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Cpmmrobouon (Recorb ^eues,
No. :;.
GILDAS
-EART !;-
L y to*> r*dt~r oc c* ty ^4.
GI LDAE
DE EXCIDIO BRITANNIAE.
FRAGMENTA, LIBER DE PAENITENTIA,
ACCEDIT ET
LORICA GILDAE.
^7
GILDAS:
THE RUIN OF BRITAIN, FRAGMENTS FROM IOST IETTERS, THE PENITENTIAI,
TOGETHER WITH
THE IORICA OF GIIDAS.
lE&ttrtJ for tf)f $on. Jroriett) of ffynintrolionon.
BV
HUGH WILLIAMS, M.A.,
PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY AT THE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, BALA.
LONDON : PUBLISHED FOR THE HONOURABLE SOCIETV OF CYMMRODORION,
BY
DAVID NUTT.
1899.
• ■ . '■ ■ '
1
D A <■ -
DEC V
LONDON : il,|. \i TIIl. Bl DKORD PRESS, 20 ANI> 21, BEDFORDBURY, W.C.
PRELIMINARY NOTE.
IN the present edition, it is intended to publish in a collected form the works ascribed to Gildas for which, roughly speaking, a date is assigned during the twenty years that elapsecl between a.D. 540 and 560. The earliest references to Gildas that have come down to us are the two made by Columbanus in his letter to St. Gregory the Great, which must have been written between thirty and forty years after the death of the British writer (i.e., A.D. 595- 600). In the first passage, he is mentioned as Gildas auctor who has written against simony in bishops ; in the second, as having been engaged in correspondence, respecting the monks who were leaving their convents to become hcrmits, with Vennianus, prob- ably Finian, the abbot of Clonard in Meath, to whom Gildas sent " an exceedingly noble answer" (et eligantissime illi rescripsit). Gildas is thus widely known, not very Iong after his death, as a writer on ecclesiastical abuses, and as a corrcspondent whose opinion on new and doubtful movements was highly valued in Ireland.
In a general INTRODUCTION I hope to deal with the questions appertaining to the time and life of Gildas, the condition of Britain, its people and its Church, at that time, and the authorship of the several works named below. A map is also in preparation based on that in Spruner's Histor. At/as, and Maps 15 (Roman Britain) and 16 (England and Wales before the Roman Conquest), in Parts I and XVI of The Histor. Atlas of Modern Europe. Oxford, 1896, 1898.
The works brought together in the volume, of which the present is Part I, are the following : —
1. The De Excidio Britanniae. This work has been mis- takenly read as history ; it is, really, in no way a history, nor written with any object a historian may have. It may beregarded as a kind of " Tract for the Times" of the sixth century. Ebert (GescJi. der Literatur des Mittelalters) correctly terms the "De Excidio" a Tendenzschrift ; it is a message or a sermon addressed to rulers and ecclesiastics by a fervent monk, containing historical portions which are of undoubted value, because we possess no other for a part of the period to which they refer, but which in the whole setting of their narration are coloured by the author's main
vj Prelitninary Note.
purporl as a Christian moralist. Wc may regard it as extremely probable that this is thc very work to which Columbanus refers, whcn writing shortly after A.D. 595.
2. A series of FRAGMENTS. These Fragments appear in a col- lection of rules or canons for church order, belonging to the early [rish Church. Thc whole consists of LXVII books, divided into chapters which give extracts from many ecclesiastical writers ; e.g. Origenes, Hieronimus, Augustinus, Gregorius, /sidorus,a\so Sinodus Hibernensis, &c. Among these appear extracts made probably from lcttcrs, now lost, of Gildas, such as that mentioned by Columbanus as written to Finian. Thcse will be printed from the text of WasserschlcberTs Irische Kanonensammlung, 2nd edition (Leipzi- 1885).
3. An early Penitential, or De Paenitentia. This will be printed from the text of Wasserschleben's Bussordnungen (Halle, [851), and Haddan and Stubbs, Counciis, vol. i, p. 113 (1869). Penitentials, especially as found in the Celtic remains, show the gradual extension of disciplinary rules over the lifc, chiefiy of monks, but also of those living outside the cloisters, in that age.
4. The LORICA GiLDAE. After much deliberation, it has been thought better to include this poem as a probably genuine pro- duction of Gildas. The text will be that printed in THE IRISH LlBER HYMNORUM, published by the Henry Bradshaw Society,
1897 (vol. i, p. 206), compared with that of Zimmer in Nennius
Vindicatus: " Die Lorica des Gildas," s. 337.
The necessary documentary research by examination of the
few codiccs rcmaining, and of probablc evidence as to lost ones, in
thc first editions professedly based upon them, has been already
accomplishcd for us by thc cdition of Gildas which has appeared in
the MONU-MENTA GERMANIAE HlSTORlCA, forming vol. iii of the
1 ( hronica Minora Saec. iv, v, vi, vii, edidit Theodorus Mommsen"
( [894-1898). It may well be presumed that no fresh research could
havc providcd us with a text of GilJas accompanied with the
me guarantee of tlioroughncss as this edition by Dr. Mommsen.
To profit by it is, however, rendered difficult for many readers
by thc fact that all introductory matter and critical notes are in
Latin, while all questions appertaining to the contents of the
work, as the Iearned editor scveral times intimates, are remitted
t<> others. His task is mainly thc production of the bcst possible
1 Gildas' De Excidio. With deep respect and gratitude, Dr.
Mommsen's text has bcen adopted for the present edition, ex-
cepting some changes of punctuation and words and phrases in
particular portions oi the work. Thc particular portions referred
to arc those places in which Gildas quotcs from ccrtain books of
the Old 'I - stament. As cxplaincd in the notcs, thc Latin text of
these quotations is found to be a rude and excessively literal
Preliminary Note. vii
rendering of the Greek of the Septuagint ; so far is this the case that the Greek version itself, for the quotations made from Job, Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets, and some other books, becomes a no unimporcant part of the documentary evidence for the determina- tion of readings. It has been so employed in this edition.
The FRAGMENTS seem to throw a distinct and pleasing light upon the man's character, and the PENITENTIAL will illustrate the beginnings of a peculiar mode of church discipline. Every one of the pieces named, after the De Excidio, has been made the subject of searching critical examination, as regards the text, by Dr. Wasserschleben or the late Mr. Henry Bradshaw, by Dr. Heinrich Zimmer and the editors of The IrisJi Liber Hymnorum. The Introductions and Notes in this edition will endeavour to deal with the subject-matter of each.
An unprejudiced student of Gildas comes back to his writings vvith the feeling that something of value may, and ought to, be got out of them ; my own frequent reading of these has led me to a higher appreciation of the man and his work. To my mind, it is a grave mistake to call Gildas a "historian": neither Colum- banus, writing about forty years after his death, nor Alcuin, in the last quarter of the eighth century, regard him in this light. The fashion began with the Venerable Beda ; for him, in the early parts of his Historia Ecclesiastica, and, for the writers of the Saxon Chronicle also apparently, Gildas was the sole " historian " (Jiistoricus eorum). Mediaeval writers, who invariably term him historiograpJius, helped to make the idea a fixed one. But Gildas would never have regarded himself as a " historian" : he is a preacher, a revivalist, who will " attempt to state a few facts" (pauca dicere conamur), by way of illustrating his message, that divine anger must visit with punishment a sinning people and priesthood.
I could not but feel interested, in reading " The Letters of Cassiodorus," by Mr. Hodgkin, to notice what he says of " the inflated and tawdry style " of that strenuous and successful administrator, and exceptionally far-sighted Roman statesman. In the volume mentioned, which contains a resume of letters in the Variorum Libri XII, Mr. Hodgkin gives an amu >ing specimen of hovv Cassiodorus, as prime minister, could vvrite in the name of Theodoric to Faustus, the Praetorian prefect, who was dawdling over an order to ship corn from Calabria and Apuleia to Rome. Reprimanding the lazy official, Theodoric, by his minister, is made to say : " Why is there such delay in sending your swift ships to traverse the tranquil sea ? Though the south wind blows and the rowers are bending to their oars, has the sucking-fish fixed its teeth into the hulls through the liquid waves, or have the shells of the Indian sea, whose quiet touch is said to hold so firmly that the angry billows cannot loosen it, with like power fixed their lips
viii Preliminaiy Xolc.
into your keels?" Now Cassiodorus, who died a.d. 570, was a contemporary of Gildas, and we ought, in the case of Gildas as well as in his, to be able to conquer the aversion roused within us l>v an inflated style, because it is partly the fault of the age. iVrhaps, in the case of Gildas, something should also be attributed tO the emotional intensity that was, and is, characteristic of the I eltic rac Notwithstanding all such blcmishes, a substantial net profit remains for the student of history and literature.
HUGH WlLLIAMS. fiti/,/, September 2<)th, 1899.
<£tltiae
Bc €jrciUui Brttanniac*
^tltoas
on
C|)c &uin oi Britaim
B
JDt €jcctliu) JSrttanntac*
PREFACE.
Motives for writing stated.
In hac epistola quicquid deflendo potius quam declamando, vili I licet stilo, tamen benigno, fuero prosecutus, ne quis me, affectu cunctos spernentis omnibusve melioris, quippe qui commune bonorum dispendium malorumque cumulum lacrimosis querelis defleam, sed condolentis patriae incommoditatibus miseriisque eius 5 ac remediis condelectantis edicturum putet, quia non tam fortissi- morum militum enuntiare trucis belli pericula mihi statutum est quam desidiosorum. Silui, fateor, cum inmenso cordis dolore, ut mihi renum scrutator testis est Dominus, spatio bilustri temporis vel eo amplius praetereuntis, imperitia sic ut et nunc, una cum IO vilibus me meritis inhibentibus, ne qualemcumque admonitiunculam1 scriberem.
Legebam nihilominus admirandum legislatorem ob unius verbi
Nvm. xx, 12. dubitationem terram desiderabilem non introiisse : filios sacerdotis xxvV ci a'ienum admovendo altari ignem cito exitu periisse : populum 15 verborum Dei praevaricatorem2 sexcentorum milium duobus ex-
Exod. xiv, 22 ; ceptis veracibus et quidem Deo carissimum, quippe cui iter levissime
6^x1. '' stratum profundi glarca maris rubri, cibus caelestis panis, potus
novus ex rupe viator, acies invicta manuum sola intensa erectio
Num. xxi, 6; fuerit, bestiis ferro igni per Arabiae deserta sparsim cecidisse : post 2°
/«.'lii4!^"'^ ingressum ignotae ac si Iordanis portae urbisque adversa moenia
1, 20. so] js tubarum clangoribus iussu Dei subruta, palliolum aurique parum
de anathemate praesumptum multos stravisse : Gabaonitarum
II Sam. xxi, 1. . /-1 ii-i- i- ii- • 1-
irntum foedus, calliditatc licet cxtortum, nonnulhs mtulisse exitium ;
1 Tlie niodest estimation of his work on the part of the author is found also in his use of the term opuscitlum, in cc. 62, 94. Epistola appears three times,
cc I, 37, 93-
- Praevaricatorem : this word has taken its special meaning from the Old Latin version, where it rcpresents irapajiaTT)s of the LXX. Romans ii, 25, praevaricator legis, a transgressor of the law. The verb has, in the same way, the tneaning of irapaftaivfiv. In Cyprian, Ex. 32, 8, runs thus : quoniam corruptus cst et firaevaricatus est vias meas quas praecepi eis.
%
CJ)t 2tvuin irf Britaim
PREFACE.
Motives for writing stated.
I 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, 5 because I weep the general decay of good, and the heaping up of evils, with tcarful 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 mypurpose to narrate the dangers of savage war-
io fare 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
15 from writing a small admonitory work of any kind.
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, Num. xx, 12. perished in sudden death ; that the people who transgressed the Lemt- x- r> 2-
20 words of God, 600,000 of them, two faithful ones excepted, although 65.
beloved of God, because unto them the way was made plain over Exod. xiv, 22 ;
xvi, 15, 17 ;
the bed of the Red Sea, heavenly bread was given as food, new drink
VI, II.
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 25 wild beasts, sword and fire throucrhout the desert parts of Arabia. Num- xxi>. 6>
& L xiv, 43 ; xi, 1.
After their entrance by an unknown gate, the Jordan, so to say, josfu-^ l6.vi and the overthrow of the hostile walls of the city at the mere sound *• 2°- of trumpets by God's command, I read that a small mantle and a jos/i.v\\, 23,24. little gold appropriated of the devoted thing laid many prostrate ; Josk. ix. 30 that the covenant with the Gibeonites, when broken (though won 11 Sam. xxi, 1. by guile), brought destruction upon some : that because of the sins
B 2
4 De Excidio Britanniae.
ob pcccata hominum qucrulas sanctorum prophctarum voces ct
Hitron. Pro- maximc Ilicrcmiac1 ruinam civitatis suae quadruplici plangentis tqr. in Jerem. , , ,
alphabeto.
. i, i. Videbamque etiam nostro tempore, ut ille defleverat : Solam
sedisse urbem viduam, antea populis plenatn, gcntium dominam, 5 principcm provinciarum, sub tributo fuisse factam, id est ecclesiam, Thrm. iv, 1. obscuratum auruni colorcmque optimum mutatum, quod est verbi Dei Tkren. iv, 2, 5. splendorcm. Filios Siou, id est sanctae matris ecclesiae, inclitos et amictos auro primo, amplcxatos fuisse stercora. Et quod illi intolcrabilitcr utpotc praecipuo mihi quoque licet abiecto,2 utcumque 10 ad cumulum doloris crescebat, dum ita eosdem statu prospero Thren. iv, 7. viventes cgrcgios luxerat, ut diceret : candidiores Nazaraei eius nive, ntbicuudiores ebore antiquo, sappJiiro pulcJiriores. Ista ego et multa alia veluti speculum quoddam vitae nostrae in scripturis veteribus intucns convertebar etiam ad novas et ibi legebem clarius, quae 15 mihi forsitan antea obscura fuerant, cessante umbra ac veritate firmius inlucescente. \iatth. xv. 24. Legebam, inquam, Dominum dixisse : Non veni nisi ad oves Vatt/i. \\\\, 12. perditas domus Isracl. Et e contrario : Filii autem regni Jtuius
eicientur in tenebras exteriores, ibi erit fietus et stridor dcntium. Et 20 \iatth. xv, 26. Jtcrum : Non cst bouum tollere panem filiorum et mittere canibus.
-Marc. vn, 27. * J
i/a«/;..\xiii,i3. Itemque : Vae vobis, scribae et PJiarisaei Jiypocritae. Audiebam :
Matth. vin, 11. J\julti ab oricntc ct occidente vcnient et rccumbent cum AbraJiam,
=Luc. xm',' 27? Isaac et Iacob in regno caelorum ; ct e diverso : Et tunc dicam cis :
mc. xxiii, 29. disccditc a me, operarii iniquitatis. Legebam : Beatae steriles et 25
°"> ubera quae non lactavcrunt ; et e contrario : Quae paratae erant,
iniravcrunt cum eo ad nuptias, postea venerunt et rcliquae virgines
diccntes : Domine, Domine, aperi nobis ; quibus responsum fuerat :
uou novi vos. Audiebam sane : Qui credidcrit et baptizatus fuerit,
'< salvus crit, qui autem non credidcrit, condemnabitur. Legebam 30
apostoli voce oleastri ramum bonae olivae insertum fuisse, sed a
societate radicis pinguedinis eiusdem, si non timuissct, scd alta
sapcret, excidendum. Sciebam miscricordiam Domini, sed et
|
Man |
xvi, 16 |
|
Rom. |
xi, 17 |
|
XX, |
22. |
|
\\>»l. |
ii, 6. |
1 Hieremiae: here, and in c. 80, Gildas has the form Hicretnias, but in c. 47 Jeremias. We find the very words of Gildas in the Prologus in Ieremiam of Jerome's Vulgate : ct civitatis suae ruinas quadruplici ptanxit alphabeto. We read also his Tituli Hieremiae Prophetae : clxiii, Lamentatio Hieremiae in quadruplici alphabeto. Our first four chapters of Lamentations are these four alphabetic songs, the fifth chapter being almost a separate book, entitled,
On the \vriter's feelings respecting himself, see cc. 36, 37, 62, 64, 93, 108.
The Ruin of Britain. 5
of men we havc the complaining voiccs of holy prophcts, and especially of Jeremiah, who bewails the ruin of his city in four Jerome. Pn>-
11 , .. logue to Jerem.
alpnabetic songs.
I savv that in our time even, as he wept : The zvidowcd city Lament. i, 1. 5 sat solitary, heretofore filled ivith people, ruler of the Gentiles, prhuess of provinces, and had become tribtttary. By this is meant the Church. The gold Itath becovie dim, its bcst colour changed ; which Lament- iv, 1. means the excellence of God's word. Thc sons of Zion, that is, of Lament. iv,2, 5. the holy mother the Church, famous and clothed ivith best gold have
10 enibraced ordure. What to him, a man of eminence, grew unbear- able, 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 ivere Lament. iv, 7. whiter than snow, ruddier than old coral, fairer than sapphire.
15 These passages and many others I regarded as, in a way, a mirror ofour life, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and then I turned to the Scriptures of the New ; there I read things that pre- viously had perhaps been dark to me, in clearer light, because the shadow passed away, and the truth shone more steadily.
20 I read, that is to say, of the Lord saying : / aiu not conie but Matt. xv, 24. unto thc lost sheep of the House of Israel. And on the other side : Matt. viii, 12. But the sons of this Kingdom shall be cast into outer darknesses, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again : It is not Matt.w, 26= good to take the children's bread aud cast it to the dogs. Also :
25 Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. I heard : Many Matt. xxiii, 13. shall come froni east and west aud recline with Abraham, Isaac, Matt. viii, n. and facob iu the Kingdom of Heaven ; and on the other hand : Matt. vii, 23= A nd theu shall I say unto theni : depart from me ye zvorkers of iniquity. I read : Blessed are the barren and tJte breasts that have Luke xxiii, 29.
30 not giveu suck ; and on the contrary : Those who were ready,entered Matt. xxv, 10- with hini to the marriage feast, then canie 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 baptized, Mark xvi, 16. shall be saved, he, however, who believeth not shall be condemned.
35 I read in the apostle's word that a branch of the wild olive had Rom- xi. T7.
20 22.
been grafted into the good olive tree, but that it must be broken ofif 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, Rom. n, 6,
" The Prayer of Jeremiah." Cassiodorus, a contemporary of Gildas, refers to the book in similar words : Ieremiam vcro, qtei civitatis suae ntinas qtiadru- plicifevit alptiabetico . . . — De Inst. Div.
6 De Excidio Britanniae.
iudicium timcbam ; laudabam gratiam, sed redditionem unicuique secundum opera sua verebar ; oves unius ovilis dissimiles cernens merito bcatissimum diccbam Pctrum ob Christi integram confes- sioncm, at Iudam infclicissimum propter cupiditatis amorem,
Apoe. ii, 6. Stcphanum gloriosum ob martyrii palmam, sed Nicholaum^miserum 5 proptcr immundac haereseos notam.
./,/. iv,32;v,o. Lcgebam ccrtc : Erant illis ouinia communia ; sed et quod dictum est : Quare convenit vobis temptare spiritum Dei? Videbam c regionc, quantum securitatis hominibus nostri temporis, ac si non esset quod timcrctur, increvcrat. Haec igitur et multo plura, quae 10 brcvitatis causa omittenda decrevimus, cum qualicumque cordis
Deut. vii, 6= compunctione attonita mente saepius volvens, si, inquam, peculiari ii, '9.' cx omnibus nationibus populo, semini regali gentique sanctae, ad
/ vod. iv, 22. quam dixerat : Primogenitus meus Israel, eiusque sacerdotibus,
prophetis, regibus, per tot saecula apostolo ministro membrisque 15 illius primitivae ecclesiae Dominus non pepercit, cum a recto tramite dcviarint, quid tali huius atramento aetatis facturus est ? Cui praetcr illa nefanda immaniaque peccata, quae communiter cum omnibus mundi sceleratis agit, accedit etiam illud veluti ingenitum quid ct indelebile insipientiae pondus et levitatis ineluctabile. 20
Ouid ? mihimet aio tibine, miser, veluti conspicuo ac summo doctori talis cura committitur, ut obstes ictibus tam violenti tor- rentis, et contra hunc inolitorum scelerum funem per tot annorum spatia interrupte lateque protractum serves depositum tibi creditum
1 Cor. xii, 15, et taceas ? alioquin hoc est dixisse pcdi : spccularc ct manui : 25 fare. Habet Britannia rectores,2 habet speculatores.3 Ouid tu nugando mutire disponis? Habet, inquam, habet, si non ultra, non citra numcrum. Sed quia inclinati tanto pondere sunt pressi, idcirco spatium respirandi non habent. Praeoccupabant igitur se mutuo talibus obiectionibus vel multo his mordacioribus, vcluti 30 condcbitores sensus mci. Hi non parvo, ut dixi, tempore, cum
F.cdesiastcs iii, lcgerim Tcmpus esse ioauendi et tacendi, et in quadam ac si angusta timoris porticu luctabantur. Obtinuit vicitquc tandem aliquando crcditor, si non es, inquiens talis audaciae, ut interveridicas rationalis
Heb. ii, 7. sccundac a nuntiis4 derivationis crcaturas non pertimescas libcrtatis 35
1 Pcter and Judas, as well as Stephen and Nicolas, are similarly contrasted in c. (q. Jcromc, /■'/>., 14, 8, says : Attendis Petrum, scd ct Iudam considera; Stephanum suspicis, scd ct Nicolaum respicc.
2 Vide c. 27. 3 c. 66.
1 Xuntiis. \\'c liave here the Old Latin nunlius for angelus, so tliat I lcb. ii, 7, " a little lowcr than the an»els," must have bccn familiar to Gildas in thc older vcrsion. The 1'scudo-Cyprian ad Novatianum 16, quotcs Jude 14,
The Ruin of Britain. 7
but feared his judgment also ; I praised his grace, but dreaded the rendering unto each one according to his works.
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 5 Christ, but Judas most unhappy because of his love of covetousness ; Stephen I called glorious, because of the martyr's palm ; Nicolas, Rev. u, 6. on the contrary, miserable, owing to the mark of unclean heresy.
I read, indeed : TJiey Jiad all things in common, but I read also : Acts iv, 32 ; v, WJiy did ye agree to tempt tJie Spirit of God? I saw, on the con- 9'
10 trary, what great indifference had grown upon the men of our age, as if there were no cause for fear.
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
15 did not spare a people, peculiar out of all the nations, the royal Deut. vii, 6= seed and holy nation, to whom he had said : hrael is my first born \x/9. ' — if he spared not its priests, prophets, kings for so many cen- Exod. iv, 22. turies, if he spared not the apostle his minister, and the members of that primitive church, when they swerved from the right path,
20 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.
25 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 thee, and be
30 silent ? Otherwise this means, to say to the foot, tvatch, and to 1 Cor. xii, 15, the hand, speak.
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 down under the
35 pressure of so great a weight, they have no time to breathe. My feelings, therefore, as if fellow debtors with myself, were alter- nately engrossed. by such objections, and by such as had much sharper teeth than these. These feelings wrestled, as I said, for
ciim multis milibus nuntiorum = iv dyims /xvpidaiv. The word is also used by Lactantius, Instit. ii, 8, 6. KofFmane, Gesch. des Kirchenlaleins, p. 13, gives other examples.
8 De Excidio Britanniae.
aureae deccnti nota inuri, affectumsaltem intcllegibilis asinae eate- nus elinguis non rcfugito spiritu Dei afflatae, nolentis se vehiculum fore tiarati magi devoturi populum Dei, quae in angusto maceriae vinearum rcsolutum1 cius attrivit pedem, ob id licct vcrbera hostiliter senserit, cuique angelum caelestem ensem vacuum 5 vagina habcntcm atque contrarium, qucm ille cruda stoliditate caccatus non viderat, digito quodammodo, quamquam ingrato ac furibundo, et innoxia eius latera contra ius fasque caedenti demonstravit.
In zelo igitur domus Domini sacrae legis seu cogitatuum 10 rationibus, vel fratrum religiosis precibus coactus, nunc persolvo debitum2 multo tempore antea exactum, vile quidem, sed fidelc, ut puto, et amicale quibusque egregiis Christi tironibus,3 grave vcro et importabile apostatis insipientibus. Quorum priores, ni fallor, cum lacrimis forte, quae ex Dei caritate profluunt, alii enim 15 atque cum tristitia, scd quae de indignatione et pusillanimitate deprehensae conscientiae extorquetur, illud excipient.
Sed ante promissum Deo volente pauca de situ, de contumacia, 2 de subiectione, de rebellione, item de subiectione ac diro famulatu, de religione, de persecutione, de sanctis martyribus, de diversis 20 hacresibus, de tyrannis, de duabus gentibus vastatricibus, de defen- sione itemque vastatione, de secunda ultione tertiaque vastatione, de famc, de epistolis ad Agitium, de victoria, de sceleribus, de
1 Resolutum. The Old Latin version given by Sabatier reads et compressit pedcm simply ; the Vulgate has et attrivit sedentis pedem; which, along with the quotations, suggests that Gildas in the Pentateuch is familiar with the Vulgate version only. It is difficult to find a meaning for resolutum j it could hardly mean "the foot that was loose or free ;" and I have ventured to take the word in a meaning suggested by c. 21, vino madidi prepebant reso/uti, i.e., enervated, weakened, cnfeebled. Columbanus writes : Iuvenum corpora fluxa et rcsoluta.
2 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 respecling 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 feclings and ideas common to him and many of his contem- poraries.
3 Tironibus. The word tirones does not seem in Giklas 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,"
Tke Ruin of Britain. g
no short time, when I read : Tlicrc is a timc to spcak and a tivic to Eccies. iii, 7. kccp silcncc, 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 5 the mark that befits golden liberty among truth-telling creatures Heb. ii, 7. of a rational origin second to the angels, at least shrink not from imitating that intelligent ass, inspired, though mute, by the Spirit Num. xxii. of God. Unwilling it was to be the carrier of the crowned magician about to curse the people of God ; it bruised his feeble
10 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
15 magician, ungrateful and furious, was unrighteously beating her innocent sides.
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 exacted
20 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 mis- taken, will, peradventure, receive it with the tears that flow from the love of God ; the others, also, with sorrow, but the sorrow
25 which is wrenched from the anger and timidity of an awakened conscience.
2 Before, however, fulfilling my promise, let me attempt to say a 1 little, God willing, concerning the geographical situation, the stubbornness, the subjection and rebellion of our country ; also of
30 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 devasta- tion ; of the second revenge and third devastation, of famine ; of the letter to Agitius ; of victory, of crimes ; of enemies suddenly
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 timnculos 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 = catechwnenus.
io De Excidio Britanniae.
nuntiatis subito hostibus, dc famosa pestc, de consilio, de saeviore multo primis hoste, de urbium subvcrsione, de reliquis, de postrcma patriae victoria, quac tcmporibus nostris Dci nutu donata est, dicere conamur.1
1 Thc list of subjects of which Gildas intends to give a brief account, introductory to his more serious task, may be classified undcr four heads :—
(i) 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, thc second subjection and hard service. Here we have the relatioit of Britain to Romc only, Rome being God's avenger.
(2) An account of the rise of the Christian religion ; persecution (in the world at large and in Britain), martyrs, heresies.
(3) Tyrants, whose abandonment of the island left it open to the attack of thc "two nations"; defence (with the aid of a Roman legion) ; devastation, second revenge (this time again successful by Roman aid); third devastation,
T/ie Rziin of Britain. 1 1
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
5 times.
famine, letter to Aetius, victory, crimes. Gildas bcgins his account of "the two nations," Scots and Picts, not at the fioint whcn 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.
(4) The same enemies suddenly announced, the plague, the counsel enter- tained 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).
PART I.
Preliminary (cc. 3-26) : Description of Britain, Character of its Pcople ; Introductory narrative of events, extending from tJie First Parthian Peace and t/ie Roman expedition into Ih-itain which followed it, to tJic writerys own time (A.D. 117 — c. 540). Reference to the rise of Christianity and its progress in Britain inserted (cc. 7-12).
[The Cambridge MS. (Century xm) inserts here the following summary ot the part included in cc. 3-26.
Incipiunt Capitula libri Sequentis.
Capitulum I. Descriptio Britanniae insulae et quod illa divina statera terrae totius ponderatrice sit librata, de eius situ, habitu et qualitate, de amoenitate et pulcritudine, de fertilitate et ubertate, de longitudine et latitudine, de civitatibus antiquis et fluminibus praecipuis, de rivis pernitidis et leni murmure serpentibus, de lucidis fontibus et congruis animalium pastibus, de frigidis lacubus et torrentibus exundantibus.
//. De nimia tyrannide indigenarum et crudelitate saevissima ydolatrarum.
III. Quam dolose Romani Britones sibi subegerint et quam bellicose ipsis diutius reluctaverint.
IIII. Quomodo Romani postremo Britonibus praepositos vectigales prae- fecerint, ita ut non Britannia, sed Romania insula censeretur, et quicquid habere potuisset aeris et argenti vel auri, imagine Caesaris notaretur.
V. Quo tempore Christus in mundum venerit et quanta persecutio tempore Diocliciani emerserit.
VI. Quanta martyrum gloria tam in Britannia quam in universa tunc efflorucrit ecclesia.
VII. Quomodo ecclesia redivivo flore respiraverit, sed tamen Arriani contagio infecta defecerit.
VIII. Qualiter gens Britonum imperatores Romanos attriverit.
IX. Qualiter Britones arctati a Scottis et Pictis pro Romano miserint auxilio et obtinuerint ; et quale consilium Romani eis dederint, videlicet ut inter duo maria murum per milia passuum plurima trans insulam instruerent (-rint in MS.)a mari Scotiae usque ad mare Hiberniae, id est a Kair Eden civitas antiquissima, duorum ferme milium spatio a monasterio Abercurnig, quod nunc vocatur Abercorn, ad occidentem tendens, contrc occidentem iuxta urbem Alcluth. At insulani murum non tam lapidibus quam cespitibus construentes ad nihilum utilcm statuunt, qui statim Romanis repatriantibus iterum ab ipsis impugnati sunt.
These details of the morc northern wall (originally that of Hadrian, A.D. 122), from Caer Eden in the neighbourhood of the monastery of Abercurnig to Alclut, are taken partly from Beda, II. E., i, 12, partly from some othcr source ; may be from personal knowledge of the place, as the MS. was written in the North.
X. Quam miserc legati Britonum Romam iterum mittuntur, scissis vestibus, nudis pedibus, opertis sablone capitibus, lubricis gressibus, lacrimosis postula-
PART I.
Preliminary (cc. 3-26) : Description of Britain, Character of its People ; Introductory narrative of events, extending froni tJie First Parthian Peace and the Roman expedition into Britain which followed it, to the writers own time (a.d. 117 — c. 540). Reference to the rise of Christianity under Tiberius, and its progress in Britain insertcd (cc. 7-12).
tionibus, querulis vocibus, cunctis membris contrementibus, a Romanis auxilia petentes et impetrantes.
XI Quomodo Rritones rursum Romanum solatium repetierunt, et qualiter Romani sese excusaverunt, sed tamen laudare et monere coeperunt, ut murum a mari ad mare facerent, quod et fecerunt a mari Norwagiae usque ad mare Galwadiae per octo pedes latum et duodecim altum et turres per intervalla construxerunt, eo in loco ubi Severus imperator maximam fossam firmis- simumque vallum, crebris insuper turribus communitum, per CXXXII milia passuum longe ante fecerat, id est a villa, quae Anglice Wallesende dicitur, Latine vero Caput Muri interpretatur, quae est iuxta Tinemuthe ; qui murus multum distat a praefato vallo apud meridiem, quam antea apud Kair Eden supra mare Scotiae constituerunt.
The details which the scribe has added here also are partly from Beda, l. c, partly as before, from local knowledge.
XII Qualiter gens scabra Scottorum comperta excusatione Romanorum in Britones insurrexerint et eos persequendo lacesserint.
XIII. Quod Britones adhuc more solito ad Romanos mittentes nichil pro- fecerint, sed rursum suis viribus innitentes Pictos propulerint.
XIIII. Quomodo omnis iustitia a Britonibus perierit et omnis nequitia pro veritate, etiam inter religiosos, succreverit (-uent in MS.).
XV. Quod Britones pro Saxonibus miserunt et eos deo iudicante pro peccati flagello susceperunt.
XVI Qualiter gens Saxonica cum tribus kyulis (superscr., i. longis navibus) Britanniam appulerit et postea Britones impugnaverit.
XVII Quomodo Saxones sumtus maiores solito expetunt et hoc genere impugnandi materias quaesierunt et sancta dei diripuerunt.
XVIII Qualiter Ambrosius Aurelianus solus eis restiterit et quis Gildae Sapientis nativitatis annus sit.
XIX. Quomodo gens Britannica postea tota ydolatriae erroribus sit subdita.
XX. Recapitulatio singulorum, quae superius descripta sunt, epigramatum, in qua recapitulatione auctor operis promittit se maiorem librum de regibus Britonum et de proeliis eorum describendum, quem et postea facit.
There is no evidence that Gildas ever wrote a book of this description ; the Historia Britonum of Nennius may, however, be the book meant, since that work is in some MSS. attributed to Gildas, and Geoffrey of Mon- mouth quotes from it naming Gildas as author (vi, 13 ; p. 102 of Brut).
Expliciunt capita.]
14 De Excidio Britanniae.
'Ption BRITTANNIA* insula in cxtremo ferme orbis limite circium 2 ol Bntain. . ... °
Desita occidcntemque versus divina, ut dicitur, statera tcrrae totms
pondcratrice librata ab Africo boriali propensius tensa axi,
octingentorum in longo milium, ducentorum in lato spatium,1
exceptis diversorum prolixioribus promontoriorum tractibus, quae 5
arcuatis oceani sinibus ambiuntur, tenens, cuius diffusiore et, ut
ita dicam, intransmeabili undique circulo absque meridianae freto
plagae, quo ad Galliam Belgicam navigatur, vallata duorum ostiis
nobilium fluminum Tamesis ac Sabrinae veluti brachiis, per quae
eidem olim transmarinae deliciae ratibus vehebantur, aliorumque io
minorum meliorata, bis denis bisque quaternis civitatibus2 ac
nonnullis castellis, murorum turrium serratarum portarum domorum,
quarum culmina minaci proceritate porrecta in edito forti compage
pangebantur, molitionibus non improbabiliter instructis decorata ;
1 Gildas is frequently said to have derived his geographical details from Orosius (Hist., i, i, 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. Plinygives the same length and breadth : insula habetin longo milia passuum DCCC, iti lato milia cc. The words of Orosius run thus : Britannia occani insula per longum in boream extenditur ; a meridie Gallias habet .... Jiaec 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 nortir' 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 occidcntcmque 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 writcrs, see Bunbufy, History of Ancient Gcography, vol. i, p. 584, etc.
2 Twenty-eight cities. Suetonius, in Vesp. 4, mentions that there were twenty cities in Britain. It is difhcult 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 Hubner's Corpus Inscr. Lat., vol. vii, and a few
•'' We find a free rendering intoWelsh of several portions of Gildas in Ystorya Brenhined y Urytanycit, by Geoffrey of Monmouth (t A.D. 11 54). The Welsh quotations are from the edition of Thc Bruts, by Mr. Gwenogfryn Evans ; the very slight variations made will explain themselves as simply intended to render the passages easier to read.
Y rwg Freinc ac Iwerdon y mae gossodedic ; wyth cant milldir yssyd yn y hyt, a deucant yn y llet. A pha beth bynnac a vo reit y dynawl aruer o andyffygedic fifrwythlonder hi ae gwassanactha. Y gyt a hynny kyflawn yw or maes-tired Uydan ainyl, a brynneu arderchawc adas y dir dywyllodraeth, drwy
The Ruin of Britain. 1 5
3 TllE island of Britain is situated in almost the furthest limit of the vvorld, towards the north-west and west, poised in the so-called divine balance which holds the whole earth. It lies some- f what in the direction of the north pole from the south-west. It is 5 800 miles long, 200 broad, 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 advan-
10 tage 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, and some strongholds, and by great works built in an unexceptionable manner, walls, serrated towers, gates, houses, the
15 roofs of which, stretching aloft with threatening height, were firmly fixed in strong structure. It is adorned by widespread plains, hills
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" {inier urbes, quae ibidem forte ob metum hostium collocatae fiteranf). 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 Ilnd Augusta. Besides these military stations, though Gildas speaks of cuiictae coloniae and coloni in c. 24, not more than four are known that were, strictly speaking, cotoniae, viz., Eburacum, Camulodunum, Glevum, Lindum. Many small towns are named, especially towards the south and south-east ; but Wales, in Hiibner'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.
y rei y deuant amryvaelon genedloed frwytheu. Yndi hefyt y maent koetydd a llwyneu kyflawn o amgen genedloed aniueileit abwystuileit. Ac ygyt a hynny amlaf kenueinoed or gwenyn o blith y blodeuoed yn kynullaw mel. Ac y gyt a hynny gwierglodyeu amyl a dan awyrolyon vynyded. Yn y rei y maent ffynhoneu gloew eglur or rei y kerdant ffrydyeu ac a lithrant gan glaer fein. A murmur arwyftyl kerd. A hun yw y rei hynny yr neb a gysgo ar eu glan. Ac ygyt a hynny llynneu ac avonoed kyflawn o amryvaelon genedloed bysgawt yssyd yndi. Ac eithyr y perueduor yd eir droftaw y Ffreinc. Teir avon bonhedic yssyd yndi. Nyt amgen Temys, a Hymyr a Hafren. A rei hynny megis teir breich y maent yn ranu yr ynys. Ac ar hyt yrei hynny y deuant amryvael gyfnewityeu or gwladoed tramor. Ac ygyt a hynny gynt yr oed yndi wyth prif dinas arhugeint yn y theckau. — Red Book of Hergest (Evans), p. 40.
16 De Excidio Britanniae.
campis late pansis collibusque amoeno situ locatis, praepollenti culturae aptis, montibus alternandis animalium pastibus maxime convenicntibus, quorum diversorum colorum florcs humanis gres- sibus pulsati non indecentcm ceu picturam eisdem imprimebant, elccta vcluti sponsa monilibus divcrsis ornata, fontibus lucidis s crebis undis niveas veluti glareas pellentibus pernitidisque rivis leni murmurc scrpcntibus ipsorumque in ripis accubantibus suavis soporis pignus praetendentibus, et lacubus frigidum aquae torrentem vivae exundantibus irrigua. (2) Character Haec crccta ccrvice et mente, ex quo inhabitata est, nunc Deo, 4
of people. .
Decomuma- interdum civibus,1 nonnumquam etiam transmarinis regibus et
cin
subiectis ingrata consurgit. Quid enim deformius quidquc iniquius potest humanis ausibus vel esse vel intromitti negotium, quam Deo timorem, bonis civibus caritatem, in altiore dignitate positis absque fidei detrimento debitum denegare honorem et frangere divino is sensui humanoque fidem, et abiecto caeli terraeque metu propriis adinventionibus aliquem et libidinibus regi ?
Igitur omittens2 priscos illos communesque cum omnibus gentibus errores, quibus ante adventum Christi in carne omne humanum genus obligabatur astrictum, nec enumerans patriae 20 portenta3 ipsa diabolica paene numero Aegyptiaca vincentia, quorum nonnulla liniamentis adhuc deformibus intra vel extra deserta moenia snlito more rigentia torvis vultibus intuemur, neque nomi- natim inclamitans montes ipsos aut colles vel fluvios olim exitia- biles, nunc vero humanis usibus utiles, quibus divinus honor a 25 caeco tunc populo cumulabatur, et tacens vetustos immanium tyrannorum annos, qui in aliis longe positis regionibus vulgati sunt, ita ut Porphyrius4 rabidus orientalis adversus ecclesiam canis
1 Civibus. The term civcs, 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."
2 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 bc recounted. (3) Superstitious honours paid to mountains, valleys and rivers, he will not exclaim against. (4) Hc will be silent respecting the old years of tyrants, evidently having his eye parti- cularly on Maximus, a.d. 383-388.
II is attempt will be to narrate the cvils which Britain suffered herself and those which she inflicted on others " during the times of ihc Roman emperors?
The Ruin of Britain. \j
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 \
s 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 pledgeof sweet slumber, and by lakes overflowing with a cool stream of living water.
4 This island, of proud neck and mind, since it was first in-\ habited, 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,
j5 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 ?
20 I, therefore, omit 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
2S 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
30 the long years of savage tyrants, who are spoken of in other far distant countries, so that Porphyry, the rabid eastern dog in hostility
These limitations are instructive, inasmuch as they show how the narrative itself is ruled by the spirit of the whole " Epistle."
3 Portenta. Vol. vii of Hiibner'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.
4 Porphyrius rabidus orientalis adversus ecclesiam canis. Porphyry (233- 304) is called orie^italis as a Greek writer ; besides other (philosophical) works he wrote also a work in w Books "Against the Christians" (kotIi xpt-o-riavav).
C
lunc.
i 8 De Excidio Britanmae.
rieron., /> demcntiac suac ac vanitatis stilo hoc etiam adnccteret : Britannia, inquiens, fertilis provincia tyrannorum,\\\a tantum proferre conabor in medium, quae temporibus impcratorum Romanorum et passa cst ct aliis intulit civibus ct longc positis mala ; quantum tamen potuero, non tam cx scriptis patriae scriptorumve monimentis, 5 quippe quac, vcl si qua fuerint, aut ignibus bostium exusta aut civium exilii classe longius dcportata1 non compareant, quam transmarina rclatione, quac crebris inrupta intercapedinibus non satis clarct.
Etenim reges Romanorum cum orbis imperium obtinuissent c
) Subjection subiugatisque finitimis quibusque rcgionibus vel insulis orientem ibject- versus primam Parthorum pacem'2 Indorum confmium, qua peracta in omni pacnc terra tum cessaverc bella, potioris famae viribus firmasscnt, non acies flammae quodammodo rigidi tenoris ad occi- dentem caeruleo oceani torrente potuit vel cohiberi vel extingui, 15 scd transfretans insulae parendi leges nullo obsistente advexit imbcllemque populum, sed infidelem non tam ferro igne machinis, ut alias gentcs, quam solis minis vel iudiciorum concussionibus, in superficie tantum vultus presso in altum cordis dolore sui oboedi- cntiam profercntem edictis subiugavit. 20
Quibus statim Romam ob inopiam, ut aiebant, cespitis repedanti- 6
He is se\eral 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 Illus- tribus, we find the very appellation " rabid dog" applied in the plural to Celsus, 1'orphyry and Julian. Discant igitur Celsus, Porphyrius, Iulianus rabidi adversus Christum canes.
In Ep. 133, Jerome. while answering the Definitiones et Syllogismi of Coeles- tius (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 com-
sionate and merciful God has suffered whole nations, from Adam to Moses and from Moscs until the advent of Christ, to perish through ignorance of the Law and llis 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 Irish- man ; but Gil has evidently fallen into the error of ascribing the words of Jerome bimself to Porphyry. The Benedictine editors seem also to take this vievv, th.it 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 parti- cularwith such as treat ofthe doctrines of Pelagius, though the latter is not mentioned by him. We cannot, therefore, argue from his silence that he " kncw nothing" of the Pelagian heresy.
These very words are reproduced, without recognition, by the author, or
The Rniu of Britain. 19
to the Church, added this remark also in the fashion of his madness jerome, De and vanity ; Britain, he says, is a province fertile in tyrants. Those pre/, Ep. 133. evils only will I attempt to make public which the island has both suffered and inflicted upon other and distant citizens, in the times S 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
10 account of foreign writers, which, because broken by many gaps, is far from clear.
5 The Emperors of Rome acquired the empire of the world, and, by the subjugation of all neighbouring countries and islands tovvards the east, secured through the might of their superior
15 fame their first peace with the Parthians 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
20 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
25 their hearts.
5 Immediately on their return to Rome, owing to deficiency, as they said, of necessaries provided by the land, and with no suspicion
compiler, of the Book of Llan Dav, in the " Life of Dubricius" and the " Life ot Oudoceus." (See Introduction, as to materials used by Gildas.)
Vita Dubr., p. 84 : quippe cum fuerint aut ignibus hostium exusta aut exilii civium classe longius deportata. Vita Oudicei, p. 139 : quippe cum fuerint aut ignibus exusta aut exilii civium classe longius deportata. (Evans.)
1 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 expe- dition 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.
C 2
20 De Excidio Britanniae.
ilnsurrection bus ct nihil <lc rebellione suspicantibus rcctorcs sibi relictos ad Rome. enuntianda plenfus vcl confirmanda Romani regni molimina leaena
trucidavit dolosa.1 Ouibus ita gcstis cum talia senatui nuntiarentur et propcro exercitu vulpeculas ut fingcbat subdolas ulcisci festinaret, non militaris in mari classis parata fortitcr dimicare pro patria nec 5 quadratum agmen ncque dextrum cornu aliive bclli apparatus in littorc conseruntur, scd turga pro scuto fugantibus dantur et colla gladiis, gelido per ossa tremore currente, manusque vinciendae muliebriter protenduntur, ita ut in proverbium et derisum longe trgitius, lateque efferrctur, quod Britanni nec in bello fortes sint nec in pace 10
Aen. ii, 120. _ . ,
tldClCS.
mdsub- Itaque multis Romani perfidorum caesis, nonnullis ad servitutem, 7 toded ne terra penitus in solitudincm redigeretur, mancipalibus reservatis, Itemdesub- patria vini oleique experte relicta Italiam pctunt, suorum quosdam
lectione ac L * # , x
diro famu- relinquentes pracpositos indigenarum dorsis mastigias, ccrvicibus i5
iugum, solo nomen Romanae servitutis haerere facturos ac non tam
militari manu quam fiagris callidam gentem maceraturos et, si res
sic postulavisset, cnscm, ut dicitur, vagina vacuum lateri eius accom-
modaturos, ita ut non Britannia, scd Romania censeretur et quicquid
habere potuisset aeris argenti vel auri imagine Caesaris notaretur. 20
Riseof Interea glaciali frigore rigenti insulae et velut longiore tcrrarum 8
Christianity. ,...,.,. . ... -
Dereligione. secessu soli visibili non proximae verus ule non dc firmamento
•is. (Kuf. solum tcmporali, sed de summa etiam caelorum arce tempora
' cuncta excedente universo orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum
ostendens, tcmpore, ut scimus, summo Tiberii Caesaris, quo absque 25
1 Leaena dolosa. These words have been frequently understood as referring to Boudicca's revolt against Suetonius Paulinus, when the latter was in Angle- sey, A.D. 62, but the date of the " First Parthian Pcace" makes this impossible. Zimmer is of opinion that the words imply a reminiscence of that vassal queen. This, again, is not very probable, because Gil3as shows a fondness elsewhere for the term " lioness," as applied to a country : in c. 23 leaena barbara stands forthe home ofthe Saxon hordes, and in c. 27 for the kingdom of Damnonia. It is difficult to fix thc datc of this second expedition of the Romans agains* Britain. Was it tli.it of Antoninus Pius, who in 143 built the second wall — the vallum of turf — between Clyde and Fortb, or the expedition of Septimius
erus in [93? Gildas' account is extremely vague ; yet, as he mentions no other visit of Roman forces until the eud of the fourth century, and implies extensive provisions for the consolidation of the Roman power in the island, it i( improbable that hc has the successful work of Severus in his mind.
A difficulty arises with the last sentence of c. 7. Mr. Rhys (Cc/tic Britain, p. 19) concludes thal British coinage came to an end about the time of Claudius (died a.i>. 54), or soon after 69 ; and in tlie Monumenta Hist. Brii., p. clii, we read : " After the expedition of Claudius and his establishment of the
The Ruin of Britain. 21
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 5 to take vengeance on the crafty foxes, as they namcd them, there was no preparation of a fighting fieet 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 pursucrs, their necks to the sword, 10 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 Britonsrtr^ neither bravex in iv ar nor in peacefaithful.
7 The Romans therefore, having slain many of the faithless ones, 15 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 20 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 vvould 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.
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
30 whole world in the latest days, as we know, of Tiberius Caesar. At
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 " con- firming this opinion." Such confirmation is not possible if the vievv taken here be correct, i.e., that Gildas has selected the expedition of Hadiian as his starting-point, unless Giklas 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 accom- plished 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 Sevetus, 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.
22 Dt Excidio Britanniae.
ullo impedimento eius propagabatur rcligio, comminata senatu nolente a principe mortc delatoribus militum eiusdem, radios suos primum indulget, id cst sua praecepta, Christus.1
Ouae, licet ab incolis tcpidc suscepta sunt,2 apud quosdam tamen n integre ct alios minus usque ad persecutioncm Dioclctiani tyranni 5 novennem,3 in qua subvcrsac pcr totum mundum sunt ecclesiae et cunctae sacrae scripturae, quae inveniri potuerunt, in plateis exustae et electi sacerdotes gregis Domini cum innocentibus ovibus trucidati, ita ut nc vcstigium quidem, si fieri potuisset, in nonnullis provinciis Christianae religionis appareret, permansere. Tunc 10 quantae fugae, quantae strages, quantae diversarum mortium poenae, quantac apostatarum ruinae, quantae gloriosorum martyrum coronae, quanti persecutorum rabidi furores, quantae e contrario
1 If we read thissection with care \ve 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 (ui 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 Ttberius retulit ad senatum, ttt inter cetera sacra reciperctttr. Verum cum cx consulto fatrum Christianos eliminari Urbe p/acuisset, Tiberius per edictum accusatoribus Christianorum comminatus est mortcm. Scribit Tcrtitl- /ia/tits tn Apoiogetico. An. Abr. 2053.) Eus. Chron., Schone, ii, p. 151. Tert., Apo/. 5.
2 Qttac, licct ab incolis tepide suscepta sttnt. This is all that Gildas says respecting the evangclisation of Britain. Whether he knew more as to the first preachers of Christianity it is impossible to tell, but his words imply that its sprcad among the native population (incolae) of the island was exceedingly slow : they received it "coldly." Among Roman ofhcials and foreign immi- grants 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
-t thoroughly Romanised. According to the evidence furnished by Ilulmcrs seventh volume of Latin inscriptions, we gather that heathenism of various types continued long, even among these provincials. Mithra and ele, Tyrian Hercules and Phcenician Astarte, had their worshippers : at York thcre 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 1 1 ntury, that is, not very long before that Council of Arles (314) which we kno1 well. : hristian inscriptions are more numerous in Walcs 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, tln of M. le Blan< are true, that the legendary stories of a conversion
Tke Rttin of Britain. 23
that time the religion of Christ vvas propagated without any hindrance, because the emperor, contrary to the vvill of the senate, threatened vvith death informers against the soldiers of that same religion.
9 Though these precepts had a lukevvarm reception from the inhabitants, nevertheless they continued unimpaired vvith some, vvith others less so, until the nine years' persecution of the tyrant Diocletian. In this persecution churches vvere ruined throughout the vvhole vvorld, all copies of the Holy Scriptures that could be
10 found vvere burnt in the open streets, and the chosen priests of the Lord's flock butchered vvith 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 vvere then, what slaughter, vvhat punishments by different modes of death,
15 vvhat ruins of apostates, vvhat glorious crovvns of martyrs, vvhat mad fury on the part of persecutors, and, on the contrary, what
"by explosion" have no evidence whatever in their favour. " L'ecole historique n'admet point chez nous un Christianisme fait, comme on l'a dit, par explosion" (Preface, xli, Insc. Chretiennes de la Gaule). A solid historic truth lies in that curt tepide of Gildas.
3 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 (6 8eKaerr]s Xpovos, 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 copyingor 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 111 (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).
24 De Excidio Britanniae.
xiii, 10 ; sanctorum patientiae fuere, ecclcsiastica historia narrat,1 ita ut
1V' I2' agminc denso ccrtatim rclictis post tergum mundialibus tenebris
ad amocna caclorum rcgna quasi ad propriam sedem tota festinaret
ecclesia.8
HoiyMar- Magnificavit igitur misericordiam suam nobiscum Deus volcns 10
u\anctis omnes hotnines salvos fieri ct vocans non minus peccatores quam
martyribus. COS) qUj se pUtant iustos. Oui gratuito munerc, supra dicto ut
Tim. u, 4. Conicimus2 persecutionis tempore, ne penitus crassa atrae noctis
1 Ecrfesiastica historia narrat. Under this term we are to understand the Latin version of Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiasiica, 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 thc samc to Britain. But this chapter is in fact not a description oj persecution in Britain j it rather describes what took place " over the whole world" (per totitm mundum), and as such is a resumi 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, thc real object had become (as here stated by Gildas) the extermination of Christianity. It is hardly just to say : " Gilda.s' generat statement respecting this persecution rests (as usual with him) upon an unauthoi ised transference to tlie 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, ;/.). 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 moderatc. (Vide next note.)
Besides Jhe places named in Eusebius, one might consult the De Alorte Persecutorum of Lactantius ; and, in adclition to thc notes of Heinichen (pp. 381, 405) on the former, Mason on The Persecution qf Diocletian, chs. v and vi, and the notes in McGiffert's translation of Eitsebius, pp. 325, 397.
2 Ut conicimus. These words imply that Gildas had 110 definite infor- mation respecting the exact time of thc martyrdoms mentioncd in this section. The rcading of Codex x, /// cognoscimus, is evidently a gloss, echoing the fixcd tradition of thc copyist's own time. That thc martyrdom of St. Alban took pla< e during the Diocletian persccution is, therefore, a guess on the part of Gildas. He evidently found thc narrative given here in some lost Acta or Passio, and wc find that Beda has added other details from some second Acta
a Ac ynaykyuodes creulonder Dioclicianus amherawdyr Rufein, drwyyrbon v dilewyt Crisdonogaeth 0 ynys Brydein, yr hon a gynhallyssyt yndi yn gyuan yr yn oc-s Les vab Cocl y brcnhin kyntaf a gymerth cret a bcdyd yndi. Kanys Maxen tywyssawc ymladeu yr amherawdyr creulawn hwnnw a doeth yr ynys a llu mawr ganlaw. Ac 0 arch a gorchymyn yr amherawdyr y diuaawd
The Ruin of Britain. 25
patience of tJie saints, the history of the church narrates. In con- Rcv: xiii> I0 '< sequence the whole church, in close array, emulously leaving behind it the darkness of this vvorld, was hastening to the pleasant realms of heaven as to its own proper abode. IO God, therefore, as willing that all men should be saved, magni-
ficd his mercy unto us, and called sinners no less than those who 1 Tim. w, 4. regard themselves righteous. He of His own free gift, in the abovef mentioned time of persecution, as we conclude, lest Britain should be completely enveloped in the thick darkness of black night, i
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 suchaone had come into the hands of Gildas, it was natural that he should conjecture the events there nar- rated 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 dififerent, 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., AW.,Tom. 11) 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 amplifica- tion 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:
yr eglwysseu ac wynt ac agahat o lyfreu yr yfcrythur lan. Ac y gyt a hynny y merthyrynt etholedigyon effeireit, a Christonogyon fydlawn oed ufud da- rystygedic udunt y dan wed Mab Duw, mal y kerdynt yn doruoed y deyrnas gwlat nef. Ac yna y damlywychwys Mab Duw y drugared hyt na mynei bot kenedyl y Brytanyeit yn llychwin o dywyllwch pechodeu, namyn goleuhau o
26 De Excidio Britanniae.
caligine Britannia obfuscaretur, clarissimos lampades sanctorum martyrum nobis accendit, quorum nunc corporum sepulturae et passionum loca, si non lugubri divortio barbarorum quam plurima ob scelera nostra civibus adimerentur, non minimum intuentium mentibus ardorem divinae caritatis incuterent : sanctum Albanum 5 Verolamiensem, Aaron ct Iulium Legionum urbis cives1 ceterosque utriusque sexus divcrsis in locis summa magnanimitate in acie Christi perstantes dico.
Quorum prior postquam caritatis gratiaconfessorem persecutori- 1 1 bus inscctatum et iam iamque comprehendendum, imitans et in hoc 10 Christum animam pro ovibus ponentem domo primum ac mutatis dein mutuo vcstibus occuluit et se discrimini in fratris supra dicti
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 may be regarded as having gone too far when he said that he destroyed none of thc church buildings, firjre tcov (kk\t)<ticov tovs oikovs KadeXwv. 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 maiprum pracceptis videratur, conventicitla, id est parietes qui restitui poterant, dirui passus est ; vcrum 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 naine 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 Con- stantius, 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 Camorgan, and more sparsely in Monmouth and Brecknock. Vide Additional Note after c. 26.
1 Aaron et Iulium Legionum urbis cives. Of these two martyrs nothing more is known than is told us here by Gildas. Mason, in Thc Persecution of Diocletian, p. 146, calls them " two clergymen of Caerleon," an epithet the iustice of which can neither be proved nor disproved. Ur. Plummer (vol. ii, p. 20)
nadunt e hunein egluraf lampeu gleinyon verthyri. Ac yr awr hon y mae bedeu y rei hynny ac eu hescyrn ac eu creireu, yn y lleoed y merthyrwyt, yn gwneuthur diruawr wyrtheu a didanwch yr neb a edrychei arnadunt, pei na bei gwynvanus ac wylofus y Gristonogyon clybot ry wneuthur o estrawngencdyl paganyeil ar fydlawn Gristonogyon ac eu priawt genedyl e hunein y kyfryw. Ac ymplith y bonedigyon bobloed merthyri o wyr a gwraged y diodefwys seint Alban. Ac y gyt ac ef Julius ac Aaron o Gaer Llion ar Wyfc. Ac yna y
The Rttin of Britain. 27
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 thc
5 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 withiofty nobleness of mind in Christ's battle.
1 1 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 John x, 15. him in his house, and afterwards exchanging garments with him, willingly exposed himself to the danger of being pursued in the
in his Notes on Beda, says that " the story of Aaron and Julius must be con- sidered extremely doubtful," and refers us to Haddan and Stubbs, i, 6, for con- firmatiop. 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 LJandav we find evidence of the very local tradition thathas been said to be wanting. The Index of that book mentions about eighteen place-names beginning with McrtJiir (modern Welsh, Merthyr), one of which is Merthir hhi (luJii) 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 CJironicon : Cuiits industria in Hierosol. martyrium extrucittm est ; it is used also by Adamnan in his De Locis Sacris : inter illam quoque GolgotJiam basilicam et martyrittm, i, 8. Du Cange quotes Isidore, xv, 9 : Martyrium, locus martyr- ttm, Graeca derivatione, eo quod in memoriam martyris sit constructum, vel quod sepulcra sanctorum ibi sunt martyrttm (Greek, to p.apTvpwv). 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 tJie 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 mertJiyr of Julius and Aaron in the neighbourhood of Caerlleon. A grave objection may meet us here ; many of the persons whose mertJiyr 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.
kymerth seint Alban Amphibalus ydoedit awr py awr yn y dwyn oe verthyru ac y kudywys yn y dy e hun. A gwedy na thygyei hynny y kymerth y wisc ymdanaw e hun ac yd ymrodes y merthyrolyaeth droftaw, gan elewychu Crift y gwr a rodes y eneit dros y deueit. Ac odyna y deu wr ereill dnvy aneiryf boeneu ar eu korffbroed a ellygwyt y wlat nef drwy verthyrolyaeth. — Brut of Geoff, pp. 106, 107. AmfJiibalus : a name for the confessor coined by Geoffrey, probably from St. Alban's ampJiibalus or cloak.
lO.
28 De Excidio Britanniae.
vestimentis libenter pcrscqucndum dedit, ita Dco intcr sacram con- fessioncm cruorcmque coram impiis Roman tum stigmata cum horribili fantasia praeferentibus placens signorum miraculis mira- biliter adornatus cst, ut oratione fervcnti illi Israeliticae arenti viae '"• ':• minusque tritac, stante diu arca propc glareas testamenti in mcdio 5 Iordanis canali, simile iter ignotum, trans Tamesis nobilis fluvii alvcum, cum mille viris sicco ingrediens pcdc suspensis utrimque modo praeruptOrum fluvialibus montium gurgitibus aperiret et priorem carnificem tanta prodigia videntem in agnum ex lupo mutarct et una secum triumphalem martyrii palmam sitire 10 vehcmentius et excipere fortius faceret. Ceteri vero sic diversis cruciatibus torti sunt et inaudita membrorum discerptione lacerati, ut absque cunctamine gloriosi in egregiis Ierusalem veluti portis martyrii sui trophaea defigerent. Nam qui supcrfuerant silvis ac desertis abditisque speluncis se occultavere, expectantcs a iusto 15 rectore omnium deo carnificibus severa quandoque iudicia, sibi vero animarum tutamina. s. (A'«/.),ix Igitur bilustro supra dicti turbinis necdum ad integrum explcto 12 cmarcescentibusque nece suorum auctorum nefariis edictis, laetis luminibus omnes Christi tirones quasi post hiemalem ac prolixam 20 noctem tempcriem lucemque serenam aurae caelestis excipiunt. Renovant ecclesias1 ad solum usque destructas; basilicassanctorum
1 Renovant ecdesias .... basilicas sanctorum martyrum. Gildas in this chapter is, no doubt, describing the change which came after the cessation of persecution, in terms suggested to him by Eusebius through the Latin version of Rufinus : ecclesiae denotes the sacred edifices, the donius ecclesiae as they are elsewhere called, for public worship : basilicae is here employed, as frequently, for the chapels raised above the resting-place of a martyr. Basilica, as a new name for the place where the Christian assembly meets, inakes its appearance in the fourth century. The word had a wide signification : " hall," or a splendid edificc of any kind, but in Christian speech it implied a reference to the heavenly King or Basileus (ftacriXevs), and therefore was formed parallel with another less common appellation, dominicum, rh Kvpia<6v, i.e., the Lord's house. Schultze (Archaologie der Altchristlichen Kunst, 1895) strongly insists upon the newer thcory that the basilica of thc Christians is derived from the ancient Roman house, not from the basilica as judgment-hall for forensic use tion 7, Dic Basilika). This theory renders it casicr for us to understand how the mcaning becamc differentiated so as to make basilica the peculiar narhe for churches or chapels raised over the graves of martyrs and saints to commemorate their life and death. The Sacram. Celasianum (Cent, vii) con- tains a service to be used in dedicatione basilicae novae, where it is expressly called a " house of prayer," and is said to be built "in honour of a certain
nt" (in honon m sani ti illius) : we have also in the same service a benedic- tion <>f tlie altar in such basilica. The Roman Martyrology calls these buildings
The Ruin of Britain. 29
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
5 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 ; Mh. m, 17. accompanied by a thousand men, he walked through with dry
10 foot, the rushing waters on either side hanging like abrupt pre- cipices, 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
15 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
20 judgment, to themselves protection of life.
I 2 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
25 serene light of the celestial region. They repair the churches,
concilia martyrum. Jerome, Ep. 60, 12, speaks of basilicas ecclesiae et martyram conciliabula ; but in Britain, as we have seen in a previous note, the name that prevailed was mariyrium, still common in Welsh. Yet one place, apparently, has preserved basilica in Welsh. This is Bassalec (Bassaleg) in Glamorgan : see Index to Book of Llandaf, p. 273, Benedictus presbiter Bassalcc; pp. 319, 323, 333, 344, ccdesia de Basselec. Dr. Kuno Meyer has kindly sup- plied mewith several other instances where baslcc stands iorbasilica. "It occurs twice in the Calendar of Oengus, November ic)th and September 15r.l1. In the Lebor Brecc, in the passion of Partholon ii.c, Bartholomew) : 'they made a great baslec for him and placed his body into it' (p. i77a). In the Annals, edited by 0'Grady, in Silva gadelica, p. 326, A.D. 643, is an obscure quatrain :
' Iar mbreith ind rig do baislic' After carrying the king to a basilica, which means, after his burial. Baislcac is the name of a parish church in co. Roscommon, and Baisliocdn (dimin.) is the name of atownland in the parish of Kilcronane, bar. of Dunkerron, co. Kerry (0'Don., Suppl. to 0'Reilly)." Basiec, in 0'Mulconry's Glossary, is Irish for basilica {Archiv fiir Cclt. Lexikogr., i, 240, 242).
3<d De Excidio Britanniae.
martyrum fundant construunt perficiunt ac velut victricia signa passim propalant, dies fcstos celebrant, sacra mundo corde oreque conficiunt, omnes cxultant filii gremio ac si matris ecclesiae confoti.
[9) rieresies. Mansit namque haec Christi capitis membrorumqueconsonantia
I ><■ diversis . , « . c j- 1 •. • • u-
bus. suavis, donec Arriana perfidia,1 atrox ceu anguis, transmanna nobis 5
evomens venena fratres in unum habitantes exitiabiliter faceret
seiungi, ac sic quasi via facta trans oceanum omnes omnino bestiae
fcrae mortiferum cuiuslibet haereseos virus horrido ore vibrantes
letalia dcntium vulnera patriae novi semper aliquid audire volenti et
nihil certe stabiliter optinenti infigebant. 10
Itemque tandem tyrannorum virgultis crescentibus et in 1 3
10) Thetyran- immanem silvam iam iamque erumpentibus insula, nomen
l.uiv Maxi- Romanum nec tamen morem legemque tenens, quin potius abiciens
rjUSj • • germen suae plantationis amarissimae, ad Gallias magna comitante
satellitum caterva, insuper etiam imperatoris insignibus (quae nec iS
decenter usquam gessit), non legitime, sed ritu tyrannico et tumul-
tuante initiatum milite, Maximum mittit.2 Quia callida primum arte
potius quam virtute finitimos quosque pagos vel provincias contra
Romanum statum per retia periurii mendaciique sui facinoroso
regno adnectens, et unam alarum ad Hispaniam, alteram ad 20
Italiam extendens et thronum iniquissimi imperii apud Treverosb
statuens tanta insania in dominos debacchatus est, ut duos impe-
ratores legitimos, unum Roma, alium religiosissima vita pelleret.
Nec mora tam feralibus vallatus audaciis apud Aquileiam urbem
1 Perfidia = unbe\\ef or heresy, in ecclesiastical writers. "Ad quorum pcrfi- diam coarguendam synhodus cccxvm episcoporum in Niciam urbem Bithyniae congregata omnes hereticorum machinas Homonsii oppositione deleuit." — Hieron., Chron. ; Paulus Diaconus has, Arriana pcrfidia (M. G. //., x, 374).
2 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
a Ac ym pcn yspeit pump mlyned fyberwhav a oruc Maxen o amylder eur ac aryant a swllt a marchogyon. Ac yn y lle paratoi llyges a wnaeth a chynullaw attaw holl ymladwyr ynys Prydein. Ac a allwys y gael o leoed ereill a gwedy bot pop peth yn barawt kychwyn a oruc parth a Llydaw y wlat a elwir Brytaen Vechan yr awr hon. — Brut, p. 115.
b A gwedy bot pob lle o hynny yn darestygedic idaw y gossodes eistedua y deyrnas y ny dinas aelwir Treueris. Ac yna y dechrcuawd ryuelu ar y deu vroder Gracian a Valawn a oedynt amherodron yn Rufein. A gwedy llad y neill y detholes y Lla.ll o Rufein ymeith. — Brut, p. 117.
Ac yn yr amser hwnnw y llas Maxen yn Ruuein ac y gwafgarwyt a oed ygyt ac ef in Brytanyeit. Brut, p. 120. Maxen in the Welsh under c. 9 stands for
The Ruin of Britain. 31
ruined to the ground ; they found, construct, and completebasilicae 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 5 cherished in the bosom of their mother, the church.
For this svveet harmony betvveen 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 betvveen brethren dvvelling together. In this vvay, as if a path were
10 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 infiict the lethal wounds of their teeth upon a country ahvays wishful to hear something new and, at all events, desiring nothing steadfastly.
13 At length also, as thickets of tyrants vvere growing up and bursting forth soon into an immense forest, the island retained the Roman name, but not the morals and lavv ; nay rather, casting forth a shoot of its own planting, it sends out Maximus to the two Gauls, accompanied by a great crovvd of follovvers, with an emperor's
20 ensigns in addition, which he never worthily bore nor legitimately, but as one electedafter the manner of a tyrant and amid a turbu- lent 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 false-
25 hood. 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
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 qni imperatores iinum regno, alterum vita expidissef ( 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).
the Latin Maximianus, the name of Diocletian's co-emperor in the west. In this place, no doubt owing to the error in c. 27 of the Historia Britonum of Nennius (where we find Maximianus incorrectly for Maximus), it seems — but only seems — to be Welsh for Maximus. By Nennius, the persecutor and the tyrant are both named Maximianus, and through his mistake the two have the same Welsh name. Maxim Guletic occurs in " Indexes to Old-Welsh Genealogies ; " Anscombe, in Archiv fiir Celt. Lexikographie, i, 206 (1898).
;2 Dc Excidio Britanniae.
j
capitc nefando caeditur, qui decorata totius orbis capita rcgni
quodammodo deiecerat.
Exin Britannia omni armato militc, militaribus copiis, rectoribus 14
iv duabus Hcet immanibus, ingenti iuventute spoliata, quae comitata vestigiis gentibusvas- .. , , ... . ,' ...
tatricibus. supra dicti tyranm domum nusquam ultra redut, et omnis belli 5
usus ignara pcnitus, duabus primum gentibus transmarinis vehe-
menter saevis, Scotorum1 a circione, Pictorum ab aquilone calcabilis,
t2) Defcncc multos stupet gemitque annos. Ob quarum infestationem ac 1 c
madeagainst .... , . , -p, . .. •*_.■_•.«.
,!„,,„ dinssimam depressionem legatos Komam cum epistohs mittit,
militarem manum ad se vindicandam lacrimosis postulationibus 10
posccns et subiectionem sui Romano imperio continue tota animi
virtute, si hostis longius arceretur, vovens. Cui mox destinatur
lcgio"2 praeteriti mali immemor, sufficienter armis instructa, quae
ratibus trans oceanum in patriam advecta etcominus cum gravibus
hostibus congressa magnamque ex eis multitudinem sternens et 15
omnes e finibus depulit et subiectos civos tam atroci dilacerationi
ex imminenti captivitate liberavit. Quos iussit construere inter duo
maria trans insulam murum, ut esset arcendis hostibus turba
instructus terrori civibusque tutamini ; qui vulgo irrationabili
1 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 Scott/\ and Scotiaox 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 tnne 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, 1, 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 strangc, therefore, when contingents from over the seas had been, thus so long, abetting the northern barbarians, that Gildas should spcak of transmarinae gentes, though tlic Picts did not come under that designation. Beda, in copying Gildas, gives an explanation of the term : " v.-e say transmarinae gentes, not because they were outside Britain, but bccause they were remote with respect to the Britons, and two bays intervcned" (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 scas by the Roman troops : trans maria fugaverunt. The adverb, primum, has been understood as implying that this rush of Scots and Picts, about A.l>. 3S3, was their first inroad into Britain. Gildas is not guilty of surh an error, because ■primum must be taken as
The Ruin of Britain. 33
fortified by hazardous deeds of so dangerous a character, it vvas not long ere he lost his accursed head at Aquileia : he vvho had in a way cut off the crovvned heads of the empire of the vvhole vvorld.
14 After this, Britain is robbed of all her armed soldiery, of her military supplies, of her rulers, cruel though they vvere, and of her vigorous youth vvho followed the footsteps of the above-mentioned tyrant and never returned. Completely ignorant of the practice of/ vvar, she is, for the first time, open to be trampled upon by tvvo
10 foreign tribes of extreme cruelty, the Scots from the north-west, the Picts from the north ; and for many years continues stunned
1 5 and groaning. Owing to the inroads of these tribes and the con- sequent dreadful prostration, Britain sends an embassy vvith letters to Rome, entreating in tearful appeals an armed force to avenge
15 her, and vovving submission on her part to the Roman povver, uninterrupted and with all strength of heart, if the enemy vvere 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 vvith the oppressive
20 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 vvere com- manded to build a vvall across the island, between the tvvo seas, so that, vvhen strongly manned, it might be a terror to repel the
25 enemies and a protection to the citizens. The vvall being made not
qu.difying calcabilis. Previous to the departure of Maximus, carrying the Roman army with him to the continent, the barbarians had ahvays found a Roman force to contend with : now, " for the firsi time" the country is open {calcabilis) to their attack.
3 Legio. Maximus crossed over to Gaul in 383, and after the murder of Gratian was unwillingly acknowledged Emperor byTheodosius 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 stitpet gcmitque anuos) 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 Bello Getico (vv. 416-418), that it had previously served against the Picts and Scots. This legion may, therefore, have been partof the force employed in the attack now mentioned.
D
34
De Excidio Britanniae.
(13) Repeated devastation. Itemque vastatione.
absque rectore factus non tam lapidibus, quam cespitibus1 non profuit.
Illa domum cum triumpho magno et gaudio repedante illi 16 priores inimici ac si ambrones,2 lupi profunda fame rabidi, siccis faucibus ovile transilientes non comparente pastore, alis remorum 5 remigumque brachiis ac velis vento sinuatis vecti, terminos rumpunt caeduntque omniaetquaeque obvia maturam ceu segetem mctunt, calcant, transeunt. 11 1 second Itemque mittuntur qucruli legati, scissis, ut dicitur, vestibus,a 17
rcvenpc (by
Romanaid). opertisque sablonc capitibus, inpetrantes a Romanis auxilia ac 10 uhioSne.Ur veluti timidi pulli patrum fidissimis alis succumbentes, ne penitus misera patria deleretur nomenque Romanorum, quod vcrbis tantum apud eos auribus resuitabat, vel exterarum gentium opprobrio obrosum vilesceret At illi,3 quantum humanae naturae possibile est, commoti tantae historia tragoediae, volatus ceu aquilarum 15
1 Ccspitibus. 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 turfwall (murus ccspiticius) 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 r^-building 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 re-construct the no-doubt ruinous rampart : at a later period (c. 17), they are satisfied with the safer boundary between Tyne and Solway.
2 Ambrones : Eutrop. v, i, 1 : Romani consules M. Manlius et Q. Cacpio a Cimbris ct Teutonibus et Tagurinis et Ambronibus, quae erant Germanorum et Gallotum gentesvicti sunt . . . . Oros. v, 16, 9: Teutones Cimbri et Tigurini et Ambrones. A fanciful explanation of the word as used here by Gildas is given in Verr. Flacc. ap Fast., ep., p. 17 : " The Ambrones were a Gallic race, who, because they had suddenly lost their lands, owing to an inundation of the sea, began to support themselves and theirs by plunder and pillage.
a A phan gigleu y racdywedidigyon elynyon a foassynt y Iwerdon ry lad Gracian, kynnullaw a wnaethant wynteu y Gwydyl ar Yscottyeit a gvvyr Dcnmarc ar Llychynwyr ygyt ac wynt. A dyuot hyt yn ynys Brydein ae hanreithaw o dan a haearn or mor y gilyd. Ac wrth hynny anuon llythyreu a vvnaeth y Ilrytanyeit hyt yn Ruuein a dagreuawl gwynuan yndunt, gan adaw tragywydawl darostygedigaeth ac uvulldawt a theyrnget udunt .yr gollwg kanhorthwy attunt y eu rydhau y gan eu yelynyon. Ac odyna yd anuonet lleg
The Ruin of ' Britain. 35
of stone but of turf, proved of no advantage to the rabble in their folly, and destitute of a leader.
16 The legion returned home in great triumph and joy vvhen their old enemies, like rapacious wolves, fierce with excessive hunger,
5 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.
1 7 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 wretched-j ness be completely swept away, and the name of Romans, which to 15 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, moved, as far as was possible for human nature, by the tale of such a tragedy, make speed, like the fiight of eagles, unexpected in quick movements of
.... For this reason it came to pass that men of low character are called atnbrones." Holder's Altkeltische SpracJisshats gives numerous extracts from Glossaries, e.g., ambrones = luxuriori,profusi, devoratores hotninutn, devolatores, consumptores patrimoniorum. Nennius, Hist. Brit., has the word twice, c. 63 : Otnne genus ambronum (Stevenson prints, Ambronuni) ; c. 27, Saxones ambronutn (in en-or, apparently). The word is derived from a root, ambh(a)r, which may be the original of o(fj.)(3pifios = strong.
3 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, Con- stantine, 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.
o wyr aruawc attunt. A gwedy eu dyuot y ynys Brydein ac ymlad ar gelynyon eu dehol a wnaethant o holl deruyneu ynys Brydein, a rydhau y gywarsagedic bobyl or druan ormessawl geithiwet honno. Ac yr gwrthlad gormessoed a gelynyon yd archyssei Seuerus amherawdyr gynt gwneuthur mur y rwg Deifyr ar Alban or mor y gilyd. Kanys yr Alban yn gyntaf y gnottaei pob gormes dyuot or a delei y ynys Brydein. Ac yna eilweith y kawssant wynteu oe kyffredin gyghor gwyr Ruuein ar Brytanyeit atnewydu y mur hwnnw ae gwplau or mor y gilyd. — Brut, p. 120.
L) 2
36 De Excidio Britanniae.
equitum in terra, nautaram in mari cursus accelerantes inopinatos primum, tandem tcrribiles inimicorum cervicibus infigunt mucro- num ungucs casibusque foliorum tempore certo adsimilandam hisdem pcragunt stragem, ac si montanus torrens crebris tempes- tatum rivulis auctus sonoroque meatu alveos exundans ac sulcato 5 dorso fronteque acra, erectis, ut aiunt, ad nebulas undis (luminum quibus pupilli, persaepe licct palpebrarum convolatibus innovati, adiunctis rimarum rotarum lineis fuscantur) mirabiliter spumans, ast unoobiectassibi evincitgurgite moles.1 Ita aemulorum agmina auxiliares egregii, si qua tamen evadere potuerant, praepropere 10 trans maria fugaverunt, quia anniversarias avide praedas nullo obsistente trans maria exaggerabant.
Igitur Romani, patriae denuntiantesa nequaquam se tam 1 8 laboriosis expeditionibus posse frequentius vexari et ob imbelles erraticosque latrunculos Romana stigmata,2 tantum talemque 15 exercitum, terra ac mari fatigari ; sed ut potius sola consuescendo armis ac viriliter dimicando terram, substantiolam, coniuges, liberos et, quod his maius est, libertatem vitamque totis viribus vindicaret et gentibus nequaquam sibi fortioribus, nisi segnitia et torpore dissolveretur, inermes vinculis vinciendas nullo modo, scd instructas 20 peltis ensibus hastis et ad caedem promptas protenderct manus, suadentes, quia et hoc putabant aliquid derelinquendo populo commodi adcrescere, murum non ut alterum,3 sumptu publico
1 Gurgitc mo/es, cf. Verg. Ae/t., ii, 427 : Oppositasque evicit gurgite moles.
,J Romana stigmata : a stigma (a-Tiyfia) was a brand impressed upon slaves and artisans, as a mark of ownership, or for identification. Stigmata, hoc cst nota publica. fd>riccnsium bracltiis, ad invitationem tironum, inftigatur, ut hoc modo saltem possint latitantcs agnosci. Cod. Tlicod. 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 weie 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 stigina in his list of words found only in Gildas, or found very rarely.
3 Murum non ut a/tcrum. The wall of Hadrian /vbuilt of stone. Vidc
a A gwedy daruot cwplau gweith y mur y menegis gwyr Ruuein yr Brytan- yeit hyt na ellynt wy gymryt Ilafur a pherigyl ac aneiryf dreul ar wyr Ruuein ;
arueu a meirch ac cur ac aryant ar vor ac ar dir yn keissyaw amdiffyn pobyl mor lcsc ac wynteu y gan grwydyredigyon Iadron a gormessoed. A bot sened Ruuein yn blinaw o dreulaw eu da ac eu fwllt mor waftat a hynny yn kerdet mor a thir, ac yn diodef agheuolyon berigleu drostunt. A bot yn well ganthunt dilyssu eu teyrnget no hynny. Ac ygyt a hynny bot yn iawnach
The Ruin of Britain. t>7
cavalry on land and of sailors by sea; before long they plunge their terrible svvords 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,
5 sweeps over its bed in its noisy course ; vvith furrowed back and fierce look, its waters, as the saying goes, surging up to the clouds (by vvhich 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 vvith one rush overcomes obstacles
10 set in its way. Then did the illustrious helpers quickly put to fiight the hordes of the enemy beyond the sea, if indeed escape vvas at all possible for them : for it was beyond the seas that they, vvith no one to resist, heaped up the plunder greedily acquired by them year by year. 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 povver, that is an army of such size and character, be harassed by land and sea on account of un- warlike, roving, thieving fellovvs. They urge the Britons, rather,
20 to accustom themselves to arms, and fight bravely, so as to save with all their might their land, property, wives, children, and, vvhat is greater than these, their liberty and life : they should not, they urge, in any vvay hold forth their hands armourless to be bound by nations in no way stronger than themselves, unless they became
2^ cffeminate through indolence and listlessness ; but have them pro- vided vvith bucklers, svvords and spears, and ready for striking. Because they were also of opinion that it vvould bring a consider- able advantage to the people they were ieaving, they construct a wall, different from the other, by public and private contributions,
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 manyyears of neglect and ruin, must have been extensive in the extreme.
udunt ehunein kymryt dysc ac aruer o ymlad mal y gellynt amdiffyn eu gwlat ae gwraged ac eu plant ac eu goludoed ac eu rydit a thros eu buched ehunein, no dodi eu golut ar eu hymdiret yn waftat yggwyr Ruuein.
Ac yn ol y parabyl hwny y rodes y Rueinyeit gadarnyon dysgedigaethau ar ymladeu yr ergrynedic bobyl honno. Ac adaw agkreifft udunt y wneuthur aeruaeu. Ac erchi udunt adeilyat kestyll ar lann y mor yn y porthuaeu y bei disgynuaeu llogeu wrth gadw eu gwlat o honunt rac eu gelynyon. — Brut, pp. 121, 122.
38 De Excidio Britanniae.
privatoque adiunctis secum miserabilibus indigenis, solito structurae more, tramite a mari usque ad mare inter urbes, quae ibidem forte ob metum hostium collocatae fuerant, directo librant ; fortia for- midoloso populo monita tradunt, exemplaria instituendorum armorum relinquunt. [n litore quoque oceani ad meridianam plagam, quo naves eorum habebantur, quia et inde barbaricae ferae bestiae timebantur, turres per intervalla ad prospectum maris collocant, et valedicunt tamquam ultra non reversuri.
ADDITIONAL NOTE TOCC. 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 conamnr).
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 t/ie 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 prouenerint, in ipso imperio Caesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini nostri JesuChristi 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 thc 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 rcvolt of Maximus to the author's own time." I find it very difficult to accept this view. In any way some confusion in the rnind of Gildas.
The Ruin of Britain. 39
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
5 people in their fear, and leave behind them patterns for the manu- facture 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
10 farewell, as men who never intended to return.
may be assumed, who, \ve 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 expedi- tion 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 (con- tumacia) 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 known, 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 puni- tive 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 9th 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, 188)." It may not be wrong to conclude that Gildas, with some confusion in that word "yfrj/Parthian peace," has selected this instance, first of all, to point his moral of " evils suffered" for " evils infiicted" by an " unfaithful people" (a.d. 122-124).
40 De Excidio Britanniae.
2. At what time must we place thc sccond 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 \ve may regard this second visit of the Romans as that which was made under Pius Antoninus to punish renewed confhcts 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.I). 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 forccs 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 historiographi/s, as he is called by the mediseval 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 ii(3 way have contributed to the calamities of the empire. It was otherwise in 383. Was it not Britain herself that sent forih 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 ( harge of Britain herself, as Gildas represents the matter, finds no insignificant
* Thc words of Ammianus Marc, xxvii, 5, 8, have been usually understood if the Franks and Saxons ivere ravaging Britain itself along with the northern nations. But must we not understand Gallicanos vero tractus Franci ct Saxones isdem confines .... violabant. in the sense taken above?
The Ruin of Britain. 41
support in some ancient vvriters. Orosius describes the tyrannus as a man of strong character and probity, worthy to be Augustus, but created emperor against his will (in Britannia invitits 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 (tovto tois crTpaTia>Tais kutci tov jSaaiXias ere/ce /juaos, 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 tumultu 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 hewas 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 (TpaTiavbs SoXw tov Tvpdwov Ma^ip.ov dv/jprjTo, 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 narratirtg 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 foedorati, 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 figure 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 T i.eodosius the Great brings his career to an end ; he was captured and put to deati "at the third milestone from Aquileia" on August 28th (Prosper Tiro, CJiron., 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 Jirst, Britain was guilty of the old sin of unfaithfulness, and secondly, because not until then had the barbarians
4.2 De Excidio Britanniae.
found the civilised parts of thc 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 de- tachments 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, olrjdevTes Kcidori ravTtjv et\e Trpoo-rjyopiav nai fiefiaioos ovtov KpaTrjaeiv tt}s ftao-iXeias, Sozom., H. E., ix, 11; 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" (Zosiiuus, vi, 3, 1). On this act, Mr. Hodgkin, in the first volume of Italy and Her hivaders, p. 740, remarks: "Where the liege- men 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 saicl, no succour by the empire could have been despatchedto 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 men- tioned 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 lo Britain. It is certainly difficult to fmd definite evidence of such assistance. Socrates mentions
* St. Ambrose reminds Maximus, in the second embassy, of tlie latter's projcct to enter Italy "followed by barbarian battalions" (barbarorum stipatus agminibus, Ep. 24).
The Rnin of Britain. 43
Chrysanthus, a Novatian bishop at Constantinople, vvho 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 repel- ling 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 Mon. Hist. Brit., xcvii, xcviii, therefore I shall only quote the following from the poem on the Gothic war {De Bello 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
* 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 Romische Heer in Britannien, s. 27).
44 De Excidio Britanniae.
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 approxi- mately 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
(15) Third de- Itaque illis ad sua remeantibus emergunt certatim de curucis,1 19 FSttstlandby <luibus sunt trans tithicam2 vallem evecti,aquasi in alto Titane incal-
Scots- escenteque caumate de artissimis foraminum caverniculis fusci
Tertiaque .
vastatione. vermiculorum cunei, tetn Scottorum rictorumque greges, monbus
cx parte dissidentes, sed una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate s
concordes furciferosque magis vultus pilis quam corporum pudenda
pudendisque proxima vestibus tegentes cognitaque condebitorum3
reversione et reditus denegatione solito confidentiores omnem
aquilonalem extremamque terrae partem pro indigenis muro tenus
capessunt. Statuitur ad haec in edito arcis acies, segnis ad pugnam, io
(,6) The inhabilis ad fugam, trementibus praecordiis inepta, quae diebus
' DiTfaiTie ac noctibus stupido sedili marcebat. Interea non cessant uncinata
1 Curucus, or cnmca. Irish, cnrach ; Welsh, corwc ; Modern Welsh, corwg, corwgl, cwrwgl, whence English coracle. In Adamnan's Life oj 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. 26S 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.
- Tithicam valtem,an adjective formed from Tetliys or Tithis : " et infesto spumavit remige Tethys," Claudian. Celtic writers seem to have had a liking for this word, so frequently used by Claudian for " the sea." We find Gildas' adjective in thc Yita S. Winwaloei, Ana/. Boll., vii : Muro utrimque circum- datus iethico. Nennius, Hist. Britonum, c. 37, reads : et legati transfretaverunt fr<uis tithicam vallem. The Irish Liber Hymnorum, printed by the Henry
a A< yna kychwyn a wnaeth gwyr Ruuein ymeith megys arvedyr na dclynt yr ynys drachefyn. Ac ar hynny nachaf y rac dywededigyon elynyon uchot Gwinwas a Melwas yn dineu or llogeu yr tir. A llawer o niuer ganthunt or Gwydyl ar Yfcottyeit ar Fichteit ar Llychlynwyr a gwyr Denmarc a phob kenedyl or a ollyssant y gaffel y gyt ac wynt. A goresgyn yr Alban yn diannot o vywn yr mur. A gwedy gwybot o honunt ry vynet gwyr Ruucin ymeith heb obeith oe hymchoylut drachefyn ehofnach noc y gnotteynt yd ymrannassant
The Ruin of Britain. 45
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." 'Ovoopiov 8i ypdppaai irpos rds iv BpeTTavia xpr/o-apevov ttoXcis (pvXdTTeoSai (Zosimus, vi, IO, 2).
The next and final disaster came by the deliberate admission of the Saxons into the island.
19 As they were returning home, the terrible hordes of Scots and Picts eagerly come forth out of the tiny craft (civnvgs) 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
5 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 faccs with hair rather than their nakedness of body with decent clothing — these nations, on learning the departure of our helpers and their refusal
10 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.
To oppose their attacks, there was stationed on the height of the stronghold, an army, slow to fight, unwieldy for flight,
15 incompetent by reason of its cowardice of heart, which languished day and night in its foolish watch. In the meantime the barbed
Bradshaw Society (1898), gives the Hymnus S. Columbae, Altus Prosator, of which v. 118 runs :
"fier metas tithis ignoti orientalis circulV
"through the bounds of Ocean, the unknown eastern horizon."
The Life of Teilo, in Gwenogfryn Evans' edition, p. 1 1 1, has the same word = sea : Et coniinuo illud in medio tetJiis ad magnum scopulum in nomine Domini irretivit. Reeves, in his Adamnaiis Vita Columbae, says that tithicam (or tethicam) vallem is " evidently a poeticexpression denotinga marine valley, i.e., a strait or firth ;" but this hardly tallies with the next words in alto Titane = " on the ocean deep." Can it imply any more than that a person in a boat or ship on the open sea feels as lf he were in a valley — a sea valley ?
3 Condebitorum reversione : — This word is peculiar to Gildas. Beda, in the immediate context, quoting Gildas almost verbatim, yet omitting this phrase, seems to have supplied its equivalent in the word socii. H. E. i, 12.
y distryw y mur. Ac yna y gossodet y hamdiffyn wynteu y bileinllu diaruot agkyfrwys ar ymlad, parawt y ffo pei as llyuassynt. Ac ny orfowyssynt eu gelyn- yon o vwrw agheuolyon ergytyeu yn eu plith ac o vwrw bacheu gwrth wyne- bawc wrth linynneu. Ac velly y trymyon vileinllu or kestyll ac or kaeroed a tynnynt hyt y llawr. Ac yna drwy amryw boeneu y gorfennynt eu hageu.
Namyn yna yd edewit y dinassoed ar kaeroed yn wac ac yn diffeith gwedy daruot yr gelynyon llad eu kiwdawtwyr. — Brut, p. 123.
46 De Excidio Britanniae.
nudorum tela, quibus miserrimi cives de muris tracti solo allide- bantur. Hoc scilicet eis proficicbat immaturac mortis supplicium, qui tali funerc rapiebantur, quo fratrum pignorumque suorum miserandas imminentes poenas cito exitu devitabant.
Quid plura ? relictis civitatibus muroque celso iterum civibus 5 fugae, iterum dispcrsioncs solito desperabiliores, iterum ab hoste insectationes, iterum stragcs accelerantur crudeliores ; et sicut agni a lanionibus, ita dcflcndi cives ab inimicis discerpuntur, ut commoratio eorum ferarum assimilaretur agrestium. Nam et ipsos mutuo, perexigui victus brevi sustentaculo miserrimorum 10 civium latrocinando, temperabant : et augebantur externae clades domesticis motibus, quod huiuscemodi tam crebris direptionibus vacuaretur omnis regio totius cibi baculo, excepto venatoriae artis solacio. 17) Letter to Igitur rursum miserae mittentes epistolasa reliquiae ad Agitium1 20
Agitius & . r 1 &
(Aetius). Romanae potestatis virum, hoc modo loquentes : Agitio ter consuli
De ep\sto\\sgemitus Britannorum ; et post pauca querentes : repellunt barbari
Ag,tlum- 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 vagis ac nutabundis 20
haerct, quae multos eorum cruentis compulit praedonibus sine
dilatione victas dare manus, ut pauxillum ad refocillandam animam
cibi caperent, alios vero nusquam : quin potius de ipsis montibus,
speluncis ac saltibus, dumis concertis continue rebellabant. Et
i8>Thevictory tum primum inimicis per multos annos praedas in terra ap;entibu.s 25
over Ficts . . .
andScots. strages dabant, nod fidentes in homine, sed in Deo, secundum illud
De victoria.
Philonis : necesse est adesse divinum, ?ibi humanum cessat auxiliumP-
1 Agitius. Gildas seems to have had access to a copy of the actual letter scnt, but either he or the Britons made a mistake in the Consul's name. This is gencrally regarded as Aetius ; and some continental editions of Gildas, e.g., thc 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 thc lctter to him is in keeping with the times : its rlorid wording is not strange.
2 Dr. Wendland, the co-editor with Dr. Leopold Cohn of the edition of Phito that is now being published in Berlin, regards the following as thc
a Ac wrth hynny y kafas gwedillon y bobyl druan yn cu kyghor anuo llythyreu ar hynt hyt yn Ruuein att Agatius y gwr oed amherawdyr yn y mod hwnnyman. " Kwynuan ac ucheneideu y Brytanyeit yn eu dangos y Agatius amherawdyr Ruuein." Ac yn menegi "bot ymor yn eu kymell yr tir ar dorr eu gelynyon y eu llad, a bot eu gelynyon yn eu kymcll yr mor y eu bodi." Ac uelly
The Ruin of Britain. 47
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, 5 by its suddenness, from the wretched torments which threatened their brethren and relatives.
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
10 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 bc 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
!5 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. 20 The miserable remnant therefore send a letter to Agitius, a man holding high office at Rome ; they speak as follows : — To Agitius, iu Jiis third consulship, conie tJie groans of the Britons ; a little further in their request : the barbarians drive ns to the sea, the sea drives us upon tlie barbarians ; by one or other of these two nwdes of
25 death we are either killed or droivned ; 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.
3o 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. Then for the first time, they in- flicted 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
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). PJiilo vita Mosis i, 31, p. 108; Mangey : ov^ 6p.oia>s avQpwTros dpvverat Kai 6e6s .... 7rapacrKevrjs ovdefiias eori xpelos 6 deos (3or]d6s- iv airopois nopov evpelv idiov deov.
menegi " nat oed udunt namyn vn o deu peth, ae eu bodi ar y mor ae eu llad ar y tir." Ac ymchoelut awnaeth y kennadeu yn drist heb gaffel eu gwarandaw. A menegi hynny y eu kiwdawtwyr. — Brut, pp. 123, 124.
48 Dc Excidio Britanniac.
Quievit parumpcr inimicorum audacia, ncc tamcn nostrorum malitia ;
reccsscrunt hostcs a civibus ncc cives a suis sceleribus.
Moris namquc continui crat genti, sicut et nunc est, ut infirma 2 1
essct ad retundenda hostium tela et fortis essct ad civilia bella ct
peccatorum oncra sustinenda, infirma, inquam, ad excqucnda pacis 5
ac veritatis insignia ct fortis ad scelera et mendacia. Rcvertuntur
ergo impudentcs grassatores Hibcrni domos, post non longum
temporis reversuri. Picti in extrema parte insulae1 tunc primum
et deinceps rcquieverunt, praedas et contritiones nonnumquam
facientes. io
(19) Growthof in talibus itaque indutiis desolato populo saeva cicatrix obdu- crimesamong .... . ,,
the Britons. citur. Fame alia virulentiore tacitus pullulante, quiescente autem
bus. ' vastitate tantis abundantiarum copiis insula affluebat, ut nulla
habere tales retro aetas meminisset, cum quibus omnimodis et
luxuria crescit.2 Crevit etenim germine praepollenti, ita ut com- 15
1 Cor. \, i. petenter eodem tempore diceretur : omnino talis audiiur fornicatio,
qualis nec inter gentes.3- Non solum vero hoc vitium, sed et omnia,
quae humanae naturae accidere solent, et praecipue, quod et nunc
quoque in ea totius boni evertit statum, odium veritatis cum asser-
toribus amorque mendacii cum suis fabricatoribus, susceptio mali 2°
pro bono, veneratio nequitiae pro benignitate, cupido tenebrarum
pro sole, exceptio Satanae pro angelo lucis. Ungebantur reges
1 Insulae. The word has been taken as meaning Anglesey, and so furnishing evidence for a late date to this part of the De Excidio. This view connects the Picti of the present passage with the Gwyddyl Ffichti and Picti of late Welsh legends ; see Academy, September 28th and November i6th, 1895. The sense seems fixed by c. 19, where \ve find almost the same words as here : " Omncm aquilonalem extremamqiic terrae partem pro indegenis mnro tcnus capessunt." Extrcma pars insulae must have the same meaning as cxircma terrae pars, and the emphasis cannot but be on extrema, which is quite in- appropriate as applied to Anglesey. Moreover, insula, everywhere elsc in (iildas, has no meaning except Britain. The Picts acquired, in the extreme part of Britain, settled possession of lands that were more south, /.<•., nearer the Wall of Hadrian, than heretofore. Paulus Diaconus adds, concerning this
1 A gwedy dechreu 0 honunt kaffel kyfoeth a theilygdawt y rei bonhedic, ymdyrchafel a wnaethant yn ry otres a fybcrwyt yn vwy noc y deissyfei eu hanyan udunt. Ac ymrodi y odineb y ryw ny chlywit ymplith y pobloed. Ac megys y dyweit Gildas, tracthawdyr yr yftorya, bot yn vwy y pechawt hwnnw nor holl pechodeu ereill oll yi hwn a diwreida ansawd yr holl da. Sef yw hynny, kassau gwirioned ae hamdeffynwyr, a charu kelwyd a thwyll a brat ; talu drwc dios da ; enrydedu enwired a chamweithredoed dros hegarwch a hynawster, aruolledigacth y diawl dros egyl golcuat. V brenhined a detholynt
The Ruin of Britain. 49
that saying of Philo goes : we must have recourse to divine aid where Jiuman fails. The boldness of the encmy quieted for a time, but not the wickedness of our people ; the cnemy withdrew from our countrymen, but our countrymen withdrew not from th°ir sins. 2 1 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 ensigm: r>f peace and truth, yet strong for crimes and falsehood. The shai less Irish assassins, therefore, went back to their homes, to return
ioagain before long. It was then, for the first time, in the further- most part of the island, that the Picts commenced their successive settlements, with frequent pillaging and devastation.
During such truces, consequently, the ugly scar is healed for the ] deserted people. While another more poisonous hunger was silently
15 growing on the other hand, and the devastation quieting down, the island was becoming rich with so many resources of affiuence that no age remembered the possession of such afterwards : along with these resources of every kind, luxury also grew. It grew, in fact, with strong root, so that it might fitly be said at that same
20 time : such fornication is actually reported as is not even among the I Cor. v, r. 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
25 defend it, love of falsehood together with its fabricatois, under- taking evil for good, respect for wickedness rather than for kind- ness, desire of darkness in preference to the sun, thc welcoming of Satan as an angel of light. Kings were anointed, not in the n Cor. xi, 14.
settlement : nec ultra exinde hactcnus valuerunt expelli. Historia Romana, xii, 17 (Droysen, M. Ger. H.).
2 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 sus- picious, 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.
nyt yn herwyd Duw namyn yr hwnn a welynt yn greuionaf. Ac yn y lle, y rei a detholynt a ledynt, gan ethol ereill a vei greulonach. A phwy bynhac a vei arafach ac ychydic nes y garu gwiryoned, hwnnw megys gelyn ynys Prydein adistrywynt. Ac or diwed pob peth or a garei Duw o gahafal vrawt yn wrthwyneb y Duw y gwneynt onyt bot yn garedigach gantunt yr hynn a gassaei Duw. Ac uelly y gwneynt poppeth or a uei wrthwyneb y iechyt, a heb geissaw dim y gan uedyc yr holl iechyt. A hyt nat mwy y gwnaei y dynyon byt, namyn kenuein Duw e hun ae uugelyd heb dosparth a wneynt uelly.— Brut, p. 244.
E
50 De Excidio Britannme.
non pcr Dciim, sgrJ qui ceteris crudeliores exstarent, et paulo post ab unctorwjus non pro veri examinatione trucidabantur, aliis electis trucioribus. Si quis vero eorum mitior et veritati aliquatenus propior videretur, in hunc quasi Britanniae subversorem ornnium odia celaque sine respectu contorqucbantur, et omnia quae dis- 5 plicuerunt Dco et quae placuerunt, aequali saltem lance pende- bantur, si non gratiora fuisscnt displicentia ; ita ut merito patriae ilJud propheticum, quod veterno illi populo denuntiatum est, potuerit aptari. Filii, inquiens, sine lcgex dereliquistis Deum, et ad iracundiam provocastis sanctum Israel. Qnid adliuc per- 10 cutiemini apponentes iniquitatem ? Onine caput languidum et oninc cor niacrens : a planta pedis usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitas.
Sicque agebant cuncta, quae saluti contraria fuerint, ac si nihil mundo medicinae a vero omnium medico largiretur. Et non 15 solum haec saeculares viri, sed et ipse grex Domini eiusque pastores, qui exemplo esse omni plebi debuerint, ebrietate quam plurimi quasi vino madidi torpebant resoluti et animositatum tumore, iurgiorum contentione, invidiae rapacibus ungulis, indis- creto boni malique iudicio carpebantur, ita ut perspicue, sicut et 2° Jsaim. cvi, 40. nunc est, Effundi videretur contemptio super principes, scduci vanis
eorum et errore, in invio et non in via. 20) Thecom- Intcrca volente Deo purgare familiam suam et tanta malorum 22
enlmyf sud- ^aDe mfectam auditu tantum tribulationis emendare, non ignoti known made runior^s Penniger ceu volatus arrectas omnium penetrat aures 25 De nuntiatis iamiamque adventus veterum volentium penitus delere et inhabi-
subito hosti- ... ,. . .
bus. tare solito more a fine usque ad terminum regionem. Nequaquama
tamen ob hoc proficiunt, sed comparati iumentis insipientibus
'saim. xxxi.Q. strictis, ut dicitur, morsibus rationis frenum offirmantes, per latam
1 The LXX version has vlol avofiot, for which we find in Lucifer of Cagliaii filii sinc lege as here ; Cyprian's version, given in Sabatier's Antiqua Versio, isfiiii scelesti; he has also filii iniqui, and the Vulgate translates filii scelerati. W e have in these a good instance of the divergent forms to be found before Jerome. When Gildas quotes Isaiah consecutively, his extracts are from the Vulgate version, but such well-known words as these are, probably, written down from memory. For that causc wc have liere a piece of the Old Latin that was used, no doubt, in the monastery of Illtud. Cf. c. 33.
a Ar ffrwythlawn wlat a diftrywaffant oc eu teruysc. Ac ygyt a hynny drycdamwein arall hefyt a deuth udunt. Kanys a ball newyn a drycuyt a lynwys wrth y bobyl. Megys nat oed o holl ymgynhal dim y neb eithyr yr
Tke Ruin of Britain. 51
namc 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 «rruel had been elected. If, however, any one among them appeared to be 5 of a milder disposition, and to some extent more attaa">ed to truth,against him were turned without respect thehatred and <Iarts of all, as if he were the subverter of Britain ; all things, th">se which were displeasing to God and those which pleased him, ha \ at least equal weight in the balance, if, indeed, the things displeasing"
10 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, /,„,„<% i, 5, 6. have forsaken God and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. LX?\ • * IVJiy zvill ye be stricken any more when ye add iniquity ? Every -n-aaa nap&ia.
15 Jiead is zveak and every Jieart grieving ; from tJie sole of tJie foot to tJie crown tJiere 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
20 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 judge-
25 ment of good and evil, were so enfeebled that it was plainly seen,
as in the present case, that contcmpt was being poured out upon Psaim cvii, 40. princes, and tJiat tJiey were led astray by their vanities and error in a trackless place, and not on tJie way. 22 Meanwhile, when God was desirous to cleanse his family, and,
30 though defiled by such a strain of evil things, to better it by their hearing only of distress, there came like the winged fiight of a rumour not unfamiliar to them, into the listening ears of all — that their old enemies had already arrived, bent upon thorough destruc- tion, and upon dwelling in the country, as had become their wont,
35 from one end to the other. Nevertheless they in no way profited
by this news ; rather like foolish beasts, with clenched teeth, as Psahn xxxii, 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
neb a allei hela y mywn y diffeith. Ar girat newyn hwnnvv a erlynwys tymhestlus agheu, ac yn ennyt bychan a dreulwys y bobyl hyt na allei y rei buw gladu y rei meirw.
E 2
/vr. XXIX, 10.
52 De Excidio Britanniae.
diversqrum vitiorum morti proclive ducentem, relicto salutari licet arto itineve, discurrebant viam. Dum ergo, ut Salomon ait,
Servus durus non emendatur verbis,
21) 1 he noted flagellltur stultus et non sentit, pestifera namque lues fcralitcr plague. • • . , ,
De famosa msipienti populo incumbit, quae in brevi tantam eius multitudinem S
refaoto mucrone sternit, quantam ne possint vivi humare. Sed
iic hac quidcm cmendantur, ut illud Esaiae prophctac in eo quoque
'.>.//. \.\ii, u, imijlerctur diccntis : et vocavit Deits ad planctum et ad calvitium 13. *
£t ad ciugulum sacci : ecce vitulos occidere et iugulare arietes, ecce
manducare et bibere et dicere : manducemus et bibamus, cras cnim IO
moriamur.
'eiibera- Appropinquabat siquidem tempus, quo eius iniquitates, ut
,se the olim Amorrhaeorum, complerentur. Initur namque consilium, quid
Scots am!he optimum quidve saluberrimum ad repellendas tam ferales et tam
>n.\nns in- crebras supra dictarum gentium irruptiones praedasque decerni J5
ii! u.c:. .-e- deberet.
pulsion. ™ ..... , ,
De consilio. lum omnes consiliarn una cum superbo tyranno1 caecantur, 23
1 Superbo tyranno. 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" («XX' ovo-a vrru rupavvois an' avrov ffxevfv). Codex A reads tyranno Uortigerno, and X tyranno GurtJiigcrno Britannornm duce (giving thus its later form to the name, in the same way as Gucnedotia takes the place of Venedotia), and the words of course appear in Gale's edition based on the latter MS. The name mayhave slipped into MSS. of Gildas from the Historia Britonwn of Nennius, or perhaps from Beda //. K., i, 14!, who writes, placuitque omnibus ciun rcge suo Uortigerno, and in the Chronicte, Vertigerno. Nearly all the MSS. of Nennius have the late form, Guorthigernus, which in Welsh becomes Gwrtheym. That Gildas is not ignorant of the former predatory visits of the Saxons (as attested by Ammianus Marcellinus, and by the early title " Count ofthe Saxon shore"), is evident from the words, " whom in their absence they feared more than death." Men are not fearcd in their absence except through previous unhappy acquaintance, so that thc lliitons must havc had experience of the hated Saxons at times anterior to this compact struck with them. The same conclusion may also bc dravvn from the closing scntence 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 bc feared." These could be no other than the Saxons. Zimmer appears to me entirely wrong in concluding that British tradition, c. 540, knew nothiny of a previous presence of the Saxons in Britain : "von einer friiheren anwesenheit derselben in Brittanicn weiss sie absolut nichts" {Nennius Vindic, 190).
I here is nothing dircct in the narrative of Gildas to lix the ckite of this
The Ruin of Britain. 53
the narrow way though it was the path of salvation. Whilst then, according to the words of Solomon, Tlie siubbom sekvant prov. xxix, 19. is not corrected by ivords, the foolish nation is scourged and feels it not : for a deadly pestilence came upon the unwise people which,/ 5 in a short time, without any sword, brought down such a nurnber of them that the living were unable to bury the dead.
But they were not corrected even by this pestilence, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled in them : And God Zias Kfsaia» xxii, 12, called to lamcntation and to baldness and t/ie girdle of sack-clotli : 10 be/iold t/iey kill calves, and slay rams, beJiold tJiey eat and drink s and say, ' Let us eat a/td drink,for to-nwrrow let us dicJ
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 15 upon, as the best and safest to repel such fatal and frequent irruptions and plunderings by the nations mentioned above. 23 At that time all members of the assembly, along with the proud tyrant, are blinded ; such is the protection they find for their
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 considi, 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 (i, 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 circitcr 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 longum temporis reversuri) ; to meet tliat 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. Germanicc Hist., vol. ix, p. 660), opposite a.d. 441-442, gives : Brittanicc 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 tlie English keel. Geoffrey of Monmouth changes it into tres celoces, quas longas naues dicimusj in the Welsh, deir llog hirion.
Prolixiorem catastam, cf. c. 109: rectius erat ut ad carcerem vel catastam
.'/. XIX",
54 Dc Excidio Britanniae.
adinvenientes tale praesidium, immo excidium patriae, ut ferocis- simi illi nefandi nominis Saxones Deo hominibusque invisi, quasi in eaulas lupi, in insulam ad retundendas aquilonales gentes intro- mitterentur. Ouo utique nihil ei usquam perniciosius nihilque amarius factum est. O altissimam sensus caliginem ! O desper- abilem crudamque mentis hebetudinem ! Quos propensius morte, cum abesscnt, tremebant, sponte, ut ita dicam, sub unius tecti tt. culmine invitabant. Stulti principes, ut dictum est,1 Taneos dantes
Pharaoni consilium insipiens. Tum erumpcns grex catulorum de
Mv.nspi-ove cubili leaenae barbarae, tribus, ut lingua eius exprimitur, cyulis, 10
Tud/han nostra longis navibus, secundis velis, omine auguriisque, quibus
' vaticinabatur, certo apud eum praesagio, quod ter centum annis
ore patriam, cui proras librabat, insideret, centum vero quinquaginta,
ftulto priinis ..... . . .
loste. hoc est dimidio tempons, saepius vastaret, evectus, primum m
orientali parte insulae iubente infausto tyranno terribiles infixit 15 ungues, quasi pro patria pugnaturus, sed eam certius impugnaturus. Cui supradicta genetrix, comperiens primo agmini fuisse pros- peratum, item mittit satellitum canumque prolixiorem catastam, quae ratibus advecta adunatur cum manipularibus spuriis. Inde germen iniquitatis, radix amaritudinis, virulenta plantatio nostris 10 condigna meritis, in nostro cespite, ferocibus palmitibus pampi- nisque pullulat. Igitur intromissi in insulam barbari, veluti mili- tibus et magna, ut mentiebantur, discrimina pro bonis hospitibus subituris, impetrant sibi annonas dari: quae multo tempore imper- titae clauserunt, ut dicitur, canis faucem. Item queruntur non 25 affluenter sibi epimenia contribui, occasiones de industria color- antes, et ni profusior eis munificentia cumularetur, testantur se cuncta insulae rupto foedere depopulaturos. Nec mora minas effectibus prosequuntur.
pocnalcm quam ad sacerdotium traheremi/r', where catasta must mean a scafifold 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 011 military tactics is furnished by Du Cange, where the word is used for a heap of felled wood : Faciat lignaria incidere de quibus fiant in diversis locis foci in dic suae discessionis, et accensis catastis lignorum statim discedat cum suo exercitu. Such a meaning would easily give the signification of a raft, in which sense < lildas employs the word here as a contemptuous expression with ratibus. Dr. Davies, in his Latin-Welsh Dictionary, gives the Welsh carchardy =prisan- 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 ahorse, equuleus, or a"bed of iron" on which martyrs were placed, fire being kindled beneath. Scala, vel genus ■pocnac equuleo similis is quoted from a gloss in Mai,
J3-
The Ruin of Britain. 55
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 thenorthern
nations. Nothing more hurtful, certainly, nothing more bitter,
happened to the island than this. What utter depth of darknoss
of soul ! What hopeless and cruel dulness of mind ! The men
whom, when absent, they feared more than death, were invited by 1
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 /n»* xix, n,
10 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
i5 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 partofthe island, as men intending to fight for the country, but
20 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,
25 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 hard- ships for their kind entertainers. These provisions, acquired for a
30 length of time, closed, as the saying is, the dog's maw. They com- plain, again, that their monthly supplies were not copiously con- tributed 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 whoie of the island.
35 They made no delay to follow up their threats with deeds.
Tom. vii, p. 554, and from Aug. in Psalm 96 : Habebant gandia in catasta, qui CJiristitm prcedicabant inter tormenta. Several Acta furnish examples : for instance, Acta Perpetuae et Felicitatis : Ascendi/nus in catasta = sca.f(old.
1 Taneos is the Greek genitive Tdvews. Zoan was called Tanis by the Greeks. ol apxovres Tdvews = princes 0/ Zoan. Jerome did not revert to the Hebrew name in revising the Latin here.
$6 De Excidio Britanniae.
24) Destruc- Confovebatur namque ultionis iustac praecedentium scclerum 24
tion ol cil ' l
1 » urbium causa de mari usque ad mare ignis orientali sacrilcgorum manu cxag- subversione. _ . . . . .
■ ratys, ct finitimas quasque civitates agrosquc populans non
quievit accensus, doncc cunctam paene exurens insulae superficiem
rubra occidentalem trucique oceanum lingua delamberet.1 In hoc 5
,1» impctu, Assyrio olim in Iudaeam comparando, completur
quoquc in nobis secundum historiam, quod propheta deplorans ait :
Incenderunt igni sanctuarium tnitm ;
v,;/w. ix\i'i,7. in terra polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui.
Et itcrum, IO
De?is, venerunt gentes in hereditatem tuani ;
\ lm. lxxviii, coinquinarunt templum sanctum tuuni;2
1
ct cetera. Ita ut cunctae coloniae crebris arietibus omnesque coloni
cum praepositis3 ecclesiae, cum sacerdotibus ac populo, mucronibus
undique micantibus ac flammis crcpitantibus, simul solo sterncr- 15
entur et miserabili visu in medio platearum ima turrium edito
cardine evulsarum murorumque celsorum saxa, sacra altaria,
cadaverum frusta, crustis ac si gelantibus purperei cruoris tecta,
velut in quodam horrendo torculari mixta viderentur, ct nulla esset
omnimodis praeter domorum ruinas, bestiarum volucrumque ventres 20
in medio sepultura, salva sanctarum animarum reverentia, si
tamen multae inventae sint, quae arduis caeli id temporis a
sanctis angelis veherentur. Ita enim degeneraverat tunc vinea illa
isai. xxiv, 13. olim bona in amaritudinem, uti raro, secundum prophetam, videretur
quasi post tergum vindemiatorum aut messorum racemus vel spica. 25
25) Tho rem- Itaque nonnulli4 miserarum reliquiarum in montibus deprehensi 25
nant of the
population. ■ " — ■ — ■
Success of ...-,_,..
Ambrosius The meanmg \ve attach to this descnption 01 the Saxon mvasion, espe-
Aurelianus. cially the words " from sea to sea," " the western ocean," has an important
beanng on the date of the De Excidio. See Introduction.
2 Jerome's first revision of the Old Latin Psalter, made A.D. 383, and called Psalterium Romanum, rcads, as Gildas here, coinquinaruht (ifiiavav in LXX). But the second, the Psalterium Gallicum of a.d. 392, preserved in the Vulgate, has polluerunt, which is the rendering of eB(fSrjka><rav 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.
:: Praepositis ecclesiae. " The four terms, episcopits, sacerdos, antistes, ■pracpositus, are used for bishop. The first three have only this one sense . . . Propositus normally means a bishop, . . . but in 514.18 praepositi are the clergy in thc absence of the bishop : in 475. 15 praepositi et diaconi are synonymous" (E. W. Watson, "The Style and Language of St. Cyprian," in Studia Bid/ica, vol. iv, p. 257). What is said here of Cyprian's use of these four terms holds true, for the most part, of Gildas about two hundred years later.
4 Nonmilli .... alii .... alii . . . alii, < rildas describes the fate of his
TJie Ruin of Britaiu. 57
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
5 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 : — 1
10 TJiey Jiave bumt witJi fire tJiy sanctuary in tJie Jand, Psaim ixxiv, 7.
TJiey Jiave defiJed tJie tabernacJe of tJiy nanie ;
and again,
O God, tJie gentiJes Jiave conie into tJiine inJieritance, Psaim ixxix, 1.
TJiey Jiave defited tJiy Jioly temple,
15 and so forth. In this way were all the settlements brought low with the frequent shocks of the battering rams ; the in- habitants, 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
20 were seen in the midst of streets, the bottom stones of towers with tall beam5 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
25 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 vine-J yard, at one time good, had then so far degenerated to bitter fruit, that rarely could be seen, according to the prophet, any cluster of /w^xxiv, 13.
30 grapes or ear of corn, as it were, behind the back of the vintagers or reapers.
25 Some of the wretched rcmnant were consequently captured on
countrymen in this struggle. (i) 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 distncts and the rugged sea-coasts. These last are the re/iqiaae, 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
Or, with lofty door.
58 De Excidio Britanniae.
acervatim iugulabantur : alii fame confecti accedentes manus hostibus dabant in aevum servituri, si tamcn non continuo truci- darentur, quod altissimac gratiae stabat loco : alii transmarinas pctcbant regiones1 cum ululatu magno ceu celeumatis vice2 hoc modo sub vclorum sinibus cantantes,
halm. xiiii, 12. Dedisti nos tamquam oves escarum,
et in ge?itibus dispersisti nos : a
alii montanis collibus minacibus praeruptis vallatis et densissimis saltibus marinisque rupibus vitam suspecta semper mente credentes,
had retumed 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.
1 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, may be 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 Ernigration 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. Meianius, is named Eusebius, his d-dughlev Asfiasia, and the " villa " in which he resides Prima Viila. Every- where, on the contrary, where the Britons are established, the namesof 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), pioi, piou, pieu, f/o (p/rbs = Welsh p/iuyf meaning at first a congrcgation, then the district inhabited by the congregation
The Ruin of ' Britain. 59
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, vvith 5 strong lamentation, as if, instead of the oarsman's call, singing thus beneath the swelling sails :
T/1021 hast given us likc sheep appoiuted for eating, A nd anwng the gentiles hast tJiou scattered us.
Others, trusting their lives, alvvays with apprehension of mind, to 10 high hills, overhanging, precipitous, and fortified, and to dense
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) : \ve 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 whichforms 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 ci-ossing 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 con- verge 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, Ieft their native land and settled in Britany. (Vide UEmigration bretonne en Armorique, par J. Loth. 1883.)
2 Celeumatis vice. In a copious note on KeXeva-fMa (or KeXevLia, a later form) by Blomrield, Glossariitm in Persas (Aesch.), p. 151, v. 403, which gives apt illustra- tive passages as to the meaning of the Greek word, Isidore is quoted : Aliter ; celeiima est carmen quod navigantes canere solent, vel clamor nauticus, id est, vox nautarum. Celeuma in this passage of Gildas has a similar meaning, implying the sailors' joyous song when at work, or in nearing port. Jerome, Epp. 14, 10, shows this meaning well : expandenda vela sicnt ventis,et quaes- tionum scopulis transvadat/s lactantium more nautarum epilogi celeuma cantandu/n est.
Psalm xliv, 12.
a Ac wrth hynny y rei truan a dihegis yn vydinoed y foynt dros y moroed gan gwynuan a drycyruerth y dan arfett yr hwyleu gan dywedut yn y megys hynn. Duw, ti an rodeist ni megys deueit a yssit, ac an giuasgereisst ymplith y ke)iedloed (Ps. xliv, 12). — Brut, p. 252.
6o De Excidio Briianniae.
in patria licet trepidi perstabant. Tempore igitur interveniente
aliquanto, cum reccssissent domum1 crudelissimi praedones, robor- ante Deo reliquiae, quibus confugiunt undique de divcrsis locis miserrimi cives, tam avide quam apes alvcarii procella imminentc, simul deprecantes eum toto corde et, ut dicitur, 5
Verg. Aen. ix, Innumeris o/ierautes aethera votis,
24-
ne ad internicionem usque delercntur, duce Ambrosio Aureliano2 viro modesto, qui3 solus forte Romanae gentis tantae tempestatis collisione, occisis in eadem parentibus purpura nimirum indutis, superfucrat, cuius nunc temporibus nostris suboles magnopere avita 10 bonitate degeneravit, vires capessunt, victores provocantes ad proelium : quis victoria domino annuente cessit. (26) The finai jtx eo tempore nunc cives, nunc hostes, vincebant, ut in ista 26
victory over ... ,
theSaxons. gente expenretur dominus solito more praesentem Israelem, utrum MonsBado- diligat eum an non; usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis,4 15
nicus.
De postrema
patriae vic-
toria quae i Domum : this can only mean the place assigned to them by treaty in
rfosteisDet Britain, not their original home on the Continent. The sentence, therefore,
nutu donata implies an ebb in the flood of Saxon conquest. est.
2 Ambrosio Aureliano. Ambrosius Aurehan has become known in Welsh
hterature as Emrys Wledig, or, as the Historia Britomim 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 modesti/s,
which implies kindness of disposition with unassuming manners : the mention
of this quality goes far to prove that the information had come to Gildas ftom
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
Aurc-lian himself assumed imperial power " for the struggle" (co/iisiom' for col-
lisione) 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 cadcm parentibus regium nomen et insigne Jercntibus.
H. E., i, 16. With Beda agrees the Hisioria 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 tlie Britons (rex Britonum). Maximus is also styled Maxim Guletic (Archiv
fiir Celt. Lexicogr., i., s. 206), but, in the case of both, its implication appears
to be that of a commander. GeoftYey of Monmouth absurdly makes him the
son of the tyrannus Constantine, whom he reprcsents 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
The Ruin of Britaiu. 61
forests and rocks of the sea, remained in their native land, though vvith fear.
After a certain length of time the cruel robbers returned to
their home. A remnant, to whom wretched citizens flock from
5 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,
that they should not be utterly destroyed, take up arms and
10 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
15 ancestral nobleness. To these men, by the Lord's favour, there
came victory.
26 From that time, the citizens were sometimes victorious, some-
times 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
20 not. This continued up to the year of the siege of Badon Hill, and
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 Constaiitimis Constanteni filiuni suum — pro dolor .' — ex monacho Caesarem factuni — 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 concpier 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.
3 Quis. For quis or queis ( = quibus). Zimmer notices in Nennius Vindic, p. 315, the fondness for this form of the dative in the Latinity of a certain circle of Celtic writers. Q reads queis here, A has quibus.
4 Ad annum obsessionis Badonici nwntis. 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 Uorset. " Its elevated site, its great strength and evident importance, and its nanie, all alike
62 De Excidio Britanniae.
novissimaeque ferme dc furciferis non minimae stragis, quiquc quad- ragesimus quartus1 (ut novi) orditur annus, mensc iam uno emenso, qui et meae nativitatis est. Sed ne nunc quidem,ut antea, civitatcs, patriae inhabitantur ; sed dcscrtae dirutaequc hactenus squalent,- cessantibus licet cxternis bellis, sed non civilibus. Haesit etenim _- tam dcsperati insulae3excidii insperatique mentio auxilii memoriac corum, qui utriusque miraculi tcstcs cxtiterc : et ob hoc regcs, publici, privati, saccrdotes, ecclesiastici, suum quique ordinem servarunt. At illis deccdcntibus cum successisset aetas tempestatis illius nescia et praesentis tantum serenitatis experta ita cuncta 10 vcritatis ac iustitiae moderamina concussa ac subversa sunt, ut earum non dicam vestigium, sed nc monimentum quidem in supra
favour the hypothesis " (vol. ii, p. 189). His hypothesis was accepted by Free- man 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-hury and Bad-on-\cus 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 Anna/es Cambriae place Belluin Badonis opposite a doubtful date (A.D. 516) ; a fragment published in the Brut oi Llyfr Coch o Hergest speaks of tlie " battle of Badwn " (gweith Badivri) p. 404, while other parts of the Brnt 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 Britonuin (p. 130 Mommsen's edn.) ; De stagno ca/ido, in quo balnea sunt Badonis (baths of Badon) secunduin uniuscuiusque voti desiderium. Cf. Camden's Britannia, Somerseishire, p. 70 (edn. of 1645).
1 Quique quadragesimus quartus There has been much contro-
versy 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 Ce/tiquc, 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 Anna/es Cambriae is incorrect. Certainly a.d. 516 cannot be the date of that battle for several reasons ; the entry in the Annales Cam- briae 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 under- standing his words to convey the meaning of forty-four years after the settle- ment of the Saxons. But the French scholar inserts the words advcntus eorum in Britanniam before ut novi. In the note on Ambrosius Aurelian we have had an instance of the vvay in which Beda mixes literal quotations from Gildas with his own words, interpreting the latter's meaning in better words or phrases. As 110 MS. authority exists for this insertion of M. de la Borderie's, it seems
The Ruin of Britain. 63
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 5 formerly ; deserted and dismantled, they lie neglected 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 flxed in the memory of those who have survived as witnesses of both marvels. Owing to this (aid)
10 kings, magistrates, private persons, priests, ecclesiastics, severally preserved their own rank. As they died away, vvhen 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
x5 remembrance of them is to be found among the ranks named
far better to regard the words adventns eorum in Britanniam as Beda's own interpretation of Gildas. Ussher (vol. v, p. 544) holds that Beda has mis- understood Gildas's words, and gives himself the following paraphrase of the passage : " perinde ac si di.visset, 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 quf\ orditur annus mense iam uno emenso, qui et meae nativitatis est, then the meaning is perfectly clear. (Mon. 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 onlygive the meaning deduced by Ussher, and favoured by Mommsen.
2 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).
3 A very new and, to many, startling explanation of these words is given by Mr. A. Anscombe in Academy, September 8th, 1895. " The phrase insulae excidii (mentio) has been assumed to refer to the loss of the island of Britain by the Britons : it, of course, refers to the occupation of Mon, or Anglesey, by Edwin of Deira (617-633)." This way of explaining the phrase seems to me to be completely set aside by the last words of chapter 23. " They (the Saxons) declare that they would break the treaty and lay waste all parts of the island (Britain)." Insula must have the same meaning in that passage and this.
04 De Excidio Britanniae.
dictis propemodum ordinibus apparcat, cxccptis paucis1 ct valde paucis, qui ob amissionem tantae multitudinis, quae cotidic prona ruit ad tartara, tam brcvis numerus habentur, ut cos quodammodo venerabilis matcr ecclesia2 in suo sinu recumbentes non videat, quos solos veros filios habet. Quorum nc quis me egregiam vitam S omnibus admirabilem Deoque amabilcm carpere putet, quibus nostra infirmitas in sacris orationibus ut non penitus conlabatur, quasi columnis quibusdam ac fulcris salubcrrimis sustentatur, si qua liberius de his, immo lugubrius, cumulo malorum conpulsus, Rom.ix.is. qui scrviunt non solum ventri, sed diabolo potius quam Christo,ro qni cst benedictus in saccula Deus, non tam disceptavero, quam deflevero. Ouippe quid celabunt cives, quae non solum norunt, sed exprobrant iam in circuitu nationes ?
1 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 fevv that even the venerable mother, the church, hardly knous 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 Episfota — 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 dis- ciphnc of thc individual soul unto holiness, ;is Eucher's beautiful De Conlemptu Mundi describes it. Gildas, though a monk, is mixing in the battle of public life, and thc prcsent work is part of the task which he fearlessly carried out. " There was a prophet of the people in thc time of the Britons called Gil- das. Ile wrote about their misdeeds: how they so angcrcd God, that at last I Ic
Thc Ruin of Britain. 65
above. I make exception of a fcw — 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 amanner does not observe them as they rest in her bosom. They are the S only real children she has. Let no man think that I am slander- ing the noble life of these rnen, admired by all and beloved of God, by whom my weakness is supported so as not to fall into entire ruin, by holy praycrs. as by columns and serviceable supports. Let no one think so, if in a somewhat excessively free-spoken, yea, 10 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 evcr. YorkRomansxx., 15. why will fellow-citizens hide what the nations around already not only know, but reproach us with ?
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 110 doubt a fuller meaning than hitherto, wlicn 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 correspond- ence of such men as Finnan, a sanctorwn Hiberniae magister, shows to have been valued in distant places (Columb., Ep. I, in M. Gcrm. H, iii, 159). His vvords, however, imply — strange though it seems — that monasticism had not spread largely in Britain by c. 540. See Introduction.
2 Mater ecclesia is of constant occurrence in ecclesiastical Latin as early as Cyprian ; matris sinus also in the same connection.
PART II.
General Denunciation of Princes and Judges.
R.EGES habet Britannia, sed tyrannos ; iudiccs habet, sed impios;27 sacpe praedantes et concutientes, sed innocentes ; vindicantes et patrocinantes, sed reos et latrones ; quam plurimas coniuges haben- tes, sed scortas et adulterantes ; crebro iurantes, sed periurantes ; voventes, sed continuo propemodum mentientes ; belligerantes, 5 sed civilia et iniusta bella agentes ; per patriam quidem fures magnopere insectantes et eos, qui securn ad mensam sedent, non solum amantes, sed et munerantes, eleemosynas largiter dantes, sed e regione inmensum montem scelerum exaggcrantes ; in sede arbitraturi sedentcSj sed raro recti iudicii regulam quaerentes ; 10 innoxios humilesque despicientes, sanguinarios superbos parricidas commanipulares ct adulteros Dei inimicos, si sors, ut dicitur, tulerit, qui cum ipso nomine certatim delendi erant, ad sidera, prout possunt, efferentes ; vinctos plures in carceribus habentes, quosdolo sui potius quam merito proterunt catenis onerantes; inter 15 altaria1 iurando demorantes et haec eadem ac si lutulenta paulo post saxa despicientes.
1 Attaria saxa. YVe seem to find here some evidence that the
custom of having the eucharistic table in thc form of a stone altar had sp.':ead into Britain. At first it was the ordinary table of a private house, and evcn when the names ara, altare, altarium (vide Ronsch, p. 259) came into use, and stone was substituted for wood, thc original idea of a table was still pre- served in the four columns, round or angular, which supported the horizontal table-like part of it. Thc term " table " (mensa) also continued side by side withattare. It is significant that in Gildas this (altare) is the only word uscd. Ara was generally avoided, having heathcn affinities ; as, for instance, when Cyprian, in Efi. 65, writes quasi fiost aras diaboli accedere ad altare Deifas sit. Illustrations of ancient altars, from the fifth and sixth centuries, are common. Schultze (ArcJiiiologic dcr Altchr. Ku/ist, 1895) sa>'s : " As to material, there is evidence of both wood and slonc, without anything to decidc which material had the prefercnce, in thc fourth ccntury. The wooden altar possessed with- out doubt the sacredness of tradition, but, on the othcr hand, the stone altar corresponded to the tendency there was in the Church towards the monu- mental and artistic. For this reason, in the fifth century, the newly-built altars must have been of stone. When, at the beginning of thc sixth century, a Gallic Synod dccides that only stone altars should be consecrated, this is not evidcnce •if .1 new tendency, but rathcr that thc old order had already changcd. In
PART II. General Denunciation of Princes and Judges.
2J KlNGS Britain has, but they are as her tyrants : she has judges, but they are ungodly men : engaged in frequent plunder and dis- turbance, but of harmless men : avenging and defending, yea for the benefit of criminals and robbers. They have numerous wives, S though harlots and adulterous women : they swear but by way of forswearing, making vows yct 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
IO not only esteem but even remunerate. Alms they give profusely, but over against this they hcap 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,
i5 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
20 altars in the oaths they make, and shortly aftervvards look with disdain on these same altars as if they were dirty stones.
Syria, 011 the other hand, there were wooden and stone altars in use even in the seventh century."
" Of greater significance was the change of form which came in during the fifth century, that is, the substitution for the table-altar of the closed altar. This last form is not found before the fifth century, and it appears that it was not the prevailing form in Christian antiquity. The Eastern Church has generally kept to the table form. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the change had its motive in the cult or adoration of martyrs. We can go further, and say that the origin of this form of altar is to be sought in the martyr chapels, from whence, in a time disposed to the adoration of martyrs, they found their way easily into the churches." (§ 12, pp. 117-119.) These martyr chapels were common in Britain before 540, but a still more significant change is implied in the words inter altaria jurando demorantes, "theylinger among the altars." Not until the end of the sixth century is there clear undis- puted evidence of more than one altar in the same church. (Erst am Ende des sechsten Jahrhunderts vollzug sich unter der Wirkung des Reliquenkultus eine Vc-rmehrung. Schultze, p. 123.) Gregory the Great (died 604), in Ep. 49, 6,
F 2
68 De Excidio Britanniae,
Denanciation of tlie Five Princes.
(i) Constantius Cuius tam nefandi piaculi non ignarus est immundae leaenae 28 ofDamnonia. „ . . . . . r. TT .
Damnomae1 tyranmcuscatulus- Constantmus. Hoc anno, post hor-
ribilc sacramentum iuramenti, quo sc devinxit nequaquam dolos
civibus, Dco prirnum iureque iurando, sanctorum demum choris et
genctrice comitantibus fretis, facturum, in duarum vencrandis 5
matrum sinibus, ecclesiae carnalisque, sub sancti abbatis amphibalo,:;
latera regiorum tenerrimapuerorum vel praecordia crudelitcr duum
totidemque nutritorum1 — quorum brachia nequaquam armis, quae
nullus paene hominum fortius hoc eis tcmpore tractabat, sed Deo
altarique protenta in die iudicii ad tuac civitatis portas, Christe, 10
veneranda patientiac ac fidci suae vexilla suspendent — inter ipsa,
ut dixi, sacrosancta altaria nefando ense hastaque pro dentibus
laceravit ita ut sacrificii caelestis sedem purpurea ac si coagulati
cruoris pallia attingerent.
Et hoc ne post laudanda quidcm merita egit, nam multis ante !5
annis crebris alternatisque factoribus adulteriorum victus lcgitima
uxore, contra Christi magistrique gentium interdictum, depulsa,
Matth. xix, 6. dicentium : quod Deits coniunxit, homo 11011 separet, et : viri, diligite
',."'' uxores vestras. Amarissima enim quoddam de vite Sodomorum in
r. 111, 19. *
Deut. xxxii, cordis sui infructuosa bono semini gleba surculamen incrcdulitatis 2°
32.
et insipientiae plantaverat, quod vulgatis domesticisque impictatibus velut quibusdam venenatis imbribus irrigatum, et ad Dei offensam avidius se erigens parricidii sacrilegiique crimen produxit in
mentions thirteen altars in one church. But the present passage seems to imply that the custom of having several altars had reached Britain before the middlc of the sixth century. The same may be concluded from the descrip- tion in the next section of the murder perpetrated inter ipsa sacrosancta altaria. It may, however, be better not to regard British altars as inadc of stone.
An early Irish Tract in the Lebor Breac, describing the mode of consecratin^ a church, provcs plainly that the altar then vvas of wood, because the bishop carves crosses on the altar and church (also of wood). In 1187 a Synod, held at Dublin, prohibits the celebration of the missa 011 a wooden altar. /'/</<• also Ussher, iv, 500. I am indebted for this reference to Dr. Kuno Meyer.
1 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 thc priests (i.e., bishops) of Damnonia." A poem addressed to Aldhelm about thc same datc reads —
" quando profcctus fueram Usque diram Domnoniam per carentem Cornubiam."
Cornubin (Cornwall seems to have been a separate kin;^dom.
Thc Ruin of ' Britain. 69
Denunciation of tlie Five Princes.
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 5 first to God, and secondly to the choirs of saints and those who follow them, in reliance upon the mother (the church), he never- theless, 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 fiesh — together with
10 thcir two guardians. And their arms, stretched forth, in no way to armour, which no man was in the habit of using more bravely '^an 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,
I5 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.
This deed he committed, after no meritorious acts worthy of praise ; for, many years previously he was overcome by frequent
20 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 JiatJi joined Jet man not Matt. xix, 6. separate, and : Hnsbands love your wives. For he planted, of " x'..9'
r ^ L Cotoss. 111, 19.
tJie bitter vine of Sodom in the soil of his heart, unfruitful Deut. xxxii, 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
2 Seegrex catutorum = ihe Saxons (c. 23); catule leonine, of Caninus (c. 30) ; vultus catulorum leonis (c. 33).
3 Ampliibalo : a cloak or outer garment worn by clerics and monks. Ussher, vi, 59. Cf. Birrum suum qucm Graeci amfibalum vocant deponere voluit tefrigerandi gratia. Vincentius de Deicola, disciple of Columbanus. Adamnan's Vita Co/., i, 3 ; ii, 6. Sulp. Sev., DiaL, ii, 1 : intra amphibalum sibi tunicam latenter eduxit. Also Greg. Turon., De Gloria Confess., 59. It is probable that the original form was amphimallum, which, according to a Scholiast of Juvenal, was the ancient name forthe mantle worn by flamens and persons of distinction.
4 Nutritontm : ut nutricius paedagogus, rector pueri. Greg. Turon., Hist. Fr., viii, 22 : Wandelinus nutritor Childeberti regis obiit, sed in locum eius nullus est subrogatus, eo quod regina niater curam velit proprinn? habere de filio. Du Cange.
yo De Excidio Britanniae.
mcdiuin. Sed nec adhuc priorum retibus malorum expeditus priscis recentia auget malis.
Age iam (quasi praescntem arguo, quem adhuc supercssc non 29 nescio) quid stupcs, animae carnifcx propriac ? Quid tibi flammas inferni voluntarie accendis nequaquam defecturas ? Quid inimi- 5 corum vice propriis te confodis sponte ensibus hastis? an ne ipsa quidem virulcnta scelerum ac si pocula pectus tuum satiare quive-
Ma///i. \\, 28. runt? Respicc, quaeso, et veni ad Christum, siquidem laboras et inmenso pondere curvaris, et ipse te, ut dixit, reqniescere faciet ;
Ezech. xxxm, venj acj eurri) qUj non vn/f peccatoris /norte/u, sed /tt convertatur 10
Esai. lii, 2. et vivat ; dissolve secundum prophetam vincula colli tui, fili Sion ; redi, rogo, e longinquis licet peccatorum recessibus ad piissimum patrcm, qui despicienti porcorum sordidos cibos ac pertimescenti
Luc. xv, 15-23. dirae famis mortem, et revertenti sibi laetus occidere consuevit
vitulum filio saginatum ct proferre primam erranti stolai/i et x5 regium anuluin, et tum spei caelestis ac si saporem praegustans
Psaim. xxxin, sent;jeS) quam suavis est Dominus. Nam si haec contempseris, scias te inextricabilibus tenebrosisque ignium torrentibus iam iamque inferni rotandum urendumque.
(2) Aureims Quid tu quoque, ut propheta ait, cat/tle leo/tinc, Aureli Canine,1 3°
Goi. xiix, 9. agis ? Nonne eodem, quo supra dictus, si non exitiabiliore parri- cidiorum fornicationum adulteriorumque caeno, velut quibusdam marinis irruentibus tibi voraris feraliter undis? Nonne pacem patriae mortiferum ceu serpentem odiens civiliaque bella et crebras iniuste pracdas sitiens animac tuac caelestis portas pacis ac 25 rcfrigerii praecludis ? Relictus, quaeso, iam solus ac si arbor in medio campo arcscens recordare patrum fratrumque tuorum super- vacuam fantasiam,2 iuvenilem inmaturamque mortem. Num cen- tennis tu ob religiosa merita vel coaevus Mathusalae exceptus
Psaim. vii, 13. paene omni prole servaberis ? Nequaquam. Sed nisi citi/ts ut 30 psalmista ait, conve rsus fueris ad Dominum, citse/u in tc vibrabit i/t • xxxii, 39- brevi suum rex ille, qui per prophetam ego, inquit, occidam et ego vivere facia/u ; percutiam et ego sanabo, et uoii est, qui de iitanii iuea
1 . iii, 2. possit eruere. Quam obrem excutere de faetido pulvere tuo ct convcr-
1 Aurelius Caninus : Wc have no place mcntioncd as forming thc kingdom of tliis prince. It seems natural, with Zimmer {Nenn. l'/i/</.,p. 307), to regard it as lying between Damnonia and thc next named Demetia. llis kingdom might well include parts of the present counties of Somerset, Gloucester, Mon- mouth, Cilamorgan, and Caermarthen, perhaps, with Caerlleon {Legionum urbs) as capital. Geoffrey of Monmouth reads Conane. Dr. Guest is inclined t<> conclude that Constantine and Aurelius Conan were the degeneratcd
The Ruin of Britain. yi
not yet free from the nets of prior sins he heaps new crimes upon old ones. 20 Come now! (I reprove, as if present, one whom I know to be yet surviving). Why art thou confounded, thou murderer 5 of thine ovvn soul ? Why kindlest thou, of thine own accord, the ceaseless fiames 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
10 thee, and come to Christ, since tJiou labourest and art bent down Matt. xi, 28. with thy huge burden, and He, as He has said, will give thee rest. Ezek. xxxiii, Come to Him who willeth not tJie deatJi of a sinncr, but tJiat he [sai'ah lii, 2. sJiould be couverted and livc : breaJz, according to the prophet, the cJiaius of tJiy neck, tJwu sou of Sion. Return, I pray, though from
15 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 Jdniself — has been accustomed in Luke xv, 15-23. gladness to kill tJic fatted calf and to briug forward tJie first garnicnt and royat ring for the erring one, and with a foretaste of
20 heavenly hope thou shalt feel how tJie Lord is kind. For if thou Ps^mxxxiV> despisest these admonitions, know that thou shalt even soon be vvhirled round and burnt in helTs indescribable dark floods of fire. 30 Thou also, lion whelp, as the prophet says, what doest thou, Gcn- xlix' 9- Aurelius Caninus ? Art thou not swallowed up in the same, if not
25 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
3o 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
35 unless, as the Psalmist says, thou be very speedity converted to the Psatmvin.i?,. Lord, that King zvill soon brandisJi Jiis sword against tJiee ; who says by the prophet : / will kill and L will makc alive : I shatt Deut. xxxii^y wound and I shall Jieal, and thcre is uouc tJiat cau deliver out ofmy
descendants of Ambrosius Aurelianus, mentioned in c. 25. This is not a con- clusion that one can well rest in.
- Fantasia in ecclesiastical Latin = superbia^ Cf. cc. 11, 34, 67.
72
De Excidio Britanniae.
Psaim. ii, 13. tere at] eum toto corde, qui creavit te, ut cum cxarserit in brevi ira eius, beatus sis sperans in eum, sin alias, aetcrnae te mancbunt pocnae conterendum sacva continuc et nequaquam absumendum tartari fauce. rtiporius, Quid tu quoque, pardo similis moribus et nequitiis discolor, 3 l netae e canescente iam capite, in throno dolis plenoet ab imis vertice tenus diversis parricidiis et adulteriis constuprato,