第21章 BOOK I(12)

Matthew upon sick persons,and they were healed;from which,as well as from the foregoing circumstance,it appears how great a dignity and reverence is due to the sacred books of the gospel,and with what danger and risk of damnation every one who swears falsely by them,deviates from the paths of truth.The fall of Enoch,abbot of Strata Marcella,{76}too well known in Wales,was revealed to many the day after it happened,by Melerius,who,being asked how he knew this circumstance,said,that a demon came to him disguised as a hunter,and,exulting in the prospect of such a victory,foretold the ruin of the abbot,and explained in what manner he would make him run away with a nun from the monastery.The end in view was probably the humiliation and correction of the abbot,as was proved from his shortly returning home so humbled and amended,that he scarcely could be said to have erred.Seneca says,"He falls not badly,who rises stronger from his fall."Peter was more strenuous after his denial of Christ,and Paul after being stoned;since,where sin abounds,there will grace also superabound.Mary Magdalen was strengthened after her frailty.He secretly revealed to Canon,the good and religious abbot of Alba-domus,his opinion of a certain woman whom he had seen;upon which the holy man confessed,with tears in his eyes,his predilection for her,and received from three priests the discipline of incontinence.For as that long and experienced subtle enemy,by arguing from certain conjectural signs,may foretell future by past events,so by insidious treachery and contrivance,added to exterior appearances,he may sometimes be able to discover the interior workings of the mind.

At the same time there was in Lower Gwent a demon incubus,who,from his love for a certain young woman,and frequenting the place where she lived,often conversed with men,and frequently discovered hidden things and future events.Melerius being interrogated concerning him,said he knew him well,and mentioned his name.He affirmed that unclean spirits conversed with mankind before war,or any great internal disturbance,which was shortly afterwards proved,by the destruction of the province by Howel,son of Iorwerth of Caerleon.At the same time,when king Henry II.having taken the king of Scotland prisoner,had restored peace to his kingdom,Howel,fearful of the royal revenge for the war he had waged,was relieved from his difficulties by these comfortable words of Melerius:"Fear not,"says he,"Howel,the wrath of the king,since he must go into other parts.An important city which he possesses beyond sea is now besieged by the king of France,on which account he will postpone every other business,and hasten thither with all possible expedition."Three days afterwards,Howel received advice that this event had really come to pass,owing to the siege of the city of Rouen.He forewarned also Howel of the betraying of his castle at Usk,a long time before it happened,and informed him that he should be wounded,but not mortally;and that he should escape alive from the town.In this alone he was deceived,for he soon after died of the same wound.Thus does that archenemy favour his friends for a time,and thus does he at last reward them.

In all these singular events it appears to me most wonderful that he saw those spirits so plainly with his carnal eyes,because spirits cannot be discerned by the eyes of mortals,unless they assume a corporeal substance;but if in order to be seen they had assumed such a substance,how could they remain unperceived by other persons who were present?Perhaps they were seen by such a miraculous vision as when king Balthazar saw the hand of one writing on the wall,"Mane,Techel,Phares,"that is,weighed,numbered,divided;who in the same night lost both his kingdom and his life.But Cambria well knows how in these districts,from a blind desire of dominion,a total dissolution of the endearing ties of consanguinity,and a bad and depraved example diffused throughout the country,good faith has been so shamefully perverted and abused.

CHAPTER VI

Newport and Caerdyf At Newport,where the river Usk,descending from its original source in Cantref Bachan,falls into the sea,many persons were induced to take the cross.Having passed the river Remni,we approached the noble castle of Caerdyf,{77}situated on the banks of the river Taf.In the neighbourhood of Newport,which is in the district of Gwentluc,{78}there is a small stream called Nant Pencarn,{79}passable only at certain fords,not so much owing to the depth of its waters,as from the hollowness of its channel and muddy bottom.