger of play; as many stakes, so many proscriptions. The shouting of those applauding, the weeping of the despoiled, the groaning of the lamenting. Among them the creditor sits like a tyrant, condemning each by a capital lot; he brandishes the spears of auction, and holds a deathly auction of the spoils of each. Some he makes over to proscription, others to slavery: not so many were killed under tyrants. I would more rightly call this a gamble of life than of money; what is valid for ever is carried off in a moment. Drunkenness judges, and no one appeals. Gambling too has its laws, which the rights of the forum do not undo. If you can believe it, one who thinks he should resist is branded with infamy, and the sentence of infamous men brands a disgrace more heavily than a judicial censure; for those condemned before the judge are glorious among them, while those condemned among them are criminals before the judge too. Moses established a noble court of elders; yet they judged the lighter matters, and were accustomed to reserve the weighty word, that is, the more important cases, for Moses’ judgment. Here it is said: “The council of gamblers has judged,” and the power of gamblers is feared more than that of lions. Among these wild beasts you live and move, moneylender; from these beasts you snatch their food; you are thought fouler than they, and you are feared as crueller than they. ### Scripture references - Exod 18:22: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose puns on aleo (gambler) and leo (lion). Moses’ elders: Exod 18:22–26. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 38 (CSEL 32.2:539–540; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/38). ## On Tobit 39 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-39 - Source: CSEL 32.2:540 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Even the warlike Huns are enslaved by gambling and moneylenders. ### Latin text Ferunt Chunorum populos omnibus bellum inferre nationibus, faeneratoribus tamen esse subiectos et cum sine legibus uiuant, aleae solius legibus oboedire, in procinctu ludere, tesseras simul et arma portare et plures suis quam hostilibus, iactibus interire, in uictoria sua captiuos fieri et spolia suorum perpeti, quae pati ab hoste non nouerint, ideo numquam belli studia deponere, quod uictus aleae ludo, cum totius praedae munus amiserit, ludendi subsidia requirat bellandi periculo, frequenter autem tanto ardore rapi, ut, cum ea quae sola magni aestimant uictus arma tradiderit, ad unum aleae iactum uitam suam potestati uel uictoris uel faeneratoris addicat. denique constitit quod quidam eorum et imperatori Romano cognitus in fide pretium seruitutis, quam sibi tali sorte superatus intulerat, suppliciis imperatae mortis exsoluerit. premit ergo faenerator etiam colla Chunorum et eos urget in ferrum, premit barbaros suae terrore saeuitiae. ### English translation (Claude) They say that the peoples of the Huns make war on all nations, yet are subject to moneylenders; and though they live without laws, they obey the laws of gambling alone. They play dice under arms, carry dice together with weapons, and more of them perish by their own throws than by the enemy’s. In their own victory they become captives and suffer the plundering of their own people, which they do not know how to suffer from an enemy. For this reason they never lay aside the pursuit of war: when the loser at dice has lost the whole gift of his plunder, he seeks the means to play by the peril of fighting. Often they are carried away with such passion that, when the loser has handed over his weapons, the only things they value highly, he stakes his life on one throw of the dice and makes himself over to the power of the winner or the moneylender. Indeed it is established that one of them, known even to the Roman emperor for his loyalty, paid with the punishment of a death he was ordered to suffer the price of the slavery he had brought on himself, beaten by such a lot. So the moneylender presses even the necks of the Huns and drives them onto the sword; he presses the barbarians by the terror of his cruelty. ### Translation notes - Ambrose reports what is said about the Huns (Chuni); one of the earliest Latin mentions of them. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 39 (CSEL 32.2:540; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/39). ## On Tobit 40 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-40 - Source: CSEL 32.2:540–541 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The lender who demands his money back at once is hateful, and his many legal names multiply the debt. ### Latin text Quid enim taetrius eo qui hodie faenerat et cras expetit? et odibilis inquit homo huiusmodi. oblatio quidem blanda, sed inmanis exactio. uerum ipsa oblationis humanitas facit exactionis saeuitiam. protulit pecuniam, hypothecas exigit atque in suis apothecis recondit. una pecunia a faeneratoribus datur et quam multa a debitoribus exiguntur! quanta sibi fecerunt uocabula! nummus datur, faenus appellatur: sors dicitur, caput uocatur: aes alienum scribitur, multorum hoc capitum inmane prodigium numerosam exactionem efficit: syngrapham nuncupat, chirographum nominat, hypothecas. ### English translation (Claude) What is fouler than one who lends today and demands it back tomorrow? “And such a man,” it says, “is hateful.” The offer is indeed alluring, but the exaction is monstrous. Indeed the very kindness of the offer makes the cruelty of the exaction. He brings out money; he demands hypothecs and stores them in his storehouses. One sum of money is given by moneylenders, and how many are exacted from debtors! What names they have made for themselves! A coin is given: it is called interest; it is called the lot, it is called the head; it is written as debt. This monstrous prodigy of many heads makes a manifold exaction: he calls it a contract, he names it a bond, hypothecs. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 20:15 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Sir 20:15. Ambrose puns on hypothecas (securities) and apothecis (storehouses), and on caput as both principal and head of a monster. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 40 (CSEL 32.2:540–541; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/40). ## On Tobit 41 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-41 - Source: CSEL 32.2:541–542 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lent money is like a viper that breeds its own brood of evils and kills by its “head,” the principal. ### Latin text flagitat: pignus usurpat, fiducias uocat: obligationem adserit, usuras praedicat, centesimas laudat. echinna quaedam est faeneratoris pecunia, quae tanta mala parturit. echinna tamen fecunda poenis uiscera trahens partu suo rumpitur et morte materna docet subolem non esse degenerem in matrem. igitur < ut> primum incipiunt esse serpentes illam morsibus suis scindunt. illic ubi nascitur uenenum primum probatur. pecunia autem faeneratoris omnia mala sua concipit: parit, nutrit atque ipsa magis in subole sua crescit tristi prole numerosior, non minus flexuosa quam serpens atque in orbem tota se colligens, ut caput seruet, reliquo flagellat corpore, illud solum producit ad uulnera: spiris ingentibus quos conprehenderit ligat, solo capite interficit: saluo capite, etiamsi reliqua pars eius dilapidata fuerit, reuiuiscit. ### English translation (Claude) he demands; he seizes a pledge, calls it a trust; he asserts an obligation, proclaims interest, praises the hundredths. The moneylender’s money is a kind of viper, which brings forth such great evils. Yet the viper, fruitful for punishment, its womb dragged out, is burst by its own offspring and by its mother’s death teaches that the brood does not fall short of the mother. For as soon as they begin to be serpents they tear her apart with their bites. There, where the poison is born, it is first proved. But the moneylender’s money conceives all its evils: it gives birth, it nourishes, and it grows the more in its own brood, more numerous by its grim offspring, no less winding than a serpent; gathering itself wholly into a coil so as to protect its head, it lashes with the rest of its body and thrusts out the head alone to wound. With huge coils it binds those it has seized; with the head alone it kills. If the head is safe, even if the rest of it has been wasted away, it revives. ### Translation notes - The belief that young vipers kill their mother at birth was common in ancient natural history (e.g. Herodotus 3.109; Pliny, Nat. 10.170). Caput means both head and principal. “For” (ut) is supplied by the editor. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 41 (CSEL 32.2:541–542; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/41). ## On Tobit 42 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-42 - Source: CSEL 32.2:542 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Interest breeds like offspring, compounding month by month, as the Greek word tokos suggests. ### Latin text diuersa quoque serpentibus sunt conueniendi et parturiendi tempora, pecunia faenebris a die initae conuentionis crescentibus serpit usuris, quae parturire non nouit, quia dolores magis in alios ipsa transfundit. ibi dolores sicut parturientis. unde etiam toxoo; Graeci usuras appellauerunt eo quod dolores partus animae debitoris excitare uideantur. ueniunt calendae. parit sors centesimam: ueniunt menses singuli, generantur usurae, malorum parentum mala proles. haec est generatio uiperarum. creuit centesima: petitur, non soluitur: adplicatur ad sortem. fit maledictum propheticum dolus in dolo, usura inprobi seminis fetura deterior. itaque non iam centesima incipit esse, sed summa, hoc est non faenoris centesima, sed faenus centesimae. ### English translation (Claude) Serpents also have different seasons for mating and giving birth; but usurious money creeps on from the day the agreement is made with growing interest. It does not know how to suffer labor, because it pours the pains rather onto others. There, pains as of a woman in labor. Hence the Greeks called interest tokos (“childbirth”), because it seems to stir up the pains of labor in the debtor’s soul. The Kalends come: the principal gives birth to the hundredth. Each month comes, interest is begotten, the evil offspring of evil parents. This is the brood of vipers. The hundredth has grown: it is demanded, not paid; it is added to the principal. The prophetic curse comes true, “deceit upon deceit,” interest the worse offspring of a wicked seed. And so it no longer begins to be a hundredth but the whole sum; that is, not the hundredth of the interest, but interest on the hundredth. ### Scripture references - Matt 3:7: allusion, medium confidence - Jer 9:6: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 48:6 (47:7 Vulg.): echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text reads “toxoo” (marked sic); Ambrose means Greek τόκος, “offspring” and “interest.” “Brood of vipers”: Matt 3:7. “Deceit upon deceit”: Jer 9:6, whose Greek also reads “interest upon interest.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 42 (CSEL 32.2:542; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/42). ## On Tobit 43 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-43 - Source: CSEL 32.2:542–543 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Interest breeds endlessly, unlike nature, which keeps the times Ecclesiastes describes. ### Latin text Usuram quoque ab usu arbitror dictam, quod ut uestes usu ita usuris patrimonia scindantur. lugubre cerae prima littera sonat. parturit uox doloris est. quid ibi boni esse potest, quod a dolore incipit et ab obligatione? lepores ferunt generare simul et educare et continuo parturire: istis quoque anaglyphariis usurarum generatur et supergeneratur usura. enutritur ac nascitur et nata iam parturit. radices quoque arborum primo plantantur, ut prendant; cum prenderint, tunc uirescere incipiunt, postea pullulare: at uero pecunia faenebris uix plantata iam pullulat. semina tempore erumpunt, animalia tempore pariunt; tempus enim pariendi et tempus moriendi, tempus plantandi et tempus uellendi plantatum, tempus occidendi et tempus sanandi et infra: tempus adquirendi et tempus reddendi, tempus custodiendi et tempus expellendi, ut Ecclesiastes ait: pecunia faenebris hodie seminatur, cras fructificat: semper parit et numquam interit: semper plantatur, uix euellitur. uult semper faenerator adquirere, numquam perdere, numquam custodire pecuniam suam, semper expellere, numquam sanare, semper occidere. ### English translation (Claude) I think that usura (“interest”) too is named from usus (“use”), because as clothes are worn through by use, so patrimonies are worn through by interest. … It is a word of pain. What good can there be in a thing that begins with pain and with obligation? They say that hares bear young, rear them, and at once conceive again: so too with these engravers of interest, interest is begotten and begotten again. It is nourished and born, and once born it already conceives. The roots of trees too are first planted so that they may take hold; when they have taken hold, then they begin to grow green, later to sprout. But usurious money, scarcely planted, already sprouts. Seeds break out in due time, animals give birth in due time; for there is “a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal,” and further on: “a time to acquire and a time to give back, a time to keep and a time to cast away,” as Ecclesiastes says. Usurious money is sown today and bears fruit tomorrow; it always gives birth and never dies; it is always planted and hardly ever uprooted. The moneylender wants always to acquire, never to lose; never to keep his money, always to cast it out; never to heal, always to kill. ### Scripture references - Eccl 3:2: quotation, high confidence - Eccl 3:3: quotation, high confidence - Eccl 3:6: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The sentence “lugubre cerae prima littera sonat. parturit” is corrupt and is left untranslated (marked …); it seems to concern the first letters of a word that sound of mourning. “Engravers” renders the obscure anaglyphariis. The quotations are Eccl 3:2–3, 6. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 43 (CSEL 32.2:542–543; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/43). ## On Tobit 44 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-44 - Source: CSEL 32.2:543 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ecclesiastes’ insatiable eye and sea picture the moneylender. ### Latin text et quia bonus ad omnia magister Ecclesiastes liber est Solomonis, paulisper ipsi inhaereamus. non satiabitur inquit oculus uidendo et non satiabitur auris auditu. nec faenerator expletur accipiendo nec affectus eius cotidiano numerandi aeris satiatur auditu. et iterum: omne quod fuit ipsum est quod erit. crescit semper pecunia, otium nescit auaritia, usura ferias. omnes inquit torrentes uadunt in mare et mare non adimpletur. mare istud faenerator est; omnium patrimonia tamquam fluctus absorbet et ipse nescit expleri. mari tamen plerique utuntur ad quaestum, faeneratore nemo utitur nisi ad dispendium: illic multorum commodum est, hic uniuersorum naufragium. ### English translation (Claude) And since the book of Ecclesiastes by Solomon is a good teacher in all things, let us stay with it a little. “The eye,” it says, “will not be satisfied with seeing, and the ear will not be satisfied with hearing.” Nor is the moneylender filled by receiving, nor is his desire satisfied by hearing the daily counting of bronze. And again: “Everything that has been is the very thing that will be.” Money always grows; avarice knows no leisure, interest no holidays. “All the torrents,” it says, “run into the sea, and the sea is not filled.” This sea is the moneylender: he swallows the patrimonies of all like waves, and himself does not know how to be filled. Yet many use the sea for gain; no one uses the moneylender except for loss. There it is the profit of many, here the shipwreck of all. ### Scripture references - Eccl 1:8: quotation, high confidence - Eccl 1:9: quotation, high confidence - Eccl 1:7: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Eccl 1:8, 1:9, 1:7. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 44 (CSEL 32.2:543; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/44). ## On Tobit 45 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-45 - Source: CSEL 32.2:543–544 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Unlike living things, money lent at interest grows without limit and never ages. ### Latin text multa sunt animantia, quae cito generare incipiunt, sed cito etiam generare desistunt: sors cito generat et numquam desinit, immo cum exordium crescendi acceperit, in infinitum extendit augmentum. omne deinde quod crescit, cum ad naturae suae formam atque mensuram magnitudinemque peruenerit, uacat incremento, sed faeneratorum pecunia tempore semper augetur et ultra formam maternae sortis excedens modum non continet. pleraque etiam animantium cum coeperint ea quae ex his sunt orta generare, tamquam effetis uiribus usum generationis amittunt: sors autem faenoris cum fuerit crescentibus exaequata centesimis, et uetustatem sui renouat et partus solitos adiunctione multiplicat. ### English translation (Claude) There are many animals that begin to breed quickly but also quickly cease to breed; the principal breeds quickly and never stops; indeed, once it has received the beginning of growth, it extends its increase without limit. Moreover, everything that grows, when it has reached the form, measure, and size of its nature, ceases to increase; but the moneylenders’ money always increases with time, and going beyond the form of the mother principal it keeps no measure. Many animals too, when the young born of them begin to breed, lose the use of generation as if their strength were spent; but the principal of a loan, when it has been equalled by the growing hundredths, both renews its old age and multiplies its usual offspring by addition. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 45 (CSEL 32.2:543–544; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/45). ## On Tobit 46 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-46 - Source: CSEL 32.2:544–545 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The law of Moses repeatedly forbids lending at interest, calling it choking the poor, long before Cato said the same. ### Latin text Non nouum nec perfunctorium hoc malum est, quod ueteris atque diuinae praescripto legis inhibetur. populus, qui despoliauerat Aegyptum, qui pede transierat mare, monetur a faenoris pecunia cauere naufragia. et cum de aliis peccatis semel aut multum iterata admonitione praescripserit, de faenore saepius intimauit. habes in Exodo: quodsi pecuniam faeneraueris pupillo, orphano, pauperi, aput te non suffocabis eum, non inpones illi usuram. ostendit quid sit suffocare, id est usuram inponere; strangulat enim et quod peius est animam laqueus creditoris. quo sermone et praedonis uiolentiam et deformis nodum mortis expressit: quodsi pignus acceperis uestimentum propinqui tui, ante solis occasum restitues illud; est enim hoc coopertorium eius tantum, hoc uestimentum turpitudinis eius. in quo dormiet? quod si itaque proclamauerit ad me, exaudiam eum. audistis, faeneratores, quid lex dicat, de qua dixit dominus: non ueni legem soluere, sed inplere? quam dominus non soluit uos soluitis? usuram inquit petere suffocare est. hoc quoque foris sero est dictum a quibusdam eorum prudentibus: quid est faenerare? hominem inquit occidere. sed utique non Cato prior quam Moyses, qui legem accepit. multo ille posterior. ### English translation (Claude) This evil is neither new nor trivial, since it is forbidden by the command of the ancient and divine law. The people that had despoiled Egypt and crossed the sea on foot is warned to beware of shipwreck by money lent at interest. And whereas on other sins it gave directions with a warning once or repeated a few times, about lending at interest it gave notice more often. You have in Exodus: “If you lend money to the ward, the orphan, the poor man, you shall not choke him in your house; you shall not lay interest on him.” It shows what it is to choke, namely to lay interest on someone; for the creditor’s noose strangles, and what is worse, strangles the soul. By this word it expressed both the violence of a robber and the knot of a hideous death. “If you take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it before sunset; for this is his only covering, this the garment for his shame. In what shall he sleep? So if he cries out to me, I will hear him.” Have you heard, moneylenders, what the law says, of which the Lord said: “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it”? Do you abolish what the Lord did not abolish? To demand interest, it says, is to choke. This too was said late, outside, by some of their wise men: “What is lending at interest?” “To kill a man,” he said. But certainly Cato did not come before Moses, who received the law; he was much later. ### Scripture references - Exod 22:25: quotation, high confidence - Exod 22:26: quotation, high confidence - Exod 22:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:17: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Off. 2.89 (Cicero): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Exod 22:25–27 and Matt 5:17. Cato’s saying (“What is lending at interest?” “What is killing a man?”) is reported by Cicero, Off. 2.89. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 46 (CSEL 32.2:544–545; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/46). ## On Tobit 47 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-47 - Source: CSEL 32.2:545–546 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Return pledged garments before sunset, lest the sun of righteousness set for you as it did for Judas. ### Latin text si pignus acceperis uestimentum propinqui tui, ante solis occasum restitues illud, ne nudati appareat turpitudo: uos uero exuitis atque nudatis et non redditis. uidete ne sol occidat super auaritiam uestram, ne sol iustitiae uobis occidat, quia iustitiam non tenetis, aut sol iniquitatis super flagitia uestra condatur. dies quoque perit inuito, nox inruit sicut Iudae, qui cum diabolus se misisset in cor eius, surrexit ad proditionem et facta est nox; sol enim iustitiae occiderat ei ac super eum recubuerat qui in cor eius intrauit. fecit illi tenebras, ut lucis non uideret auctorem. ibi miser periit in illo conuiuio, quo alii saluantur. reddite igitur uestimentum debitori, in quo dormiat et quietus sit. si nolueris reddere, exaudiam inquit eum, quia misericors sum. si uos non exauditis, ego exaudiam, ego miserebor, ego non despiciam inopis precem. ### English translation (Claude) “If you take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it before sunset,” lest the shame of the stripped man appear. But you strip and lay bare, and do not give back. See that the sun does not go down on your avarice, lest the sun of righteousness set for you because you do not hold to righteousness, or the sun of iniquity go down upon your crimes. The day perishes for the unwilling man too, and the night rushes in, as for Judas, who, when the devil had put it into his heart, rose to betray, and it was night; for the sun of righteousness had set for him and the one who entered his heart had lain down upon him. He made darkness for him, so that he should not see the author of light. There the wretch perished at that supper at which others are saved. So give back the garment to the debtor, in which he may sleep and be at rest. If you will not give it back, “I will hear him,” he says, “because I am merciful.” If you do not hear, I will hear; I will have mercy; I will not despise the prayer of the needy. ### Scripture references - Exod 22:26: quotation, high confidence - Exod 22:27: quotation, high confidence - Eph 4:26: allusion, high confidence - Mal 4:2 (4:2 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - John 13:2: allusion, high confidence - John 13:30: allusion, high confidence - Ps 102:17 (101:18 Vulg.): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Exod 22:26–27; Eph 4:26; the sun of righteousness, Mal 4:2; Judas, John 13:2, 27, 30. “I will not despise the prayer of the needy” echoes Ps 102:17 (Vulgate 101:18). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 47 (CSEL 32.2:545–546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/47). ## On Tobit 48 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-48 - Source: CSEL 32.2:546 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Deuteronomy forbids exacting interest from a brother, who shares our nature and grace. ### Latin text In Deuteronomio quoque scriptum est: non exiges a fratre tuo usuram pecuniae et usuram escarum et usuram omnium rerum, quascumque faeneraueris fratri tuo. si alienigenae credideris, usuram exiges ab eo, a fratre autem tuo non exiges. uides quantum pondus in uerbis sit. (noli exigere) inquit (usuram a fratre tuo hoc est: cum quo debes omnia habere communia. ab eo tu usuram exigis? frater tuus consors naturae et coheres gratiae: noli ab eo exigere amplius a quo durum est repetere quod dederis, nisi cum habuerit unde dissoluat. ### English translation (Claude) In Deuteronomy too it is written: “You shall not exact from your brother interest on money, interest on food, and interest on anything you lend to your brother. If you lend to a foreigner, you shall exact interest from him, but from your brother you shall not exact it.” You see how much weight there is in the words. “Do not exact,” it says, “interest from your brother”; that is, from one with whom you ought to have all things in common. Do you exact interest from him? Your brother is a sharer of your nature and a co-heir of grace. Do not exact more from one from whom it is hard to ask back even what you gave, unless he has the means to pay. ### Scripture references - Deut 23:19: quotation, high confidence - Deut 23:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Deut 23:19–20. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 48 (CSEL 32.2:546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/48). ## On Tobit 49 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-49 - Source: CSEL 32.2:546 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Taking interest in goods instead of money is still interest and evades the law. ### Latin text et quia plerique refugientes praecepta legis, cum dederint pecuniam negotiatoribus, non in pecunia usuras exigunt, sed de mercibus eorum tamquam usurarum emolumenta percipiunt, ideo audiant quid lex dicat. neque usuram inquit escarum accipies neque omnium rerum, quascumque faeneraueris fratri tuo. fraus enim ista et circumscriptio est legis, non custodia. et putas te pie facere, quia a negotiatore uelut mutuum suscipis? inde ille fraudem facit in mercium pretio, unde tibi soluit usuram. fraudis illius tu auctor, tu particeps, tibi proficit quidquid ille fraudauerit. et esca usura est et uestis usura est et quodcumque sorti accedit usura est. quod uelis ei nomen inponas, usura est. si licitum est, cur uocabulum refugis, cur uelamen obtexis? si inlicitum, cur incrementum requiris? ### English translation (Claude) And because many, evading the precepts of the law, when they have given money to merchants, do not exact interest in money but take from their goods what amounts to the profits of interest, let them hear what the law says: “You shall not take interest on food nor on anything you lend to your brother.” For that is fraud and evasion of the law, not keeping it. And do you think you act piously because you receive from the merchant something like a loan? From that source he commits fraud in the price of his goods, from which he pays you interest. You are the author of that fraud, you are its partner; whatever he has cheated goes to your profit. Food is interest, clothing is interest, and whatever is added to the principal is interest. Whatever name you give it, it is interest. If it is lawful, why do you shun the word, why do you draw a veil over it? If it is unlawful, why do you seek the increase? ### Scripture references - Deut 23:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Deut 23:19. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 49 (CSEL 32.2:546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/49). ## On Tobit 50 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-50 - Source: CSEL 32.2:546–547 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The rich take “interest” as free goods for their banquets, feasting on the tears of the poor. ### Latin text quod peius est, hoc uitium plurimorum est et maxime diuitum, quibus hoc nomine instruuntur cellaria. si quis instaurandum conuiuium putat, ad negotiatorem mittit, ut absentiati cupellam sibi gratis deferat: ad cauponem dirigit, ut Picenum uinum aut Tyriacum requirat, ad lanium, ut uuluam sibi procuret, ad alium, ut poma adornet. itaque humanitatem iudicant quae alieno constant periculo. tu bibis et alius diffluit lacrimis, tu epularis et alios cibo tuo strangulas, tu symphonia delectaris et alius miserabili deplorat ululatu, tu poma degustas et alius spinam uorat. numquid colligunt de spinis uuas aut de tribulis ficus? spina usura est, spina centesima est, tribulus faenus est, male urit. quomodo ergo potes fructum habere de spinis? si iste fructus de spinis non nascitur, ille nascetur aeternus? de aerumnis ditaris, de lacrimis lucrum quaeris, de fame aliena pasceris, de exuuiis despoliatorum hominum cudis argentum et iudicas te diuitem, qui stipem poscis a paupere? sed audi quid dicat saluator: uae uobis diuitibus, qui habetis consolationem uestram! ### English translation (Claude) What is worse, this is the vice of very many, and above all of the rich, whose cellars are stocked under this heading. If someone thinks he should give a banquet, he sends to a merchant to bring him a cask of wormwood wine free; he directs an innkeeper to find him Picene or Tyrian wine; a butcher to procure him a sow’s womb; another to supply fruit. So they call humanity what stands at another’s peril. You drink, and another melts in tears; you feast, and choke others with your food; you delight in music, and another laments with pitiable wailing; you taste fruit, and another swallows a thorn. “Do they gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?” Interest is a thorn, the hundredth is a thorn, moneylending is a thistle; it burns cruelly. How then can you have fruit from thorns? If this fruit does not grow from thorns, will that eternal fruit grow? You grow rich from hardships, you seek gain from tears, you feed on another’s hunger, you strike silver from the spoils of stripped men, and you think yourself rich, you who beg a coin from a poor man? But hear what the Savior says: “Woe to you rich, who have your consolation!” ### Scripture references - Matt 7:16: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:24: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Do they gather grapes from thorns …”: Matt 7:16. “Woe to you rich …”: Luke 6:24. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 50 (CSEL 32.2:546–547; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/50). ## On Tobit 51 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-51 - Source: CSEL 32.2:547–548 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The law’s permission to take interest from foreigners meant only enemies; every fellow believer and fellow citizen is a brother. ### Latin text Sed forte dicas quia scriptum est: alienigenae faenerabis et non consideras quid euangelium dicat, quod est plenius. sed hoc interim sequestremus: legis ipsius uerba considera. fratri tuo non faenerabis inquit ad usuram; alienigenam exiges. quis erat tunc alienigena nisi Amalech, nisi Amorraeus, nisi hostis? ibi inquit usuram exige. cui merito nocere desideras, cui iure inferuntur arma, huic legitime indicuntur usurae. quem bello non potes facile uincere, de hoc cito te potes centesima uindicare. ab hoc usuram exige quem non sit crimen occidere. sine ferro dimicat qui usuram flagitat, sine gladio se de hoste ulciscitur qui fuerit usurarius exactor inimici. ergo ubi ius belli, ibi etiam ius usurae. frater autem tuus omnis, fidei primum, deinde Romani iuris est populus: narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis, in medio ecclesiae laudabo te. ### English translation (Claude) But perhaps you say that it is written: “To the foreigner you shall lend at interest,” and you do not consider what the Gospel says, which is fuller. But let us set that aside for the moment; consider the words of the law itself. “To your brother,” it says, “you shall not lend at interest; from the foreigner you shall exact it.” Who was then the foreigner but Amalek, but the Amorite, but the enemy? There, it says, exact interest. From him whom you rightly wish to harm, against whom arms are lawfully borne, interest is lawfully demanded. Him whom you cannot easily conquer in war, you can quickly avenge yourself on by the hundredth. Exact interest from him whom it is no crime to kill. One who demands interest fights without iron; one who has been a usurious exactor of his enemy avenges himself on the foe without a sword. So where there is the right of war, there is also the right of interest. But your brother is every one who belongs first to the faith, then to the people of Roman law: “I will tell your name to my brothers; in the midst of the church I will praise you.” ### Scripture references - Deut 23:20: quotation, high confidence - Ps 22:22 (21:23 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Deut 23:20. Ambrose reads “foreigner” as Israel’s enemies (Amalek, the Amorites) and permits interest only where war would be lawful; translated as written. “I will tell your name …” is Ps 22:22 (Vulgate 21:23; cf. Heb 2:12). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 51 (CSEL 32.2:547–548; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/51). ## On Tobit 52 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-52 - Source: CSEL 32.2:548–549 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Leviticus, the Psalms, and Ezekiel all condemn interest, and Ezekiel ranks the usurer with the idolater. ### Latin text denique etiam in Leuitico praescribit lex usuram a fratre non esse poscendam. sic enim habes: et uiuet frater tuus tecum. pecuniam tuam non dabis illi in usuram et in amplius recipiendum non dabis illi escas tuas. generaliter haec sententia dei omne sortis exclusit augmentum. unde et Dauid et benedictum aestimauit et dignum habitatione caelesti qui pecuniam non dedit in usuram. si ergo qui non dedit benedictus, sine dubio maledictus qui ad usuram dedit. cur ergo maledictionem potius eligis quam benedictionem? potestis benedicti esse, si uelitis, potestis iusti esse. homo enim iustus secundum Ezechiel qui pignus debitori reddet et pecuniam suam in usuram non dabit et superabundantiam non accipiet et ab iniustitia auertet manum suam. iustus est iste; uita inquit uiuet, dicit dominus. qui autem pignus non reddidit et in simulacra apposuit oculos suos, iniquitatem fecit. cum usura dedit et superabundantiam accepit, hic uita non uiuet. omnes iniquitates istas fecit, morte morietur, sanguis eius super ipsum erit. uide quomodo faeneratorem cum idolatra copulauit, quasi crimen aequaret. elige ergo quod dulce est. ### English translation (Claude) Indeed in Leviticus too the law prescribes that interest is not to be asked of a brother. For you have it thus: “And your brother shall live with you. You shall not give him your money at interest, and you shall not give him your food to receive back more.” In general this sentence of God has excluded every increase of the principal. Hence David too judged blessed and worthy of a heavenly dwelling the one who did not give his money at interest. If then one who did not give is blessed, without doubt one who gave at interest is cursed. Why then do you choose the curse rather than the blessing? You can be blessed if you will, you can be just. For the just man, according to Ezekiel, is one who will return the pledge to the debtor, will not give his money at interest, will not take a surplus, and will turn his hand from injustice. “This man is just; he shall surely live,” says the Lord. “But one who has not returned a pledge and has set his eyes on idols has done iniquity. He has given at interest and taken a surplus; this man shall not live. He has done all these iniquities; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.” See how he has joined the moneylender with the idolater, as though making the crime equal. Choose then what is sweet. ### Scripture references - Lev 25:35: quotation, high confidence - Lev 25:37: quotation, high confidence - Ps 15:5 (14:5 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - Ezek 18:7: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 18:8: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 18:9: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 18:12: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 18:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Lev 25:35–37 and Ezek 18:7–9, 12–13; David’s blessing is Ps 15:5 (Vulgate 14:5). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 52 (CSEL 32.2:548–549; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/52). ## On Tobit 53 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-53 - Source: CSEL 32.2:549–550 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Like Samson’s lion yielding honey, the harsh lender should bring forth mercy and forgive the poor debtor. ### Latin text Cur semper tristes, cur semper amarissimi, cur semper solliciti? procedat aliquando a uobis misericordia, procedat ueritas: ablegetur mendacium, fraus odio sit. docuistis periurium. faeneratorium sacramentum dicitur, ubi paratur periurium. peieratis frequenter, cum reddita fuerit pecunia, quod syngrapha non appareat, peieratis postea quod non receperitis pecuniam. nolite ergo semper miseri esse, semper auari, semper maesti. leones sunt et feritatem suam mutant. de manducante inquit exiuit esca et de forte et tristi exiuit dulce. Graecus et tristi habet; sic, inuenimus. tamen de forte hoc intellegitur, quia leo fortis est feritate et qui ferus tristis. et de uobis, qui pecuniam et auaritiam deuoratis, exeat misericordia — haec enim esca est egenorum — et de tristi exeat dulce, ut dimittatis ei qui non habet unde dissoluat. quid trahitis peccata ut fune longo et ut iugi loro uitulae? quod fit utique, cum faenus producitis. tenetis pauperem debitorem: uel ibi sit aliqua gratia, ubi nulla spes commodi. et hoc secundum uestram auaritiam loquor. ### English translation (Claude) Why are you always gloomy, always most bitter, always anxious? Let mercy come forth from you at last, let truth come forth; let lying be sent away, let fraud be hated. You have taught perjury. It is called the moneylender’s oath when perjury is being prepared. You often swear falsely, when the money has been repaid, that the bond is missing; afterwards you swear falsely that you have not received the money. So do not be always wretched, always greedy, always sad. Lions change their ferocity. “Out of the eater,” it says, “came forth food, and out of the strong and the gloomy came forth sweetness.” The Greek has “and the gloomy”; so we find it. Yet this is understood of the strong one, because the lion is strong in ferocity, and the fierce one is gloomy. So from you also, who devour money and avarice, let mercy come forth (for this is the food of the needy), and from the gloomy let sweetness come forth, so that you forgive one who has nothing to pay with. Why do you draw sins along as with a long rope and like the yoke-strap of a heifer? This indeed happens when you prolong the interest. You hold a poor debtor: let there be some grace at least where there is no hope of profit. And I say this in accordance with your own avarice. ### Scripture references - Judg 14:14: quotation, high confidence - Isa 5:18: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Samson’s riddle: Judg 14:14; Ambrose notes that the Greek adds “and the gloomy (bitter).” “Why do you draw sins …”: Isa 5:18, in the form of the Greek. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 53 (CSEL 32.2:549–550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/53). ## On Tobit 54 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-54 - Source: CSEL 32.2:550–551 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Christ commands lending without hope of return; lender and debtor alike are called sinners. ### Latin text Ceterum dominus in euangelio talibus magis existimat faenerandum, a quibus redhibitio non speretur. sic enim ait: etsi mutuum dederitis a quibus speratis recipere, quae uobis est gratia? nam peccatores peccatoribus faenerant, ut recipiant. uerum tamen amate inimicos uestros et benefacite et mutuum date nihil sperantes, et erit merces uestra multa in caelo et eritis filii altissimi, quia ipse benignus super ingratos et malos. estote misericordes, sicut et pater uester misericors est. aduertitis misericors est nomen a domino faenerator acceperit, quod nomen etiam qui faenori uestro fuerit obligatus. peccatores inquit peccatoribus faenerant, ut recipiant. uterque peccatores, et faenerator et debitor. uos autem amate inquit inimicos uestros. non discutiatis quid mereantur inimici, sed quid uos facere oporteat. date mutuum his a quibus non speratis uos quod datum fuerit recepturos. nullum hic damnum est, sed conpendium. minimum datis, multum recipietis. in terra datis et id uobis soluetur in caelo: faenus amittitis, mercedem magnam habebitis: faeneratores esse desinitis, filii eritis altissimi: eritis misericordes, qui uos aeterni patris probetis heredes. ### English translation (Claude) Moreover, the Lord in the Gospel judges that we should rather lend to those from whom no repayment is hoped for. For he says: “If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks have you? For sinners lend to sinners in order to receive. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing, and your reward will be great in heaven, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Notice what name the moneylender has received from the Lord, the same name that belongs also to one bound to your interest: “Sinners,” he says, “lend to sinners in order to receive.” Both are sinners, the moneylender and the debtor. “But you,” he says, “love your enemies.” Do not examine what your enemies deserve, but what you ought to do. Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive back what was given. Here there is no loss but gain. You give very little, you will receive much. You give on earth, and it will be paid to you in heaven; you lose the interest, you will have a great reward; you cease to be moneylenders, you will be sons of the Most High; you will be merciful, proving yourselves heirs of the eternal Father. ### Scripture references - Luke 6:34: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:35: quotation, high confidence - Luke 6:36: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Luke 6:34–36. The sentence beginning “Notice what name” is garbled in the digital text (“aduertitis misericors est nomen …”) and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 54 (CSEL 32.2:550–551; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/54). ## On Tobit 55 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-55 - Source: CSEL 32.2:551 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lend to the Lord by giving to the poor; Christ is the surest guarantor. ### Latin text Sed faeneratorum uos delectat et usurarum uocabulum. id quoque non inuideo. docebo quomodo boni faeneratores esse possitis, quomodo bonas quaeratis usuras. dicit Solomon: faenerat domino qui miseretur pauperi, secundum datum autem eius retribuet ei. ecce bonum faenus de malo factum est, ecce inreprehensibilis faenerator, ecce usura laudabilis. nolite ergo iam me inuidentem uestris commodis aestimare. putatis quod hominem uobis subtraham debitorem? deum prouideo, Christum subrogo, illum demonstro qui uos fraudare non possit. faenerate ergo domino pecuniam uestram in manu pauperis. ille adstringitur et tenetur, ille scribit quidquid egenus acceperit — euangelium eius cautio —, ille promittit pro omnibus indigentibus, ille dicit fidem. quid dubitatis dare? si quis uobis diues huius saeculi offertur, qui fide promittit sua pro aliquo debitore, statim numeratis pecuniam. pauper est nobis dominus caeli et conditor mundi huius, et adhuc deliberatis, quem ditiorem quaeritis fideiussorem. ### English translation (Claude) But you delight in the names of moneylenders and interest. I do not begrudge you that either. I will teach you how you can be good moneylenders, how you may seek good interest. Solomon says: “He lends to the Lord who has mercy on the poor, and he will repay him according to his gift.” See, good lending has been made out of evil; see, a blameless moneylender; see, praiseworthy interest. So do not think me grudging toward your profits. Do you think I am taking a human debtor away from you? I provide God, I substitute Christ, I point out him who cannot cheat you. Lend your money, then, to the Lord in the hand of the poor. He is bound and held; he writes down whatever the needy man has received (his Gospel is the bond); he stands surety for all the needy; he pledges his good faith. Why do you hesitate to give? If some rich man of this world is offered you who promises on his own credit for some debtor, you count out the money at once. For us the Lord of heaven and founder of this world is the poor man, and still you deliberate; what richer guarantor are you looking for? ### Scripture references - Prov 19:17: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:40: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Prov 19:17. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 55 (CSEL 32.2:551; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/55). ## On Tobit 56 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-56 - Source: CSEL 32.2:551–552 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Christ became poor to make us rich; giving to the poor earns blessing, heaven, and nourishment. ### Latin text sed allegatis quia pauper est factus, cum diues esset. uidistis ergo quia fides eius diues est, fides eius idonea est. pauper est factus, cum pro nobis solueret, et adhuc paupertas ipsa non decipit; nos enim diuites fecit, quos pauperes putabatis. dicit enim apostolus: pauper factus.. est, cum diues esset, ut in illius inopia uos ditaremini. bona inopia quae largitur diuitias. nolite ergo uos paupertatem timere, ut sitis diuites. date otiosam pecuniam et recipietis fructuosam gratiam et pauperum subuenietis necessitatibus et uobis custodiae sollicitudo minuetur. non peribit quod pauper acceperit et uobis quod dederitis inopi sine custode seruabitur. quodsi incrementum quaeritis usurarum. in lege benedictio, in euangelio caelestis est merces. quid suauius benedictione, quid maius est caelo? si escarum. desideratur usura, ea quoque praesto est, sicut legimus; is enim qui miseretur pauperis ipse pascitur. ### English translation (Claude) But you allege that he became poor, though he was rich. You have seen, then, that his credit is rich, his credit is sufficient. He became poor when he paid for us, and still his very poverty does not deceive; for he made us rich, whom you thought poor. For the apostle says: “He became poor, though he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” Good is the poverty that bestows riches. So do not fear poverty, that you may be rich. Give idle money, and you will receive fruitful grace; you will relieve the needs of the poor, and your anxiety about guarding it will be lessened. What the poor man receives will not perish, and what you give to the needy will be kept for you without a guard. If you seek the increase of interest: in the law there is a blessing, in the Gospel a heavenly reward. What is sweeter than a blessing, what is greater than heaven? If interest in food is desired, that too is at hand, as we read; for he who has mercy on the poor is himself fed. ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 8:9: quotation, high confidence - Prov 22:9: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - 2 Cor 8:9. “He who has mercy on the poor is himself fed” is Prov 22:9 in the form of the Greek. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 56 (CSEL 32.2:551–552; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/56). ## On Tobit 57 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-57 - Source: CSEL 32.2:552–553 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Lenders argue that the law forbids only certain pledges, not all. ### Latin text Reddite ergo pignora, quae tenetis, quoniam fideiussorem idoneum repperistis. sed obmurmurant adhuc dicentes quia licet tenere pignora et se lege defendunt. aiunt enim: scriptum in Deuteronomio: si debitum fuerit tibi a proximo tuo quodcumque, non introibis in domum ipsius pignorare pignus, sed foris stabis, et homo aput quem est debitum tuum proferet tibi foris pignus. si autem homo ille pauper fuerit, non dormies in pignore ipsius, sed redditione reddes ei pignus ipsius ad occasum solis, et dormiet in uestimento suo et benedicet te et erit in te misericordia coram domino deo tuo. et alibi, inquiunt, scriptum est: non pignorabis molam neque lapidem superiorem molae, quoniam hic pignorat. et alibi: non accipies pignus uestimenti uiduae. unde argumentantur quia specialia pignora sint interdicta - non omnia -, id est pauperis et uiduae, molam quoque et lapidem superiorem molae prohibitum pignorari. ### English translation (Claude) Return the pledges you hold, then, since you have found a sufficient guarantor. But they still grumble, saying that it is permitted to hold pledges, and they defend themselves by the law. For they say: It is written in Deuteronomy: “If your neighbor owes you anything, you shall not enter his house to take a pledge, but you shall stand outside, and the man who owes you will bring the pledge out to you. But if that man is poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge, but you shall surely return his pledge to him at sunset, and he will sleep in his garment and bless you, and it will be mercy to you before the Lord your God.” And elsewhere, they say, it is written: “You shall not take a mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, for this man is pledging a life.” And elsewhere: “You shall not take a widow’s garment as a pledge.” From this they argue that particular pledges are forbidden, not all: those of the poor man and the widow, and that a mill and an upper millstone are forbidden to be taken in pledge. ### Scripture references - Deut 24:10: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:13: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:6: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:17: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Deut 24:10–13, 24:6, 24:17. “A life” is supplied by the editor. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 57 (CSEL 32.2:552–553; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/57). ## On Tobit 58 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-58 - Source: CSEL 32.2:553 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ezekiel, Job, and Christ show that every pledge should be returned. ### Latin text sed cum per Ezechiel prophetam ipse dominus dicat iustum esse qui pignus reddidit, iniustum qui tenuit, utique non speciale aliquod, sed generaliter omne pignus suadet esse reddendum. cum dicat Iob: conscriptionem quam habui aduersus aliquem iuramento conceptam, inponens coronam legebam, et si non scindens eam reddidi nihil accipiens a debitore. cum dominus nihil ab his quibus mutuum dederimus sperandum esse praecipiat, quod recipere debeamus, quomodo pignus secundum legem putant esse retinendum? ### English translation (Claude) But since the Lord himself says through the prophet Ezekiel that one who returned a pledge is just and one who kept it unjust, he surely urges that not some particular pledge but every pledge in general be returned. Job says: “The written bond that I had against someone, drawn up under oath, I read, putting it on as a crown, and did I not tear it up and give it back, receiving nothing from the debtor?” Since the Lord commands that we should hope for nothing from those to whom we have lent that we ought to receive back, how do they think a pledge is to be retained according to the law? ### Scripture references - Ezek 18:7: allusion, high confidence - Job 31:35: quotation, high confidence - Job 31:37: quotation, medium confidence - Luke 6:35: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ezek 18:7, 12; Job 31:35–37 in the form of the Greek; Luke 6:35. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 58 (CSEL 32.2:553; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/58). ## On Tobit 59 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-59 - Source: CSEL 32.2:553–554 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The psalm says the just man lends all day long; but what does he lend, if riches make entering the kingdom hard? ### Latin text Ac ne pari recrudescant modo et dicant etiam ad faenerandum se incitari legis oraculo, quia scriptum est: faenerabis gentibus multis, tu autem non mutuaberis, tempus est plenius et expressius disputare et docere quid faenerandum et quibus legis statuta praescribant; praecedit enim faenoris causa pignoris causam. mutuabitur inquit peccator et non soluet, iustus autem miseretur et tribuit. audis, debitor, quid debeas declinare: audis, creditor, quid debeas imitari. et infra: iuuenis fui et senui, et non uidi iustum derelictum nec semen eius quaerens panem. tota die miseretur et faenerat. unde huic iusto quod tota die faeneret? ergo diues iustus est et quanto ditior unusquisque fuerit tanto iustior? qui plus habuerit unde faeneret ipse erit iustior? sed difficile diues intrat in regnum caelorum. ### English translation (Claude) And lest they break out again in the same way and say that they are even urged to lend at interest by the oracle of the law, since it is written: “You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow,” it is time to discuss more fully and expressly, and to teach, what is to be lent and to whom the statutes of the law prescribe it; for the question of lending comes before the question of the pledge. “The sinner,” it says, “will borrow and not repay, but the just man has mercy and gives.” You hear, debtor, what you ought to avoid; you hear, creditor, what you ought to imitate. And further on: “I was young and have grown old, and I have not seen the just man forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All day long he has mercy and lends.” Where does this just man get what to lend all day long? Is the rich man then just, and the richer each is, the more just? Will one who has more to lend be more just? But it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ### Scripture references - Deut 15:6: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:12: quotation, medium confidence - Ps 37:21 (36:21 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 37:25 (36:25 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Ps 37:26 (36:26 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:23: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “You shall lend to many nations”: Deut 15:6; 28:12. The psalm is Ps 37:21, 25–26 (Vulgate 36:21, 25–26). The rich man: Matt 19:23. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 59 (CSEL 32.2:553–554; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/59). ## On Tobit 60 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-60 - Source: CSEL 32.2:554–555 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Peter, who had no silver or gold, lent the lame man healing in Jesus’ name, the true lending of the just. ### Latin text quid ergo faeneret dic mihi, sancte Dauid! contra me protuli testimonium, nisi mihi subuenis. Petrus dicebat: argentum et aurum non habeo: numquid non erat iustus? tu mihi ergo expone quid faeneret. dixisti enim: beatus uir qui miseretur et commodat, disponet sermones suos in iudicio. inueni quid faenerat iustus. Petrus quoque me doceat et ipse quid faeneret, qui dixit inopi adtendenti ad se et ad Iohannem: argentum et aurum non habeo. nihil ergo dabis pauperi, apostole? das tamen et plus das quam alii, das inopi quod alii donare non possunt, das inopi post quod egere non possit, das inopi quod etiam diuites accipere concupiscunt, das inopi quod hi qui istud argentum et aurum habent conferre non nouerint, quia auaritia eos inpedit, das inopi, qui eum diuitibus facias ditiorem. incitasti animum meum, concupisco hoc donum tuum. dicito. rogo, quid des. noli me diu suspensum reddere; cupio petere si cito soluas. sed soluisti cito: non distulisti inopem, non despexisti precem pauperis, non diutius eum desperare fecisti, non uacuus ad templum ascendisti dicens: argentum et aurum non habeo. non illi soli plenis manibus ascendunt qui aurum et argentum habent: ascendit et pauper non uacuus, ascendit et ille non uacuus, quia aurum et argentum non habuit. audiamus quid det iste pauper. sed quod habeo inquit do tibi. in nomine Iesu Nazaraei surge et ambula. o optanda paupertas, o ditior inopia! claudicabat cui diuites dabant: unus pauper dedit, et statim qui claudus erat sanus est factus. ### English translation (Claude) Tell me then, holy David, what does he lend? I have brought a testimony against myself, unless you help me. Peter used to say: “Silver and gold I have not.” Was he not just? Explain to me, then, what he lends. For you said: “Blessed is the man who has mercy and lends; he will order his words in judgment.” I have found what the just man lends. Let Peter too teach me what he himself lends, he who said to the needy man looking at him and at John: “Silver and gold I have not.” Will you give nothing then to the poor man, apostle? Yet you give, and give more than others; you give the needy what others cannot bestow; you give the needy something after which he cannot be in want; you give the needy what even the rich long to receive; you give the needy what those who have this silver and gold do not know how to confer, because avarice hinders them; you give the needy so as to make him richer than the rich. You have stirred my mind; I long for this gift of yours. Tell me, I beg, what you give. Do not keep me long in suspense; I want to ask, if you will pay quickly. But you have paid quickly: you did not put off the needy man, you did not despise the prayer of the poor, you did not make him despair longer, you did not go up to the temple empty, though you said: “Silver and gold I have not.” Not only those go up with full hands who have gold and silver; the poor man too goes up not empty; he too went up not empty, because he had no gold and silver. Let us hear what this poor man gives. “But what I have,” he says, “I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk.” O poverty to be desired, O neediness richer! The man to whom the rich used to give was lame; one poor man gave, and at once he who was lame was made whole. ### Scripture references - Acts 3:6: quotation, high confidence - Ps 112:5 (111:5 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Acts 3:1: allusion, high confidence - Ps 102:17 (101:18 Vulg.): echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Acts 3:6 and Ps 112:5 (Vulgate 111:5). “You did not despise the prayer of the poor” echoes Ps 102:17 (Vulgate 101:18). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 60 (CSEL 32.2:554–555; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/60). ## On Tobit 61 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-61 - Source: CSEL 32.2:555–556 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The just lend the silver of God’s word, as the apostles did when they preached to the nations. ### Latin text Habet ergo iustus quod faeneret, habet et argentum quod faeneret: sermones suos faenerat. hoc est iusti argentum; eloquia enim domini eloquia casta, argentum igne examinatum, probatum terrae, purgatum septuplo. hoc faenerat qui legem accipit, qui legem meditatur, qui legem exercet: hoc faenerauit Petrus, hoc faenerauit Paulus. quibus dicitur, ut ad uiros nationum pergerent, Petro ad Cornelium centurionem, cui dicitur: surge et uade nihil dubitans, quoniam ego misi illos. et surrexit et iuit. et infra dixit: numquid aquam uetare possumus, ne baptizentur hi qui spiritum sanctum acceperunt? iussitque eos baptizari, hoc est: faenerabis gentibus, ut peccata dimittas, debita auferas, tu autem non mutuaberis; mutuatur enim peccator et non soluet peccata sua, quia peccator est. Paulo dicitur: faenerabis gentibus, qui missus ad gentes est, Iohanni dicitur: faenerabis gentibus, Iacobo dicitur..... quibus dictum est: ite baptizate gentes. ### English translation (Claude) So the just man has something to lend; he has silver too to lend: he lends his words. This is the just man’s silver; for “the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried by fire, proved in the earth, purified seven times.” This is what one lends who receives the law, who meditates on the law, who practices the law. This Peter lent, this Paul lent. To them it was said that they should go to the men of the nations: to Peter, to the centurion Cornelius, when it was said to him: “Rise and go, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.” And he rose and went. And further on he said: “Can we forbid water, so that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit?” And he ordered them to be baptized; that is: “You shall lend to the nations,” so that you forgive sins and take away debts, “but you shall not borrow”; for the sinner borrows and will not repay his sins, because he is a sinner. To Paul it is said: “You shall lend to the nations,” for he was sent to the nations; to John it is said: “You shall lend to the nations”; to James it is said … to whom it was said: “Go, baptize the nations.” ### Scripture references - Ps 12:6 (11:7 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Acts 10:20: quotation, high confidence - Acts 10:47: quotation, high confidence - Acts 10:48: allusion, high confidence - Deut 15:6: quotation, high confidence - Ps 37:21 (36:21 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - Matt 28:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 12:6 (Vulgate 11:7); Acts 10:20, 47–48; Deut 15:6; Ps 37:21; Matt 28:19. The digital text marks a gap after “to James it is said.” ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 61 (CSEL 32.2:555–556; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/61). ## On Tobit 62 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-62 - Source: CSEL 32.2:556 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The promise “you will lend to the nations” concerns lending God’s word, not money. ### Latin text dicitur populo patrum: si custodieris mandata, benedictus eris et faenerabis gentibus uerbum. denique non de pecunia dici significant sequentia: princeps eris gentibus multis: tibi autem nemo dominabitur. constituat te dominus deus tuus in caput et non in caudam, et eris tunc supra et non subter, si exaudieritis uocem domini dei uestri. et sequitur: si autem non audieritis, maledictus tu in ciuitate et maledictus tu in agro. et infra: maledicta progenies uentris tui. non pecunia utique benedictum facit, sed cognitio dei, praedicatio uerbi, si gratiam domini faeneremus, si indigentibus eloquia domini conferamus, si obseruemus mandata caelestia. et contra maledictum non facit, si desit pecunia quae faeneretur; sed si desit studium, si desit obseruatio caelestium statutorum, maledictus eris. ### English translation (Claude) It is said to the people of the fathers: “If you keep the commandments, you will be blessed and will lend the word to the nations.” Indeed, what follows shows that it is not said of money: “You will be ruler over many nations, but no one will rule over you. May the Lord your God make you the head and not the tail, and you will then be above and not beneath, if you hear the voice of the Lord your God.” And it follows: “But if you do not hear, cursed are you in the city and cursed are you in the field.” And further on: “Cursed is the offspring of your womb.” It is surely not money that makes one blessed, but the knowledge of God, the preaching of the word: if we lend the grace of the Lord, if we bestow the words of the Lord on the needy, if we keep the heavenly commandments. And on the other hand, it is not the lack of money to lend that makes one cursed; but if zeal is lacking, if the keeping of the heavenly statutes is lacking, you will be cursed. ### Scripture references - Deut 28:12: quotation, high confidence - Deut 15:6: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:13: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:15: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:16: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:18: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Deut 28:1, 12–13, 15–16, 18, with Deut 15:6; “the word” is Ambrose’s interpretive addition. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 62 (CSEL 32.2:556; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/62). ## On Tobit 63 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-63 - Source: CSEL 32.2:556–557 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Israel’s saints lent God’s word to the nations, as when the queen of the south came to Solomon. ### Latin text Denique mysterium ecclesiae euidenter exprimitur. primum enim dixit ad discipulum legis: non centesimam eius quod dederis portionem, sed centuplum ferat fructum. expande igitur sinum mentis, ut huius pecuniae numeratam tibi suscipias quantitatem: intende cordis optutum, ut agnoscas pecuniae huius imaginem et inscriptionem. certe hanc pecuniam excute, tabulam supra mensam animae tuae, quae stabilis uirtutibus sit, quadratam constitue, conde in thensauro pectoris tui de quo doctus scriba depromit noua et uetera. uides qualis haec pecunia sit, quemadmodum creditorem debitoremque inuisa in se coniungat nomina. qui inuehebar in faeneratores, iam prouoco debitorem. huius ergo faeneratores pecuniae uos esse desidero, ut ad uos qui mutuum sumant sponte festinent, per quam non nummum, sed regnum possitis adquirere, per quam non maledicta quaeratis, sed benedictionis gratiam. ### English translation (Claude) You have heard what the money of the good moneylender is: what money gains good interest; what money does not disgrace the lender nor oppress the debtor; what money rust cannot cover nor moth penetrate; what money is not from an earthly treasure but an eternal one; what money makes the receiver rich and takes nothing from the lender. This money has interest, so that it bears not a hundredth part of what you gave but a hundredfold fruit. Open wide, then, the lap of your mind to receive the counted sum of this money; fix the gaze of your heart to recognize the image and inscription of this money. Indeed, examine this money; set up on the table of your soul a counting board, firm in virtues and squared; store it in the treasury of your breast, from which the learned scribe brings out things new and old. You see what this money is like, how it joins in itself the hated names of creditor and debtor. I who was inveighing against moneylenders now call forth the debtor. I want you to be lenders of this money, so that those who would borrow may hasten to you of their own accord; through it you can acquire not a coin but a kingdom, through it you may seek not curses but the grace of blessing. ### Scripture references - Matt 6:20: allusion, high confidence - Matt 13:8: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 22:20: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 13:52: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 6:20; 13:8; 22:20; 13:52. “So that” (ut) is supplied by the editor. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 65 (CSEL 32.2:558; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/65). ## On Tobit 66 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-66 - Source: CSEL 32.2:558–559 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The Gentile church received the word refused by the synagogue, fulfilling Deuteronomy’s curse and blessing. ### Latin text hanc pecuniam faenerat populus nationum, qui sciuit accipere faeneratum, qui sciuit cernere, qui sciuit excutere. recusasti indiga faenoris spiritalis: egere coepisti. de te igitur a dei filio dictum est: mutuabitur peccator et non soluet. tibi dicitur: aduena qui est in te ascendet super te, tu autem descendes in imum. nescit enim summum qui Christum ignorat, in inferno semper est qui non ascendit ad Christum, in summo autem populus qui uerbum recipit. hic habet fidei omne patrimonium, de hoc dicit lex: hic tibi faenerabit, tu autem non faenerabis ei: hic tibi erit caput, tu autem eris cauda, hoc est: ille erit primus, tu ultimus et abiectus. auferam a Iudaea caput et caudam, initium et finem: initium Christum, qui interrogatus qui esset respondit: initium, quod et loquor uobis. finem quoque Christum dicit; ipse est enim finis legis ad iustitiam omni credenti. ergo qui non credit ad iustitiam nec initium nec finem habet, sed ipse sui finis est. ### English translation (Claude) This money is lent by the people of the nations, who knew how to receive what was lent, how to discern it, how to examine it. You refused, being in need of spiritual lending; you began to be in want. Of you, then, it was said by the Son of God: “The sinner will borrow and will not repay.” To you it is said: “The stranger who is among you will rise above you, but you will go down to the lowest.” For one who does not know Christ does not know the highest; one who does not ascend to Christ is always in the depths; but the people that receives the word is at the summit. This people holds the whole patrimony of faith; of it the law says: “He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head for you, but you will be the tail”; that is, he will be first, you last and cast off. “I will take away from Judea head and tail,” beginning and end: the beginning is Christ, who, when asked who he was, answered: “The beginning, who also speak to you.” The end too he calls Christ; for he is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” So one who does not believe unto righteousness has neither beginning nor end, but is himself his own end. ### Scripture references - Ps 37:21 (36:21 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:43: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:44: quotation, high confidence - Isa 9:14: quotation, medium confidence - John 8:25: quotation, high confidence - Rom 10:4: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose applies these texts to the Jewish people; translated as written. Ps 37:21; Deut 28:43–44; Isa 9:14 (“from Israel” in the Bible); John 8:25 in the Latin form; Rom 10:4. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 66 (CSEL 32.2:558–559; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/66). ## On Tobit 67 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-67 - Source: CSEL 32.2:559–560 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The pledge the law speaks of is spiritually the Holy Spirit given to our hearts. ### Latin text Cognouimus faenus legitimum, cognoscamus et pignus, quod lex reddi iubet ante solis occasum. quod sit istud audi dicentem apostolum: dedit deus pignus spiritum in cordibus nostris. tripliciter autem et pignus et conmendatum et depositum dicitur. pignus dicunt quod pro mutuo aere susceptum est, conmendatum autem et depositum quod nos custodiae causa alicui commisimus. unde ait apostolus: scio cui credidi et certus sum, quia potens est commendatum meum custodire in illum diem. depositum quoque idem docuit quod esset dicens: bonum depositum custodi per spiritum sanctum, qui habitat in nobis. numquid spiritus commendati argenti aurique custos est aut per spiritum sanctum pecunia custoditur? spiritale igitur pignus custoditur ab spiritu, ne aues caeli ueniant et auferant illud de cordibus nostris. ### English translation (Claude) We have learned what lawful lending is; let us learn also what the pledge is that the law orders to be returned before sunset. Hear what it is from the apostle, who says: “God has given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.” Now three things are spoken of: a pledge, a thing entrusted, and a deposit. A pledge they call what is received for money lent; a thing entrusted and a deposit, what we have committed to someone for safekeeping. Hence the apostle says: “I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted until that day.” The same apostle taught what a deposit is, saying: “Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us.” Is the Spirit the guardian of entrusted silver and gold, or is money guarded by the Holy Spirit? A spiritual pledge, then, is guarded by the Spirit, lest the birds of the sky come and take it from our hearts. ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 1:22: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 1:12: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:4: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; 2 Tim 1:12, 14; Matt 13:4, 19. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 67 (CSEL 32.2:559–560; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/67). ## On Tobit 68 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-68 - Source: CSEL 32.2:560 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: We must keep faithfully the spiritual deposit Christ entrusted to us. ### Latin text petamus ergo, ut custodiat in nobis Christus hoc pignus, quod ipse donauit, et depositum suum conmendatumque conseruet; nihil enim accepit a nobis, sed ipse nobis credidit quod nostrum non erat. et ideo detrimento honestatis adficitur qui depositum uiolarit alienum. si commendatum hominis nulla debemus fraude uiolare, quanto magis diuinum et spiritale depositum bona fide seruare nos congruit, ne et existimationis et utilitatis grauia damna subeamus! ### English translation (Claude) Let us ask, then, that Christ may guard in us this pledge which he himself gave, and preserve his deposit and what he entrusted; for he received nothing from us, but himself entrusted to us what was not ours. And so one who violates another’s deposit suffers the loss of his honor. If we ought not to violate by any fraud what a man has entrusted to us, how much more is it fitting that we keep in good faith a divine and spiritual deposit, lest we suffer grave losses both of reputation and of advantage! ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 68 (CSEL 32.2:560; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/68). ## On Tobit 69 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/39/#p-69 - Source: CSEL 32.2:560 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The law on returning pledges at sunset is quoted again. ### Latin text hoc igitur pignus est, quod lex prohibet pignorari et uiolenter auferri. sic enim habet scriptura: si debitum tibi fuerit a proximo tuo quodcumque, non introibis in domum ipsius pignorare pignus, et homo apud quem est debitum tuum proferet tibi foras pignus. si autem homo ille pauper fuerit, non dormies in pignore ipsius, sed redditione reddes ei pignus ipsius ad occasum solis, et dormiet in uestimento suo et benedicet te et erit in te misericordia. ### English translation (Claude) This then is the pledge which the law forbids to be taken as a pledge and carried off by force. For Scripture has it thus: “If your neighbor owes you anything, you shall not enter his house to take a pledge, and the man who owes you will bring the pledge out to you. But if that man is poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge, but you shall surely return his pledge to him at sunset, and he will sleep in his garment and bless you, and it will be mercy to you.” ### Scripture references - Deut 24:10: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:11: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:12: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Deut 24:10–13. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 69 (CSEL 32.2:560; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/69). ## On Tobit 70 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-70 - Source: CSEL 32.2:560–561 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: In Ezra’s time the lenders agreed to return pledges and forgo their loans, binding later lenders. ### Latin text Dices itaque mihi: ecce lex auferri pignus prohibuit, non suscipi, pauperi autem iussit reddi, non omnibus. ac de corporalibus quidem pignoribus satis etiam Hesdra nos docuit quod iam, faeneratores, aduersus patrum uestrorum non possitis uenire professionem. nam cum iuberentur qui faenerauerant et acceperant aliena pignora, ut restituerent ea, dixerunt: reddimus et ab ipsis nihil quaerimus. boni patres, qui statuerunt pignora debitorum esse reddenda, boni etiam faeneratores, qui responderunt quod et pignora redderent et pecuniam non requirerent, quam dedissent. et sententia uos paternae censitionis his adstringit et professio creditorum. ### English translation (Claude) So you will say to me: “See, the law forbade a pledge to be taken away, not to be received, and ordered it returned to the poor, not to all.” As for bodily pledges, Ezra too has taught us enough that you moneylenders can no longer go against the declaration of your fathers. For when those who had lent and received others’ pledges were ordered to restore them, they said: “We return them, and we seek nothing from them.” Good fathers, who decreed that debtors’ pledges should be returned; good moneylenders too, who answered that they would both return the pledges and not demand the money they had given. Both the sentence of your fathers’ decision and the declaration of the creditors bind you to these terms. ### Scripture references - Neh 5:11: allusion, high confidence - Neh 5:12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Neh 5:11–12 (2 Esdras in the Latin Bible, hence “Ezra”). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 70 (CSEL 32.2:560–561; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/70). ## On Tobit 71 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-71 - Source: CSEL 32.2:561 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Spiritually, the pledge is the word sown in the heart, which must not be taken from the weak. ### Latin text est autem et aliud pignus, quod lex spiritalis prohibet auferri et si datum fuerit, reddi iubet ante solis occasum, quod homo debitor reddit et ipse protulit. debitor est autem omnis qui audit uerbum regni et non intellegit. uenit malus et rapuit quod seminatum est in corde ipsius. noli ergo introire in domum eius, ut illud pignus accipias. uae enim qui scandalizauerit unum de pusillis istis! si sua stultitia amiserit pignus suum, tu non habebis delictum. si autem pauper fuerit, redde pignus ante solis occasum; pignus autem uestimentum est. si sibi diues uidetur, ipse se decipit, si pignus tradiderit suum: si autem pauper, qui non habeat diuitias spiritus, redde illi uestimentum suum ante solis occasum. ### English translation (Claude) There is also another pledge, which the spiritual law forbids to be taken away and, if it has been given, orders to be returned before sunset, which the debtor returns and himself brought out. Now a debtor is everyone who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it. The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. Do not enter his house, then, to take that pledge. For woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to stumble! If by his own folly he has lost his pledge, you will have no fault. But if he is poor, return the pledge before sunset; and the pledge is a garment. If he seems rich to himself, he deceives himself if he hands over his pledge; but if he is poor, not having the riches of the Spirit, return his garment to him before sunset. ### Scripture references - Matt 13:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 18:6: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:13: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 13:19; 18:6. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 71 (CSEL 32.2:561; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/71). ## On Tobit 72 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-72 - Source: CSEL 32.2:561–562 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The garment to be returned at sunset must be understood spiritually, as a tunic. ### Latin text si de corporali ageretur pignore, utique magis per diem reddendum fuit, ne turpitudo nudi corporis diurno lumine proderetur; tenebrae etenim nudum non produnt. ac si hoc moueret, quod non haberet pauper quo dormiens tegi posset, utique aut stragulum aut amictum diceret esse reddendum. nunc autem dicendo uestimentum tunicam magis significat, quam induimur atque uestimur. redde ergo pauperi tunicam suam, ut dormiat in ea noctu. ### English translation (Claude) If it were a bodily pledge in question, it should surely rather have been returned by day, lest the shame of the naked body be exposed by daylight; for darkness does not expose the naked. And if the concern were that the poor man had nothing to cover himself with while sleeping, it would surely say that a blanket or a cloak was to be returned. But by saying “garment” it rather means the tunic which we put on and with which we are clothed. Return to the poor man, then, his tunic, so that he may sleep in it at night. ### Scripture references - Deut 24:13: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 72 (CSEL 32.2:561–562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/72). ## On Tobit 73 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-73 - Source: CSEL 32.2:562–563 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The garment is the poverty of the preacher and the seamless tunic of Christ, the gospel divided among the evangelists as by lot. ### Latin text Nonne tibi uidetur illum pauperem significare, qui cum una tunica iubetur pergere, alteram non requirere, missus a Christo ad euangelium praedicandum? ipse enim est pauper spiritu, qui dormire possit; nam satiato diuitiis, non est qui sinat eum dormire. dormit enim pauper somnum resurrectionis, quem diues dormire non potest, quia a diuitiis et uoluptatibus suffocatur. dormit Christi quietem dicentis: ego dormiui et quieui et surrexi. haec est tunica illa desuper texta, qua erat Christus indutus, quam scindere non potuerunt illi milites, quos agnoscis. nullus enim eorum uestimentum Christi scindit, sed diuidit,. sicut scriptum est: diuiserunt uestimenta mea sibi et super uestem meam miserunt sortem. diuiserunt sibi euangelistae uestimenta eius et super uestem eius, hoc est super praedicationem euangelii, qua uestitur hodieque dominus Iesus, miserunt sortem, illam utique sortem, quae cecidit super Matthiam, ut apostolorum numero duodecimus excluso nomine proditoris adiungeretur. bene autem de euangelistis dictum est quia miserunt sortem; sors enim ueluti diuino pendet examine. et ideo quia non potestate propria sunt locuti neque omnes eadem omnia, sed plerique diuersa dixerunt, quae alius non dixerat, sancti spiritus gratiam uelut sortito illis ea tribuisse cognoscimus, quae loquerentur singuli de operibus domini Iesu, ut eius sibi describenda pro eius nutu gesta diuiderent. ### English translation (Claude) Does it not seem to you to signify that poor man who is ordered to go with one tunic and not to seek a second, sent by Christ to preach the gospel? For he is the poor in spirit who can sleep; for one sated with riches, there is no one who lets him sleep. The poor man sleeps the sleep of resurrection, which the rich man cannot sleep, because he is choked by riches and pleasures. He sleeps the rest of Christ, who says: “I slept and rested and rose.” This is that tunic woven from the top, which Christ wore, which those soldiers whom you recognize could not tear. For none of them tears the garment of Christ, but divides it, as it is written: “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” The evangelists divided his garments among them, and for his clothing, that is, for the preaching of the gospel with which the Lord Jesus is clothed even today, they cast lots: that lot, certainly, which fell on Matthias, so that he was added as the twelfth to the number of the apostles when the name of the traitor was excluded. And it is well said of the evangelists that they cast lots; for a lot hangs as it were on divine judgment. And so, because they did not speak by their own power, and not all said all the same things, but many said different things that another had not said, we recognize that the grace of the Holy Spirit assigned to them as by lot what each should say of the works of the Lord Jesus, so that they divided among themselves, at his bidding, his deeds to be written down. ### Scripture references - Matt 10:10: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:3: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 3:5 (3:6 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 19:23: allusion, high confidence - John 19:24: allusion, high confidence - Ps 22:18 (21:19 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Acts 1:26: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 10:10; Ps 3:5 (Vulgate 3:6); John 19:23–24; Ps 22:18 (Vulgate 21:19); Acts 1:26. The “soldiers” are read as the evangelists. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 73 (CSEL 32.2:562–563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/73). ## On Tobit 74 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-74 - Source: CSEL 32.2:563 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The tunic is Christ himself, put on through the cross, burial, and new life. ### Latin text est et illa tunica, quam demonstrat apostolus dicens: induite dominum Iesum. haec est tunica, quae inhonesta operit nostra et in his honestatem abundantiorem circumdat in Christo. induimus uiscera misericordiae in Christo, induimus crucis gloriam, quae Iudaeis scandalum, Graecis stultitia. illi erubescunt qui eam erubescendam putant, nobis autem absit gloriari nisi in cruce domini Iesu. haec ignobilia nostra honorem abundantiorem habent, quia per passionem domini regnum nobis paratur aeternum; quo enim quis plus peccauerit eo plus diligit. consepeliamur igitur domino Iesu, ut participes resurrectionis eius esse mereamur, expoliemus ueterem hominem cum actibus eius, induamus nouum, in quo remissio peccatorum. Bonus ergo amictus atque uestitus uerbum dei. ### English translation (Claude) There is also that tunic which the apostle points out, saying: “Put on the Lord Jesus.” This is the tunic that covers our unseemly parts and surrounds them with more abundant honor in Christ. We put on the heart of mercy in Christ; we put on the glory of the cross, which is “to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness.” Those blush at it who think it something to blush at; but for us, far be it to glory except in the cross of the Lord Jesus. These ignoble parts of ours have more abundant honor, because through the Lord’s passion an eternal kingdom is prepared for us; for the more one has sinned, the more one loves. Let us then be buried with the Lord Jesus, that we may be worthy to share in his resurrection; let us strip off the old man with his deeds and put on the new, in whom is the forgiveness of sins. So the word of God is a good cloak and clothing. ### Scripture references - Rom 13:14: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:23: allusion, high confidence - Col 3:12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:23: quotation, high confidence - Gal 6:14: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:47: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 6:4: allusion, high confidence - Col 3:9: allusion, high confidence - Col 3:10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 13:14; 1 Cor 12:23; Col 3:12; 1 Cor 1:23; Gal 6:14; Luke 7:47; Rom 6:4–5; Col 3:9–10. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 74 (CSEL 32.2:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/74). ## On Tobit 75 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-75 - Source: CSEL 32.2:563–564 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The garment that covered Noah’s nakedness is the word; it must not be taken from the poor. ### Latin text hoc uestitu filii Noe pudenda patris operuerunt accipientes super umeros uestimentum et retrorsum pergentes, ne uiderent uirilia patris, hoc est corporea, quae habent pudorem quendam generationis humanae. et ideo qui uidere uoluit angustioris animi dignam mercedem recepit, ut seruos fieret — omnis enim qui facit peccatum seruus est peccati —, unde ille in terrenis remansit. hoc pauperi nemo tollat uestimentum aut si tulerit, sol non occidat super despoliatum, cum ante restituat, ne peccatum pauperis faeneratori possit adscribi et non solum suo, sed etiam alieno incipiat laborare peccato. ### English translation (Claude) With this clothing the sons of Noah covered their father’s nakedness, taking a garment on their shoulders and walking backward so as not to see their father’s private parts, that is, the bodily things that carry a certain shame of human generation. And so the one who wished to see received the reward fit for a narrower mind, that he should become a slave (“for everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin”); hence he remained among earthly things. Let no one take this garment from the poor man; or if he has taken it, let the sun not set on the stripped man before he restores it, lest the poor man’s sin be charged to the lender and he begin to toil not only under his own sin but under another’s too. ### Scripture references - Gen 9:23: allusion, high confidence - Gen 9:25: allusion, high confidence - John 8:34: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 9:23–25; John 8:34. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 75 (CSEL 32.2:563–564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/75). ## On Tobit 76 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-76 - Source: CSEL 32.2:564–565 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The pledge belongs to the Lord’s lot, as in Leviticus and with Aaron; the garment of the word must be kept or recovered. ### Latin text hoc pignus in hac saeculi nocte reddatur, hoc uestimento in his mundi tenebris induatur. hoc pignus illius dominicae sortis est, non illius contrariae. legimus enim duas sortes in Leuitico, de quibus dictum est: unam domino facies, alteram transmissori. transmissor sortem suam ad faeneratores transmisit, serui domini in sorte sunt Christi. in hac sorte constitutus Aaron contrariae sortis exclusit aerumnam, cum inter duas partes populi constitutus mortem a defunctis serpere in sortem uiuorum sui corporis non permisit obiectu. huius sortis bonum pignus est uerbi amictus. hanc uobis tunicam nemo auferat, debitores, hanc tunicam nulli oppigneretis, si uultis numquam turpitudinem sustinere, ut dormiatis inter cleros sicut Aaron, dormiatis inter duo testamenta, ut dormiatis somnum resurrectionis et uos reparare possitis. hoc est uestimentum. quod etiamsi oppigneraueris, recipiendum sanctus Solomon in Prouerbiis suadet dicens: aufer uestimentum tuum; praeterit enim iniuriosus. ### English translation (Claude) Let this pledge be returned in this night of the world; let one be clothed with this garment in the darkness of this world. This pledge belongs to the Lord’s lot, not to the opposite one. For we read of two lots in Leviticus, of which it is said: “One you shall make for the Lord, the other for the one sent away.” The one sent away has sent his lot away to the moneylenders; the servants of the Lord are in the lot of Christ. Placed in this lot, Aaron shut out the misery of the opposite lot when, standing between two parts of the people, he did not allow death to creep from the dead into the lot of the living, putting his own body in the way. The good pledge of this lot is the cloak of the word. Let no one take this tunic from you, debtors; pledge this tunic to no one, if you never wish to suffer shame, so that you may sleep among the lots as Aaron did, may sleep between the two Testaments, may sleep the sleep of resurrection and be able to restore yourselves. This is the garment. Even if you have pledged it, holy Solomon in the Proverbs urges that it be taken back, saying: “Take away your garment; for the insolent man passes by.” ### Scripture references - Lev 16:8: quotation, high confidence - Num 16:48: allusion, high confidence - Ps 68:13 (67:14 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - Prov 27:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Lev 16:8 (the “one sent away” is the scapegoat); Num 16:47–48; Ps 68:13 (Vulgate 67:14; cleros, “lots”); Prov 27:13 in the form of the Greek. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 76 (CSEL 32.2:564–565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/76). ## On Tobit 77 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-77 - Source: CSEL 32.2:565 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The garment is the robe of wisdom and faith; without it the devil exposes us, as he did Adam. ### Latin text sapientiae uestimentum est ex illis indumentis, quae ex bysso et purpura sapientia sibi fecit, hoc est: indumentum fidei constat ex praedicatione caelestium et dominicae sanguine passionis: bysso aetheria figurantur, purpurae specie mysterium sacri sanguinis declaratur, quo regnum caeleste confertur. denique uestimentum sapientiae significari superiora indicant; praemisit enim dicens: sapiens esto, fili, ut laetetur cor tuum et infra duos uersus ait: inprudentes autem superuenientes damnum pendent. aufer uestimentum tuum. aufer igitur, ne damnum excipias inprudentiae, ne exutum te proprio uestimento nequissimus ille communis faenerator agnoscens confusionem tui detegere conetur opprobrii et persuadeat tibi, ut te foliis tegas et nudum te esse conspiciens in dei uerearis uenire conspectum. ### English translation (Claude) The garment of wisdom is of those robes which Wisdom made for herself of fine linen and purple; that is, the robe of faith consists of the preaching of heavenly things and the blood of the Lord’s passion. Fine linen figures heavenly things; by the appearance of purple the mystery of the sacred blood is declared, by which the heavenly kingdom is conferred. Indeed, what precedes shows that the garment of wisdom is meant; for he said first: “Be wise, my son, that your heart may rejoice,” and two verses further on he says: “But the imprudent, coming upon it, pay the penalty. Take away your garment.” Take it away, then, lest you incur the penalty of imprudence; lest that most wicked common moneylender, recognizing you stripped of your own garment, try to uncover the confusion of your disgrace and persuade you to cover yourself with leaves, and, seeing yourself naked, you fear to come into the sight of God. ### Scripture references - Prov 31:22: allusion, medium confidence - Prov 27:11: quotation, high confidence - Prov 27:12: quotation, high confidence - Prov 27:13: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:7: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Prov 31:22; Prov 27:11–13 in the form of the Greek; Gen 3:7–10. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 77 (CSEL 32.2:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/77). ## On Tobit 78 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-78 - Source: CSEL 32.2:565–566 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Sirach’s counsel to keep one’s word brief is illustrated by Susanna, who spoke only to God. ### Latin text Redde inquit proximo in tempore, coangusta uerbum et fideliter age cum illo, et in omni tempore inuenies quod tibi necessarium sit. non amat multis innocentia se defendere. Susanna uocis adsertione non eguit: uerbum coangustauit ad dominum et statim adipisci meruit castitatis propriae testimonium. plurima presbyteri loquebantur, qui laborabant uerborum fuco obducere ueritatem, sed non filia Iuda. tacuit aput homines, locuta est deo. erubescenda erat in plebe ipsa defensio muliebris et dum pudor defenditur, inpudentia praetendebatur. coangustauit uerbum dicens ad dominum: tu scis quia falsa dixerunt de me. et dominus spiritum Danielis pueri castitatis excitauit ultorem. ### English translation (Claude) “Repay your neighbor in time,” it says; “keep your word brief and deal faithfully with him, and at all times you will find what you need.” Innocence does not like to defend itself with many words. Susanna did not need the assertion of her voice: she kept her word brief toward the Lord, and at once she was found worthy to obtain the testimony of her own chastity. The elders said a great deal, laboring to cover the truth with the paint of words; but not the daughter of Judah. She was silent before men, she spoke to God. A woman’s defence before the people itself would have been a cause for blushing, and while modesty was being defended, shamelessness would have been displayed. She kept her word brief, saying to the Lord: “You know that they have spoken falsely against me.” And the Lord stirred up the spirit of the boy Daniel as the avenger of chastity. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 29:2-3 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence - Sus 42-45 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sir 29:2–3 (“keep your word brief” renders coangusta, the Latin for the Greek “make firm”). Susanna 42–45, 57. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 78 (CSEL 32.2:565–566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/78). ## On Tobit 79 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-79 - Source: CSEL 32.2:566 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: “A word made brief” also means God’s summing up of Israel’s account so that a remnant is saved. ### Latin text coangusta ergo uerbum, ut redhibitio creditori, non lingua respondeat, siue mystice: coangusta uerbum, hoc est consumma; uerbum enim consummans et breuians faciet dominus super terram, hoc est ei multis ratiociniis adbreuiata tibi summa conueniat. deducito quod expensis diuersis est erogatum, ut saluum habeas quod supersit, quomodo dominus de multis dispensationibus Iudaeorum ex multo illo ratiocinio peccatorum consummauit tandem atque breuiauit, ut reliquiae saluae fierent per electionem gratiae et seruarentur ad semen, per quos intermortuam spem synagogae resuscitaret. ### English translation (Claude) Keep your word brief, then, so that repayment, not your tongue, answers the creditor; or, mystically: keep your word brief, that is, bring it to completion; for “the Lord will make a word complete and cut short upon the earth,” that is, so that from many reckonings a summed total may be agreed for you. Deduct what was paid out in various expenses, so that you may keep safe what remains; as the Lord, out of the many dispensations of the Jews, out of that long reckoning of sins, at last completed and cut it short, so that a remnant might be saved by the election of grace and be kept for a seed, through whom he might revive the half-dead hope of the synagogue. ### Scripture references - Rom 9:28: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:5: allusion, high confidence - Rom 9:29: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 9:28 (Isa 10:23); Rom 11:5; Rom 9:29 (Isa 1:9). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 79 (CSEL 32.2:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/79). ## On Tobit 80 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-80 - Source: CSEL 32.2:566 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Think how you will repay before borrowing, for interest only grows. ### Latin text Quam deforme est, ut pro beneficio ei qui te adiuuit rependas molestiam! cum istum fraudaueris cui debes, postea in tempore necessitatis tuae non inuenies creditorem. quam indignum, ut cum uictum tuum sustentare non queas, cum adhuc nihil debeas, putes quod et uictum tuum possis et debitum sustinere. ante cogita unde dissoluas et sic mutuum sume. (fructus) inquit agrorum capio. sed qui non abundant usui quomodo abundabunt contracti faenoris incremento? sed possessionem meam uendo. et unde fructus, quibus utaris ad sumptum? faenus non pecunia sua soluitur, sed augetur: numerando coaceruatur et crescit. ### English translation (Claude) How shameful it is to repay with annoyance the kindness of one who has helped you! When you have cheated the one to whom you owe, you will find no creditor afterwards in your time of need. How unworthy it is that, when you cannot sustain your living even while you owe nothing, you think you can sustain both your living and a debt. Think first how you will pay, and then borrow. “I take the fruits of my fields,” he says. But how will those that do not suffice for use suffice for the increase of interest incurred? “But I will sell my property.” And from where will come the fruits for you to live on? Interest is not paid off by its own money but increased; by counting it is heaped up and grows. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 80 (CSEL 32.2:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/80). ## On Tobit 81 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-81 - Source: CSEL 32.2:566–567 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Borrowing humiliates the borrower and turns friends into enemies. ### Latin text deinde non cogitas humilitatem et uerecundiam postulantis? donec accipias, oscularis manus faeneratoris superbi, humilias uocem tuam, ne clarior sonitus uocis tuae auris eius offendat, ne plures te audiant deprecantem. paupertas non habet crimen, nulla indigentiae infamia est, sed debere uerecundum est, non reddere inuerecundum. postulabis dilationem, cum coeperis conueniri in tempore praescriptae solutionis: pro pecunia adferes taedia, causaberis de tempore, excusationes strues et, cum totum promiseris, ne in uniuersum fraudare uidearis, uix dimidium restitues. de amico inimicum facies,. pro honore referes contumeliam, pro benedictione maledictum. quam haec opinionem laedant considera, quam a uiro bono discrepent recognosce. ### English translation (Claude) Then, do you not consider the humiliation and shame of the one who asks? Until you receive, you kiss the hands of the proud moneylender; you lower your voice, lest its clearer sound offend his ear, lest more people hear you begging. Poverty carries no crime; there is no disgrace in need; but to owe is shameful, not to repay is shameless. You will ask for a delay when you begin to be summoned at the time fixed for payment; instead of money you will bring vexation, you will plead the time, you will pile up excuses, and though you promised the whole, you will barely restore half, so as not to seem to cheat entirely. You will make a friend an enemy; you will return insult for honor, cursing for blessing. Consider how this harms your reputation; recognize how far it differs from a good man. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 81 (CSEL 32.2:566–567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/81). ## On Tobit 82 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-82 - Source: CSEL 32.2:567 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Neither rich nor poor should borrow at interest. ### Latin text ergo dum liber es a uinculis, ipse te retrahe, reuoca a iugo et onere seruitutis. diues es: non sumas mutuum. pauper es: non sumas mutuum. diues es: nullam pateris petendi necessitatem. pauper es: considera soluendi difficultatem. opulentia usuris minuitur, paupertas usuris non eleuatur; numquam enim malum malo corrigitur nec uulnus curatur uulnere, sed exasperatur ulcere. ### English translation (Claude) So while you are free of chains, draw yourself back; call yourself back from the yoke and burden of slavery. Are you rich? Do not borrow. Are you poor? Do not borrow. If you are rich, you suffer no need to ask. If you are poor, consider the difficulty of repaying. Wealth is diminished by interest; poverty is not relieved by interest. For evil is never corrected by evil, nor is a wound cured by a wound, but it is made worse by an ulcer. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 82 (CSEL 32.2:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/82). ## On Tobit 83 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-83 - Source: CSEL 32.2:567–568 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The mill and upper millstone the law forbids to be pledged signify the study of Scripture and Christ the cornerstone. ### Latin text Haec uide, ne, dum pecuniam petis, molam tuam obliges aut lapidem supermolarem. mola est qua similago conficitur, qua molit similaginem una mulier, quae adsumitur, et altera, quae relinquitur. fortasse illa adsumitur quae semper molit dei uerbum, ut habeat similaginem, spiritalem farinam facit, expurgat uetus fermentum, ut sit noua conspersio, custodit molam suam, interpretatur scripturas, seruat sibi lapidem supermolarem: illa autem relinquitur, quae oppignorat molam suam. cum aliquid emoluerit perfunctorie, oppignorat lapidem qui est super molam. quis iste sit lapis quaero. legi: lapidem. quem reprobauerunt aedificantes, hic factus est in caput anguli. quare super molam? quia ipse est qui molentes adiuuat, ipse est qui dicit: scrutamini scripturas, in quibus putatis uos uitam aeternam habere. ### English translation (Claude) See to these things, lest, while you ask for money, you pledge your mill or your upper millstone. The mill is that by which fine flour is made, at which one woman grinds fine flour who is taken, and another who is left. Perhaps the one is taken who always grinds the word of God so as to have fine flour; she makes spiritual meal, cleans out the old leaven so as to be a new lump, guards her mill, interprets the Scriptures, keeps for herself the upper millstone. But that one is left who pledges her mill. When she has ground something carelessly, she pledges the stone that is on the mill. I ask what this stone is. I have read: “The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner.” Why on the mill? Because he is the one who helps those who grind; he it is who says: “Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life.” ### Scripture references - Deut 24:6: allusion, high confidence - Matt 24:41: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 5:7: allusion, high confidence - Ps 118:22 (117:22 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - John 5:39: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Deut 24:6; Matt 24:41; 1 Cor 5:7; Ps 118:22 (Vulgate 117:22); John 5:39. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 83 (CSEL 32.2:567–568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/83). ## On Tobit 84 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-84 - Source: CSEL 32.2:568 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Do not take the millstone or the widow’s pledge, literally or spiritually. ### Latin text noli, faenerator, hunc lapidem supermolarem oppignorare, ne cadas super illum; omnis enim qui ceciderit super hunc lapidem conquassabitur, supra quem ceciderit autem comminuet illum. nec uiduae pignus suscipias. graue et secundum litteram utrumque, ut usum instrumentumque uiuendi egeno auferas aut uiduae pignus detrahas, sed grauius, si animae, quae uerbi uidua est, uerbum teneas, ut ei sterilitatem uiduitatis indicas. ### English translation (Claude) Do not, moneylender, take this upper millstone in pledge, lest you fall on it; for “everyone who falls on this stone will be broken, and on whomever it falls it will crush him.” Nor should you take a widow’s pledge. Both are grave even according to the letter: to take away from the needy the use and the tool of living, or to strip a widow of her pledge; but it is graver if you withhold the word from a soul widowed of the word, so as to impose on her the barrenness of widowhood. ### Scripture references - Luke 20:18: quotation, high confidence - Deut 24:17: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 20:18 (cf. Matt 21:44); Deut 24:17. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 84 (CSEL 32.2:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/84). ## On Tobit 85 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-85 - Source: CSEL 32.2:568–569 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The moneylender to imitate is the one in Christ’s parable who forgave both debtors. ### Latin text Atque ut sciatis quod amanti haec affectu suadeam, ut sciatis quod liceat et bene faenerare, ostendam uobis quem faeneratorem debeatis imitari. duo inquit erant debitores uni faeneratori; unus debebat denarios quingentos, alius quinquaginta. non habentibus illis unde redderent donauit utrisque. quia ergo eum plus diligit? respondens Simon Pharisaeus dixit: aestimo quia is cui plus donauit. et laudata est eius sententia dicente domino: recte iudicasti. recte iudicauit Pharisaeus, qui male cogitauit putans quod ignoraret magis dominus peccata mulieris quam donaret. sed laudatur eius sententia, ut excusatio ei omnis adimatur. ### English translation (Claude) And so that you may know that I urge these things with loving affection, and that it is permitted to lend well, I will show you which moneylender you ought to imitate. “There were,” he says, “two debtors to one moneylender; one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty. When they had nothing to repay with, he forgave them both. Which of them, then, loves him more?” Simon the Pharisee answered and said: “I suppose the one to whom he forgave more.” And his judgment was praised, the Lord saying: “You have judged rightly.” The Pharisee judged rightly, though he had thought wrongly, supposing that the Lord did not know the woman’s sins rather than that he forgave them. But his judgment is praised so that every excuse may be taken from him. ### Scripture references - Luke 7:41: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:42: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:43: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:39: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 7:41–43; cf. 7:39. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 85 (CSEL 32.2:568–569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/85). ## On Tobit 86 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-86 - Source: CSEL 32.2:569 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: The woman who anointed Christ figures the Gentile church, forgiven much and loving much. ### Latin text plus remissum est ecclesiae, quae congregata est ex populo nationum, quoniam plus debebat, sed et ipsa plus soluit non exigenti, sed donanti. dedit aquam pedibus Christi, quia sua peccata mundauit, osculata est pedes, ferens pacis insignia misit oleum in pedes eius misericordiam et ipsa in pauperes conferendo — isti sunt pedes Christi; in his etenim innocentius ambulat Christus — et capillis capitis sui tersit; Christo enim humiliatur quicumque habet humilitatis affectum. et ideo inquit dimissa sunt peccata eius multa, quoniam dilexit multum. ### English translation (Claude) More was forgiven the church, which was gathered from the people of the nations, since it owed more; but it also paid more, not to one who exacted but to one who forgave. It gave water for Christ’s feet, because it cleansed its own sins; it kissed his feet, bearing the tokens of peace; it poured oil on his feet, itself bestowing mercy on the poor (these are the feet of Christ, for in them Christ walks more innocently); and it wiped them with the hair of its head, for whoever has the disposition of humility is humbled before Christ. And therefore, he says, “her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much.” ### Scripture references - Luke 7:44: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:45: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:46: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:47: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 7:44–47. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 86 (CSEL 32.2:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/86). ## On Tobit 87 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-87 - Source: CSEL 32.2:569 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: God forgave the church more because he knew it would respond in gratitude. ### Latin text aduerte quod dominus et misericordiam quasi liberalis inpertit et iudicium cum miseratione dispensat. ante donauit per gratiam, sed quibus donaret sciebat. non habet quod excuset Iudaeus. mihi quasi peccatori plura donauit, illi quasi ingrato minora concessit. sciuit tamen quod et ille quasi ingratus non posset quod accepisset exsoluere et ecclesia memor gratiae eo plura solueret quo plura meruisset. ### English translation (Claude) Notice that the Lord both bestows mercy as one who is generous and dispenses judgment with compassion. He forgave beforehand by grace, but he knew to whom he was forgiving. The Jew has no excuse. To me, as a sinner, he forgave more; to him, as ungrateful, he granted less. Yet he knew that he, being ungrateful, could not repay what he had received, and that the church, mindful of grace, would repay the more, the more it had been granted. ### Translation notes - Ambrose’s contrast of the church with the Jewish people is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 87 (CSEL 32.2:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/87). ## On Tobit 88 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-88 - Source: CSEL 32.2:569–570 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Ambrose answers those who objected that usury is old: so is sin, which Christ came to abolish. ### Latin text Habetis ergo quem sequamini faeneratorem, si uultis laude donari, si uultis non esse quod reprehendatur a nobis. nos enim non personae obtrectamus, sed auaritiae. nec fefellit dixisse aliquos, cum ante hoc biduum tractatus noster eorum conpuncxisset affectum: (quid sibi uoluit episcopus aduersus faeneratores tractare, quasi nouum aliquid admissum sit, quasi id non etiam superiores fecerint, quasi non uetus sit faenerare? uerum est nec ego abnuo, sed et culpa uetus est. denique peccatum ab Adam, ex illo culpa, ex quo et Eua, ex illo praeuaricatio, ex quo et humana condicio. sed ideo Christus aduenit, ut inueterata aboleret, noua conderet, et quae inueterauerat culpa renouaret gratia, ideo se passioni optulit, ut renouaret spiritu et absolueret uniuersos, diabolus autem Euam decepit, ut subplantaret uirum, obligaret hereditatem. quid faeneratores faciunt? ### English translation (Claude) So you have a moneylender to follow, if you wish to be rewarded with praise, if you wish there to be nothing for us to reprove. For we do not disparage the person but the avarice. Nor did it escape me that some said, when our discourse two days ago had pricked their feelings: “What did the bishop mean by treating against moneylenders, as if something new had been committed, as if earlier people had not done it too, as if lending at interest were not old?” It is true, and I do not deny it; but the fault too is old. Indeed sin is from Adam, guilt from the time of Eve, transgression from the beginning of the human condition. But Christ came for this reason: to abolish what had grown old, to found new things, and to renew by grace what guilt had made old; for this he offered himself to the passion, to renew by the Spirit and set all free. But the devil deceived Eve so as to trip up the man and put the inheritance in debt. What do moneylenders do? ### Scripture references - Gen 3:6: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:12: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The sermon refers to an earlier discourse “two days ago.” Gen 3; Rom 5:12. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 88 (CSEL 32.2:569–570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/88). ## On Tobit 89 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-89 - Source: CSEL 32.2:570–571 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Borrowing with a surety turns a friend into an enemy. ### Latin text decipiunt defaeneratos, obligant fideiussores. sed non Tobias pignus quaesiuit aut fideiussorem poposcit. currendum est igitur, ut fideiussorem requiras, ut eum tuis nominibus obstringas. ecce paratur alter inimicus. nam cum tu non habueris unde debitum soluas, ille pro te tenebitur. inuenieris in eo circumuentor et fallas, qui amicum deceperis. ille nudabitur, ille pro te in uincla ducetur, illum grauiorem exactorem creditore patieris, qui alleget: stimula ciuem tuum, quem spopondisti. ita fiet, ut ipse quoque esse incipias ingratus et praetereas illud quod scriptum est: gratiam repromissoris ne obliuiscaris; dedit enim pro te animam bonam. necesse est dicas: (quis enim te quaerebat fidem dicere? nam nisi tu fidem dixisses, ego non accepissem pecuniam. adulteram accepi pecuniam, aes auro admixtum mihi dedit: utinam te non optulisses! fortasse te creditor subornauit uel tu illum). ### English translation (Claude) They deceive those they have put in debt; they bind sureties. But Tobit did not seek a pledge or demand a surety. You must run, then, to find a surety and bind him with your debts. See, another enemy is being prepared. For when you have nothing to pay the debt with, he will be held for you. You will be found a cheat in his regard, and a deceiver, since you will have deceived a friend. He will be stripped, he will be led into chains for you, you will find him a harsher exactor than the creditor, as he alleges: “Press your fellow citizen for whom you stood surety.” So it will come about that you too begin to be ungrateful and pass over what is written: “Do not forget the kindness of your surety; for he gave his good life for you.” You will have to say: “Who asked you to pledge your word? For if you had not pledged your word, I would not have received the money. I received counterfeit money; he gave me bronze mixed with gold. Would that you had not offered yourself! Perhaps the creditor put you up to it, or you him.” ### Scripture references - Prov 6:3: quotation, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 29:15 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Press your fellow citizen …” is Prov 6:3 in the form of the Greek. “Do not forget …” is Sir 29:15 (Vulgate 29:19). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 89 (CSEL 32.2:570–571; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/89). ## On Tobit 90 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-90 - Source: CSEL 32.2:571–572 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Stand surety only for what you can afford to pay yourself. ### Latin text ergo caue ne alieno te obliges debito, ne hoc quoque uendidisse dicaris, ne si quid tibi, ut habet usus amicitiae, debitor dederit gratiae, te uideatur emisse. aut si uis interuenire, moueris amici obsecratus oratis, erubescis negare, ita interueni, ut si debito soluendo < par> non fuerit, de tuo noueris esse soluendum. in haec paratus accede. legisti enim: non spondeas super uirtutem tuam; si enim spoponderis, quasi restituens cogita et infra: recipe proximum secundum uirtutem tuam et adtende tibi ne cadas, id est ne maiore te obliges nominis quantitate quam ferre possunt atque exsoluere tuarum copiae facultatum. si enim quod habes tradas, amisisti opes, non amisisti fidem. famae tuae damna non sentis, redemisti amicum sine tua fraude. alibi quoque id te monent Prouerbia Solomonis dicentis: spondens sponde amicos tuos, quemadmodum qui obligat se sponsorem amicorum suorum. si autem non habes, audi quid dicat Solomon: noli dare te in sponsionem erubescens personam; si enim non habueris unde soluas, auferet stramentum desub lateribus tuis. ergo bonus faenerator adquirit gratiam, execrationem inprobus. ### English translation (Claude) So beware of binding yourself for another’s debt, lest you be said to have sold this too, and lest, if the debtor gives you some token of gratitude, as the custom of friendship has it, you seem to have bought it. Or if you wish to intervene, moved by a friend’s entreaties and ashamed to refuse, intervene in such a way that you know that, if he is not equal to paying the debt, it must be paid from your own means. Come prepared for this. For you have read: “Do not stand surety beyond your strength; for if you stand surety, think of it as paying it back”; and further on: “Help your neighbor according to your strength, and take heed to yourself that you do not fall”; that is, do not bind yourself for a larger sum than the resources of your means can bear and pay. For if you hand over what you have, you have lost wealth, you have not lost good faith. You do not feel the losses to your reputation; you have redeemed a friend without fraud on your part. Elsewhere too the Proverbs of Solomon warn you of this: “Standing surety, stand surety for your friends, as one who binds himself as surety for his friends.” But if you do not have the means, hear what Solomon says: “Do not give yourself as surety out of respect for a person; for if you have nothing to pay with, he will take the bedding from under your sides.” So the good lender gains gratitude, the wicked one execration. ### Scripture references - Prov 22:26: quotation, high confidence - Prov 22:27: quotation, high confidence - Prov 6:1: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 8:13 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence - Sir 29:20 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sir 8:13; Sir 29:20 (Vulgate 29:27); “Standing surety …” unidentified (perhaps a form of Prov 6:1); Prov 22:26–27 in the form of the Greek. “Equal to” (par) is supplied by the editor. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 90 (CSEL 32.2:571–572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/90). ## On Tobit 91 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-91 - Source: CSEL 32.2:572 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Tobit paid his hired man and found him to be an angel; Christ himself may be in the least. ### Latin text Sed non his tantam uirtutum finibus contentus sanctus Tobias mercennario quoque sciuit soluendam esse mercedem. dimidium usque optulit meritoque pro mercennario inuenit angelum. et tu unde scis, ne forte iustum aliquem mercede defraudes, peius, si infirmum — uae enim illi qui scandalizauerit unum de pusillis istis! — qui scis an in eo angelus sit? neque enim dubitare debemus quod in mercennario possit esse angelus, cum esse possit Christus, qui in minimo quoque esse consueuit. ### English translation (Claude) But holy Tobit, not content with these limits of virtue, knew too that a hired man must be paid his wages. He offered as much as half, and deservedly found an angel in place of a hired man. And how do you know, lest perhaps you cheat some just man of his wages, or worse, a weak one (for woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to stumble!), how do you know whether there is an angel in him? For we ought not to doubt that there can be an angel in a hired man, since Christ can be there, who is wont to be even in the least. ### Scripture references - Matt 18:6: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:40: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 12:1-5 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Tob 5; 12:1–5 (Tobit offers Raphael half of what was brought back). Matt 18:6; 25:40. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 91 (CSEL 32.2:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/91). ## On Tobit 92 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-92 - Source: CSEL 32.2:572 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Pay hired workers promptly, as we ourselves are Christ’s hired laborers. ### Latin text redde ergo mercennario mercedem suam nec eum laboris sui mercede defraudes, quia et tu mercennarius Christi es et te conduxit ad uineam suam et tibi merces reposita caelestis est. non ergo laedas seruum operantem in ueritate neque mercennarium dantem animam suam, non despicias inopem, qui uitam suam labore exercet suo et mercede sustentat. hoc enim interficere hominem, uitae suae ei debita subsidia denegare. et tu mercennarius es in hac terra: da mercedem mercennario, ut et tu possis domino dicere, cum precaris: da mercedem sustinentibus te. ### English translation (Claude) So give the hired man his wages, and do not cheat him of the wages of his labor; for you too are Christ’s hired man, and he has engaged you for his vineyard, and a heavenly wage is laid up for you. So do not harm the servant working in truth, nor the hired man giving his life; do not despise the needy man who spends his life in his own labor and sustains it by his wages. For this is to kill a man: to deny him the support owed to his life. You too are a hired man on this earth: give the hired man his wages, so that you too can say to the Lord when you pray: “Give a reward to those who wait for you.” ### Scripture references - Matt 20:1: allusion, high confidence - Lev 19:13: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 24:15: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 36:18 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence - Sir 34:22 (Sirach): allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 20:1–2; Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14–15; Sir 34:22; “Give a reward …” is Sir 36:18 (Vulgate numbering). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 92 (CSEL 32.2:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/92). ## On Tobit 93 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-tobia/70/#p-93 - Source: CSEL 32.2:572–573 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-22 Summary: Tobit’s counsels on self-restraint, wages, and almsgiving are the true lending that earns eternal interest. ### Latin text Tobis tibi dicit: luxuria mater est famis, in quo continentiam docet. dicit etiam: mercedem omni homini, qui penes te operatus fuerit, redde eadem die et non maneat penes te merces hominis; et merces tua non minorabitur. dicit tibi: noli bibere uinum in ebrietatem, dicit tibi: de pane tuo communica esurientibus - uides quid te faenerare cupiat — et de uestimentis tuis nudos tege. ex omnibus quae tibi abundauerint fac elemosynam. omni tempore benedic dominum. in his itaque faenus aeternum est et usura perpetua. ### English translation (Claude) Tobit says to you: “Luxury is the mother of famine,” and in this he teaches self-restraint. He also says: “Pay the wages of every man who has worked for you on the same day, and let not a man’s wages remain with you; and your reward will not be lessened.” He says to you: “Do not drink wine to drunkenness”; he says to you: “Share your bread with the hungry” (you see what he wants you to lend) “and cover the naked with your garments. From all that you have in abundance give alms. At all times bless the Lord.” In these things, then, is eternal lending and everlasting interest. ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 4:13-19 (Tobit): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Tob 4:13–19 (Vulgate 4:14–20). ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Tob. 93 (CSEL 32.2:572–573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-tobia/93).