158
THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC
3165hardy heroes, from hoard in cave,—
trusting the ground with treasure of earls,
gold in the earth, where ever it lies
useless to men as of yore it was.
Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,[1]
3170atheling-born, a band of twelve,
lament to make, to mourn their king,
chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.
They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess
worthily witnessed: and well it is
3175that men their master-friend mightily laud,
heartily love, when hence he goes
from life in the body forlorn away.
Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero’s passing his hearth-companions:
3180quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most belovéd,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.
- ↑ The close resemblance of these funeral rites to the ceremonies at Attila’s burial has often been noted. Jordanis, reporting them briefly—pauca de multis dicere—tells how the corpse was placed under a “silken tent,” and how horsemen rode round it, in masterly fashion, and chanted Attila’s great deeds. At the burial of Achilles “heroes of the Achaeans moved mail-clad round the pyre . . . both footmen and horse, and great was the noise that arose.”
