who of right should haue béene king, and kept him in prison, and not
so satisfied slue in tyrannous maner the two sons of his said vncle:
But God would not suffer him long to inioy the rule of the land in
[Sidenote: _Matth. West._ writeth that he reigned 30. yeares.]
such vniust dealing, for he died after he had reigned the space of two
yeares, and left a sonne behind him called Vortiporus, which succéeded
him in the kingdome, as authors doo record. Of this Aurelius Conanus
Gyldas writeth, calling vnto him after he had made an end with his
predecessor Constantine, saieng in this wise: "And thou lions whelpe,
as saith the prophet, Aurelius Conanus what doost thou? Art thou
not swallowed vp in the filthie mire of murthering thy kinsmen, of
committing fornications and adulteries like to the other before
mentioned, if not more deadlie, as it were with the waues and surges
of the drenching seas ouerwhelming thée with hir vnmercifull rage?
Dooest thou not in hating the peace of thy countrie as a deadlie
serpent, and thirsting after ciuill wars and spoiles (oftentimes
vniustlie gotten) shut vp against thy soule the gates of celestiall
peace and refreshment? Thou being left alone as a withering trée in
the middle of a field, call to remembrance (I praie thée) the vaine
youthfull fantasie and ouertimelie death of thy fathers and thy
brethren. Shalt thou being set apart, and chosen foorth of all thy
linage for thy godlie deserts, be reserued to liue an hundred yeares,
or remaine on earth till thou be as old as Methusalem? No no." And
after these reprehensions, with further threatnings of Gods vengeance,
he exhorted him to amendment of life, and so proceedeth to talke
with Vortiporus, whome he nameth the king, or rather the tyrant of
Southwales, as after shall be rehearsed.

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