Note 374 — Chapter X
Reading edition
She seems to have been principally encouraged in this fanatical determination by Wilfrid; probably this was one of the causes of Ecgfrid's displeasure towards him. So highly was the purity of the body regarded in the early Saxon church, that Aldhelm wrote a piece in its praise, in imitation of the style of Sedulius, but in most extravagant terms. Bede wrote a poem, solely to commemorate the chastety of Etheldreda.
"Let Maro wars in loftier numbers sing I sound the praises of our heavenly King; Chaste is my verse, nor Helen's rape I write, Light tales like these, but prove the mind as light." Bede's Eccl. Hist. by Giles, b. iv. c. xx.