Ambrose of Milan
Patristic
A.D. 339–397
“Therefore, the soul says: Aminadab has placed me in the chariot (Song of Solomon VI, 11). Therefore, the soul is the chariot that sustains a good charioteer. If the chariot is the soul, it has horses, either good or bad. Good horses are the virtues of the soul, while bad horses are the passions of the body. Therefore, a good charioteer restrains and recalls the bad horses, while inciting the good ones. The good horses are four: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. Bad horses have anger, desire, fear, and injustice. Sometimes the horses themselves disagree with each other, and either anger prevails or fear, and they hinder each other and slow down their pace. But good horses fly, and they rise from the ground to higher things, and uplift their soul: especially if they have a pleasant yoke and a light burden, as the one saying: Take my yoke upon you; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew, XI, 29). He himself is the charioteer who knows how to govern his own horses, so that the race is equal for all. If prudence is faster, justice slower, he urges with his own whip the slower one; if temperance is more mild, fortitude harder, he knows how to yoke the discordant ones, lest they may scatter their own chariot. Therefore, it is allowed to see with an intelligible spectacle each soul being lifted up to heaven with the greatest struggle, the hastening horses that they may be the first to reach the reward of Christ, to which the palm may be placed on their necks first. These are horses subjected to the yoke of faith, bound by the bond of charity, restrained by the reins of justice, and held back by the restraints of sobriety. Beautifully, therefore, it says: Aminadab has set me in his chariot, that is, the father of the people: but he himself who is the father of the people, is also the father of Naasson, that is, of serpents. Now recall who, like a serpent, suffered on the cross for the salvation of all, and you will understand that soul to be peaceful, to whom God the Father is a guardian, and Christ is the guide; for it is written, and this name is ours: Father, father, the guide of Israel (2 Kings 2:12).”