So that all the columns were levelled with the ground by the frequent strokes of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen routed, together with their bishops, priests, and people, whilst the sword gleamed, and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers, tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been squeezed together in a press; and with no chance of being buried, save in the ruins of the houses, or in the ravening bellies of wild beasts and birds; with reverence be it spoken for their blessed souls, if, indeed, there were many found who were carried, at that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels.
So entirely had the vintage, once so fine, degenerated and become bitter, that, in the words of the prophet, there was hardly a grape or ear of corn to be seen where the husbandman had turned his back.
Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation. But in the meanwhile, an opportunity happening, when these most cruel robbers were returned home, the poor remnants of our nation to whom flocked from divers places round about our miserable countrymen as fast as bees to their hives, for fear of an ensuing storm , being strengthened by God, calling upon him with all their hearts, as the poet says,-- "With their unnumbered vows they burden heaven," that they might not be brought to utter destruction, took arms under the conduct of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a modest man, who of all the Roman nation was then alone in the confusion of this troubled period by chance left alive.
His parents, who for their merit were adorned with the purple, had been slain in these same broils, and now his progeny in these our days, although shamefully degenerated from the worthiness of their ancestors, provoke to battle their cruel conquerors, and by the goodness of our Lord obtain the victory.
After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field, to the end that our Lord might in this land try after his accustomed manner these his Israelites, whether they loved him or not, until the year of the siege of Mount Badon [Note: Giles translates "Badonici montis" as "of Bath-hill"], when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was as I am sure forty-four years and one month after the landing of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity.
And yet neither to this day are the cities of our country inhabited as before, but being forsaken and overthrown, still lie desolate; our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles still remaining. For as well the remembrance of such a terrible desolation of the island, as also of the unexpected recovery of the same, remained in the minds of those who were eyewitnesses of the wonderful events of both, and in regard thereof, kings, public magistrates, and private persons, with priests and clergymen, did all and every one of them live orderly according to their several vocations.
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. Now, criticizing a ruling king is a risky business, so Gildas veils his writings as metaphors and veiled allusions based on Biblical tales. Gildas saw the devastation wrought by Germanic invaders as the wrath of God visited upon the British for the sins of their churchmen and kings.
Who was Gildas? Gildas's own origins are obscure; he may have been Welsh, or Irish, but there is little solid evidence for either. Later tales suggest that he was the son of a Pictish king, but no contemporary sources support that hypothesis. In truth, we know little of the man beyond his name. Unfortunately, we are on shaky ground about this battle; the date is commonly assumed to be between - AD, at an unknown location.
Gildas may have died around the year AD, but even there we are on uncertain ground. He was obviously well educated, and his Latin is evidence of a scholarly mind.
Gildas first rose to prominence in the writings of the Venerable Bede. Gildas is one of these. Gildas is a diligent student, and upon reaching manhood, goes to Gaul to further his studies. After seven years, Gildas returns to Britain and becomes renowned as a preacher. In the days of King Trifinus, Gildas preaches every Lord's day in his church by the sea-shore, in the district of Pepidiauc.
But one day, no words come forth. Wanting to know if this supernatural impediment comes from one of the people, he asks them to leave the church. They do so. But still Gildas cannot preach. Gildas then asks if anyone is hiding in the church. The voice of Nonnita answers him. She is hiding between the doorway and the walls. Gildas asks her to leave and calls the rest of the people back. Gildas can now preach.
God afterward reveals to Gildas that Nonnita is pregnant with a child St. David who will have far more holy power than he does. Arthur at last killed Hueil on the Isle of Man. When Gildas returns to Britain, large numbers of the clergy and other folk gather together to reconcile Arthur and Gildas. Gildas, as always, is courteous to his enemy, and each kisses the other. King Arthur accepts the penance imposed by the bishops who are present. Gildas brings a bell which he has made to the Pope in Rome.
But it will not ring. On inquiry by the Pope, Gildas relates how Saint Cadoc had asked for that bell, but Gildas had refused it to him. The Pope suggest that the bell be given to Cadoc, which Gildas does on his return to Britain. Thereupon the bell will ring again. Cadoc, the Abbot of Nancarban, asks Gildas to run his school for a year. During this time, Gildas copies a gospel, which is highly esteemed. On the island of Echin Gildas lives alone for seven years.
He founds an oratory. God provides a stream for him. After searching for a year, Arthur discovers where she is, and besieges Glastonia with the armies of Cornubia and Dibneria Cornwall and Devon.
Five kings of Britain are named by him and he exposes the corrupt and wicked life of each one of them, at the same time pouring threats of eternal punishment upon each. The most important of these five is Maelgwn Gwynedd. According to the Annales Cambriae Maelgwn died of the great plague in A.
The writing of the De Excidio can therefore be assigned to a period before that year. Gildas quotes from a letter sent by the Britons to the Roman Agitius to ask for help against the barbarians.
Agitius is addressed as 'consul for the third time' - it is known that a man named Aetius held that post in Nowhere does he give the year of any happening except one and he succeeded in doing that through the medium of an expression which is so obscure that scholars have for centuries been arguing as to its meaning.
The Saxons had come here as the result of the stupidity of a foolish ruler Gwrtheyrn who had invited them to become his hired soldiers to fight against the Picts and the Scots. They turned against him who had hired them and despoiled the island.
They were defeated at last by Emrys Ambrosius in a battle. Thenceforward the Britons were sometimes the victors, but sometimes the mercenaries were victorious, for a period the termination of which is marked in these words - 'usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis, novissimaeque ferme de furciferis non minimae stragis, quique quadragesimus quartus ut novi orditur annus, mense iam uno emenso, qui et meae nativitatis est. One is forced to explain it in this way, in order to make sense of it: 'and this year begins the four and fortieth year afterwards - one month has passed already.
This is the second month and forty-fourth year since the victory of Mount Badon 'as I know full well, because that year was the year of my birth. Badon was almost the last big slaughter of the strangers. This shows that some fighting with them continued, but over forty years of peace had been secured. The number of those who could remember the victories of Emrys and Arthur was becoming smaller from year to year.
0コメント