I wondered extremely that the good and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had perfectly learned all the books, had not wished to translate them into their own language. But again I soon answered myself and said: "They did not think that men would ever be so careless, and that learning would so decay; through that desire they abstained from it, since they wished that the wisdom in this land might increase with our knowledge of languages." Then I remembered how the law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greeks had learned it, they translated the whole of it into their own language, and all other books besides. And again the Romans, when they had learned them, translated the whole of them by learned interpreters into their own language. And also all other Christian nations translated a part of them into their own language. Therefore it seems better to me, if you think so, for us also to translate some books which are most needful for all men to know into the language which we can all understand, and for you to do as we very easily can if we have tranquillity enough, that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until they are able to read English writing well: and let those be afterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to continue in learning and be promoted to a higher rank. When I remembered how the knowledge of Latin had formerly decayed throughout England, and yet many could read English writing, I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin Pastoralis, and in English Shepherd's Book, sometimes word by word, and sometimes according to the sense as I had learned it from Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my Bishop, and Grimbald my masspriest, and John my mass-priest. And when I had learned it as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearly in terpret it, I translated it into English; and I will send a copy to every bishopric in my kingdom; and in each there is a book-mark worth fifty mancuses. And I command in God's name that no man take the book-mark from the book, or the book from the monastery. It is uncertain how long there may be such learned bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere; therefore I wish them always to remain in their places. unless the bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere, or any one be making a copy from them. THE VOYAGES OF OHTHERE AND WULFSTAN From OROSIUS' HISTORY OF THE WORLD OHTHERE told King Alfred, his lord, that he, of all the Norwegians, dwelt farthest to the north. He said that he lived in the northern part of the country, by the shore of the West Sea. Notwithstanding, the land extended yet farther to the north; but it was all waste, save in a few places here and there where Finns dwell, attracted by the hunting in winter and the sea-fishing in summer. He said that at a certain time he wished to discover how far north the land extended and whether anybody lived north of the waste. So he set out due north along the coast for three days, with the waste land to starboard and the high seas to larboard. By that time he was as far north as whalefishers ever go. Upon this, he proceeded due north as far as he could sail in the next three days. At that point the land curved to the east- or the sea in on the land, he knew not which; all he knew was that there he waited for a wind from the west, or somewhat from the northwest, and so sailed east, close to land, as far as he could in four days. There he was obliged to wait for a wind from due north, for at the point the land curved due south or the sea in on the land, he knew not which. Thence he sailed due south, close to land, as far as he could in five days. At that point a great river extended up into the land. Then they turned up into the river, for they durst not sail beyond it for dread of hostile treatment, the land being all inhabited on the other side of the river. He had not encountered any inhabited land since leaving his own home, for to the right the land was uninhabited all the way, save for fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, and these were all Finns; to the left there was always open sea. The Permians had cultivated their land very well, but they durst not enter it. The land of the Terfinns was all waste, save where hunters, fishers, or fowlers encamped. The Permians told him many stories both about their own country and about countries which were round them, but he knew not what was true, because he did not see it himself. The Finns and the Permians, it seemed to him, spoke nearly the same language. He made this voyage, in addition to his purpose of seeing the country, chiefly for walruses, for they have very good bone in their teeth they brought some of these teeth to the kingand their hides are very good for shipropes. This whale is much smaller than other whales, being not more than seven ells long; but the best whale-fishing is in his own country those are eight and forty ells long, and the largest fifty ells long. He said he was one of a party of six who killed sixty of these in two days. Ohthere was a very wealthy man in such possessions as constitute their wealth, that is, in wild beasts. He still, at the time when he came to the king, had six hundred tame deer that he had not sold. They call these reindeer. Six of these Six of these were decoy deer, which are very valuable among the Finns, for it is with them that they capture the wild reindeer. He was among the first men in the land, though he had not more than twenty horned cattle, twenty sheep, and twenty swine, and the little that he plowed he plowed with horses. But their income is chiefly in the tribute that the Finns pay them skins of animals, feathers of birds, whalebone, and ship-ropes made of whale's hide and seal's hide. Every one pays according to his means; the richest has to pay fifteen marten skins and five reindeer skins; one bear skin, forty bushels of feathers, a bear- or otter-skin kirtle, and two ship-ropes, each sixty ells long, one made of whale's hide and the other of seal's. He said that the country of the Northmen was very long and very narrow. All of it that can be used for either grazing or ploughing lies by the sea, and even that is very rocky in some places; and to the east, alongside the inhabited land, lie wild moors. In these waste lands dwell the Finns. And the inhabited land is broadest to the eastward, growing ever narrower the farther north. To the east it may be sixty miles broad, or even a little broader, and midway thirty or broader; and to the north, where it was narrowest, he said it might be three miles broad up to the moor. Moreover the moor is so broad in some places that it would take a man two weeks to cross it, in other places of such a breadth that a man can cross it in six days. Wulfstan said that he set out from Haddeby, arriving at Truso after seven days and nights, the ship running all the way under sail. He had Wendland (Mecklenburg and Pomerania) on the starboard, and Langland, Laaland, Falster, and Sconey on the larboard; and all these lands belong to Denmark. And then we had on our larboard the land of the Burgundians, who have their own king. After the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left those lands that were first called Blekinge, and Meore, and Oland, and Gothland; these lands belong to the Swedes. And we had Wendland (the country of the Wends) to the starboard all the way to the mouth of the Vistula. The Vistula is a very large river, separating Witland from Wendland; and Witland belongs to the Esthonians. The Vistula flows out of Wendland, and runs into the Frische Haff. The Frische Haff is about fifteen miles broad. Then the Elbing empties into the Frische Haff, flowing from the east out of the lake (Drausen) on the shore of which stands Truso; and there empty together into the Frische Haff, the Elbing from the east, flowing out of Esthonia, and the Vistula from the south, out of Wendland. The Vistula gives its name to the Elbing, running out of the mere (the Frische Haff) west and north into the sea; therefore it (the place where it flows out of the Frische Haff) is called the mouth of the Vistula. Esthonia (Eastland) is very large, and many towns are there, and in every town there is a king. There is also very much honey, and fishing. The king and the richest men drink mare's milk, but the poor and the slaves drink mead. There is much strife among them. There is no ale brewed by the Esthonians, but there is mead enough. There is a custom among the Esthonians that when a man dies he lies unburnt in his house, with his kindred and friends, a month - sometimes two; and the kings and other men of high rank still longer, in proportion to their wealth; it is sometimes half a year that they remain unburnt, lying above ground, in their houses. All the while that the body is within there is to be drinking and sports until the day he is burned. The same day on which they are to bear him to the pyre they divide his property, what is left after the drinking and sports, into five or six parts some times into more, according to the amount of his goods. Then they lay the largest share about a mile from the town, then the second, then the third, till it is all laid within the one mile; and the smallest part must be nearest the town in which the dead man lies. Then there are assembled all the men in the land that have the swiftest horses, about five or six miles from the goods. Then they all run toward the goods, and the man who has the swiftest horse comes to the first and largest portion, and so one after another till it be all taken; and he who arrives at the goods nearest the town gets the smallest portion. Then each man goes his way with the goods, and he may keep them all; and for this reason swift horses are excessively dear in that country. When his property is thus all spent, they bear him out and burn him with his weapons and clothes. Usually they spend all his wealth, what with the long time that the corpse lies within and what with the goods that they lay along the roads, and that the strangers race for and carry off. It is also a custom among the Esthonians to burn men of every tribe, and if any one finds a bone unburned they have to make great amends for it. There is one tribe among the Esthonians that has the power of producing cold, and it is because they produce this cold upon them that the corpses lie so long without decaying. And if a man sets two vats full of ale or water, they cause both to be frozen over, whether it be summer or winter. THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH Slew with the sword-edge Sons of Edward with hammered Theirs was a greatness Bowed the spoiler, Doomed to the death. All the field with blood of the fighters Heart that complaineth plucketh no help. A haughty hero will hide his suffering, Manfully master misery's pang. Thus stricken with sorrow, stript of my heritage, Far from kinsmen and country and friends, Grimly I grappled my grief to my bosom, Since long time ago, my giver of bounty Was laid in the earth, and left me to roam Watery wastes, with winter in my heart. Forsaken I sought a shielder and protector; Far and near I found none to greet the wanderer, No master to make him welcome in his wine-hall; None to cheer the cheerless, or the friendless to befriend. He who has lost all his loved companions Yearns for the days of his youth, when his dear lord Filled him with abundance. Faded are those joys! He shall know them no more; no more shall he listen To the voice of his lord, his leader and counsellor. Sometimes sleep and sorrow together Kisses his liege, and lays on his knee Wakes with a start the homeless wanderer; Nought he beholds but the heaving surges, Seagulls dipping and spreading their wings, Well do I know 'tis the way of the high- Scurries of snow and the scudding hail. born, Fast in his heart to fetter his feelings, Lock his unhappiness in the hold of his mind. Spirit that sorrows withstandeth not destiny, Then his heart is all the heavier, |