CONCERNING THE PROPHECIES OF MERLIN.
CHAP. I.--_Geoffrey of Monmouth's preface to Merlin's prophecy._
I had not got thus far in my history, when the subject of public
discourse happening to be concerning Merlin, I was obliged to publish
his prophecies at the request of my acquaintance, but especially of
Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, a prelate of the greatest piety and
wisdom. There was not any person, either among the clergy or laity, that
was attended with such a train of knights and noblemen, whom his settled
piety and great munificence engaged in his service. Out of a desire,
therefore, to gratify him, I translated these prophecies, and sent them
to him with the following letter.
CHAP. II.--_Geoffrey's letter to Alexander, bishop of Lincoln._
"The regard which I owe to your great worth, most noble prelate, has
obliged me to undertake the translation of Merlin's prophecies out of
British into Latin, before I had made an end of the history which I had
begun concerning the acts of the British kings. For my design was to
have finished that first, and afterwards to have taken this work in
hand; lest by being engaged on both at once, I should be less capable of
attending with any exactness to either. Notwithstanding, since the
deference which is paid to your penetrating judgment will screen me from
censure, I have employed my rude pen, and in a coarse style present you
with a translation out of a language with which you are unacquainted. At
the same time, I cannot but wonder at your recommending this matter to
one of my low genius, when you might have caused so many men of greater
learning, and a richer vein of intellect, to undertake it; who, with
their sublime strains, would much more agreeably have entertained you.
Besides, without any disparagement to all the philosophers in Britain, I
must take the liberty to say, that you yourself, if the business of your
high station would give you leisure, are capable of furnishing us with
loftier productions of this kind than any man living. However, since it
was your pleasure that Geoffrey of Monmouth should be employed in this
prophecy, he hopes you will favourably accept of his performance, and
vouchsafe to give a finer turn to whatever you shall find unpolished, or
otherwise faulty in it."
CHAP. III.--_The prophecy of Merlin._
As Vortigern, king of the Britons, was sitting upon the bank of the
drained pond, the two dragons, one of which was white, the other red,
came forth, and, approaching one another, began a terrible fight, and
cast forth fire with their breath. But the white dragon had the
advantage, and made the other fly to the end of the lake. And he, for
grief at his flight, renewed the assault upon his pursuer, and forced
him to retire. After this battle of the dragons, the king commanded
Ambrose Merlin to tell him what it portended. Upon which he, bursting
into tears, delivered what his prophetical spirit suggested to him, as
follows:--[210]
"Woe to the red dragon, for his banishment hasteneth on. His lurking
holes shall be seized by the white dragon, which signifies the Saxons
whom you invited over; but the red denotes the British nation, which
shall be oppressed by the white. Therefore shall its mountains be
levelled as the valleys, and the rivers of the valleys shall run with
blood. The exercise of religion shall be destroyed, and churches be laid
open to ruin. At last the oppressed shall prevail, and oppose the
cruelty of foreigners. For a boar of Cornwall shall give his assistance,
and trample their necks under his feet. The islands of the ocean shall
be subject to his power, and he shall possess the forests of Gaul. The
house of Romulus shall dread his courage, and his end shall be doubtful.
He shall be celebrated in the mouths of the people; and his exploits
shall be food to those that relate them. Six of his posterity shall sway
the sceptre, but after them shall arise a German worm. He shall be
advanced by a sea-wolf, whom the woods of Africa shall accompany.
Religion shall be again abolished, and there shall be a translation of
the metropolitan sees. The dignity of London shall adorn Dorobernia, and
the seventh pastor of York shall be resorted to in the kingdom of
Armorica. Menevia shall put on the pall of the City of Legions, and a
preacher of Ireland shall be dumb on account of an infant growing in the
womb. It shall rain a shower of blood, and a raging famine shall afflict
mankind. When these things happen, the red one shall be grieved; but
when his fatigue is over, shall grow strong. Then shall misfortunes
hasten upon the white one, and the buildings of his gardens shall be
pulled down. Seven that sway the sceptre shall be killed, one of whom
shall become a saint. The wombs of mothers shall be ripped up, and
infants be abortive. There shall be a most grievous punishment of men,
that the natives may be restored. He that shall do these things shall
put on the brazen man, and upon a brazen horse shall for a long time
guard the gates of London. After this, shall the red dragon return to
his proper manners, and turn his rage upon himself. Therefore shall the
revenge of the Thunderer show itself, for every field shall disappoint
the husbandmen. Mortality shall snatch away the people, and make a
desolation over all countries. The remainder shall quit their native
soil, and make foreign plantations. A blessed king shall prepare a
fleet, and shall be reckoned the twelfth in the court among the saints.
There shall be a miserable desolation of the kingdom, and the floors of
the harvests shall return to the fruitful forests. The white dragon
shall rise again, and invite over a daughter of Germany. Our gardens
shall be again replenished with foreign seed, and the red one shall pine
away at the end of the pond. After that, shall the German worm be
crowned, and the brazen prince buried. He has his bounds assigned him,
which he shall not be able to pass. For a hundred and fifty years he
shall continue in trouble and subjection, but shall bear sway three
hundred. Then shall the north wind rise against him, and shall snatch
away the flowers which the west wind produced. There shall be gilding in
the temples, nor shall the edge of the sword cease. The German dragon
shall hardly get to his holes, because the revenge of his treason shall
overtake him. At last he shall flourish for a little time, but the
decimation of Neustria shall hurt him. For a people in wood and in iron
coats shall come, and revenge upon him his wickedness. They shall
restore the ancient inhabitants to their dwellings, and there shall be
an open destruction of foreigners. The seed of the white dragon shall be
swept out of our gardens, and the remainder of his generation shall be
decimated. They shall bear the yoke of slavery, and wound their mother
with spades and ploughs. After this shall succeed two dragons, whereof
one shall be killed with the sting of envy, but the other shall return
under the shadow of a name. Then shall succeed a lion of justice, at
whose roar the Gallican towers and the island dragons shall tremble. In
those days gold shall be squeezed from the lily and the nettle, and
silver shall flow from the hoofs of bellowing cattle. The frizzled shall
put on various fleeces, and the outward habit denote the inward parts.
The feet of barkers shall be cut off; wild beasts shall enjoy peace;
mankind shall be grieved at their punishment; the form of commerce shall
be divided; the half shall be round. The ravenousness of kites shall be
destroyed, and the teeth of wolves blunted. The lion's whelps shall be
transformed into sea-fishes; and an eagle shall build her nest upon
Mount Aravius. Venedotia shall grow red with the blood of mothers, and
the house of Corineus kill six brethren. The island shall be wet with
night tears; so that all shall be provoked to all things. Woe to thee,
Neustria, because the lion's brain shall be poured upon thee: and he
shall be banished with shattered limbs from his native soil. Posterity
shall endeavour to fly above the highest places; but the favour of new
comers shall be exalted. Piety shall hurt the possessor of things got by
impiety, till he shall have put on his Father: therefore, being armed
with the teeth of a boar, he shall ascend above the tops of mountains,
and the shadow of him that wears a helmet. Albania shall be enraged,
and, assembling her neighbours, shall be employed in shedding blood.
There shall be put into her jaws a bridle that shall be made on the
coast of Armorica. The eagle of the broken covenant shall gild it over,
and rejoice in her third nest. The roaring whelps shall watch, and,
leaving the woods, shall hunt within the walls of cities. They shall
make no small slaughter of those that oppose them, and shall cut off the
tongues of bulls. They shall load the necks of roaring lions with
chains, and restore the times of their ancestors. Then from the first to
the fourth, from the fourth to the third, from the third to the second,
the thumb shall roll in oil. The sixth shall overturn the walls of
Ireland, and change the woods into a plain. He shall reduce several
parts to one, and be crowned with the head of a lion. His beginning
shall lay open to wandering affection, but his end shall carry him up to
the blessed, who are above. For he shall restore the seats of saints in
their countries, and settle pastors in convenient places. Two cities he
shall invest with two palls, and shall bestow virgin-presents upon
virgins. He shall merit by this the favour of the Thunderer, and shall
be placed among the saints. From him shall proceed a lynx penetrating
all things, who shall be bent upon the ruin of his own nation; for,
through him, Neustria shall lose both islands, and be deprived of its
ancient dignity. Then shall the natives return back to the island; for
there shall arise a dissension among foreigners. Also a hoary old man,
sitting upon a snow-white horse, shall turn the course of the river
Periron, and shall measure out a mill upon it with a white rod.
Cadwallader shall call upon Conan, and take Albania into alliance. Then
shall there be a slaughter of foreigners; then shall the rivers run with
blood. Then shall break forth the fountains of Armorica, and they shall
be crowned with the diadem of Brutus. Cambria shall be filled with joy;
and the oaks of Cornwall shall flourish. The island shall be called by
the name of Brutus: and the name given it by foreigners shall be
abolished. From Conan shall proceed a warlike boar, that shall exercise
the sharpness of his tusks within the Gallic woods. For he shall cut
down all the larger oaks, and shall be a defence to the smaller. The
Arabians and Africans shall dread him; for he shall pursue his furious
course to the farther part of Spain. There shall succeed the goat of the
Venereal castle, having golden horns and a silver beard, who shall
breathe such a cloud out of his nostrils, as shall darken the whole
surface of the island. There shall be peace in his time; and corn shall
abound by reason of the fruitfulness of the soil. Women shall become
serpents in their gait, and all their motions shall be full of pride.
The camp of Venus shall be restored; nor shall the arrows of Cupid cease
to wound. The fountain of a river shall be turned into blood; and two
kings shall fight a duel at Stafford for a lioness. Luxury shall
overspread the whole ground; and fornication not cease to debauch
mankind. All these things shall three ages see; till the buried kings
shall be exposed to public view in the city of London. Famine shall
again return; mortality shall return; and the inhabitants shall grieve
for the destruction of their cities. Then shall come the board of
commerce, who shall recall the scattered flocks to the pasture they had
lost. His breast shall be food to the hungry, and his tongue drink to
the thirsty. Out of his mouth shall flow rivers, that shall water the
parched jaws of men. After this shall be produced a tree upon the Tower
of London, which, having no more than three branches, shall overshadow
the surface of the whole island with the breadth of its leaves. Its
adversary, the north wind, shall come upon it, and with its noxious
blast shall snatch away the third branch; but the two remaining ones
shall possess its place, till they shall destroy one another by the
multitude of their leaves; and then shall it obtain the place of those
two, and shall give sustenance to birds of foreign nations. It shall be
esteemed hurtful to native fowls; for they shall not be able to fly
freely for fear of its shadow. There shall succeed the ass of
wickedness, swift against the goldsmiths, but slow against the
ravenousness of wolves. In those days the oaks of the forests shall
burn, and acorns grow upon the branches of teil trees. The Severn sea
shall discharge itself through seven mouths, and the river Uske burn
seven months. Fishes shall die with the heat thereof; and of them shall
be engendered serpents. The baths of Badon shall grow cold, and their
salubrious waters engender death. London shall mourn for the death of
twenty thousand; and the river Thames shall be turned into blood. The
monks in their cowls shall be forced to marry, and their cry shall be
heard upon the mountains of the Alps."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 210: The prophecy which follows has been commented on by
various writers, who have taken the trouble to point out the events in
English history which answer to the various predictions which it
contains. Such labour seems to be altogether superfluous in the present
day: the prophecy may be allowed to remain as an illustration of the
absurd credulity of former times.]
CHAP. IV.--_The continuation of the prophecy._
"Three springs shall break forth in the city of Winchester, whose
rivulets shall divide the island into three parts. Whoever shall drink
of the first, shall enjoy long life, and shall never be afflicted with
sickness. He that shall drink of the second, shall die of hunger, and
paleness and horror shall sit in his countenance. He that shall drink of
the third, shall be surprised with sudden death, neither shall his body
be capable of burial. Those that are willing to escape so great a
surfeit, will endeavour to hide it with several coverings, but whatever
bulk shall be laid upon it, shall receive the form of another body. For
earth shall be turned into stones; stones into water; wood into ashes;
ashes into water, if cast over it. Also a damsel shall be sent from the
city of the forest of Canute to administer a cure, who, after she shall
have practised all her arts, shall dry up the noxious fountains only
with her breath. Afterwards, as soon as she shall have refreshed herself
with the wholesome liquor, she shall bear in her right hand the wood of
Caledon, and in her left the forts of the walls of London. Wherever she
shall go, she shall make sulphureous steps, which will smoke with a
double flame. That smoke shall rouse up the city of Ruteni, and shall
make food for the inhabitants of the deep. She shall overflow with
rueful tears, and shall fill the island with her dreadful cry. She shall
be killed by a hart with ten branches, four of which shall bear golden
diadems; but the other six shall be turned into buffalo's horns, whose
hideous sound shall astonish the three islands of Britain. The Daneian
wood shall be stirred up, and breaking forth into a human voice, shall
cry: Come, O Cambria, and join Cornwall to thy side, and say to
Winchester, the earth shall swallow thee up. Translate the seat of thy
pastor to the place where ships come to harbour, and the rest of the
members will follow the head. For the day hasteneth, in which thy
citizens shall perish on account of the guilt of perjury. The whiteness
of wool has been hurtful to thee, and the variety of its tinctures. Woe
to the perjured nation, for whose sake the renowned city shall come to
ruin. The ships shall rejoice at so great an augmentation, and one shall
be made out of two. It shall be rebuilt by Eric, loaden with apples, to
the smell whereof the birds of several woods shall flock together. He
shall add to it a vast palace, and wall it round with six hundred
towers. Therefore shall London envy it, and triply increase her walls.
The river Thames shall encompass it round, and the fame of the work
shall pass beyond the Alps. Eric shall hide his apples within it, and
shall make subterraneous passages. At that time shall the stones speak,
and the sea towards the Gallic coast be contracted into a narrow space.
On each bank shall one man hear another, and the soil of the island
shall be enlarged. The secrets of the deep shall be revealed, and Gaul
shall tremble for fear. After these things shall come forth a hern from
the forest of Calaterium, which shall fly round the island for two years
together. With her nocturnal cry she shall call together the winged
kind, and assemble to her all sorts of fowls. They shall invade the
tillage of husbandmen, and devour all the grain of the harvests. Then
shall follow a famine upon the people, and a grievous mortality upon the
famine. But when this calamity shall be over, a detestable bird shall go
to the valley of Galabes, and shall raise it to be a high mountain. Upon
the top thereof it shall also plant an oak, and build its nest in its
branches. Three eggs shall be produced in the nest, from whence shall
come forth a fox, a wolf, and a bear. The fox shall devour her mother,
and bear the head of an ass. In this monstrous form shall she frighten
her brothers, and make them fly into Neustria. But they shall stir up
the tusky boar, and returning in a fleet shall encounter with the fox;
who at the beginning of the fight shall feign herself dead, and move the
boar to compassion. Then shall the boar approach her carcass, and
standing over her, shall breathe upon her face and eyes. But she, not
forgetting her cunning, shall bite his left foot, and pluck it off from
his body. Then shall she leap upon him, and snatch away his right ear
and tail, and hide herself in the caverns of the mountains. Therefore
shall the deluded boar require the wolf and bear to restore him his
members; who, as soon as they shall enter into the cause, shall promise
two feet of the fox, together with the ear and tail, and of these they
shall make up the members of a hog. With this he shall be satisfied, and
expect the promised restitution. In the meantime shall the fox descend
from the mountains, and change herself into a wolf, and under pretence
of holding a conference with the boar, she shall go to him, and craftily
devour him. After that she shall transform herself into a boar, and
feigning a loss of some members, shall wait for her brothers; but as
soon as they are come, she shall suddenly kill them with her tusks, and
shall be crowned with the head of a lion. In her days shall a serpent be
brought forth, which shall be a destroyer of mankind. With its length it
shall encompass London, and devour all that pass by it. The mountain ox
shall take the head of a wolf, and whiten his teeth in the Severn. He
shall gather to him the flocks of Albania and Cambria, which shall drink
the river Thames dry. The ass shall call the goat with the long beard,
and shall borrow his shape. Therefore shall the mountain ox be incensed,
and having called the wolf, shall become a horned bull against them. In
the exercise of his cruelty he shall devour their flesh and bones, but
shall be burned upon the top of Urian. The ashes of his funeral-pile
shall be turned into swans, that shall swim on dry ground as on a river.
They shall devour fishes in fishes, and swallow up men in men. But when
old age shall come upon them, they shall become sea-wolves, and practise
their frauds in the deep. They shall drown ships, and collect no small
quantity of silver. The Thames shall again flow, and assembling together
the rivers, shall pass beyond the bounds of its channel. It shall cover
the adjacent cities, and overturn the mountains that oppose its course.
Being full of deceit and wickedness, it shall make use of the fountain
Galabes. Hence shall arise factions provoking the Venedotians to war.
The oaks of the forest shall meet together, and encounter the rocks of
the Gewisseans. A raven shall attend with the kites, and devour the
carcasses of the slain. An owl shall build her nest upon the walls of
Gloucester, and in her nest shall be brought forth an ass. The serpent
of Malvernia shall bring him up, and put him upon many fraudulent
practices. Having taken the crown, he shall ascend on high, and frighten
the people of the country with his hideous braying. In his days shall
the Pachaian mountains tremble, and the provinces be deprived of their
woods. For there shall come a worm with a fiery breath, and with the
vapour it sends forth shall burn up the trees. Out of it shall proceed
seven lions deformed with the heads of goats. With the stench of their
nostrils they shall corrupt women, and make wives turn common
prostitutes. The father shall not know his own son, because they shall
grow wanton like brute beasts. Then shall come the giant of wickedness,
and terrify all with the sharpness of his eyes. Against him shall arise
the dragon of Worcester, and shall endeavour to banish him. But in the
engagement the dragon shall be worsted, and oppressed by the wickedness
of the conqueror. For he shall mount upon the dragon, and putting off
his garment shall sit upon him naked. The dragon shall bear him up on
high, and beat his naked rider with his tail erected. Upon this the
giant rousing up his whole strength, shall break his jaws with his
sword. At last the dragon shall fold itself up under its tail, and die
of poison. After him shall succeed the boar of Totness, and oppress the
people with grievous tyranny. Gloucester shall send forth a lion, and
shall disturb him in his cruelty, in several battles. He shall trample
him under his feet, and terrify him with open jaws. At last the lion
shall quarrel with the kingdom, and get upon the backs of the nobility.
A bull shall come into the quarrel, and strike the lion with his right
foot. He shall drive him through all the inns in the kingdom, but shall
break his horns against the walls of Oxford. The fox of Kaerdubalem
shall take revenge on the lion, and destroy him entirely with her teeth.
She shall be encompassed by the adder of Lincoln, who with a horrible
hiss shall give notice of his presence to a multitude of dragons. Then
shall the dragons encounter, and tear one another to pieces. The winged
shall oppress that which wants wings, and fasten its claws into the
poisonous cheeks. Others shall come into the quarrel, and kill one
another. A fifth shall succeed those that are slain, and by various
stratagems shall destroy the rest. He shall get upon the back of one
with his sword, and sever his head from his body. Then throwing off his
garment, he shall get upon another, and put his right and left hand upon
his tail. Thus being naked shall he overcome him, whom when clothed he
was not able to deal with. The rest he shall gall in their flight, and
drive them round the kingdom. Upon this shall come a roaring lion
dreadful for his monstrous cruelty. Fifteen parts shall he reduce to
one, and shall alone possess the people. The giant of the snow-white
colour shall shine, and cause the white people to flourish. Pleasures
shall effeminate the princes, and they shall suddenly be changed into
beasts. Among them shall arise a lion swelled with human gore. Under him
shall a reaper be placed in the standing corn, who, while he is reaping,
shall be oppressed by him. A charioteer of York shall appease them, and
having banished his lord, shall mount upon the chariot which he shall
drive. With his sword unsheathed shall he threaten the East, and fill
the tracks of his wheels with blood. Afterwards he shall become a
sea-fish, who, being roused up with the hissing of a serpent, shall
engender with him. From hence shall be produced three thundering bulls,
who having eaten up their pastures shall be turned into trees. The first
shall carry a whip of vipers, and turn his back upon the next. He shall
endeavour to snatch away the whip, but shall be taken by the last. They
shall turn away their faces from one another, till they have thrown away
the poisoned cup. To him shall succeed a husbandman of Albania, at whose
back shall be a serpent. He shall be employed in ploughing the ground,
that the country may become white with corn. The serpent shall endeavour
to diffuse his poison, in order to blast the harvest. A grievous
mortality shall sweep away the people, and the walls of cities shall be
made desolate. There shall be given for a remedy the city of Claudius,
which shall interpose the nurse of the scourger. For she shall bear a
dose of medicine, and in a short time the island shall be restored. Then
shall two successively sway the sceptre, whom a horned dragon shall
serve. One shall come in armour, and shall ride upon a flying serpent.
He shall sit upon his back with his naked body, and cast his right hand
upon his tail. With his cry shall the seas be moved and he shall strike
terror into the second. The second therefore shall enter into
confederacy with the lion; but a quarrel happening, they shall encounter
one another. They shall distress one another, but the courage of the
beast shall gain the advantage. Then shall come one with a drum, and
appease the rage of the lion. Therefore shall the people of the kingdom
be at peace, and provoke the lion to a dose of physic. In his
established seat he shall adjust the weights, but shall stretch out his
hands into Albania. For which reason the northern provinces shall be
grieved, and open the gates of the temples. The sign-bearing wolf shall
lead his troops, and surround Cornwall with his tail. He shall be
opposed by a soldier in a chariot, who shall transform that people into
a boar. The boar shall therefore ravage the provinces, but shall hide
his head in the depth of Severn. A man shall embrace a lion in wine, and
the dazzling brightness of gold shall blind the eyes of beholders.
Silver shall whiten in the circumference, and torment several wine
presses. Men shall be drunk with wine, and, regardless of heaven, shall
be intent upon the earth. From them shall the stars turn away their
faces, and confound their usual course. Corn will wither at their malign
aspects; and there shall fall no dew from heaven. The roots and branches
will change their places, and the novelty of the thing shall pass for a
miracle. The brightness of the sun shall fade at the amber of Mercury,
and horror shall seize the beholders. Stilbon of Arcadia shall change
his shield; the helmet of Mars shall call Venus. The helmet of Mars
shall make a shadow; and the rage of Mercury pass his bounds. Iron Orion
shall unsheath his sword: the marine Phoebus shall torment the clouds;
Jupiter shall go out of his lawful paths; and Venus forsake her stated
lines. The malignity of the star Saturn shall fall down in rain, and
slay mankind with a crooked sickle. The twelve houses of the star shall
lament the irregular excursions of their guests; and Gemini omit their
usual embraces, and call the urn to the fountains. The scales of Libra
shall hang obliquely, till Aries puts his crooked horns under them. The
tail of Scorpio shall produce lightning, and Cancer quarrel with the
Sun. Virgo shall mount upon the back of Sagittarius, and darken her
virgin flowers. The chariot of the Moon shall disorder the zodiac, and
the Pleiades break forth into weeping. No offices of Janus shall
hereafter return, but his gate being shut shall lie hid in the chinks of
Ariadne. The seas shall rise up in the twinkling of an eye, and the dust
of the ancients shall be restored. The winds shall fight together with a
dreadful blast, and their sound shall reach the stars."