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Ac he neowol astreaht
Nither of dune ;
Feol on tha flore,
Fela worda spræc,
Forthoht thearle :

Ne wende thonan aefre
Cuman of thaem clammum;
Cleopode to Drihtne, 165
Geomran stemne,
Gyddode thus.

It was long of yore

That the Gothic rout,
Forth from Scythia's eastern shore,

Led their shieldmen out;

Thronged with swarms of war

The lands of many a clan, And in the South set firm and far

Two tribes to trouble man.

Yearly waxed and grew

Those Gothic kingdoms twain, And Alaric and Rædgast too

Right royally did reign. Then down the Alps the Goth

Made haste to force his way, In haughty pride all fiercely wroth,

And lusting for the fray:
Their banner fluttered bright,

While all Italia through
Shot ruthless in their linden might

The shielded warrior crew,
Forth from the Alpine drifts

To great Sicilia's coast,
Where in the seastream it uplifts

Its lofty island boast.
Then Rome's old rule was crush'd,

Her costliness despoild,
And by that host, with battle flush'd,

The city's beauty soil'd.
Alaric and Raedgast

The fastness first they seek, While Cæsar with his chiefs fled fast

For safety to the Greek.

Then could the wretched band,

Left mournfully behind,
No more the warring Goth withstand,

Nor much of mercy find.
Unwillingly their trust

The warders then gave up,
None to his oath was true and just;

And full was sorrow's cup.
Yet to the Greek outyearn’d

The people, as at first,
And for some daring leader burn'd,

To follow whom they durst.
The people wore their woes

Many a wintry year,
Till weird-ordain'd Theodric rose,

Whom thane and earl should hear.

To Christ the chief was born,

And water wash'd the king,
While all Rome's children blest the morn,
That
peace

with it should bring.
To Rome he vowed full fast

Her old-time rights to yield,
While God should grant his life to last,

The Gothic power to wield.
He did forswear all that:

The Atheling he lied,
To please Arius God forgat,

And falsely slipp'd aside.
He broke his plighted oath,

And, without right or ruth,
Good John the pope against all troth

Beheaded for the truth.

A shameful deed was there;

And heaps of other ill
Against the good this Goth did dare
In wickedness of will.

22

Essays

A man there was just set

For heretoch in Rome, Loved by the lord whose bread he ate,

And dear to all at home :

Dear also to the Greek,

When he the town did save; A righteous man, whom all would seek,

For many gifts he gave. Long since was he full wise,

In worldly wit and lore, Eager in worth and wealth to rise,

And skill'd on books to pore. Boethius was he hight;

He ate shame's bitter bread, And ever kept the scorn in sight

Outlandish kings had said. He to the Greek was true,

And oft the old-rights told, Which he and his forefathers too

From those had won of old.

Carefully then he plann'd

To bring the Greek to Rome, That Cæsar in his rightful land

Again might reign at home. In hidden haste he plied

With letters all the lords, And prayed them by the Lord who died

To heed his earnest words.

Greece should give laws to Rome,

And Rome should Greece obey ; The people longed to let them come

To drive the Goth away.
But lo! the Amuling

Theodric found out all,
And bade his fellows seize and bring

This highborn chief in thrall.

He feared that good earl well,

And straightly bade them bind
Boethius in the prison-cell,

Sore troubled in his mind.

Ah! he had basked so long

Beneath a summer sky,
Ill could he bear such load of wrong,

So heavy did it lie.
Then was he full of woe,

Nor heeded honour more;
Reckless he flung himself below

Upon the dungeon floor ;
Much mourning, there he lay,

Nor thought to break his chains,
But to the Lord by night and day

Sang thus in sighing strains.

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This poem

also is Alfred's own : and has not in any way been suggested by Boethius. It serves, in an able and effective manner, to introduce the Metres that follow, giving a slight historic sketch of Rome and its fortunes at the time of Boethius's imprisonment. In Gibbon's · Decline and Fall' all the matters here hinted at are detailed at length: as it is not our wish to encumber this version with needless notes, the reader can if he pleases there refer to the history of Theodoric's invasion and government. Meanwhile, a few words in this version require explanation : e. g. 'sceldas læddon' led their shields, -as we would now say of a general, he sent so many hundred • bayonets' to the flank &c. : ‘lind wigende’ lime or linden-fighters,--so called from their bucklers or spear shafts having been made of lime-wood: ‘hlaf' is a 'loaf'; ‘ord' a “beginning or cause': hence ‘hlaford' is a “patronor a lord whose bread he ate :''heretoga' is a 'general or chieftain'; Boethius was in fact 'consul, but, as in the case of 'atheling for 'prince,' it is thought best to keep to the word of Alfred. So also of Amuling;' which signifies the descendant of Amul. Boethius (prænamed Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus, and allied to those noble families) flourished as a Roman citizen and a Christian writer toward the close of the fifth and the beginning of the

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