King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiæ: With an English Translation, and Notes |
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Common terms and phrases
æfter ælc ælcer ænig æɲ anpeald beon beop biop biþ Boet Boethius butan buton cpæp cpæþ cpap creatures cuman Da cpæp dær deah desirous donne ealle eallɲa eallum evil foɲ foɲþam Foppam fultumer gecynde gerceafta gode habban hæbbe hærde hærp happiness hehrte heoɲa heopa hine hiɲe hioɲa hpær hpæt hpile hpilum lichoman mæg mæz mæze mazon micel middle-earth miht mind monnum næfɲe nænne nan puht nauht odde ongan ongitan pæne pæɲe pæɲon pær pære peah pelan pillan pille Pirdom pitan piþ polde pone ponne poɲulde prosa rceal rceolde recze rimle rpipe spipe spiþe thee thing thou hast thou mayest thou wouldest wicked Wisdom yfel ymbe zerælþa þæm þæɲe þær þære þam þaɲa þeah þing þonne þý
Popular passages
Page 247 - ... hare any hound ; nor did cattle know any hatred, or any fear of others, for the pleasure of the sound. Then it seemed to the harper that nothing in this world pleased him. Then thought he that he would seek the gods of hell, and endeavour to allure them with his harp, and pray that they would give him back his wife.
Page 247 - He had a very excellent wife who was called Eurydice. Then began men to say, concerning the harper, that he could harp so that the wood moved, and the stones stirred themselves at the sound, and wild beasts would run thereto and stand as if they were tame ; so still, that though men or hounds pursued •them, they shunned them not. Then said they, that the harper's wife should die, and her soul should be led to hell. Then should the harper become so sorrowful that he could not remain among...
Page 155 - For man more frequently has great renown, and great glory, and great honor, through the opinion of foolish people, than he has through his deservings. But tell me now, what is more unsuitable than this : or why men may not rather be ashamed of themselves than rejoice, when they hear that any one belies them? Though men even rightly praise any one of the good, he ought not the sooner to rejoice immoderately at the people's words. But at this he ought to rejoice, that they speak truth of him. Though...
Page 249 - ... him to his old vices, so that he practise them again as fully as he did before. For whosoever with full will turns his mind to the vices which he had before forsaken, and practises them, and they then fully please him, and he never thinks of forsaking them ; then loses he all his former good, unless he again amend it.
Page 157 - Though they be illustrious whom the vulgar applaud, yet are they more illustrious and more rightly to be applauded who are dignified by virtues. For no man is really the greater or the more praiseworthy for the excellence of another, or for his virtues, if he himself has it not. Art thou ever the fairer for another man's fairness? A man is full little the better though he have a good father, if he himself is incapable of anything. Therefore I advise that thou rejoice in other men's good and their...
Page 123 - But we will still speak concerning the nature of men, and concerning their pursuits. Though, then, their mind and their nature be now dimmed, and they are by that fall sunk down to evil, and thither inclined, yet they are desirous, so far as they can and may, of the highest good. As a drunken man knows that he should go to his house and to his rest, and yet is not able to find the way thither, so is it also with the mind when it is weighed down by the anxieties of this world. It is sometimes intoxicated...
Page 119 - ... Some persuade themselves that it is best that a man be illustrious and celebrated, and have good fame; they therefore seek this both in peace and in war. Many reckon it for the greatest good and for the greatest happiness, that a man be always blithe in this present life, and fulfill all his lusts.
Page 115 - ... is, then, God. He is the beginning and the end of every good, and he is the highest happiness. Then said the mind, This, methinks, must be the highest good, so that man should need no...
Page 247 - Then went he farther; and all the inhabitants of hell ran towards him, and led him to their king; and all began to speak with him, and to pray that which he prayed. And the restless wheel which Ixion, the king of the Lapithie, was bound to for his guilt, that stood still for his harping.
Page 149 - Therefore these your felicities are always in some respects infelicities! Moreover kings, though they govern many nations, yet they do not govern all those which they would govern ; but are very wretched in their mind, because they have not some of those things which they would have : for I know that the king who is rapacious has more wretchedness than power. Therefore a certain king, who unjustly came to empire, formerly said : O, how happy is the man to whom a naked sword hangs not always over...