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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
Hear also the holy prophet Amos threatening as follows: For three transgressions of the …
Hear also the holy prophet Amos1 threatening as follows: For three transgressions of the sons of Judah, and for four, I will not turn them aside; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His precepts, and their vanities have led them astray. And I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem. Thus saith the Lord, For three iniquities of Israel and for four I will not turn them aside, because they have betrayed the righteous for money and the needy for shoes, which tread upon the dust of the earth, and with cuffs have they struck the heads of the poor, and have shunned the way of the humble. After a few words: Seek the Lord and ye shall live, so that the house of Ioseph shall not blaze like fire and devour it, and there shall not be to quench it. The house of Israel have hated him that reproveth in the gates, and have abhorred the righteous word. And this Amos, when being forbidden to prophesy in Israel, without the mildness of flattery says in answer: I was not a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but was a goat herd plucking the fruit of sycamores; and the Lord took me from the sheep, and the Lord said unto me, Go and prophesy unto my people Israel; and now hear thou the word of the Lord. For he was addressing the king. Thou sayest Prophesy not unto Israel and gather not crowds against the house of Jacob. Therefore thus saith the Lord. Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy lands shall be measured by line, and thou shalt die in an unclean land; and Israel shall be led away captive out of his land. And below: Hear therefore these things, ye that fiercely afflict the needy and employ tyranny against the poor in the land; who say, When shall the month be gone that we may get, and the sabbath that we may open our treasure. After a few words: The Lord sweareth against the pride of Jacob. Shall. He forget your works in scorn, and in these things shall not the land tremble? and every one that dwelleth thereon shall mourn, and its consummation shall rise like a flood. A nd I will turn your feast days into mourning, and shall cast haircloth upon every loin, and baldness upon every head, and I will render it as a mourning for a beloved one, and those that are with him, as a day of sorrow. And again: All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Evils shall not overtake nor come upon us.
Notes
- Amos. Gildas has quoted more extensively from the writings of this prophet than from any other of the minor prophets, and at greater length here than he quotes from the same prophet in addressing the clergy. The reason is not far to seek. The prophetic ministry of Amos was specially a mission to the rulers of Israel; the cruel harshness of the rich and powerful grinding down their hopelessly-impoverished neighbours, show a terrible declension in all, kings, judges, priests and prophets. Gildas finds apt utterance in the words of this “herdman and dresser of sycamore trees.”
Ranke’s Codex Weingart. begins with ch. vii and breaks off with viii, 10, but as to the parts common to it and Gildas, the resemblance of the version in both is most striking, as well as their agreement with the Greek of the LXX. The Old Latin given by Sabatier is different.