Ah! blind folk, full of all folly! Ye had not wrought in that fashion had ye taken heed how that king always, without rest, laboured to gain sovereignty, and by force to seize lands, like Wales and Ireland, bordering his own. Ye might have seen he should seize by sleight what he could not by open force. Had ye taken heed what thraldom was, and had ye considered his custom, that grasped always, without giving again, ye should, without his decision, have chosen a king who might well and rightly have held the land. Wales might have been an example to you had ye foreseen.

Wise men say he is happy who corrects himself by others’ errors. For evil things may befall as well to-morrow as yesterday. But ye trusted in loyalty, like simple folk without guile, and knew not what should afterwards take place.