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In the iconography Ambrose is depicted with the bishop's insignia and has the book as his attributes, because he is a doctor of the Church, that is, an authoritative teacher of doctrine; the beehive, which is a symbol of eloquence and alludes to the legend that the bees placed honey on his lips while still a child, without stinging him; the scourge, alluding to his firmness in fighting the Arian heresy and countering the abuses of imperial power.