SELECTIONS FOR READING.
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VI. EXTRACTS FROM BEOWULF.
The Banquet in Heorot. [Lines 612-662.]
[The Heyne-Socin text has been closely followed. I have attempted no original emendations, but have deviated from the Heyne-Socin edition in a few cases where the Grein-Wülker text seemed to give the better reading.
The argument preceding the first selection is as follows: Hrothgar, king of the Danes, or Scyldings, elated by prosperity, builds a magnificent hall in which to feast his retainers; but a monster, Grendel by name, issues from his fen-haunts, and night after night carries off thane after thane from the banqueting hall. For twelve years these ravages continue. At last Beowulf, nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats (a people of South Sweden), sails with fourteen chosen companions to Dane-land, and offers his services to the aged Hrothgar. “Leave me alone in the hall to-night,” says Beowulf. Hrothgar accepts Beowulf’s proffered aid, and before the dread hour of visitation comes, the time is spent in wassail. The banquet scene follows.]
Þǣr wæs hæleþa hleahtor, hlyn swynsode,
word wǣron wynsume. Ēode Wealhþēow forð,
cwēn Hrōðgāres, cynna gemyndig;
615 grētte gold-hroden guman on healle,
ǫnd þā frēolīc wīf ful gesealde
ǣrest Ēast-Dęna ēþel-wearde,
bæd hine blīðne æt þǣre bēor-þęge,
lēodum lēofne; hē on lust geþeah
620 symbel ǫnd sęle-ful, sige-rōf kyning.
Ymb-ēode þā ides Helminga
duguðe ǫnd geogoðe dǣl ǣghwylcne,
sinc-fato sealde, oð þæt sǣl ālamp
þæt hīo1 Bēowulfe, bēag-hroden cwēn,
625 mōde geþungen, medo2-ful ætbær;
grētte Gēata lēod, Gode þancode
wīs-fæst wordum, þæs þe hire se willa gelamp,
þæt hēo on ǣnigne eorl gelȳfde
fyrena frōfre. Hē þæt ful geþeah,
630 wæl-rēow wiga, æt Wealhþēon,
Bēowulf maðelode, bearn Ecgþēowes:
“Ic þæt hogode, þā ic on holm gestāh,
sǣ-bāt gesæt mid mīnra sęcga gedriht,
635 þæt ic ānunga ēowra lēoda
willan geworhte, oððe on wæl crunge
fēond-grāpum fæst. Ic gefręmman sceal
eorlīc ęllen, oððe ęnde-dæg
on þisse meodu2-healle mīnne gebīdan.”
640 Þām wīfe þā word wel līcodon,
gilp-cwide Gēates; ēode gold-hroden
frēolicu folc-cwēn tō hire frēan sittan.
Þā wæs eft swā ǣr inne on healle
þrȳð-word sprecen,3 þēod on sǣlum,
645 sige-folca swēg, oþ þæt sęmninga
sunu Healfdęnes sēcean wolde
ǣfen-ræste; wiste þǣm āhlǣcan4
tō þǣm hēah-sęle hilde geþinged,
siððan hīe sunnan lēoht gesēon ne meahton
650 oððe nīpende niht ofer ealle,
scadu-helma gesceapu scrīðan cwōman,5
wan under wolcnum. Werod eall ārās;
grētte þā giddum guma ōðerne
Hrōðgār Bēowulf, ǫnd him hǣl ābēad,
655 wīn-ærnes geweald, ǫnd þæt word ācwæð:
“Nǣfre ic ǣnegum6 męn ǣr ālȳfde,
siððan ic hǫnd ǫnd rǫnd hębban mihte,
Hafa nū ǫnd geheald hūsa sēlest,
660 gemyne mǣrþo,7 mægen-ęllen cȳð,
waca wið wrāðum. Ne bið þē wilna gād,
gif þū þæt ęllen-weorc aldre8 gedīgest.”
623. sinc-fato sealde. Banning (Die epischen Formeln im Beowulf) shows that the usual translation, gave costly gifts, must be given up; or, at least, that the costly gifts are nothing more than beakers of mead. The expression is an epic formula for passing the cup.
638-39. ęnde-ðæg ... mīnne. This unnatural separation of noun and possessive is frequent in O.E. poetry, but almost unknown in prose.
641-42. ēode ... sittan. The poet might have employed tō sittanne (§ 108, (1)); but in poetry the infinitive is often used for the gerund. Alfred himself uses the infinitive or the gerund to express purpose after gān, gǫngan, cuman, and sęndan.
647-51. wiste ... cwōman. A difficult passage, even with Thorpe’s inserted ne; but there is no need of putting a period after geþinged, or of translating oððe by and: He (Hrothgar) knew that battle was in store (geþinged) for the monster in the high hall, after [= as soon as] they could no longer see the sun’s light, or [= that is] after night came darkening over all, and shadowy figures stalking. The subject of cwōman [= cwōmon] is niht and gesceapu.
The student will note that the infinitive (scrīðan) is here employed as a present participle after a verb of motion (cwōman). This construction with cuman is frequent in prose and poetry. The infinitive expresses the kind of motion: ic cōm drīfan = I came driving.
1 = hēo.
2 = medu-.
3 = gesprecen.
4 = āglǣcan.
5 = cwōmon.
6 = ǣnigum.
7 = mǣrþe (acc. sing.).
8 = ealdre (instr. sing.).
The Fight Between Beowulf and Grendel. [Lines 740-837.]
[The warriors all retire to rest except Beowulf. Grendel stealthily enters the hall. From his eyes gleams “a luster unlovely, likest to fire.” The combat begins at once.]
740 Ne þæt se āglǣca yldan þōhte,
ac hē gefēng hraðe forman sīðe
slǣpendne rinc, slāt unwearnum,
bāt bān-locan, blōd ēdrum dranc,
syn-snǣdum swealh; sōna hæfde
745 unlyfigendes eal gefeormod
fēt ǫnd folma. Forð nēar ætstōp,
nam þā mid handa hige-þihtigne
rinc on ræste; rǣhte ongēan
fēond mid folme; hē onfēng hraþe
750 inwit-þancum ǫnd wið earm gesæt.
Sōna þæt onfunde fyrena hyrde,
þæt hē ne mētte middan-geardes,
mund-gripe māran; hē on mōde wearð
755 forht, on ferhðe; nō þȳ ǣr fram meahte.
Hyge wæs him hin-fūs, wolde on heolster flēon,
sēcan dēofla gedræg; ne wæs his drohtoð þǣr,
swylce hē on ealder1-dagum ǣr gemētte.
Gemunde þā se gōda mǣg Higelāces
760 ǣfen-sprǣce, ūp-lang āstōd
ǫnd him fæste wiðfēng; fingras burston;
eoten wæs ūt-weard; eorl furþur stōp.
Mynte se mǣra, hwǣr hē meahte swā,
wīdre gewindan ǫnd on weg þanon
765 flēon on fęn-hopu; wiste his fingra geweald
on grames grāpum. Þæt wæs gēocor sīð,
þæt se hearm-scaþa tō Heorute2 ātēah.
Dryht-sęle dynede; Dęnum eallum wearð
ceaster-būendum, cēnra gehwylcum,
770 eorlum ealu-scerwen. Yrre wǣron bēgen
rēþe rēn-weardas. Ręced hlynsode;
þā wæs wundor micel, þæt se wīn-sęle
wiðhæfde heaþo-dēorum, þæt hē on hrūsan ne fēol,
fǣger fold-bold; ac hē þæs fæste wæs
775 innan ǫnd ūtan īren-bęndum
searo-þǫncum besmiðod. Þǣr fram sylle ābēag
medu-bęnc mǫnig, mīne gefrǣge,
golde geregnad, þǣr þā graman wunnon;
þæs ne wēndon ǣr witan Scyldinga,
780 þæt hit ā mid gemete manna ǣnig,
betlīc ǫnd bān-fāg, tōbrecan meahte,
listum tōlūcan, nymþe līges fæðm
swulge on swaþule. Swēg ūp āstāg
nīwe geneahhe; Norð-Dęnum stōd
785 atelīc ęgesa, ānra gehwylcum,
þāra þe of wealle wōp gehȳrdon,
gryre-lēoð galan Godes ǫndsacan,
sige-lēasne sang, sār wānigean
hęlle hæfton.3 Hēold hine fæste,
790 sē þe manna wæs mægene stręngest
on þǣm dæge þysses līfes.
þone cwealm-cuman cwicne forlǣtan,
nē his līf-dagas lēoda ǣnigum
795 nytte tealde. Þǣr genehost brǣgd
eorl Bēowulfes ealde lāfe,
wolde frēa-drihtnes feorh ealgian,
mǣres þēodnes, ðǣr hīe meahton swā.
Hīe ðæt ne wiston, þā hīe gewin drugon,
800 heard-hicgende hilde-męcgas,
ǫnd on healfa gehwone hēawan þōhton,
sāwle sēcan: þone syn-scaðan
gūþ-billa nān, grētan nolde;
805 ac hē sige-wǣpnum forsworen hæfde,
ęcga gehwylcre. Scolde his aldor4-gedāl
on ðǣm dæge þysses līfes
earmlīc wurðan5 ǫnd se ęllor-gāst
on fēonda geweald feor sīðian.
810 Þā þæt onfunde, sē þe fela ǣror
fyrene gefręmede (hē wǣs fāg wið God),
þæt him se līc-hǫma lǣstan nolde,
ac hine se mōdega6 mǣg Hygelāces
815 hæfde be hǫnda; wæs gehwæþer ōðrum
lifigende lāð. Līc-sār gebād
atol ǣglǣca7; him on eaxle wearð
syn-dolh sweotol; seonowe onsprungon;
burston bān-locan. Bēowulfe wearð
820 gūð-hrēð gyfeðe. Scolde Gręndel þǫnan
feorh-sēoc flēon under fęn-hleoðu,8
sēcean wyn-lēas wīc; wiste þē geornor,
þæt his aldres9 wæs ęnde gegǫngen,
dōgera dæg-rīm. Dęnum eallum wearð
825 æfter þām wæl-rǣse willa gelumpen.
Hæfde þā gefǣlsod, sē þe ǣr feorran cōm,
snotor ǫnd swȳð-ferhð, sęle Hrōðgāres,
genęred wið nīðe. Niht-weorce gefeh,
ęllen-mǣrþum; hæfde Ēast-Dęnum
830 Gēat-męcga lēod gilp gelǣsted;
swylce oncȳððe ealle gebētte,
inwid-sorge, þe hīe ǣr drugon
ǫnd for þrēa-nȳdum þolian scoldon,
torn unlȳtel. Þæt wæs tācen sweotol,
835 syððan hilde-dēor hǫnd ālęgde,
earm ǫnd eaxle (þǣr wæs eal geador
Gręndles grāpe) under gēapne hrōf.
740. þæt, the direct object of yldan, refers to the contest about to ensue. Beowulf, in the preceding lines, was wondering how it would result.
746. ætstōp. The subject of this verb and of nam is Grendel; the subject of the three succeeding verbs (rǣhte, onfēng, gesæt) is Beowulf.
751-52. The O.E. poets are fond of securing emphasis or of stimulating interest by indirect methods of statement, by suggesting more than they affirm. This device often appears in their use of negatives (ne, l. 13; p. 140, l. 3; nō, p. 140, l. 1), and in the unexpected prominence that they give to some minor detail usually suppressed because understood; as where the narrator, wishing to describe the terror produced by Grendel’s midnight visits to Heorot, says (ll. 138-139), “Then was it easy to find one who elsewhere, more commodiously, sought rest for himself.” It is hard to believe that the poet saw nothing humorous in this point of view.
755. nō ... meahte, none the sooner could he away. The omission of a verb of motion after the auxiliaries magan, mōtan, sculan, and willan is very frequent. Cf. Beowulf’s last utterance, p. 147, l. 17.
768. The lines that immediately follow constitute a fine bit of description by indication of effects. The two contestants are withdrawn from our sight; but we hear the sound of the fray crashing through the massive old hall, which trembles as in a blast; we see the terror depicted on the faces of the Danes as they listen to the strange sounds that issue from their former banqueting hall; by these sounds we, too, measure the progress and alternations of the combat. At last we hear only the “terror-lay” of Grendel, “lay of the beaten,” and know that Beowulf has made good his promise at the banquet (gilp gelǣsted).
769. cēnra gehwylcum. The indefinite pronouns (§ 77) may be used as adjectives, agreeing in case with their nouns; but they frequently, as here, take a partitive genitive: ānra gehwylcum, to each one (= to each of ones); ǣnige (instrumental) þinga, for any thing (= for any of things); on healfa gehwone, into halves (= into each of halves); ealra dōgra gehwām, every day (= on each of all days); ūhtna gehwylce, every morning (= on each of mornings).
780. Notice that hit, the object of tōbrecan, stands for wīn-sęle, which is masculine. See p. 39, Note 2. Manna is genitive after gemete, not after ǣnig.
787-89. gryre-lēoð ... hæfton [= hæftan]. Note that verbs of hearing and seeing, as in Mn.E., may be followed by the infinitive. They heard God’s adversary sing (galan) ... hell’s captive bewail (wānigean). Had the present participle been used, the effect would have been, as in Mn.E., to emphasize the agent (the subject of the infinitive) rather than the action (the infinitive itself).
795-96. þǣr ... lāfe. Beowulf’s followers now seem to have seized their swords and come to his aid, not knowing that Grendel, having forsworn war-weapons himself, is proof against the best of swords. Then many an earl of Beowulf’s (= an earl of B. very often) brandished his sword. That no definite earl is meant is shown by the succeeding hīe meahton instead of hē meahte. See p. 110, Note.
799. They did not know this (ðæt), while they were fighting; but the first Hīe refers to the warriors who proffered help; the second hīe, to the combatants, Beowulf and Grendel. In apposition with ðǣt, stands the whole clause, þone synscaðan (object of grētan) ... nolde. The second, or conjunctional, ðæt is here omitted before þone. See p. 112, note on ll. 18-19.
837. grāpe = genitive singular, feminine, after eal.
1 = ealdor-.
2 = Heorote.
3 = hæftan.
4 = ealdor-.
5 = weorðan.
6 = mōdiga.
7 = āglǣca.
8 = -hliðu.
9 = ealdres.
Beowulf Fatally Wounded. [Lines 2712-2752.]
[Hrothgar, in his gratitude for the great victory, lavishes gifts upon Beowulf; but Grendel’s mother must be reckoned with. Beowulf finds her at the sea-bottom, and after a desperate struggle slays her. Hrothgar again pours treasures into Beowulf’s lap. Beowulf, having now accomplished his mission, returns to Sweden. After a reign of fifty years, he goes forth to meet a fire-spewing dragon that is ravaging his kingdom. In the struggle Beowulf is fatally wounded. Wiglaf, a loyal thane, is with him.]
Þā sīo1 wund ongǫn,
þe him se eorð-draca ǣr geworhte,
swēlan ǫnd swellan. Hē þǣt sōna onfand,
2715 þǣt him on brēostum bealo-nīð wēoll
āttor on innan. Þā se æðeling gīong,2
þæt hē bī wealle, wīs-hycgende,
gesæt on sesse; seah on ęnta geweorc,
hū þā stān-bogan stapulum fæste
2720 ēce eorð-ręced innan healde.
Hyne þā mid handa heoro-drēorigne,
þēoden mǣrne, þegn ungemete till,
wine-dryhten his wætere gelafede,
hilde-sædne, ǫnd his helm onspēon.
2725 Bīowulf3 maðelode; hē ofer bęnne spræc,
wunde wæl-blēate; wisse hē gearwe,
þæt hē dæg-hwīla gedrogen hæfde
eorðan wynne; þā wæs eall sceacen
dōgor-gerīmes, dēað ungemete nēah:
2730 “Nū ic suna mīnum syllan wolde
gūð-gewǣdu, þǣr mē gifeðe swā
ǣnig yrfe-weard æfter wurde
līce gelęnge. Ic ðās lēode hēold
fīftig wintra; næs se folc-cyning
2735 ymbe-sittendra ænig þāra,
þe mec gūð-winum grētan dorste,
ęgesan ðēon. Ic on earde bād
mǣl-gesceafta, hēold mīn tela,
nē sōhte searo-nīðas, nē mē swōr fela
2740 āða on unriht. Ic ðæs ealles mæg,
feorh-bęnnum sēoc, gefēan habban;
for-þām mē wītan ne ðearf Waldend4 fīra
morðor-bealo5 māga, þonne mīn sceaceð
līf of līce. Nū ðū lungre geong6
2745 hord scēawian under hārne stān,
Wīglāf lēofa, nū se wyrm ligeð,
swefeð sāre wund, since berēafod.
Bīo7 nū on ofoste, þæt ic ǣr-welan,
gold-ǣht ongite, gearo scēawige
2750 swegle searo-gimmas, þæt ic ðȳ sēft mæge
æfter māððum-welan mīn ālǣtan
līf ǫnd lēod-scipe, þone ic lǫnge hēold.”
2716. se æðeling is Beowulf.
2718. ęnta geweorc is a stereotyped phrase for anything that occasions wonder by its size or strangeness.
2720. healde. Heyne, following Ettmüller, reads hēoldon, thus arbitrarily changing mood, tense, and number of the original. Either mood, indicative or subjunctive, would be legitimate. As to the tense, the narrator is identifying himself in time with the hero, whose wonder was “how the stone-arches ... sustain the ever-during earth-hall”: the construction is a form of oratio recta, a sort of miratio recta. The singular healde, instead of healden, has many parallels in the dependent clauses of Beowulf, most of these being relative clauses introduced by þāra þe (= of those that ... + a singular predicate). In the present instance, the predicate has doubtless been influenced by the proximity of eorð-ręced, a quasi-subject; and we have no more right to alter to healden or hēoldon than we have to change Shakespeare’s gives to give in
“Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.”
(Macbeth, II, I, 61.)
2722. The þegn ungemete till is Wiglaf, the bravest of Beowulf’s retainers.
2725. hē ofer bęnne spræc. The editors and translators of Beowulf invariably render ofer in this passage by about; but Beowulf says not a word about his wound. The context seems to me to show plainly that ofer (cf. Latin supra) denotes here opposition = in spite of. We read in Genesis, l. 594, that Eve took the forbidden fruit ofer Drihtenes word. Beowulf fears (l. 2331) that he may have ruled unjustly = ofer ealde riht; and he goes forth (l. 2409) ofer willan to confront the dragon.
2731-33. þǣr mē ... gelęnge, if so be that (þǣr ... swā) any heir had afterwards been given me (mē gifeðe ... æfter wurde) belonging to my body.
2744-45. geong [= gǫng] ... scēawian. See note on ēode ... sittan, p. 137, ll. 19-20. In Mn.E. Go see, Go fetch, etc., is the second verb imperative (coördinate with the first), or subjunctive (that you may see), or infinitive without to?
2751-52. mīn ... līf. See note on ęnde-dæg ... mīnne, p. 137, ll. 16-17.
Beowulf’s Last Words. [Lines 2793-2821.]
[Wiglaf brings the jewels, the tokens of Beowulf’s triumph. Beowulf, rejoicing to see them, reviews his career, and gives advice and final directions to Wiglaf.]
Bīowulf1 maðelode,
gǫmel on giohðe (gold scēawode):
2795 “Ic þāra frætwa Frēan ealles ðanc,
Wuldur-cyninge, wordum sęcge
ęcum Dryhtne, þe ic hēr on starie,
þæs þe ic mōste mīnum lēodum
ǣr swylt-dæge swylc gestrȳnan.
2800 Nū ic on māðma hord mīne bebohte
frōde feorh-lęge, fręmmað gē nū
lēoda þearfe; ne mæg ic hēr lęng wesan.
Hātað heaðo-mǣre hlǣw gewyrcean,
beorhtne æfter bǣle æt brimes nosan;
2805 sē scel2 tō gemyndum mīnum lēodum
hēah hlīfian on Hrǫnes næsse,
þæt hit sǣ-līðend syððan hātan3
Bīowulfes1 biorh1 þā þe brentingas
ofer flōda genipu feorran drīfað.”
2810 Dyde him of healse hring gyldenne
þīoden1 þrīst-hȳdig; þegne gesealde,
geongum gār-wigan, gold-fāhne helm,
bēah ǫnd byrnan, hēt hyne brūcan well.
“Þū eart ęnde-lāf ūsses cynnes,
2815 Wǣgmundinga; ealle wyrd forswēop
mīne māgas tō metod-sceafte,
eorlas on ęlne; ic him æfter sceal.”
Þæt wæs þām gǫmelan gingeste word
brēost-gehygdum, ǣr hē bǣl cure,
2820 hāte heaðo-wylmas; him of hreðre gewāt
sāwol sēcean sōð-fæstra dōm.
2795-99. The expression sęcgan þanc takes the same construction as þancian; i.e., the dative of the person (Frēan) and the genitive (a genitive of cause) of the thing (þāra frætwa). Cf. note on biddan, p. 45. The antecedent of þe is frætwa. For the position of on, see § 94, (5). The clause introduced by þæs þe (because) is parallel in construction with frætwa, both being causal modifiers of sęcge þanc. The Christian coloring in these lines betrays the influence of priestly transcribers.
2800. Now that I, in exchange for (on) a hoard of treasures, have bartered (bebohte) the laying down (-lęge > licgan) of my old life. The ethical codes of the early Germanic races make frequent mention of blood-payments, or life-barters. There seems to be here a suggestion of the “wergild.”
2801. fręmmað gē. The plural imperative (as also in Hātað) shows that Beowulf is here speaking not so much to Wiglaf in particular as, through Wiglaf, to his retainers in general,—to his comitatus.
2806. The desire for conspicuous burial places finds frequent expression in early literatures. The tomb of Achilles was situated “high on a jutting headland over wide Hellespont that it might be seen from off the sea.” Elpenor asks Ulysses to bury him in the same way. Æneas places the ashes of Misenus beneath a high mound on a headland of the sea.
2807. hit = hlǣw, which is masculine. See p. 39, Note 2.
2810-11. him ... þīoden. The reference in both cases is to Beowulf, who is disarming himself (do-of > doff) for the last time; þegne = to Wiglaf.
Note, where the personal element is strong, the use of the dative instead of the more colorless possessive; him of healse, not of his healse.
2817. ic ... sceal. See note on nō ... meahte, p. 140, l. 1.
2820. him of hreðre. Cf. note on him ... þīoden, p. 147, ll. 10-11.
2820-21. For construction of gewāt ... sēcean, see note on ēode ... sittan, p. 137, ll. 19-20.
VII. THE WANDERER.
[Exeter MS. “The epic character of the ancient lyric appears especially in this: that the song is less the utterance of a momentary feeling than the portrayal of a lasting state, perhaps the reflection of an entire life, generally that of one isolated, or bereft by death or exile of protectors and friends.” (Ten Brink, Early Eng. Lit., I.) I adopt Brooke’s threefold division (Early Eng. Lit., p. 356): “It opens with a Christian prologue, and closes with a Christian epilogue, but the whole body of the poem was written, it seems to me, by a person who thought more of the goddess Wyrd than of God, whose life and way of thinking were uninfluenced by any distinctive Christian doctrine.”
The author is unknown.]
Prologue.
Metudes1 miltse, þēah þe hē mōdcearig
geond lagulāde lǫnge sceolde
hrēran mid hǫndum hrīmcealde sǣ,
5 wadan wræclǣstas: wyrd bið ful ārǣd!
Swā cwæð eardstapa earfeþa2 gemyndig,
wrāþra wælsleahta, winemǣga hryres:
Plaint of the Wanderer.
“Oft ic sceolde āna ūhtna gehwylce
mīne ceare cwīþan; nis nū cwicra nān,
10 þe ic him mōdsefan mīnne durre
sweotule3 āsęcgan. Ic tō sōþe wāt
þæt biþ in eorle indryhten þēaw,
þæt hē his ferðlocan fæste binde,
healde his hordcofan, hycge swā hē wille;
15 ne mæg wērig mōd wyrde wiðstǫndan
nē sē hrēo hyge helpe gefręmman:
for ðon dōmgeorne drēorigne oft
in hyra brēostcofan bindað fæste.
Swā ic mōdsefan mīnne sceolde
20 oft earmcearig ēðle bidǣled,
frēomǣgum feor feterum sǣlan,
siþþan gēara iū goldwine mīnne
hrūsan heolster biwrāh, and ic hēan þǫnan
wōd wintercearig ofer waþema gebind,
25 sōhte sęle drēorig sinces bryttan,
hwǣr ic feor oþþe nēah findan meahte
þone þe in meoduhealle4 miltse wisse
oþþe mec frēondlēasne frēfran wolde,
węnian mid wynnum. Wāt sē þe cunnað
30 hū slīþen bið sorg tō gefēran
þām þe him lȳt hafað lēofra geholena:
warað hine wræclāst, nāles wunden gold,
ferðloca frēorig, nālæs foldan blǣd;
gemǫn hē sęlesęcgas and sincþęge,
35 hū hine on geoguðe his goldwine
węnede tō wiste: wyn eal gedrēas!
For þon wāt sē þe sceal his winedryhtnes
lēofes lārcwidum lǫnge forþolian,
ðonne sorg and slǣp sǫmod ætgædre
40 earmne ānhagan oft gebindað:
þinceð him on mōde þæt hē his mǫndryhten
clyppe and cysse, and on cnēo lęcge
hǫnda and hēafod, swā hē hwīlum ǣr
in gēardagum giefstōles brēac;
45 ðonne onwæcneð eft winelēas guma,
gesihð him biforan fealwe wǣgas,
baþian brimfuglas, brǣdan feþra,
hrēosan hrīm and snāw hagle gemęnged.
Þonne bēoð þȳ hęfigran heortan bęnne,
50 sāre æfter swǣsne; sorg bið genīwad;
þonne māga gemynd mōd geondhweorfeð,
grēteð glīwstafum, georne geondscēawað.
Sęcga geseldan swimmað eft on weg;
flēotendra ferð5 nō þǣr fela bringeð
55 cūðra cwidegiedda; cearo6 bið genīwad
þām þe sęndan sceal swīþe geneahhe
ofer waþema gebind wērigne sefan.
For þon ic geþęncan ne mæg geond þās woruld
for hwan mōdsefa mīn ne gesweorce,
60 þonne ic eorla līf eal geondþęnce,
hū hī fǣrlīce flęt ofgēafon,
mōdge maguþegnas. Swā þēs middangeard
ealra dōgra gehwām drēoseð and fealleþ;
for þon ne mæg weorþan wīs wer, ǣr hē āge
65 wintra dǣl in woruldrīce. Wita sceal geþyldig,
ne sceal nō tō hātheort nē tō hrædwyrde,
nē tō wāc wiga nē tō wanhȳdig,
nē tō forht nē tō fægen nē tō feohgīfre,
nē nǣfre gielpes tō georn, ǣr hē geare cunne.
70 Beorn sceal gebīdan, þonne hē bēot spriceð,
oþ þæt collenferð cunne gearwe
hwider hreþra gehygd hweorfan wille.
Ongietan sceal glēaw hæle hū gǣstlīc bið,
þonne eall þisse worulde wela wēste stǫndeð,
75 swā nū missenlīce geond þisne middangeard
winde biwāune7 weallas stǫndaþ,
hrīme bihrorene,8 hryðge þā ederas.
Wōriað þā wīnsalo,9 waldend licgað
drēame bidrorene10; duguð eal gecrǫng
80 wlǫnc bī wealle: sume wīg fornōm,
fęrede in forðwege; sumne fugel11 oþbær
ofer hēanne holm; sumne sē hāra wulf
dēaðe gedǣlde; sumne drēorighlēor
in eorðscræfe eorl gehȳdde:
85 ȳþde swā þisne eardgeard ælda Scyppend,
oþ þæt burgwara breahtma lēase
eald ęnta geweorc īdlu stōdon.
Sē þonne þisne wealsteal wīse geþōhte,
and þis deorce līf dēope geondþęnceð,
90 frōd in ferðe12 feor oft gemǫn
wælsleahta worn, and þās word ācwið:
‘Hwǣr cwōm mearg? hwǣr cwōm mago13? hwǣr cwōm māþþumgyfa?
hwǣr cwōm symbla gesetu? hwǣr sindon sęledrēamas?
Ēalā beorht bune! ēalā byrnwiga!
95 ēalā þēodnes þrym! hū sēo þrāg gewāt,
genāp under nihthelm, swā hēo nō wǣre!
Stǫndeð nū on lāste lēofre duguþe
weal wundrum hēah, wyrmlīcum fāh:
100 wǣpen wælgīfru, wyrd sēo mǣre;
and þās stānhleoþu14 stormas cnyssað;
hrīð hrēosende hrūsan bindeð,
wintres wōma, þonne wǫn cymeð,
nīpeð nihtscūa, norþan onsęndeð
105 hrēo hæglfare hæleþum on andan.
Eall is earfoðlīc eorþan rīce,
onwęndeð wyrda gesceaft weoruld under heofonum:
hēr bið feoh lǣne, hēr bið frēond lǣne,
hēr bið mǫn lǣne, hēr bið mǣg lǣne;
110 eal þis eorþan gesteal īdel weorþeð!’”
Epilogue.
Swā cwæð snottor on mōde, gesæt him sundor æt rune.
Til biþ sē þe his trēowe gehealdeð; ne sceal nǣfre his torn tō rycene
beorn of his brēostum ācȳþan, nemþe hē ǣr þā bōte cunne;
eorl mid ęlne gefręmman. Wel bið þām þe him āre sēceð,
115 frōfre tō Fæder on heofonum, þǣr ūs eal sēo fæstnung stǫndeð.
7. The MS. reading is hryre (nominative), which is meaningless.
8. For ūhtna gehwylce, see note on cēnra gehwylcum, p. 140.
10. þe ... him. See § 75 (4). Cf. Merchant of Venice, II, v, 50-51.
27. For mine (MS. in), which does not satisfy metrical requirements, I adopt Kluge’s plausible substitution of miltse; miltse witan = to show (know, feel), pity. The myne wisse of Beowulf (l. 169) is metrically admissible.
37. The object of wāt is þinceð him on mōde; but the construction is unusual, inasmuch as both þæt’s (þæt pronominal before wāt and þæt conjunctional before þinceð) are omitted. See p. 112, ll. 18-19.
41. þinceð him on mōde (see note on him ... þīoden, p. 147). “No more sympathetic picture has been drawn by an Anglo-Saxon poet than where the wanderer in exile falls asleep at his oar and dreams again of his dead lord and the old hall and revelry and joy and gifts,—then wakes to look once more upon the waste of ocean, snow and hail falling all around him, and sea-birds dipping in the spray.” (Gummere, Germanic Origins, p. 221.)
53-55. Sęcga ... cwidegiedda = But these comrades of warriors [= those seen in vision] again swim away [= fade away]; the ghost of these fleeting ones brings not there many familiar words; i.e. he sees in dream and vision the old familiar faces, but no voice is heard: they bring neither greetings to him nor tidings of themselves.
65. Wita sceal geþyldig. Either bēon (wesan) is here to be understood after sceal, or sceal alone means ought to be. Neither construction is to be found in Alfredian prose, though the omission of a verb of motion after sculan is common in all periods of Old English. See note on nō ... meahte, p. 140.
75. swā nū. “The Old English lyrical feeling,” says Ten Brink, citing the lines that immediately follow swā nū, “is fond of the image of physical destruction”; but I do not think these lines have a merely figurative import. The reference is to a period of real devastation, antedating the Danish incursions. “We might fairly find such a time in that parenthesis of bad government and of national tumult which filled the years between the death of Aldfrith in 705 and the renewed peace of Northumbria under Ceolwulf in the years that followed 729.” (Brooke, Early Eng. Lit., p. 355.)
93. cwōm ... gesetu. Ettmüller reads cwōmon; but see p. 107, note on wæs ... þā īgland. The occurrence of hwǣr cwōm three times in the preceding line tends also to hold cwōm in the singular when its plural subject follows. Note the influence of a somewhat similar structural parallelism in seas hides of these lines (Winter’s Tale, IV, IV, 500-502):
“Not for ... all the sun sees or
The close earth wombs or the profound seas hides
In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath.”
111. gesæt ... rūne, sat apart to himself in silent meditation.
114. eorl ... gefręmman. Supply sceal after eorl.
I. GLOSSARY.
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OLD ENGLISH—MODERN ENGLISH.
[The order of words is strictly alphabetical, except that ð follows t. The combination æ follows ad.
Gender is indicated by the abbreviations, m. (= masculine), f. (= feminine), n. (= neuter). The usual abbreviations are employed for the cases, nom., gen., dat., acc., and instr. Other abbreviations are sing. (= singular), pl. (= plural), ind. (= indicative mood), sub. (= subjunctive mood), pres. (= present tense), pret. (= preterit tense), prep. (= preposition), adj. (= adjective), adv. (= adverb), part. (= participle), conj. (= conjunction), pron. (= pronoun), intrans. (= intransitive), trans. (= transitive).
Figures not preceded by § refer to page and line of the texts.