This Merlin Lived In The Time Of King Arthur, And Is
Said To Have Prophesied More Fully And Explicitly Than The Other.
I
shall pass over in silence what was done by the sons of Owen in our
days, after his
Death, or while he was dying, who, from the wicked
desire of reigning, totally disregarded the ties of fraternity; but
I shall not omit mentioning another event which occurred likewise in
our days. Owen, {172} son of Gruffyth, prince of North Wales, had
many sons, but only one legitimate, namely, Iorwerth Drwyndwn, which
in Welsh means flat-nosed, who had a son named Llewelyn. This young
man, being only twelve years of age, began, during the period of our
journey, to molest his uncles David and Roderic, the sons of Owen by
Christiana, his cousin-german; and although they had divided amongst
themselves all North Wales, except the land of Conan, and although
David, having married the sister of king Henry II., by whom he had
one son, was powerfully supported by the English, yet within a few
years the legitimate son, destitute of lands or money (by the aid of
divine vengeance), bravely expelled from North Wales those who were
born in public incest, though supported by their own wealth and by
that of others, leaving them nothing but what the liberality of his
own mind and the counsel of good men from pity suggested: a proof
that adulterous and incestuous persons are displeasing to God.
CHAPTER IX
Of the mountains of Eryri
I must not pass over in silence the mountains called by the Welsh
Eryri, but by the English Snowdon, or Mountains of Snow, which
gradually increasing from the land of the sons of Conan, and
extending themselves northwards near Deganwy, seem to rear their
lofty summits even to the clouds, when viewed from the opposite
coast of Anglesey. They are said to be of so great an extent, that
according to an ancient proverb, "As Mona could supply corn for all
the inhabitants of Wales, so could the Eryri mountains afford
sufficient pasture for all the herds, if collected together." Hence
these lines of Virgil may be applied to them:-
"And what is cropt by day the night renews,
Shedding refreshful stores of cooling dews."
On the highest parts of these mountains are two lakes worthy of
admiration. The one has a floating island in it, which is often
driven from one side to the other by the force of the winds; and the
shepherds behold with astonishment their cattle, whilst feeding,
carried to the distant parts of the lake. A part of the bank
naturally bound together by the roots of willows and other shrubs
may have been broken off, and increased by the alluvion of the earth
from the shore; and being continually agitated by the winds, which
in so elevated a situation blow with great violence, it cannot
reunite itself firmly with the banks.
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