Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 28
XXVIII.
Gewāt him ðā se hearda mid his hond-scole
sylf æfter sande sǣ-wong tredan,
1965wīde waroðas; woruld-candel scān,
sigel sūðan fūs; hī sīð drugon,
elne geēodon, tō ðæs þe eorla hlēo,
bonan Ongenþēoes burgum in innan,
geongne gūð-cyning gōdne gefrūnon
1970hringas dǣlan. Higelāce wæs
sīð Bēowulfes snūde gecȳðed,
þæt ðǣr on worðig wīgendra hlēo,
lind-gestealla, lifigende cwōm,
heaðo-lāces hāl tō hofe gongan.
1975Hraðe wæs gerȳmed, swa se rīca bebēad,
fēðe-gestum flet innan-weard.
Gesæt þā wið sylfne, sē ðā sæcce genæs,
mǣg wið mǣge, *syððan man-diyhtenFol. 173b.
þurh hlēoðor-cwyde holdne gegrētte
1980meaglum wordum. Meodu-scencum hwearf
geond þæt heal-reced[1] Hæreðes dohtor,
lufode ðā lēode, lið-wǣge bær
hælum[2] tō handa. Higelāc ongan
sīnne geseldan in sele þām hēan
1985fægre fricgcean, hyne fyrwet bræc,[3]
hwylce Sǣ-Gēata sīðas wǣron:
“Hū lomp ēow on lāde, lēofa Bīowulf,
þā ðū fǣringa feorr gehogodest
sæcce sēcean ofer sealt wæter,
1990hilde tō Hiorote? Ac ðū Hrōðgāre
wīd-cūðne[4] wēan wihte gebēttest,
mǣrum ðēodne? Ic ðæs mōd-ceare
sorh-wylmum sēað, sīðe ne trūwode
lēofes mannes. Ic ðē lange bæd,
1995þæt ðū þone wæl-gæst wihte ne grētte,
lēte Sūð-Dene sylfe geweorðan
gūðe wið Grendel. Gode ic þanc secge,
þæs ðe ic ðē gesundne gesēon mōste.”
Bīowulf maðelode, bearn Ecgðīoes:
2000*“Þæt is undyrne, dryhten Higelāc,Fol. 174a.
[mǣre][5] gemēting, monegum fīra,
hwylc [orleg-]hwīl[6] uncer Grendles
wearð on ðām wange, þǣr hē worna fela
Sige-Scyldingum sorge gefremede,
2005yrmðe tō aldre; ic ðæt eall gewræc,
swā [ne] gylpan[7] þearf Grendeles māga
[ǣnig][8] ofer eorðan ūht-hlem þone,
sē þe lengest leofað lāðan cynnes
f[enne] bifongen.[9] Ic ðǣr furðum cwōm
2010tō ðām hring-sele Hrōðgār grētan;
sōna mē se mǣra mago Healfdenes,
syððan hē mōd-sefan mīnne cūðe,
wið his sylfes sunu setl getǣhte.
Weorod wæs on wynne; ne seah ic wīdan feorh
2015under heofones hwealf heal-sittendra
medu-drēam māran. Hwīlum mǣru cwēn,
friðu-sibb folca, flet eall geond-hwearf,
bǣdde byre geonge; oft hīo bēah-wriðan
secge *[sealde],[10] ær hīo tō setle gēong.Fol. 174b.
2020Hwīlum for [d]uguðe[11] dohtor Hrōðgāres
eorlum on ende ealu-wǣge bær,
þā ic Frēaware flet-sittende
nemnan hȳrde, þǣr hīo [næ]gled[12] sinc
hæleðum sealde. Sīo gehāten [wæs],
2025geong, gold-hroden, gladum suna Frōdan;
[h]afað þæs geworden wine Scyldinga,
rīces hyrde, ond þæt rǣd talað,
þæt hē mid ðȳ wīfe wæl-fǣhða dǣl,
sæcca, gesette. Oft, [nō][13] seldan, hwǣr
2030æfter lēod-hryre lȳtle hwīle
bon-gār būgeð, þēah sēo brȳd duge.
Mæg þæs þonne ofþyncan ðēoden[14] Heaðobeardna
ond þegna gehwām þāra lēoda,
þonne hē mid fǣmnan on flett gǣð,
2035dryht-bearn Dena duguða biwenede;[15]
on him gladiað gomelra lāfe
heard ond hring-mǣl, Heaðobear[d]na gestrēon,[16]
þenden hīe ðām wǣpnum wealdan mōston,
- ↑ 1981. MS. ‘þætside.reced.’ Zupitza: “side added over the line in the same hand I think, but with another ink,” Kemble: ‘heal-reced.’
- ↑ 1983. MS. ‘hæ nū.’ Zupitza: “between æ and n a letter (I think ð) erased.” Grein ‘hælum.’ Bugge defends ‘Hǣnum’ (so Heyne and Socin), which he regards as a contracted form meaning “dwellers on the heath” (of Jutland). But the fact that he identifies the “Gēatas” with the Jutes inevitably discounts his opinion.
- ↑ 1985. Wülcker ‘(hyne fyrwet bræc)’; but ll. 232, 2784, show that these words have an interrogative force, and are therefore a true parallel to what precedes.
- ↑ 1991. MS. ‘wið’; Thorpe ‘wīd-.’
- ↑ 2001. MS. defective at corner, and in l. 2002. Grein ‘[mǣre].’
- ↑ 2002. Thorpe ‘[orleg-].’
- ↑ 2006. MS. defective at edge, and in ll. 2007, 2009. Grein ‘begylpan [ne].’ In favour of this reading, A has ‘swabe,’ B ‘swal,’ and I can find no other instance of gielpan with an accus.; against it, begielpan is found in no other edited text, and it supposes an omission where there is no gap in the MS.
- ↑ 2007. Kemble ‘[ænig].’
- ↑ 2009. A ‘fæ‘ and a blank; B ‘fer..’; Kemble ‘fǣr-bifongen’ (so Wülcker); Grundtvig ‘fenne bifongen’ (so Heyne).
- ↑ 2019. MS. defective at corner. MS. ‘hie.’
- ↑ 2020. MS. defective at edge, and in ll. 2023, 2024, 2026.
- ↑ 2023. Grein’s emendation.
- ↑ 2029. Heyne’s emendation; cf. l. 3019, and Ps. lxxiv. 4. Oft ends a line in the MS., which is defective at the beginning of the next line, the s of seldan being gone. “I do not think there was before seldan room enough for no.”—Zupitza. Kōlbing and Wūlcker think there was.
- ↑ 2032. Kemble ‘ðēodne.’ In his favour, ofþyncan always takes a dat. pers., and ðeoden is not a defensible dat. form; against, ðeoden is the clear reading of the MS., and he would be a bold man who should correct all its grammatical anomalies.
- ↑ 2035. This is the MS. reading of this difficult line. Grein emended bī werede, “among the company,” making dryht-bearn explanatory of hē in the previous line. But it is natural to take hē, as Heyne does, to refer to the ðeoden of l. 2032. He retains the MS. reading and renders: “[while] a noble scion of the Danes attended upon the knights.” It is much more satisfactory to assume the omission of the conjunction þæt at the beginning of l. 2035, correlative with þæs in 2032, to take duguða as nom. to biwenede, and to regard this as one of the frequent instances in O.E. poetry of a plural subject with a singular verb in a subordinate clause. Cf. ll. 2164, 1051, 2130, 2251, &c. The gain to the sense is immense: “It displeased the prince of the Heathobards, [that] his doughty warriors should attend on a noble scion of the Danes.” For the omission of þæt cf. l. 801, and see the note on l. 2206, a parallel passage; the explanation there suggested applies with equal force here, where þonne (2032) is correlative with þonne (2034).
- ↑ 2037. MS. ‘heaða bearna.’