DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS (about 310-393)
Teacher (of the future Emperor Gratianus) and poet, wrote amongst other things about the most important cities of that time (Ordo nobilium urbium). At the seventh place on the list was Milan (after Rome, Constantinople, Charthages, Alexandria, Treveri). Here's the description of sixteen centuries ago, more or less when the bishop Ambrose was the most authoritative personality of Milan:
ET MEDIOLANI MIRA OMNIA, COPIA RERUM,
INNVMERAE CVLTAEQUE DOMVS, FACVNDA VIRORVM
INGENIA ET MORES LAETI; TVM DVPLICE MURO
AMPLIFICATA LOCI SPECIES POPVLIQVE VOLVPTAS
CIRCVS ET INCLVSI MOLES CVNEATA THEATRI;
TEMPLA PALATINAEQVE ARCES OPVLENSQVE MONETA
ET REGIO HERCVLEI CELEBRIS SVB HONORE LAVACRI;
CVNCTAQVE MARMOREIS ORNATA PERISTYLA SIGNIS
MOENIAQVE IN VALLI FORMAM CIRCVMDATA LIMBO:
OMNIA QVAE MAGNIS OPERVM VELVT AEMVLA FORMIS
EXCELLVNT: NEC IVNCTA PREMIT VICINIA ROMAE.It means:
Even in Milan everything is extraordinary: the abundance of resources,
the innumerable elegant houses, the communicative nature of the people
and the pleasant style of life; then the beauty of the place, which extends
inside the double city walls and - the passion of the people -
the circus and the great importance of the tiered theatre contained within the walls,
the temples, the imperial fortress, the flourishing mint
and the area renowned for the honour that Hercules Bath give to Milan;
and all the porticos ornate with marble scultures
and the walls surrounded by a ring like a bastion:
all things, emulous almost of the great beauties of human activity,
that excell: and not even the near comparison with Rome corrodes them.(translated by Marina Carrozza, III H of Liceo Beccaria)
BONVESIN DE LA RIVA (about 1250 - 1315)
Teacher and writer, in 1288 compiles a celebration of his city (De Magnalibus Mediolani) listing with figures all the usefull items and cultural resources of the urban consistency. In this way he summarizes his pride of being Milanese:
...omnes civitates precellit. Consideretur enim tanti comitatus et sue diocesis tam situs quam habitationes et habitantium qualitas atque quantitas. Consideretur etiam fertilitas et omnium bonorum humanis usibus comunis ubertas. Consideretur eius fortitudo, constans fidelitas, laudanda libertas, copia dignitatum....
It means:
...(Milan) is better than all the other cities. In fact we have to consider both the position and the inhabitations of its great countryside and its diocese, and the quality and quantity of its inhabitants. We have to consider the strenght of Milan, its constant loyalty, its glorious freedom, the richness of its magistrature.
Note: the latin of Bonvesin is not quite perfect as regards the reading, morphology and writing.
In chapter VII 2 Bonvesin says:
Moreover the archibishop of our city, being the head of all the archibishops, is exempt from every subordination and is not subject either to a patriarch or primate. Therefore we can read in the decrees that the pontiff of Milan and the patriarch of Aquileia at one time could consecrate with one another.
And chapter VII 5 continues:
Like a second pope, he is the head of the ambrosian rite, different from the rite of the rest of the world. We know that this rite was conceded through divine miracle to the Church of Milan by merit of the blessed Ambrose, our gloriously conserved patron. We read actually that the Emperor... Charles the Great wanted, to the dishonour of the Longobards and with the consense of Adrian (the pope at that time) to abolish all the ambrosian rite: while he was in Milan all the books on the ambrosian rite that he was able to obtain, either by buying them or receiving them as gifts or by force, he either destroyed by fire or he took them with him beyond thr Alps. Finally the clemency of God miraculously opposed this, and the roman Curia estabilished that the ambrosian rite should be permitted to celebrate always the divine mystery, estabilished in the most devoted way by the blessed Ambrose. And it is well known that just as we enjoy a rite of our own, so to speak, in this way we also make a carnival different from those of other people. And even in this the dignity and the special glory of the Milanese manifests itself.
Translated by Marina Carrozza