the king, a man of knowledge and virtue far beyond his years, took up his speech, saying, "Since you acknowledge these Normans to be so bold and strong, it appears to me, that you act unwisely in contending with them to whom you are inferior in right as well as in strength; for you cannot deny that you made oath to Duke William, either voluntarily or against your inclination, wherefore you would act more prudently in withdrawing yourself from the conflict, lest you incur either shameful flight or death, in fighting with the sin of perjury upon you. We, who have taken no oath, shall have justice on our side, in fighting for our country; if, then, we fight without you, your cause will be more likely of success, and you will be able to restore us if we are routed, and to revenge us if we are slain." The bravery of Harold would not however let him yield to these remonstrances, as esteeming it to be inglorious, and a foul reproach on all his past life, to shew his back to an enemy, be he who he might.
During this conference between the two brothers, there came a monk from Duke William, to propose three conditions on the part of the duke; either that Harold should abdicate the kingdom according to his oath, or that he should retain it under the sovereignty of the duke, or, lastly, that in sight of both their armies, they should put the question to the issue of a single combat. Harold, hearing these proposals, would neither look upon the messenger with complacency, nor answer him with mildness, but bade him depart with indignation, and called God to judge between himself and William. To this the monk boldly replied, that if he denied the right, the duke was ready to refer it either to the judgment of the apostolic See, or, if he preferred it, to the issue of a battle. To all this Harold would return no further answer, and thus were the Normans exasperated to the conflict.
Now both armies prepare for battle; but the English, who had wasted the whole night, without sleep, in songs and revelry, were still inebriated when in the morning they advanced with precipitation against the enemy, all on foot, armed with battle axes, drawn up in an impenetrable wedge, and covered by a tortoise of shields. This close array would have ensured their safety, had not the Normans, according to their custom, broken it by a pretended flight. The king stood close by his standard, together with his brothers; so that, where the danger was common and equal to all, nobody might entertain the thought of flight. On the other side, the Normans spent the night in confessing their sins, and in the morning, fortified by participation of the body and blood of Christ, awaited the attack of the enemy with courage. Their first line, which was on toot, the duke armed with bows and arrows; his cavalry he placed in the rear, and divided into two wings. The duke, with a serene countenance and with a clear voice, declared aloud, that God would be with him because his cause was just: he then called for his armour, and his servants having in their hurry put on his breast-plate with the inside upwards, he laughed at the blunder, and said, "Now will the strength of my duchy be converted into a kingdom." Then beginning the song of Roland to excite the spirits of the warriors, and calling aloud on God for assistance, they rushed to the battle. It was strenuously fought on both sides, without either giving way, till a late hour of the day, when the duke gave the signal to his men for their pretended retreat. The English army falling into the snare, broke their ranks in the pursuit, and ran headlong to their own destruction; for the Normans, as soon as they saw the success of their stratagem, turned back, and falling on them with fury, put them to real flight. They now took possession of a rising ground, and, as the Normans advanced too furiously, hoping to drive them from the eminence, received them with showers of arrows and stones, slew great numbers of them. In another place, the English forcibly made themselves masters of a broken ditch, and crushed so many Normans to death within it, that the heaps of the slain levelled it with the ground above. Such were the changes of fortune, now this side conquerors, and now that, as long as the soul of Harold remained in his body, who, not contented with exhorting others, performed himself all the duty of a valiant soldier; often coming to blows with the enemies who assailed him, and fight-
