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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
But God forbid that what follows should befall you: Thou shalt, speak all these words …
But God forbid that what follows should befall you: Thou shalt, speak all these words unto them, and they shall not hear thee; and thou shalt call them, and they will not answer thee; and thou shalt say unto them: This is a nation which hath not heard the voice of the Lord its God, nor received correction; faithfulness is perished, and is taken away from their mouth. After a while: Will he who falls not rise again, and he who is turned away not return? Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with obstinate backsliding? They have seized falsehood, and have refused to return, I watched and hearkened, no one speaketh that which is good. There is none who repenteth of his sin, saying: What have I done? All have turned to their own course, as a horse rushing headlong into battle. The kite in the heaven knoweth her time, the turtle and swallow and stork have kept the time of their coming; My people knoweth not the judgment of God. And the prophet—terrified at so great a blindness of the irreligious and the unspeakable drunkenness, weeping also for those who do not weep for themselves (just as miserable tyrants behave now)—desires that an increase of tears be given him by the Lord, speaking as follows: For the grief of the daughter of my people am I worn out; astonishment hath taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there? Why, then, is the wound of the daughter of my people not closed? Who will give, wafer unto my head, and unto mine eyes a fountain of tears? A nd I shall weep day and night for the slain of my people. Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men? A nd I shall leave my people and go away from them, since they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. They have stretched their tongue like a bow of falsehood and not of truth. They have become strong in the land, because they have proceeded from evil to evil, and have not known Me, saith the Lord. Again: And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken My law, which I gave unto them, and have not hearkened unto My voice nor walked therein, and have gone after the wickedness of their heart; on that account, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, behold I shall feed this people with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. And a little after, speaking in the person of God, a way which the prophet very frequently assumes: Therefore pray thou not for this people, and raise not up for them praise and prayer, because I will not hear them in the time of their crying unto Me and their trouble.