ALTERCATIO DE ANIMA. – Fragment of a dialogue (?) against traducianism. The author proves from Holy Scripture that souls are created directly by God. The manuscripts and Giovanni di Siviglia (in S. Alvari Cordubensis Opera, Ep. 6: cf. E. Florez, España Sagrada, Madrid 1754–73, XI, p. 143 ff.) attribute it to Ambrogio di Milano. The author remains uncertain, but the biblical quotations from the «Vetus Latina» indicate a work of the fifth or sixth century.
BIBL.: C. P. Caspari, Kirchenhistorische Anecdota, I, Kristiania 1883, pp. 225–47 (edition with notes). Otto Faller