"A mugger does not lie in wait for armed men but for the defenseless."

"A mugger does not lie in wait for armed men but for the defenseless.  He who understands that the strong will despise him or the powerful destroy him troubles only the weak with wrongs."

     St. Ambrose (339-397), Exposition of the gospel of Luke 6.48, on the devil.  Exposition of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke with fragments on the prophecy of Isaias, 2nd ed., trans. Theodosia Tomkinson (Etna, CA:  Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998), 216, as quoted in ACCS NT 3 (Luke), ed. Arthur J. Just (Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 2003), 140.  Except that Tomkinson's translation runs actually as follows:

a bandit does not lie in wait for armed men, but for the defenceless, and importunes the weak with wrongs, he who understands that he will be despised by the strong or destroyed by the powerful.

=Sant'Ambrogio, Opere esegetiche 11.1 (1978); CCSL 14 (1957); CSEL 32.4; PL 15, col. 1631.  Latin from the latter for now:

ut latro non armatis insidiatur, sed inermibus; et injuriis lacessit infirmum, qui se intelligit vel a forti conteri, vel a potenti damnari.