CHRONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. IV. — S. SAMSON. 95 



serpent, in the cave which the Saint afterwards occupied. But 

 for the credit of the narrative, the remark which was made at the 

 beginning of this sketch must be borne in mind, that the miracles 

 are written in a different style from that of the historical inci- 

 dents, and may therefore be supposed to have formed no part of 

 the original Life.''^ It was, we may conjecture, at this period that 

 Samson and Petrock met, as recorded in the life of the latter ; 

 and assuming that Samson was consecrated by Dubricius, about 

 the year 550, a few years before the death of the venerable Arch- 

 bishop, and that he arrived in Cornwall a year or two afterwards, 

 the time of his abode there would just coincide with that of 

 Petrock and Constantino; so that we may suppose those three 

 holy men to have often held sweet counsel together on Cornish 

 soil. Memorials of their Oratories still remain, contiguous to each 

 other, on the northern coast, bearing silent witness of their 

 christian fellowship and their devotion to GoD. How long Sam-Son 

 dwelt in Cornwall, or whether he visited it on more than one 

 occasion, we are not informed ; but we are told in Liber Landavensis 

 that he directed his people to build a monastery near his cave, and 

 that when he departed from the country he left his father Ammon 



* As an example of the difference in style, compare the following narra- 

 tive of one of the miracles above-mentioned, with the extract from the 

 preface given at page 90. Sanctus Samson dixit : Quid est hoc ? Comes 

 respondit, habemus quemdam agrum egreginm a quodam venenoso ac 

 pessimo serpente occupatam, hie vero serpens in qiiadam impenetrabili 

 spelunca habitat propemodiim duos pages delens, milliumque hominum 

 habitare inibi licet. Quo audito sanctus Samson iutrepide dixit : In nomine 

 Domini nihil dubitantes eamus ; si vero creditis, vestris videbitis oculis in 

 hoc serpente Dei magnalia. Indubitanter vero iuito consilio, abierunt cum 

 sancto Samsone. Juvenis autem qui nuper suscitatus fuerat, elericatum 

 promittens, secutus est eum. Sanctus itaque Samson prjecedebat exercitum, 

 et puer ille, qui nuper fuerat suscitatus, ducatum praabebat ei, usque quo 

 altera die post noctem illumina,nte, illud horribile antrum, ubi serpens erat, 

 suis viderunt oculis. Tum puer, Electe, inquit, Dei, an vides, antrum ultra 

 flumen in quo serpens est ? At ille in Domino fisus, exercitui pariter ac suis 

 monachis inibi manere jubens, ille solus, immo et Deus cum illo, ultra 

 flumen transivit, stio puero insequente eum, venerunt pariter ad ostium 

 terribilis antri. Sanctus vero Samson inspiciens puerum insequentem eum 

 atque subridens, ita dixit : comfortare, frater, et viriliter age. Isque sub- 

 junxit : Quem timebo, Electe Dei ? Deus tecum est. Praacipiens vero illi, ut 

 paulo eminus staret, ille audenter antrum ingressus est ; serpens vero ut 

 vidit eum valde intremuit, volens rotare ad suam caudam furibunde roden- 

 dam, ille vero confestim apprehensam lineam zonam, qua erat accinctus, 

 confestim in coUo ejuslmposuit, ac juxta se trahens, de quadam eum grandi 

 altitudine prtecipitavit, prgecipiens, in nomine Jesn Christi ne amplius 

 viveret." 



