Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/123

11+ GREGORY'S PASTORAL. (Cotton MSS. wolde, gif ða wlencea & se anwald ðær wære to gemenged! And ðeah swiðe ryhte stihtað ðone anwald se þe geornlice conn ongietan ðæt he of him gadrige ðætte him tælwierðe [stælwirðe] sie, & wið ðæt winne ðæt him dereð, & ongiete hiene selfne, & ongiete ðæt he bið self oðrum monnum gelic, & ðeah ahebbe hiene ofer ða scyldgan mid andan & mid wræce. We magon eac fullicor ongietan & tosceadan ða spræce, gif we sceawiað ða bisene ðæs forman hierdes, ðæt wæs sanctus Petrus. Đurh Godes giefe he onfeng ðone ealdordom ðære halgan ciricean, & ðeah he wiðsoc ðæt hiene mon to ungemetlice weorðode. Đa ða Cornelius for eaðmodnesse wel dyde ðæt he hiene astreahte [strehte] beforan him, he ðeah hiene selfne ongeat him gelicne, & cwæð: Aris, ne do swæ; hu, ne eom ic mon swæ ilce swæ ðu? Ac ða ða he ongeat þa scylde on Annanian & on Saffiran, swiðe hrædlice he oðiewde hu micelne onwald he hæfde ofer oðre men, ða he hiera liif ðurh ða smeanga ðæs halgan gastes ongeat, & hiene ða mid his worde geslog, & mid ðy anwalde gecyðde ðæt he was ieldest ofer ða halgan cyricean & strengest wið scylda. Đæt rice & ðone onwald he no ne ongeat wið Cornelius, ða ða he hiene swæ swiðlice weorðian wolde ; he wolde him ætfæstan his eaðmetto, & mid ðy he geearnode ðæt him ðuhte ðæt he wære his gelica. He cwæð to him ðæt he wære his gelica : ðær he gecyðde his eaðmodnesse; ond eft on Annanian & on Saffiran gecyðde his nið & his onwald mid ðære wræce. And eft sanctus Paulus ne ongeat he no hiene selfne betran oðrum godum monnum, ða ða (om.) he cwæð: Ne sint we nane waldendas eowres geleafan, ac sint fultumend eowres gefean, forðæmþe ge stondað on geleafan.

consider how much more so if distinction and power were added ! And yet he wields authority very rightly who well knows how to gather from it that which is beneficial for him, and oppose what is hurtful, and understand himself, and see that he is like other men, and yet exalt himself above the sinful with zeal and severity. We shall be able more fully to understand and sift the argument, if we consider the example of the first shepherd, St. Peter. By the gift of God he received the rule of the holy Church, and yet rejected the excessive adulation of men. When Cornelius out of humility did right in prostrating himself before him, he nevertheless acknowledged himself to be his equal, and said: “Arise, do not so, what, am I not a man as thou art ?" But when he perceived the sin of Ananias and