A.D. 651. CONDUCT OF THE MABTYB OSWIN. 305 whom they were seeking, and when they answered that they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth, he said, " If ye seek me, let these go their way," meaning his disciples, for he alone was sufficient for the redemption of the world. Animated then by his example, as I have already said, Oswin, the glorious martyr of God, after he had been betrayed by his friend, as our Saviour had been by his disciple, offered himself to death for his country and his nation, calling to mind the sentence of our Saviour, in which he says—" Greater love than this hath no man, than to lay down his life for his friends." On which account there is no doubt that a virtuous life preceded such a death, especially as no one can suddenly become perfect. But Oswin had been, as has been said above, from his earliest years, a most sincere worshipper of the Christian religion, and tall in stature, active in virtue, angelic in countenance, polite in manners, great in council, pleasant in disposition, Uberai in giving, temperate at table, continent in bed, Tienced and very pious, and so impartial between poor and rich, that the poor looked upon him as an equal, and the rich as their master and superior. Owing to which, it happened that, on account of the amiability of his royal disposition, all men flocked to him and loved him, so that those who had been educated in the royal manner appeared in the eyes of all men more learned than their fellows. But we must not pass over his humility, which is called the guardian of all virtue, because he has left a most complete example of it to all future ages. For he had given to bishop Aidan a valuable and most excellent horse, which he, though he was ordinarily accustomed to journey on foot, made use of either to cross the streams of rivers, or whenever necessity compelled him to quicken his steps. And not long afterwards, when a poor man met the bishop, and asked alms of him, he jumped down and ordered the horse, all royally equipped as he was, to be given to the poor man. And Aidan took great care of the poor, and was, as it were, the father of the wretched. And when this was told to the king, he said to the bishop, " Why, my master, did you prefer to give that royal horse, which you ought to have kept for your own, to a poor man ? Had we not other horses of less value, or other gifts which might have sufficed for a poor man, without your giving him a horse which I selected especially for your own ? " But the bishop replied, "What are you saying, Ο king? which is