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The sources on Vortigern -
The
Text of Gildas: de Excidio et Conquestu
Britanniae. (Parts 1 and
2, chapters 1-37)
Robert
Vermaat |
The
English text (and the notes) is a reprint of a part of Williams,
Hugh ed.
and trans.: Gildas, The Ruin of Britain &c.
(1899), Cymmrodorion Record Series, No. 3.
Transcribed by Roger Pearse.
The Latin text is
based on Mommsen, Theodor ed. (1892): Gildas, De excidio
Britanniae, in: Chronica Minora Saec. iv, v, vi, vii vol.
3, pp. 1-85, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores,
(Berlin repr. 1961) and Gildas: The Ruin of Britain
and other works, Latin and trans. M. Winterbottom, History
from the Sources 7, (Old Woking 1978).
Transcribed by Keith Matthews and Robert
Vermaat.
I edited the text
slightly to compare both English and Latin parts better.
I also added some of the notes to the English text to the
Latin original.
The Ruin and
Conquest of Britain |
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De Excidio et
Conquestu Britanniae |
1. WHATEVER my
attempt shall be in this epistle, made more in
tears than in denunciation, in poor style, I
allow, but with good intent, let no man regard me
as if about to speak under the influence of
contempt for men in general, or with an idea of
superiority to all, because I weep the general
decay of good, and the heaping up of evils, with
tearful complaint. On the contrary, let him think
of me as a man that will speak out of a feeling
of condolence with my country's losses and its
miseries, and sharing in the joy of remedies. It
is not so much my purpose to narrate the dangers
of savage warfare incurred by brave soldiers, as
to tell of the dangers caused by indolent men. I
have kept silence, I confess, with infinite
sorrow of heart, as the Lord, the searcher of the
reins, is my witness, for the past ten years or
even longer; I was prevented by a sense of
inexperience, a feeling I have even now, as well
as of mean merit from writing a small admonitory
work of any kind.
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1. in hac
episola quicquid deflendo potius quam declamando,
uili licet stilo, tamen benigno, fuero
prosecutus, ne quis me affectu cunctos spernentis
omnibusue melioris, quippe wui commune bonorum
dispendium malorumque cumulum lacrimosis querelis
defleam, sed condolentis patriae incommoditatibus
miseriisque eius ac remediis condelectantis
edicturum putet, quia non tam fortissimorum
militum enuntiare trucs belli pericul mihi
statutum est quam desidiosorum, silui, fateor,
cum immenso cordis dolore, ut mihi renum
scrutator testis est dominus, spatio bilustri
temporis uel eo amplius praetereuntis, imperitia
sic ut et nunc una cum uilibus me meritis
inhibentibus ne qualemcumque admonitiunculam
scriberem.
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I used to read,
nevertheless, of the wonderful legislator, that
he did not enter the desired land because of
hesitation in a single word; that the priest's
sons, through bringing strange fire to the altar,
perished in sudden death; that the people who
transgressed the words of God, 600,000 of them,
two faithful ones exceptcd, although beloved of
God, because unto them the way was made plain
over the bed of the Red Sea, heavenly bread was
given as food, new drink from the rock followed
them, their army was made invincible by the mere
lifting up of hands----that this people fell in
different places by wild beasts, sword and fire
throughout the desert parts of Arabia. |
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legebam nihilominus
admirandum legislatorem ob unius uerbi
dubitationem terram desiderabilem non introisse:
filios sacerdotis alienum admouendo altari ignem
cito exitu periisse: populum uerborum dei
praeuaricatorem sexcentorum milium duobus
exceptis ueracibus et quidem deo carissimum,
quippe cui iter leuissime stratum profundi glarea
maris rubri, cibus caelestis panis, potus nouus
ex rupe uiator, acies inuicta manuum sola intensa
erectio fuerit, bestiis ferro igni per arabiae
deserta sparsim cecidisse: |
After their entrance by
an unknown gate, the Jordan, so to say, and the
overthrow of the hostile walls of the city at the
mere sound of trumpets by God's command, I read
that a small mantle and a little gold
appropriated of the devoted thing laid many
prostrate; that the covenant with the Gibeonites,
when broken (though won by guile), brought
destruction upon some: that because of the sins
of men we have the complaining voices of holy
prophets, and especially of Jeremiah, who bewails
the ruin of his city in four alphabetic songs. |
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post ingressum ignotae ac
si iordanis portae urbisque aduersa moenia solis
tubarum clangoribus iussu dei subruta, palliolum
aurique parum de anathemate praesumptum multos
strauisse: gabaonitarum irritum foedus,
calliditate licet extortum, nonnullis intulisse
exitium: ob peccata hominum querelas sanctorum
prophetarum uoces et maxime hieremiae ruinam
ciuitatis suae quadruplici plangentis alphabeto. |
I saw that in our time
even, as he wept: The widowed city sat
solitary, heretofore filled with people, ruler of
the Gentiles, princess of provinces, and had
become tributary. By this is meant the
Church. The gold hath become dim, its best
colour changed; which means the excellence of
God's word. The sons of Zion, that is, of
the holy mother the Church, famous and clothed
with best gold have embraced ordure. What to
him, a man of eminence, grew unbearable, has been
so to me also, mean as I am, whenever it grew to
be the height of grief, whilst he wailed over the
same distinguished men living in prosperity so
far as to say: her Nazarenes were whiter than
snow, ruddier than old coral, fairer than
sapphire. |
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uidebamque etiam nostro
tempore, ut ille defleuerat, solum sedisse
uerbem uiduam, antea populis plenam, gentium
dominam, principem prouinciarum, sub tributo
fuisse factam, id est ecclesiam,
obscuratum aurum coloremque optimum
mutatum, quod est uerbi dei splenorem,
filios sion, id est sanctae matris
ecclesiae, inclitos et amictos auro primo,
amplexatos fuisse stercora; et quod illi
intolerabiliter utpote praecipuo, mihi quoque
licet abiecto, utcumque ad cumulum doloris
crescebat dum ita eosdam statu prospero uiuentes
egregios luxerat ut diceret: candidiores
nazaraei eius niue, rubicundiores ebore antique,
sapphiro pulchriores. |
These passages and many
others I regarded as, in a way, a mirror of our
life, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and
then I turned to the Scriptures of the New; there
I read things that previously had perhaps been
dark to me, in clearer light, because the shadow
passed away, and the truth shone more steadily. |
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ista ego et multa alia
ueluti speculum quoddam uitae nostrae in
scripturis ueteribus intuens, conuertebar etiam
ad nouas, et ibi legebam clarius quae mihi
forsitan antea obscura fuerant, cessante umbra ac
ueritate fimius inluscente. |
I read, that is to say,
of the Lord saying: I am not come but
unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And
on the other side: But the sons of this
Kingdom shall be cast into outer darknesses,
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again:
It is not good to take the children's bread
and cast it to the dogs. Also: Woe unto
you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. |
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legebam, inquam, dominum
dixisse: non ueni nisi ad oues perditas
domus israel. et e contrario: filii
autem regni huius eicientur in tenebras
exteriores, ibi erit fletus et stridor
dentium. et iterum: non est bonum
tollere panem filiorum et mittere canibus. |
I heard: Many shall
come from east and west and recline with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven; and
on the other hand: And then shall I say unto
them: depart from me ye workers of iniquity. I
read: Blessed are the barren and the breasts
that have not given suck; and on the
contrary: Those who were ready, entered with
him to the marriage feast, then came also the
other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; to
whom the answer was made, I know you not. I
heard certainly: He who believeth and is
baptised, shall be saved, he, however, who
believeth not shall be condemned. |
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itemque: uae uobis,
scribae et pharisaei, hypocritae. audiebam:
multi ab oriente et occidente uenient et
recumbent cum abraham, isaac et iacob in regno
caelorum; et e diuerso: et tunc dicam
eis: discedite a me, operarii iniquitatis.
legebam: beatae steriles et ubera quae non
lactauerunt; et e contrario: quae
paterae eran, intrauerunt cum eo ad nuptias,
postea uenerunt et reliquae uirgines dicentes:
domine, domine, aperi nobis; quibus responsum
fuerat: non noui uos. |
I read in the apostle's
word that a branch of the wild olive had been
grafted into the good olive tree, but that it
must be broken off from partaking in the root of
fatness of the same, if it did not fear, but
should be highminded. I knew the mercy of the
Lord, but feared his judgment also; I praised his
grace, but dreaded the rendering unto each one
according to his works. |
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audiebam sane: qui
crediderit et baptizatus fuerit, saluus erit, qui
autem non crediderit, condemnabitur.
legebam apostoli uoce oleastri ramum bonae oliuae
insertum fuisse, sed a societate radicis
pinguedinis eiusdem, si non timuisset, sed alta
saperet, excidendum. |
As I beheld sheep of one
fold unlike one another, I called Peter, with
good reason, most blessed on account of his sound
confession of Christ, but Judas most unhappy
because of his love of covetousness; Stephen I
called glorious, because of the martyr's palm;
Nicolas, on the contrary, miserable, owing to the
mark of unclean heresy. |
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sciebam misericordiam
domini, set et iudicium timebam; laudabam
gratiam, sed redditionem unicuique secundum opera
sua uerebar; oues unius ouilis dissimiles cernens
merito beatissimum dicebam petrum ob christi
integram confessionem, at iudam infelicissimum
propter cupiditatis amorem, stephanum gloriosum
ob martyrii palmam, sed nicolaum miserum propter
immundae haeresos notam. |
I read, indeed: They
had all things in common, but I read also: Why
did ye agree to tempt the Spirit of God? I
saw, on the contrary, what great indifference had
grown upon the men of our age, as if there were
no cause for fear. |
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legebam certe:
erant illis omnia communia; sed et
quod dictum est: quaere conuenit uobis
temptare spiritum dei? uidebam e regione
quantum securitatis hominibus nostri temporis, ac
si non esset quod timeretur, increuerat. |
These things, and many
others which I have decided to omit for the sake
of brevity, I pondered over with compunction of
heart and astonishment of mind. I pondered----if
the Lord did not spare a people, peculiar out of
all the nations, the royal seed and holy nation,
to whom he had said: Israel is my first born ----if
he spared not its priests, prophets, kings for so
many centuries, if he spared not the apostle his
minister, and the members of that primitive
church, when they swerved from the right path,
what will he do to such blackness as we have in
this age? An age this to which has been added,
besides those impious and monstrous sins which it
commits in common with all the iniquitous ones of
the world, that thing which is as if inborn with
it, an irremovable and inextricable weight of
unwisdom and fickleness. |
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haec igitur et multo
plura quae breuitatis causa omittenda decreuimus
cum qualicumque cordis compunctione attonita
mente saepius uoluens, si, inquam, peculiari ex
omnibus nationibus populo, semini regali gentique
sanctae, ad quam dixerat: primogenitus meus
israel, eiusque sacerdotibus, prophetis,
regibus, per tot saecula apostolo ministro
membrisque illius primitiuae ecclesiae dominus
non pepercit, cum a recto tramite deuiarint, quid
tali huius atramento aetatis facturus est? cui
praeter illa nefanda immaniaque peccata quae
communiter cum omnibus mundi sceleratis agit,
accedit etiam illud ueluti ingentium quid et
indelebile insipientiae pondus et leuitatis
ineluctabile. |
What say I? Do I say to
myself, wretched one, is such a charge entrusted
to thee (as if thou wert a teacher of distinction
and eminence), namely to withstand the rush of so
violent a torrent, and against this array of
growing crimes extending over so many years and
so widely, keep the deposit committed to thec,
and be silent? Otherwise this means, to say to
the foot, watch, and to the hand, speak.
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quid? (mihimet aio)
tibine, miser, ueluti conspicuo ac summo doctori
talis cura committitur ut obstes ictibus tam
uiolenti torrentis, et contra hunc inolitorum
scelerum funem per tot annorum spatia interrupte
latetque protractum serues depositum tibi
creditum et taceas? alioquin hoc est dixisse
pedi: speculare et manui: fare. |
Britain has rulers, it
has watchers. Why with thy nonsense art thou
inclined to mumble? Yea, it has these; it has, if
not too many, not too few. But, because they are
bent clown under the pressure of so great a
weight, they have no time to breathe. My
feelings, therefore, as if fellow debtors with
myself, were alternately engrossed by such
objections, and by such as had much sharper teeth
than these. These feelings wrestled, as I said,
for no short time, when I read: 'There is a
time to speak and a time to keep silence, and
wrestled in the straight gate of fear, so to
speak. At length the creditor prevailed and
conquered. He said: If thou hast not the boldness
to feel no fear of being branded with the mark
that befits golden liberty among truth-telling
creatures of a rational origin second to the
angels, at least shrink not from imitating that
intelligent ass, inspired, though mute, by the
Spirit of God. Unwilling it was to be the carrier
of the crowned magician about to curse the people
of God; it bruised his feeble foot in the narrow
path near the wall of the vineyards, though it
had on that account to feel his blows like those
of an enemy. She pointed out to him the angel
from heaven, as if with the finger, holding his
naked sword and opposing them (whom he in the
blindness of cruel stupidity had not observed),
though the magician, ungrateful and furious, was
unrighteously beating her innocent sides. |
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habet britanni rectores,
habet speculatores. quid tu nugando mutire
disponis? habet, inquam, habet, si non ultra, non
citra numerum. sed quia inclinati tanto pondere
sunt pressi, idcirco spatium respirandi non
habent. praeoccupabant igitur se multo talibus
obiectionibus uel multo his mordacioribus ueluti
condebitores sensus mei. hi non paruo, ut dixi,
tempore, cum legerim tempus esse loquendi
et tacendi, et in quadam ac si angusta
timoris porticu luctabantur. obtinuit uicitque
tandem aliquando creditor, si non es, inquiens,
talis audaciae ut inter ueridicas rationalis
secundae a nuntiis deriuationis creaturas non
pertimescas libertatis aureae decenti nota inuri,
affectum saltem intellegibilis asinae eatenus
elinguis non refugito spiritu dei afflatae,
nolentis se uehiculum fore tiarati magi deuoturi
populum dei, quae in anguesto maceriae uinearum
resolutum eius attriuit pedem, ob id licet
uerbera hostiliter senserit, cuique angelum
caelestem ensem uacuum uagina habentem atque
contrarium, quem ille cruda stoliditate caecatus
non uiderat, digito quodammodo, quamquam ingrato
ac furibundo et innoxia eius latera contra ius
fasque caedenti, demonstrauit. |
In my zeal, therefore,
for the holy law of the Lord's house, constrained
by the reasons of my own meditation or overcome
by the pious entreaties of brethren, I am now
paying the debt[1] exacted long ago. The
work is, in fact, poor, but, I believe, faithful
and friendly to all noble soldiers of Christ; but
severe and hard to bear to foolish apostates. The
former of these, if I am not mistaken, will,
peradventure, receive it with the tears that flow
from the love of God; the others, also, with
sorrow, but the sorrow which is wrenched from the
anger and timidity of an awakened conscience. |
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in zelo igitur domus
domini sacrae legis seu cogitatuum rationibus uel
fratrum religiosis precibus coactus nun persoluo
debitum multo tempore antea exactum, uile quidem,
sed fidele, ut puto, et amicale quibusque
egregiis christi tironibus[2], graue uero et
importabile apostatis insipientibus. quorum
priores, ni fallor, cum lacrimis forte quae ex
dei caritate profluunt, alii autem cum trisitia,
sed quae de indignatione et pusillanimitate
deprehensae conscientiae extorquetur, illud
excipient. |
2. Before,
however, fulfilling my promise, let me attempt to
say a little, God willing, concerning the
geographical situation, the stubbornness, the
subjection and rebellion of our country; also of
its second subjection and hard service; of
religion, persecution, and holy martyrs, of
diverse heresies; of tyrants, of the two nations
which wasted it; of defence and of consequent
devastation; of the second revenge and third
devastation, of famine; of the letter to Agitius;
of victory, of crimes; of enemies suddenly
announced; of the great well-known plague; of
counsel; of enemies far more fierce than the
first; of the ruin of cities, of the men who
survived; of the final victory won by the mother
country, which is the gift granted by the will of
God in our own times.[3]
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2. sed ante
promissum deo uolente pauca de situ, de
contumacia, de subiectione, de rebellione, item
de subiectione ac diro famulatu, de religione, de
persecutione, de sanctis martyribus, de diuersis
haeresibus, de tyrannis, de duabus gentibus
uastatricibus, de defensione itemque uastatione,
de secunda ulitone tertiaque uastatione, de fame,
de epistolis ad agitium, de uictoria, de
sceleribus, de nuntiatis subito hostibus, de
famosa peste, de consilio, de saeuiore multo
primis hoste, de urbium subuersione, de reliquis,
de postrema patriae uictoria, quae temporibus
nostris dei nutu donata est, dicere conamur.
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Description
of Britain.
3. THE island of
Britain is situated in almost the furthest limit
of the world, towards the north-west and west,
poised in the so-called divine balance which
holds the whole earth. It lies somewhat in the
direction of the north pole from the south-west.
It is 800 miles long, 200 broad,[4] not counting the longer tracts of
sundry promontories which are encompassed by the
curved bays of the sea. It is protected by the
wide, and if I may so say, impassable circle of
the sea on all sides, with the exception of the
straits on the south coast where ships sail to
Belgic Gaul. It has the advantage of the
estuaries of two noble rivers, the Thames and the
Severn, arms, as it were, along which, of old,
foreign luxuries were wont to be carried by
ships, and of other smaller streams; it is
beautified by 28 cities,[5] and some strongholds,
and by great works built in an unexceptionable
manner, walls, serrated towers, gates, houses,
the roofs of which, stretching aloft with
threatening height, were firmly fixed in strong
structure.[6] It is adorned by widespread
plains, hills in pleasant situations adapted for
superior cultivation, mountains in the greatest
convenience for changing pasture of cattle. The
flowers of divers colours on these, trodden by
human footsteps, gave them the appearance of a
fine picture, like a chosen bride adorned with
various jewels. It is irrigated by many clear
springs, with their full waters moving snow-white
gravel, and by shining rivers flowing with gentle
murmur, extending to those who recline on their
banks a pledge of sweet slumber, and by lakes
overflowing with a cool stream of living
water.
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De situ.
3. brittannia insula in extremo
ferme orbis limite circium occdentemque uersus
diuina, ut dicitur, statera terrae totius
ponderatrice librata an africo boriali propensius
tensa axi, octingentorum in longo milium,
ducentorum in latio spatium, exceptis diuersorum
prolixioribus promontoriorum tractibus, quae
arcuatis oceani sinibus ambiuntur, tenens, cuius
diffusiore et, ut ita dicam, intransmeabili
undique circulo absque meridianae freto plagae,
quo ad galliam belgicam nauigatur, uallata,
duorum ostiis nobilium fluminum tamesis ac
sabrinae ueluti brachiis, per quae olim
transmarinae deliciae ratibus uehebantur,
aliorumque minorum meliorata, bis denis bisque
quaternis ciuitatibus ac nonnullis castellis,
murorum turrium serratarum portarum domorum,
quarum culmina minaci proceritate porrecta in
edito forti compage pangebantur, molitioibus non
improbabiliter instructis decorata; campis late
pansis collibusque amoeno situ locatis,
praepollenti culturae aptis, montibus lternandis
animalium pastibus maxime couenientibus, quorum
diuersorum colorum flores humanis gressibus
pulsati non indecentem ceu picturam eisdem
imprimebant, electa ueluti sponsa monilibus
diuersis ornata, fontibus lucidis crebris undis
niueas ueluti glareas pellentibus, prenitidisque
riuis leni murmure serpentibus ipsorumque in
ripis accubantibus suauis soporis pignus
praetendentibus, et lacubus frigidum aquae
torrentem uiuae exundantibus irrigua.
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Character of
people.
4. This island,
of proud neck and mind, since it was first
inhabited, is ungratefully rebelling, now against
God, at other times against fellow citizens,
sometimes even against the kings over the sea and
their subjects. For what deeper baseness, what
greater unrighteousness, can be or be introduced
by the recklessness of men, than to deny to God
fear, to worthy fellow citizens love, to those
placed in higher position the honour due to them,
without detriment to the faith----than to break
faith with divine and human sentiment, and having
cast away fear of heaven and earth, to be
governed by one's own inventions and lusts?
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De
contumacia.
4. haec erecta ceruice et mente,
ex quo inhabitata est, nunc deo, interdum ciuibus[7], nonnumquam etiam transmarinis
regibus et subiectis ingrata consurgit. quid enim
deformius quidque iniquius potest humanis ausibus
uel esse uel intromitti negotium quam deo
timorem, bonis ciuibus caritatem,, in altiore
dignitate positis absque fidei detrimento debitum
denegare honorem et frangere diuino sensui
humanoque fidem, et abiecto caeli terraeque metu
propriis adinuentionibus aliquem et libidinibus
regi?
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I, therefore, omit[8] those ancient errors, common to
all nations, by which before the coming of Christ
in the flesh the whole human race was being held
in bondage; nor do I enumerate the truly
diabolical monstrosities of my native country,
almost surpassing those of Egypt in number, of
which we behold some, of ugly features, to this
day within or without their deserted walls, stiff
with fierce visage as was the custom. Neither do
I, by name, inveigh against the mountains,
valleys or rivers, once destructive, but now
suitable for the use of man, upon which divine
honour was then heaped by the people in their
blindness. I keep silence also as to the long
years of savage tyrants, who are spoken of in
other far distant countries, so that Porphyry,
the rabid eastern dog in hostility to the Church,
added this remark also in the fashion of his
madness and vanity; Britain, he says, is
a province fertile in tyrants. Those evils
only will I attempt to make public which the
island has both suffered and inflicted upon other
and distant citizens, in the times of the Roman
Emperors. I shall do it, however, to the best of
my ability, not so much by the aid of native
writings or records of authors, inasmuch as these
(if they ever existed) have been burnt by the
fires of enemies, or carried far away in the
ships which exiled my countrymen, and so are not
at hand, but shall follow the account of foreign
writers, which, because broken by many gaps, is
far from clear. |
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igitur omittens priscos
illos communesque cum omnibus gentibus errores,
quibus ante aduentum christi in carne omne
humanum genus obligabatur astrictum, nec
enumaerans patriae portenta[9] ipsa diabolica paene numero
aegyptiaca uincentia, quorum nonnulla liniamentis
adhuc deformibus intra uel extra deserta moenia
solito mores rigentia toruis uultibus intuemur,
neque nominatum inclamitans montes ipsos aut
colles uel fluuios olim exitiabiles, nunc uero
humanis usibus utiles, quibus diuinus honor a
caeco tunc populo cumulabatur, et tacens uetustos
immanium tyrannorum annos, qui in aliis longe
postis regionibus uulgati sunt, it ut porphyrius
rabidus orientalis aduersus ecclesiam canis[10] dementiae suae ac uanitatis stilo
hoc etiam adnecteret: britannis,
inquiens, fertilis prouincia
tyrannorum, illa tantum proferre conabor in
medium quae temporibus imperatorum romanorum et
passa est et aliis intulit ciuibus et longe
positis mala: quantum tamen potuero, non tam ex
scriptis patriae scriptorumue monimentis, quippe
quae, uel si qua fuerint, aut ignibus hostium
exusta aut ciuium exilii classe longius deportata
non compareant, quam transmarina relatione, quae
crebris inrupta intercapedinibus non satis
claret. |
Subjection by
Rome.
5. The Emperors
of Rome acquired the empire of the world, and, by
the subjugation of all neighbouring countries and
islands towards the east, secured through the
might of their superior fame their first peace
with the Parthians[11] on the borders of India.
When this peace was accomplished, wars ceased at
that time in almost every land. The keenness of
this flame, however, in its persistent career
towards the west, could not be checked or
extinguished by the blue tide of the sea;
crossing the channel it carried to the island
laws for obedience without opposition; it
subjugated an unwarlike but faithless people (not
so much as in the case of other nations by sword,
fire, and engines, as by mere threats or menaces
of judgments) who gave to the edicts merely a
skin-deep obedience, with resentment sunk deep
into their hearts.
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De
subjectione.
5. etenim reges
romanorum cum orbis imperium obtinuisset
subiugatisque finitimis quibusque regionibus uel
insulis orientem uersus primam parthorum pacem
indorum confinium, qua peracta in omni paene
terra tum cessauere bella, potioris famae uiribus
firmassent, non acies flammae quodammodo rigidi
tenoris ad occidentem caeruleo oceani torrente
potuit uel cohiberi uel extingui sed transfretans
insulae parendi leges nullo obsistente aduexit,
imbellemque populum sed infidelem non tam ferro
igne machinis, ut alias gentes, quam solis minis
uel iudiciorum concussionibus, in superficie
tantum uultus presso in altum cordis dolore sui
obedientiam proferentem edictis subiugauit.
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Insurrection
against Rome.
6. Immediately
on their return to Rome, owing to deficiency, as
they said, of necessaries provided by the land,
and with no suspicion of rebellion, the
treacherous lioness killed the rulers who had
been left behind by them to declare more fully,
and to strengthen, the enterprises of Roman rule.
After this, when news of such deeds was carried
to the senate, and it was hastening with speedy
army to take vengeance on the crafty foxes, as
they named them, there was no preparation of a
fighting fleet on sea to make a brave struggle
for country, nor a marshalled army or right wing,
nor any other warlike equipment on land. They
present their backs, instead of their shields, to
the pursuers, their necks to the sword, while a
chilling terror ran through their bones: they
hold forth their hands to be bound like women; so
that it was spread far and wide as a proverb and
a derision: the Britons are neither brave in
war nor in peace faithful.[13]
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De
rebellione.
6. quibus statim
romam ob inopiam, ut aiabant, cespitis
repedantibus et nihil de rebellione suspicantibus
rectores sibi relictos ad enuntianda plenius uel
confirmanda romani regni molimina leana
trucidauit dolosa[12]. quibus ita gestis cum
talia senatui nuntiarentur et propero exercitu
uulpeculas ut fingebat subdolas ulcisci
festinaret, non militaris in mari classis parata
fortiter dimicare pro patria nec quadratum agmen
neque dextrum cornu aliiue belli apparatus in
litore conseruntur, sed terga pro scuto
fugnatibus dantur et colla gladiis, gelido per
ossa tremore currente, manusque uinciendae
muliebriter protenduntur, ita ut in prouerbium et
derisum longe lateque efferretur quod britanni
nec in bello fortes sint nec in pace fideles.
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Second
subjection and servitude.
7. The Romans
therefore, having slain many of the faithless
ones, reserving some for slavery, lest the land
should be reduced to destitution----return to
Italy leaving behind them a land stripped of wine
and oil. They leave behind governors as scourges
for the backs of the natives, as a yoke for their
necks, so that they should cause the epithet of
Roman slavery to cling to the soil, should vex
the crafty race not so much with military force
as with whips, and if necessary, apply the
unsheathed sword, as the saying is, to their
sides. In this way the island would be regarded
not as Britannia but as Romania, and whatever it
might have of copper, silver, or gold would be
stamped with the image of Caesar.
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Item de
subiectione ac diro famulatu.
7. itaque multis
romani perfidorum caesis, nonnullis ad
seruitutem, ne terra penitus in solitudinem
redigeretur, mancipalibus reseruatis, patria uini
oleique experte relicta italiam petunt, suorum
quosdam relinquentes praepositos indigenarum
dorsis mastigias, ceruicibus iugum, solo nomen
ramanae seruitutis haerere facturos ac non tam
militari manu quam flagris callidam gentem
maceraturos et, si res sic postulauisset, ensem,
ut dicitur, uagina uacuum lateri eius
accommodaturos, ita ut non britannia, sed romania
censeretur et quicquid habere potuisset aeris
argenti uel auri imagine caesaris notaretur.
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Rise of
Christianity.
8. Meanwhile, to
the island stiff with frost and cold, and in a
far distant corner of the earth, remote from the
visible sun, He, the true sun, even Christ, first
yields His rays, I mean His precepts. He spread,
not only from the temporal firmament, but from
the highest arc of heaven beyond all times, his
bright gleam to the whole world in the latest
days, as we know, of Tiberius Caesar. At that
time the religion of Christ[14] was propagated without any
hindrance, because the emperor, contrary to the
will of the senate, threatened with death
informers against the soldiers of that same
religion.
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De religione.
8. interea
glaciali figore rigenti insulae et uelut longiore
terrarum secessu soli uisibili non proximae uerus
ille non de firmamento solum temporali sed de
summa etiam caelorum arce tempora cuncta
excedente uniuerso orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum
ostendens, tempore, ut scimus, summo tiberii
caesaris, quo absque ullo impedimento delatoribus
militum eiusdem, radios suos primum indulget, id
est sua praecepta, christus.
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The
Diocletian persecution.
9. Though these
precepts had a lukewarm reception from the
inhabitants, nevertheless they continued
unimpaired with some, with others less so, until
the nine years' persecution of the tyrant
Diocletian. In this persecution churches were
ruined throughout the whole world, all copies of
the Holy Scriptures that could be found were
burnt in the open streets, and the chosen priests
of the Lord's flock butchered with the innocent
sheep, so that if it could be brought to pass,
not even a trace of the Christian religion would
be visible in some of the provinces. What flights
there were then, what slaughter, what punishments
by different modes of death, what ruins of
apostates, what glorious crowns of martyrs, what
mad fury on the part of persecutors, and, on the
contrary, what patience of the saints, the
history of the church narrates. In consequence
the whole church, in close array, emulously
leaving behind it the darkness of this world, was
hastening to the pleasant realms of heaven as to
its own proper abode.
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De
persecutione.
9. quae, licet
ab incolis tepide suscepta sunt[15], apud quosdam tamen integre et
alios minus usque ad persecutionem dioceltiani
tyranni nouennem[16], in qua subuersae per
totum mundum sunt ecclesiae et cunctae sacrae
scripturae, quae inueniri potuerunt, in plateis
exustae et electi sacerdotes gregis domini cum
innocentibus ouibus trucidati, ita ut ne uestgium
quidem, si fieri potuisset, in nonnullis
prouinciis christianae religionis appareret,
permansere. tunc quantae fugae, quantae strages,
quantae diuersarum mortium poenae, quantae
apostatarum ruinae, quantae gloriosorum martyrum
coronae, quanti persecutorum rabidi furores,
quantae e contrario sanctorum patientiae fuere,
ecclesiastica historia narrat[17], ita ut agmine denso certatim
relictis post tergum mundialibus tenebris ad
amoena caelorum regna quasi ad propriam sedem
tota festinaret ecclesia.
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Holy Martyrs.
10. God,
therefore, as willing that all men should be
saved, magnified his mercy unto us, and called
sinners no less than those who regard themselves
righteous. He of His own free gift, in the above
mentioned time of persecution, as we conclude,
lest Britain should be completely enveloped in
the thick darkness of black night, kindled for us
bright lamps of holy martyrs. The graves where
their bodies lie, and the places of their
suffering, had they not, very many of them, been
taken from us the citizens on account of our
numerous crimes, through the disastrous division
caused by the barbarians, would at the present
time inspire the minds of those who gazed at them
with a far from feeble glow of divine love. I
speak of Saint Alban of Verulam, Aaron and
Iulius, citizens of Caerlleon, and the rest of
both sexes in different places, who stood firm
with lofty nobleness of mind in Christ's
battle.
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De sanctis
martyribus.
10. magnificauit
igitur misericordiam suam nobiscum deus uolens
omnes homines saluos fieri et uocans non minus
peccatores quam eos qui se putant iustos. qui
gratuito munere, supra dicto ut conicimus[18] persecutionis tempore, ne penitus
crassa atrae noctis caligine britannia
obfuscaretur, clarissimos lampades sanctorum
martyrum nobis accendit, quorum nunc corporum
sepulturae et passionum loca, si non lugubri
diuortio barbarorum quam plurima ob scelera
nostra ciuibus adimerentur, non minimum
intuentium mentibus ardorem diuinae caritatis
incuteren: sanctum albanum uerolamiensem, aaron
et iulium[19] legionum urbis ciues
ceterosque utriusque sexus diuersis in locis
summa magnanimitate in acie christi perstantes
dico.
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11. The former
of these, through love, hid a confessor when
pursued by his persecutors, and on the point of
being seized, imitating in this Christ laying
down his life for the sheep. He first concealed
him in his house, and afterwards exchanging
garments with him, willingly exposed himself to
the danger of being pursued in the clothes of the
brother mentioned. Being in this way well
pleasing to God, during the time between his holy
confession and cruel death, in the presence of
the impious men, who carried the Roman standard
with hateful haughtiness, he was wonderfully
adorned with miraculous signs, so that by fervent
prayer he opened an unknown way through the bed
of the noble river Thames, similar to that dry
little-trodden way of the Israelites, when the
ark of the covenant stood long on the gravel in
the middle of Jordan; accompanied by a thousand
men, he walked through with dry foot, the rushing
waters on either side hanging like abrupt
precipices, and converted first his executioner,
as he saw such wonders, from a wolf into a lamb,
and caused him together with himself to thirst
more deeply for the triumphant palm of martyrdom,
and more bravely to seize it. Others, however,
were so tortured with diverse torments, and
mangled with unheard of tearing of limbs, that
without delay they raised trophies of their
glorious martyrdom, as if at the beautiful gates
of Jerusalem. Those who survived hid themselves
in woods, deserts, and secret caves, expecting
from God, the righteous ruler of all, to their
persecutors, sometime, stern judgment, to
themselves protection of life.
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11. quorum prior
postquam caritatis gratia confessorem
persecutoribus insectatum et iam iamque
comprehendendum, imitans et in hoc christum
animam pro ouibus ponentem, domo primum ac
mutatis dein mutuo uestibus occuluit et se
discrimini in fratris supra dicti uestimentis
libenter persequendum dedit, ita deo inter sacram
confessionem cruoremque coram impiis romana tum
stigmata cum horribili fantasia praeferentibus
placens signorum miraculis mirabiliter adornatus
est, ut oratione feruenti illi israeliticae
arenti uiae minusque tritae, stante diu arca
prope glareas testamenti in medio iordanis
canali, simile iter ignotum, trans tamesis
nobilis fluuii alueum, cum mille uiris sicco
ingrediens pede suspensis utrimque modo
praeruptorum fluuialibus montium gurgitibus
aperiret et priorem carnificem tanta prodigia
uidentem in agnum ex lupo mutaret et una secum
triumphalem martyrii palmam sitire uehementius et
excipere fortius faceret. ceteri uero sic
diuersis cruciatibus torti sunt et inaudita
membrorum discerptione lacerati ut absque
cunctamine gloriosi in egregiis ierusalem ueluti
portis martyrii sui trophaea defigerent. nam qui
superfuerant siluis ac desertis abditisque
speluncis se occultauere, expectantes a iusto
rectore omnium deo carnificibus seuera quandoque
iudicia, sibi uero animarum tutamina.
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12. Thus when
ten years of the violence referred to had
scarcely passed, and when the abominable edicts
were disappearing through the death of their
authors, all the soldiers of Christ, with
gladsome eyes, as if after a wintry and long
night, take in the calm and the serene light of
the celestial region. They repair the churches,
ruined to the ground; they found, construct, and
complete basilicae in honour of the holy martyrs,
and set them forth in many places as emblems of
victory; they celebrate feast days; the sacred
offices they perform with clean heart and lip;
all exult as children cherished in the bosom of
their mother, the church.
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12. igitur
bilustro supra dicti turbinis necdum ad integrum
expleto emarcescentibusque nece suorum auctorum
nefariis edictis, laetis luminibus omnes christi
tirones quasi post hiemalem ac prolixam noctem
temperiem lucemque serenam auare caelestis
excipiunt. renouant ecclesias ad solum usque
destructas; basilicas sanctorum mertyrum fundant
construunt perficiunt ac uelut uictricia signa
passim propalant. dies festos celebrant, sacra
mundo corde oreque conficiunt. omnes exultant
filii gremio ac si matris ecclesia confoti.
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Heresies. For this sweet harmony
between Christ the head and the members
continued, until the Arian unbelief, fierce as a
snake vomiting forth upon us its foreign poison,
caused deadly separation between brethren
dwelling together. In this way, as if a path were
made across the sea, all manner of wild beasts
began to inject with horrid mouth the fatal
poison of every form of heresy, and to inflict
the lethal wounds of their teeth upon a country
always wishful to hear something new and, at all
events, desiring nothing steadfastly.
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De diversis
haeresibus. mansit namque haec christi capitis
membrorumque consonantia suauis, donec arriana
perfidia, atrox ceu anguis, transmarina nobis
euomens uenena fratres in unum habitantes
exitiabiliter faceret seiungi, ac sic quasi uia
facta trans oceanum omnes omnino bestiae ferae
mortiferum cuiuslibet haeresos uirus horrido ore
uibrantes letalia dentium uulnera patriae noui
semper aliquid audire uolenti et nihil certe
stabiliter optinenti infigebant.
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The tyranni.
13. At length
also, as thickets of tyrants were growing up and
bursting forth soon into an immense forest, the
island retained the Roman name, but not the
morals and law; nay rather, casting forth a shoot
of its own planting, it sends out Maximus[20] to the two Gauls,
accompanied by a great crowd of followers, with
an emperor's ensigns in addition, which he never
worthily bore nor legitimately, but as one
elected after the manner of a tyrant and amid a
turbulent soldiery. This man, through cunning art
rather than by valour, first attaches to his
guilty rule certain neighbouring countries or
provinces against the Roman power, by nets of
perjury and falsehood. He then extends one wing
to Spain, the other to Italy, fixing the throne
of his iniquitous empire at Trier, and raged with
such madness against his lords that he drove two
legitimate emperors, the one from Rome, the other
from a most pious life. Though fortified by
hazardous deeds of so dangerous a character, it
was not long ere he lost his accursed head at
Aquileia: he who had in a way cut off the crowned
heads of the empire of the whole world.
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De tyrannis.
13. itemque
tandem tyrannorum uirgultis crescentibus et in
immanem siluam iam iamque erumpentibus insula,
nomen romanum nec tamen morem legemque tenens,
quin potius abiciens germen suae plantationis
amarissimae, ad gallias magna comitante satellium
cateuera, insuper etiam imperatoris insignibus,
quae nec decenter usquam gessit, non legitime,
sed ritu tyrannico et tumultuante initiatum
milite, maximum mittit. qui callida primum arte
potius quam uirtute finitimos quosque pagos uel
prouincias contra romanum statum per retia
periurii mendaciique sui facinoroso regno
adnectens, et unam alarum ad hispaniam, alteram
ad italiam extendens et thronum iniquissimi
imperii apud treueros statuens tanta insania in
dominos debacchatus est ut duos imperatores
legitimos, unum roma, alium religiosissima uita
pelleret. nec mora tam feralibus uallatus
audaciis apud aquileiam urbem capite nefando
caeditur, qui decorata totius orbis capita regni
quodammodo deiecerat.
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Picts and
Scots.
14. After this,
Britain is robbed of all her armed soldiery, of
her military supplies, of her rulers, cruel
though they were, and of her vigorous youth who
followed the footsteps of the above-mentioned
tyrant and never returned. Completely ignorant of
the practice of war, she is, for the first time,
open to be trampled upon by two foreign tribes of
extreme cruelty, the Scots from the north-west,
the Picts from the north; and for many years
continues stunned and groaning.[21]
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De duabus
gentibus vastatricibus
14. exin
britannia omni armato milite, militaribus copiis,
rectoribus licet immanibus, ingenti iuuentute
spoliata, quae comitata uestigiis supra dicti
tyranni domum nusquam ultra rediit, et omnis
belli usus ignara penitus, duabus primum gentibus
transmarinis uehementer saeuis, scotorum a
circione, pictorum ab aquilone calcabilis, multos
stupet gemitque annos
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Defence made
against them.
15. Owing to the
inroads of these tribes and the consequent
dreadful prostration, Britain sends an embassy
with letters to Rome, entreating in tearful
appeals an armed force to avenge her, and vowing
submission on her part to the Roman power,
uninterrupted and with all strength of heart, if
the enemy were driven away. A legion is forthwith
prepared, with no remembrance of past evil, and
fully equipped. Having crossed over the sea in
ships to Britain, it came into close engagement
with the oppressive enemies; it killed a great
number of them and drove all over the borders,
and freed the humiliated inhabitants from so
fierce a violence and threatening bondage. The
inhabitants were commanded to build a wall across
the island, between the two seas, so that, when
strongly manned, it might be a terror to repel
the enemies and a protection to the citizens. The
wall being made not of stone but of turf, proved
of no advantage to the rabble in their folly, and
destitute of a leader.
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De
defensione.
15. ob quarum
infestationem ac dirissimam depressionem legatos
romam cum epistolis mittit, militarem manum ad se
uindicandam lacrimosis postulationibus poscens et
subiectionem sui romano imperio continue tota
animi uirtute, si hostis longius arceretur,
uouens. cui mox destinatur legio[22] praeteriti mali immemor,
sufficienter armis instructa, quae ratibus trans
oceanum in patriam aduecta et cominus cum
grauibus hostibus congressa magnamque ex eis
multitudinem sternens et omnes e finibus depulit
et subiectos ciues tam atroci dilacerationi ex
imminenti captiuitate liberauit. quos iussit
construere inter duo maria trans insulam murum,
ut esset arcendis hostibus turba instructus
terrori ciuibusque tutamini; qui uulgo
irrationabili absque rectore factus non tam
lapidibus quam cespitibus[23] non profuit.
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Repeated
devastation.
16. The legion
returned home in great triumph and joy when their
old enemies, like rapacious wolves, fierce with
excessive hunger, jump with greedy maw into the
fold, because there was no shepherd in sight.
They rush across the boundaries, carried over by
wings of oars, by arms of rowers, and by sails
with fair wind. They slay everything, and
whatever they meet with they cut it down like a
ripe crop, trample under foot and walk through.
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Itemque
vastatione.
16. illa domum
cum triumpho magno et gaudio repedante illi
priores inimici ac si ambrones lupi profunda fame
rabidi, siccis faucibus ouile transilientes non
comparente pastore, alis remorum remigumque
brachiis ac uelis uento sinuatis uecti, terminos
rumpunt caeduntque omnia et quaeque obuia maturam
ceu segetem metunt calcant transeunt.
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Second
revenge.
17. Again
suppliant messengers are sent with rent clothes,
as is said, and heads covered with dust.
Crouching like timid fowls under the trusty wings
of the parent birds, they ask help of the Romans,
lest the country in its wretchedness be
completely swept away, and the name of Romans,
which to their ears was the echo of a mere word,
should even grow vile as a thing gnawed at, in
the reproach of alien nations. They,[24] moved, as far as was possible for
human nature, by the tale of such a tragedy, make
speed, like the flight of eagles, unexpected in
quick movements of cavalry on land and of sailors
by sea; before long they plunge their terrible
swords in the necks of the enemies; the massacre
they inflict is to be compared to the fall of
leaves at the fixed time, just like a mountain
torrent, swollen by numerous streams after
storms, sweeps over its bed in its noisy course;
with furrowed back and fierce look, its waters,
as the saying goes, surging up to the clouds (by
which our eyes, though often refreshed by the
movements of the eyelids, are obscured by the
quick meeting of lines in its broken eddies),
foams surprisingly, and with one rush overcomes
obstacles set in its way. Then did the
illustrious helpers quickly put to flight the
hordes of the enemy beyond the sea, if indeed
escape was at all possible for them: for it was
beyond the seas that they, with no one to resist,
heaped up the plunder greedily acquired by them
year by year.
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De secunda
ultione.
17. itemque
mittuntur queruli legati, scissis, ut dicitur,
uestibus, opertisque sablone capitibus,
inpetrantes a romanis auxilia ac ueluti timidi
pulli patrum fidissimis alis succumbentes, ne
penitus misera patria deleretur nomenque
romanorum, quod uerbis tantum apud eos auribus
resultabat, uel exterarum gentium opprobrio
obrosum uilesceret. at illi, quantum humanae
naturae possibile est, commoti tantae historiae
tragoediae, uolatus ceu aquilarum equitum in
terra, nautarum in mari cursus accelerantes,
inopinatos primum, tandem terribiles inimicorum
ceruicibus infigunt mucronum ungues, casibusque
foliorum tempore certo adsimilandam hisdem
peragunt stragem, ac si montanus torrens crebris
tempestatum riuulis auctus sonoroque meatu alueos
exundans ac sulcato dorso fronteque acra,
erectis, ut aiunt, ad nebulas undis (luminum
quibus pupilli, persaepe licet palpebrarum
conuolatibus innouati, adiunctis rimarum
rotantium lineis fuscantur) mirabiliter spumans,
ast uno obiectas sibi euincit gurgite moles[25]. ita aemulorum agmina auxiliares
egregii, si qua tamen euadere potuerant,
praepropere trans maria fugauerunt, quia
anniuersarias auide praedas nullo obsistente
trans maria exaggerabant.
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18. The Romans,
therefore, declare to our country that they could
not be troubled too frequently by arduous
expeditions of that kind, nor could the marks of
Roman power, that is an army of such size and
character, be harassed by land and sea on account
of un-warlike, roving, thieving fellows. They
urge the Britons, rather, to accustom themselves
to arms, and fight bravely, so as to save with
all their might their land, property, wives,
children, and, what is greater than these, their
liberty and life: they should not, they urge, in
any way hold forth their hands armourless to be
bound by nations in no way stronger than
themselves, unless they became' effeminate
through indolence and listlessness; but have them
provided with bucklers, swords and spears, and
ready for striking. Because they were also of
opinion that it would bring a considerable
advantage to the people they were leaving, they
construct a wall, different from the other, by
public and private contributions, joining the
wretched inhabitants to themselves: they build
the wall in their accustomed mode of structure,
in a straight line, across from sea to sea,
between cities, which perhaps had been located
there through fear of enemies; they give bold
counsel to the people in their fear, and leave
behind them patterns for the manufacture of arms.
On the sea coast also, towards the south, where
their ships were wont to anchor, because from
that quarter also wild barbarian hordes were
feared, they place towers at stated intervals,
affording a prospect of the sea. They then bid
them farewell, as men who never intended to
return.[28 additional note]
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18. igitur romani, partiae
denuntintes nequaquam se tam loboriosis
expeditionibus posse frequentius uexari et ob
imbelles erraticosque latrunculos romana stigmata[26], tantum talemque exercitum, terra
ac mari fatigari, sed ut potius sola consuescendo
armis ac uiriliter dimicando terram substantiolam
coniuges liberos et, quod his maius est,
libertatem uitamque totis uiribus uindicaret, et
gentibus nequaquam sibi fortioribus, nisi
segnitia et torpore dissolueretur, inermes
uinculis uinciendas nullo modo, sed instructas
peltis ensibus hastis et ad caedam promptas
protenderet manus, suadentes, quia et hoc
putabant aliquid derelinquendo populo commodi
adcrescere, murum non ut alterum[27], sumptu publico priuatoque
adiunctis secum miserabilibus indigenis, solito
structurae more, tramite a mari usque ad mare
inter urber, quae ibidem forte ob metum hostium
collocatae fuerant, directo librant; foria
formidoloso populo monita tradunt, exemplaria
instituendorum armorum relinquunt.
in litore quoque oceani ad meridianam plagam, quo
naues eorum habebantur, quia et inde barbaricae
ferae bestiae timebantur, turres per interualla
ad prospectum maris collocant, et ualedicunt
tamquam ultra non reuersuri.
|
Third
devastation.
19. As they were
returning home, the terrible hordes of Scots and
Picts eagerly come forth out of the tiny craft (cwrwgs)
in which they sailed across the sea-valley, as on
Ocean's deep, just as, when the sun is high and
the heat increasing, dark swarms of worms emerge
from the narrow crevices of their holes.
Differing partly in their habits, yet alike in
one and the same thirst for bloodshed ----in a
preference also for covering their villainous
faces with hair rather than their nakedness of
body with decent clothing----these nations, on
learning the departure of our helpers and their
refusal to return, became more audacious than
ever, and seized the whole northern part of the
land as far as the wall, to the exclusion of the
inhabitants.
|
|
Tertiaque
vastatione.
19. itaque illis
ad sua remeantibus emergunt certatim de curucis[29], quibus sunt trans tithicam
uallem euecti, quasi in alto titane
incalescenteque caumate de arissimis formanium
couerniculis fusci uermiculorum cunei, tetri
scottorum pictorumque gentes, moribus ex parte
dissidentes, sed una eademque sanguinis fundendi
auiditate concordes furciferosque magis uultus
pilis quam corporum pudenda pudendisque proxma
uestibus tegentes, cognitaque condebitorum
reuersione et reditus denegatione solito
confidentiores omnem aquilonalem extremamque
terrae partem pro indigenis muro tenus capessunt.
|
The famine. To oppose their attacks,
there was stationed on the height of the
stronghold, an army, slow to fight, unwieldy for
flight, incompetent by reason of its cowardice of
heart, which languished day and night in its
foolish watch. In the meantime the barbed weapons
of the naked enemies are not idle: by them the
wretched citizens are dragged from the walls and
dashed to the ground. This punishment of untimely
death was an advantage, forsooth, to them that
were cut off by such an end, in so far as it
saved them, by its suddenness, from the wretched
torments which threatened their brethren and
relatives.
|
|
De fame. statuitur ad haec in
edito arcis acies, segnis ad pugnam, inhabilis ad
fugam, trememntibus praecordiis inepta, quae
diebus ac noctibus stupido sedili marcebat.
interea non cessant uncinata nudorum tela, quibus
miserrimi ciues de muris tracti solo
allidebantur. hoc scilicet eis proficiebat
immaturae mortis supplicium qui tali funere
rapiebantur, quo fratrum pignorumque suorum
miserandas imminentes poenas cito exitu
deuitabant.
|
Why should I tell more?
They abandon their cities and lofty wall: there
ensues a repetition of flight on the part of the
citizens; again there are scatterings with less
hope than ever, pursuit again by the enemy, and
again still more cruel massacres. As lambs by
butchers, so the unhappy citizens are torn in
pieces by the enemy, insomuch that their life
might be compared to that of wild animals. For
they even began to restrain one another by the
thieving of the small means of sustenance for
scanty living, to tide over a short time, which
the wretched citizens possessed. Calamities from
without were aggravated by tumults at home,
because the whole country by pillagings, so
frequent of this kind, was being stripped of
every kind of food supply, with the exception of
the relief that came from their skill in hunting.
|
|
quid plura? relictis
ciuitatibus muroque celso iterum ciuibus fugae,
iterum dispersiones solito desperabiliores,
iterum ab hoste insectationes, iterum strages
accelerantur crudeliores; et sicut agni a
lanionibus, ita deflendi ciues ab inimicies
discerpuntur ut commoratio eorum ferarum
assimilaretur agrestium. nam et ipsos mutuo,
perexigui uictus breui sustentaculo miserrimorum
ciuium, latrocinando temperabant: et augebantur
externae clades domesticis motibus, quod
huiuscemodi tam crebis direptionibus uacuaretur
omnis regio totius cibi baculo, excepto
uenatoriae artis solacio. |
Letter to
Agitius.
20. The
miserable remnant therefore send a letter to
Agitius, a man holding high office at Rome; they
speak as follows:----To Agitius, in his third
consulship, come the groans of the Britons; a
little further in their request: the
barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us
upon the barbarians; by one or other of these two
modes of death we are either killed or drowned; and
for these they have no aid. In the meantime, the
severe and well-known famine presses the
wandering and vacillating people, which compels
many of them without delay to yield themselves as
conquered to the bloodthirsty robbers, in order
to have a morsel of food for the renewal of life.
Others were never so compelled: rather issuing
from the very mountains, from caves and defiles
and from dense thickets, they carried on the war
unceasingly.
|
|
De epistolis
ad Agitium.
20. igitur
rursum miserae mittentes epistolas reliquiae ad
agitium romanae potestatis uirum, hoc modo
loquentes: agitio[30] ter consuli gemitus
britannorum; et post pauca querentes:
repellunt barbari ad mare, repellit mare ad
barbaros; inter haec duo genera funerum aut
iugulamur aut mergimur; nec pro eis
quicquam adiutorii habent. interea famis dira ac
famosissima uagis ac nutantdibus haeret, quae
multos eorum cruentis compulit praedonibus sine
dilatione uictus dare manus, ut pauxillum ad
refocillandam animam cibi caperent, alios uero
nusquam: quin potius de ipsis montibus, speluncis
ac saltibus, dumis consertis continue
rebellabant.
|
The victory over Picts
and Scots. Then for the first time, they
inflicted upon the enemy, which for many years
was pillaging in the land, a severe slaughter:
their trust was not in man but in God, as that
saying of Philo goes: we must have recourse to
divine aid where human fails.[31] The boldness of the enemy quieted
for a time, but not the wickedness of our people;
the enemy withdrew from our countrymen, but our
countrymen withdrew not from their sins.
|
|
De victoria. et tum primum inimicis
per multos annos praedas in terra agewntibus
strages dabant, non fidentes in homine, sed in
deo, secundum illud philonis: necesse est
edesse diuinum, ubi humanum cessat
auxilium. quieuit parumper inimicorum
audacia nec tamen nostrorum malitia; recesserunt
hostes a ciuibus nec ciues a suis sceleribus.
|
21. It was the
invariable habit of the race, as it is also now,
to be weak in repelling the missiles of enemies,
though strong to bear civil strifes and the
burdens of sins; weak, I say, to follow ensigns
of peace and truth, yet strong for crimes and
falsehood. The shameless Irish assassins,
therefore, went back to their homes, to return
again before long. It was then, for the first
time, in the furthermost part of the island, that
the Picts commenced their successive settlements,
with frequent pillaging and devastation.
|
|
21. moris namque continui erat
genti, sicut et nunc est, ut infirma esset ad
retundenda hostium tela et fortis esset ad
ciuilia bella et peccatorum onera sustinenda,
infirma, inquam, ad exequanda pacis ac ueritatis
insignia et fortis ad scelera et mendacia.
reuertuntur ergo impudentes grassatores hiberni
domos, post non longum temporis reuersuri. picti
in extrema parte insulae tunc primum et deinceps
requieuerunt, praedas et contritiones nonnumquam
facientes.
|
Growth of crimes among
the Britons. During such truces, consequently,
the ugly scar is healed for the deserted people.
While another more poisonous hunger was silently
growing on the other hand, and the devastation
quieting down, the island was becoming rich with
so many resources of affluence that no age
remembered the possession of such afterwards:
along with these resources of every kind, luxury
also grew.[32] It grew, in fact, with
strong root, so that it might fitly be said at
that same time: such fornication is actually
reported as is not even among the gentiles.
But it was not this vice alone that grew, but
also all to which human nature is generally
liable: especially the vice which to-day also
overthrows the place that appertains to all good
in the island, that is to say, hatred of truth
together with those who defend it, love of
falsehood together with its fabricators,
undertaking evil for good, respect for wickedness
rather than for kindness, desire of darkness in
preference to the sun, the welcoming of Satan as an
angel of light.
Kings were anointed, not in the name of God, but
such as surpassed others in cruelty, and shortly
afterwards were put to death by the men who
anointed them, without any enquiry as to truth,
because others more cruel had been elected. If,
however, any one among them appeared to be of a
milder disposition, and to some extent more
attached to truth, against him were turned
without respect the hatred and darts of all, as
if he were the subverter of Britain; all things,
those which were displeasing to God and those
which pleased him, had at least equal weight in
the balance, if, indeed, the things displeasing
to him were not the more acceptable. In this way
that saying of the prophet which was uttered
against that ancient people might be applied with
justice to our country: Ye lawless sons, he
says, have forsaken God and provoked the Holy
One of Israel to anger. Why will ye be stricken
any more when ye add iniquity? Every head is weak
and every heart grieving; from the sole of the
foot to the crown there is no soundness in it.
|
|
De sceleribus.
in talibus itaque indutiis desolato populo saeua
cicatric obducitur, fame alia uirulentiore
tacitus pullulante. quiescente autem uastitate
tantis abundantiarum copiis insula affluebat ut
nulla habere tales retro aetas meminisset, cum
quibus omnimodis et luxuria crescit. creuit
etenim germine praepollenti, ita ut competentur
eodem tempore diceretur: omnino talis
auditur fornicatio qualis nec inter gentes.
non solum uer hoc uitium, set et omnia quae
humanae naturae accidere solent, et praecipue,
quod et nunc quoque in ea totius boni euertit
statum, odium ueritatis cum assertoribus amorque
mendacii cum suis fabricatoribus, susceptio mali
pro bono, ueneratio nequitiae pro benignitate,
cupido tenebrarum pro sole, exceptio satanae pro
angelo lucis.
ungebantur reges non per deum sed qui ceteris
crudeliores exstarent, et paulo post ab
unctioribus non pro ueri examinatione
trucidabantur aliis electis trucioribus. si quis
uero eorum mitior et ueritati aliquatenus propior
uideretur, in hunc quasi britanniae subuersorem
omnia odia telaque sine respectu contorquebantur,
et omnia quae displicuerunt deo et quae
placuaerunt aequali saltem lance pendebantur, si
non gratiora fuissent displicentia; ita ut merito
patriae illud propheticum, quod ueterno illi
populo denuntiatum est, potuit aptari,
filii inquiens sine lege,
dereliquistis deum, et ad iracundiam prouocastis
sanctum israel. quid adhuc percutiemini
apponentes iniquitatem? omne caput languidum et
omne cor maerens: a planta pedis usque ad
uerticem non est in eo sanitas.
|
The coming of the
enemy suddenly made known. In this way they did all
things that were contrary to salvation, as if
there were no remedy to be supplied for the world
by the true Healer of all men. It was not only
men of the world who did this, but the Lord's
flock itself also and its pastors, who ought to
have been an example to the whole people; they,
in great numbers, as if soaked in wine through
drunkenness, became stupified and enervated, and
by the swelling of animosities, by the jar of
strifes, by the grasping talons of envy, by
confused judgement of good and evil, were so
enfeebled that it was plainly seen, as in the
present case, that contempt was being poured
out upon princes, and that they were led
astray by their vanities and error in a
trackless place, and not on the way.
|
|
De nuntiatis subito
hostibus. sicque agebant cuncta quae saluti
contraria fuerint, ac si nihil mundo medicinae a
uero omnium medico largiretur. et non solum haec
saeculares uiri, sed et ipse grex domini eiusque
pastores, qui exemplo esse omni plebi debuerint,
ebrietate quam plurimi quasi uino madidi
torpebant resoluti et animositatum tumore,
iurgiorum contentione, inuidiae rapacibus
ungulis, indiscreto boni malique iudicio
carpebantus, ita ut perspicue, sicut et nunc est,
effundi uideretur contemptio super principes,
seduci uanis eorum et errare in inuio et non in
uia.
|
22. Meanwhile,
when God was desirous to cleanse his family, and,
though defiled by such a strain of evil things,
to better it by their hearing only of distress,
there came like the winged flight of a rumour not
unfamiliar to them, into the listening ears of
all----that their old enemies had already
arrived, bent upon thorough destruction, and upon
dwelling in the country, as had become their
wont, from one end to the other. Nevertheless
they in no way profited by this news; rather like
foolish beasts, with clenched teeth, as the
saying is, they bite the bit of reason, and began
to run along the broad way of many sins, which
leads down to death, quitting the narrow way
though it was the path of salvation.
|
|
22. interea uolente deo purgare
familiam suam et tanta malorum labe infectam
auditu tantum ribulationis emendare, non ignoti
rumoris penniger ceu uolatus arrectas omnium
penetrat aures iamiamque aduentus ueterum
uolentium penitus delere et inhabitare solito
more a fine usque ad terminum regionem. nequaquam
tamen ob hoc proficiunt, sed comparati iumentis
insipientibus strictis, ut dicitur, morsibus
rationis frenum offirmantes, per latum diuersorum
uitiorum morti procliue ducentem, relicto
salutari licet arto itinere, discurrebant uiam.
|
The noted plague. Whilst then, according to
the words of Solomon, The stubborn servant is
not corrected by words, the foolish nation is
scourged and feels it not: for a deadly
pestilence came upon the unwise people which, in
a short time, without any sword, brought down
such a number of them that the living were unable
to bury the dead.
|
|
De famosa peste.
dum ergo, ut salomon ait, seruus durus
non emendatur uerbis, flagellatur stultus
et non sentit, pestifera namque lues feraliter
insipienti populo incumbit, quae in breui tantam
eius multitudinem remoto mucrone sternit, quantam
ne possint uiui humare. |
But they were not
corrected even by this pestilence, so that the
word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled in them:
And God has called to lamentation and to
baldness and the girdle of sack-cloth: behold
they kill calves, and slay rams, behold they eat
and drink and say, 'Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow let us die' |
|
sed ne hac quidem
emendantur, ut illud esaiae prophetae in eo
quoque impleretur dicentis: et uocauit deus
ad planctum et ad caluitium et ad cingulum sacci:
ecce uitulos occidere et iugulare arietes, ecce
manducare et bibere et dicere: manducemus et
bibamus, cras enim moriamur. |
Deliberation. In this way the time was
drawing nigh when the iniquities of the country,
as those of the Amorites of old, would be
fulfilled. A council is held, to deliberate what
means ought to be determined upon, as the best
and safest to repel such fatal and frequent
irruptions and plunderings by the nations
mentioned above.
|
|
De consilio. appropinquabat siquidem
tempus quo eius iniquitates, ut olim
amorrhaeorum, complerentur. initur namque
consilium quid optimum quidue saluberrimum ad
repellendas tam ferales et tam crebras supra
dictarum gentium irruptiones praedasque decerni
deberet.
|
23. At that time
all members of the assembly, along with the arrogant
usurper Vortigern, are blinded; such is
the protection they find for their country (it
was, in fact, its destruction) that those wild
Saxons, of accursed name, hated by God and men,
should be admitted into the island, like wolves
into folds, in order to repel the northern
nations. Nothing more hurtful, certainly, nothing
more bitter, happened to the island than this.
What utter depth of darkness of soul! What
hopeless and cruel dulness of mind! The men whom,
when absent, they feared more than death, were
invited by them of their own accord, so to say,
under the cover of one roof: Foolish princes
of Zoan, as is said, giving unwise counsel
to Pharaoh.
|
|
23. tum omnes consiliarii
una cum superbo
tyranno Vortigerno[33] caecantur, adinuenintes tale
praesidium, immo excidium patriae ut ferocissimi
illi nefandi nominis saxones deo hominibusque
inuisi, quasi in caulas lupi, in insulam ad
retundendas aquilonales gentes intromitterentur.
quo utique nihil ei usquam perniciosius nihilque
amarius factum est. o altissimam sensus calignem!
o desperabilem crudamque mentis hebetudinem! quos
propensius morte, cum abessent, tremebant,
sponte, ut ita dicam, sub unius tecti culmini
inuitabant: stulti principes, ut
dictum est, taneos dantes pharaoni
consilium insipiens.
|
The Saxons prove far
more cruel than the former enemies. Then there breaks forth a
brood of whelps from the lair of the savage
lioness, in three cyulae (keels), as it is
expressed in their language, but in ours, in
ships of war under full sail, with omens and
divinations. In these it was foretold, there
being a prophecy firmly relied upon among them,
that they should occupy the country to which the
bows of their ships were turned, for three
hundred years; for one hundred and fifty----that
is for half the time----they should make frequent
devastations. They sailed out, and at the
directions of the unlucky tyrant, first fixed
their dreadful talons in the eastern part of the
island, as men intending to fight for the
country, but more truly to assail it. To these
the mother of the brood, finding that success had
attended the first contingent, sends out also a
larger raft-full of accomplices and curs, which
sails over and joins itself to their bastard
comrades. From that source, the seed of iniquity,
the root of bitterness, grows as a poisonous
plant, worthy of our deserts, in our own soil,
furnished with rugged branches and leaves.
Thus the barbarians, admitted into the island,
succeed in having provisions supplied them, as if
they were soldiers and about to encounter, as
they falsely averred, great hardships for their
kind entertainers. These provisions, acquired for
a length of time, closed, as the saying is, the
dog's maw. They complain, again, that their
monthly supplies were not copiously contributed
to them, intentionally colouring their
opportunities, and declare that, if larger
munificence were not piled upon them, they would
break the treaty and lay waste the whole of the
island. They made no delay to follow up their
threats with deeds.
|
|
De saeviore multo
primis hoste.
tum erumpens grex catulorum de cubili laeanae
barbarae, tribus, ut lingua eius exprimitur,
cyulis, nostra longis nauibus, secundis uelis
omine auguriisque, quibus uaticinabatur, certo
apud eum praesagio, quod ter centum annis
patriam, cui proras librabat, insideret, centum
uero qunquaginta, hoc est dimidio temporis,
saepius uastaret, euectus, primum in orientali
parte insulae iubente infausto tyranno terribiles
infixit ungues, quasi pro patria pugnaturus sed
eam certius impugnaturus. cui supradicta
genetrix, comperiens primo agmini fuisse
prosperatum, item mitit satellitum canumque
prolixiorem catastam, quae ratibus aduecta
adunatur cum manipularibus spuriis. inde germen
iniquitatis, radix amritudinis, uirulenta
plantatio nostris condigna meritis, in nostro
cespite, ferocibus palmitibus pampinisque
pullulat.
igitur intromissi in insulam barbari, ueluti
militibus et magna, ut mentiebantur, discrimina
pro bonis hospitibus subituris, impetrant sibi
annonas dari: quae multo tempore impertitae
clauserunt, ut dicitur, canis faucem. item
queruntur non affluenter sibi epimenia contribui,
occasiones de industria colorantes, et ni
profusior eis munificentia cumularetur, testantur
se cuncta insulae rupto foedere depopulaturos.
nec mora, minas effectibus prosequuntur. |
24. For the fire
of righteous vengeance, caused by former crimes,
blazed from sea to sea, heaped up by the eastern
band of impious men; and as it devastated all the
neighbouring cities and lands, did not cease
after it had been kindled, until it burnt nearly
the whole surface of the island, and licked the
western ocean with its red and savage tongue. In
this assault, which might be compared to the
Assyrian attack upon Iudaea of old, there is
fulfilled in us also, according to the account,
that which the prophet in his lament says:
They have burnt with fire thy sanctuary in the
land,
They have defiled the tabernacle of thy name;
and again,
O God, the gentiles have come into thine
inheritance,
They have defiled thy holy temple, [34]
and so forth. In this way were all the
settlements brought low with the frequent shocks
of the battering rams; the inhabitants, along
with the bishops of the church, both priests and
people, whilst swords gleamed on every side and
flames crackled, were together mown down to the
ground, and, sad sight! there were seen in the
midst of streets, the bottom stones of towers
with tall beam[35] cast down, and of high
walls, sacred altars, fragments of bodies covered
with clots, as if coagulated, of red blood, in
confusion as in a kind of horrible wine press:
there was no sepulture of any kind save the ruins
of houses, or the entrails of wild beasts and
birds in the open, I say it with reverence to
their holy souls (if in fact there were many to
be found holy), that would be carried by holy
angels to the heights of heaven. For the
vineyard, at one time good, had then so far
degenerated to bitter fruit, that rarely could be
seen, according to the prophet, any cluster of
grapes or ear of corn, as it were, behind the
back of the vintagers or reapers.
|
|
24. confouebatur namque ulitionis
iustae praecedentium scelerum causa de mari usque
ad mare ignis orientali sacrilegorum manu
exaggeratus, et finitimas quasque ciuitates
agrosque populans non quieuit accensus donec
cunctam paene exurens insulae superficiem rubra
occidentalem trucique oceanum lingua delamberet.
in hoc ergo impetu assyrio olim in iudaeam
comparando completur quoque in nobis secundum
historiam quod propheta deplorans ait:
incenderunt igni sanctuarium tuum in terra,
polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui, et
iterum: deus, uenerunt gentes in
hereditatem tuam; coinquinarunt templum sanctum
tuum,
et cetera: ita ut cunctae coloniae crebris
arietibus omnesque colonis cum praepositis
ecclesiae, cum sacerdotibus ac populo, mucronibus
undique micantibus ac flammis crepitantibus,
simul solo sternerentur, et miserabili uisu in
medio platearum ima turrium edito cardine
euulsarum murorumque celsorum saxa, sacra
altaria, cadauerum frustra, crustis ac si
gelantibus purpurei cruoris tecta, uelut in
quodam horrendo torculari mixta uiderentur, et
nulla esset omnimodis praeter domorum ruinas,
bestiarum uolucrumque uentres in medio sepultura,
salua sanctarum animarum reuerentia, si tamen
multae inuentae sint quae arduis caeli id
temporis a sanctis angelis ueherentur. ita enim
degenerauerat tunc uinea illa olim bona in
amaritudinem uti raro, secundum prophetam,
uideretur quasi post tergum uindemiatorum aut
messorum racems uel spica.
|
25. Some of the
wretched remnant were consequently captured on
the mountains and killed in heaps. Others,
overcome by hunger, came and yielded themselves
to the enemies, to be their slaves for ever, if
they were not instantly slain, which was
equivalent to the highest service. Others
repaired to parts beyond the sea, with strong
lamentation, as if, instead of the oarsman's
call, singing thus beneath the swelling sails:
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for
eating,
And among the gentiles hast thou scattered us.
Others, trusting their lives, always with
apprehension of mind, to high hills, overhanging,
precipitous, and fortified, and to dense forests
and rocks of the sea, remained in their native
land, though with fear.
|
|
25. itaque
nonnulli[36] miserarum reliquiarum in montibus
deprehensi aceruatim iugulabantur: alii fame
confecti accedentes manus hostibus dabant in
aeuum seruituri, si tamen non continuo
trucidarentur, quod altissimae gratiae stabat
loco: alii transmarinas petebant regiones[37] cum ululatu magno ceu celeumatis
uice hoc modo sub uelorum sinibus cantantes:
dedisti nos tamquam oues escarum et in
gentibus disperisti nos: alii mantanis
collibus minacibus praeruptis uallatis et
densissimis saltibus marinisque rupibus uitam
suspecta semper mente credentes, in patria licet
trepidi persabant.
|
After a certain length of
time the cruel robbers returned to their home. A
remnant, to whom wretched citizens flock from
different places on every side, as eagerly as a
hive of bees when a storm is threatening, praying
at the same time unto Him with their whole heart,
and, as is said,
Burdening the air with unnumbered prayers,[39]
that they should not be utterly destroyed, take
up arms and challenge their victors to battle
under Ambrosius Aurelianus. He was a man of
unassuming character, who, alone of the Roman
race chanced to survive in the shock of such a
storm (as his parents, people undoubtedly clad in
the purple, had been killed in it), whose
offspring in our days have greatly degenerated
from their ancestral nobleness. To these men, by
the Lord's favour, there came victory. |
|
tempore igitur
interueniente aliquanto, cum recessissent domum[38] crudelissimi praedones, roborante
deo reliquiae, quibus confugiunt undique de
diuersis locis miserrimi ciues, tam audie quam
apes alueari procella imminente, simul
deprecantes eum tot corde et, ut dicitur,
innumeris onerantes aethera uotis, ne
ad internicionem usque delerentur, duce ambrosio
aureliano[40] uiro modesto, qui solus
forte romanae gentis tantae tempestatis
collisione occisis in eadem parentibus purpura
nimirum indutis superfuerat, cuius nunc
temporibus nostris suboles magnopere auita
bonitate degenerauit, uires capessunt, uictores
prouocantes ad proelium: quis uictoria domino
annuente cessit. |
The final
victory over the Saxons. Siege of Mons Badonicus.
26. From that
time, the citizens were sometimes victorious,
sometimes the enemy, in order that the Lord,
according to His wont, might try in this nation
the Israel of to-day, whether it loves Him or
not. This continued up to the year of the siege
of Badon Hill, and of almost the last great
slaughter inflicted upon the rascally crew. And
this commences, a fact I know, as the
forty-fourth year, with one month now elapsed; it
is also the year of my birth.
But not even at the present day are the cities of
our country inhabited as formerly; deserted and
dismantled, they lie neglected[43] until now, because, although wars
with foreigners have ceased, domestic wars
continue. The recollection of so hopeless a ruin
of the island, and of the unlooked-for help, has
been fixed in the memory of those who have
survived as witnesses of both marvels. Owing to
this (aid) kings, magistrates, private persons,
priests, ecclesiastics, severally preserved their
own rank.
As they died away, when an age had succeeded
ignorant of that storm, and having experience
only of the present quiet, all the controlling
influences of truth and justice were so shaken
and overturned that, not to speak of traces, not
even the remembrance of them is to be found among
the ranks named above. I make exception of a few[44] -a very few- who owing
to the loss of the vast multitude that rushes
daily to hell, are counted at so small a number
that our revered mother, the church, in a manner
does not observe them as they rest in her bosom.
They are the only real children she has.
Let no man think that I am slandering the noble
life of these men, admired by all and beloved of
God, by whom my weakness is supported so as not
to fall into entire ruin, by holy prayers, as by
columns and serviceable supports. Let no one
think so, if in a somewhat excessively
free-spoken, yea, doleful manner, driven by a
crowd of evils, I shall not so much treat of, as
weep concerning those who serve not only their
belly, but the devil rather than Christ, who
is God blessed for ever. For why will
fellow-citizens hide what the nations around
already not only know, but reproach us with?
|
|
De postrema
patriae victoria quae temporibus nostris Dei nutu
donata est.
26. ex eo
tempore nunc ciues, nunc hostes, uincebant, ut in
ista gente experietur dominus solito more
praesentem israelem, utrum diligat eum an non:
usque ad annum obsessionis badonici montis[41], nouissimaeque ferme de
furciferis non minimae stragis, quique
quadragesimus quartus[42] (ut noui) orditur annus
mense iam uno emenso, qui et meae natiuitatis
est.
sed ne nunc quidem, ut antea, ciuitates patriae
inhabitantur; sed desertae dirutaeque hactenus
squalent, cessantibus licet externis bellis, sed
non ciuilibus. haesit etenim tam desperati
insulae excidii insperatique mentio auxilii
memoriae eorum qui utriusque miraculi testes
extitere: et ob hoc reges, publici, priuati,
sacerdotes, ecclesiastici, suum quique ordinem
seruarunt.
at illis decedentibus cum successiset aetas
tempestatis illius nescia et praesentis tantum
serenitatis experta, ita cuncta ueritais ac
iustitiae moderamina concussa ac subuersa sunt ut
earum non dicam uestigium sed ne monimentum
quidem in supra dictis propemodum ordinibus
appareat, exceptis paucis et ualde paucis qui ob
amissionem tantae multitudinis, quae cotidie
prona ruit ad tartara, tam breuis numerus
habentur ut eos quodammodo uenerabilis mater
ecclesia[45] in suo sinu recumbentes non
uideat, quos solos ueros filios habet.
quorum ne quis me agregiam uitam omnibus
admirabilem deoque amabilem carpere putet, quibus
nostra infirmitas in sacris orationibus ut non
penitus conlabatur quasi columnis quibusdam ac
fulcris saluberrimus sustentatur, si qua liberius
de his, immo lugubrius, cumulo malorum conpulsus,
qui seruiunt non solum uentri sed diabolo potius
quam christo, qui est benedictus in saecula deus,
non tam discptauero quam defleuero. quippe quid
celabunt ciues quam non solum norunt sed
exprobrant iam in circuitu nationes?
|
PART
II.
General
Denunciation of Princes and Judges.
27. Kings
Britain has, but they are as her tyrants: she has
judges, but they are ungodly men: engaged in
frequent plunder and disturbance, but of harmless
men: avenging and defending, yea for the benefit
of criminals and robbers. They have numerous
wives, though harlots and adulterous women: they
swear but by way of forswearing, making vows yet
almost immediately use falsehood. They make wars,
but the wars they undertake are civil and unjust
ones. They certainly pursue thieves industriously
throughout the country, whilst those thieves who
sit with them at table, they not only esteem but
even remunerate. Alms they give profusely, but
over against this they heap up a huge mountain of
crimes. They take their seat to pronounce
sentence, yet seldom seek the rule of right
judgment. Despising the innocent and lowly, they
to their utmost extol to the stars the
bloody-minded, the proud, the murderous men,
their own companions and the adulterous enemies
of God, if chance so offers, who ought, together
with their very name, to be assiduously
destroyed. Many have they bound in their prisons,
whom they ill-use with weight of chains, more by
their own fraud than by reason of desert: they
linger among the altars in the oaths they make,
and shortly afterwards look with disdain on these
same altars as if they were dirty stones.
|
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27. reges habet
britannia, sed tyrannos; iudices habet, sed
impios; seape praedantes et concutientes, sed
innocentes; uindicantes et patrociniantes, sed
reos et latrones; quam plurimas coniuges
habentes, sed scortas et adulterantes; crebro
iurantes, sed periurantes; uouentes, sed continue
propemodum mentientes; belligerantes, sed ciuila
et iniusta bella agentes; per patriam quidem
fures magnopere insectantes, sed eos qui secum ad
mensam sedent non solum amantes sed et
munerantes; eleemosynas largiter dantes, sed e
regione inmensum montem scelerum exaggerantes; in
sede arbitraturi sedentes, sed raro recti iudicii
regulam quaerentes; innoxios humilesque
despicientes, sanguinarios superbos parricidas
commanipulares et adulteros dei inimicos, si
sors, ut dicitur, tulerit, qui cum ipso nomine
certatim delendi erant, ad sidera, prout possunt,
efferentes; uinctos plures in carceribus
habentes, quos dolo sui potius quam merito
protuerunt catenis onerantes, inter altaria
iurando demorantes et haed eadem ac si lutulenta
paulo post saxa despicientes.
|
Denunciation
of the Five Princes.
Constantinus
of Damnonia.
28. Of this so execrable a wickedness
Constantine, the tyrannical whelp of the unclean
lioness of Damnonia, is not ignorant. In this
year, after a dreadful form of oath, by which he
bound himself that he would use no deceit against
his subjects, making his oath first to God, and
secondly to the choirs of saints and those who
follow them, in reliance upon the mother (the
church), he nevertheless, in the garb of a holy
abbot, cruelly tore the tender sides of two royal
children, while in the bosoms of two revered
mothers ----viz., the church and the mother after
the flesh----together with their two guardians.
And their arms, stretched forth, in no way to
armour, which no man was in the habit of using
more bravely than they at this time, but towards
God and His altar, will hang in the day of
judgment at thy gates, Oh Christ, as revered
trophies of their patience and faith. He did this
among the holy altars, as I said, with accursed
sword and spear instead of teeth, so that the
cloaks, red as if with clotted blood, touched the
place of the heavenly sacrifice.
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28. cuius tam nefandi piaculi non ignarus est
inmundae leaenae damnoniae tyrannicus catulus
constantinus[46]. hoc anno, post
horribile iuramenti sacramentum, quo se deuinxit
nequaquam dolos ciuibus, deo primum iureque
iurando, sanctorum demum choris et genetrice
comitantibus freis, facturum, in duarum
uenerandis matrum sinibus, ecclesiae carnalisque,
sub sancti abbatis amphibalo, latera regiorum
tenerrima puerorum uel praecordia crudeliter duum
totidemque nutritorum quorum brachia nequaquam
armis, quae nullus paene hominum fortius hoc eis
tempore tractabat, sed deo altarique protenta in
die iudicii ad tuae ciuitatis portas, christe,
ueneranda patientiae ac fidei suae uexilla
suspendent inter ipsa, ut dixi,
sacrosancta altaria nefando ense hastaque pro
dentibus lacerauit, ita ut sacrificii caelestis
sedem purpurea ac si coagulati cruoris pallia
attingerent.
|
This deed he committed,
after no meritorious acts worthy of praise; for,
many years previously he was overcome by frequent
successive deeds of adultery, having put away his
legitimate wife, contrary to the prohibition of
Christ and the Teacher of the gentiles, who say: What
God hath joined let man not separate, and: Husbands
love your wives. For he planted, of the
bitter vine of Sodom in the soil of his
heart, unfruitful for good seed, a shoot of
unbelief and unwisdom, which, watered by public
and domestic impieties as if by poisonous
showers, and springing forth more quickly to the
displeasure of God, brought forth the guilt of
murder and sacrilege. But as one not yet free
from the nets of prior sins he heaps new crimes
upon old ones. |
|
et hoc ne post laudanda
quidem merita egit, nam multis ante annis crebris
alternatisque faetoribus adulteriorum uictus
legitima uxore contra christi magistrique gentium
interdictum depulsa dicentium: quod deus
coniunxit, homo non separet et uiri,
diligite uxores uestras.
amarissima enim quoddam de uite sodomorum in
cordis sui infructuosa bono semini gleba
surculamen incredulitatis et insipientiae
plantauerat, quod ulgatis domesticisque
impietatibus uelut quibusdam uenenatis imbribus
irrigatum et ad dei offensam auidius se erigens
parricidi sacrilegiique crimen produxit in
medium. sed nec adhuc priorum retibus malorum
expeditus priscis recentia auget malis. |
29. Come now! (I
reprove, as if present, one whom I know to be yet
surviving). Why art thou confounded, thou
murderer of thine own soul? Why kindlest thou, of
thine own accord, the ceaseless flames of hell
against thyself? Why, taking the place of thine
enemies, piercest thou thyself, under no
compulsion, with thine own sword and spear? Were
not those very cups, poisonous with crimes, able
to satisfy thy heart?
Look back, I beseech thee, and come to Christ,
since thou labourest and art bent down
with thy huge burden, and He, as He has said, will
give thee rest. Come to Him who willeth
not the death of a sinner, but that he should be
converted and live: break, according to the
prophet, the chains of thy neck, thou son of
Sion. Return, I pray, though from the far-off
secret haunts of sins, to the tender father
who----for the son that despises the unclean food
of swine, and fears the death of hard famine, and
returns to himself-----has been accustomed
in gladness to kill the fatted calf and to
bring forward the first garment and royal ring for
the erring one, and with a foretaste of heavenly
hope thou shalt feel how the Lord is kind. For
if thou despisest these admonitions, know that
thou shalt even soon be whirled round and burnt
in hell's indescribable dark floods of fire.
|
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29. age iam
(quasi praesentem arguo, quem adhuc superesse non
nescio) quod stupes, animae carnifex propriae?
quid tibi flammas inferni uoluntarie accendis
nequaquam defecturas? quid inimicorum uice
propriis te confodis sponte ensibus hastis? an ne
ipsa quidem uirulenta scelerum ac si pocula
pectus tuum satiare quieuerunt?
respice, quaeso, et ueni ad christum, siquidem
laboras et inmenso pondere curuaris, et ipse tu,
ut dixit, requiescere faciet; ueni ad eum, qui
non uult peccatories mortem, sed ut conuertatur
et uiuat; dissolue secundum prophetam uincula
colli tu, fili sion; redi, rogo, e longinquis
licet peccatorum recessibus ad piisimum patrem,
qui despicienti porcorum sordidos cibos ac
pertimescenti dirae famis mortem et reuertenti
sibi laetus occidere consueuit uitulum filiuo
saginatum et proferre primum erranti stolam et
regium anulum, et tum spei caelestis ac si
saporem praegustans senties quam suauis est
dominus. nam si haec contempseris, scias te
inextricabilibus tenebrosisque ignium torrentibus
iam iamque inferni rotandum urendumque.
|
30. Thou
also, lion whelp, as the prophet says,
what doest thou, Aurelius Caninus? Art thou not
swallowed up in the same, if not more
destructive, filth, as the man previously
mentioned, the filth of murders, fornications,
adulteries, like sea-waves rushing fatally upon
thee? Hast thou not by thy hatred of thy
country's peace, as if it were a deadly serpent,
or by thy iniquitous thirst for civil wars and
repeated spoils, closed the doors of heavenly
peace and repose for thy soul? Left alone now,
like a dry tree in the midst of a field,
remember, I pray thee, the pride of thy fathers
and brothers, with their early and untimely
death. Wilt thou, because of pious deserts, an
exception to almost all thy family, survive for a
hundred years, or be of the years of Methuselah?
No. But unless, as the Psalmist says, thou be
very speedily converted to the Lord, that King
will soon brandish his sword against thee; who
says by the prophet: I will kill and I
will make alive: I shall wound and I shall heal,
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Wherefore shake thyself from thy filthy dust,
and turn unto Him with thy whole heart, unto Him
who created thee, so that when His anger
quickly kindles, thou mayest be blest, hoping in
Him. But if not so, eternal pains await thee,
who shalt be always tormented, without being
consumed, in the dread jaws of hell.
|
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30. quid tu
quoque, ut propheta ait, catule leonine, aureli
canine[47], agis? nonne eodem quo supra
dictus, si non exiiabiliore parricidiorum
forniactionum adulteriorumque caeno uelut
quibusdam marinis irruentibus tibi uoraris
feraliter undis? nonne pacem patriae mortiferum
ceu serpentem odiens ciuiliaque bella et crebras
iniuste praedas sitiens animae tuae caelestis
portas pacis ac refrigerii praecludis? relictus,
quaeso, iam solus ac si arbor in medio campo
arescens recordare patrum fratrumque tuorum
superuacuam fantasiam, iuuenilem inmaturamque
mortem. num centennis tu ob religiosa merita uel
coaeuus mathuselae exceptus paene omni prole
seruarberis? nequaquam. sed nisi citius, ut
psalmista ait, conuersus fueris ad dominum, ensem
in te uibrabit in breui suum rex ille qui per
prophetam ego inquit occidam et
ego uiuere faciam; percutiam et ego sanabo, et
non est qui de manu mea possit eruere. quam
ob rem excutere de faetido puluere
tuo et conuertere ad eum toto corde, qui creauit
te, ut cum exarserit in breui ira eius,
beatus sis sperans in eum, sin alias,
aeternae te manebunt poenae conterendum saeua
continue et nequaquam absumendum tartari fauce.
|
Vortiporius,
prince of the Demetae (Dyfed).
31. Why also art thou, Vortipor, tyrant of the
Demetae, foolishly stubborn? Like the pard art
thou, in manners and wickedness of various
colour, though thy head is now becoming grey,
upon a throne full of guile, and from top to
bottom defiled by various murders and adulteries,
thou worthless son of a good king, as Manasseh of
Hezekiah. What! do not such wide whirlpools of
sins, which thou suckest in like good wine, nay,
art thyself swallowed by them, though the end of
life is gradually drawing near----do these not
satisfy thee? Why, to crown all thy sins, dost
thou, when thine own wife had been removed and
her death had been virtuous, by the violation of
a shameless daughter, burden thy soul as with a
weight impossible to remove?
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31. quid tu quoque, pardo similis moribus et
nequitiis discolor, canescente iam capite, in
throno dolis pleno et ab imis uertice tenus
diuersis parricidis et adulteriis constuprato,
bono regis nequam fili, ut ezechiae manasses,
demetarum tyranne uortipori[48], stupide riges? quid to tam
uiolenti peccatorum gurgites, quos ut uinum
optimum sorbes, immo tu ab air uoraris,
appropinquante sensim uitae limite non satiant?
quid quasi culminis malorum omnium stupro,
propria tua amota coniuge euisdemque honesta
morte, impudentis filiae quodam ineluctabili
pondere miseram animam oneras?
|
Spend not, I beseech
thee, the remainder of thy days in offending God,
because now is the acceptable time and the
day of salvation shines upon the faces of the
penitent, during which thou canst well bring to
pass that thy flight be not in winter or on
the Sabbath. Turn (according to the Psalmist)
away from evil and do good, seek good peace
and follow it; because the eyes of the. Lord will
be upon thee when thou doest good, and his ears
unto thy prayers, and he will not destroy thy
memory from the land of the living. Thou shalt
cry and he will hear thee, and save thee from all
thy tribulations. For Christ never despises
the heart that is contrite and humbled by the
fear of Him. Otherwise the worm of thy
agony shall not die, and the fire of
thy burning shall not be quenched. |
|
ne consumas, quaeso,
dierum uod reliquum est in dei offensam, quia nun
tempus acceptabile et dies salutis uultibus
paenitentium lucet, in quo bene operari potes ne
fiat fuga tua hieme uel sabbato.
diuerte secundum psalmistam a
malo et fac bonum, inquire pacem bonam et sequere
eam, quia oculi domini super te bona agentem et
aures eius erunt in preces tuas et non perdet de
terra uiuentium memoriam tuam. clamabis et
exaudiet te et ex omnibus tribulationibus tuis
eruet te. cor siquidem contritum et
humiliatum timore eius nusquam christus spernit.
alioquin uermis tortionis tuae non morietur et
ignis ustionis tuae non extinguetur. |
Cuneglasus.
32. Why dost thou, also, wallow in the old filth
of thy wickedness, from the years of thy youth,
thou bear, rider of many, and driver of a chariot
belonging to a bear's den, despiser of God and
contemner of His decree, thou Cuneglas (meaning
in the Roman tongue, thou tawny butcher)?
Why dost thou maintain such strife against both
men and God? Against men, thine own countrymen,
to wit, by arms special to thyself; against God,
by crimes without number? Why, in addition to
innumerable lapses, dost thou, having driven away
thy wife, cast thine eyes upon her dastardly
sister, who is under a vow to God of the
perpetual chastity of widowhood, that is as the
poet says, of the highest tenderness of heavenly
nymphs, with the full reverence, or rather
bluntness, of her mind, against the apostle's
prohibition when he says that adulterers cannot
be citizens of the kingdom of heaven? Why dost
thou provoke, by thy repeated injuries, the
groans and sighs of saints, who on thy account
are living in the body, as if they were the teeth
of a huge lioness that shall some day break thy
bones?
Cease, I pray, from anger, as the
prophet says, and forsake the deadly wrath
that shall torment thyself, which thou brcathest
against heaven and earth, that is, against God
and His flock. Rather change thy life and cause
them to pray for thee, to whom is given the power
to bind above the world, when they have bound
guilty men in the world, and to loose, when they
have absolved the penitent.[50]
Be not, as the apostle says, high-minded, nor
have thy hope set on the uncertainty of riches,
but in God who giveth thee many things richly, that
by an amendment of life, thou mayest lay in
store for thyself a good foundation against the
time to come, and mayest have the true life;
that is, of course, the eternal life, not that
which passeth away.
Otherwise thou shalt know and see, even in this
world, how evil and bitter it is to have
abandoned the Lord thy God, and that His fear is
not with thee, and that in the world to come thou
shalt be burnt in the hideous mass of eternal
fires, without, however, in any way dying. For
the souls of sinners are as immortal for
never-ending fire as those of the saints are for
joy.
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32. ut quid in
nequitiae tuae uolueris uetusta faece et tu ab
adolescentiae annis, urse, multorum sessor
aurigaque currus receptaculi ursi, die contemptor
sortisque euis depressor, cuneglase[49], romana lingua lanio fulue? quare
tantum certamen tam hominibus quam deo praestas,
hominibus, ciuibus scilicet, armis specialibus,
deos infinitis sceleribus?
quid praeter innumerabiles casus propria uxore
pulsa furciferam germanam eius, perpetuam deo
uiduitatis castimonium promittentem, ut poeta
ait, summam ceu teneritudinem caelicolarum, tota
animi ueneratione uel potius hebetudine nympharum
contra interdictum apostoli denegantis posse
adulteros regni caelestis esse municipes
suspicis? quid gemitus atque suspiria sanctorum
propter te corporaliter uersantium, uice immanis
laeanae dentium ossa tua quandoque fracturae,
crebris instigas iniuriis?
desine, quaeso, ut propheta ait, ab ira, et
derelique exitiabilem ac temetipsum maceraturum,
quam caelo ac terrae, hoc est deo gregique eius,
spiras, furorem. fac eos potius mutatis pro te
orare moribus, quibus suppetit supra mundum
alligandi, cum in mundo reos alligauerint, et
soluendi, cum paenitentes soluerint, potestas.
noli, ut ait apostolus, superbe sapere uel
sperare in incerto diuitiarum, sed in deo, qui
praestat tibi multa abunde, ut per emendationem
morum thesaurizes tibi fundamentum bonum in
futurm et habeas ueram uitam, perennem profecto,
non deciduam;
alioquin scies et uidebis etiam in hoc saeculo
quam malum et amarum est reliquisse te dominum
deum tuum et non esse timorem eius apud te et in
futuro taetro ignium globo aeternum te exuri nec
tamen ullo modo mori. siquidem tam sceleratorum
sint perpeti immortales igno animae quam
sanctorum laetitiae.
|
Maelgwn of
Anglesey (?) Maglocunus insularis
draco.
33. And thou, the island dragon, who hast driven
many of the tyrants mentioned previously, as well
from life as from kingdom, thou last in my
writing, first in wickedness, exceeding many in
power and at the same time in malice, more
liberal in giving, more excessive in sin, strong
in arms, but stronger in what destroys thy
soul----thou Maclocunus, why dost thou obtusely
wallow in such an old black pool of crimes, as if
sodden with the wine that is pressed from the
vine of Sodom?
Why dost thou tie to thy royal neck (of thine
own accord, as I may say), such heaps, impossible
to remove, of crimes, as of high mountains? Why
showest thou thyself to Him, the King of all
kings, who made thee superior to almost all the
kings of Britain, both in kingdom and in the form
of thy stature, not better than the rest in
morality, but on the contrary worse?
Give a patient hearing for awhile to an undoubted
record of those charges which, passing by
domestic and lighter offences----if, indeed, any
are light----shall testify only the things which
have been proclaimed far and wide, in broad
daylight, as admitted crimes.
In the first years of thy youth, accompanied by
soldiers of the bravest, whose countenance in
battle appeared not very unlike that of young
lions, didst thou not most bitterly crush thy
uncle the king with sword, and spear, and fire?
Not regarding the prophet's word when it says: Men
of blood and deceit shall not live out half their
days. What wouldst thou expect of retribution
for this deed alone from the righteous judge,
even if such consequences as have followed were
not to occur, when He likewise says by the
prophet: Woe unto thee that spoilest; shalt
thou not be spoiled? and thou that killest, shalt
not thou thyself be killed? and when thou hast
made an end of thy spoiling, then shalt thou
fall.
|
|
33. quid tu
enim, insularis draco, multorum tyrannorum
depulsor tam regno quam etiam uita supra
dictorum, nouissime stilo, prime in malo, maior
multis potentia simulque malitia, largior in
dando, profusior in peccato, robuste armis, sed
animae fortior excidiis, maglocune[51], in tam uetusto scelerum
atramento, ueluti madidus uino de sodomitana uite
expresso, stolide uolutaris?
quare tantas peccaminum regiae ceruici sponte, ut
ita dicam, ineluctabiles, celsorum ceu montium,
innectis moles? quid tu non ei regum omnium regi,
qui te cunctis paene brittanniae ducibus tam
regno fecit quam status liniamento editiorem,
exhibes ceteris moribus meliorem, sed uersa uice
deteriorem?
quorum indubitatam aequanimiter conuiciorum
auscultato parumper adstipulationem, omissis
domesticis leuioribusque, si tamen aliqua sunt
leuia, palata solum longe lateque per auras
admissa testaturam.
nonne in primis adolescentiae tuae annis
auunculum regem cum fortissimis propemodum
militibus, quorum uultus non catulorum leonis in
acie magnopere dispares uisebantur, acerrime ense
hast igni oppressisti, parum cogitans propheticum
dictum, uiri, inquiens,
sanguinem et doli non dimidiabunt dies
suos?
quid pro hoc solo retributionis a iusto iudice
sperares, etsi non talia sequerentur quae secutae
sunt, itidem dicente per prophetam: uae
tibi qui praedaris, nonne et ipse praedaberis? et
qui occidis, nonne et ipse occideris? et cum
desiueris praedari, tunc caedes?
|
34. When the
dream of thy oppressive reign turned out
according to thy wish, didst thou not, drawn by
the desire to return unto the right way, with the
consciousness of thy sins probably biting days
and nights during that period, first, largely
meditating with thyself on the godly walk and the
rules of monks, then, bringing them forward to
the knowledge of open publicity, didst thou not
vow thyself for ever a monk? Without any thought
of unfaithfulness was it done, according to thy
declaration, in the sight of God Almighty, before
the face of angels and men. Thou hadst broken, as
was thought, those big nets, by which fat bulls
of thy class are wont to be entangled headlong,
that is, thou hadst broken the nets of every kind
of royalty, of gold and of silver, and what is
mightier than these, of thine own imperious will.
And thyself didst thou profitably snatch like a
dove, from the raven, strongly cleaving the thin
air in rustling flight, escaping the cruel claws
of the speedy hawk with sinuous windings, to the
caves of the saints, sure retreats for thee, and
places of refreshment.
What gladness would there be for thy mother, the
church, if the enemy of all mankind had not
disastrously dragged thee off, in a way, from her
bosom! What plentiful touchwood for heavenly hope
would blaze in the hearts of men without hope, if
thou didst persevere in good! What and how many
rewards of the kingdom of Christ would wait thy
soul in the day of judgment, if that crafty wolf,
when from a wolf thou hadst become a lamb, had
not snatched thee from the Lord's fold (not
greatly against thy will), to make thee a wolf
from a lamb, like unto himself!
What joy thy salvation, if secured, had furnished
to the gracious Father and God of all saints, had
not the wretched father of all the lost, like an
eagle of mighty wings and claws----the devil, I
mean----against every right, snatched thee away
to the unhappy troop of his children!
|
|
34. nonne
postquam tibi ex uoto uiolenti regni fantasia
cessit, cupiditate inlectus ad uiam reuertendi
rectam, diebus ac noctibus id temporis,
conscientia forte peccaminum remordente, de
deficio tenore monachorumque decretis sub dente
primum multa ruminans, dein popularis aurae
cognitioni proferens, monachum sine ullo
infidelitatis, ut aiebas, respectu coram
omnipotente deo, angelicis uultibus humanisque,
ruptis, ut putabatur, capacissimis illis quibus
praecipitanter inuolui solent pingues tauri
moduli tui retibus, omnis regni auri argenti et
quod his maius est propriae uoluntatis
distentionibus ruptis, perpetue uouisti, et tete,
ac si stridulo cauum lapsu aerem ualide secantem
saeuosque rapidi harpagones accipitris sinuosis
flexibus uitantem ad sanctorum tibi magnopere
fidas speluncas refrigeriaque salubriter rapuisti
ex coruo columbam?
o quanta ecclesiae matri laetitia, si non te
cunctorum mortalium hostis de sinu quodammodo
euis lugubriter abstraxisset, foret! o quam
profusus spei caelestis fomes desperatorum
cordibus, te in bonis permanente, inardesceret! o
qualia quantaque animam tuam regni christi
praemia in die iudicii manerent, si non lupus
callidus ille agnum ex lupo factum te ab ouili
dominico, non uehementer inuitum, facturus lupum
ex agno sibi similem, rapuisset!
o quantum exultationem pio omnium patri deo
sanctorum tua salus seruanda praestaret, si non
te cunctorum perditorum infaustus pater, ueluti
magnarum aquila alarum unguiumque, daemon
infelici filiorum suorum agmini contra ius fasque
rapuisset!
|
Not to be tedious----thy
conversion unto good fruit brought as much joy
and pleasantness, both to heaven and earth, as
now thy accursed reversion to thy fearful vomit
like a sick dog, has caused of sorrow and
lamentation. When this reversion had come to pass
thy members are presented as weapons of
unrighteousness unto sin and the devil, which
ought to have been eagerly presented, with
proper regard to good sense, as weapons of
righteousness unto God.
When the attention of thy ears has been caught,
it is not the praises of God, in the tuneful
voice of Christ's followers, with its sweet
rhythm, and the song of church melody, that are
heard, but thine own praises (which are nothing);
the voice of the rascally crew yelling forth,
like Bacchanalian revellers, full of lies and
foaming phlegm, so as to besmear everyone
near them. In this way the vessel, once prepared
for the service of God, is changed into an
instrument of Satan, and that which was deemed
worthy of heavenly honour is, according to its
desert, cast into the abyss of hell. |
|
ne multa, tantum gaudii
ac suauitatis tum caelo terraeque tua ad bonam
frugem conuersio quantum nun maeroris ac luctus
ministrauit ad horribilem, more molossi aegri,
uomitum nefanda reuersio. qua peracta exhibentur
membra arma iniquitatis peccato ac diabolo quae
oportuerat saluo sensu auide exhiberi arma
iustitiae deo.
arrecto aurium auscultantur captu non dei laudes
canora christi tironum uoce suauiter modulante
neumaque ecclesiasticae melodaie, sed propriae,
quae nihil sunt, furciferorum referto mendaciis
simulque spumanti flegmate proximos quosque
roscidaturo, praeconum ore ritu bacchantium
concrepante, ita ut uas dei quondam honore
caelesti putabatur dignum merito proiciatur in
tartari barathrum. |
35. Yet not by
such stumbling-blocks of evils, as if by a kind
of barrier, is thy mind, dulled through a load of
unwisdom, retarded; but impetuous like a young
colt, which, imagining every pleasant place as
not traversed, rushes along, with unbridled fury,
over wide fields of crimes, heaping new sins upon
old.
For contempt is thrown upon thy first marriage,
though after thy violated vow as a monk it was
illicit, yet was to be assumed as the marriage of
thine own proper wife; another marriage is sought
after, not with anybody's widow, but with the
beloved wife of a living man; and he not a
stranger, but thy brother's son.
On this account, that stiff neck, already
weighted with many burdens of sins (to wit, a
double daring murder, the killing of the husband
above named, and the wife that was for a time
regarded by thee as thine), is bent down through
the extreme excess of thy sacrilegious deed, from
lowest crimes to still lower. Afterwards thou
didst wed her, by whose collusion and intimation,
the huge mass of the crimes grew suddenly so big,
in public, and (as the false tongues of thy
flatterers assert, at the top of their voice,
though not from the depth of their heart), in a
legitimate marriage, regarding her as a widow;
but our tongues say, in desecrated wedlock.
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35. nec tamen
tantis malorum offendiculis tuus hebetatus
insipientiae cumulo sensu uelut quodam obice
tardatur, sed feruidus ac si pullus, amoena
quaeque inpergrata putans, per extensos scelerum
campos inreuocabili furore raptatur, augendo
priscis noua piaculis.
spernuntur namque primae post monachi uotum
inritum inlicitae licet, tamen propriae coniugis
praesumptiuae nuptiae, aliae expetuntur non
cuiuslibet relictae, sed uiri uiuentis, non
externi, sed fratris filii adamatae. ob quod dura
ceruix illa, multis iam peccaminum fascibus
onerata, bino parricidali ausu, occidendo supra
dictum uxoremque tuam aliquamdiu a te habitam,
uelut summo sacrilegii tui culmine de imis ad
inferiora curuatur.
dehinc illam, cuius dudum colludio ac suggestione
tantae sunt peccatorum subitae moles, publico e,
ut fallaces parasitorum linguae tuorum
conclamant, summis tamen labiis, non ex intimo
cordis, legitimo, utpote uiduatam, nostrae uero
sceleratissimo adsciuisti conubio.
|
What saint is there whose
bowels, moved by such a tale, do not at once
break forth into weeping and sobbing? What
priest, whose righteous heart is open before God,
on hearing of these things, would not, with great
wailing, instantly say that word of the prophet: Who
will give water unto my head, and a fountain of
tears unto my eyes? And I shall weep day and
night the slain of my people.
Alas! little didst thou, with thy ears, listen to
the prophet's reproof when it thus speaks: Woe
unto you, ye impious men, who have abandoned the
law of the Most High God: and if ye be born, ye
shall be born for a curse; and if ye die, your
portion shall be for a curse. All things that are
of the earth shall go to the earth, so shall the
wicked from curse unto perdition. It is
understood if they return not unto the Lord, at
least, when such an admonition, as the following,
has been heard:
My son thou hast sinned; add no more thereto but
rather pray to be relieved of thy old sins. And
again: Be not slow to be converted unto the
Lord, nor defer it from day to day, for His anger
shall come suddenly; because, as the
Scripture says: When the king hearkens to an
unrighteous word, all that are under him are
wicked. Surely, as the prophet has said: A
just king elevates the land. |
|
cuius igitur sancti
uiscera tali stimulata historia non statim in
fletus singultusque prorumpant? quis sacerdos,
cuius cor rectum deo patet, non statim haec
audiens magno cum ululatu illud propheticum
dicat: quis dabit capiti meo aquam et
oculis meis fontem lacrimarum? et plorabo in die
et nocte interfectos populi mei.
heu! siquidem parum auribus captasti propheticam
obiurgationem ita dicentem: uae uobis, uiri
impii, qui dereliquistis legem dei altissimi: et
si nati fueritis, in maledictionem nascemini et
si mortui fueritis, in maledictionem erit pars
uestra. omnia quae de terra sunt, in terram
ibunt: sic impii maledictione in
perditionem: subauditer, si non reuertantur
ad deum exaudita saltim tali admonitione:
fili, peccasti. ne adicis ultra, sed et de
pristinis tuis deprecare; et iterum:
non tardes conuerti ad dominum neque
differas de die in diem. subito enim uenit ira
eius, quia, ut scriptura ait, rege
audiente uerbum iniquum omnes, qui sub illo sunt,
scelesti sunt. nimirum rex, ut
propheta dixit, iustus suscitat
regionem. |
36. But warnings
are certainly not wanting to thee, since thou
hast had as instructor the refined teacher of
almost the whole of Britain.[52] Beware, therefore, lest what is
noted by Solomon happens unto thee: As one who
rouses a sleeper from deep sleep, is he who
speaks wisdom to a fool; for in the end of his
speaking he will say, 'What saidst thou
first ?' Wash thine heart, O Jerusalem, as
is said, from wickedness, that thou mayest be
saved.
|
|
36. sed monita
tibi profecto non desunt, cum habueris
praeceptorem paene totius britanniae magistrum
elegantem. caueto igitur ne tibi quod a salomone
notatur accidat: quasi qui excitat
dormitantem de graui somno, sic qui enarrat
stulto sapientiam: in fine enim narrationis
dicet: quid primum dixeras? laua a
malitia cor tuum, sicut dictum est,
hierusalem, ut saluus sis.
|
Despise not, I pray thee,
the unspeakable mercy of God, when, through the
prophet, he calls the wicked from their sins, as
follows: Instantly shall I speak to the nation
and to the kingdom, so that I may pluck
up, and scatter, and destroy, and ruin. He
earnestly exhorts the sinner to repentance in
this passage: And if that nation repent of its
sin, I also shall repent respecting the evil
which I spake to do unto it. Again: Who
will give them such a heart that they may hear
me, and keep my precepts, and it may be well unto
them all the days of their life.
Again, in the song of Deuteronomy, he says: They
are a people void of counsel and understanding. O
that they were wise, that they understood and
foresaw their last end! how one shall chase a
thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. Again,
in the gospel, the Lord says: Come unto me all
ye that labour and are heavy laden and I shall
cause you to rest.[53] Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; because I am meek
and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls. |
|
ne contemnas, quaeso,
ineffabilem misericordiam dei, hoc modo per
prophetam a peccatis impios prouocantis:
repente loquar ad gentem et ad regnum, ut
euellam et dissipem et sedtruam et
disperdam. peccatorem hoc uehementer ad
paenitentiam hortatur: et si paenitentiam
egerit gens illa a peccato suo, paenitentiam et
ego agam super malo quod locutus sum ut facerem
ei. et iterum: quis dabit eis tale
cor, ut audiant me et custodiant praecepta mea et
bene sit eis omnibus diebus uitae suae?
itemque in cantico deuteronomii:
populus, inquit, absque
consilio et prudentia: utinam saperent et
intellegerent ac nouissima prouiderent. quomodo
persequatur unus mille et duo fugent decem
milia? et iterum in euangelio dominus:
uenite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et
onerati estis, et ego uos requiescere faciam.
tollite iugum meum super uos et discite a me,
quia mitis sum et humilis corde, et inuenietis
requiem animabus uestris. |
For if thou hear these
things with deaf ears, thou contemnest the
prophets, thou despisest Christ, and me, though a
man of the lowest estate I grant, thou regardest
as of no weight, though at any rate I keep that
word of the prophet with sincere godliness of
mind: I shall surely fill my strength
with the spirit and power of the Lord, so as to
make known unto the house of Jacob their sins,
and to the house of Israel their offences, lest
I be as dumb dogs that cannot bark. Also
that word of Solomon, who says thus: He that
saith that the wicked is just, shall be accursed
of the people, and hated of the nations: for they
who convict him shall hope better thing's. Again:
Thou shalt not respect thy neighbour to his
own ruin, nor hold back word in the time of
salvation. Also: Pluck out those that are
drawn unto death, and redeem those that are
slain, spare not, because, as the same
prophet says, riches shall not profit in the
day of wrath; righteousness delivereth from
death. If the righteous scarcely be saved where
shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? That
dark flood of hell[54] shall roll round thee
with its deadly whirl and fierce waves; it shall
always torture and never consume thee, to whom,
at that time too late and profitless, shall be
the real knowledge of pain and repentance for
sin, from which the conversion to the righteous
way of life, is delayed by thee. |
|
nam si haec surdis
auribus audias, propheats contemnas, christum
despicias, nosques, licet uilissimae qualitatis
simus, nullius momenti ducas (propheticum illud
sincera animi pietate seruantes utcumque:
si non ego impleuero fortitudinem in
spiritu et uirtute domini, ut enuntiem domui
iacob peccata eorum et domui israhel scelera
eorum, ne simus canes muti non
ualentes latrare, et illud salomonis it
dicentis: qui dicit impium iustum esse,
maledictus erit populis et odibilis gentibus: nam
qui arguunt, meliora sperabunt, et iterum:
non reuearis proximum in casum suum. nec
retineas uerbum in tempore salutis,
itemque: erue eos qui ducuntur ad mortem et
redimere eos qui interficiuntur ne parcas,
quia non proderunt, ut idem propheta
ait, diuitiae in die irae: iustitia a morte
liberat; si iustus quidem uix saluus
sit, impius et peccator ubi parebit?), ille
profecto te tenebrosus tartari torrens ferali
rotatu undisque ac si acerrimis involvet semper
cruciaturus et numquam consumpturus, cui tunc
erit sera inutilisque poenae oculata cognitio ac
mali paenitudo, a quo in hoc tempore accepto et
die salutis ad rectum uitae differtur conuersio. |
Reasons
for Introducing Words of the Holy Prophets (sancti
vates).
37. Here indeed,
or even before, was to be concluded this tearful
and complaining story of the evils of this age,
so that my mouth should no further relate the
deeds of men. But let them not suppose that I am
timid or wearied, so as not to be carefully on my
guard against that saying of Isaiah: Woe unto
him who calleth evil good, and good evil, putting
darkness for light, and light for darkness,
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Who
seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear, whose
heart is covered with a thick cloud of vices. Rather,
I wish succinctly to relate what threatenings,
and how great, the oracles of the prophets
exclaim against the above-named lascivious and
mad five horses of the retinue of Pharaoh, by
whom his army is actively incited to its ruin in
the Red sea, and those like unto them. By these
oracles, as if by a noble roof, the undertaking
of my little work is safely covered, so that it
may not stand open to the rain-storms of envious
men, which shall rush upon it, vieing with one
another.
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37. Hic sane vel
antea concludenda erat, uti ne amplius loqueretur
os nostrum opera hominum, tam flebilis haec
querulaque malorum aevi huius historia[55]. Sed ne formidolosos nos aut
lassos putent quominus illud Isaianum
infatigabiliter caveamus: 'vae', inquiens, 'qui
dicunt bonum malum et malum bonum, ponentes
tenebras in lucem et lucem in tenebras, amarum in
dulce et dulce in amarum', 'qui videntes non
vident et audientes non audiant', quorum cor
crassa obtegitur quadam vitiorum nube, libet quid
quantumque his supradictis lascivientibus
insanisque satellitum Faraonis, quibus eius
periturus mari provocatur exercitus strenue
rubro, eorumque similibus quinque qquis minarum
prophetica inclamitent strictim edicere oracula,
quibus veluti pulchro tegmine opusculi nostri
molinem, ita ut ne certatim irruituris invidorum
imbribus extet penetrabile, fidissime contegatur.
|
Let, therefore, the holy
prophets speak for me now, as they did
formerly----they who stood forth as the mouth, so
to speak, of God, the instrument of the Holy
Spirit with prohibition of sins unto men,
befriending the good----against the stubborn and
proud princes of this age, lest they say, that
out of my own invention and mere wordy rashness,
I am hurling against them such threatenings, and
terrors of such magnitude. For to no wise man is
it doubtful how much more grievous are the sins
of this time, than those of the primitive time,
when the apostle says: He that transgresses
the law, is put to death on the word of two or
three witnesses; of how much sorer punishments,
think ye, is he worthy who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God? |
|
Respondeant itaque pro
nobis sancti vates nunc ut ante, qui os quodam
modo dei organumque spiritus sancti, mortalibus
prohibentes mala, bonis faventes extitere,
contumacibus superbisque huius aetatis princibus,
ne dicant nos propria adinventione et loquaci
tantum temeritate tales minas eis tantosque
terrores incutere. Nulli namque sapientum dubium
est in quantis graviora sunt peccata huius
temporis quam primi, apostolo dicente: 'legem
quis transgrediens duobus mediis vel tribus
testibus moritur: quanto putatis deteriora mereri
supplicia qui lilium dei conculcaverit? |
Notes. Most notes are taken from:
Gildas, The Ruin of Britain &c., ed. and trans Hugh
Williams, in: Cymmrodorion Record Series, No. 3. (1899),
at: http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/gildas_02_ruin_of_britain.htm, but with my emendations.
[1] Gildas regards his work as a
"debt" contracted long ago in answer to the
pious entreaties of his friends: it is also a
"promise" made ten years back. Such a statement
would warrant us in regarding the strictures of the book
as sentiments entertained by a large circle of British
men in the sixth century; the numerous suggestions also
found in the work as to the ideas held by the writer
respecting the due performance of duties by ministers of
the church, and his estimate of those found wanting, were
in no way peculiar to himself. He represents feelings and
ideas common to him and many of his contemporaries.
[2] Tironibus. The word tirones does
not seem in Gildas to carry the meaning of
"young." Though ordinarily denoting a young
soldier, a recruit, or in any profession "non
aetate sed usu forensi atque exercitatione tironem,"
yet Jerome in his monastic writings seems to have given
it the meaning of anyone who has become a follower of
Christ. In his Vita Hilarion., 5, he mentions tirunculos
Christi apparently in this meaning. Neither
Forcellini nor Du Cange renders any help here, unless it
be where the latter gives instances of a castellanus or
a castri vassallus being called tyro. In c.
73 the word is applied to the writers of the New
Testament or to the apostles and martyrs mentioned in the
New Testament: in c. 12, omnes Christi tirones is
certainly equivalent to "all Christians." Tiro
also = catechumenus.
[3] The list of subjects of which Gildas
intends to give a brief account, introductory to his more
serious task, may be classified under four heads:
- Britain itself; the
weak unfaithfulness of its inhabitants towards
the Romans leading to subjection and punishment; i.e.,
a geographical description of Britain; an
account of the stubbornness of its people, their
subjection, the rebellion, the second subjection
and hard service. Here we have the relation of
Britain to Rome only, Rome being God's
avenger.
- An account of the
rise of the Christian religion; persecution (in
the world at large and in Britain), martyrs,
heresies.
- Tyrants, whose
abandonment of the island left it open to the
attack of the "two nations"; defence
(with the aid of a Roman legion); devastation,
second revenge (this time again successful by
Roman aid); third devastation, famine, letter to
Aetius, victory, crimes. Gildas begins his
account of "the two nations," Scots and
Picts, not at the point when their ravages
began, but at a juncture which makes the
story a telling one for his purpose: that is,
when, owing to the action of the tyrannus
Maximus, the country was left defenceless against
these barbarians. On Aetius, see c. 20.
- The same enemies
suddenly announced, the plague, the counsel
entertained by the Britons to invite the
Saxons, etc. This last part of the narrative
relates the struggles of the Britons with the
Saxons, beginning again not with the earliest
attacks of these barbarians, but with a
significant policy which changed the whole
attitude of affairs. The narrative ends with
victory and peace. (See Introduction).
It
would be well to keep in mind that (1) is a period of revolt,
(3) of inroad. (See Additional Note at end of
c. 18).
[4] Gildas is frequently said to have derived
his geographical details from Orosius (Hist., i,
2, 77), but what the Spanish presbyter wrote may have
been a common-place in Gaul and Britain by the time of
Gildas, and even from other sources. Pliny gives the same
length and breadth: insula habet in longo milia
passuum DCCC, in lato milia CC. The words of
Orosius run thus: Britannia oceani insula per longum
in boream extenditur; a meridie Gallias habet.... haec
insula habet in longo milio passuum DCCC, in lato CC;
the measurements, we see, are stated word for word the
same as by Pliny. Orosius says, "towards the
north" as to the position of the island, in which he
is followed by Gildas, though in poetic language; but
Gildas has the further detail that with respect to the
continent Britain lies towards the west-north-west and
the west (circium occidentemque versus). The two writers
may well be independent of one another. In the remainder
of this description, Gildas draws upon his own personal
acquaintance with his native island, lingering over each
detail, though in faulty style. On the geography of
Britain and Ireland in ancient writers, see Bunbury, History
of Ancient Geography, vol. i, p. 584, etc.
[5] Twenty-eight cities. Suetonius, in
Vesp. 4, mentions that there were twenty cities in
Britain. It is difficult to define the special character
of the towns and town population that had grown up in
Britain under Roman rule. From the material supplied in
Hübner's Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. vii, and a few
other sources, it may be concluded that besides the great
military posts the civil development of Britain was
somewhat insignificant. Gildas informs us that the wall
(of Hadrian) ran "between cities" (inter
urbes, quae ibidem forte ob metum hostium collocatae
fuerant). There were no doubt garrison towns where
the auxiliary cohorts were stationed: there were also,
Eburacum, where the Vlth legion was fixed; Deva, with the
XXth; and Isca, with the IInd Augusta. Besides these
military stations, though Gildas speaks of cunctae
coloniae and coloni in c. 24, not more than
four are known that were, strictly speaking, coloniae,
viz., Eburacum, Camulodunum, Glevum, Lindum. Many
small towns are named, especially towards the south and
south-east; but Wales, in Hübner's map of places
yielding inscriptions, is almost a blank. The single municipium
known, Verulamium, is accidentally mentioned by
Gildas, as well as Caerlleon (i.e., Caer legion =
Legionum urbs). The Historia Britonum gives a list
of these twenty-eight, which Zimmer argues must have been
drawn up some time before A.D. 796 (Nennius, Vindicatus,
pp. 108-110). He notices the intervocalic "g"
in Cair Legion, Cair Segeint, Cair Guorthigirn.
[6] We find a free rendering into Welsh of
several portions of Gildas in Ystorya Brenhined y
Brytanycit, by Geoffrey of Monmouth (+ A.D. 1154).
The Welsh quotations are from the edition of The Bruts,
by Mr. Gwenogfryn Evans; the very slight variations
made will explain themselves as simply intended to render
the passages easier to read.
[7] Civibus. The term cives, citizens
of the Roman Empire, is throughout employed by Gildas to
designate his countrymen. By this character they are, in
his eyes, to be distinguished from the
"barbarians."
[8] Gildas, in his narrative, intends to omit
all reference to four subjects, (1) He will not treat of
the pre-Christian beliefs which the Britons had in common
with the whole human race; he naturally calls them
"errors." (2) The forms of old idolatry,
remains of which still survived "inside and outside
the deserted walls" of temples, will not be
recounted. (3) Superstitious honours paid to mountains,
valleys and rivers, he will not exclaim against. (4) He
will be silent respecting the old years of tyrants,
evidently having his eye particularly on Maximus, A.D.
383-388. His attempt will be to narrate the evils which
Britain suffered herself and those which she inflicted on
others "during the times of the Roman emperors."
These limitations are instructive, inasmuch as they show
how the narrative itself is ruled by the spirit of the
whole "Epistle."
[9] Portenta. Vol. vii of Hübner's Corpus
Inscr. Lat. bears ample evidence that the worship, e.g.,
of Mithra, had spread in Britain, the monuments of
which were mainly erected by Roman officers. Gildas in
the word portenta seems to refer to such remains
of oriental cults. Cf. Jerome, Ep., 107, 2: nonne
specum Mithrae et omnia portentosa simulacra quibus
Corax, Nymphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Helios, Dromo, Pater
initiantur.
[10] Porphyrius rabidus orientalis adversus
ecclesiam canis. Porphyry (233-304) is called orientalis
as a Greek writer; besides other (philosophical)
works he wrote also a work in xv Books "Against the
Christians." [...] He is several times named by
Jerome, always with Celsus and Julian, as an opponent of
Christianity, e.g., Ep. 57; but in the Preface to
the De Viris Illustribus, we find the very
appellation "rabid dog" applied in the plural
to Celsus, Porphyry and Julian. Discant igitur Celsus,
Porphyrius, Iulianus rabidi adversus Christum canes.
In Ep. 133, Jerome, while answering the Definitiones
et Syllogismi of Coelestius (the Irish companion of
Pelagius), says: "Lastly (an objection which your
friend Porphyry is wont to make against us), what reason
is there that the compassionate and merciful God has
suffered whole nations, from Adam to Moses and from Moses
until the advent of Christ, to perish through ignorance
of the Law and His Commandments? For neither Britain, a
province fertile in tyrants, nor the people of Ireland
.... knew Moses and the prophets (Neque enim Britannia
fertilis provincia tyrannum et Scoticae gentes ., . .)."
Jerome probably intends a thrust at the Briton (?)
Pelagius, and Coelestius the Irishman; but Gildas has
evidently fallen into the error of ascribing the words of
Jerome himself to Porphyry. The Benedictine editors seem
also to take this view, that Porphyry is only credited
with the character of the objection. The quotation
as it is, together with the words which introduce it,
allows us to conclude that Gildas was conversant with the
writings of Jerome, and in particular with such as treat
of the doctrines of Pelagius, though the latter is not
mentioned by him. We cannot, therefore, argue from his
silence that he "knew nothing" of the Pelagian
heresy.
[11] The first Parthian peace. There appears
to be some confusion in the mind of Gildas here: the
passage will bear a good meaning, if understood of the
peace made shortly after the death of Trajan, A.D. 117;
therefore the expedition to Britain mentioned by Gildas
here is that under Hadrian, who in A.D. 122 built the
great wall called after him. Why does Gildas select this
particular time? The answer may be found in the word
"unfaithful;" after the great advances and
improvements made under Agricola (78-85), which, no
doubt, ceased not with his abrupt departure, the Britons
soon show themselves restless under Roman rule. This, to
the mind of Gildas, proved them to be an "unfaithful
people," and the record of their swift subjection
under such a character serves well the special purpose of
his work. See Additional Note, c. 18.
[12] Leaena dolosa. These words have
been frequently understood as referring to Boudicca's
revolt against Suetonius Paulinus, when the latter was in
Anglesey, A.D. 62, but the date of the "First
Parthian Peace" makes this impossible. Zimmer is of
opinion that the words imply a reminiscence of that
vassal queen. This, again, is not very probable, because
Gildas shows a fondness elsewhere for the term
"lioness," as applied to a country: in c. 23 leaena
barbara stands for the home of the Saxon hordes, and
in c. 27 for the kingdom of Damnonia. It is difficult to
fix the date of this second expedition of the Romans
against Britain. Was it that of Antoninus
Pius, who in 143 built the second wall----the vallum of
turf----between Clyde and Forth, or the expedition of
Septimius Severus in 193? Gildas' account is extremely
vague; yet, as he mentions no other visit of Roman forces
until the end of the fourth century, and implies
extensive provisions for the consolidation of the Roman
power in the island, it is not improbable that he has the
successful work of Severus in his mind.
A difficulty arises with the last sentence of c. 7. Mr.
Rhys (Celtic Britain, p. 19) concludes that
British coinage came to an end about the time of Claudius
(died A.D. 54), or soon after 69; and in the Monumenta
Hist. Brit., p. clii, we read: "After the
expedition of Claudius and his establishment of the Roman
power in Britain, the Britons discontinued the art of
coining." Reference is made there, in a note, to the
present passage of Gildas as " confirming this
opinion." Such confirmation is not possible if the
view taken here be correct, i.e., that Gildas has
selected the expedition of Hadrian as his starting-point,
unless Gildas is erroneously ascribing to the time of
Severus what had already taken place in the time of
Claudius. The work of Severus in Britain was, however,
far more effective than anything that could be
accomplished with the limited occupation secured under
Claudius. Moreover, while it was quite natural that Roman
coins should be current in Britain from an early period,
the policy of forbidding British coinage was
barely possible until the time of Severus, and it is
something of this kind that is implied in the words of
Gildas. It is curious that the name of no emperor later
than Constans (A.D. 337-350) is found on inscriptions in
Britain.
[13] Vergilius, Aen. ii, 120.
[14] If we read this section with care we find
that Gildas is not referring to the introduction of
Christianity into Britain; his meaning seems to be that
the sun rose for Britain as for the whole world by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is evidently taking his
information (ut scimus) from the Latin version of
Eusebius' Chronicon. This reads: "When Pilate
sent information to Tiberius of the doctrine of the
Christians, Tiberius referred it to the Senate, so that
it should be received among the other sacred records. But
when it was decided by the city fathers that the
Christians should be expelled from Rome, Tiberius in an
edict threatened the accusers of the Christians with
death. Tertullian writes so in his Apologeticus" (Pilato
de Christianorum dogmate ad Tiberium referente Tiberius
retulit ad senatum, ut inter cetera sacra reciperetur.
Verum cum ex consulto patrum Christianos eliminari Urbe
placuisset, Tiberius per edictum accusatoribus
Christianorum comminatus est mortem. Scribit Tertullianus
in Apologetico. An. Abr. 2053.) Eus. Chron., Schöne,
ii, p. 151. Tert., Apol. 5.
[15] Quae, licet ab incolis tepide suscepta
sunt. This is all that Gildas says respecting the
evangelisation of Britain. Whether he knew more as to the
first preachers of Christianity it is impossible to tell,
but his words imply that its spread among the native
population (incolae) of the island was exceedingly slow:
they received it "coldly." Among Roman
officials and foreign immigrants it may have spread
early, so that the few remains which now attest an early
Christian church in Britain belong to them, and are found
in the parts most thoroughly Romanised. According to the
evidence furnished by Hübner's seventh volume of Latin
inscriptions, we gather that heathenism of various types
continued long, even among these provincials. Mithra and
Cybele, Tyrian Hercules and Phoenician Astarte, had their
worshippers: at York there was a temple to Serapis, and
at Caerlleon, in South Wales, the Roman Legate, Postumius
Varus, restores a temple of Diana late in the third
century, that is, not very long before that
Council of Aries (314) which we know so well. Christian
inscriptions are more numerous in Wales than in any other
part of Britain, yet neither there nor in the other parts
do they indicate a date earlier than the middle of the
fifth century. Of Britain, as well as of Gaul, the words
of M. le Blanc are true, that the legendary stories of a
conversion "by explosion" have no evidence
whatever in their favour. "L'ecole historique
n'admet point chez nous un Christianisme fait, comme on
1'a dit, par explosion" (Preface, xli, Insc.
Chretiennes de la Gaule). A solid historic truth lies
in that curt tepide of Gildas.
[16] Novennem, the nine years'
persecution. The meaning to be attached to this
expression may be gained from c. 12, "when ten years
had not yet been com-pleted." Eusebius speaks of the
persecution as having lasted ten years (... H.
E., viii, 15), yet both numbers admit of ready
explanation. The first Edict of Diocletian, of which
Gildas gives the first and second provisions, was issued
in February 303, and the Edict of Milan, terminating
state persecution of Christianity, appeared towards the
end of 312. The period was in this way a good deal more
than nine years, though not quite ten. Gildas seems to be
simply copying or enumerating, in order, the provisions
of Diocletian's Edicts as stated in Rufinus' version of
the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius. By the
first provision of Edict I, the churches were to be
levelled to the ground; by the second, the Scriptures
were to be burnt; another provision, involving
degradation, finds no mention in this narrative of
Gildas. Edict II published not long after, commanded all
church officers to be imprisoned without even the option
of recantation. Edict III (or so-called Edict) again soon
followed, leading to the application of torture, which
too often resulted in death, though death hitherto had
not been enjoined as a punishment. With Edict IV, in 304,
the persecution reached its fiercest point by reproducing
the former measures of Decius: commanding all men to
offer sacrifice and libations to heathen deities, it
brought in its train the atrocities described by
Eusebius, and chronicled in so many Acta Martyrum. An
African writer of the fourth century describes the
persecution in words that remind us of Gildas here:
"It made some martyrs, others confessors; some it
demeaned in a calamitous death; it spared only those who
succeeded in hiding themselves" (Optatus, De
Schism. Donat., i, 13).
[17] Ecclesiastica historia narrat. Under
this term we are to understand the Latin version of
Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica, by Rufinus. But
the mention of "ecclesiastical history"
suggests the very question that has been asked by
several. Scholl was probably the first to suggest that
Gildas is here adopting the description he found in
Eusebius of the Diocletian persecution, and applying the
same to Britain. But this chapter is in fact not a
description of persecution in Britain; it rather
describes what took place "over the whole
world" (per totum mundum) and as such is a resume
of Book VIII in Eusebius' History. The actual
course of events is followed by Gildas, just as the
edicts succeeded each other, and as described by Eusebius
in the second chapter of the book named----the ruin of
churches, burning of Scriptures, slaughter of Christians.
Further, when the final step was taken by the emperors in
the issue of the fourth Edict, the real object had become
(as here stated by Gildas) the extermination of
Christianity. It is hardly just to say: "Gildas' general
statement respecting this persecution rests (as usual
with him) upon an unauthorised transference to the
particular case of Britain of the language of Eusebius (H.
E., viii, 2) relating to the persecution in
general, and is conclusively contradicted by Eusebius
himself and by Sozomen and Lactantius" (Haddan and
Stubbs, Councils, i, p. 6, n.). The last
italics are mine: but this is what Gildas does not do
in this part; he is simply summarising what "Ecclesiastica
Historia" narrates respecting the church in
general. His definite references to Britain are moderate.
(Vide next note.)
Besides the places named in Eusebius, one might
consult the De Morte Persecutorum of Lactantius;
and, in addition to the notes of Heinichen (pp. 381, 405)
on the former, Mason on The Persecution of Diocletian,
chs. v and vi, and the notes in McGiffert's
translation of Eusebius, pp. 325, 397.
[18] Ut conicimus. These words imply
that Gildas had no definite information respecting the
exact time of the martyrdoms mentioned in this section.
The reading of Codex X, ut cognoscimus, is
evidently a gloss, echoing the fixed tradition of the
copyist's own time. That the martyrdom of St. Alban took
place during the Diocletian persecution is, therefore, a
guess on the part of Gildas. He evidently found the
narrative given here in some lost Acta or Passio,
and we find that Beda has added other details from
some second Acta also lost. Now, many of these
acts of martyrdom are found void of all details as to
time and place, as, for instance, those condemned by the
famous Decretum of Pope Gelasius in 496 (Hefele,
ii, 618); if such a one had come into the hands of
Gildas, it was natural that he should conjecture the
events there narrated to have taken place in the last
great persecution. One is tempted also to notice a
difference of reading found here in some codices, as
possibly recording a different, if not the original,
tradition; these are, uellonnensis E, uellamien-scm
C, uellomiensem D. Nevertheless, it is,
perhaps, safest to conclude that Gildas found Verulamium
fixed in tradition as the place of suffering of a martyr
bearing the name Albanus, though it is not named in the
account given by the author of the Life of Germanus of
a visit paid by the Gallic bishops Germanus and Lupus
(A.D. 429) to the tomb of Alban: "The priests,"
we read, "sought the blessed martyr Albanus in order
to render thanks, by his mediation, to God; where
Germanus, having with him relics of all the apostles and
of different martyrs, offered prayer, and commanded the
grave to be opened in order to place there the precious
gifts." (V. Germ., i, 25.) We can thus say
that Albanus was known and revered as a martyr c. 429,
while the place of his martyrdom appears for the first
time in this chapter of Gildas' work. In the edition of
Jerome's Martyrology, lately prepared by De Rossi
and Duchesne (for Aa. Ss., Nov.,Tom. ii) one
codex, the Cod. Bern. (c. A.D. 770), records
"in Britain was Albinus martyr, along with
others, 889 in number, placed in the list of those whose
names are written in the book of life." We are
informed in the Prolegomena of several
indications, that the exemplar from which this MS. was
copied had been in the possession of, or written by,
someone connected with Ireland. If so, we find in this
889 about the earliest example of the amplification which
the words of Gildas underwent at the hands of later
writers. Its exaggeration raises the question whether
persecution was possible in Britain, inasmuch as it
belonged to the part of the Empire assigned to
Constantius, as Caesar of the West or Gaul. It has been
held that Gildas is contradicted by Eusebius and
Lactantius, who are understood as asserting that
Constantius had no part in the persecution (Eus., H.
E., viii, 13, 13: Vita Const., I, 3. 17: Lact.
De Morte Pers., xv: Letter of Donatist bishops to
Constantine in Optat. De Schism. Don., i, 22). In
his anxiety to exonerate the father of Constantine the
Great, Eusebius maybe regarded as having gone too far
when he said that he destroyed none of the church
buildings, .... Lactantius expressly states that
the churches, as mere walls which could be restored, were
pulled down by him, but that he kept intact and safe the
true temple of God, that is, the human body. Nam
Constantius, ne dissentire a maiorum praeceptis
videratur, conventicula, id est parietes qui restitui
poterant, dirui passus est; verum autem dei templum, quod
est in hominibus, incolume servavit. It must be
remembered that Constantius was only Caesar of the
"parts beyond the Alps," and that he did not
visit Britain until A.D. 306, the year of his death at
York. The Caesar's power was limited, which would render
the name of Maximian as a rabid persecutor, especially
after the fourth Edict of 304, the more potent name with
many governors and magistrates. Constantius was bound to
conform to the policy of the Augusti in carrying out
edicts which bore his own name as well as theirs. When,
therefore, it is known that many martyrdoms did take
place in Spain, though that country belonged to
Constantius, it is not unreasonable to suppose that
Britain had witness of the same sufferings, especially
before 306, when he himself arrived in the island. Some
confirmation of this view is afforded by the numerous
place-names beginning with Merthir, or Merthyr, found in
parts of Glamorgan, and more sparsely in Monmouth and
Brecknock. Vide Additional Note after c. 26.
[19] Aaron et Iulium Legionum urbis cives. Of
these two martyrs nothing more is known than is told us
here by Gildas. Mason, in The Persecution of
Diocletian, p. 146, calls them "two clergymen of
Caerleon," an epithet the justice of which can
neither be proved nor disproved. Dr. Plummer (vol. ii, p.
20) in his Notes on Beda, says that "the
story of Aaron and Julius must be considered extremely
doubtful," and refers us to Haddan and Stubbs, i,
6, for confirmation. One finds it difficult to understand
why this story must be doubted. There must have been a
tradition to this effect at Caerlleon in the sixth
century, and in the Book of Llandav we find
evidence of the very local tradition that has been said
to be wanting. The Index of that book mentions about
eighteen place-names beginning with Merthir (modern
Welsh, Merthyr), one of which is Merthir lun (Iulli)
et Aaron. A merthyr means, as its Latin
original martyrium denotes, "place of martyr
or martyrs," that is, a church built in memory of a
martyr, and generally over his grave. The word is found
in Jerome's Chronicon: Cuius industria in
Hierosol. martyrium extructum est; it is used also by
Adamnan in his De Locis Sacris: inter illam quoque
Golgotham basilicam et martyrium, i, 8. Du Cange
quotes Isidore, xv, 9: Martyrium, locus
martyrum, Graeca derivatione, eo quod in memoriam
martyris sit construction, vel quod sepulcra sanctorum
ibi sunt martyrum (Greek, to_ martu&rion). We can
hardly doubt that such a name as Merthyr, from martyrium,
is as old as llan, or cil, or disert,
if not indeed older. This at once carries it beyond
the sixth century. Now the boundary of this particular merthir
is: "The head of the dyke on the Usk; along
the dyke to the breast of the hill, along the dyke to the
source of Nant Merthyr, that is Amir" (pp. 225, 226,
377). Here we have a merthyr of Julius and Aaron
in the neighbourhood of Caerlleon. A grave objection may
meet us here; many of the persons whose merthyr survives
as a place-name belong to the mythical progeny of
Brychan, killed, it is said, by the "pagan
Saxons." These shadowy beings cannot disturb the
main argument.
[20] There is a striking resemblance between
Gildas' way of describing the double crime of Maximus and
the language of Sulpicius Severus in his Vita Martini.
It seems impossible that it could be accidental. St.
Martin had been approached by Maximus with great respect;
"though repeatedly invited to his table he absented
himself, saying that he could not partake of his table qui
imperatores unum regno, alterum vita expulisset (V.
M., 20, 2). Orosius also describes the double
atrocity, but in words that show no close similarity to
those of Gildas: " Ubi Gratianum Augustum subita
incursione perterritum . . . dolis circumventum
interfecit, fratremque eius Valentinianum Augustum Italia
expulisset" (Hist., vii, 34, 10).
[21] The Scoti came from the North West (a
circione). This would fit well with the explanation
that at this time they had made no fixed settlements in
the land subsequently called after them Scotland. Until
the tenth century, Scoti or Scotti, and Scotia
or Scottia, in Latin writers, mean
respectively Irishmen and Ireland: in c. 21 Gildas calls
them grassatores Hiberni. After the Dalriad
migration of Irish settlers in Cantyre and the island of
Islay, about A.D. 502, there were Scoti "qui
Britanniam inhabitant," as Beda could write in Book
I of his History; but at the time to which Gildas
refers any occupation that might have taken place was
merely migratory. The first mention of Picts, by the Panegyricus
of A.D. 292, refers also to Hiberni. We find
an irruption of Scots and Picts (Scottorum
Pictorumque gentium ferarum excursus) first mentioned by
Ammianus Marcellinus, Book xx, i, I, while writing of
Julian's activity in Gaul (A.D. 360). Four years later,
he relates, the Picti, Saxones, Scotti, and Atacotti,
were harassing the country (xxvi, 4, 5). It is not
strange, therefore, when contingents from over the seas
had been, thus so long, abetting the northern barbarians,
that Gildas should speak of transmarinae gentes, though
the Picts did not come under that designation. Beda, in
copying Gildas, gives an explanation of the term:
"we say transmarinae gentes, not because they
were outside Britain, but because they were remote with
respect to the Britons, and two bays intervened" (H.
E., i, 12). Plummer pronounces this to be a very
forced gloss (vol. ii, p. 23); cf. also the words of c.
17, which tell us that they were driven over seas by the
Roman troops: trans maria fugaverunt. The adverb, primtim,
has been understood as implying that this rush of
Scots and Picts, about A.D. 383, was their first inroad
into Britain. Gildas is not guilty of such an error,
because primum must be taken as qualifying calcabilis.
Previous to the departure of Maximus, carrying the
Roman army with him to the continent, the barbarians had
always found a Roman force to contend with: now, "for
the first time" the country is open (calcabilis)
to their attack.
[22] Legio. Maximus crossed over to
Gaul in 383, and after the murder of Gratian was
unwillingly acknowledged Emperor by Theodosius and
Valentinian. When Valentinian fled, the usurper
approached Italy, being at Aquileia in September or
October 387, and at Rome early in 388. His death took
place in the summer of that year, so that it was
impossible for any Roman armament to help the Britons in
repelling the barbarian marauders before 388 or 389. .
The "many years" (multos stupet gemitque
annos) of suffering, to which Gildas alludes in the
previous section, are explained by this fact. We know
also that the xxth legion, stationed at Chester, was
withdrawn by Stilicho in 402 or 403; and from Claudian's De
Bella Getico (vv. 416-418), that it had previously
served against the Picts and Scots. This legion may,
therefore, have been part of the force employed in the
attack now mentioned.
[23] Cespitibus. Two walls are
mentioned by Gildas, one of turf and another of stone.
Hadrian (cf. c. 17), whose policy seems everywhere to
have been a policy of caution, built a wall in A.D. 122,
along the more southern line from the Tyne to the Solway.
It was, then or afterwards (by Severus?), made of stone,
and formed the practical frontier of the province. In 143
the turf wall (murus cespiticius) of Antoninus
Pius was constructed from Clyde to Forth. Now the Welsh
"Brut" of Geoffrey of Monmouth understands the
construction of the stone wall mentioned in c. 17 as the
rebuilding of Hadrian's wall, or, as it is called there
the wall of Severus. The earthen wall, which
Gildas in this section describes as being built, may,
therefore, naturally be regarded as the murus
cespiticius of Antoninus Pius repaired or rebuilt.
The Romans now drive the barbarians to the more northern
line, commanding the Britons to reconstruct the no-doubt
ruinous rampart: at a later period (c. 17), they are
satisfied with the safer boundary between Tyne and
Solway.
[24] This second expedition of the Romans
against the Scots and Picts must have taken place before
A.D. 407, in which year the tyrannus or usurper,
Constantine, left Britain for Gaul. We are able to fix
the possible time for the two expeditions. No forces
could be spared during the five years' reign of Maximus
(383-388), nor during the struggles of Constantine
(407-411): we are thus limited to a period of about
eighteen years, 389-407. The arrangements for defence
described in the next section may have been Constantine's
plans and efforts to make Britain secure in his rear. His
departure proved to be the final abandonment of Britain
by the Empire.
[25] Gurgite moles, cf. Verg. Aen., ii,
427: Oppositasque evicit gurgite moles.
[26] Romano stigmata: a stigma (sti/gma)
was a brand impressed upon slaves and artisans, as a mark
of ownership, or for identification. Stigmata, hoc est
nota publica, fabricensium brachiis, ad invitationem
tironum, infligatur, ut hoc modo saltem possint
latitantes agnosci. Cod. Theod. x, 22, 4. In the
present passage the marks or emblems of Roman power would
be the disasters inflicted upon the barbarians, and these
again were visible in the Roman army and navy, as the
means of effecting them. It is, however, possible that
Gildas is using the word, in a sense not found elsewhere,
for the Roman standards. Scholl includes stigma
in his list of words found only in Gildas, or found
very rarely.
[27] Murum non ut alterum. The wall of
Hadrian rebuilt of stone. Vide note, p. 34. Gildas
speaks of two walls being built, one of turf, the other
of stone: in fact, the two walls had been so constructed
from the first, the stone wall in A.D. 122, the turf in
A.D. 143, so that his words can imply no more than the
repairing of them, though the repairs needed, after so
many years of neglect and ruin, must have been extensive
in the extreme.
[28] ADDITIONAL NOTE TO CC. 5-7, 13-18.
Gildas in these chapters
refers to Roman interference as exercised on four
different occasions. Unless we condemn the whole
narrative as confused and undeserving of credit, it may
be well to endeavour to find some points in which the
account given of Roman visits touches well ascertained
facts of history. Such an enquiry will, I believe, yield
some results not devoid of interest.
1. Remembering that the leading purpose of this work was
to bring about a reformation of morals in Church and
State, that it is in fact a Sermon, or a "Tract for
the Times," we must recognise that the writer is in
no way bound to present his facts in due order of
occurrence. Even more may be said: he is not bound to
narrate events which, because of their high importance in
fashioning subsequent events, have a special claim upon a
historian. He is free, and in a way would be wise, to
choose those that have a special bearing upon the message
he brings to the notice of his readers. This is exactly
what Gildas seems to me to have done: in no way does he
call this part "a history;" his intention is
simply to say "a few things" respecting the
points named by him, before fulfilling his solemn promise
(ante promisum Deo volente pauca .... dicere
conamur).
The first visit or expedition of the Romans to Britain is
placed by him "after the first peace with the
Parthians." The empire of the world had been won,
and an almost universal peace had come to pass (c. 5).
Gildas may have read the Third Book of Orosius' Historiae,
where we find similar mention of a Parthian peace (post
Parthicam pacem), followed by a general cessation of
war, and obedience to Roman law. This was in B.C. 20
under Augustus, after the advance of Tiberius Nero into
Armenia. (A full account is given in Merivale's Rome
under the Emperors, vol. iv, p. 173.) Orosius relates
these events in order to show that the light of
Christianity came into the world at the same time (quodsi
etiam, cum imperante Caesare ista proucnerint, in ipso
imperioCaesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini
nostri Jesu Christi liquidissima probatione manifestum
est.----Hist., iii, 5, 8). Gildas also introduces
the rise of Christianity, but after relating the events
of two Roman expeditions to Britain.
Now, by many writers, both these have been understood as
the expeditions of Julius Caesar (B.C. 55, 54). The
Preface, for instance, to the Mon. Hist. Britannica, speaking
of the narrative of Gildas, says: " It may be
divided into two periods; the former extends from the
first invasion of Britain by the Romans to the revolt of
Maximus at the close of the fourth century, and the
latter from the revolt of Maxirnus to the author's own
time." I find it very difficult to accept this view.
In any way some confusion in the mind of Gildas may be
assumed, who, we again remind ourselves is writing not
with a historian's interest in facts as such, but with a
reformer's bent to find a moral purpose in them. He is,
however, definite in certain limits he sets to himself.
" Those evils only will I attempt to make public
which the island has both suffered and inflicted upon
other and distant citizens, in the times of the Roman
Emperors" (c. 4). The Parthian peace of which
Orosius speaks was secured under Augustus, many years
after the death of Julius Caesar, therefore the first
expedition described by Gildas, if after this Parthian
truce and the subsequent universal peace, cannot be the
attempted, though barely successful, conquest of Britain
by Caesar. The expedition, according to Gildas, is due to
the stubbornness (contumacia) of an unfaithful
people (infidelem populum), that is, it was an
expedition to punish not to conquer. Such a one
could only take place " under the Roman
Emperors" after the ten years' work of conquest and
settlement during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 43-53). The
vigorous measures under Vespasian's generals,"
particularly Agricola, were intended to advance the Roman
occupation, though Agricola, it is well khown, succeeded
in attaining larger and more permanent results. These,
also, must precede the events narrated by Gildas.
We, therefore, look out for " a peace with the
Parthians," followed by a punitive expedition
to Britain, and find the former in the peace made by
Hadrian, shortly after the death of Trajan, A.D. 117, the
latter in the expedition of Hadrian. Hadrian's policy of
caution aimed at the maintenance of peace by restricting
warlike operations " Adeptus imperium . . . tenendae
per orbem terrarum paci operam intendit." This is
said by Aelius Spartianus, who in mentioning the
difficulties adds further: " Britanni teneri sub
Romana ditione non poterant." It was then that the
great wall from Tyne to Solway was built (A.D. 122).
" Under Hadrian," we read in Mommsen's work:
" A severe disaster occurred here, to all appearance
a sudden attack on the camp of Eburacum, and the
annihilation of the legion stationed there, the same gth
legion which had fought so unsuccessfully in the war with
Boudicca. Probably this was occasioned, not by a hostile
inroad, but by a revolt of the Northern tribes that
passed as subjects of the empire, especially of the
Brigantes. With this we have to connect the fact that the
wall of Hadrian presents a front towards the south as
well as towards the north; evidently it was destined also
for the purpose of keeping in check the superficially
subdued North of England (The Provinces, i,
iSS)." It may not be wrong to conclude that Gildas,
with some confusion in that word "first Parthian
peace," has selected this instance, first of all, to
point his moral of "evils suffered" for
"evils inflicted" by an "unfaithful
people" (A.D. 122-124).
2. At what time must we place the second expedition?
Unfortunately it is only described in high-flowing
language, almost turgid, void of all details: no name or
date is supplied us. The first impression is that it
occurred not long after troops had been withdrawn owing
to the heavy burden of maintaining them. If so, then we
may regard this second visit of the Romans as that which
was made under Pius Antoninus to punish renewed conflicts
on the part of the Brigantes. At that time, the Roman
boundary was extended further north and fixed, though
only for a time, by the turf wall built between Clyde and
Forth (A.D. 143). But there seem to have been serious
disturbances in Roman Britain, as well as renewed attacks
by the Caledonians and Maeatae, so that Severus found
himself led to interfere by an expedition in 209, during
the operations of which he died at York in 211. Either of
these two visits of Roman forces would fit the
description given by Gildas, while the fact that no
further troubles of any kind are mentioned until the end
of the fourth century, may incline us to decide in favour
of the expedition of Severus.
3. There is a long interval from 122 or 209 to 383, of
which not a word is said by Gildas. He then introduces
Maximus, the " tyrannus" or usurper, and makes
his first mention of the marauding incursions of
the Picts and Scots. However, I believe a good reason for
this silence is not far to seek. It has struck many as
strange that this historiographus, as he is called
by the mediaeval writers, should not have said a word
about Constantius Chlorus and his son Constantine
embarking together from Boulogne in 306, on purpose to
drive back the Picts and Scots, nor of the splendid deeds
of Constantine in the war against them. There was a more
terrible incursion of these barbarians, aided by the
Attacotti, about 368, when the Franks and Saxons also
harassed the opposite Gallic coast, plundering and
burning and murdering prisoners.* Yet Gildas makes no
mention of this, or of the successful attack made upon
them by Theodosius, father of Theodosius the Great, nor
is anything said respecting the rebuilding of ruined
cities and military posts, effected by him in that year (Amm.
Marcell., xxviii, 3).
Gildas, had he been writing as a historian, would
be rightly censured for such grave omissions as these,
but his motive and plan is different. On that account we
cannot wonder that he passes by events, however
important, which do not show the Britons to be a guilty
people, suffering because of their evil ways. In 306 and
368, the Britons were faithful Roman subjects, who could
in no way have contributed to the calamities of the
empire. It was otherwise in 383. Was it not Britain
herself that sent forth the usurper Maximus? Such is the
view that Gildas takes, and, moreover, his action in
denuding Britain of Roman troops, for the first time
after Agricola's settlement, laid the island bare to the
plundering expeditions of the barbarian tribes. For these
reasons, a more detailed account is given both of Maximus
himself and of the fresh inroad which followed his
abandonment of the island, than of the two early
expeditions against British revolt. That the usurpation
of Maximus could be laid to the charge of Britain
herself, as Gildas represents the matter, finds no
insignificant support in some ancient writers. Orosius
describes the tyrannus as a man of strong character and
probity, worthy to be Augustus, but created emperor against
his will (in Britannia invitus propemodum ab
exercitu imperator creatus, Hist., vii, 34.)
Zosimus dwells upon the unpopularity of Gratian at the
time among the soldiery, owing to the favour shown by him
to the barbarian Alani (..., Hist. Nova, iv, 35).
" It is possible that he (Maximus) was rather the
instrument than the author of the mutiny" (Hodgkin's
Italy and Her Invaders, i, 401). Now this is
exactly the implication of Gildas' language: non
legitime, sed ritu tyrannico et tumtdtu ante initiatum
milite, Maximum mittit (Britannia).
Maximus crossed over into Gaul, taking with him the
greater part of three legions: with these and the forces
which joined him on the continent, he was able soon to
make himself master of almost the whole of Europe west of
Italy.
The further words of Gildas, which describe this
progress, show that he was writing this part also of his
narrative with a firm grasp of the real facts of the
time.
He gives prominence to cunning artfulness (callida ars),
to perjury and falsehood, on the part of Maximus, which
unamiable features of his character are amply attested by
writers of the fourth and fifth centuries. Socrates
describes the guile by which the young emperor Gratian
was captured and murdered (... H. E., v, 11);
Sozomen speaks of the specious pretext he advanced that
he would " allow no innovation to be introduced with
respect to the national faith and church order." Mr.
Hodgkin, in narrating the meeting of the two armies, that
of Maximus and Merobaudes, Gratian's counsellor and
general, adds: " For five days there were slight and
indecisive skirmishes, but during all this time Maximus
and his right-hand man, Andragathius, the commander of
his cavalry, were tampering with the fidelity of
Gratian's troops." At a later time, when Theodosius
was making his preparations to suppress him, aided by the
Gothic focdorati, the man of whom Gildas speaks
with such sincere reprobation is thus described by the
same historian: " Indeed, Maximus, whose one idea of
strategy seems to have been to bribe the soldiers of his
opponent, had actually entered into negotiations with
some of the barbarians, offering them large sums of money
if they would betray their master" (Italy and Her
Invaders, i, 403, 465). Gildas fixes our attention
upon Maximus because through him, the second stage of
" the evils suffered " by Britain, begins in a
highly aggravated form. But he may have felt also that
this usurper, in whose usurpation Britain had a guilty
share, had been a prominent figtlre in history. Ambrose
of Milan gives an account of two embassies to him, in
which the wily Maximus found the great bishop too astute
for him; he is spoken of in the writings of Zosimus, of
the ecclesiastical historians Socrates and Sozomen, of
Jerome, Augustine, Orosius and Sulpicius Severus,
probably others, besides several Chronica and Annales.
After reaching Italy in 387, and Rome itself early in
388, the energy of Theodosius the Great brings his career
to an end; he was captured and put to death "at the
third milestone from Aquileia" on August 28th
(Prosper Tiro, Chron., and Socrates, H. E.,
v, 14).
It is only now that Gildas, for the first time, mentions
the Picts and Scots, old enemies though they had been,
because Britain was guilty of the old sin of
unfaithfulness, and secondly, because not until
then had the barbarians found the civilised parts of the
island empty of proper garrisons to obstruct their path.
It was the best opportunity for robber-inroads.
4. Two Roman expeditions are mentioned by Gildas as
taking place after Maximus had carried the forces
needed for defence over to Gaul. The brief account given
above will aid us in finding the terminus a quo for
the time during which these took place. The position of
Maximus, though strong, made it impossible for him to
spare any of the old garrisons, much less any other
forces, to take the field in Britain against the Scots
and Picts.+ It may be concluded, therefore, that no
expedition could come until Theodosius had afresh
reorganised the empire. This brings us to the year 389.
It is possible also to fix a terminus ad quem.
In the last days of December, 406, the Vandals and Alani
crossed the Rhine for a furious attack upon the rich
provinces of Gaul ( Wandali et Halani Gallias trajecto
Rheno ingressi II k. Jan. Prosper Tiro, M. G. H., ix,
p. 465). In consequence, great dissatisfaction arose in
Britain, where many Gallic detachments were then serving,
and moved by fear of a general collapse of the empire,
they proceeded to set up a new emperor. After making
trial of several, they eventually fix on one bearing the
noble name of Constantine, ..., Sozom., H. E., ix,
II; vide also Oros., vii, 40. "Having
perpetrated extensive murder, they----i.e., the
Vandals, Alani and Suabians----became objects of fear
even to the armies serving in Britain, and drove them,
through fear of an attack against themselves, to proceed
to the election of tyrants such as Marcus and Gratian,
and after these Constantine" (Zosimus, vi, 3,
i). On this act, Mr. Hodgkin, in the first volume of Italy
and Her Invaders, p. 740, remarks: "Where the
liegemen of a constitutional king change a ministry, the
subjects of an elected emperor upset a dynasty." The
discontented army of Britain was led over to Gaul in the
year 407 by Constantine, the third tyrannus, of whose
deeds a full account by Dr. Freeman will be found in the English
Historical Review, 1886, in his article on "
Tyrants of Britain, Gaul and Spain," or in the
above-named work of Mr. Hodgkin. At no time, therefore,
in the year 407, or subsequently, could any detachment of
Roman forces be sent over to Britain, because this
usurpation of Constantine, with his four years of power
over the Prefecture of the Gauls, was the beginning of
the final abandonment. " It was not Britain that
gave up Rome, but Rome that gave up Britain." By
A.D. 446, we know from Gildas, there were hardly any of
the old Roman families left in the island.
Between 383 and 389, as has been said, no succour by the
empire could have been despatched to Britain; from 388-9
onwards order and authority were being restored in the
West by Theodosius the Great, and continued until 406 or
407. This is, therefore, the interval during which the
two expeditions mentioned by Gildas must have taken
place, that is, a period of about eighteen years (A.D.
389-407). It would be natural that Theodosius, while
reorganising Italy and the Prefecture of the Gauls, after
the defeat and execution of Maximus, should not delay in
sending succour to Britain. It is certainly difficult to
find definite evidence of such assistance. Socrates
mentions Chrysanthus, a Novatian bishop at
Constantinople, who was drawn into the episcopate against
his will. His work as bishop began in 407, but before
that he had filled several public offices about the
palace, and after being raised to consular rank in Italy,
was appointed by Theodosius the Great, Vicar of Britain.
In the tasks of this office he acquitted himself well (H.
E., vii, 12). It is just possible that in him we have
one of the men employed by Theodosius in undoing the
havoc caused by Maximus in Britain, which would mean
repelling the barbarians.
Theodosius died in 395, and from that time until his
death in 408, Stilicho was actual, though not nominal,
ruler of the West. Claudian's verse has preserved many
particulars respecting this brave soldier and strong
minister of Honorius, and as the poems do not extend
beyond the year 404, the frequent mention of Britain
found in them must refer to events anterior to that date.
These may be read in the Man. Hist. Brit., xcvii,
xcviii, therefore I shall only quote the following from
the poem on the Gothic war (De Bella Getico, A.D.
402 or 403):
" Venit et extremis
legio praetenta Britannis
Quae Scoto dat frena truci, ferroque notatas
Pertegit exsangues Picto moriente figuras."
We have, therefore,
clear evidence that measures were taken to repress the
barbarians of the North after the death of Maximus, and
before 402. I am further tempted to add the following
quaint translation given by Speed in his Great
Britaine, from the poem " On the First
Consulship of Stilicho," of the year 400. Britain is
made to say of Stilicho----
" When Seas did
foame with strokes of Oares,
That beat the
billowes backe,
His force effecting with his cares,
Prevented
still my wracke:
He bade me fear no forraine powers,
That Picts or
Scots could make,
Nor of the Saxons that on Seas,
Uncertaine
courses take."
The reference to Picts
and Scots by Claudian may be pushed back some years
earlier even than 400.++ It is, however, unimportant to
make any endeavour by way of fixing any precise year. We
find it proved for us that help was actually sent to
Britain by the Empire during the very time it was
possible so to send it. Gildas is in this way vindicated
as to the genuineness of his facts, though his mode of
describing them may certainly be still open to suspicion.
He has been accused of confusion, because historians have
sought in his narrative what it could not have entered
his thought to narrate. For instance, it was supposed
that in c. 17 he was describing the successes of
Theodosius (Senior), which took place in 368; but because
Gildas places the events of that chapter subsequent to
the usurpation of Maximus (383-388), his work was thrown
aside with some amount of contempt.
5. The third appeal to Rome was made, according to him,
at the time when Aetius was consul, in 446, but was of
necessity fruitless. The Empire was sinking. If, however,
the views advanced in this note be correct, or
approximately correct, they will help us further to
understand his elation that, at last, victory over the
old enemies came to the Britons " for the first time
after many years: primum per multos annos? These
" many years," as we have seen, would date at
latest from Constantine's elevation in 407. The last help
rendered by Rome was the empty letter of Honorius, sent
about 410 to the Britons, " that the cities must
take care of themselves." ... (Zosimus, vi,
10, 2).
The next and final disaster came by the deliberate
admission of the Saxons into the island.
[Footnotes
to the additional note]
* The words of
Ammianus Marc., xxvii, 5, 8, have been usually
understood as if the Franks and Saxons were
ravaging Britain itself along with the northern
nations. But must we not understand Gallicanos
vero tractus Franci et Saxones isdem confines ....
violabant, in the sense taken above?
+ St. Ambrose
reminds Maximus, in the second embassy, of the
latter's project to enter Italy "followed by
barbarian battalions" (barbarorum stipatus
agminibus, Ep. 24).
++ It is interesting
to remember, once more, that the xxth legion, Valeria
Victrix, established hitherto at Chester, was
recalled to the continent by Stilicho about 402; but
Claudian's poem, De Bello Getico, proves that
it had, before its withdrawal, done service against
the Picts and Scots, as formerly, under Hadrian and
Pius, as well as in the expeditions of Severus, it
had taken part in the same work (see Mommsen's Das
Römische Heer in Britannien, s. 27).
[29] Curucus, or curuca. Irish, curach;
Welsh, corwc; Modern Welsh, corwg, corwgl,
cwrwgl, whence English coracle. In Adamnan's Life
of Columba, we read that timber for building was to
be conveyed over sea in boats (scaphis) and cwrwgs (curucis).
The term, though originally denoting, as now in Wales, a
skiff made of osier twigs covered with ox-hide, must be
taken as denoting also the rude Celtic ship. The Martyr.
Dungall. Aa. Ss. Mart., iii, p. 268 B, says: "in
those parts there was at that time (sixth century) a mode
of navigating by the use of osier twigs covered with
ox-hide, which was called in the Irish tongue (Scotica
lingua) currach." But the curaci, used by
Columba and his friends, were provided with sail-yards
(antennae), sails (vela), and rigging (rudentes).
Adamnan's Vita Columbae, ii, 45, Reeves' ed., pp.
176, 177.
[30] Agitius. Gildas seems to have had
access to a copy of the actual letter sent, but either he
or the Britons made a mistake in the Consul's name. This
is generally regarded as Aetius; and some continental
editions of Gildas, e.g., the Bibl. P.P. Paris,
read Aetium, and Aetio here. Aetius was Consul for the
third time, along with Symmachus, in A.D. 466; his other
consulships fell in 432 and 437. From 433 to 450, he
exercised supreme control over the affairs of the Western
Empire, under Placidia and Valentinian. The abject tone
of the letter to him is in keeping with the times: its
florid wording is not strange.
[31] Dr. Wendland, the co-editor with Dr.
Leopold Cohn of the edition of Philo that is now
being published in Berlin, regards the following as the'
nearest approach to Gildas' quotation from Philo, but
adds that no Latin version is known of the Vita Mosis (Letter
to Dr. Mommsen. See his edition, p. 6). Philo vita
Mosis I, 31, p. 108; ...
[32] It is impossible to tell what amount of
definite fact there may be in this description of
prosperity and moral decay. Though the style makes us
suspicious, yet as the years of plenty were subsequent to
446, the old men of Gildas' childhood and youth must have
moved in the living tradition of them.
[33] Superbo tyranno. [My italics and
alteration to supply the name of Vortigern. MS Avranches
A 162, (later 12th C.) actually has: superbo
tyranno Vortigerno. MS
Cambridge X (13th C.) has: Gurthigerno
Brittanorum duce. Bede also places the name Vortigern
here. Hugh Williams followed the traditionally used MS,
as did Mommsen. Williams originally translates 'superbo
tyranno' with 'proud tyrant'. Below, it can be read
he did not trust the occurrance of the name and supposed
it had come from later MSS, slipping into the text. I do
not agree.]
The native king is called tyrannus, because
the sole legitimate authority, that of Rome, was absent.
Procopius, who was a younger contemporary of Gildas,
relates that after the death of the tyrant Constantine
(A.D. 411), "the Romans were no longer able to save
Britain, but it remained from his time continuously under
tyrants" (... ). Codex A reads tyranno
Uortigerno, and X tyranno Gurthigerno Britannorum
duce (giving thus its later form to the name, in the
same way as Guenedotia takes the place of Venedotia), and
the words of course appear in Gale's edition based on the
latter MS. The name may have slipped into MSS. of Gildas
from the Historia Britonum of Nennius, or perhaps
from Beda (H. E., i, 14), who writes, placuitque
omnibus cum rege suo Uortigerno, and in the Chronicle,
Vertigerno. Nearly all the MSS. of Nennius have the
late form, Guorthigernus, which in Welsh becomes Gwrtheyrn.
That Gildas is not ignorant of the former predatory
visits of the Saxons (as attested by Ammianus
Marcellinus, and by the early title "Count of the
Saxon shore"), is evident from the words, "whom
in their absence they feared more than death." Men
are not feared in their absence except through previous
unhappy acquaintance, so that the Britons must have had
experience of the hated Saxons at times anterior to this
compact struck with them. The same conclusion may also be
drawn from the closing sentence of c. 18: "They
build towers on the south coast where ships were usually
anchored because from that quarter also wild
beasts of barbarians were to be feared." These could
be no other than the Saxons. Zimmer appears to me
entirely wrong in concluding that British tradition, c.
540, knew nothing of a previous presence of the
Saxons in Britain: "von einer fruheren anwesenheit
derselben in Brittanien weiss sie absolut nichts" (Nennius
Vindic., 190).
There is nothing direct in the narrative of Gildas to fix
the date of this coming of the Saxons at the invitation
of the Britons. It cannot, however, be very long after
the time clearly furnished by the third consulship of
Aetius (Agitio ter consuli, c. 20). This being in
A.D. 446, the approximate dates given by Beda seem to be
derived from it, though he connects the time of the
settlement of the Saxons with certain imperial events. A
full note by the Editor of M. H. B., p. 120,
collects the different dates assigned by Beda. They are,
452 in the Chronica, 449 in the Historia (5,
15; v. 24), 447 implied in i, 23, and v. 23; other parts
suggest 448. The Chronicle, however, does not fix the
date to any given year, and the adverb circiter is
added in the other places. We learn from Gildas all that
Beda knew. About 446 the Britons gain the victory which
causes the grassatores Hiberni to flee homewards,
but only to return at no long interval (post non
longuin temporis reversuri); to meet that return
the Saxons are invited to come, and we may be well
satisfied that no nearer date can be found than c. 447.
The Gallic Chronicle of the year 511 (printed in M.
Germania: Hist., vol. ix, p. 660), opposite A.D.
441-442, gives: Brittaniae usque ad hoc tempus variis
cladibus eventibusque latae in dicionem Saxonum
rediguntur. (Mommsen conjectures late vexatae).
It is difficult to reconcile this difference of five
years, unless a Saxon invasion of that time be regarded
as one (perhaps the worst) of those which had made the
Britons fear the Saxons "more than death."
The Historia Britonum follows a different
tradition: it is to the effect that the three ships which
brought Horsa and Hengist came as the Ships of exiles (expulsae
in exilio).
Cyulis or ciulis, as the word is in X, must
be the same as the English keel. Geoffrey of
Monmouth changes it into tres celoces, quas longas
naues dicimus; in the Welsh, deir llog hirion.
Prolixiorem catastam, cf. c. 109: rectius erat
ut ad career em vel catastam poenalem quam ad
sacerdotium traheremini, where catasta must
mean a scaffold as used for the punishment of criminals.
In this passage the word classis, i.e., fleet, is
substituted for it by Beda: mittitur confestim classis
prolixior. One instance from an unpublished MS,
treatise on military tactics is furnished by Du Cange,
where the word is used for a heap of felled wood: Facial
lignaria incidere de quibus fiant in diversis locis foci
in die snae discessionis, et accensis catastis lignorum
statim discedat cum suo exercitu. Such a meaning
would easily give the signification of a raft, in
which sense Gildas employs the word here as a
contemptuous expression with ratibus. Dr. Davies,
in his Latin-Welsh Dictionary, gives the Welsh carchardy
= prison-house, for catasta. The only other
meaning given by Du Cange is that of an instrument of
torture, a wooden rack, made in the shape of a horse, equuleus,
or a " bed of iron" on which martyrs were
placed, fire being kindled beneath. Scala, vel gemis
poenae equideo similis is quoted from a gloss in Mai,
Tom. vii, p. 554, and from A ug. in Psalm 96: Habebant
gaudia in catasta, qui Christum praedicabant inter
tormenta. Several Acta furnish examples: for
instance, Acta Perpetuae et Felicitatis: Ascendimus
in catasta = scaffold.
[34] Jerome's first revision of the Old Latin
Psalter, made A.D. 383, and called Psalterium Romanum,
reads, as Gildas here, coinquinarunt (... in
LXX). But the second, the Psalterium Gallicum of
A.D. 392, preserved in the Vulgate, has polluerunt, which
is the rendering of ... in the previous quotation. In
chapters 30, 104, we have further indications that Gildas
used an old Psalter, probably older than either revision
of the old Latin made by Jerome.
[35] Or, with lofty door.
[36] Nonnulli .... alii .... alii
. . . alii. Gildas describes the fate of his
countrymen in this struggle, (1) Many were killed
outright; (2) others were reduced to life-long slavery;
(3) others took refuge in parts beyond sea; (4) others
betook themselves to hilly districts and the rugged
sea-coasts. These last are the reliquiae, the
remnant, who before Gildas' own time had, with the
assistance of their British fellow-countrymen (cives)
succeeded in wresting back several cities and districts
from the terrible enemy. Two remarkable successes came at
a time when a considerable part of the Saxons had
returned to their own settlement. The first occurred
under the leadership of Ambrosius Aurelianus; the second
came by the siege of Badon Hill; both exceeded all
expectation or hope on the part of the British. At the
time when Gildas wrote, there were many alive who had
been eye-witnesses of the two events, who could not, he
remarks, refrain from frequent mentioning of them. He
himself was born in the very year of the later victory,
forty-three years and one month from his time of writing;
but the success to which the generalship of Ambrosius
Aurelianus led was acquired at no considerable time
before that, as it must fall within the memory of one
life. If we take the year of Gildas' birth as c. A.D.
500, then the battle of Badon Hill took place c. 456-7,
and the successes of Ambrosius Aurelius may be put not
far from A.D. 450. [I do not agree. In 'Gildas - when did he
write', I have established that Gildas seems to indicate
that he wrote 44 years after probably the victory of
Ambrosius over the Saxon invaders, yet after the battle
of Badon, which happened within living memory of a
generation that had grown up in peace. Gildas most
probably put the siege of Badon between 490 and 510: http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/gildwhen.htm]
[37] Transmarinas petebant regiones. Gildas
in these words certainly implies that there was an
emigration of a considerable part of the Britons of this
island to the continent. He has already intimated the
same in c. 4, where he tells us that his information is
derived not from native sources but from continental
ones. What might have existed of the former had,
he says, either been burnt by the enemy, or carried far
away by that fleet which conveyed his countrymen into
exile. This was the beginning of Britanny, or Armorica,
but the emigration continued far on into the seventh
century. Another view, maintained by many, maybe stated
in the words of Dr. Freeman: "Here the ante-Roman
population still kept its Celtic language, and it was
further strengthened by colonies from Britain, from which
the land took its later name of the Lesser Britain, or
Britany" (Hist. Geogr. of Europe, p. 93).
French writers, especially French Celtic scholars, hold a
very different opinion. M. Loth, for instance, in his
exhaustive History of the British Emigration in
Armorica. thus sums up the conclusions of M. de
Courson: " In every place where the insular Britons
are not established, the names of places are Gallo-Roman;
men's names are Latin or German. The territory of Rennes
and that of Nantes .... are of this kind. The old
Vannetais, even, towards the end of the fifth century,
presents the same character. The tyrant of Vannes, in the
Life of St. Melanius, is named Eusebius, his
daughter Aspasia, and the " villa " in
which he resides Prima Villa. Everywhere, on the
contrary, where the Britons are established, the names of
men and of places present a Celtic character. Men's names
are the same as in Wales and Cornwall; the names of
places are generally preceded by a British prefix, as in
the island; tref (hamlet), ploi, plou, pleu,
plo (plebs = Welsh plwyf, meaning at first a congregation,
then the district inhabited by the
congregation of any given church); caer (a
fortified place, and, simply, a village); llan (a
monastery, generally, then a church), etc. The
terminations are equally distinct. The Britons do not
derive names of places in -acum (-ac) from names
of persons, a formation very frequent in a Gallo-Roman
country. In a word, throughout the zone occupied by the
immigrants, all is transformed, all is Celtic
(Brito-Celtic): we are in Britannia; at Rennes and at
Nantes we are in Romania" (p. 84). This account of
the fact that a Brito-Celtic people are found settled on
the peninsula which forms the extremity of the
"tractus Armoricanus," about the middle of the
sixth century, is amplified by M. Loth. He notices at
length the special characteristics of different Celtic
languages, which make it impossible for us to regard the
people of Britanny as a portion of the old Celtic
inhabitants of Gaul surviving there: reference is made to
the use of Britannia, etc., by Gregory of Tours in
the Historia Francorum, to ancient Lives of
Saints, which describe their crossing over from Britain
to Lesser Britain (Britannia Minor) with crowds of
companions, and to a large bulk of historic matter in
ancient annalists and poetry. Taking all things together,
a host of lines converge upon one fact: that from about
A.D. 500 to 590 there was a strong stream of emigration
to the continent. It had, probably, begun earlier, and it
continued later, but during the whole lifetime of Gildas
there were periods of emigration. Two of his old
fellow-disciples, Samson and Paul Aurelian, left their
native land and settled in Britany. (Vide L'Emigration
bretonne en Armorique, par J. Loth. 1883.)
[38] Domum: this can only mean the
place assigned to them by treaty in Britain, not their
original home on the Continent. The sentence, therefore,
implies an ebb in the flood of Saxon conquest.
[39] Verg. Aen. ix. 24.
[40] Ambrosio Aureliano. Ambrosius
Aurelian has become known in Welsh literature as Emrys
Wledig, or, as the Historia Britonum gives the
name, Embreis Guletic. According to Gildas, he is (1) a Romanus,
a member of one of the few old aristocratic families
then remaining in Britain; (2) his ancestors had worn the
imperial purple: he may have been a descendant of some
tyrannus that had assumed the title of Augustus in
Britain; (3) he was a vir modestus, which implies
kindness of disposition with unassuming manners: the
mention of this quality goes far to prove that the
information had come to Gildas from some one personally
acquainted with the victorious leader; (4) his
descendants, grandchildren probably, were intimately
known to Gildas. Ussher (Antiquities, vol. v, c.
xiii, p. 513) has drawn attention to the false reading indutus
for indutis, which the first edition of
Polydore Vergil introduced. In this way Ambrosius
Aurelian himself assumed imperial power "for the
struggle" (collisioni for collisione)
against the Saxons. But, though one codex, A, reads indutus,
the way in which Beda paraphrases Gildas shows
plainly that he must have read indutis: occisis in
eadem parentibus regium nomen et insigne ferentibus. H.
E., i, 16. With Beda agrees the Historia Britonum of
Nennius, which makes Ambrosius say that his father was of
consular rank (c. 42). The Irish version of Nennius adds
an interpretation of Guletic, in Latin, as meaning
king of the Britons (rex Britonum). Maximus is
also styled Maxim Guletic (Archiv fur Celt. Lexicogr.,
i., s. 206), but, in the case of both, its
implication appears to be that of a commander. Geoffrey
of Monmouth absurdly makes him the son of the tyrannus
Constantine, whom he represents as king of Britain, along
with Constans the monk and Uthur ben dragon: "Ac or
wreic honno y bu idaw tri meib. Sef oed y rei hynny,
Constans ac Emrys Wledic ac Uthur ben dragon" (Brut.,
p. 126). We seem to have here a reminiscence of both
Gildas and Orosius. In Gildas, Geoffrey found that the
family of Ambrosius had worn, the purple, which may well
mean that he was descended from one of the many tyranni
who had assumed the title of Augustus in Britain.
Orosius, on the other hand, furnishes the romancist with
a father for Ambrosius in the person of the tyrannus
Constantine. He had a son Constans, that from a monk
became a Caesar, but this son was killed in Spain in A.D.
412, and Constantine himself in the previous year. [Adversus
hos Constantinus Constant em filium suum----pro
dolor!----ex monacho Caesarem factum----in
Hispanias misit----Oros. Hist., vii, 40, 7.]
Yet according to Geoffrey's story, Emrys and Uthur must
have been men in years long before Constans left his
monastery, that is, long before 411, nevertheless, the
former lived to conquer the Saxons about the year 450!
This is still worse if we fall into the mistake of taking
Geoffrey's Constantine, as he himself suggests, to be
Constantine the Great.
[41] Ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis. Since
the publication of Dr. Guest's papers ("Origines
Celticae," 1883), the conclusions at which he
arrives respecting the location of Badonicus mons have
been very generally accepted. Treating of "The early
English Settlements in South Britain," he maintains
that Mount Badon or Badon Hill is not Bath, but Badbury,
in Dorset. "Its elevated site, its great strength
and evident importance, and its name, all alike
favour the hypothesis " (vol. ii, p. 189). His
hypothesis was accepted by Freeman and Green. But it is
one extremely difficult to fall in with, and must, one
feels, be put aside for the older view. There was no need
of a very elevated site to build a fortress, while
the neighbourhood of Bath would supply hills for such a
purpose. Moreover, the very similarity of sound in Bad-bury
and Bad-on-icus is itself something to rouse
suspicion rather than to suggest Dr. Guest's inference.
The name Mons Badonis is found in Nennius's Historia
Britonum as the place where the "twelfth
battle" was fought under Arthur. The Annales
Cambriae place Bellum Badonis opposite a
doubtful date (A.D. 516); a fragment published in the Brut
of Llyfr Coch o Hergest speaks of the " battle
of Badwn " (giveith Badwn) p. 404, while
other parts of the Brut mention Kaer Vadon, and
once there is mention of esgob Bad. In all these
places there can be no doubt that the meaning is Bath, as
in " capitulum LXVIII " of the Historia
Britonum (p. 130 Mommsen's edn.); De stagno
calido, in quo balnea sunt Badonis (baths of Badon) secundum
uniuscuiusque voti desiderium. Cf. Camden's Britannia,
Somersetshire, p. 70 (edn. of 1645).
[42] Quique quadragesimus quartus.....There
has been much controversy as to the meaning of these
words. Beda took them to mean, forty-four years after the
coming of the Saxons to Britain: quadragesimo circiter
et quarto anno adventus eorum in Britanniam. M. de la
Borderie, in an article in Revue Celtique, vi,
1-13, holds that Beda's rendering is the true one, and in
this way arrives at the conclusion that the date assigned
to the siege of Badon Hill by the Annales Cambriae is
incorrect. Certainly A.D. 516 cannot be the date of that
battle for several reasons; the entry in the Annales
Cambriae has all the appearance of an erroneous
borrowing from Nennius, c. 56, of matter not found in the
Irish translation, and extremely legendary in character.
Dismissing the date 516, M. de la Borderie arrives at 493
as the date of the battle, which, he holds, Beda deduced
from Gildas, rightly understanding his words to convey
the meaning of forty-four years after the settlement of
the Saxons. But the French scholar inserts the words adventus
eorum in Britanniam before ut novi. In the
note on Ambrosius Aurelian we have had an instance of the
way in which Beda mixes literal quotations from Gildas
with his own words, interpreting the latter's meaning in
better words or phrases. As no MS. authority exists for
this insertion of M. de la Borderie's, it seems far
better to regard the words adventus eorum in
Britanniam as Beda's own interpretation of Gildas.
Ussher (vol. v, p. 544) holds that Beda has misunderstood
Gildas's words, and gives himself the following
paraphrase of the passage: "perinde ac si
dixisset, a clade Badonica quadragesimum quartum tunc
(tempore quo scripta ab eo ista sunt) numerari cepisse
annum; unico quippe anni illius mense adhuc elapso; idque
ex sua ipsius aetate se novisse." " As if
he had said that from the loss inflicted at Badon, the
forty-fourth year-had then (at the time he wrote) begun
to be counted; one month in fact of that year was gone,
and this he knew from his own age." Mommsen feels
that the passage can hardly give a good meaning, and,
though reluctantly, proposes-an emendation of it. The
difficulty, he feels, lies in the strange ut novi, but
if the sentence be read: quique quadragesimus quartus [est
ab eo qui] orditur annus mense iam uno emenso, qui
et meae nativitatis est, then the meaning is
perfectly clear. (Man. Germ. Hist., iii, p. 8.)
When we think of the many involved scraggy sentences
which Gildas writes elsewhere, we do not wonder at the ut
novi, which the recollection of his own age forced to
an undue prominence before his mind: by inserting it in
brackets the sentence is tolerably easier, and can only
give the meaning deduced by Ussher, and favoured by
Mommsen.
[43] The description given here of the
atrocities perpetrated in this invasion is so definite in
details that it must have come to Gildas from
eye-witnesses. He himself saw the ruined cities, desertae
dirutaeque hactenus squalent (chapter 26).
[44] This passage mentions two generations. First,
there were the men who had witnessed the disasters
suffered from the Saxons and had survived them to enjoy a
time of quiet in lives void of reproach. Secondly, after
they had passed away, there came a generation of men who,
like Gildas himself, had experience only of the period of
non-molestation by outside enemies. It is the
deterioration of these that he laments in the present
work. But there are also the few select ones, so few that
even the venerable mother, the church, hardly knows them
as her only real sons. Who are they? To answer this
question fully we must consult cc. 65, 69, 92; yet in the
main it would be right to say that he has the monks in
his thoughts. We find a reference to this passage in c.
65, and therein also, it may be mentioned in passing,
strong evidence that this work of Gildas never really
consisted of two different parts----Historia and Epistola----much
less that they were written at different times. " I
ask pardon of these men, as I have said in a previous
part," so writes Gildas in the chapter named, "
whose life I not only praise, but also esteem above all
the wealth of the world, and of which, if possible, I
long for a share, sometime, before I die." For
Gildas, and, apparently, for his contemporaries also, in
both the Irish and British churches, the original idea of
monasticism had undergone a great change. It had ceased
to be a purely contemplative life, or one of secluded
discipline of the individual soul unto holiness, as
Eucher's beautiful De Contemptu Mundi describes
it. Gildas, though a monk, is mixing in the battle of
public life, and the present work is part of the task
which he fearlessly carried out. "There was a
prophet of the people in the time of the Britons called
Gildas. He wrote about their misdeeds: how they so
angered God, that at last He caused the army of the
English to conquer their land, and utterly destroy the
strength of the Britons. And that came about through the
irregularity of the clergy, and the lawlessness of the
laity" (Wulfstan, Anglo-Saxon Homilies).
Notwithstanding the position in which Gildas finds
himself, the place of honour in his mind belongs to those
who lived in the cloisters: they are the saints, the only
real sons of mother church: sancti Dei, id est,
monachi, as said by Salvian. would express his idea
also. The Welsh language itself still bears evidence how
such words as sanctus (sant), religiosi (crefyddwyr),
took a special meaning, at first no doubt a fuller
meaning than hitherto, when men regarded their adoption
of the cloistered life as their " conversion."
But it is very significant that Gildas nowhere presses
this life upon anyone, cleric or layman, as a cure for
the excesses which he denounces. Wherefore we find him,
in this, to be out of the fashion of his age, though we
may see in it also the keen moderation that is so evident
in the " Fragments," and which the
correspondence of such men as Finnan, a sanctorum
Hiberniac magister, shows to have been valued in
distant places (Columb., Kp. I, in M. Germ. H., iii,
159). His words, however, imply-strange though it
seems-that monasticism had not spread largely in Britain
by c. 540. See Introduction.
[45] Mater ecclesia is of constant
occurrence in ecclesiastical Latin as early as Cyprian; matris
sinus also in the same connection.
[46] Damnonia in the sixth century would
correspond roughly to the present county of Devon.
Aldhelm, between 675 and 705, addresses his letter of
admonition to " Geruntius King and the priests (i.e..
bishops) of Damnonia." A poem addressed to
Aldhelm about the same date reads:
" quando profectus fueram
Usque diram Domnoniam per carentem Cornubiam."
Cornubia (Cornwall) seems to have been a separate
kingdom.
[47] Aurelius Caninus: We have no place
mentioned as forming the kingdom of this prince. It seems
natural, with Zimmer (Nenn. Fznd.,p. 307), to
regard it as lying between Damnonia and the next named
Demetia. His kingdom might well include parts of the
present counties of Somerset, Gloucester, Monmouth,
Glamorgan, and Caermarthen, perhaps, with Caerlleon (Legionum
urbs) as capital. Geoffrey of Monmouth reads Conane.
Dr. Guest is inclined to conclude that Constantine and
Aurelius Conan were the degenerated descendants of
Ambrosius Aurelianus, mentioned in c. 25. This is not a
conclusion that one can well rest in.
[48] Vortipori. Vortiporius is King of
Demetia (Dyfed), which roughly corresponded to the
present county of Pembroke. The Welsh form of the name
appears as Guortepir map Aircol map Triphun in the
Genealogies from Harleian MSS., edited by Mr. E.
Phillimore in Y Cymmrodor, vol. ix, p. 171. "
Aircol must be the Welsh reduction of the Latin Agricola"
Rhys' Celtic Britain, p. 253.
[49] Cuneglase. This name and the whole
passage, present many difficulties. Gune-glasus may
have had an older form, Cuno-glasus, found in many
names, e.g., Cuno-maglus ( = Cynfael), Cuno-valus
(Cynwal), Cuno-belinus (Cynfelyn), etc.
The first element of the compound is connected either
with cuno- in the sense of high or noble, as cun,
a top, or summit, cynnu, to raise, or with cu,
gen. cunos, a. dog. Maglo-cunus may
have the same root, with the meaning of "great
lord." (See Holder, Alt-Celtisches Sprachschatz, Rhys'
Celtic Britain, p. 286, The Academy, October
12th and 19th, 1895). The meaning dog would
connect itself better with butcher, but glas is
an odd addition in the sense of fulvus ---- deep
reddish-yellow, or tawny; the green grass, the blue
sea, the gray mare, are each termedglas in
modern Welsh, but we find it impossible to connect the
adjective with a colour that comprises red and yellow. It
has been proposed to take cunus as fulvus, i.e.,
honey-coloured, and glas as lanio: this
hardly removes the difficulty, while the order is
decidedly unfavourable to it. I feel that Gildas must
have fallen into a mistake, in the heat of his desire to
fasten an ugly nickname upon Cuneglasus.
Later, the name took the form Cun-glas or Conglas;
in the Genealogies it appears as Cinglas, and
may perhaps be found in Cynlas (Y Cymmrodor, ix,
172). Cinglas map Eugein dant gwin, map Enniaun
girt, map Cuneda," may be compared with "
Mailcun map Catgolan lauhir, map Ennian girt, map
Cuneda;" so that we find Cinlas and Mailcun
(Maglocunus of next section) to be both descended from
Cunedda, and both grandsons of Enniaun. With this
suggestion it seems fair to conclude that the kingdoms of
the two were contiguous. Zimmer places that of Cinglas in
the district between the Teifi and the Dee, where
descendants of Cunnedda are known to have ruled.
I have ventured to print urse and ursi, instead
of Urse, Ursi, as other editions do. The word
appears to me to be employed by Gildas as an epithet,
parallel with the animal names----catulus for the
king of Damnonia, catulus leoninus for Aurelius
Caninus, pardo for Vortiporius, and draco for Maglocunus.
An attempt has been made to connect Ursus with arth in
the Welsh name Arthur, which is Welsh for Arturius
(Arcturius). (Academy, October 12th, 1895.)
Were we to adopt the reading cesor of A, we should
find a meaning closely allied with lanio, i.e.,
hewer of many, one who mangles or tears in pieces. Auriga
currus receptaculi ursi describes, probably,
well-known habits of this prince; he drives a chariot,
but in the eyes of Gildas, that chariot is but the mean
appanage of a bear's ugly den, his place of retreat: hence
the singular term, receptaculum.
[50] The "authority to bind and
loose" is, we see, a settled, part of British ideas
respecting Church discipline and life in the sixth
century. According to c. 109, it is given to " Peter
and his successors," i.e., the bishops, but
Gildas draws a definite distinction; the priest must be a
holy priest: the promise is made omni sancto sacerdoti.
Such men as he is writing against, though ordained
bishops, have by their unholy lives, he adds (c. 109),
forfeited this authority. They are barely Christians (c.
92).
[51] Maglocune. Maglocunus is the
Mailcun of the previous note, great-grandson of Cunedda
Wledig. The name appears as Maelgwn in modern Welsh,
generally Maelgwn Gwynedd, designating him as king of
that portion of North Wales which was called Venedotia,
and later Gwenedotia. The ancient Gwynedd extended from
the river Clwyd (according to some, from the river
Conway) westward, and to the south as far as the Mawddach
or Dyfi. Maelgwn had as teacher the celebrated Illtud,
and may or may not have been at his monastery at the same
time as Gildas himself. The vow to take upon himself the
secluded discipline of a monk came after having a taste
of the stormy life of a king: the monastery, however, was
abandoned, and Maelgwn seems----partly through his own
brilliant qualities, partly as a family right----to have
attained a position of pre-eminence over the other
princes, or, as Gildas puts it, "te cunctis paene
Britanniae ducibus tam regno fecit (Deus) quam status
liniamento editiorem......" On the legend, which
gives at least an echo of this fact, see Welsh Laws (1841),
ii, 49-51. According to the Annales Cambriae, he
died of the great plague in the year 547: " An.
[547] mortalitas magna in qua pausat Mailcun rex
Guenedotiae." The date, 547, can only be an
approximate one. Petrie, in the first edition, which
appeared in the Monum. Hist. Brit., supplied 444
as the year of the Christian reckoning corresponding to
ANNUS I of the Annalist, though, as he confesses, there
is no certainty with respect to the era adopted by him
(De aera vero, unde in annalibus condendis exorsus sit
chronographus, minime constat). Some well-known dates of
events are a few years wrong; others, especially the
later ones, correct, as given in the Annales. Dr.
Stokes does not add the corresponding years for the Irish
Annals of Tigernach, which he edits in the Revue
Critique (1896), but gives in brackets those of other
Annals. Now the Tigernachian Annals say: K. vn. Mortalitas
magna, which means that it occurred during a year in
which the Kalends, or 1st of January, was a Saturday. The
Annals of Ulster place it in 551, those of Inisfallen in
541 (Rev. Celt., p. 140). Not one of the three
Irish documents agrees quite with the Welsh, but the
errors cannot be important in any. We therefore adopt 547
as the approximate date of Maelgwivs death. But, as he
was alive when Gildas wrote, it has been rightly
concluded that the De Excidio must have been
written before 547. On the whole question of date, see
Introduction.
Insularis draco is explained in Celtic Britain-
as implying that "island" is Britain
itself, not Mona. When we reflect that "dragon"
is the last of the opprobrious epithets----cur, whelp,
leopard, bear, dragon----applied to the five kings, one
is drawn to the belief that even the insularis is
also intended to wound. If so, the reference must be to
Maelgwn in his island home, Mona.
[52] This teacher is generally regarded to be
Illtud, who is not named owing to his pre-eminence, and
from a feeling of reverence on the part of the writer
(see Introduction).
[53] Gildas, when quoting elsewhere
consecutively from the Gospels, has a text almost
identical with that of the Vulgate; but here, quoting
probably from memory, his text is the same as the
partially revised Old Latin Codex Brixianus (f),
...
[54] Although Gildas mingles his denunciatory
message to the five princes with affectionate appeals for
reform, yet he ends each message with lavish threatening
of the torments of hell. The appellations used by him for
the place of torment are inferno, or infernum and
tartarus. The Latin versions had made the former
word familiar everywhere as the name for "the
grave," or Hades, the abode of the dead. In this
sense it is the equivalent of the plural inferi, as
exaudivit me de venire inferni (Jonah, ii, 3), in
the Latin version of Irenaeus: descendant . ... in
infernum (...) Gen. xxxvii, 35. Its
Welsh derivative, uffern, is employed with the
same meaning in most places of the authorised Old and New
Testament. But it was used also as a name for a place of
punishment (locus supplicioriini atque cruciatorum, Jerome
in Is. xiv, 7-11), and Jerome understood the words of the
creed, descendit ad inferna, in this sense.
Cyprian seems to have used inferi only, while inferus
appears a few times in the Latin Bible, e.g., Rev.
vi, 8, et inferus (...) sequebatur eum, where
the Welsh version has uffern, the English hell.
Tartarus, though not so frequently found, is employed
for " hell " as early as Tertullian, and in the
letter of Roman presbyters to Cyprian: parauit caelum
sed parauit et tartarum,Ep., xxx, 7. It is evident
that neither inferi nor tartarus were in
common use, because infcrnus has given enfer to
the French language and uffern, or yffern, to
Welsh. Cornish and Armorican have allied forms, ifarn,
yffarn; iffern, iverus.
[55] This "tearful narrative of
complaint" (flebilis querulaque historia) includes
the part beginning, in c. 26, where the older men die and
are succeeded by an age ignorant of the earlier struggles
with the Saxons, with experience only of the present time
of quiet. The story ends with c. 36. Bede's well-known
words about Gildas, that he wrote " with tears in
his language" (flebili sermone, i, 22), may
have been borrowed from this passage, as also the name liber
querulus, so frequently applied to this work. The
phrase querula historia means a narrative setting
forth definite charges or complaints. In Col. iv, 13, we
have probably the Latin querela reproduced by the
Authorised Versions, Welsh and English, in the (now)
archaic cweryl and quarrel. "If any
man have a quarrel (= complaint) against any."
Bibliography 
- Gildas: De excidio Britanniae,
ed. Theodor Mommsen, in: Chronica Minora Saec.
iv, v, vi, vii vol. 3, pp. 1-85, Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, (1892,
Berlin repr. 1961).
- Gildas: The Ruin of Britain and
other works, Latin and trans. M. Winterbottom, History
from the Sources 7, (Old Woking 1978).*
- Gildas: De Excidio Brittonum,
trans. John Allan Giles, in: Six Old English
Chronicles, of which two are now first translated
from the monkish Latin originals (London,
George Bell and Sons, 1891), full text (English),
at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.html.
- Gildas The de excidio Britonum
(The Ruin of Britain): ed. and Latin Keith
Matthews (2000), based on Mommsen's version, at: http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/history/gildas/frames.html
- Gildas, The Ruin of
Britain &c., ed. and trans Hugh
Williams, in: Cymmrodorion Record Series, No. 3. (1899), at: http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/gildas_02_ruin_of_britain.htm.
The sources on
Vortigern - The Text of Gildas: de Excidio et Conquestu
Britanniae. (Parts 1 and 2, chapters 1-37) is
Copyright © 2005, Robert Vermaat. All rights reserved.
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