Why plain speech serves the many

In beginning this sixth book against the charges Celsus brings against Christians, holy Ambrose, what we need to contend with in it is not, as one might suppose, the passages from philosophy he sets out. For Celsus has quoted a good many passages, chiefly from Plato, and has set beside them passages from the sacred writings that could win over even an intelligent reader, claiming that these things were said better among the Greeks, and without the lofty pretension and the claim that they come from God or from a Son of God.

We say, then, that if the aim of those who champion the cause of truth is to benefit as many people as they can and, out of love for humankind, to bring to the truth, as far as possible, everyone whatever, not only the quick-witted but also the dull, and again not Greeks only while leaving out the barbarians (and it is a great civilizing work if a man is able to turn even the most boorish and unlearned), then it is clear that he must also take care to speak in a style that benefits all and is able to draw every hearer.

But those who have bidden a long farewell to the unlearned, as if they were slaves unable to follow the train of thought set out in literary phrasing and arrangement, and have cared only for those brought up in letters and learning, have narrowed what they share with others into a very small and narrow compass.