the Histories of Orosius[1] and Bede; and that philosophic vade-mecum of the Middle Ages, the De consolatione philosophiae of Boëthius. Of these, Alfred translated the Pastoral Care and the De consolatione, also Orosius; the other works appear to have been translated at his direction.[2] Alfred's translations contain his own reflections and other matter not in the originals. In rendering Orosius, he rewrote the geographical introduction, inserted a description of Germany and accounts of northern Europe given by two of his Norse liegemen, Ohthere and Wulfstan. The alertness of his mind is shown by this insertion of the latest geographical knowledge. Other and more personal passages will disclose his purpose, and illustrate the manner in which his Christianized intelligence worked upon trains of thought suggested perhaps by the Latin writing before him.
Alfred's often-quoted preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care tells his reasons for undertaking its translation, and sets forth the condition of England. He speaks of the "wise men there formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders," and of their zeal in learning and teaching and serving God; and how foreigners came to the land in search of wisdom and instruction. But "when I came to the throne," so general was the decay of learning in England "that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe there were not many beyond the Humber.… Thanks be to God Almighty that we have any teachers among us now." Alfred therefore commands the bishop, to whom he is now sending the copy, to disengage himself as often as possible from worldly matters, and apply the Christian wisdom God has given him. "I remembered also how I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burnt, how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with
- ↑ Ante, Chapter IV.
- ↑ The Works of King Alfred the Great are translated from Anglo-Saxon in the Jubilee edition of Giles (2 vols., London, 1858). The Pastoral Care and the Orosius are translated by Henry Sweet in the publications of the Early English Text Society. W. J. Sedgefield's translation of Alfred's version of the Consolations of Boëthius is very convenient from the italicizing of the portions added by Alfred to Boëthius's original. The extracts given in the following pages have been taken from these editions.
