Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/40

XXXIV SOLILOQUIES TO ALFRED'S OTHER WORKS prove that Christianity had not injured the world. Boethius, it is now generally agreed, was himself not a Christian, though the Roman Church canonized him, but Alfred's rendering is made distinctly so. The very titles and authors of the other works speak for themselves. It was not the writings of the Latin poets, that appealed to him, but those of the Christian Fathers.

Although these works were all Christian, yet a closer view and comparison reveals an interesting variety of writings on a wide range of subjects. In this list of six mediaeval books we have one on the secular history of the world, another on English Church history, while still another is a sort of compendium of philosophy. To offset these more general and comprehensive treatises, there is the Pastoral Care, which is a specific and practical guide for the shepherd of God's people; the Dialogues constitute a kind of martyrology and handbook for clerks; while, to some extent, these various threads are caught up and woven together in the Soliloquies, for here we have theology, philosophy, and practical precepts. It is, therefore, a work which would make a fitting conclusion to his series of translations, and is placed last by most of the scholars who have attempted a chronological arrangement of Alfred's' works.

4. Relation to the Boethius. - In form, thought, and expression, by far the most closely related of these works are the Boethius and the Soliloquies. They are both imaginary dialogues between the Soul and Reason. The formulas for opening and closing the main divisions are the same in both, as likewise are the set phrases used in question and answer. In the treatment of the original and in the diction there is a striking similarity.

Professor Hubbard, in a careful comparison of the two, has shown almost conclusively that they are by the

1 Cf. Wulfing, op. cit., Vol. I, Einleitung, VII.

2 Mod. Lang. Notes, LX. 161-171.