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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
Receive one who truly and publicly assents to these words, when he declares the …
Receive one who truly and publicly assents to these words, when he declares the recompense of your good and evil, with no disguise of flattery; not as the mouths of your flatterers whisper respectable poisonous things into your ears.
Also, directing his judgment against rapacious judges, he speaks thus: Thy princes are unfaithful companions of thieves; they all love gifts and follow after rewards; they judge not the fatherless, and the cause of the widow cometh not unto them. Therefore saith the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah! I shall be cheered with respect to my enemies, and be avenged of my adversaries; and the heinous transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together and destroyed, and all who have abandoned the Lord shall be consumed. Also below: The eyes of the lofty man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. Again: Woe unto the wicked for evil, for the reward of his hands shall be unto him. A little after: Woe unto you that rise up early to follow after drunkenness, and to drink until the evening, until ye are inflamed with wine. The harp, the lyre, the tabret, the pipe and wine are in your feasts; and the work of the Lord ye regard not, and the work of His hands ye consider not. Therefore my people have been led captive, because they have not had knowledge; and their honourable men have perished with famine, and their multitude have parched with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without measure: and their strong ones and their multitude, their lofty and renowned ones, shall descend unto it. And below: Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle drunkenness; who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Because of this, as the fire devoureth stubble, and the heat of the flame burneth wood, so shall their root be as embers, and their blossom shall go iip as dust. For they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. In all this the anger of the Lord is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.