3. The island of Britain, situated on almost the utmost border
of the earth, towards the south and west, and poised in the divine
balance, as it is said, which supports the whole world, stretches
out from the south-west towards the north pole, and is eight
hundred miles long and two hundred broad[1], except where the
headlands of sundry promontories stretch farther into the sea.
It is surrounded by the ocean, which forms winding bays, and is
strongly defended by this ample, and, if I may so call it,
impassable barrier, save on the south side, where the narrow sea
affords a passage to Belgic Gaul. It is enriched by the mouths
of two noble rivers, the Thames and the Severn, as it were two
arms, by which foreign luxuries were of old imported, and by
other streams of less importance. It is famous for eight and
twenty cities, and is embellished by certain castles, with walls,
towers, well barred gates, and houses with threatening battlements
built on high, and provided with all requisite instruments of
defence. Its plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly
situated, adapted for superior tillage, and its mountains are
admirably calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle, where
flowers of various colours, trodden by the feet of man, give it
the appearance of a lovely picture. It is decked, like a man's
chosen bride, with divers jewels, with lucid fountains and abundant
brooks wandering over the snow white sands; with transparent
rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs, and offering a sweet pledge
of slumber[2] to those who recline upon their banks, whilst it
is irrigated by abundant lakes, which pour forth cool torrents
of refreshing water.
[1] The description of Britain is given in very nearly the same
terms, by Orosius, Bede, and others, but the numbers denoting
the length and breadth and other dimensions, are different in
almost every MS. Copy.
[2] "Soporem" in some MSS., "saporem" in others; it is difficult
from the turgidity and superabundance of the style to determine
which is the best meaning.
4. This island, stiff--necked and stubborn--minded, from the
time of its being first inhabited, ungratefully rebels, sometimes
against God, sometimes against her own citizens, and frequently
also, against foreign kings and their subjects. For what can
there either be, or be committed, more disgraceful or more
unrighteous in human affairs, than to refuse to show fear to God
or affection to one's own countrymen, and (without detriment to
one's faith) to refuse due honour to those of higher dignity, to
cast off all regard to reason, human and divine, and, in contempt
of heaven and earth, to be guided by one's own sensual inventions?
I shall, therefore, omit those ancient errors common to all the
nations of the earth, in which, before Christ came in the flesh,
all mankind were bound; nor shall I enumerate those diabolical
idols of my country, which almost surpassed in number those of
Egypt, and of which we still see some mouldering away within or
without the deserted temples, with stiff and deformed features
as was customary. Nor will I call out upon the mountains, fountains,
or hills, or upon the rivers, which now are subservient to the
use of men, but once were an abomination and destruction to them,
and to which the blind people paid divine honour. I shall also
pass over the bygone times of our cruel tyrants, whose notoriety
was spread over to far distant countries; so that Porphyry, that
dog who in the east was always so fierce against the church, in
his mad and vain style added this also, that "Britain is a land
fertile in tyrants."1 I will only endeavour to relate the
evils which Britain suffered in the times of the Roman emperors,
and also those which she caused to distant states; but so far as
lies in my power, I shall not follow the writings and records of
my own country, which (if there ever were any of them) have been
consumed in the fires of the enemy, or have accompanied my exiled
countrymen into distant lands, but be guided by the relations of
foreign writers, which, being broken and interrupted in many places
are therefore by no means clear.
[1] Gildas here confuses the modern idea of a tyrant with that
of an usurper. The latter is a sense in which Britain was said
to be fertile in tyrants, viz. In usurpers of the imperial dignity.
5. For when the rulers of Rome had obtained the empire of the
world, subdued all the neighbouring nations and islands towards
the east, and strengthened their renown by the first peace which
they made with the Parthians, who border on India, there was a
general cessation from war throughout the whole world; the fierce
flame which they kindled could not be extinguished or checked by
the Western Ocean, but passing beyond the sea, imposed submission
upon our island without resistance, and entirely reduced to
obedience its unwarlike but faithless people, not so much by fire
and sword and warlike engines, like other nations, but threats
alone, and menaces of judgments frowning on their countenance,
whilst terror penetrated to their hearts.
6. When afterwards they returned to Rome, for want of pay, as
is said, and had no suspicion of an approaching rebellion, that
deceitful lioness (Boadicea) put to death the rulers who had been
left among them, to unfold more fully and to confirm the enterprises
of the Romans. When the report of these things reached the senate,
and they with a speedy army made haste to take vengeance on the
crafty foxes,1 as they called them, there was no bold navy on
the sea to fight bravely for the country; by land there was no
marshalled army, no right wing of battle, nor other preparation
for resistance; but their backs were their shields against their
vanquishers, and they presented their necks to their swords, whilst
chill terror ran through every limb, and they stretched out their
hands to be bound, like women; so that it has become a proverb
far and wide, that the Britons are neither brave in war nor faithful
in time of peace.
[1] The Britons who fought under Boadicea were anything but "crafty
foxes." "Bold lions" is a much more appropriate appellation; they
would also have been victorious if they had half the military
advantages of the Romans.
7. The Romans, therefore, having slain many of the rebels, and
reserved others for slaves, that the land might not be entirely
reduced to desolation, left the island, destitute as it was of
wine and oil, and returned to Italy, leaving behind them taskmasters,
to scourge the shoulders of the natives, to reduce their necks to
the yoke, and their soil to the vassalage of a Roman province;
to chastise the crafty race, not with warlike weapons, but with
rods, and if necessary to gird upon their sides the naked sword,
so that it was no longer thought to be Britain, but a Roman island;
and all their money, whether of copper, gold, or silver, was
stamped with Caesar's image.
8. Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a
distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received
the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true
Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the
temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses
every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without
impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with its
professors.
9. These rays of light were received with lukewarm minds by the
inhabitants, but they nevertheless took root among some of them
in a greater or less degree, until the nine years' persecution
of the tyrant Diocletian, when the churches throughout the whole
world were overthrown, all the copies of the Holy Scriptures
which could be found burned in the streets, and the chosen pastors
of God's flock butchered, together with their innocent sheep,
in order that not a vestige, if possible, might remain in some
provinces of Christ's religion. What disgraceful flights then
took place-what slaughter and death inflicted by way of punishment
in divers shapes,--what dreadful apostacies from religion; and
on the contrary, what glorious crowns of martyrdom then were won,
--what raving fury was displayed by the persecutors, and patience
on the part of the suffering saints, ecclesiastical history informs
us; for the whole church were crowding in a body, to leave behind
them the dark things of this world, and to make the best of their
way to the happy mansions of heaven, as if to their proper home.
10. God, therefore, who wishes all men to be saved, and who calls
sinners no less than those who think themselves righteous, magnified
his mercy towards us, and, as we know, during the above-named
persecution, that Britain might not totally be enveloped in the
dark shades of night, he, of his own free gift, kindled up among
us bright luminaries of holy martyrs, whose places of burial and
of martyrdom, had they not for our manifold crimes been interfered
with and destroyed by the barbarians, would have still kindled
in the minds of the beholders no small fire of divine charity.
Such were St. Alban of Verulam, Aaron and Julius, citizens of
Carlisle, 1 and the rest, of both sexes, who in different places
stood their ground in the Christian contest.
[1] Or Caerleon.
11. The first of these martyrs, St. Alban, for charity's sake
saved another confessor who was pursued by his persecutors, and
was on the point of being seized, by hiding him in his house, and
then by changing clothes with him, imitating in this example of
Christ, who laid down his life for his sheep, and exposing himself
in the other's clothes to be pursued in his stead. So pleasing
to God was this conduct, that between his confession and martyrdom,
he was honoured with the performance of wonderful miracles in
presence of the impious blasphemers who were carrying the Roman
standards, and like the Israelites of old, who trod dry-foot an
unfrequented path whilst the ark of the covenant stood some time
on the sands in the midst of Jordan; so also the martyr, with a
thousand others, opened a path across the noble river Thames,
whose waters stood abrupt like precipices on either side; and
seeing this, the first of his executors was stricken with awe,
and from a wolf became a lamb; so that he thirsted for martyrdom,
and boldly underwent that for which he thirsted. The other holy
martyrs were tormented with divers sufferings, and their limbs
were racked in such unheard of ways, that they, without delay,
erected the trophies of their glorious martyrdom even in the gates
of the city of Jerusalem. For those who survived, hid themselves
in woods and deserts, and secret caves, waiting until God, who
is the righteous judge of all, should reward their persecutors
with judgment, and themselves with protection of their lives.
12. In less than ten years, therefore, of the above-named persecution,
and when these bloody decrees began to fail in consequence of the
death of their authors, all Christ's young disciples, after so
long and wintry a night, begin to behold the genial light of heaven.
They rebuild the churches, which had been levelled to the ground;
they found, erect, and finish churches to the holy martyrs, and
everywhere show their ensigns as token of their victory; festivals
are celebrated and sacraments received with clean hearts and lips,
and all the church's sons rejoice as it were in the fostering
bosom of a mother. For this holy union remained between Christ
their head and the members of his church, until the Arian treason,
fatal as a serpent, and vomiting its poison from beyond the sea,
caused deadly dissension between brothers inhabiting the same house,
and thus, as if a road were made across the sea, like wild beasts
of all descriptions, and darting the poison of every heresy from
their jaws, they inflicted dreadful wounds upon their country,
which is ever desirous to hear something new, and remains constant
long to nothing.
13. At length also, new races of tyrants sprang up, in terrific
numbers, and the island, still bearing its Roman name, but casting
off her institutes and laws, sent forth among the Gauls that bitter
scion of her own planting Maximus, with a great number of followers,
and the ensigns of royalty, which he bore without decency and
without lawful right, but in a tyrannical manner, and amid the
disturbances of the seditious soldiery. He, by cunning arts rather
than by valour, attaching to his rule, by perjury and falsehood,
all the neighbouring towns and provinces, against the Roman state,
extended one of his wings to Spain, the other to Italy, fixed
the seat of his unholy government at Treves, and so furiously
pushed his rebellion against his lawful emperors that he drove
one of them out of Rome, and caused the other to terminate his
most holy life. Trusting to these successful attempts, he not
long after lost his accursed head before the walls of Aquileia,
whereas he had before cut off the crowned heads of almost all
the world.
14. After this, Britain is left deprived of all her soldiery
and armed bands, of her cruel governors, and of the flower of
her youth, who went with Maximus, but never again returned; and
utterly ignorant as she was of the art of war, groaned in amazement
for many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations--the
Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north.
15. The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts,
their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambassadors to
Rome with letters, entreating in piteous terms the assistance of
an armed band to protect them, and offering loyal and ready
submission to the authority of Rome, if they only would expel their
foes. A legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion,
and provided sufficiently with arms. When they had crossed over
the sea and landed, they came at once to close conflict with their
cruel enemies, and slew great numbers of them. All of them were
driven beyond the borders, and the humiliated natives rescued
from the bloody slavery which awaited them. By the advice of their
protectors, they now built a wall across the island from one sea
to the other, which being manned with a proper force, might be a
terror to the foes whom it was intended to repel, and a protection
to their friends whom it covered. But this wall, being made of
turf instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who
had no head to guide them.
16. The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and
triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening wolves,
rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold which is left without a
shepherd, and wafted both by the strength of oarsmen and the
blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and spread slaughter
on every side, and like mowers cutting down the ripe corn, they
cut up, tread under foot, and overrun the whole country.
17. And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with their
garments rent and their heads covered with ashes, imploring
assistance from the Romans, and like timorous chickens, crowding
under the protecting wings of their parents, that their wretched
country might not altogether be destroyed, and that the Roman
name, which now was but an empty sound to fill the ear, might
not become a reproach even to distant nations. Upon this, the
Romans, moved with compassion, as far as human nature can be, at
the relations of such horrors, send forward, like eagles in their
flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry by land and mariners
by sea, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders of
their enemies, they mow them down like leaves which fall at the
destined period; and as a mountain-torrent swelled with numerous
streams, and bursting its banks with roaring noise, with foaming
crest and yeasty wave rising to the stars, by whose eddying
currents our eyes are as it were dazzled, does with one of its
billows overwhelm every obstacle in its way, so did our illustrious
defenders vigorously drive our enemies' band beyond the sea, if
any could so escape them; for it was beyond those same seas that
they transported, year after year, the plunder which they had
gained, no one daring to resist them.
18. The Romans, therefore, left the country, giving notice that
they could no longer be harassed by such laborious expeditions,
nor suffer the Roman standards, with so large and brave an army,
to be worn out by sea and land by fighting against these unwarlike,
plundering vagabonds; but that the islanders, inuring themselves
to warlike weapons, and bravely fighting, should valiantly protect
their country, their property, wives and children, and, what is
dearer than these, their liberty and lives; that they should not
suffer their hands to be tied behind their backs by a nation which,
unless they were enervated by idleness and sloth, was not more
powerful than themselves, but that they should arm those hands
with buckler, sword, and spear, ready for the field of battle;
and, because they thought this also of advantage to the people
they were about to leave, they, with the help of the miserable
natives, built a wall different from the former, by public and
private contributions, and of the same structure as walls generally,
extending in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities,
which, from fear of their enemies, had there by chance been built.
They then give energetic counsel to the timorous natives, and
leave them patterns by which to manufacture arms. Moreover, on
the south coast where their vessels lay, as there was some
apprehension lest the barbarians might land, they erected towers
at stated intervals, commanding a prospect of the sea; and then
left the island never to return.
19. No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots, like
worms which in the heat of the mid-day come forth from their
holes, hastily land again from their canoes, in which they had
been carried beyond the Cichican1 valley, differing one from
another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for blood,
and all more eager to shroud their villainous faces in bushy hair
than to cover with decent clothing those parts of their body which
required it. Moreover, having heard of the departure of our friends,
and their resolution never to return, they seized with greater
boldness than before on all the country towards the extreme north
as far as the wall. To oppose them there was placed on the heights
a garrison equally slow to fight and ill adapted to run away, a
useless and panic-struck company, who slumbered away days and
nights on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons
of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen were
dragged from the wall and dashed against the ground. Such premature
death, however, painful as it was, saved them from seeing the
miserable sufferings of their brothers and children. But why
should I say more? They left their cities, abandoned the protection
of the wall, and dispersed themselves in flight more desperately
than before. The enemy, on the other hand, pursued them with
more unrelenting cruelty than before, and butchered our countrymen
like sheep, so that their habitations were like those of savage
beasts; for they turned their arms upon each other, and for the
sake of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in the blood of
their fellow countrymen. Thus foreign calamities were augmented
by domestic feuds; so that the whole country was entirely destitute
of provisions, save such as could be procured in the chase.
[1] The meaning of this expression is not known. O'Connor thinks
it is the Irish Sea.
20. Again, therefore, the wretched remnant, sending to Aetius,
a powerful Roman citizen, address him as follow:--"To Aetius,1
now consul for the third time: the groans of the Britons." And
again a little further, thus:--"The barbarians drive us to the
sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two modes of
death await us, we are either slain or drowned." The Romans,
however, could not assist them, and in the meantime the discomfited
people, wandering in the woods, began to feel the effects of a
severe famine, which compelled many of them without delay to yield
themselves up to their cruel persecutors, to obtain subsistence:
others of them, however, lying hid in mountains, caves and woods,
continually sallied out from thence to renew the war. And then
it was, for the first time, that they overthrew their enemies, who
had for so many years been living in their country; for their
trust was not in man, but in God; according to the maxim of Philo,
"We must have divine assistance, when that of man fails." The
boldness of the enemy was for a while checked, but not the
wickedness of our countrymen; the enemy left our people, but the
people did not leave their sins.
