Nec contenta suo tantum semel ordine nasci, - Bk. I. 212-258. THE JEALOUSY OF THE SERPENT Vidit ut iste novos homines in sede quieta 245 250 255 80 Hoc recolens, casumque premens in corde recentem "Proh dolor! hoc nobis subitum consurgere plasma, 248. movit spiramina: 'blows.' 81. zeli: 'jealousy.' -89. plasma: 'creature.' 85 90 Invisumque genus nostra crevisse ruina ! Coelum terra tenet, vili conpage levata Regnat humus, nobisque perit translata potestas! 95 Nec tamen in totum periit; pars magna retentat Vim propriam, summaque cluit virtute nocendi. Nil differre iuvat; iam nunc certamine blando Congrediar, dum prima salus, experta nec ullos Simplicitas ignara dolos ad tela patebit. 100 Et melius soli capientur fraude, priusquam Fecundam mittant aeterna in saecula prolem. Immortale nihil terra prodire sinendum est. Fons generis pereat; capitis defectio membris Semen mortis erit; pariat discrimina lethi 105 Vitae principium; cuncti feriantur in uno. Non faciet vivum radix occisa cacumen. Haec mihi deiecto tantum solatia restant. Si nequeo clusos iterum conscendere coelos, His quoque claudantur; levius cecidisse putandum est, 110 Si nova perdatur simili substantia casu, Si comes excidii subeat consortia poenae, Et quos praevideo nobiscum dividat ignes. Sed ne difficilis fallendi causa putetur, Haec monstranda via est, dudum quam sponte cucurri 115 In pronum lapsus; quae me iactantia coelo Expulit, haec hominem paradisi e limine pellat." Sic ait, et gemitus vocem clausere dolentis. II. 77-117 96. cluit: 'is reputed to be.' 104. lethi leti; 2 (4). GREGORII TURONENSIS EPISCOPI HISTORIA FRANCORUM St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, was a commanding figure of the sixth century in central Gaul, spending the larger part of his life at a place of such strategic importance, geographically and religiously, as Tours, and having a wide acquaintance with kings, princes, churchmen, and common people. Born at Clermont in Auvergne in 538, of a family illustrious in both church and state, he enjoyed only the limited educational opportunities available in that age. Although he seems to have read half of Vergil's Aeneid, and Sallust's Catiline, his studies were mostly religious; he shunned the 'lying fables' of pagan literature, yet applied no such judgment to the reputed miracles of his own times. At the age of twenty-five serious illness took him to the famous shrine of St. Martin at Tours, and thenceforth his faith in the powers of that Saint was unlimited. From 573 until his death in 594 he was Bishop of Tours, a period when, both in the courts of the Frankish kings and in everyday civil and religious life, ideals were none too exalted. First of all a churchman, and a model of superstitious credulity, he wrote seven books on Miracles, and one on Lives of the Fathers, besides minor ecclesiastical works. His chief production, however, is The History of the Franks, in ten books, which has been called "a landmark in European culture," and its author, "the Herodotus of the barbarians." Written from the ecclesiastical standpoint, it abounds in naïve confidence in the church and in even nominal churchmen, and presents a most interesting picture of the ideas and the life of an age otherwise meagerly represented in literature. The first two books are based on earlier histories; the latter part of the work, on personal experience. Gregory's Latin justifies his own frank admission that he had not been instructed in the grammatic art, and abounds in bad spelling and bad syntax, some of which, however, may be justly credited to a stupid scribe. Yet he seems to have inclined towards the language of scholars rather than that of the masses in his own day. The text used is that of Omont-Collon, edited by René Poupardin (Paris, 1913). Parts of the History have been translated by Ernest Brehout in the Records of Civilization series (New York, 1916). For the Latin, cf. Max Bonnet, Le latin de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1890). GREGORY EXPLAINS WHY HE UNDERTAKES TO Decedente atque immo potius pereunte in urbibus Gallicanis liberalium cultura litterarum, cum nonnullae res gererentur vel recte vel inprobae, ac feretas gentium desaeviret, regum furor acueretur, aeclesiae inpugnarentur 5 ab hereticis, a catholicis tegerentur, ferveret Christi fides in plurimis, tepisceret in nonnullis, ipsae quoque aeclesiae vel ditarentur a devotis vel nudarentur a perfidis, nec repperire possit quisquam peritus dialectica in arte grammaticus, qui haec aut stilo prosaico aut metrico depingeret 10 versu, ingemiscebant saepius plerique, dicentes: "Vae diebus nostris, quia periit studium litterarum a nobis, nec repperitur in populis, qui gesta praesencia promulgare possit in paginis!" Ista etenim atque et his similia iugiter intuens, dixi pro commemoracione praeteritorum, ut 15 noticiam adtingerent venientum; etsi incultu effatu, = improbe; 2 (1). feretas = 3. inprobae clesiae: 2 (1); 2 (11). tur: instead of repertus est. 8. repperire posset. et is superfluous. = = feritas. 4. aerepperiri. 12. repperi praesencia: 2 (3). 13. possit for = 14. dixi: sc. res gestas. - 15. incultu inculto; 2 (1). — effatu affatu. est nequevi tamen obtegere vel certamena flagiciosorum recte viventium; et praesertim his inlicitus stimulis, quod a nostris fari plerumque miratus sum, quia philosophantem, rhetorem intellegunt pauci, loquentem rusticum multi. Libuit etiam animo, ut pro suppotatione annorum ab ipso 5 mundo principio libri primi poniretur initium, cuius capitula deursum subieci. Praefatio. (1 GREGORY CONFESSES HIS FAITH AND DEPLORES A HIS IGNORANCE Scribturus bella regum cum gentibus adversis, martyrum cum paganis, eclesiarum cum hereticis, prius fidem meam proferre cupio, ut qui legerit me non dubitet esse 10 catholicum. Illud etiam placuit propter eos, qui adpropinquantem finem mundi disperant, ut, collectam per chronicas vel historias anteriorum summa, explanetur aperte quanti ab exordio mundi sint anni. Sed prius veniam legentibus praecor, si aut in litteris aut in syllabis 15 grammaticam artem excessero, de qua adpaene non sum inbutus; illud tantum studens, ut quod in eclesia credi praedicatur sine aliquo fugo aut cordis haesitatione reteneam, quia scio peccatis obnoxium per credulitatem puram obtinere posse veniam apud Deum. - Bk. I., Praef.. THE FOUNDING OF LYONS Post hos imperium primus Iulius Caesar fuit, qui totius imperii obtenuit monarchiam; secundus Octavianus, Iulii Caesaris nepus, quem Augustum vocant, a quo et = 1. flagiciosorum: 2 (3). recte viventium: sc. et. 2. inlicitus: sc. est. - 3. quia. . . intellegunt: 3E (7). · 5. suppotatione supportatione: 'endurance.' - 6. mundo instead of mundi. - poniretur: 2 (1).-8. scribturus: 2 (2). — 12. collectam instead of collecta. 16. adpaene instead of adplene: 'completely.' — 18. fugo fuco. = 21. imperium instead of imperator. 20 |