e: "[Our] Lord
himself hath said in his gospel, Take ye my yoke upon you, and learn
from me that I am mild and of lowly heart. And now if Augustine is mild
and of lowly heart, then it is [to be] believed that he bears Christ's
yoke and teaches you to bear it. If he then is unmild and haughty, then
it is known that he is not from God, nor [should] ye mind his words."
Quoth they again, "How may we know that distinctly?" Quoth he, "See ye
that he come first to the synod with his fellows, and sit; and, if he
rises toward you when ye come, then wit ye that he is Christ's servant,
and ye shall humbly hear his words and his lore. But if he despise you,
and will not rise toward you since there are more of you, be he then
despised by you." Well, they did so as he said.

When they had come to the synod-place, the archbishop Augustine was
sitting on his seat. When they saw that he rose not for them, they
quickly became angry, and upbraided him [as being] haughty, and gainsaid
and withstood all his words. The archbishop said to them: "In many
things ye are contrary to our customs and so to [those] of all God's
churches; and yet if ye will be obedient to me in these three
things--that first ye celebrate Easter at the right tide; that ye fulfil
the ministry of baptism, through which we are born as God's children,
after the manner of the holy Roman and apostolic Church; and that,
thirdly, ye preach the word of the Lord to the English people together
with us--we will patiently bear with all other things which ye do that
are contrary to our customs." They said that they would do none of these
things, nor would have him for an archbishop; they said among
themselves, "If he would not now rise for us, much more, if we shall be
subjected to him, will he contemn us for naught." It is said that the
man of God, St. Augustine, in a threatening manner foretold, "if they
would not receive peace with men of God, that they should receive
unpeace and war from their foes; and, if they would not preach among the
English race the word of life, they should through their hands suffer
the vengeance of death."

And through everything, as the man of God had foretold, by the righteous
doom of God it came to pass; and very soon after this Ethelfrith, king
of the English, collected a great army, and led it to Legcaster, and
there fought against the Britons, and made the greatest slaughter of the
faithless people. While he was beginning the battle, King Ethelf