The works of Gildas and Nennius / Translated from the Latin, and with the former translations carefully compared and corrected. By J.A. Giles.

  • Gildas
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of Gildas and Nennius / Translated from the Latin, and with the former translations carefully compared and corrected. By J.A. Giles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and see, yea, in this very world, how had and bitter a thing it is for thee to leave the Lord thy God, and not have his fear before thine eyes, and in the next, how thou shalt be burned in the foul encompassing flames of endless fire, nor yet by any manner of means shalt ever die. For the souls of the sinful are as eternal in per- petual fire, as the souls of the just in perpetual joy and gladness. § S3. And likewise, O thou dragon of the island, who The reproof hast deprived many tyrants, as well of their kingdoms cu^fgl° as of their lives, and though the last-mentioned in my writing, the first in mischief, exceeding many in power, and also in malice, more liberal than others in giving, more licentious in sinning, strong in arms, but stronger in working thine own soul’s destruction, Maglocune, why art thou (as if soaked in the wine of the Sodomiti- cal grape) foolishly rolling in that black pool of thine offences ? Why dost thou wilfully heap like a moun- tain, upon thy kingly shoulders, such a load of sins ? Why dost thou show thyself unto the King of kings (who hath made thee as well in kingdom as in stature of body higher than almost all the other chiefs of Britain) not better likewise in virtues than the rest; but on the contrary for thy sins much worse l Listen then awhile and hear patiently the following enumera- tion of thy deeds, wherein I will not touch any domestic and light offences (if yet any of them are light) but only those open ones which are spread far and wide in the knowledge of all men. Didst not thou, in the very be- ginning of thy youth, terribly oppress with sword, spear, and fire, the king thine uncle, together with his coura- geous bands of soldiers, whose countenances in battle were not unlike those of young lions? Not regarding the words of the prophet, who says, “ The blood-thirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;” and even if the sequel of thy sins were not such as en- sued, yet what retribution couldst thou expect for this
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