the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea, without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not even killed upon the spot. Some with sorrowful hearts fled beyond the seas. Others, continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and expecting every moment to be their last.
THE BRITONS OBTAINED THEIR FIRST VICTORY OVER THE ANGLES,
UNDER THE COMMAND OF AMBROSIUS, A ROMAN.
When the victorious army, having destroyed and dispersed the natives, had returned home to their own settlements, the Britons began by degrees to take heart, and gather strength, sallying out of the lurking places where they had lain hid, and unanimously imploring the Divine assistance, that they might not utterly be destroyed. They had at that time for their leader, Ambrosius Aurelius, a modest man, who alone perhaps of the Roman nation had survived the storm, in which his parents, who were of the royal race, had perished. Under him the Britons revived, and, offering battle to the victors, by the help of God, came off victorious. From that day, sometimes the natives, and
-29-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation.
Contributors: Saint Bede the Venerable - Author.
Publisher: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd..
Place of publication: London.
Publication year: 1910.
Page number: 29.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
One moment ...
- Georgia
- Arial
- Times New Roman
- Verdana
- Courier/monospaced
Reset