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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
What then shall unhappy leaders do now? Those few who have abandoned the broad way and …
What then shall unhappy leaders do now? Those few1 who have abandoned the broad way and are finding the narrow, are forbidden by God to pour out prayers for you, who persist in evil and tempt Him so greatly: upon whom, on the contrary, if you return with your heart unto God, they could not bring vengeance2, because God is unwilling that the soul of man should perish, but calls it back, lest he who is cast away should utterly perish. Because, not even Jonas the prophet, and that when he greatly desired it, could bring vengeance on the Ninevites. But putting aside, meanwhile, our own words, let us rather hear what sound the prophetic trumpet gives: And if thou say this in thy heart, wherefore are these evils come? They come for the greatness of thy iniquity. If the Ethiop can change his skin, or the leopard his spots, ye also can do good, who have learnt to do evil. Here it is understood, “ye are not willing.” And below: Thus saith the Lord to this people that hath loved to move its feet, and hath not rested, and hath not been pleasing unto the Lord; now will He remember their iniquities and visit their sins. And the Lord said unto me, Pray not for that people for their good. When they fast, I shall not hear their cries; and if they offer burnt-offerings and victims, I will not accept them. Again: And the Lord said unto me: If Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind is not toward that people; cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. And after a few words: Who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go to pray for thy peace? Thou hast abandoned Me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward, and I shall stretch forth My hand over thee, and kill thee. And after a while? Thus saith the Lord, behold I frame a device against you; let every one return from his evil way, and make straight your ways and pursuits. And they said: We despair, after our own devices will we walk, and we will everyone do the wickedness of his own evil heart. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask ye the nations, who hath heard such horrible things as the virgin Israel hath done beyond measure? Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or can the bursting waters flowing cool be drawn away? Because My people have forgotten Me. After a while, having placed a choice before them, he speaks, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence from the hand of the oppressor, and afflict not the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; neither oppress iniquitously, nor shed innocent blood. For if ye thoroughly do this word, there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings of the race of David, sitting upon his throne: because if ye hear not these words, I have sworn unto Myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be a desert. Again, for he was speaking of a wicked king: As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechoniah were the ring on my right hand, I will pluck him hence, and give him in the hands of those that seek his life.
Notes
- Illi pauci. We are reminded of Gildas’s other similar words, the “very few” (exceptis paucis et valde paucis) of c. 28, the “not all” of c. 69, the “if they be many” of c. 92, and the “extremely few” (paucissimi boni pastores) of c. 110. What will the unhappy princes do, when the few that have found the narrow way, are forbidden to pray for them? And yet, if they return to God—here we see the real Gildas—since He wills not that a soul should die, but relents, so that the humbled one shall not perish, even those few elect ones could not bring divine punishment upon them.
- Vindicta, in the sense of “punishment,” is frequent in ecclesiastical writers: ostendit se non tam pacem cupere, quam sub pacis occasione vindictam. Jerome, Ep., lxxxii, 8. Hymnus S. Columbae Altus Prosator, v. 99, reads thus:
Dies irae et vindictae, tenebrarum et nebulae.
Jerome has retained it in Rom. xii, 19: mihi vindicta, though in the passage from which the quotation is made, viz., Deut. xxxii, 35, he has changed the expression into mea est ultio.