Part 11

Ðu gestaðoladest Thou didst establish þurh þa strongan meaht, through strong might, weroda wuldor cyning, glorious king of hosts, wunderlice wonderfully eorðan swa fæste the earth so fast þæt hio on ænige that she on any healfe ne heldeð, side heeleth not, ne mæg hio hider ne þider nor can hither or thither sigan þe swiðor any more decline þe hio symle dyde. than she ever did. Hwæt hi þeah eorðlices Lo nothing earthly auht ne haldeð, at all sustains her, is þeah efn eþe it is equally easy up and of dune upwards and downwards to feallanne that there should be a fall foldan þisse: of this earth: þæm anlicost likest in fashion to þe on æge bið how in an egg gioleca on middan, middlemost is the yolk, glideð hwæþre and withal gliding free æg ymbutan. the egg round about. Swa stent eall weoruld So standeth the world stille on tille, still in its place, streamas ymbutan, while streaming around, lagufloda gelac, water-floods play, lyfte and tungla, welkin and stars, and sio scire scell and the shining shell scriðeð ymbutan circleth about dogora gehwilce; day by day now dyde lange swa. as it did long ago.

Book iii. metre 9; p. 182, ed. Sedgefield.

This simile occurs only in the poetical version of the Metres, for there are two versions, one in prose and another in verse, and it is agreed that the versification has been done after and from the prose; but there is a question (into which we cannot now enter) whether Alfred is the author of both, or only of the prose version.

But before we quit Alfred’s _Boethius_, we must notice his treatment of Lib. ii. prosa 7, where we may discover something more than free handling. In the first three lines of that section he found a profession of disinterestedness which he could honestly appropriate to himself. The Latin speaks thus: “Thou knowest, said I, that I was never governed by the ambition of transitory wealth. But material for action I did covet, that my talents might not rust in idleness.” Upon these lines for a text the king made his chapter xvii., in which it is evident that he forgets Boethius and speaks for himself and of himself throughout. Applying his author’s words to himself, he expands them into a veritable apology, explaining why a king needs a great revenue, and ending thus: “I resolved to live honourably as long as I lived, and after my time to leave to the men who should come after me my memorial in good works.”

Now we come to the translation of the _Cura Pastoralis_, a work of high and manifold interest.[31] A copy of it was sent to every bishop in England. The very copy which was addressed to Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, is still in our possession. It is preserved in the Bodleian Library, and may be seen under glass by every visitor. This wonderful relic, like the Alfred Jewel, seems to bring us into personal contact with the great king himself.

In Alfred’s Epistle to the bishops, which forms his Preface to the _Pastoralis_, the mind of the king is laid open in a very remarkable manner. Among the many precious evidences which time has spared for the perpetuation of a noble memory, the first place must certainly (on the whole) be accorded to this Preface. It exhibits in the clearest light the reflections of the king upon the past and present condition of his country, his deep sense of the vast losses that had been sustained, his meditation on the means of repair at his command, and the direction of his thoughts to that which is the only root of effective reform, an enlightened and instructed national conscience. In his contemplation of this vital principle, he perceives the value of religious education, and the necessity of beginning there. At this point his discourse enters more into detail, the practical drift of which is, that the Latin schools being lost, and being (for the present at least) irreplaceable, it will be necessary to institute a system of education through the medium of the English language. Some scholars thought that education could only be properly conducted through Latin, and that the vernacular would lower its dignity and value. They could not wholly approve of the method of translations. Here Alfred had nearly the same battle to fight as Jerome fought before him, and in his apology he drew materials from Jerome’s store, adding the further inference that if Scripture might be had in the vulgar tongue, why not other good books?

Children (he thought) should be taught to read English, and this elementary stage of education should be common to all of free birth. For the sons of those who could afford to prolong the education of their children, Latin studies should follow, and such boys should be trained for the higher offices. Here the English basis of education is propounded as a course which was dictated by necessity; but if ever it should be demonstrated that this course is absolutely the best, the credit of having been the first to open the right path must not on that account be denied to King Alfred. In the good old times, Wessex had been far behind Northumbria in the culture of the classics, but this had led to a fuller development of the vernacular, and Alfred found his mother tongue not inadequate to the occasion, and large specimens of Latin literature were rendered in West Saxon, and thus it happened that the dialect of Wessex became to the after literature of England what the Attic dialect was to the literature of Greece.

The king’s letter to the bishops begins thus:—

ÐEOS BÔC SCEAL TO WIOGORA CEASTRE

THIS BOOK IS TO GO TO WORCESTER

Alfred, king, commandeth to greet Wærferth, bishop, with his words in loving and friendly wise: and I would have you informed that it has often come into my remembrance, what wise men there formerly were among the Angle race, both of the sacred orders and the secular; and how happy times those were throughout the Angle race; and how the kings who had the government of the folk in those days obeyed God and His messengers; and they on the one hand maintained their peace and their customs and their authority within their borders, while at the same time they spread their territory outwards; and how it then went well with them both in war and in wisdom; and likewise the sacred orders, how earnest they were, as well about teaching as about learning, and about all the services that they owed to God; and how people from abroad came to this land for wisdom and instruction; and how we now should have to get them abroad if we were going to have them. So clean was it fallen away in the Angle race, that there were very few on this side Humber who would know how to render their services in English, or just read off an epistle out of Latin into English; and I wean that not many would be on the other side Humber. So few of them were there that I cannot think of so much as a single one south of Thames when I took to the realm. God Almighty be thanked that we have now any teachers in office.

Moreover, the king called also to mind what he had himself seen in his early days, before all the harryings and burnings of recent times: how the churches of England had been well stored with books, and the clergy were numerous, but they had profited little by the books, because they could not understand them, as they were not written in their own language. At this point his eloquence rises to a dramatic pitch, and “It is,” he breaks out, “as if they had said: ‘Our ancestors, who were the masters of these sacred places, they loved wisdom, and by means of it they acquired wealth and left it to us. Here may yet be seen their traces, but we are not able to walk in their steps, forasmuch as we have now lost both the wealth and the wisdom, because we were not willing to bend our minds to that pursuit.’” Remembering all this, he had marvelled very exceedingly at those good scholars who were once so frequent in England, men who had completely mastered the Latin books, that they had not been willing to translate any part of them into their own language. But he soon answered himself and said, that they never could have anticipated the present utter decay, and it was their very zeal for learning which caused them to abstain from translating, because they thought that the path of education and knowledge lay through the study of languages.

Then I remembered how the law of Moses was first known in Hebrew; and later, when the Greeks had learned it, they translated it into their own language, and all other books too. And later still the Latin people in the same manner, they by means of wise interpreters, translated all the books into their own speech. And so also did all the other Christian nations translate some portion of the books into their own speech.

Therefore to me it seemeth better, if it seemeth so to you, that we also some books, those that most needful are for all men to be acquainted with, that we turn those into the speech which we all can understand, and that ye do as we very easily may with God’s help, if we have the requisite peace, that all the youth which now is in England of free men, of those who have the means to be able to go in for it, be set to learning, while they are fit for no other business, until such time as they can thoroughly read English writing: afterwards further instruction may be given in the Latin language to such as are intended for a more advanced education, and are to be prepared for higher office. As I then reflected how the teaching of the Latin language had recently decayed throughout this people of the Angles, and yet many could read English writing, then began I among other various and manifold businesses of this kingdom to turn into English the book that is called _Pastoralis_ in Latin, and _Hierdebóc_ (Shepherding-Book) in English, sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense, just as I learned it of Plegmund my archbishop, and of Asser my bishop, and of Grimbald my priest, and of John my priest. After I had learned it so that I understood it and could render it with fullest meaning, I translated it into English; and to each see in my kingdom I will send one; and on each there is an “æstel” (ón ælcre bið án æstel), which is of the value of 50 mancuses. And I command in the name of God that no man remove the “æstel” from the book, nor the book from the minster. No one knows how long such learned bishops may be there, as now, thank God! there are in several places; and therefore I would that they (the books) should always be at the place; unless the bishop should wish to have it with him, or it should be anywhere on loan, or any one should be writing another copy.

It has never been satisfactorily decided what kind of object is meant by the “æstel” which accompanied every one of the presentation copies of the _Hierdebóc_. Dr. Sweet translates thus: “And on each there is a clasp worth fifty mancus. And I command in God’s name that no man take the clasp from the book, or the book from the minster.” Dr. Bosworth, in his Dictionary, explained æstel as a writing-tablet, and identified the word with “astula” in Du Cange. Now it is not easy to see the propriety of combining so personal a thing as a note-book with a volume designed for common use. Nor could such an object be a fixture upon the great book, which is what the king’s phrase (ón ælcre bið) seems to require. On the other hand, Dr. Sweet’s clasp is indeed a fixture, but of such a kind as to be a part of the book itself which could not be removed without wilful mutilation, and it does not appear that the king in his injunction is apprehensive of so flagrant an outrage as that.

My own impression is that the clue to the interpretation is furnished by a Glossary of the eleventh century, which gives “indicatorium” as the equivalent of æstel (Wright-Wülker, i. 327). I imagine a marker either of metal or of wood with metal fittings, so constructed as to be fixed upon the binding, and to bring a small plank across the page wherever desired. This would keep the parchment flat when apt to buckle, would mark the reader’s or transcriber’s place, and would minimise the risk of injury by fingering. It would be attached to one of the boards only in a movable way, perhaps with a screw, and consequently would require a strict and imperative rule to secure it from misplacement. The derivation might well be from “astula” (= assula).

This great epistolary Preface is followed by a second, of another theme and another type. The first is conceived in the statesmanlike spirit of a king who is meditating of civil order and education in a country that has almost lapsed into barbarism. The second is the utterance of the literary artist concerning the book he has translated, the author and his merits, and the weight of his authority, not disregarding the history and transmission of the very codex over which he has been at work. The first of these prefaces is in strong and ragged prose; the second is in heroic verse, which recalls the tradition that Alfred was fond of the old songs of his native land.

Þis ærendgewrit Agustinus ofer sealtne sæ suðan brohte ieg-buendum, swa hit ær fore adihtode drihtnes cempa Rome papa. Ryhtspell monig 5 Gregorius gleawmod gind wód ðurh sefan snythro searoðonca hord. Forðæm he monncynnes mæst gestriende rodra wearde, Romwara betest, monna módwelegost, mærðum gefrægost. 10

Siððan min on Englisc Ælfred kyning awende worda gehwelc, and me his writerum sende suð and norð; heht him swelcra má brengan bi ðære bisene, ðæt he his biscepum sendan meahte forðæm hi his sume ðorften, 15 ða ðe Lædenspræce læste cuðon.

I append an alliterative translation, which runs almost line for line:—

This epistle Augustine over salt sea brought from the south to us island-dwellers, just as it erst indited had been by Christ’s doughty soldier the Roman pontiff. Much right discourse 5. did Gregory of glowing wit give forth apace with skilful soul, a hoard of studious thought. He of mankind converted the most to the Ruler of heaven: he of Romans the best, of men the most learned and widest admired. 10. At length into English, Alfred the King wended[32] my every word: and me to his writers south and north sent out; more copies of such he bade them bring back, that he to his bishops might send, for some of them needed it, 15. those who with Latin speech had least acquaintance.

A few notes may be useful here. In the first line the expression “This epistle” applies to the entire work, because it is addressed by Gregory to John, Bishop of Ravenna, and opens with a dedication in epistolary form.

The poet has a warm feeling for the very manuscript he has been bending over, which he venerates as a sacred relic, because it was one of the books which were brought to this island by Augustine, Gregory’s chosen missionary.

In lines 8-10 is there not a reminiscence of the closing lines of the _Beowulf_?

At verse 11 there is an abrupt transition, and the after part is in an altered manner. The book itself becomes the speaker, and in the diction we recognise the manner of him who dictated to his goldsmith the now famous legend:

ÆLFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN.

In line 12 we should particularly note the assertion which is couched in the words “awende worda gehwelc,” a marked and idiomatic phrase which may be represented in Latin thus: “vertit verborum quodque,” _i.e._ translated every word. This does not point to any rule or restriction in the manner of rendering, as if the translator had tasked himself to a verbal fidelity, for in his first preface, speaking of this very work, he had plainly said that he had sometimes rendered word by word and sometimes sense for sense (hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite). But what he meant to say was this, that whereas in his other translations he had used his originals as passive material to be wrought upon and converted as his own design and purpose guided him, he had treated Gregory’s _Pastoral Care_ as he would treat Scripture, wherein nothing could be added nor taken away.

To conclude the subject of Alfred’s Gregory’s _Pastoral Care_, let it be noted, that not only is it one of the books which are said to have been translated by the king, but the statement is made by himself speaking in the first person, and with a singular circumstantiality, and that besides this the book is distinguished by three peculiar incidents: (1) That the translation was entire; (2) that a copy of it was sent to every bishop; (3) that the king was pleased to celebrate the memorable history of the copy upon which he had worked.

As the chief of Alfred’s translations the _Hierdebóc_ has naturally taken up much of our space, and we must now be brief on the _Dialogues_. And indeed we have the less to say because the Alfredian version has not yet been edited.[33] It exists in three manuscripts of the eleventh century, one in the Cotton Library, and the other two at Oxford and Cambridge. This translation is reputed to have been made by Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, but the authority for this statement is late and of doubtful value. There is no mention of it in the preface, where the king speaks in the first person, and acknowledges the services of friends who had acted as transcribers. It runs thus:—

“I, Alfred, by the grace of Christ, dignified with the honour of royalty, have assuredly understood, and through the reading of holy books have often heard, that we to whom God hath given so much eminence of worldly distinction, have peculiar need at times to humble and subdue our minds to the divine and spiritual law, in the midst of this earthly anxiety; and I accordingly sought and requested of my trusty friends that they for me, out of pious books about the conversation and miracles of holy men, would transcribe the instruction that hereinafter followeth: that I, through the admonition and love being strengthened in my mind, may now and then contemplate the heavenly things in the midst of these earthly troubles.”

Such is the preface in the two manuscripts at Oxford and Cambridge; but in lieu of this the Cotton manuscript has a preface in high-pitched archaic and stilted prose wherein the book speaks and sets forth that it was transcribed by order of a Bishop Wulfstan from a copy that was given him by King Alfred, whose name is glorified with romantic superlatives of eulogy. This is poor apocryphal stuff, but yet as a glimpse at the posthumous cultus of Alfred’s fame it is interesting and even valuable.[34]

Bede’s _History_ was the most modern of the books on Alfred’s list. In this book the translator omitted considerable sections and added none. There is no contemporary record that the translator was King Alfred. The earliest extant statement of the kind is in Ælfric’s _Homily on St. Gregory’s Day_, where the preacher, referring to “Historia Anglorum,” as he calls it, adds, “which King Alfred translated out of Latin into English.” Though a hundred years later, this is nevertheless excellent testimony, and it has been supported both by later historians and until recently by modern critics.

But now the latest editor,[35] Mr. Thomas Miller, has pointed out some radical differences of dialect between the West Saxon of the _Cura Pastoralis_ and the English of this translation, which he locates in the northern part of Mercia. He is further guided by certain ecclesiastical considerations (especially the contents of the parts omitted) to select Litchfield as the spot where the translation was probably made. The evidence is too multifarious to be stated here, but it seems worthy to receive a searching examination and discussion.

So far we have treated of the more conspicuous and better-known of the king’s writings; we must now make mention of his minor works. In “The Shrine: a Collection of Occasional Papers on Dry Subjects,” which appeared at irregular intervals from 1864 to 1870, the Rev. Oswald Cockayne published for the first time two works which claim to rank among Alfredian literature. These he entitled, _King Ælfred’s Book of Martyrs_ and _Blooms by King Ælfred_.

The _Blooms_ are a translation or adaptation of Augustine’s Soliloquies and his Epistle to Paulina on the Vision of God, intermingled with extracts from the _City of God_ and from Gregory, and from Jerome, and withal many passages that appear to be original. The English of the book is a debased Saxon of the twelfth century. The title _Blooms_ is a translation of “blostman,” which is repeatedly used of the work in the Anglo-Saxon text. There is a preface, in which the work is spoken of under another figure—that of collecting material to build a house. At the close we read, “Here end the sayings which King Alfred collected.” Lappenberg classed the book (then unprinted) among the apocryphal works of the king, and Pauli thought that some compiler of the twelfth century had used the name of the king whose memory was still dear to the people. But in 1877 Professor Wülker took it up, and he soon changed the aspect of the case. He showed, in a highly convincing manner, that this book has an intimate relation with Alfred’s _Boethius_, that it carries on an argument which was broached there, and that the two books must be from the same hand. His inference is that it was done after the _Boethius_, and that it was (apparently) the latest work upon which the king was engaged. In 1894 the affinity between the two books was further confirmed by Mr. Frank G. Hubbard in _Modern Language Notes_. Specially convincing are two brief touches in chapter xvii., which echo the argument of the similarly numbered chapter in Alfred’s _Boethius_ which I have called an apology. The book is in an imperfect state.

The _Book of Martyrs_ is also imperfect, beginning at December 31 with St. Columba, and ending with St. Thomas, December 21. The first day of January is called “the eighth Yule day” (se eahteða geohhel dæg). There are four manuscripts of this book, and one of them, a fragment of two leaves, appears to be of Alfred’s time. Moreover, of the saints which are recorded none are later than the ninth century. Another argument is that under November 15 is given a Life of St. Milus, which must (says Cockayne) have been brought direct from Syria to England, and probably from Helias, the patriarch of Jerusalem, with whom Alfred had a correspondence, according to the nearly contemporary _Leech Book_. These evidences appear to Wülker to justify the conclusion of Cockayne, “that the Martyr Book here presented was at least in use in Ælfred’s time, and was probably then composed.”