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On the Ruin of Britain

St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899

So far, let it suffice to have said a few, out of many, of the words of Isaiah the …

So far, let it suffice to have said a few, out of many, of the words of Isaiah the Prophet.

Now with equal attention listen to him who, before he was formed in the womb, was foreknown, was sanctified and appointed a prophet among all nations also, before he parted with his mother—listen, I say, to Jeremiah¹, what he has pronounced concerning a foolish people and stiff-necked kings. He begins his utterances gently in this manner. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and say. . . . Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye house of Jacob, and all kindred of the house of Israel: thus saith the Lord, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are far removed from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain, and have not said, Where is He who caused us to come up out of the land of Egypt? After a few words: From of old hast thou broken my yoke, thou hast burst my chains; thou saidst, I will not serve. I planted thee a chosen vine, all a true seed. How then art thou turned into evil things as a strange vine? If thou wash thee with nitre, and multiply unto thee the plant borith², thou art marked by thine iniquity before me, saith the Lord. And below: Wherefore will ye plead with me in judgment, ye have all abandoned me, saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children; they have not received discipline. Hear the word of the Lord. Have I become a wilderness unto Israel, or a late bearing land? Wherefore, then, hath my people said: We have gone away, we will no more come unto thee? Doth a maid forget her ornament, or a bride the fillet of her bosom? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. Because my people is foolish, they know me not: unwise children are they, and without understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Notes

Jeremiam. Cf. c. 80: Hieremias quoque virgo prophetaque. In the reference to Jeremiah as known and sanctified, before he was born, to be a prophet “unto all the nations,” also as a celibate (virgo), Gildas follows ordinary traditions, which had interpreted and amplified the meaning of the opening words of the book of Jeremiah. Jerome, commenting on Jer. i, 5: “ordained thee a prophet unto the nations,” remarks: quod non solum Jerusalem sed et multis in circuitu gentibus prophetavit. Ep. xxii, 21, makes Elias, Elisaeus, as well as Jeremias, together with “many sons of prophets,” celibate: Virgo Elias, Elisaeus virgo, virgines multi filii prophetarum. Jeremiae dicitur: “Et tu ne accipias uxorem” (xvi, 2). Santificatus in utero, captiuitate propinqua, uxorem prohibetur accipere.
Herbam borith. It was Luther that first used the word soap (Seife), here and in Mal. iii, 2; from his translation it passed into the English and Welsh versions. The leaves and sliced roots of this plant were used for washing.