Virginity Discourse and Ascetic Politics in the Writings of Ambrose of Milan
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Virginity Discourse and Ascetic Politics in the Writings of Ambrose of Milan by Ariel Bybee Laughton Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Dr. Elizabeth A. Clark, Supervisor ___________________________ Dr. Lucas Van Rompay ___________________________ Dr. J. Warren Smith ___________________________ Dr. J. Clare Woods ___________________________ Dr. Zlatko Pleše Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT Virginity Discourse and Ascetic Politics in the Writings of Ambrose of Milan by Ariel Bybee Laughton Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Dr. Elizabeth A. Clark, Supervisor ___________________________ Dr. Lucas Van Rompay ___________________________ Dr. J. Warren Smith ___________________________ Dr. J. Clare Woods ___________________________ Dr. Zlatko Pleše An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 Copyright by Ariel Bybee Laughton 2010 ABSTRACT Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was one of the most outspoken advocates of Christian female virginity in the fourth century C.E. This dissertation examines his writings on virginity in the interest of illuminating the historical and social contexts of his teachings. Considering Ambrose’s treatises on virginity as literary productions with social, political, and theological functions in Milanese society, I look at the various ways in which the bishop of Milan formulated ascetic discourse in response to the needs and expectations of his audience. Furthermore, I attend to the various discontinuities in Ambrose’s ascetic writings in the hope of illuminating what kinds of ideological work these texts were intended to perform by the bishop within Milanese society and beyond. In the first part of this dissertation, I consider the mechanisms of language and rhetoric promoting virginity in context of the Nicene-Homoian debate, highlighting the fluidity and flexibility of ascetic language in the late fourth century. While in his earliest teachings Ambrose expounds virginity in ways that reflect and support a Nicene understanding of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, his later ascetic writings display his use of anti-Homoian rhetoric in order to support his virginal ideals when they are challenged by Jovinian and others. In the second part, I examine some of the various ways in which the bishop formulated his teachings of virginity in response to the complaints and criticisms of lay members of the Christian community in Milan and elsewhere. I scrutinize the bishop’s rhetorical expositions of Biblical figures such as Mary, Eve, the bride of the Song of Songs, and the Jews as a means of furthering his ascetic agenda, and consider his adaptation of a female voice to avoid incurring further iv criticism. Finally, I consider the role that the bishop’s ascetic interests may have played in the so-called Altar of Victory controversy of 384. Largely at stake in Ambrose’s dispute with the Roman senator Symmachus, I argue, were the rights and privileges of the Vestal Virgins, a well-established pagan ideology of virginity whose continued prominence and existence was largely unconscionable to the bishop. Ambrose’s involvement in the controversy was partly attributable to his interest in ensuring the restriction of Vestal privileges as he perceived the cult to be in direct social and ideological competition with Christian virginity. Together, these three parts attempt to demonstrate the highly fluid and flexible nature of virginity discourse in the late fourth century and to draw attention to some of the socio-theological negotiations that took place as the cult of virginity gained increasing prominence in the Christian church. v CONTENTS Abstract...........................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements........................................................................................vii Introduction: The Gift of Bees.........................................................................1 1. Virginity and Post-Nicene Controversy: Against the Heretics..................15 2. Negotiating Virginity in Milan, Part I: De virginibus and De virginitate ............................................................. .. 79 3. Negotiating Virginity in Milan, Part II: De institutione virginis and Exhortatio virginitatis................................. 129 4. The Veil and the Fillet: Virginity against the Pagans..............................186 Conclusion....................................................................................................230 Bibliography.................................................................................................236 Biography.....................................................................................................253 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the years that I have been a graduate student, I have had the opportunity sit at the feet of many fine scholars of early Christian history. The most influential of these upon my studies has been Elizabeth Clark, to whom I owe the greatest thanks. As a young undergraduate, my interest in female ascetics in early Christianity first was sparked when I stumbled across a copy of Liz’s Ascetic Piety and Women’s Faith. Her ongoing passion for Late Antiquity, and her special concern for the “vanished” women of the past, has continued to fuel my own interests throughout the course of my studies. This dissertation would have never been undertaken, much less completed, without Liz’s concerned mentorship, her constant support, and her unfailing good faith that I could do it. I would also like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee for their many critical contributions to this project and to my Duke education in general. I owe much of my enthusiasm for Ambrose of Milan to Warren Smith, who has generously nurtured my own interests in this area with his own significant knowledge of the bishop’s writings. Luk Van Rompay has made many helpful suggestions to my drafts and patiently provided guidance on my Latin translations. Zlatko Pleše and Clare Woods have each shared their significant knowledge of both antiquity and ancient languages with me on several occasions. I also have benefitted greatly from the collegiality and friendship of several young scholars and scholars-in-the-making during my time at Duke. Susanna Drake, Kyle Smith, Christie Luckritz Marquis, Maria Doerfler, Matthew Grey, Jared Anderson, Jason vii Combs, Kristi Upson-Saia, Jeremy Schott, Garry Crites, and Catherine Chin, and many others have offered support, feedback, and inspiration along the way. I wish to extend special thanks to April DeConick and the faculty and staff of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University who generously extended to me a Visiting Scholar appointment from 2008 to 2010. It would have been impossible for me to complete this dissertation without the access this appointment provided me with to Rice’s significant research resources. In addition to the great academic support I have benefitted from while writing this dissertation, I have been lucky enough to enjoy tremendous personal support from wonderful friends and family. While it would be impossible to name each of these here, there are a few who cannot go without mentioning. One of these is my mother, JoAnn Jensen Moulton, who has supported me with the greatest enthusiasm and love for the past thirty-three years. Another is my daughter Charlotte Lily, whose birth near the beginning of this project has presented both challenges and opportunities for great personal growth. I have regularly received the encouragment of her tiny fists pounding on my office door, reminding me to focus and work hard so that I might come out and play later. Last but never least, my husband Adam has been an inexhaustible source of support, strength, and understanding for me during the past five years. While busy with his own studies at law school and then the demands of his career, he has followed me to conferences, proofread my research papers, attended lectures on ancient studies, and listened to me fret over preliminary exams, presentations, and chapters. For his unfailing love and great sacrifices on my behalf, I wish to dedicate this dissertation to him. Dilectus meus mihi et ego illi (Cant. 2.16). viii Introduction: The Gift of Bees From birth, it seems, Ambrose of Milan was destined to be teacher par excellence of Christian virginity. In his history of the bishop’s life, Paulinus of Milan recounts a miraculous encounter between the infant Ambrose and a swarm of bees which bore record early on that it would be so. As the baby lay in his cradle in the courtyard of his father’s house, a cloud of bees suddenly approached, covering his face and flying in and out of his mouth as his parents watched nearby. The bees did no harm but were merely “implanting the honey-combs of his later works, which would proclaim the heavenly gifts and direct the minds of men from earthly to heavenly things.” From this event, Ambrose’s father predicted that his son would be something great. 1 Paulinus likely borrowed this miraculous event from the famous vitae of other esteemed men of the ancient world