BEOWULF.
73
XXV.
1740oð þæt him on innan ofer-hygda dǣl
weaxeð ond wrīdað, þonne se weard swefeð
sāwele hyrde; bið se slǣp tō fæst,
bisgum gebunden, bona swīðe nēah,
sē þe of flān-bogan fyreniim scēoteð.
1745Þonne bið on hreþre under hehn drepen
biteran strǣle; him bebeorgan ne con
wōm[3] wundor-bebodum wergan gāstes;
þinceð him tō lȳtel, þæt hē lange[4] hēold;
gȳtsað grom-hȳdig, nallas on gylp seleð
1750fǣtte[5] bēagas, ond hē þā forð-gesceaft
forgyteð ond forgȳmeð, þæs þe him ǣr God sealde,
wuldres *Waldend, weorð-mynda dǣl.Fol. 168b.
Hit on ende-stæf eft gelimpeð,
þæt se līc-homa lǣne gedrēoseð,
- ↑ Grein ‘ne gesaca (adversary) ōhwǣr ecg-hete ēoweð (shows).’ On the whole I prefer to abide by the MS. reading, although examples are wanting of ēowan used intransitively, as its compound oðēowan frequently is.
- ↑ 1739. The MS. has a stop after con, the usual space with the number XXV, and then a large capital O. But it seems impossible to begin a fresh sentence with oð þæt “until,” as Earle does. Grein makes the break in the middle of l. 1739, Heyne after l. 1744.
- ↑ 1747. Heyne ‘wom’; cf. ll. 1758 and 3073. But wōm (Sievers § 295, N. 1) scans better and makes better sense. Bebeorgan takes acc. rei in 1758; but that passage alone is insufficient to settle its usual construction, and no other instance of its occurrence is known.
- ↑ 1748. Zupitza: “to imperfectly erased between he and lange.” It is inserted in the text of all the editions.
- ↑ 1750. MS. ‘fædde.’