“When I visit Rome, I fast on Saturday; when I am here, I do not fast. On the same…”
When I visit Rome, I fast on Saturday; when I am here, I do not fast. On the same principle, do you observe the custom prevailing in whatever Church you come to, if you desire neither to give offence by your conduct, nor to find cause of offence in another’s.
Ambrose · Letters · NPNF1 I, Letters, Letter LIV (to Januarius), 3
Ambrose’s answer when Monica asked whether to fast on Saturday as Rome did or not to as Milan did, reported by Augustine, who says he came to esteem it as if he had received it by an oracle from heaven. It is the origin of the proverb about doing as the Romans do.
How this is known
These words were matched, word for word, against this project’s own copy of the volume cited.
The project holds the volume this row cites, NPNF series 1 vol. 1, and the build matches these words against its bytes at every rebuild. Augustine reports it in Letter LIV as Ambrose’s own words, so this project holds a copy of the sentence rather than a copy of a copy.
Read in Cunningham, NPNF series 1 vol. 1 (1886) · J. G. Cunningham, M.A.
Also by
- Ambrose every saying recorded of this person, and their page