martyrs. The religious men who were able to escape from this slaughter, carried off the remnant of their sacred things with them, and took refuge in caves, and groves, and deserts and abrupt hills and mountains. But when Vortigern had beheld the devastation which they made, not knowing what to do against that wicked nation, he retired into the district of Wales, and shut himself up in the town of Genorium. A.D. 463. The heresy of the Acephali, who rejected the council of Chalcedon, sprung up, and they were called Acephali, that is to say, "without a head," because it cannot be ascertained who was the original author of this heresy. They deny that there is in Christ the property of two substances, but contend that there is only one nature in his person. A.D. 464. The British nation sent messengers into Brittany, to Aurelius Ambrosius and Uter Pendragon, his brother, who had been sent there out of fear of Vortigern, entreating them, with great zeal and earnestness, to come quickly from the Armorican country to them, in order that when they had expelled the Saxons and king Vortigern, they might take on themselves the crown of Britain. And they, as they were now grown up to man's estate, prepared for the expedition, prudently, with ships and armed soldiers. And when this was told to king Vortigern, having summoned his wise men, he asked them what he ought to do in such circumstances. And they, in reply, advised him to build a very strong tower, which might preserve himself and his family from death. Accordingly, having passed over several provinces with the view of finding out a suitable place, he came at last to mount Erith, where he found a suitable place as it seemed to him. Accordingly, having collected masons from all parts, he ordered a tower to be built. And they began the foundations, but whatever they did in the day the next night the earth swallowed up. Vortigern, therefore, asked his wise men the cause of the ruin, enquiring what this prodigy portended to him. They therefore counselled him to seek out a youth who had no father, in order that the mortar and the stones might be sprinkled with his blood, and so the work which had been begun, might have strength and firmness. He at once sends messengers about to the different provinces to find a youth answering to this description. At length the messengers came the city which was afterwards called Caermarthen, and A.D. 464. MERLIN IS BROUGHT BEFORE VORTIGERN. 225 there they saw two youths quarrelling, one of whom was attacking his companion and saying, "Why do you contend with me, you fool?-Can you who were born without a father, pretend to rival my nobleness, who, being born of the royal family, am illustrious by both sides of my house?" The messengers hearing this expression, took the youth and his mother, and straightway brought him to the king. And when they were all standing in the royal presence, the king began diligently to enquire of the boy's mother who was the father of her son. And she answered him, "As my soul liveth, my lord king, when I was in the chamber of the king of Demecia, my father, there appeared unto me a person in the appearance of a very handsome young man, and embracing me repeatedly, he gave me many kisses. And when we had embraced tenderly, he suddenly vanished and departed. And as he frequently returned to me, he left me at last with child; nor is there any one else who was the father of this youth." Then the king, being astonished beyond measure, called the youth, and enquired of him by what name he was known. And when he had said that he was called Merlin Ambrosius, he asked the king why he and his mother had been brought into his presence. And the king replied, "My wise men gave me counsel to seek out a youth without a father, by whose blood my work might be bedewed, and so be strengthened." Merlin answered, "Order your wise men to come before me. and I will convince them that they have devised a lie; for as they did not know what was under the foundation, they endeavoured to satisfy you by a lie. But call your workmen and order them to dig the earth, and you will find a swamp below which does not allow your work to stand." Then Merlin coming to the wise men said, "Tell me, you vilest of flatterers, what lies hid beneath the swamp?" But they made him no answer, but kept silence. And Merlin turning to the king, said, "Order the swamp to be drawn off by small drains, and at the bottom you will find two hollow stones and two dragons sleeping in them." And the king, believing his words, ordered the swamp to be drained, and, to the astonishment of every one, he found that to be true which had been spoken by Merlin. VOL. I. CH. VIII.-FROM A.D. 465 to A.D. 498. The prophecy of Merlin-The Red Dragon-The White Dragon-The Revolutions in Britain-Aurelius returns to Britain-Death of Vortigern-of Alaric-Odoacer, King of the Goths-Theodoric, King of the Goths-Aurelius defeats Hengist and puts him to death-Restores the ChurchesSaint Patrick in Ireland—Olla, King of the South Saxons— Cedric, King of the West Saxons-Death of Aurelius-Birth of Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon. A.D. 465. Hilary was appointed to the Roman chair; he held it for six years and three months, and the see was vacant ten days. At his request Victorinus made out the Paschal cycle of five hundred and thirteen years. The same year, when Vortigefn, king of the Britons, had sat down on the bank of the swamp which had been drained, two dragons came forth, one of which was white, and the other red. And when they had come near to one another, they began a terrible battle. For they breathed out fire and smoke; and the white prevailed, and at last drove the red one to the extremity of the swamp. But he, being grieved at being driven off, attacked the white one, and made him also retreat. And as they fought in this way, the king ordered Merlin Ambrosius to say what the battle of the dragons portended. And presently he, bursting forth into weeping, imbibed the spirit of prophecy, and took up his parable, and said "Woe to the red dragon, for his extermination draweth nigh. The white dragon (which indicates the Saxons whom you have invited) shall occupy his caverns. But the red dragon signifies the nation of the Britons, which shall be oppressed by the white one. Therefore these mountains shall be made plain as the valleys, and the rivers of the valleys shall flow with blood. The worship of religion shall be destroyed, and the ruin of the churches shall be made manifest. At last the oppressed people shall prevail, and shall withstand the cruelty of the foreigners. For the boar of Cornwall shall bring succour, and shall trample their necks under his feet; the isles of the ocean shall be subjected to his power, and he shall possess the power of the Gauls. The house of Romulus shall tremble at his fierceness, and his end shall be doubtful. He shall be A.D. 465. THE PROPHECY OF MERLIN. 227 celebrated in the mouths of the people, and his acts shall be food to those who tell of them. Six of his posterity shall sway the sceptre, but after them there shall arise a German worm, and a wolf out of the sea shall raise him up, whom the African shores shall furnish with a train. A second time shall religion be destroyed, and there shall be a change of the principal sees. The dignity of London shall adorn Canterbury, and the seventh pastor of York shall dwell in the kingdom of Brittany. St. David's shall be clothed with the pallium of the city of Legions,' and the preacher of Ireland shall be dumb on account of the child that is growing in his womb. It shall rain showers of blood, and terrible famine shall afflict mortals. While these things are taking place, the red dragon shall grieve, but when the trouble is past, he shall again flourish. Then the misfortune of the white dragon shall draw near, and the buildings of his gardens shall be destroyed. Seven sceptre-bearing princes shall be slain, and one of them shall be sanctified. The wombs of matrons shall be cut open, and infants shall be born out of season. The punishment of men shall be great, and the nations shall be restored. He who does this shall appear a brazen man, and mounted for many ages on a brazen horse, he shall keep the gates of London. Then the red dragon shall reassume his natural character, and shall endeavour to put forth his rage against him. Therefore the vengeance of the thunderer shall come upon him, and the whole land shall deceive the husbandmen. Mortality shall seize the people, and shall thin all nations. Those who are left shall forsake their native soil and shall sow foreign lands. The blessed king shall prepare a fleet, and in the court of the twelfth he shall be reckoned among the good or blessed. There shall be miserable desolation of the kingdom, and the threshing-floors of the harvest shall show barren fields. The white dragon shall arise a second time, and shall invite the daughter of Germany. Our gardens shall again be filled with foreign. seed, and the red dragon shall languish in the extremity of the swamp. Then the German worm shall be crowned, and the brazen prince shall be brought low. A boundary is appointed before him, which he shall be unable to pass over. For he shall remain for one hundred and fifty years in dis 1 Now Caerleon. Next quietude and subjection, and then he shall flourish for three hundred years. Then shall rise up against him the north, and shall strip him of the flowers to which the west wind has given birth. There shall be gilding in the temples and the edge of the sword shall not slacken. The German dragon shall scarcely maintain his caverns, because the vengeance for his treachery is at hand. At last he shall flourish for a while, but the decimation of Neustria shall injure him. For a people on wooden horses and clothed in iron cloaks shall come upon him, which shall exact revenge for his wickedness, and shall restore their abodes to the former inhabitants, and the ruin of the foreigners shall be made manifest. The seed of the white dragon shall be destroyed from out of our gardens, and the remains of his generation shall be decimated. They shall bear the yoke of perpetual slavery, and shall wound their mother with spades and ploughs. Then shall succeed two dragons, one of which shall be clothed with the dart of envy, but the other shall retire under the shadow of his name. shall come the lion of justice, at whose roaring the towers of the Gauls and the dragons of the isles shall quake. In his days gold shall be extracted from the city and from the nettle, and silver shall flow from the hoofs of oxen. Men with curled hair shall wear embroidered woollen garments, and their external dress shall be a token of their inward disposition. The feet of them that bark shall be cut short, the wild beasts shall have peace, and humanity shall put an end to punishment. The form of the land shall be divided, and the half shall be round. The rapacity of the hawks shall be done away with, and the teeth of the wolves shall be made blunt; the lion's whelps shall be transformed into the fishes of the sea, and the eagle shall build his nest on mount Aranius. Venedotia shall be red with the blood of matrons, and the house of Corinæus shall slay six brethren. The isle shall be wet with nightly tears, and all men shall be stirred up to all sorts of actions. Woe to thee Neustria, for on you shall the brain of the lion be poured forth, and he shall be driven with torn limbs from his native soil. His posterity shall strive to fly beyond the decrees of the highest, but the power of the new-comers shall be exalted. Piety shall injure him who gains possession by impious means, until he clothes himself with his father. Therefore, girding himself with the teeth of a boar, he shall |