A vez do Gildas

Gildas. Falei dele quando escrevi sobre o começo ou surgimento da lenda arturiana, falando sobre as possíveis origens ou vertentes que levaram ao nascimento do personagem, do mito e que inspiraram o Geoffrey de Monmouth.. No último post sobre este assunto falei do Nennius, mas temos ainda a opinião do revoltado e ranzinza Gildas.

Encontrei algumas referências dele no site do David Nash Ford sobre Gildas, mas o que me incomodou foi ver tanta informação sobre quem foi o Gildas mas nada que pudesse confirmar; e quando é assim, prefiro não abusar da sorte e confiar apenas na informação que consigo corroborar com mais de uma fonte. Embora o blog seja um hobby, levo o assunto muito a sério, e por isso chegou onde chegou, não é?

O Gildas, junto ao Nennius e ao Bede, fecha a trilogia de autores que contaram o começo e fim da Bretanha, e deixaram os únicos registros escritos que sobreviveram até hoje sobre essa época tão antiga e tumultuada. Gildas tem no seu currículo o texto chamado "de Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae", ou em outras palavras, "Sobre a Ruina e Conquista da Britania". Gildas não era propriamente um historiador, e por isso seu texto é principalmente uma reclamação, um protesto sobre a conduta dos líderes da Bretania, que na opinião dele causaram a falência do reino e sua conseqüênte queda perante os saxões. Em resumo, uma choradeira só.

O texto é enorme, por isso vou me ater apenas aos parâgrafos que remetem à parte que nos interessa. É curioso ver que não há menção alguma do Arthur, mas as batalhas aparecem claras no texto, assim como os eventos descritos pelo Nennius. Ao ler o texto sobre o Gildas escrito pelo David Nash Ford, descobrimos que pelo jeito havia uma bronca entre o Arthur e o Gildas, e isso pode justificar a total ausência do nome; mas, eu creio que pelo jeito revoltado do Gildas, ele teria preferido falar mal em vez de não falar nada. Bom, seja como for, vamos ao texto, nos parâgrafos 23 ao 26, conforme a tradução do Medieval Sourcebook:

23: Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Gurthrigern [Vortigern], the British king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable darkness must have enveloped their minds--darkness desperate and cruel! Those very people whom, when absent, they dreaded more than death itself, were invited to reside, as one may say, under the selfsame roof. Foolish are the princes, as it is said, of Thafneos, giving counsel to unwise Pharaoh. A multitude of whelps came forth from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, that is, in three ships of war, with their sails wafted by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, a hundred and fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same. They first landed on the eastern side of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against it. Their mother-land, finding her first brood thus successful, sends forth a larger company of her wolfish offspring, which sailing over, join themselves to their bastard-born comrades. From that time the germ of iniquity and the root of contention planted their poison amongst us, as we deserved, and shot forth into leaves and branches. The barbarians being thus introduced as soldiers into the island, to encounter, as they falsely said, any dangers in defence of their hospitable entertainers, obtain an allowance of provisions, which, for some time being plentifully bestowed, stopped their doggish mouths. Yet they complain that their monthly supplies are not furnished in sufficient abundance, and they industriously aggravate each occasion of quarrel, saying that unless more liberality is shown them, they will break the treaty and plunder the whole island. In a short time, they follow up their threats with deeds.

Não vou traduzir tudo, por causa da extensão do texto, mas começa assim:

Então todos os conselheiros, junto ao orgulhoso tirano Vortingern (o rei bretão), foram tão cegos que selaram sua ruina ao convidar para proteção do seu país os ferozes e ímpios Saxões, uma raça odiada tanto por Deus quanto pelos homens, com o intuito de repelir as invasões das nações do norte. Nunca houve nada foi tão prejudicial para nosso país; nada fora tão desafortunado. Qual palpável escuridão envolveu suas mentes, escuridão cruel e desesperadora! 

Fica óbvia a opinião do Gildas sobre os reis da Britania, especialmente o Vortigern. Nisso, o Nennius tinha exatamente a mesma opinião; há um concenso entre os autores sobre a responsabilidade do Vortigern ao permitir a entrada dos guerreiros saxões nas suas terras.

A descrição dele sobre os bárbaros é muito, muito revoltada. Os chama de lobos, filhos desgarrados, bocas de cachorro (o que na época devia ser um insulto), traidores, e claro, bárbaros. A bagunça começa com a chegada de 3 barcos de guerra, eles se instalam no norte do país, e com o sucesso mais e mais barcos chegam, povoando a região. Vortigern os recebe bem, enxergando neles poderosos aliados para repeler outras forças invasoras, sem cair na ficha de que estava recebendo seus invasores com sua melhor comida e bebida. Chegou um ponto onde as bocas para alimentar eram demais, e como Vortigern não tinha mais recursos para manter esse povo todo tranquilo, os invasores decidiram partir para a invasão mesmo, roubando e assaltando na medida que avançavam no território.

24: For the fire of vengeance, justly kindled by former crimes, spread from sea to sea, fed by the hands of our foes in the east, and did not cease, until, destroying the neighbouring towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island, and dipped its red and savage tongue in the western ocean. In these assaults, therefore, not unlike that of the Assyrian upon Judea, was fulfilled in our case what the prophet describes in words of lamentation: "They have burned with fire the sanctuary; they have polluted on earth the tabernacle of thy name." And again, "O God, the gentiles have come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled," &c. So that all the columns were levelled with the ground by the frequent strokes of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen routed, together with their bishops, priests, and people, whilst the sword gleamed, and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers, tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been squeezed together in a press; and with no chance of being buried, save in the ruins of the houses, or in the ravening bellies of wild beasts and birds; with reverence be it spoken for their blessed souls, if, indeed, there were many found who were carried, at that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels. So entirely had the vintage, once so fine, degenerated and become bitter, that, in the words of the prophet, there was hardly a grape or ear of corn to be seen where the husbandman had turned his back. 

Chora Gildas, chora... Aqui conta a massacre do povo bretão, e faz citações ao Livro das Lamentações (da Biblia, beleza?)

25: Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation. "Thou hast given us as sheep to be slaughtered, and among the Gentiles hast thou dispersed us." Others, committing the safeguard of their lives, which were in continual jeopardy, to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded forests, and to the rocks of the seas (albeit with trembling hearts), remained still in their country. But in the meanwhile, an opportunity happening, when these most cruel robbers were returned home, the poor remnants of our nation (to whom flocked from divers places round about our miserable countrymen as fast as bees to their hives, for fear of an ensuing storm), being strengthened by God, calling upon him with all their hearts, as the poet says,--

"With their unnumbered vows they burden heaven,"

that they might not be brought to utter destruction, took arms under the conduct of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a modest man, who of all the Roman nation was then alone in the confusion of this troubled period by chance left alive. His parents, who for their merit were adorned with the purple, had been slain in these same broils, and now his progeny in these our days, although shamefully degenerated from the worthiness of their ancestors, provoke to battle their cruel conquerors, and by the goodness of our Lord obtain the victory.

O país foi desolado, de costa a costa, até que um herói surgiu no meio do povo, chamado de Ambrosius Aurelianus. Este nome já conhecemos melhor, vimos em outros carnavais... É a versão mais próxima que temos do Arthur "histórico", um comandante de batalhas. Aqui sinto uma pontada de satisfação, até porque o nome Walter significa "comandante de batalhas". Isso é o lado bom; o lado ruim é que o nome é de origem germânica, o que me coloca do outro lado da batalha, mas tudo bem, fazer o quê..

26: After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field, to the end that our Lord might in this land try after his accustomed manner these his Israelites, whether they loved him or not, until the year of the siege of Mount Badon [Note: Giles translates "Badonici montis" as "of Bath-hill"], when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was (as I am sure) forty-four years and one month after the landing of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity. And yet neither to this day are the cities of our country inhabited as before, but being forsaken and overthrown, still lie desolate; our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles still remaining. For as well the remembrance of such a terrible desolation of the island, as also of the unexpected recovery of the same, remained in the minds of those who were eyewitnesses of the wonderful events of both, and in regard thereof, kings, public magistrates, and private persons, with priests and clergymen, did all and every one of them live orderly according to their several vocations. But when these had departed out of this world, and a new race succeeded, who were ignorant of this troublesome time, and had only experience of the present prosperity, all the laws of truth and justice were so shaken and subverted, that not so much as a vestige or remembrance of these virtues remained among the above-named orders of men, except among a very few who, compared with the great multitude which were daily rushing headlong down to hell, are accounted so small a number, that our reverend mother, the church, scarcely beholds them, her only true children, reposing in her bosom; whose worthy lives, being a pattern to all men, and beloved of God, inasmuch as by their holy prayers, as by certain pillars and most profitable supporters, our infirmity is sustained up, that it may not utterly be broken down, I would have no one suppose I intended to reprove, if forced by the increasing multitude of offences, I have freely, aye, with anguish, not so much declared as bewailed the wickedness of those who are become servants, not only to their bellies, but also to the devil rather than to Christ, who is our blessed God, world without end. For why shall their countrymen conceal what foreign nations round about now not only know, but also continually are casting in their teeth?

Gildas coloca a batalha de Monte Badon como a mais decisiva batalha dentre todos os confrontos com os saxões; somente depois desta batalha foi declarado o fim da guerra, e o país lentamente prosperou, com o trabalho dos que sobraram. Nas palavras do Gildas, "cada um conforme sua profissão". Mas, com o tempo, as pessoas que vivenciaram a ruina da Britania envelheceram, enquanto os mais novos somente conheceram uma Britania mais rica e próspera. Assim, o lamento do Gildas continua, onde os jovens não dão valor às conquistas e lutas dos seus antecesores.

Até aqui vai minha leitura do Gildas, mas o texto se propaga por longos 110 parágrafos como os que mostrei. Pode até ser que venha ler todos, mas decidi condensar por enquanto apenas aos que nos interessam como curiosos sobre Arthur e suas boas histórias. Vejo no Gildas alguém que precisava contar o que sabia, dentro da parcialidade da sua opinião, mas ao mesmo tempo esse estilo de escrita é característico do medievalismo, e de longe não é exclusividade dele. Digamos, o discurso revoltado era a maneira de chamar a atenção, de trazer para si os olhares. Esse recurso medieval nos persegue até hoje, na política e mais ainda na religião; quem não viu algum padre ou pastor gritando para seu público? Assim, Gildas captura a atenção da platéia, e nos leva da mão pela história da Britania, ou pelo menos, a história segundo ele.

O texto na íntegra encontra-se aqui. Ou, caso queiram comparar com o texto em latim, segue este link.

Bom, agora só faltou Bede... Vou caçar os textos dele, para terminar de formar o comparativo entre os textos. Até o próximo post!