In this detailed study of the patriarch treatises of Ambrose of Milan (c.340-379) Marcia Colish addresses the question of the audience for which these works were destined. She argues that the treatises were geared towards the average lay person rather than those with special callings in the church. In exploring how and why Ambrose chose the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph through which to convey his moderate ethical thinking for the common man', Colish broadens the scholarly focus on Ambrose as a teacher of moderation for the many, and not merely as a teacher of asceticism for the few'.