Alfred Wielki – syn Ethelwulfa, szósty król Wesseksu. Jeden z najwybitniejszych królów wczesnej historii Anglii. Panował od 871 w mało sprzyjających okolicznościach przejmując władzę po swoim bracie, Aethelredzie I, który zginął z rąk Duńczyków pustoszących kraj. Mimo że wojna doprowadziła rolnictwo do upadku, zdołał skonsolidować grupę małych państewek w państwo zdolne stawić im silny opór zbrojny. Jego życie i polityka były opisywane przez wielu kronikarzy , ale najdokładniej opisuje je Asser, jego osobisty biograf. Wikipedia
„Imię Alfreda będzie żyło tak długo, jak ludzkość będzie szanowała przeszłość.”
napis na posągu Alfreda Wielkiego w Winchester.
Źródło: Nigel Cawthorne, Dowódcy i generałowie. Prawdziwe historie, Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, Warszawa 2014, s. 48.
“He that is shut out
Is soon forgot within.”
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 242.
Misattributed
Last words in Blostman [Blooms] (c. 895 AD) an anthology, based largely on the Soliloquies of Augustine of Hippo.
Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves did not cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.
Źródło: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 125.
When I recalled how knowledge of Latin had previously decayed throughout England, and yet many could still read things written in English, I then began, amidst the various and multifarious afflictions of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which in Latin is called Pastoralis, in English "Shepherd-book", sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense.
Źródło: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 126
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 942; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 214.
Misattributed
On this, hear Alfred's weighty word<br/>Which man should treasure once it's heard:<br/>"Foresee your trouble in its course:<br/>You thereby take away its force."
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 1223; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 224.
Misattributed
I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works.
In his translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, ch. 17, p. 133.
“Never believe the speech of all men, nor all the things that you hear sung.”
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 237.
Misattributed
Choose never for thy mate
a little man, or long, or red...
The little man is so conceited,
no one can dwell near him...
The long man is ill to be with,
seldom is his heart brave...
The red man is a rogue,
for he will advise thee ill;
he is quarrelsome, a thief and whoreling,
a scold, of mischief he is king.
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 247
Misattributed
Very often it has come to my mind what men of learning there were formerly throughout England, both in religious and secular orders; and how there were happy times then throughout England; and how the kings, who had authority over this people, obeyed God and his messengers; and how they not only maintained their peace, morality and authority at home but also extended their territory outside; and how they succeeded both in warfare and in wisdom; and also how eager were the religious orders both in teaching and in learning as well as in all the holy services which it was their duty to perform for God; and how people from abroad sought wisdom and instruction in this country; and how nowadays, if we wished to acquire these things, we would have to seek them outside.
Źródło: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 124.
