Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/306

242 been kept throughout. Alfred calls Philosophy's interlocutor Mod or 'mind,' the modern English 'mood,' throughout the book, except in one or two places where he calls him Boethius. When question and answer follow rapidly, the first person singular is used, as in the Latin.

 Citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem; cf. Heb. xi. 13-16. Boethius speaks merely of Roman citizenship. This allusion is taken from a Latin commentary. For details concerning the use of the commentaries made by Alfred, see the Oxford edition of Alfred's Boethius, Introduction.

When the sun's glow, &c. Greatly abridged from Boeth. Bk. i. metr. 6.

P. 13. Bk. ii. metr. 1, concerning Fortune's fickleness, is omitted.

Alfred has failed to perceive that the passage at the bottom of p. 13, beginning 'I would speak,' is in the original put in the mouth of Fortune. However, he has made up for this on p. 16, where he makes Worldly Happiness speak.

P. 15. Alfred omits a passage about Paullus shedding tears over the misfortunes of King Perseus, his prisoner; and also an allusion (in Greek) to the two jars standing at the threshold of Zeus, one full of blessings, the other of calamities.

Pp. 13. In chap. viii a good deal is omitted relating to Boethius' distinctions and blessings. Chap. ix is a condensation of bk. ii. metr. 3.

P. 19. The greatest unhappiness in this present life is, &c. We have here a thought expressed by Dante and Tennyson among modern poets.

'''P. 25. The holy martyrs.''' This is taken from a Latin commentary.

Christ dwelleth, &c. From a commentary.

'''P. 29. If therefore thou wouldst know, &c.''' this passage suggested part of chap. xvii to Alfred.