De Danacho et Conchober regibus
Two Kings in the Afterlife
Tnugdal and his guide encounter two familiar laymen, identified as the kings Conchober and Danachus.
And going a little farther, they saw laymen they knew. Among them were the kings Conchober and Danachus.
A Question About Enemies at Peace
Tnugdal marvels that two cruel, lifelong enemies now appear reconciled and asks how this could be.
When he saw them, he said, greatly wondering: "What is it, Lord, that I see? These two men were very cruel in their lifetime, and enemies to one another. And by what merit have they come here, or how have they been made friends?"
Repentance and Suffering as Merit
The angel explains that both kings repented before death: one through long sickness and a monastic vow, the other through years of imprisonment and almsgiving.
The angel answered and said: "They repented of this enmity before death; therefore it is not held against them as blame. For that king Conchober was sick a long time, and he made a vow that if he had lived, he would have become a monk; the other, indeed, was bound in chains for many years. Everything he had, he gave to the poor.
Enduring Justice and the Charge to Witness
The angel affirms that God's justice endures forever and commissions Tnugdal to report all these things to the living.
And so its justice endures forever and ever; but you will tell all these things to the living.'✦1
The Journey Continues
Tnugdal and the angel set out again on their journey.
And they set out.
Read the original Latin
Et procedentes paululum; viderunt notos sibi laicos. inter quos erant Conchober et Danachus reges.
Quos cum ille vidisset; valde ammirans ait. 'Quid est domine quod video? Isti duo viri erant in vita sua multum crudeles; et inter se invicem inimici. Et quo merito huc venerunt; aut quomodo amici facti sunt?' Respondens angelus dixit. 'Hanc ante mortem penituerunt inimiciciam; ideo non eis imputatur ad culpam. Ille enim rex Conchober diu languit; et votum vovit qualia si vixisset monachus fieret; alter vero per multos annos vinculis religatus. omnia quecumque habuit dedit pauperibus.
et ideo iusticia eius manet in seculum seculi; sed tu narrabis viventibus omnia hec.'
Et profecti sunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.145.13 — Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.
Notes
- 1 ↩The antecedent of 'eius' (its/his) is ambiguous: it could refer to divine justice (God's justice) or to the justice of the penitents described in the preceding section. Context favors divine justice as the enduring reality, but the grammar permits either.
Visions of Tondal (Les Visions du chevalier Tondal) companion
Tondal came back and changed how he lived daily. That's the whole point.
Chosen Portion builds the daily practice Tondal's vision demanded: a morning reading that keeps eternity in view.
The Visio was written 'for the edification of many' as a spur to daily amendment of life, and Chosen Portion supplies that daily spur with a morning reading and evening examen.
- A daily portion from historic texts on living well and dying well
- The complete 27-chapter Visions of Tondal in modern readable English
- A built-in daily examen prompt — 2 minutes at day's end