“The pig and the ass live not the same life: for the pig during his life does no good, but eats and swills and sleeps; but when he is dead, then do men make much of him. The ass is hard at work all his days and does good service to many; but when he dies, there is no profit. And that is the way of the world. Some do no good thing while they live, but eat and drink and wax fat, and then they are dragged off to the larder of hell, and others enrich themselves with their goods. Whereby I know that those, who for God’s sake live the life of holy poverty, shall never lack substance, because their heavenly Father has pigs to kill. For as the good man before the season will kill a pig or two to give puddings to his children, so will our Lord kill those hardened sinners before their time, and give their goods to the children of God. So the psalmist says: ‘The bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days,’ because they do no work to keep their bodies healthy. Nothing is so healthful for body and soul as honest work. Work is the life of man, the guardian of health; work drives away sin, and makes people sleep well at night. Work is the strength of feebleness, the health of sickness, the salvation of men,—quickener of the senses, foe of sloth, nurse of happiness, a duty in the young and in the old a merit. Therefore it is better to be an ass than a pig.”
One of the most able of these “extension lecturers” was another Welshman—probably a native of Cardiff—Friar John David, whose lectures at Hereford were so successful that after a year both the friars and the clergy of the city declared he was indispensable, and petitioned for his reappointment. He became the head of the Franciscan province of England, and lies buried among the ruins of the church of the Grey Friars in Cardiff.
VI
LLYWELYN AP GRUFFYDD AND THE BARONS’ WAR
THROUGHOUT the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the history of England and the history of Wales are so closely bound up together that it is impossible to study either apart from the other. In illustration of this general statement I will ask you to consider briefly the history of twelve years, from 1255 to 1267—a period of special interest to us, because these are the years in which Llywelyn’s power was founded and built up.
In 1255 occurred three events of great importance to Wales: (1) Llywelyn overthrew his brothers in battle; (2) Edward Longshanks took possession of his Chester estates; (3) Edmund Crouchback was formally proclaimed king of Sicily.