Holy Graal as a symbol of the mysteries of God, he opened new spiritual depths among tales of the animal life of man, and elevated Arthur to the place he has since held as the mythical hero of an essentially religious people. Walter Map-who called the Welsh his countrymen, England "our mother "--was born about the year 1143, and after studies in the University of Paris, became attached to the court of our Henry II., under whom he became a canon of St. Paul's and a precentor of Lincoln. He held also the living of Westbury in Gloucestershire. Map has been called, by misunderstanding of the sense of some of his lines, the jovial archdeacon; but he did not become an archdeacon till the year 1196, in the reign of Richard I., when his work as a writer was done. He then became Archdeacon of Oxford, and after that date nothing is known of him. His time of energy was in the reign of Henry II.

One part of the work of Walter Map, by which he sought to make his wit serve for the advancement of men to a more spiritual life, was the invention of a Bishop Golias, who stood for all fleshly corruptions of the Church. In the name of Golias, Map circulated Latin poems of his own that set others to work on the same form of satire, and thus the battle against growing corruptions in the Church was aided in Henry II.'s days-days of the struggle between Henry and Becket by a force of light artillery in the Golias poems, of which the following was one of the most famous. The translation here given was made in the Elizabethan time. Mr. Thomas Wright, an active student of our early literature, who has done much to extend the knowledge that has been a life-long source of pleasure to himself, copied it from a Harleian MS., and first printed it (of course, retaining the old spelling, here unnecessary) in an appendix to a volume of "The Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter Mapes," edited by him for the Camden Society in 1841. Although Golias is named in the title, he does not in this poem speak in his own person, but stands generally for that advancing evil against which good Churchmen, clergy and laity alike, were uttering their protest. The satire is sweeping, but the satirist is himself one of the clergy. The worst hinderers and the best helpers of the advance of man to a higher life, were among the men who were alike sworn servants of the Temple.

THE APOCALYPSE OF GOLIAS.1

When that the shining sun from Taurus down had sent
His fiery burning darts and beams so hot of kind,
Into the woods anon and shadows dark I went,
There for to take the air and pleasant western wind.

A BISHOP.

༠༠༠༠/༢༥

From a Thirteenth Century MS in the British Museum.---Arundel 91, fol. 85.

And as I lay me down under an oaken tree,

About the mid-time just, even of the summer's day, Pythagoras his shape methought that I did see,

But that it was his corpse, God wot, I cannot say.

Pythagoras his shape indeed I did behold,

With divers kinds of art i-painted well about; But yet this sight, God wot, by me cannot be told Whether it were in deed, in body, or without.

Upon his forehead fair Astrology did shine,

And Grammar stood along upon his teeth arow, More fairly Rhetoric bloomed upon his tongue's confine,3 And in his trembling lips did art of Logic flow.

And in his fingers eke did Arithmetic lie,
Within his hollow pulse did Music finely play,
And then in both his eyne stood pale Geometrie:
Thus each one of these arts in his own place did stay.

In reason is contained moràll philosophie,

And then upon his back all handicrafts were writ; At length much like a book unfolded his bodie,

And did disclose his hand, and bade me look in it.

And then he did shew forth his right hand's secrets clear,
Which I beheld right well, and after gan to read;
With letters black as ink, thus found I written there,
"I will thee lead the way. To follow me make speed."

1 These are the first lines of the original. May is the month of the sun in Taurus :

"A Tauro torrida lampade Cynthii
Fundente jacula ferventis radii,

Umbrosas nemoris latebras adii,
Explorans gratiam levis Favonii.

"Estivæ medio diei tempore

Frondosa recubans Jovis sub arbore, Astantis video formam Pythagoræ : Deus sit, nescio, utrum in corpore."'

2 Corpse French, corps, the body-not necessarily, as now, the dead body. Pythagoras was looked upon as the founder of knowledge in its seven divisions, namely, the Trivium of Ethics-Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic; and the Quadrivium of Physics-Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astrology or Astronomy. They all led, from Grammar upward, by several stages to Theology. The Pythagoras of this vision is represented with Astrology, highest of the seven sciences, upon his forehead; then are placed on his teeth, tongue, and lips the sciences that form the Trivium, and next follow the remaining three of the Quadrivium, which are placed in fingers, arteries, and eyes.

3" And Rhetoric did spring within his hollow eyne," says, by oversight, the Elizabethan translator; but that is the place of Geometry. and Map gave Rhetoric to the tongue: "In lingua pulcrius vernat rhetorica."

And forth he passed then, and after followed I,
Into another world anon both we two fell,
Where many wondrous things and strange I did espy,
And people mo thereto than any man can tell.

And whiles I stood in doubt what all this folk might be,
Upon their foreheads all I cast mine eyne anon,
And there I found their names, which I might clearly see,
As it had been in lead, or else in hard flint stone.

Then saw I Priscian first, beating his scholar's hand,
And Aristotle eke against the air did fight,
But Tullius his words with cunning smoothly scanned,
And Ptolemy upon the stars did set his sight.

Boetius was there, and did his number tell,

And Euclid measured the space of place hard by, Pythagoras likewise his hammer handled well, By sound whereof the notes of music he did try.

There saw I Lucan eke, of warlike writers chief,
And Virgil there did shape the small bees of the air,
And Ovid with his tales to many was relief,
Persius his taunts and satires did not spare.

By Statius he stood, to him, in other ways,

Whose labour painted life, unequal in renown; There also Terence danced, who gave the people plays, Hippocrates with wormwood dosed the country clown.

Whiles I of all this rout the gestures did espy

An angel came to me with countenance full clear, And said to me, "Behold, and look into the sky, And thou shalt see therein what shortly shall appear."

Upon the sky anon my sight I quickly bent,
And by and by I fell into a sudden trance,
And all along the air was marvellously hent,2
But yet at length I was set in the heaven's entrance.

But such a sudden flash of lightning did appear,

That it bereft from me the sight of both mine eyne, Then did the angel say, that stood fast by me there, "Stand still, and thou shalt see what John before hath seen."

1 The persons here named only personify human intelligence by representing the several parts of the Trivium and Quadrivium. Priscian stands for Grammar, with which his name was so well identified that talking bad grammar was called "breaking Priscian's head." Aristotle stands for Logic; Tully or Cicero for Rhetoric; Ptolemy for Astronomy; Boetius for Arithmetic; Euclid for Geometry; and Pythagoras for Music. Boetius, who stands for Arithmetic, was said to have constructed by his mathematical skill mechanical figures that blew trumpets, oxen that lowed, and birds that sang. He is praised for his skill in a letter to him among the epistles of Cassiodorus, who lived A.D. 468-568. When these seven representatives of human intellect have been named there is added a group of famous poets, among whom Virgil is associated with the traditions of him as on enchanter. Map says he saw formantem æreas muscas Virgilium," Virgil making brazen flies. He was said to have fixed over a gate of Naples a brazen fly that kept all flies out of the city. The Elizabethan translator seems to have imagined a reference to Virgil's account of the management of bees in the fourth book of the Georgics. I have added a translation of the verse that included Statius, Terence, and Hippocrates, which the author of the above version accidentally passed over.

And as I stood thus still, all in a doubt and fear,
One thundered in the air, and air methought it was,
Like to a thund'ring wheel right terrible to hear,
Or like a trumpet shrill of horn or else of brass.

And after that this sound had pierced the air saw I
A goodly personage, that held in his right hand
Seven candlesticks by tale, and eke seven stars thereby;
And then the Angel said, "Mark well, and understand.

"These candlesticks thou seest are churches seven," said he, "And Bishops ben the stars; but all the same this day, The shining light of grace whereby all men should see, Under a bushel hide and keep out of the way."

And when he had thus done, he did bring out a book, Which book had titles seven, and seven seals sealed well, And with a steadfast eye bade me therein to look,

And see thereby what I to all the world should tell.

Of Bishops' life and trade this book hath right good skill,
As by the seals thereof more plainly doth appear,
For in the inner part is hid all that is ill,

But to the outward shew all goodly things appear.

Anon a certain power there was that opened clear

The foremost chapter's seal, and then I did espy Four beasts, whose shape each one unlike to other were, But nothing yet at all in gesture contrary.

The first of these four beasts a Lion seemed to be,

The second like a Calf, the third an Eagle stout, The fourth was like a Man; and they had wings to fly, And full of eyne they were, and turned like wheels about.

And when uncloséd was the first seal's knot anon,

And I perused well the chapter thorough clear, And after that I bent my whole sight thereupon, Whereof the title was as here it may appear.

The Lion is the Pope that useth to devour,

And lay'th his books to pledge, and thirsteth after gold, And doth regard the mark, but Saint Mark dishonour, And while he sails aloft on coin takes anchor hold.

Also the Bishop is the Calf that we did see,

For he doth run before in pasture, field, and fen, And gnaws and chews on that where he list best to be, And thus he fills himself with goods of other men.

Th' Archdeacon is likewise the Eagle that doth fly, A robber rightly called, and sees afar his prey, And after it with speed doth follow by and by, And so by theft and spoil he leads his life away.

3 Tale, number; from First English "tal," which is derived from "tellan," to tell or count. There is another First English noun, "tál," meaning blame, derived from "tælan," to speak ill of. This yields the "tale" in the word " tell-tale;" while tale means number in the "tale of bricks" required by Pharaoh from the Israelites, and Milton's "every shepherd tells his tale" (i.e., counts the number of his sheep) "under the hawthorn in the dale."

Mark, a coin. The English noble was worth 68. 8d., and two nobles made an English mark, which was worth, therefore, 138. 4d. Satiris's often punned on the Pope's greater regard for mark of the money-lag than for Mark the Apostle. The value of the Scottish mark was thirteen-pence halfpenny.

These are they whom the world abhorreth for to hold,
And at the sight of whom the earth doth quake for fear,
Whose mindés aré whet on mischief to be bold

As bred in Rhodopé among the whetstones there.1

What mischief of themselves by nature's only gift,

Or else what harm they may by their office contrive, What writer's pen can shew, though he be ne'er so swift, What tongue, what voice express of any man alive?

Small faults, in other men, abroad are quickly blown;
But though these men do rage, and ever out of square,
None murmurs, all is hushed, their mischief is not known,
None, none there is of them once to complain that dare.

These ben the Bishop's hunt, and birdés at assay,

That wise men do deceive and fools from time to time; At fools they shoot their shafts, for wise men nets they lay, And for the unwary snares, and for the wily line.

The Bishop's chambers thus gain much both far and wide, A thousand pence at once, which poor men understand; But yet ten thousand moe do fall down by his side

The which do never come unto the Bishop's hand.

Ob signifieth against, and is against each thing,
And contrary to that that it is put unto;
And from this word their name th' officials do bring,
And office to offend, for they nought else can do.

Then boisterous winds arose, and earthquakes by and by, And there was heard a voice of thunder from above,

That sounded Ephata, which word doth signify

An opening, and anon the fifth seal did remove.

When I the chapter saw I read the preface than,
And there the life and trade of priests I marked well,
Which do dishonour God, that all things first began,
Whiles for one penny's gain the Trinity they sell.

Full filthily the priest doth service celebrate

With voice, and breathes on God his surfeit's belching cheer; And hath two Latin names, but not both of one rate, Sacerdos is the one, the other's Presbyter.

He cannot brook2 so well Sacerdos name by right,
For by the other name men ought to call him more,
When he gives holy things then he Sacerdos hight,

But Presbyter when he hath drunk well thrice before.

1 The Elizabethan translator has darkly interpreted the latter part of Map's verse :

"Hi sunt quos retinens mundus inhorruit;

A quorum facie terra contremuit;
Quos, dum in cotibus Rhodope genuit,
Ad omnes scelerum motus exacuit."

In Virgil's eighth eclogue Damon says, "Now I know what love is. Ismarus, or Rhodope, or the remotest Garamantes, produced him on rugged cliffs, a boy not of our race nor of our blood. Begin with me, my pipe, Mænalian strains. Savage love taught the mother [Medea] to imbrue her hands in the blood of her own children," &c. Ismarus and Rhodope were two wild mountains of Thrace; the Garamantes savage Libyans. So the officials are said to be bred like the savage love, among the cliffs of Rhodope, that sharpened them for all impulses to impious deeds. Missing Map's allusion, the translator seems to have thought that cliffs by which anything was sharpened must be whetstones.

2 Brook, use; from First English "brúcan," to use, eat, enjoy, bear. In Shakespeare, the sense is generally "to bear or endure," as in Lucrece-" A woeful hostess brooks not merry guests." But there

And, like a gentleman, this priest will not be polled;

Another to be called a clerk doth take great shame;
The third doth children choose, when he his books hath sold:
Among the laymen thus the Clergy lose their name.

And after came, with wind, of Ethiops a rout,
And from a liny pit, full black and foul to see,
And in an order long they rangéd round about,
And seven times they cried, Tu autem, Domine!

Then at the fearful noise of this huge hideous cry,
My guide began to shake and tremble all for fear,
And like a mazéd corpse for fright nigh dead stood I,
Until I plainly saw the seventh seal to appear.

I saw the works and trade of Abbots there each one
Of whom their flock to lead to hell not one doth miss.
In cloister moving aye, in chamber still as stone,

But in the chapter housé much like ague is.

All worldly pomp these men do utterly despise,

Which may be provéd well by their still silent spirit, And by their contrite heart, and water from their eyes, And by their shaving vile, and habit like to it.

But wher, their garments ben both foul and also bare,
All idle sport in them with less suspect may be,
And though uncomely be the shaving of their beard,
Unto the drinking pot their face is much more free.

And though with contrite heart they use much for to weep,
Yet laugh they on the cup and smilingly they beck;
And though with silent breath they can their tongue in keep,
With finger they can point and speak reproach and check.

At dinner when they sit, to which they go apace,

Their jaws are very swift, their teeth much pain do take, Their throat an open grave, their stomach in like case A foaming whirlpool is, each finger is a cake.

And when the Abbot doth among his brethren sup,
Then tossed are the cups with quaffing to and fro,
And then with both his hands the wine he holdeth up,

And with a thund'ring voice these words he doth outblow:

"O how much glorious is the Lordés lamp so bright,

The cup in strong man's hand that makes men drunk I mean!

O Bacchus, God of wine! Our convent guide aright,
With fruit of David's stock to wash us throughly clean!"

And after this the cup he taketh from the bread,

And cries aloud, "Ho! sirs, can you as well as I Drink this cup in his kind that I lift to my head?" They answer, "Yea, we can," then go to by-and-by.

And lest that any one should keep with him the cup Till he had drunk but half, and so might rise thereby Among them some debate and strife, they drink all up, And thus they ply the pot, and quaffing quietly.

And then they make a law to which each one must stand,
That nothing shall be left within the cup to spill,
And thus, without the rest of belly or of hand,
They draw one vessel out and then one other fill.

Then of a monk a right demoniac is made,

And every monk doth chat and jangle with his brother As popinjay or pie, the which are taught this trade By filling of their gorge, to speak to one another.

Their order to transgress they have but small remorse,
By fraud and perjury, by misreport and spite,
By greediness of mind, withholding things by force,
By filling of their paunches, and by fleshly foul delight.
Worse than a monk there is no fiend nor sprite in hell,
Nothing so covetous nor more strange to be known;
For if you give him aught, he may possess it well;

But if you ask him aught, then nothing is his own.

And if he dine, he must no words nor talking make
Lest that his tongue do let his teeth to chew his meat;
And if he drink, he must needs sit his draught to take,
Lest that his foot do fail, his belly is so great.

[4 lines omitted.]

And after this my guide fast with his hands me hent, When I had all perused and scené things at full, And with his fingers four my head in sunder rent, Dissolving in four parts the compass of my skull.

And then he took a straw that was both hard and dry, Because I should not see those mysteries in vain, And in my noddle fast he set it tenderly,

And all that I had seen he wrote it in my brain. And then I was caught up even to the third sky, Advanced in the tops of clouds above man's sight, Where I a secret saw, and wondrous mystery,

The which may not be told to any living wight.

Before the highest Judge in council brought was I,
Where many hundreds were, and many
thousands eke,
And there the secrets deep of God I did espy,
The which no mind of man is able out to seck.

When these sights seen had I, I waxed hungrie anon, The nobles then that were come to that counsel great Brought me of poppy bread a loaf to feed upon,

And drink of Lethe's flood my bread therewith to eat.
And when I had myself well fed with poppy bread,
And with my wretched lips this drink had tasted well,
The council of the Gods was quite out of my head,
And of this secret sight not one whit could I tell.

Then like a Cato third down from the sky I fell,
No news to bring from thence, nor secrets to declare;
But I can show you all, and certainly can tell

What my fellow did write upon my noddle bare.

Oh! what tales could I tell, how strange to hear and ser, Of things that ben above, and heavenly state and trade, If that subtilé supper the poppy made to me

The printings of my head had not so slippie made!?

1 Here let means hinder. From First English "latan," to let, suffer, hinder. The word has the same root as "late." To be late or delay is hindrance for the person who is late, but sufferance for him who by delay of opposition is left free to do as he will. 2 These are the two last verses in the original:"De cœlo cecidi ut Cato tertius,

Nec summi venio secreti nuncius,
Sed meus mihi quod inscripsit socius,
Hoc vobis dicere possum fidelius.

"O quanta dicerem et quam mirifica
De rebus superis et sorte cœlica,
Nisi papaveris cœna sophistica
Mentis vestigia fecisset lubrica!"