Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/313

304 ðreaunga ðe hie onscuniað. Oft we magon eac ða upahæfenen ðy bet gelæra to urum willan, gif we him cyðað hu micle ðearfe we hiera habbað, suelce we maran ðearfe hæbben ðæt hie geðeon ðonne hie selfe, & we hie ðonne biddað ðæt hie for urum ðingum hira unðeawa gesuicen: ðy ieðelicor bið sio upahæfenes to gode gehwierfed, gif hie ongietað ðæt hiera eac oðre men ðurfon. Be ðæm se ilca Moyses ðe God self lærde, & hine lædde ðurh ðæt westen mid ðy fyrenan sweore on nieht, & on dæg mid ðy sweore ðæs wolcnes, he wolde Obab his sweor oð ðæs hæðendomes siðum alædan, & hie wolðe underðiodan ælmihtigum Gode. He cuæð: We willað nu faran to ðære stowe ðe God us gehaten hæfð, ac far mid ús, ðæt we ðe mægen wel don, forðæmðe God hæfð suiðe wel gehaten Israhela folce. Đa andsuarode he him, & cuæð: Ic nelle mid ðe faran, ac ic wille faran to minre cyððe, & to ðæm londe ðe ic on geboren wæs. Đa andswarade him Moyses: La, ne forlæt ús, ac beo ure laðeow, ðu cans eal ðis westen, & wasð hwær we wician magon. Ne spræc he hit no forðyðe his mod auht genierwed wære mi[d] ðære uncyððe ðæs siðfætes, forðæm hit wæs geweorðad mid ðæm andgiete godcundes wisdomes, & wæs him self witga, forðam hine God hiewcuðlicor on eallum ðingum & ðeawum innan lærde ðonne oðre menn mid his gelomlicre tospræce, & utane he

proof they dislike. Often also we can better teach the proud as we wish by telling them how much need we have of them, as if their prosperity were more necessary for us than for themselves, and then asking them to abstain from their vices for our sake; their pride is the more easily reformed the more need they see that other men have of them. Moses, for example, whom God himself taught, and led through the wilderness with the fiery pillar by night, and by day with the pillar of cloud, wished to wean his father-in-law Hobab from his heathen customs, and subject him to Almighty God. He said: “We will now proceed to the place promised us by God; and come with us, that we may treat thee well, for God has promised prosperity to the people of Israel." Then he answered him, saying: "I will not go with thee, but return to my home and the country where I was born." .” Then Moses answered him : “Do not leave us, but be our guide ; thou knowest all this desert, and where we can encamp." He did not speak so because his mind was anxious from ignorance of the journey, for it was honoured with the understanding of divine wisdom, and he was himself a prophet, because God taught him morality and everything more familiarly than other men with his frequent conversations, and ex-