THE LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF DR. R. PAULI. TO WHICH IS APPENDED ALFRED'S ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF OROSIUS. WITH A Literal English Translation, and an Anglo-Saxon BY B. THORPE, Esq., MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT MUNICH. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK-STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1-33143 Undergraduate EDITOR'S PREFACE. As a fitting and, it is hoped, welcome accompaniment to the translation of my friend Dr. Pauli's excellent Life of King Alfred, the Publisher has judiciously selected Orosius, the work of our great West-Saxon Monarch, which most loudly called for republication, not only on account of its scarcity and cost, but also because of the glaring inaccuracies, both in the text and translation, of the only existing edition.* From the necessity of writing an introductory essay I am relieved by the ample and satisfactory account given of the work by Dr. Pauli; yet a few words may not be deemed superfluous. The reasons for ascribing the Anglo-Saxon version of Orosius to Alfred, are, if not incontrovertible, at least of sufficient weight to justify us in concurring in the general belief. That such labours were not foreign to his studies, may be seen in the Preface to his version of Boethius: Ælfred kuning pæs pealhstod pisse bec. J hie of bec-ledene on englire pende: King Alfred was the interpreter of this book (Boethius), and turned it from book-Latin into English. Though referring to another work, this passage, in combination with the Introduction of the Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan,† seems strongly to favour Alfred's claim. We have, besides, the positive, though later, testimony of William of Malmesbury, who, speaking of Alfred's literary labours, says: plurimam partem Romanæ bibliothecæ Anglorum auribus dedit, opimam prædam peregrinarum mercium civium usibus convectans, cujus præcipui sunt Orosius, etc.; a very great part of Roman literature he gave to English ears, conveying a rich booty of foreign wares for the use of his countrymen, the chief of which are Orosius, etc. *The Anglo-Saxon Version from the Historian Orosius. By Elfred_the Great. Together with an English translation from the Anglo-Saxon. By the Hon. Daines Barrington. London. MDCCLXXIII. † See p. 248. Ohthepe ræde hir hlafonde Ælfpede kýnincge, etc. |