[752] Ib. 834 C. There is a singular contrast in the words with which Orderic disposes of the dead bodies of the Count and the Countess; “Comitissa nempe defuncta prius apud Nogionem quiescit; comes vero, postmodum apoplexia percussus, sine viatico decessit, et cadaver ejus cum patre suo Fontinellæ computrescit.”
[754] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 496.
[755] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Ecce quibus ærumnis superba profligatur Normannia, quæ nimis olim victa gloriabatur Anglia, et naturalibus regni filiis trucidatis sive fugatis usurpabat eorum possessiones et imperia. Ecce massam divitiarum quas aliis rapuit eisque pollens ad suam perniciem insolentur tumuit, nunc non ad delectamentum sui sed potius ad tormentum miserabiliter distrahit.” He has an earlier reflexion to the same effect (664 B); “Sic proceres Neustriæ … patriam divitiis opulentam propriis viribus vicissim exspoliaverunt, opesque quas Anglis aliisque gentibus violenter rapuerunt merito latrociniis et rapinis perdiderunt.”
[756] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Soli gaudent, sed non diu nec feliciter, qui furari seu prædari possunt pertinaciter.”
[757] Ib. “In diebus illis non erat rex neque dux Hierusalem, aureisque vitulis Jeroboam rebellis plebs immolabat in Dan et Bethel.” We are used to this kind of analogy whenever any one goes after a wrong Pope; but Normandy, with all its crimes, seems to have been perfectly orthodox.
[758] Ib. C. “Multa intueor in divina pagina quæ subtiliter coaptata nostri temporis eventui videntur similia. [Every age, except perhaps the eighteenth, has made the same remark.] Ceterum allegoricas allegationes et idoneas humanis moribus interpretationes studiosis rimandas relinquam, simplicemque Normannicarum historiam rerum adhuc aliquantulum protelare satagam.” This praiseworthy resolve reminds us of an earlier passage (683 B) where he laments the failure of the princes and prelates of his day to work miracles, and his own inability to force them to the needful pitch of holiness; “Ast ego vim illis ut sanctificentur inferre nequeo. Unde his omissis super rebus quæ fiunt veracem dictatum facio.”
It would seem from this that Orderic dictated his book. (See also his complaint in 718 C, when at the age of sixty he felt too old to write and had no one to write for him.) We need not therefore infer in some other cases that, because an author dictated, therefore he could not write.
[759] The Chronicle (1091) says expressly, “On þisum geare se cyng Willelm heold his hired to X[~p]es messan on Wæstmynstre, and þæræfter to Candelmæssan he ferde for his broðer unþearfe ut of Englalande into Normandige.” So Florence; “Mense Februario rex Willelmus junior Normanniam petiit.” Orderic (696 D) seems to place his voyage a little earlier; “Mense Januario Guillelmus Rufus rex Anglorum cum magna classe in Normanniam transfretavit.” But he places it late in the month; for in 693 B, having recorded the death of Bishop Gerard on January 23, he adds that the King’s voyage happened “eadem septimana.”
[760] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 234.