Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, Exameron

quam ridiculum autem quod te plerumque credunt homines magicis carminibus posse deduci. aniles istae fabulae ac uulgi opiniones. quis enim opus dei tanto ministerio deputatum arbitretur Chaldaeicis superstitionibus posse temptari ? lapsus sit ille qui se transfigurat in angelum lucis et deductus uoluntate propria, non canniuum potestate. sane et in hoc [quasi], ecclesia, putaris posse quasi de loco tuo et statione deduci. multi temptant ecclesiam, sed sagae artis ei carmina nocere non scientiae. nihil incantatores ualent ubi Christi canticum cotidie decantatur. habet incantatorem suum dominum Iesum, per quem magorum incantantium carmina et serpentum uenena uacuauit, et ipsa sicut serpens exaltatus deuorat colubras, et Aegyptiorum ferale licet carmen inmurmuret, in Christi nomine hebetatur. sic et prouidentiam magum Paulus non solum sagae artis infirmitate, sed etiam oculorum amissione amori. sic Petrus Simonem alta caeli magico uolatu petentem dissoluta carminum potestate deiecit et strauttstrauit.

How ridiculous, moreover, that people commonly believe that you can be drawn down by magic spells! These are old wives' tales and the opinions of the crowd. For who would suppose that a work of God appointed to so great a service could be assailed by Chaldean superstitions? He who transforms himself into an angel of light may have fallen — and he was brought down by his own will, not by the power of spells. Indeed in this too, O Church, you are thought capable of being drawn down, as it were, from your place and station. Many assail the Church, but the spells of the witch's art [cannot] harm her. Enchanters have no power where the song of Christ is sung every day. She has her own enchanter, the Lord Jesus, through whom she has made void the spells of enchanting magicians and the venoms of serpents; and she herself, like the serpent lifted up, devours snakes; and though the deadly spell of the Egyptians mutter [against her], it is blunted in the name of Christ. So too Paul [punished] the magician not only with the weakness of his witch's art but also with the loss of his eyes. So Peter, when Simon sought the heights of heaven in magic flight, broke the power of his spells and threw him down and laid him low.

9,24 Echinus, animal exiguum. uile ac despectabile, maritimum loquor, plerumque index futurae tempestatis aut diuersisque adountius solet esse nauigantibus. denique cum procellam uentorum praesenserit, calculum ualidum arripit eumque uelut saburram uehit et tamquam ancoram trahit, ne excutiatur strauit. itaque non suis se librat uiribus, sed alieno stabilit et regit pondere. quo indicio nautae uelut signum futurae perturbationis capessunt et sibi excitet, ne eos inparatos turbo inprouisus inueniat. qui mathematicus, qui astrologus sed Chaldaeus potest sic siderum cursus, sic caeli motus et signa conprehendere? quo ingenio ista collegit, quo doctore percepit? quis ei fuit tanti interpres augurii? homines confusionem aeiis uident et saepe falluntur, quod plerumque eam sine tempestate discutiat: echinus non fallitur, echinum sua nequaquam signa praetereunt.

The sea urchin — a tiny creature, cheap and contemptible (I mean the marine one) — is often wont to be for sailors an indicator of a coming storm, or a herald of the opposite. In short, when it senses beforehand a gale of winds, it seizes a sturdy pebble and carries it like ballast and drags it like an anchor, so as not to be dislodged. So it does not balance itself by its own strength, but steadies and steers itself by a weight not its own. From this indication sailors take, as it were, a sign of coming disturbance and look to themselves, lest an unforeseen whirlwind find them unprepared. What mathematician, what astrologer, or Chaldean can thus grasp the courses of the stars, thus the movements and signs of the sky? By what ingenuity did it gather these things, from what teacher did it learn them? Who was its interpreter of so great an augury? Men see the turbulence of the air and are often deceived, because often [the sky] dispels it without a storm: the sea urchin is not deceived; its own signs never pass the sea urchin by.