THE ENGLISH VERSIONS. CHAPTER I. ANGLO-SAXON VERSIONS. THE statement, very frequently repeated, that the AngloSaxons were provided with a complete vernacular translation of the Bible, if not purely fictitious, is certainly unhistorical, for thus far no such volume, although eagerly sought for, has been discovered, and it is very doubtful whether any will be discovered, because the existence of an entire Anglo-Saxon version is highly improbable. This applies only to an entire version-i. e., a translation of the whole Bible into AngloSaxon; it does not apply to portions of the Word of God which have been translated at different times and by different men. The Bible among the Anglo-Saxons was for all practical purposes a Latin book; it was quoted in Latin, and then, by way of explanation, turned into the native idiom. This is unquestionably the origin of those portions of the Scriptures in Anglo-Saxon which have come down to us. While there is abundant testimony that the Anglo-Saxon clergy were really anxious to spread a knowledge of the Bible, we have testimony equally clear showing that they were averse to its indiscriminate publication-e. g., in this extract from Ælfric to Ethelwold, alderman (Præfatio Genesis Anglice, Ed. Thwaites, p. 1): "Now it thinketh me, love, that that work (the translation of Genesis) is very dangerous for me or any men to undertake; because I dread lest A some foolish man read this book, or hear it read, who should ween that he may live now under the new law, even as the old fathers lived then in that time, ere that the old law was established, or even as men lived under Moyses' law." He then goes on to narrate how an illiterate instructor of his own dwelt upon Jacob's matrimonial connections with two sisters and their two maids. The absence of an Anglo-Saxon version of the whole Bible being thus partly accounted for, an explanatory word as to the term "Anglo-Saxon" appears to be in place prior to examining the venerable monuments in our possession. Raske, in the preface to his grammar, commenting upon the statement of the Venerable Bede, that from "Germany came the old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes," reaches the conclusion that the Anglo-Saxon language was gradually formed by the intermingling of their dialects running parallel with the union of the tribes into one nation. The stages of its development are: Anglo-Saxon proper, from the arrival of the Saxons to the irruption of the Danes; Dano-Saxon, from the Danish to the Norman invasion; and Norman-Saxon (encroaching upon the English), down to the time of Henry II. The printed documents do not exhibit a marked variation of dialect, although they show the development of the language. One of the oldest and most interesting monuments of Anglo-Saxon Christianity is a runic inscription on a cross at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, which was for the first time deciphered in 1838 by Mr. John Kemble as part of a poem on the Crucifixion. The discovery, at Vercelli, of a MS. volume of Anglo-Saxon homilies containing a more complete copy of the same poem, has triumphantly confirmed Mr. Kemble's interpretation. The Ruthwell Cross (about A. D. 680), with the inscription, "CADMON MOE FAUÆTHO," contains some thirty lines of runes, which read as follows: Anglo-Saxon Original.* Geredæ hinæ God almeyottig tha he walde on galgu gi-stiga modig fore (ale) men (ahof) ic riicnæ cuningc heafunæs hlaford hælda ic(n)i darstæ bismærædu ungcet men ta ætgad(r)e hwethra ther fusæ fearran kwomu æththilæ ti lanum ic that al bi(h)eal(d) s(eoc) ic was mi(th) sorgu(m) gi(d)rac(fe)d mith strelum giwundæd alegdun hiæ hinæ limwæ rignæ gistoddun him (æt) h(is l)i cæs(1⁄2) eaf (du)m. Verbatim Version. Girded him God Almighty when he would on gallows mount all men I heared the rich King heel (over) I not durst the Prince to aid I that all beheld sick I was with sorrow grieved with arrows wounded laid down they him limb weary they stood (near) him (at) his corpse's head. Among the few remaining specimens of Anglo-Saxon of the earliest period is that subjoined "On the Origin of Things," given in two versions, by Cædmon, a monk of Whitby, who died in A. D. 680. The narrative of Bede (Hist. iv. 24) specifies that his origin was very humble, that he did not even know poetry by heart, and that when, at the customary hallgatherings, the harp came to his turn, he had to leave the table to hide his shame. On one occasion, after such a humiliating scene, it was his duty to keep watch in the stable, * In the examples given the Anglo-Saxon letters are represented by their English equivalents, on the principle that th has the power of th in thin and thing, dh that of th in thine and smooth. G, gh, gg are used to give the power of g in give, great, and big; where the power of that letter comes nearest to y in year or day it is expressed y or yy; sometimes they are used interchangeably. but he fell asleep. In his slumber he heard a stranger call him by his name, saying, "Cadmon, sing me something." He pleaded inability, but the stranger continued, “Nay, but thou hast something to sing." "What must I sing?" asked Cadmon. "Sing the Creation," ran the reply, and then he began to sing verses "he had never heard before," and they are said to have been those which follow. When he awoke he not only was able to repeat them, but to continue in a similar strain. He was taken to the Abbess Hilda, who, as well as the learned men with her, listened to his story, and held that he had received the gift by inspiration. They expounded to him a portion of Holy Scripture, bidding him repeat it in verse; the next day he came with a poetic version of great beauty. This induced Hilda to invite him to enter her house as a monk; and it is said that, at her instance, he composed many Bible histories in verse. They were, of course, not properly translations, but poetical paraphrases. Poems of this description under the name of Cadmon were published by Junius at Amsterdam in 1655. Bede says that He sang of the creation of the world, of the origin of man, of the whole history of Genesis, from the exodus of Israel to the possession of the promised land, and of most of the histories of the Holy Scriptures." CÆDMON. "On the Origin of Things," preserved in Alfred's Translation of Bede's Eccl. History, written about A. D., 670. MS. by King Alfred, A. D. 885, at Oxford.* "Nu we sceolan herian, heofon-rices weard. metodes mihte. Literal English. "Now ought we to praise heaven-kingdom's Warden (guard ian) the Creator's might, *King Alfred probably composed these verses himself. and his mod-gethonc. swa he wundra gehwaes. he aerest gesceop. ece dryhten. frea ælmihtig." and his mind's thought, the beginning formed. for earth's bairns (children) heaven as a roof; afterward did (-produced) for men the earth Lord almighty!" To the beginning of the eighth century belongs the Psalter of Aldhelm and Guthlac, which contains the Latin with an exceedingly minute interlinear Anglo-Saxon version. The text is the Roman psalter in use at Canterbury, whereas the Gallican text was used in other parts of England. It is said to be the identical copy sent by Pope Gregory to Augustine, A. D. 596. The translation is of much later date. It is among the Cotton MSS., marked Vespasian, A 1. Next in order of time (A. D. 735) comes the Venerable Bede, who undertook the translation of the Gospel of St. John "for the advantage of the Church" (see page 4). King Alfred's name is also mentioned in lists of scholars who at an early period translated the Bible into the vernacular. His labors seem to have been confined to the translation of isolated portions of Scripture. In his laws he translated many passages from Exodus xx., xxi., xxii., and he is said to have been employed upon a regular translation of the Book of Psalms when he died (A. D. 901). His version of the Decalogue is here presented: |