138. Bede, who in his chronicle (p. 28) places Ambrosius
under the reign of Zeno (A.D. 474-491), observes that his
parents had been "purpura induti;" which he explains, in his
ecclesiastical history, by "regium nomen et insigne
ferentibus" (1. i. c. 16, p. 53). The expression of Nennius
(c. 44, p. 110, edit. Gale) is still more singular, "Unus de
'consulibus' gentis Romanicae est pater meus."