Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/48

Hatton MS.] GREGORY'S PASTORAL. 39 losað on ðære gælinge ðe he ða hwile amierreð, & hu suiðe he on ðam gesyngað. Ne wende na Ezechias Israhela kyning ðæt he [ge]syngade, ða he lædde ða ællðeodgan ærenddracan on his maðmhus, & him geiewde his goldhord. Ac he onfunde ðeah Godes ierre on ðam hearme ðe his bearne æfter his dagum becom. & ðeah he wende ðæt hit nan syn nære. Oft ðonne hwæm gebyreð ðæt he hwæt mærlices & wundorlices gedeð, & his ðonne wundriað ðe him underðiedde bioð, hine heriegeað, ðonne áhefð he hine on his mode, & his Deman ierre fullice to him gecigð, ðeah ðe he hit on yfelum weorcum ne geopenige. Suaðeah mid ðy selflice se Dema bið genieded to ðæm ierre, & se Dema se ðe ðæt inngeðonc eall wát, he eac ðæm inngeðonce demð. We magon monnum bemiðan urne geðonc & urne willan, ac we ne magon Gode. Hwæt se Babylonia cyning wæs suiðe upáhafen on his mode for his anwalde & for his gelimpe, ða he fægnode ðæs miclan weorces & fægernesse ðærre ceastre, & hine oðhof innan his geðohte eallum odrum monnum, & suigende he cwæð on his mode: Hu ne is ðis sio micle Babilon ðe ic self atimbrede to kynestole & to ðrymme, me selfum to wlite & wuldre, mid mine agne mægene & strengo? Đa suigendan stefne suiðe hraðe se diegla Dema gehirde, & him suiðe undeogollice g&wyrde mid ðam witum ðe he hit suiðe hrædlice wræc. Ða úpáhafenesse he árasode & hie getælde, ða he hine ás[c]ead of ðam woroldrice, & hine gehwyrfde to ungesceadwisum neatum, & sua áwende mode he hine geðiedde to feldgo(n)gendum deorum ; & sua ðy ðearlan dome he forleas his mennisce. Se ilca se ð[e] wende ðæt he wære ofer ealle

Babylonian king was greatly puffed up in spirit for his power and success when he rejoiced at the size and beauty of the city he had built, and extolled himself in thought above all other men, and spoke silently in his mind : “How, is not this the great Babylon which I myself built as a throne of splendour, to adorn and glorify myself, with my own might and strength ?” The silent voice the unseen Judge very soon heard, and answered him very distinctly with the punishments with which he very quickly punished it. He rebuked and blamed his pride by depriving him of his worldly kingdom, and turning him into an irrational animal, and broke his spirit by asso- ciating him with beasts of the field; and so by the severe punishment he lost his state of man. To the very one who thought he was above all other men it happened that he hardly knew whether he was a man