of Ambrose, embraced the fair occasion of signalizing their zeal and
gratitude; and as the patience of the multitude might have been
exhausted by the length and uniformity of nocturnal vigils, he
prudently introduced into the church of Milan the useful institution
of a loud and regular psalmody. While he maintained this arduous
contest, he was instructed, by a dream, to open the earth in a place
where the remains of two martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius, had been
deposited above three hundred years. Immediately under the pavement of
the church two perfect skeletons were found, with the heads separated
from their bodies, and a plentiful effusion of blood. The holy relics
were presented, in solemn pomp, to the veneration of the people; and
every circumstance of this fortunate discovery was admirably adapted
to promote the designs of Ambrose. The bones of the martyrs, their
blood, their garments, were supposed to contain a healing power; and
the præternatural influence was communicated to the most distant
objects, without losing any part of its original virtue. The
extraordinary cure of a blind man, and the reluctant confessions of
several dæmoniacs, appeared to justify the faith and sanctity of
Ambrose; and the truth of those miracles is attested by Ambrose
himself, by his secretary Paulinus, and by his proselyte, the
celebrated Augustin, who, at that time, professed the art of rhetoric
in Milan. The reason of the present age may possibly approve the
incredulity of Justina and her Arian court; who derided the theatrical
representations which were exhibited by the contrivance, and at the
expense, of the archbishop. Their effect, however, on the minds of the
people, was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of Italy
found himself unable to contend with the favorite of Heaven. The
powers likewise of the earth interposed in the defence of Ambrose: the
disinterested advice of Theodosius was the genuine result of piety and
friendship; and the mask of religious zeal concealed the hostile and