The man who had thus raised himself above all worldly power was endued by popular enthusiasm with supernatural privileges: he performed cures; he saw visions. At the time of the consecration of the new cathedral at Milan, a miraculous dream revealed to him the martyrdom of two holy men, Gervasius and Protasius, and the place where their bodies reposed. The remains were disinterred, conveyed in solemn procession to the cathedral, and deposited beneath the high altar; and St. Gervasius and St. Protasius became, on the faith of a dream, distinguished saints in the Roman calendar. Ambrose died at Milan, in 397, in the attitude and the act of prayer. * * * * * There were many poetical legends and apologues relating to St. Ambrose current in the middle ages. It is related that an obstinate heretic who went to hear him preach, only to confute and mock him, beheld an angel visible at his side, and prompting the words he uttered; on seeing which, the scoffer was of course converted; a subject represented in his church at Milan. One day, Ambrose went to the prefect Macedonius, to entreat favour for a poor condemned wretch; but the doors were shut against him, and he was refused access. Then he said, ‘Thou, even thou, shalt fly to the church for refuge, and shalt not enter!’ and a short time afterwards, Macedonius, being pursued by his enemies, fled for sanctuary to the church; but, though the doors were wide open, he could not find the entrance, but wandered around in blind perplexity till he was slain. Of this incident I have seen no picture. On another occasion, St. Ambrose, coming to the house of a nobleman of Tuscany, was hospitably received; and he inquired concerning the state of his host: the nobleman replied, ‘I have never known adversity; every day hath seen me increasing in fortune, in honours, in possessions. I have a numerous family of sons and daughters, who have never cost me a pang of sorrow; I have a multitude of slaves, to whom my word is law; and I have never suffered either sickness or pain.’ Then Ambrose rose hastily from table, and said to his companions, ‘Arise! fly from this roof, ere it fall upon us; for the Lord is not here!’ and scarcely had he left the house, when an earthquake shook the ground, and swallowed up the palace with all its inhabitants. I have seen this story in a miniature, but cannot at this moment refer to it. St. Ambrose falls asleep, or into a trance, while celebrating mass, and sees in the spirit the obsequies of St. Martin of Tours: the sacristan strikes him on the shoulder to wake him. This is the subject of a very old mosaic in his church at Milan.