Tillemont, vol. V, p. 341, judges that this panegyrical oration should be taken away from our Maximus, and he heaps up several arguments for his opinion. First, from the silence of Baronius and the Bollandists, who, in treating of the martyrdom of St. Agnes, made no mention of this sermon; next, he uses the testimony of the Benedictine monks of the congregation of St. Maur, who testify that they found this sermon attributed to St. Ambrose in three manuscript codices, and published it under his name as unedited. In the third place, he says its style differs from Maximus' purity and elegance. Finally, he complains of the barbarism of certain words, of which he accuses the author of the oration; wherefore he concludes it more probable that that little work was composed in later ages.
To these I reply briefly. And indeed to the first I will say that a negative argument, according to the canons of criticism, concludes nothing; for Baronius, who did not begin to write the Annals of the Church until about the year 1560, could well have been unaware of this sermon of Maximus published at Cologne in the year 1535 along with the rest; just as the Benedictine monks, editors of St. Ambrose, much later than Baronius, were unaware of its edition. That same Cologne impression escaped the Bollandists themselves, although they had been active in that province; and therefore it is no wonder if they were silent about St. Maximus among the Fathers who treated of the martyrdom of Agnes. As for the three codices, trusting to which the Benedictine monks attributed this sermon to Ambrose, I say this:
that six codices support me, namely Vat. 1025 p. 152, 169 p. 115, and 174 p. 139 of the library once belonging to the aediles of the metropolitan church of Florence, codex IV of Pluteus 33 of the left part of the library once of the Minorite Convent, now in the Laurentian, moreover the Lucca codex 85, and the Cassinese 144 p. 283, all of which in express words inscribe St. Maximus as author. And this oration all the collectors of homilies and sermons have hitherto assigned to our holy prelate, and Ruinart in his admonition to the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Agnes, p. 402 of the Verona edition of A.D. 1731, has this concerning Maximus' homily in praise of St. Agnes: 'St. Maximus, bishop of Turin, sets forth her martyrdom more fully in the homily which he wrote concerning her praises.'
Therefore Tillemont's second objection falls entirely. Nor is the third stronger. For that dissimilarity of style which Tillemont writes he observed, is, in our judgment at least, none. For to us the oration is the same, adorned and resplendent, as anyone may frequently discern in the rest. As for the barbarous words which in the last place Tillemont objects, this I will say briefly: that Maximus used only the word 'subarro,' before used by Jerome; in the rest he used pure Latin speech. Wherefore, if no one will accuse Jerome of writing barbarously because he sometimes employed words less Latin, neither is St. Maximus to be charged with the same fault.
Tillemont's arguments now being shaken off, there is, I think, no cause why that sermon should seem to be taken away from Maximus. — Since throughout the whole world the virgin flower of Mary weaves unfading crowns, and preserves the scepter-bearing hall of modesty with immaculate affection; to such a degree has integrity persevered unto the palm, that in girls it seized the trophy of holiness, and through the footsteps of the Virgin Mother it reached the heavenly bridal chamber. Hence it is that Agnes declares herself betrothed with the ring of faith, and cries out that she is bound by love. O how imitable a virgin for virgins, thou who hast handed down an example of love!
O how holy a response thou hast granted to virgin breasts, in despising the riches of the world, in execrating the lusts of the flesh, and in loving alone the beauty of Christ! Come to the girl, O girls, and learn in the years of infancy what flames she kindled in her breast concerning the love of Christ. She says she keeps faith with her Lover, and desires the body of Him alone who for the love of all did not refuse the destruction of death. Learn, O virgins of Christ, the love fervent in a girl, and refusing all the riches of the world as dung.
For the examples of the saints are handed down through writings for this reason, that each one, according to the quality of sex and according to the age of years, may hold the measure of his own purpose, and, just as through the Virgin virgins, so also through the wife wives may strive to conquer the world for the love of Christ, and, by the resistance of the soul refusing the sweet things of the world, and not refusing its bitter things, may attain to perpetual delights and to eternal joys. In saying these things we do not disparage the chaste unions of the married, but adorn the perseverance of virgins; for virginity is not to be set above evil things, but is to be preferred to the best things. For that which is purer than the pure and holier than the holy needs not to be praised by the disparagement of evil things.
Let the holy wedlock of the patriarchs' wives follow, wives set in religion and formed by the divine Scriptures; let them imitate Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Anna, Susanna, Zipporah, as wives; but let the virgins of Christ follow the sole Virgin Mother of the virgin light. Following in her steps, most blessed Agnes raised up from herself a great example of chastity, for she preferred virginity to life, and, casting out all earthly love through heavenly love, seized the trophy of the cross of Christ; and armed with faith rather than with iron, both against lusts and against all torments, she fought bravely and conquered. In short, she beholds the one who cajoles, and refuses him; the one who threatens, and despises him; she attends to the fire, and laughs.
She knows not to love anything that passes away; and while she loves virginity too much, she fears neither the mockeries, nor the flames, nor the torments, nor the executioners: at last she did not even dread the sword of the raging persecutor. The virgin is compelled to take upon herself the ornaments of the body, but she refuses; since she had already taken those of the mind; and because she strove to please not by the elegance of the human body, because she feared to displease the Lord by the foulness of the soul, she gave within, through faith, the whiteness of her mind and the beauty of the soul, which she cultivated; and as much as she knew that she made her soul beautiful, so much did she blush in her flesh to be shapely:
and she strove to displease those who are carnal in the sight of the flesh, as much as she pressed on to please Christ and His angels. The young man, spurned by the girl, is troubled, and thinking he can please her with gifts, heaps up gold and gems, brings together garments and precious estates. But because the love of Christ has no price of monies, the most sacred virgin remained in her station even unto the shedding of her blood; since Christ had betrothed her with His own blood. To him who coveted, then, the wealth returns, and virginity unshaken, once offered to Christ, endures.
Learn, O virgins of Christ, the examples of the girlish standard, and reject with all your intention the little gifts of men offered under the guise of piety, and refuse them with all joy as the bite of a rabid dog. From him from whom you have not received that which you should fear of God, do not accept that which you should love of the world: accept, accept, O virgin, but that which profits eternal love. As often as you shall have obtained wealth from a man, so accept it that you may know yourself the spouse of Christ. He sees within your mind what you do, and He attends to how eagerly you accompany His virgins. See, then, how Agnes follows Mary, through reproaches. She could dread utterly no torment; for whom even the brothel of shame becomes a place of prayer;
and where the devil had prepared for her the ignominy of corruption, there the Lord made her receive the crown and palm of her virginity; but this is to conquer the enemy in his own seats, the captive virgin being led to the inner chambers of the king of lusts, that very king bound by the virgin whom he had taken captive; and he departed conquered with the virgin's triumph. For he who had held was held; he who had dragged was dragged; he who had thought to slay was slain. Finally, that we may prove the devil to have been then conquered by the virgin, let us recall to mind the deed of that young man, whom the enemy had so armed against the innocence of Agnes, that he would have her dragged naked to the brothel through the crowd, under the voice of a herald leading the people to lust.
That this leader, then, was of the devil, no one doubts; and, the leader being conquered, that the people were overcome is known to all: but the peoples being overcome with their leader, that the tyrant is held captive is plain to all. But it is established that the devil was overcome as often as he took up arms against the virgin. For the virgin, stripped, is covered with her hair; and, laid bare by evil men, she was clothed by good angels; and, condemned in the brothel of foulness, she appeared in the bosom of chastity. The place which had been of ruined souls is made an oratory of angels; and where chastity had ever suffered shipwreck, there virginity was crowned. Finally, the peoples whom the herald had invited to lust, the virgin won over to chastity:
and those whom the devil had brought in to her defiled, she cast out from herself made clean; for all, entering one by one, each awaited the other's entrance, who, on going out—since he did not believe her to be clean—showed himself unclean: but having entered for lust, he was held by the merits of the virgin to adore the Lord; and there went forth thence a servant of God, who had entered within a servant of the devil; and as many became worshippers of Christ as the devil had thought he had found corrupters of the virgin. So there remained the young man who had been the author of this reprobation: who thought to overcome the defender of the virgin, this man, while he provoked to lewdness her splendor, lost the life which he seemed to have: and found the death which he sought.
Tears follow upon their laughter, and lamentations put an end to their mockery. The virgin looks upon the weeping judge, and the man whom before she had despised while he threatened, now she hears as he pleads. And so at once, when she began to pray for the dead man, she both raised up from the dead one made whole who had been consigned to death, and called back to joy one who had been cast down into mourning. For he who had died unchaste rises again chaste; and he who had stood forth a persecutor of chastity becomes a preacher of purity. At these things the sacrilegious are thrown into confusion within their temples, and, not fearing Christ who works these miracles, they stir up a riot of the base rabble, so that reason, which was counselling an end to the disorders, being driven off by their shouting, could find no place in the minds of men.
But the father of the son who had been raised went away in sorrow, and (as we read) left him, corrupted, amid the raging crowds. And so crackling flames are made ready for the virgin's body; yet the body which had overcome the fires of lust found refreshment in the midst of the flames; and she who had entered upon the coals for this purpose, that she might burn, began through holy virginity to grow cold, so that virginity might learn that flames and fires have no power at all to master it. Nor should you think that those have perished whom the fire consumed for the name of Christ. For when you read that Elijah was caught up by fire, and that the three youths in the midst of the fire were by no means consumed;
or when you call to mind that Laurence was consumed upon the gridiron, and learn that Agnes, like Thecla, escaped the billows of flame, you must suspect no difference of faith to have been present in these; for one and the same faith trained the saints of God in their suffering, and by a diverse kind of glory rendered them victors in either case. For he who was consumed as a martyr exults; and he who escaped as a victor exults; and God made Isaiah a martyr by being sawn asunder, and portrayed Daniel, who despised the fury and the jaws of the lions, as a most approved confessor: whereby he showed both to be victors over the devil; for the one dies and triumphs, the other escapes and creeps forth alive. Come now, O virgin, to the bridal chamber you have sought; and for the love of the Bridegroom receive the sword of your slayer;
so that undefiled virginity may prove you the bride of Christ, and an approved confession may seal you as a martyr. Happy the throng of virgins whose zeal is to follow the footsteps of your confession; for they shall have a crown with you in heaven who together with you have overcome the enemy in the world. For just as, when you followed the footsteps of Mary, a share in the eternal recompense appeared to you, so to these who imitate you we believe that eternal joys will not be denied.