The Description of Wales | Page 4

idea may be formed with what success,
should Fortune afford an opportunity, I am likely to treat matters of
greater importance. For although some things should be made our
principal objects, whilst others ought not to be wholly neglected, I may
surely be allowed to exercise the powers of my youth, as yet untaught
and unexperienced, in pursuits of this latter nature, lest by habit I
should feel a pleasure in indolence and in sloth, the parent of vice.
I have therefore employed these studies as a kind of introduction to the
glorious treasures of that most excellent of the sciences, which alone
deserves the name of science; which alone can render us wise to rule
and to instruct mankind; which alone the other sciences follow, as
attendants do their queen. Laying therefore in my youth the foundations
of so noble a structure, it is my intention, if God will assist me and
prolong my life, to reserve my maturer years for composing a treatise
upon so perfect, so sacred a subject: for according to the poet,
"Ardua quippe fides robustos exigit annos;" "The important concerns of
faith require a mind in its full vigour;"
I may be permitted to indulge myself for a short time in other pursuits;
but in this I should wish not only to continue, but to die.
But before I enter on this important subject, I demand a short interval,
to enable me to lay before the public my Treatise on the Instruction of a
Prince, which has been so frequently promised, as well as the
Description of Wales, which is now before me, and the Topography of
Britain.
Of all the British writers, Gildas alone appears to me (as often as the
course of my subject leads me to consult him) worthy of imitation; for
by committing to paper the things which he himself saw and knew, and
by declaring rather than describing the desolation of his country, he has
compiled a history more remarkable for its truth than for its elegance.

Giraldus therefore follows Gildas, whom he wishes he could copy in
his life and manners; becoming an imitator of his wisdom rather than of
his eloquence - of his mind rather than of his writings - of his zeal
rather than of his style - of his life rather than of his language.

SECOND PREFACE to the same

When, amidst various literary pursuits, I first applied my mind to the
compilation of history, I determined, lest I should appear ungrateful to
my native land, to describe, to the best of my abilities, my own country
and its adjoining regions; and afterwards, under God's guidance, to
proceed to a description of more distant territories. But since some
leading men (whom we have both seen and known) show so great a
contempt for literature, that they immediately shut up within their
book-cases the excellent works with which they are presented, and thus
doom them, as it were, to a perpetual imprisonment; I entreat you,
illustrious Prelate, to prevent the present little work, which will shortly
be delivered to you, from perishing in obscurity. And because this, as
well as my former productions, though of no transcendent merit, may
hereafter prove to many a source of entertainment and instruction, I
entreat you generously to order it to be made public, by which it will
acquire reputation. And I shall consider myself sufficiently rewarded
for my trouble, if, withdrawing for a while from your religious and
secular occupations, you would kindly condescend to peruse this book,
or, at least, give it an attentive hearing; for in times like these, when no
one remunerates literary productions, I neither desire nor expect any
other recompense. Not that it would appear in any way inconsistent,
however there exists among men of rank a kind of conspiracy against
authors, if a prelate so eminently conspicuous for his virtues, for his
abilities, both natural and acquired, for irreproachable morals, and for
munificence, should distinguish himself likewise by becoming the
generous and sole patron of literature. To comprise your merits in a few
words, the lines of Martial addressed to Trajan, whilst serving under
Dioclesian, may be deservedly applied to you:
"Laudari debes quoniam sub principe duro, Temporibusque malis,
ausus es esse bonus."
And those also of Virgil to Mecaenas, which extol the humanity of that

great man:
"Omnia cum possis tanto tam clarus amico, Te sensit nemo posse
nocere tamen."
Many indeed remonstrate against my proceedings, and those
particularly who call themselves my friends insist that, in consequence
of my violent attachment to study, I pay no attention to the concerns of
the world, or to the interests of my family; and that, on this account, I
shall experience a delay in my promotion to worldly dignities; that the
influence of