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hū him scīr Metod⁠scrīfan wille.”
980Ðā wæs swīgra secg⁠sunu Ec[g]lāfes
on gylp-sprǣce⁠gūð-geweorca,
siþðan æþelingas⁠eorles cræfte
ofer hēanne hrōf⁠hand scēawedon,
fēondes fingras,⁠foran ǣghwylc;
985wæs steda nægla gehwylc⁠stȳle gelīcost,^[1]
hǣþenes hand-sporu,⁠*hilde-rinces^[2]Fol. 151b.
egl unhēoru;⁠ǣghwylc gecwæð,
þæt him heardra nān⁠hrīnan wolde
īren ǣr-gōd,⁠þæt ðæs āhlǣcan
990blōdge beadu-folme⁠onberan wolde.

XV.

Ðā wæs hāten hreþe⁠Heort innan-weard
folmum gefrætwod;⁠fela þǣra wæs
wera ond wīfa,⁠þe þæt wīn-reced,
gest-sele, gyredon.⁠Gold-fāg scinon
995web æfter wāgum,⁠wundor-sīona fela
secga gehwylcum,⁠þāra þe on swylc starað.
Wæs þæt beorhte bold⁠tōbrocen swīðe,
eal inne-weard⁠īren-bendum fæst,

1. 984—5. Suggestions too numerous to mention have been made for the emendation of these lines. Heyne adopts a fresh one with each new edition. Sievers considers the second half of l. 984 metrically deficient, and proposes:

   fēondes fingras:⁠foran ǣghwylc wæs
   stīðra nægla⁠stȳle gelīcost.

2. 986. MS. ‘hilde hilde rinces,’ the first hilde being the last word on the page, the second the first word overleaf. In such cases italics in the text seem needless. For hand-sporu see Sievers § 279.