GOGMAGOG
After the Trojan War, Æneas, fleeing from the desolation of the city,
came with Ascanius by ship unto Italy. There, for that Æneas was
worshipfully received by King Latinus, Turnus, King of the Rutulians,
did wax envious and made war against him. When they met in battle,
Æneas had the upper hand, and after that Turnus was slain, obtained
the kingdom of Italy and Lavinia the daughter of Latinus. Later, when
his own last day had come, Ascanius, now king in his stead, founded
Alba on Tiber, and begat a son whose name was Silvius. Silvius, unknown
to his father, had fallen in love with and privily taken to wife a
certain niece of Lavinia, who was about to become a mother. When this
came to the knowledge of his father Ascanius, he commanded his wizards
to discover whether the damsel should be brought to bed of a boy or a
girl. When they had made sure of the matter by art magic, they told
him that the child would be a boy that should slay his father and his
mother, and after much travel in many lands, should, albeit an exile,
be exalted unto the highest honors. Nor were the wizards out in their
forecast, for when the day came that she should be delivered of a
child, the mother bare a son, but herself died in his birth.
Howbeit, the child was given in charge unto a nurse, and was named
Brute.
At last, after thrice five years had gone by, the lad, bearing his
father company out a-hunting, slew him by striking him unwittingly
with an arrow. For when the verderers drave the deer in front of them,
Brute thinking to take aim at them, smote his own father under the
breast. Upon the death of his father he was driven out of Italy, his
kinsfolk being wroth with him for having wrought a deed so dreadful.
He went therefore as an exile into Greece, and there he met with the
descendants of Helenus, son of Priam, then held in bondage by the
Greeks. Freeing these countrymen by a sudden attack on the Greek
stronghold, and capturing Pandrasus himself, the valiant adventurer
presently sailed away with the king's daughter for a wife, and a ransom
of over three hundred ships laden with treasure and provisions.
They ran on together for two days and a night with a fair current of
wind, and drew to land at a certain island called Leogecia, which had
been uninhabited ever since it was laid waste by pirates in the days of
old. Howbeit, Brute sent three hundred men inland to discover by whom
it might be inhabited. Who, finding not a soul, slew such venison of
divers kinds as they found in the glades and the forests.
They came, moreover, to a certain deserted city, wherein they found a
temple of Diana. Now in this temple was an image of the goddess, that
gave responses, if haply it were asked of any votary that there did
worship.
At last they returned to their ships, laden with the venison they
had found, and report to their comrades the lie of the land and the
situation of the city, bearing the Duke on land that he make repair
unto the temple, and after making offerings of propitiation, inquire
of the deity of the place what land she would grant them as a fixed
abiding place. By the common consent of all, therefore, Brute took with
him Gerion the augur, and twelve of the elders, and sought out the
temple, bringing with them everything necessary for making sacrifice.
When they arrived, they surrounded their brows with garlands, and set
up three altars according to immemorial wont, before the holy place,
to the three Gods, Jove, to wit, and Mercury, as well as to Diana, and
made unto each his own special libation. Brute himself, holding in his
right hand a vessel full of sacrificial wine and the blood of a white
hind before the altar of the goddess, with face upturned towards her
image, broke silence in these words:--
Goddess and forest Queen, the wild boar's terror,
Thou who the maze of heaven or nether mansions
Walkest at will, vouchsafe they rede to earthward!
Tell me what lands thy will it is we dwell in?
What sure abode? Lo, there to Thee for ever
Temples I vow, and chant of holy maidens!
After he had nine times repeated this, he walked four times round the
altar, poured forth the wine he held upon the hearth of offering, laid
him down upon the fell of a hind that he had stretched in front of the
altar, and after invoking slumber fell on sleep. For as at that time it
was the third hour of the night, wherein are mortals visited by the
sweetest sleep. Then it seemed him the goddess stood there before him,
and spake unto him on this wise:--
Brute,--past the realms of Gaul, beneath the sunset
Lieth an Island, girt about by ocean,
Guarded by ocean--erst the haunt of giants,
Desert of late, and meet for this thy people.
Seek it! For there is thine abode for ever.
There by thy sons again shall Troy be builded;
There of thy blood shall Kings be born, hereafter
Sovran in every land the wide world over.
On awakening from such a vision, the Duke remained in doubt whether it
were a dream that he had seen, or whether it were the living goddess
herself who had thus foretold the land whereunto he should go. At last
he called his companions and related unto them from first to last all
that had befallen him in his sleep. They thereupon were filled with
exceeding great joy, and advise that they should at once turn back to
their ships, and while the wind is still blowing fair, should get under
way as quickly as possible full sail for the West in search of that
land which the goddess had promised.
Nor did they tarry. They rejoin their comrades and launch out into the
deep, and after ploughing the waves for a run of thirty days, made the
coast of Africa, still not knowing in which direction to steer their
ships. Then came they to the Altars of the Phileni, and the place of
the Salt-pans, steering from thence betwixt Ruscicada and the mountains
Azarae, where they encountered sore peril from an attack by pirates.
Natheless, they won the victory, and went on their way enriched by the
spoil and plunder they had taken.
From thence, passing the mouth of the river Malva, they arrived in
Mauritania, where lack of food and drink compelled them to disembark,
and dividing themselves into companies, they harried the whole region
from end to end. When they had revictualled their ships, they made
sail for the Columns of Hercules, where they saw many of the monsters
of the deep called Sirens, which surrounded the ships and well-nigh
overwhelmed them. Howbeit, they made shift to escape, and came to the
Tyrrhene sea, where they found nigh the shore four generations born
of the exiles from Troy, who had borne Antenor company in his flight.
Their Duke was called Corineus, a sober-minded man and excellent in
counsel, mighty in body, valiance, and hardiness, insomuch as that
if it were he had to deal with a giant in single combat he would
straightway overthrow him as though he were wrestling with a lad.
Accordingly, when they knew the ancient stock whereof he was born,
they took him into their company, as well as the people whereof he was
chieftain, that in after-days were called Cornishmen after the name of
their Duke. He it was that in all encounters was more help to Brute
than were any of the others.
Then came they to Aquitaine, and entering into the mouth of the Loire,
cast anchor there. Here they abode seven days and explored the lie of
the land. Goffarius Pictus then ruled in Aquitaine, and was King of
the country, who, hearing the rumour of a foreign folk that had come
with a great fleet and had landed within the frontier of his dominions,
sent envoys to make inquiry whether they demanded peace or war?
While the legates were on their way to the fleet, they met Corineus who
had just landed with two hundred men to hunt for venison in the forest.
Thereupon they accost him, and ask him by whose leave he hath thus
trespassed into the King's forest to slay his deer? And when Corineus
made them answer, that in such a matter no leave nor license whatever
could be held as needful, one of their number, Imbert by name, rushed
forward, and drawing his bow, aimed an arrow at him. Corineus avoided
the arrow, and ran in upon Imbert as fast as he might, and with the bow
that he carried all-to-brake his head in pieces. Thereupon the rest
fled, just making shift to escape his hands, and reported the death of
their fellow to Goffarius.
The Duke of the Poitevins, taking the matter sorely to heart, forthwith
assembled a mighty host to take vengeance upon them for the death of
his messenger. Brute, hearing tidings of his coming, set guards over
his ships, bidding the women and children remain on board while he
himself along with the whole flower of his army marcheth forth to meet
the enemy.
When the engagement at last began, the fighting is fierce on both
sides, and after they had spent a great part of the day in battling,
Corineus thought it shame that the Aquitanians should hold their
ground so stoutly, and the Trojans not be able to press forward to
the victory. So taking heart afresh, he called his own men apart to
the right of the battle, and forming them in rank made a rapid charge
upon the enemy; and when, with his men in close order, he had broken
the front ranks, he never stinted striking down the enemy till he had
cut his way right through the battalion, and forced them all to flee.
Good luck had supplied the place of a sword he lost with a battle-axe,
wherewith he cleft in twain any that came next him from the crown of
the head right down to the girdle-stead.
Brute marvels; his comrades and even the enemy marvel at the hardihood
and valour of the man, who, brandishing his battle-axe among the flying
host, added not a little terror by shouting, "Whither fly ye, cowards?
Whither fly ye, cravens? Turn back, I tell ye, turn, and do battle with
Corineus! Shame upon ye! So many thousands as are ye, do ye flee before
my single arm? Flee then! and take with ye at least this comfort in
your flight, that it is I who am after ye, I who ere now have so oft
been wont to drive the Tyrrhene giants in flight before me, and to hurl
them to hell by threes and fours at a time!"
At these words of his a certain earl named Subardus with three hundred
men turned back and charged down upon him. But Corineus, in raising
his shield to ward the blow, forgot not the battle-axe he held in
his hand. Lifting it overhead, he smote him a buffet upon the top of
his helmet that cleft him right through into two halves. After this,
he straightway rusheth in amongst the rest, whirling his axe, and
a passing furious slaughter he maketh. Hurrying hither and thither,
he avoideth receiving a single stroke, but never resteth a moment
from smiting down his enemies. Of one he loppeth off hand and arm, of
another he cleaveth the shoulders from the body, of another he striketh
off the head at a single blow, of another he severeth the legs from the
thigh. All dash headlong upon him only; he dasheth headlong in upon
them all.
Brute, who beholdeth all this, glowing with love of the man, hurrieth
forward with a company to succour him. Then ariseth a mighty shouting
betwixt the two peoples--the strokes are redoubled, and passing bloody
is the slaughter on the one side and the other.
But it endureth not long. The Trojans win the day, and drive King
Goffarius and his Poitevins in flight before them. Goffarius, escaping
by the skin of his teeth, betook him into the parts of Gaul to have
succour of his kinsfolk and acquaintance. At that time twelve kings
there were in Gaul, each of equal rank, under whose dominion the whole
country was ruled. They all received him kindly, and with one accord
did pledge them to drive out from the frontiers of Aquitaine this
foreign folk that had arrived there.
Brute, overjoyed at the said victory, enricheth his comrades with the
spoils of the slain, and after again forming the ranks in companies, he
leadeth his host inland with the intention of sacking the whole country
and loading his ships with the countless treasure. Accordingly, he
burneth the cities in all directions, fire after fire, and ransacketh
their hidden hoards; even the fields were laid waste, and citizen and
countryman alike and subjected to a piteous slaughter, his aim being
to exterminate the unhappy race to the last man. But after that he had
thus visited with bloodshed well-nigh the whole of Aquitaine, he came
into the place where now standeth the city of Tours, which, as Homer
beareth witness, he afterwards himself builded. Finding, after diligent
survey that the place was convenient as a refuge, he there decided to
pitch his camp, so that if need were he could betake him thereinto. For
sore misgiving had he by reason of the arrival of Goffarius, who had
marched into the neighborhood along with the Kings and Princes of Gaul
and a mighty host of armed warriors to do battle against him. When his
camp was fully finished, he awaited Goffarius for two days therein,
confident alike in his own prudence and in the hardihood of the young
men whereof he was the chieftain.
Now, when Goffarius heard of the Trojans being there, he advanced by
forced marches day and night until he came well within sight of Brute's
camp. Gazing grimly thereon, yet somewhat smiling withal, he burst
forth into these words:
"Alas! what grievous destiny is here? Have these ignoble exiles pitched
their camp within dominions of mine? To arms, ye warriors, to arms! and
charge through their serried ranks! Right soon may we take captive this
herd of half-men like sheep and hold them in bondage throughout our
realm."
Forthwith, all they that he had brought with him leapt to arms, and
marched upon their enemies ranked in twelve battalions. But not
after any woman wise did Brute range his men and march to meet them.
Prudently instructing his troops as to what they were to do, how to
advance and in what order to hold their ground, he gives the word to
charge.
At the first onset, the Trojans for a time had the upper hand, and
fearful was the slaughter they made of the enemy, for nigh two thousand
of them fell, and the rest were so daunted at the sight that they all
but turned to flee. But where the numbers of men are the greater, there
the more often doth victory abide. In this case, therefore, the Gauls,
albeit that at first they were beaten back, yet being thrice so many as
their enemies, made shift to form themselves again in rank and charged
in again on every side against the Trojans, whom they compelled after
much bloodshed to take refuge in the camp.
Having thus obtained the victory, they beleaguered them within the
camp, never thinking but that before they departed thence the besieged
would either offer their necks to the fetters, or suffer a cruel and
lingering death from the pangs of hunger.
In the meanwhile, on the night following, Corineus entered into counsel
with Brute, and agreed with him that he would issue forth of the
camp that same night by certain byways, and would lie hidden in the
neighboring forest until daybreak. And when Brute, issuing forth just
before dawn, should be engaged in battle with the enemy, he himself
with his company should attack them in the rear, and charging in upon
them put them to the sword. Brute applauded this device of Corineus,
who, cautiously issuing forth as he had proposed with three thousand
men, betook him to the depths of the forest.
Accordingly, when the morrow morning began to break, Brute ordained
his men in companies, and opening the gates of the camp, marched forth
to battle. The Gauls straightway set themselves to oppose him, and
disposing their troops in battle array came to close quarters with him.
Many thousands of men are at once cut down on both sides, and many are
the wounds given and received, for not a man spareth his adversary.
It chanced that a certain Trojan was there present named Turonus, a
nephew of Brute's, than whom there was none more valiant and hardy
save only Corineus himself. He with his single sword slew no less than
six hundred men. Unhappily he was slain before his time by a sudden
onslaught of the Gauls; and the foresaid city of Tours acquired the
name thereof by reason of his being there buried.
And while the troops on both sides were in the very thickest of the
battle, Corineus came upon them of a sudden and charged the enemy at
the double in the rear. Straightway the others, pressing forward from
the front, renew the attack more hotly and strain them to the utmost
to complete the slaughter. The Gauls were aghast with dismay even at
the very shout of the Cornishmen as they charged in on the rear, and
thinking that they were more in number than they were, fled, hot foot,
from the field. The Trojans are on their heels hewing them down in
pursuit, nor cease they to follow them up until the victory is their
own.
Brute, nevertheless, albeit he were right glad at heart to have
achieved so signal a triumph, was sore grieved by anxiety on one
account, for he saw that, whilst his own numbers were minished daily,
those of the Gauls were daily multiplied. Wherefore, seeing it was
doubtful whether he could any longer hold out against them, he chose
rather to retire to his ships while the greater part of his army was
still whole and the glory of the victory still fresh, and to set sail
in quest of the island which the divine monition had prophesied should
be his own. Nor was there any tarriance. With the assent of his men,
he returned to his fleet, and after loading his ships with all the
treasures and luxuries he had acquired, he re-embarked, and with a
prosperous wind sought out the promised island, where he landed at last
in safety at Totnes.
At that time the name of the island was Albion, and of none was it
inhabited save only of a few giants. Natheless the pleasant aspect of
the land, with the abundance of fish in the rivers and deer in the
choice forests thereof did fill Brute and his companions with no small
desire that they should dwell therein. Wherefore, after exploring
certain districts of the land, they drove the giants they found to take
refuge in the caverns of the mountains, and divided the country among
them according as the Duke made grant thereof.
They began to till the fields, and to build them houses in such sort
that after a brief space ye might have thought it had been inhabited
from time immemorial. Then, at last, Brute calleth the island Britain,
and his companions Britons, after his own name, for he was minded that
his memory should be perpetuated in the derivation of the name. Whence
afterward the country speech, which was aforetime called Trojan or
crooked Greek, was called British.
But Corineus called that share of the kingdom which had fallen unto
him by lot Cornwall, after the manner of his own name, and the people
Cornishmen, therein following the Duke's example. For albeit that he
might have had the choice of a province before all the others that had
come thither, yet was he minded rather to have that share of the land
which is now called Cornwall, whether from being, as it is, the _cornu_
or horn of Britain, or from a corruption of the said name Corineus.
For naught gave him greater pleasure than to wrestle with the giants,
of whom was greater plenty there than in any of the provinces that had
been shared amongst his comrades. Among others was a certain hateful
one by name Gogmagog,[228:1] twelve cubits in height, who was of such
lustihood that when he had once uprooted it, he would wield an oak tree
as lightly as it were a wand of hazel.
[228:1] The ancient books of Arabia and Persia are full of
marvelous tales of Gog and Magog--Jajiouge and Majiouge, as
they are called. These giants they locate in Tartary, and the
Caucasian Wall from the Caspian to the Black Sea was supposed
to have been built by them of all sorts of metals. In Genesis
Magog is the tenth son of Japheth; Gog and Magog are spoken
of by Ezekiel; and later Gog and Magog were names of nations.
Brute, having thus got footing in Britain, was preparing to improve the
same, when Albion, who had named this island after his own name,--by
which it is sometimes called at this day,--having intelligence
thereof, raised his whole power, being men of gigantic stature, and
vast strength, and bearing for their arms huge clubs of knotty oak,
battle-axes, whirlbats of iron, and globes full of spikes, fastened to
a long pole by a chain; and with these, he fell upon the invaders on a
certain day when Brute was holding high festival to the gods.
A bloody battle was fought, wherein the Trojans were worsted and many
of them slain, and their whole army was forced to retire.
Brute, hereupon considering the disadvantage between his men and the
giants, devised a stratagem to overthrow them, by digging in the night
a very long and deep trench, at the bottom impaling it with sharp
stakes, and covering it with boughs and rotten hurdles, on which he
caused to be laid dried leaves and earth, only leaving some passages,
well known to his men by particular marks.
This being done, he dared the giants to a second battle, which Albion
readily accepted; and the fight being begun, after some dispute, Brute
seemed to retire; whereupon the giants pressed on him with great fury;
and the Trojans retiring nimbly beyond their trench made a stand, and
ply'd them with a shower of darts and arrows, which manner of fight
they were unacquainted with, whereby many of them were slain. However,
Albion encouraging his men to come to handy strokes with their enemies,
they rushed forward, and the vanguard immediately perished in the
trenches; and the Trojans continuing to shoot their arrows very thick,
the giants were put to flight, and pursued into Cornwall; where, in
another bloody fight, Albion was slain by Brute, fighting hand to hand.
But his huge brother, Gogmagog, Brute had commanded to be taken alive
as he was minded to see a wrestling bout betwixt him and Corineus, who
was beyond measure keen to match himself against such monsters.
So Corineus, overjoyed at the prospect, girt himself for the encounter,
and flinging away his arms, challenged him to a bout at wrestling.
At the start, on the one side stands Corineus, on the other the giant,
each hugging the other tight in the shackles of their arms, both making
the very air quake with their breathless gasping. It was not long
before Gogmagog, grasping Corineus with all his force, brake him three
of his ribs, two on the right side and one on the left.
Roused thereby to fury, Corineus gathered up all his strength, heaved
him up on his shoulders and ran with his burden as fast as he could for
the weight to the seashore nighest at hand. Mounting up to the top of
a high cliff, and disengaging himself, he hurled the deadly monster he
had carried on his shoulder into the sea, where, falling on the sharp
rocks, he was mangled all to pieces and dyed the waves with his blood,
so that ever thereafter that place from the flinging down of the giant
hath been known as Lamgoemagot, to wit, "Gogmagog's Leap," and is
called by that name unto this present day.
Corineus tells of his own exploit in the old tragedy of "Locrine":
When first I followed thee and thine brave King,
I hazarded my life and dearest blood,
To purchase favor at your princely hands,
And for the same in dangerous attempts,
In sundry conflicts, and in divers broils,
I shew'd the courage of my manly mind:
For this I combatted with Gathelus,
The brother to Goffarius of Gaul;
For this I fought with furious Gogmagog,
A savage captain of a savage crew;
And for these deeds brave, Cornwall I received,
A grateful gift given by a grateful King;
And for this gift, this life and dearest blood
Will Corineus spend for Brutus' sake.
He does not, however, relate the most wonderful part of the affair,
which comes to us through Fulke Fitz-Warine, an outlawed baron of the
13th Century. Fulke tells how after Gogmagog was slain, a spirit of the
devil entered into his body, and came into these parts, and long held
possession of the country that never Briton dared to inhabit it. And
how afterwards, King Bran, the son of Doneval, caused the ancient city
of the giants to be rebuilt, repaired the walls, and strengthened the
great fosses, and he became Burgh and Great March. And the devil came
by night and took away everything that was therein, since which time
nobody has ever inhabited there.
But Payn Peverel, a proud and courageous knight, heard this story,
and determined to brave the demon. The latter appeared, in a fearful
tempest, under the semblance of Gogmagog; he carried in his hand a
great club, and from his mouth cast fire and smoke, with which the
whole town was illuminated. However, devoutly making the sign of the
Cross, the knight attacked him so fiercely with his trusty sword that
ere long the demon cried for mercy,--and disclosed the secret treasures
of the town, promising Payn that he should be lord of all that soil.
Another account says that there were two brothers, Gog and Magog,
who were taken prisoners by Brute and led in triumph to the place
where London now stands; and when a palace was erected by the side
of the river Thames, on the present site of Guildhall, these two
giants were chained to the palace gates as porters. In memory of which
their effigies, after their deaths, were set up as they now appear in
Guildhall.
Certain it is that these two colossal figures, the older carrying a
"morning star" (the spiked globe fastened to a long pole by a chain
with which horsemen used to demolish their enemies in a _mêlée_)
have kept "watch and ward" over London gates for centuries--and were
believed by thousands of children to descend from their pedestals and
go to dinner when St. Paul's clock struck twelve.
In 1415 victorious Henry V was welcomed into London by a male and
female giant standing at the entrance to the Bridge, the man holding
an axe and a bunch of keys; a few years later Henry VI was similarly
greeted; in 1554, upon the public entry of Phillip and Mary, two great
images of giants stood at the bridge, one named Gogmagog the Albion,
one Corineus; and all through the 16th and 17th centuries these mighty
reminders of the old tale figured in public pageants.
These figures were made only of wicker-work and pasteboard, put
together with great art and ingenuity; and these two terrible original
giants had the honor yearly to grace my Lord Mayor's show, being
carried in great triumph in the time of the pageants; and when that
eminent service was over, remounted their old stations in Guildhall,
till by reason of their very great age, old time, with the help of a
number of city rats and mice, had eaten up all their entrails. The
dissolution of the two old, weak, and feeble giants, gave birth to the
two present substantial and majestic giants; who, by order, and at the
City charge, were formed and fashioned. Captain Richard Saunders, an
eminent carver in King Street, Cheapside, was their father; who, after
he had completely finished, clothed, and armed these, his two sons,
they were immediately advanced to their lofty stations in Guildhall,
which they have peacefully enjoyed ever since the year 1708.
For over two hundred years now these fourteen-foot hollow wooden
figures have stood in the Guildhall, one holding his spiked ball, the
other a halberd. Many a parade have they figured in; many a child has
been frightened by them; many a visitor has wondered at them; but
few enough have ever read the tale of Corineus's encounter with the
terrible original.
* * * * *
The city of Bayeux still has its festival parade with a huge effigy,
commemorating the slaying of the terrible Brun the Dane by Robert of
Argouges; in Douai, huge Gayant with his wife and children parades the
streets for three days during the July kermess; Metz, Lille, Dunkirk
and many Spanish cities, too, have had as an annual feature some such
civic commemoration of giants connected with the city's history; and
huge Antigonus has a permanent place in the coat-of-arms of Antwerp.