On Celtic Britain

Reges habet Britannia, sed tyrannos; iudices habet, sed impios; saepe praedantes et concutientes, sed innocentes; uindicantes et patrociniantes, sed reos et latrones; quam plurimas coniuges habentes, sed scortas et adulterantes; crebro iurantes, sed periurantes; uouentes, sed continue propemodum mentientes; belligerantes, sed ciuila et iniusta bella agentes; per patriam quidem fures magnopere insectantes, sed eos qui secum ad mensam sedent non solum amantes sed et munerantes; eleemosynas largiter dantes, sed e regione inmensum montem scelerum exaggerantes; in sede arbitraturi sedentes, sed raro recti iudicii regulam quaerentes; innoxios humilesque despicientes, sanguinarios superbos parricidas commanipulares et adulteros dei inimicos, si sors, ut dicitur, tulerit, qui cum ipso nomine certatim delendi erant, ad sidera, prout possunt, efferentes; uinctos plures in carceribus habentes, quos dolo sui potius quam merito protuerunt catenis onerantes, inter altaria iurando demorantes et haed eadem ac si lutulenta paulo post saxa despicientes.  De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, Sanctus Gildas Sapiens

Britain has kings but they are tyrants; she has judges but they are impious, often plundering and assailing, but only the innocent; they avenge and protect, but only the guilty man and the thief; many of them have wives, but they are all whores and adulteresses; swearing they forswear, making vows they lie in the next breath; they make war, but the only battles they rush into are civil and unjust; for certain they chase after thieves throughout the land, but those thieves who sit with them at table they not only love but even remunerate; they dispense alms liberally but they heap up a huge mountain of crimes; they sit in the seat of authority but rarely seek the rule of right judgment; they despise the innocent and humble and are close companions of the bloodthirsty, and the proud, and parricides, and the adulterous enemies of God, acclaiming to the stars, if chance so offers, all those who ought, together with their very name, be exterminated; they have many subdued in their prisons, those who more by deceit than by justice bear the burden of chains; in oath taking they linger among the altars, and shortly afterwards look on them with contempt as if they were filth stained stones. On The Destruction and Ruin of Britain, Saint Gildas the Wise

A Nation Declines

Fame alia virulentiore tacitus pullulante. quiescente autem vastitate tantis abundantiarum copiis insula affluebat ut nulla habere tales retro aetas meminisset, cum quibus omnimodis et luxuria crescit. Crevit etenim germine praepollenti, ita ut competentur eodem tempore diceretur: 'Omnino talis auditur fornicatio qualis nec inter gentes.' Non solum vere hoc vitium, sed et omnia quae humanae naturae accidere solent, et praecipue, quod et nunc quoque in ea totius boni evertit statum, odium veritatis cum assertoribus amorque mendacii cum suis fabricatoribus, susceptio mali pro bono, veneratio nequitiae pro benignitate, cupido tenebrarum pro sole, exceptio satanae pro angelo lucis. Ungebantur reges non per Deum sed qui ceteris crudeliores exstarent, et paulo post ab unctioribus non pro veri examinatione trucidabantur aliis electis trucioribus. Si quis vero eorum mitior et veritati aliquatenus propior videretur, in hunc quasi Britanniae subversorem omnia odia telaque sine respectu contorquebantur, et omnia quae displicuerunt deo et quae placuaerunt aequali saltem lance pendebantur, si non gratiora fuissent displicentia; ita ut merito patriae illud propheticum, quod veterno illi populo denuntiatum est, potuit aptari, ‘Filii’ inquiens ‘sine lege, dereliquistis Deum, et ad iracundiam provocastis sanctum Israel. Quid adhuc percutiemini apponentes iniquitatem? Omne caput languidum et omne cor maerens: a planta pedis usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitas.’   De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, Sanctus Gildas Sapiens

Another more virulent hunger was silently growing. As the devastations quietened the island became rich with an abundance of affluence such that no age after remembered having such things, and along with it luxury grew. Indeed it grew with such strong root that it might well be said at that same time: 'Such fornication is not heard about even among the Gentiles.'1 But it was not spring for this vice alone, but also for all those vices which human nature is accustomed to fall into, especially the vice which presently overturns the condition of all good: the hatred of truth along with her advocates and the love of falsehood together with its fabricators, the taking up evil for good, the veneration of iniquity rather than kindness, the desire for darkness rather than the sun, the welcoming of Satan as an angel of light. Kings were anointed, not in the name of God, but such as they excelled others in cruelty, and after a little while, without an examination of truth, they were butchered by those who anointed them for different elected savages. If any one of them seemed to be more mild and nearer to truth, against him were turned, without respect, the hatred and weapons of all, as if he would be the overthrow of Britain; and all things which displeased God and all things which pleased Him had equal weight in the balance, if things displeasing were not preferred; thus to this land the saying of the prophet which denounced an ancient people was apt to be applied with merit: ' Sons without the law, you have forsaken God and moved the Holy One of Israel to anger. Why will you be beaten any more by adding to iniquity? Every head is weak and every heart groans; from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no health in it.' 2 On The Destruction and Ruin of Britain, Saint Gildas the Wise 1 1 Cor 5.1 2 Is 1. 4-6