ABSTRACT
Duval’s observation from 30 years ago that Ambrose’s De obitu Theodosii (Obit. Theod.) is a political discourse in the context of funerary liturgy remains valid today.1 In February 395,2 on the fortieth day (quadragesima) after Theodosius’ death, the bishop delivered this oration. In this paper I shall examine how Ambrose used this speech, which I shall argue he modelled on Seneca’s De clementia, to highlight how the deceased emperor’s political policies arose from his virtue of clemency and why this made him, both in theory and in practice, an excellent ruler.3
