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ancestors, forefathers. submission, yielding.
ascendency, chief power; superiority.supremacy, chiefship.
descent, landing; attack. testifies,bears witness.
energies, powers. victorious, successful; triumphant.
welded, beaten, as iron with hammers. pirates, sea-warriors.
pounced, seized suddenly.
1. In course of time the numerous States founded by the English settlers were welded into three— Anglian Northumbria, Anglian Mercia, and Saxon Wessex—which answered nearly to three of the Roman provinces. Then the three became one, a single sceptre, that of Wessex, like Aaron's rod,
swallowing up the rest.
NORSE GALLEY.
2. During the thirty-seven years of Ina's reign (688—725), Wessex rose rapidly in power and in fame. In imitation of the Kentish Kings, this monarch framed a code of laws for the guidance of his subjects.But the ascendency of the West Saxons may be chiefly dated from a battle fought near Burford in Oxfordshire, in which Æthelbald of Mercia was forced to flee before the standard of the Golden Dragon.
Mercia never recovered the blow; and Wessex pursued her victorious career with new strength, until her power was acknowledged from the Isle of Wight to the Cheviots, from Yarmouth to the hills of Wales.
3. It was indeed time that the scattered energies of England should be centred in a solid heart; for a fierce and terrible foe, whose native thirst for blood was made more intense by religious hatred, was about to swoop upon her shore. The Danes were abroad on the eastern sea, eager to smite their brethren, who had forsaken the ancient faith of Thor and Woden
for the worship of the “God of peace”
4. The first descent of these pirates, who came to inflict on the Angles an the Saxons what their fore-fathers had inflicted on the Britons, took place in 787 at Dorchester.
There the crews of three ships landed to plunder, and were driven on deck again, after having killed the sheriff. They chose a safer place for their second descent. Sailing northward, they pounced on the island of Lindisfarne,
where pious Oswald
had founded a monastery; and there they slew and burned and robbed without stint or stay.
5. What has well been called “the fatal beauty of England” had strong charms for these redhaired sailors of the North. Gladly did the sons of princely houses grasp the battle-axe, and steer away for a land of green and gold, where no icy winter ever chained up the sea.
6. Brihtric, whose usurpation of the Wessex crown had driven the true heir, Egbert, into exile at the court of Charlemagne,
had been but a short time King when the Danish keels touched at Dorchester. His death brought back the wanderers
to the throne of his ancestors in the last year of the eighth century. Some fifteen years' residence among the polished Franks had prepared the Brighteyed Prince for the lofty station of a King. His keen glance saw the weakness of the neighbouring States, and all that art and valour could command was used to subdue them.
7. Mercia fell smitten on the field of Ellendune;
and with it fell its feeble limbs, Kent and Sussex. The Prince of Northumbria, making a virtue of necessity, arrested the uplifted sword by submission. Thus the Angles bowed undeer the Saxon sceptre, and a United Nation had its birth. Yet the old supremacy of the Anglian race was not forgotten, as the name of the kingdom—England, that is, Angle-land—testifies to this day
8. All the lowlands owned Egbert's rule, the Cymri of the mountains alone holding fast their ancient freedom. The last years of the West Saxon Kino were spent in beating back, as well as he could, the crafty attacks of the Danes.
9. Joining the Cymri of Cornwall, they faced the army of Egbert at Hengest's-down, near the Tamar, in Cornwall, but they were defeated with severe loss. In the following year (836) the brave King of Wessex died. Adversity had given him both the temper and the polish of a good steel blade. It was no bad omen for English greatness that such a man should stand fi rst on her roll of royal names.
中文阅读
1. 随着时间流逝，当初英格兰移民们建立的诸多小国后来慢慢融合成了三个：盎格鲁人的诺森布里亚和麦西亚，以及撒克逊人的韦塞克斯，面积跟三个罗马行省差不多。这三个国家后来又合并成一个，王权得到统一，归于韦塞克斯，就像亚伦的魔杖
一样，韦塞克斯把其他诸国全部吞并了。
2. 在埃纳统治的37年间（公元688-725年），韦塞克斯国力迅速增强，名声日隆。这位国王还效仿肯特国王，制定完备的法律治理国家。但是真正奠定这个西撒克逊邦国国力崛起的历史事件，还是在牛津郡伯福德地区附近发生的一场战争。麦西亚国王埃塞尔巴德在这场战争中惨败，望见金龙旗
便落荒而逃。这次失败，让麦西亚王国从此一蹶不振；而韦塞克斯的昌隆国运从此不断得到加强，最后其势力范围已经覆盖了从怀特岛到切维厄特，以及从雅茅斯到威尔士丘陵的广袤地区。
3. 各自为政的英格兰诸邦是时候联合为一个坚实整体了，因为又有新的强敌即将来临。这次的敌人凶狠而残忍，这些原始的外邦土著个个嗜血好战，在宗教仇恨煽动下更加气焰嚣张，他们远道而来就要扑向不列颠的海岸了。这就是丹麦的土著人，他们远居东海彼岸，早就想过来教训他们的隔海邻居，因为他们认为这些人完全抛弃了祖先的信仰，已经不再向托尔神与沃登神
虔诚礼拜并祈求“神赐的和平”。
4. 这帮海上强盗于公元787年，在多尔切斯特
对盎格鲁人和撒克逊人发动了首次袭击，这与许多年前他们的祖先对不列颠先民的侵略几乎如出一辙。三艘大船上的人登陆以后，大肆抢劫，但在杀害当地首领之后，又被沿途居民赶回到了船上。于是他们开始寻找更加安全的地点，以发动他们的第二次袭击。他们沿着海岸向北航行，在林第斯法恩岛
发动了突然袭击，奥斯瓦德
曾在这里修建了一个修道院，这次便惨遭厄运，被他们洗劫一空，烧了个干干净净。
5. 常言道“英格兰之美简直致命”，这句话对这帮红头发的北方蛮族而言，简直就是预言般的魔咒。王室的后裔们正好乐意拿起武器，全力寻找新的沃土，寻找一个没有严寒和冰冻的地方。
6. 丹麦人入侵之时，韦塞克斯的国王是布瑞斯里克，他在位不长，而且是篡位上台，把本来的继位者埃格伯特赶到了查理大帝
的朝廷中。不久布瑞斯里克驾崩，流亡的埃格伯特得以回国重享先祖社稷，于8世纪的最后一年登基。在法兰克十五年的优渥生活经历，已经让这位明眸智慧的储君为成为一代贤王做好了准备。他也以敏锐的眼力，窥见了这个邻邦的弱点，知道如何用文武二道刚柔相济地让他们屈服。
7. 麦西亚王国在艾伦顿
一役中彻底败落，它的两大属国肯特王国与苏塞克斯王国也自然难逃厄运。诺森布里亚国王见大势已去，也就借坡下驴，很识相地放下了屠刀，投降归顺韦塞克斯王国。由此，盎格鲁人终于臣服于撒克逊人的王权统治，一个统一的联合王国终于诞生了。不过盎格鲁民族昔日的荣光也并未被后人遗忘，我们国家的名字——英国（England）其本意就是“盎格鲁人之土”，这便是盎格鲁民族延绵至今的血脉印记。
8. 至此整个平原地区都已在埃格伯特的统治之下，只有少数威尔士土著依然在崇山峻岭中孤独地过着古老而自由的生活。而这位西撒克逊国王的最后岁月，也几乎全部花在了抗击丹麦人入侵的大业之中，并且成绩斐然。
9. 后来丹麦人联合起康沃尔郡的威尔士人，在塔马河附近与埃格伯特的大军相遇，随即展开厮杀，丹麦人此役大败。在接下来的公元836年，这位英勇的韦塞克斯国王晏驾。观其一生，逆境与坎坷一方面给了他暴躁的脾气，另一方面也苦其心志、劳其筋骨、饿其体肤，大大磨砺了他的棱角与锋刃。他的名字从此领衔后来万世一系的英国皇族，这对我们的国族精神而言，也许并不是一个坏兆头吧。