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.

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.

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]

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.

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. 

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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’.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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. 

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!

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.