Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/179

 and prevented  his  entrance,  and  with  rage  said  to  him,

'Thou earnest  hither,  Maurus,  to  a  strange  land,

and thoughtest  that  thou  couldest  drive  us  away

out of  our  dwellings,  but  thou  shalt  know  now,

that I  will,  with  divers  deaths,  kill  thy  monks,

so that  hardly  shall  any  one  of  them  remain

of so  great  a  company  as  now  dwell  with  thee.'

Then said  the  holy  man  to  the  hateful  devil,

'Christ, who  hath  power  over  all,  rebuke  thee,

thou lying  fiend,  and  author  of  wickedness.'

So then  the  devil  straightway  vanished

out of  his  sight  with  a  mighty  outcry,

so that  the  monks,  much  affrighted,

were aroused  by  his  furious  voice,

and went  to  nocturns,  but  before  the  right  time.

Maurus then  went  into  Saint  Martin's  church,

and with  great  sorrow  besought  the  faithful  God,

that He  would  reveal  to  him  concerning  the  devil's  boasting,

and disclose  to  him  more  certainly  the  accursed  one's  saying,

Maurus then  saw  a  shining  angel

standing beside  him,  and  saying  these  words  to  him,

'Thou, God's  darling,  why  art  thou  so  sorrowful

Verily the  devil  knoweth  future  things

sometimes, but  not  alway,  through  some  token

of what  he  has  oft  seen,  though  he  himself  be  false;

and that  which  he  said  to  thee  is  true  in  part,

so that  the  most  part  of  thy  monks  shall

depart from  life  within  a  little  while,

and they  all  shall  come  to  the  eternal  life,

and thou  thyself  afterward  shall  blessedly  follow  them

to God's  kingdom  through  good  deserts.'

After these  words  the  angel  departed  from  him,

and Maurus  then,  in  the  morning,  spoke  to  the  monks,

and told  them  openly  all  his  vision,

and earnestly  exhorted  them  to  be  ready,