Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/61

ALFRED'S VERSION OF THE SOLILOQUIES LV It is true that, on first reading, one would be likely to decide, even without considering the breaks in the manuscript, that the work is a medley; but sympathetic study will show that development of his theme is natural and artistic. We are, after considering these facts, forced to the conclusion that Alfred had in some degree a sense of fitness and of completeness, and that he exercised this in the changes he made. To sum up, then:

1. Alfred's version is not so much a fragment as the completion of a fragment.

2. He omits the dreary dialectics of Augustine, and uses only what his people can understand; even this he renders in the simplest manner.

3. Although omitting so much, his mind allows no essential fact to escape him, but conserves all with scholarly faithfulness.

5. Conclusion. - Alfred's literary merits are not of the highest order; his nature and circumstances forbade that. But there are certain definite qualities which are in themselves praiseworthy. We note in his writings a simplicity which at times is striking in its effectiveness. Again we feel a manly, if somewhat unpolished, strength. At other times this simplicity of utterance and virility of conception surprise us by bursting forth into rich flowering and ripe fruitage. His similes are drawn from nature, and are eloquent of his experiences as warrior and king. What can be more fitting to the subject than the comparison of the soul to a ship held by the anchors of virtue to its eternal mooring, God? Or what more forcible and indicative of a royal author than the representation of the

1 Cf. 62. 10-22; 35. 4-10; 64. 22-33. 9 Cf. 10. 7-17; 30.7-17; 63. 32-64. 6. 8 Cf. 22. 11-23. 7; 25. 27-26. 3; 58. 10-16.
 * 22.2-23. 12; cf. also 31. 7-27; 46. 10, 11.