Ambrose's on Duties

You might think of Ambrose's On Duties as a Christian reworking of Cicero, sometimes simply illustrating originally Ciceroian ethical points with examples drawn from the Bible. He tells us how Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command displayed all four classical Greek virtues—wisdom, justice, courage and temperance. In one particularly striking juxtaposition of sources, he compares Plato's story of the Ring of Gaijis from the Republic with the virtue of David in the biblical book of Samuel.