True Freedom

Sed non ille solum liber, qui dominum licitatorem non pertulit, aut tollentem digitum non vidit, sed ille magis liber, qui intra se liber est, qui legibus naturae liber est, legem sciens naturae praescriptam esse moribus, non conditionibus; et mensuram officiorum consentaneam non hominis arbitrio, sed naturae disciplinis. Utrum igitur iste liber tibi tantummodo, an quidam censor videtur, et praefectus moribus? Unde vere ait Scriptura quia pauperes divitum praepositi erunt, et privati utique administrantium. An tibi liber videtur, qui pecunia suffragium sibi emit? qui plausum populi magis, quam iudicium requirit prudentium? Ille ergo liber est, qui popularibus auris movetur; ille qui reformidat sibilum vulgi? Sed non ista libertas, quam manumissus accipit, et palma lictoris donatus acquirit. Non enim munificentiam, sed virtutem libertatem esse arbitror: quae non suffragiis defertur alienis, sed magnanimitate propria vindicatur ac possidetur. Sapiens enim semper liber est, semper honoratus, semper is qui praesit legibus. Denique iusto non est posita lex, sed iniusto; iustus enim ipse sibi lex est, non habens necesse longius sibi accersere formam virtutis, quam corde inclusam gerat, scriptum habens opus legis in tabulis cordis sui, cui dictum sit: Bibe aquam de tuis vasis, et de puteorum tuorum fontibus. Quid enim nobis tam proximum, quam Dei verbum? Hoc est verbum in corde nostro, et in ore nostro, quod non videmus et tenemus.  Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Epistola XXXVII, Ad Simplicianum Source: Migne PL 16.1088b-c

But it is not that he alone is free who has never suffered an auctioneer as a master, nor seen him raising his finger, but he is more free who within himself is free, who is free by the laws of nature, knowing that the law of nature has a moral not merely an arbitrary sanction, and that the measure of its duties is not in accordance with the will of man but with the discipline of nature. Does such a person therefore seem to you to be merely free, or does he not rather appear to you as a censor and director of morals? Hence Scripture says truly that the poor shall be set over the rich, and private men over those who hold office. 1 Does it seem to you that he is free who buys votes with money, who prefers the applause of the people to requests for prudent judgement? Is that man free who is swayed by the popular breath, who dreads the hisses of the populace? But this is not liberty which he who is manumitted receives, which he acquires as a gift from the blow of the lictor's palm. For it is not munificence but virtue that I judge to be liberty, which is not bestowed by the suffrages of others, but which is won and possessed by one's own greatness of soul. For a wise man is always free, he is always honoured, he is always the one who presides over the laws. For the law is not made for the righteous but for the unrighteous, 2 since the just man is a law to himself, having no need to fetch for himself from afar the form of virtue because he bears it in his own heart, having the works of the law written on the tablets of his heart, to whom it is said: 'Drink waters out of your own vessls out of your own wells.' 3 For what is so near to us as the Word of God? This word is in our hearts, and in our mouth; we see it not, and yet we possess it. 4 Saint Ambrose, from Letter 37, To Simplician 1Prov 22.7 2 1 Tim 1.9 3 Prov 5.15 4 Deut 30.14, Rom 10.8