78
BEOWULF.
1850þet þē *Sǣ-Gēatas sēlran næbbenFol. 170b.
tō gecēosenne cyning ǣnigne,
hord-weard hæleþa, gyf þū healdan wylt
māga rīce. Mē þīn mōd-sefa
līcað leng swā wel,[1] lēofa Bēowulf.
1855Hafast þū gefēred, þæt þām folcum sceal,
Gēata lēodum ond Gār-Denum,
sib gemǣne,[2] ond sacu restan,
inwit-nīþas, þe hīe ǣr drugon;
wesan, þenden ic wealde wīdan rīces,
1860māþmas gemǣne; manig ōþerne
gōdum gegrēttan ofer ganotes bǣð;
sceall hring-naca ofer hēaþu[3] bringan
lāc ond luf-tācen. Ic þā lēode wāt
ge wið fēond ge wið frēond fæste geworhte,
1865ǣghwæs untǣle ealde wīsan.”
Ða git him eorla hlēo inne gesealde,
mago Healfdenes, māþmas twelfe,[4]
- ↑ 1854. Bugge and Heyne 5: ‘leng swā sēl’ (the longer the better)—a tempting emendation. But if one finds gross anomalies in accidence in the “Beowulf,” why should one look for a flawless syntax?
- ↑ 1857. MS. ‘ge mænum.’
- ↑ 1862. Kluge ‘heafu’; cf. l. 2477. Sievers supports this emendation on metrical grounds (“Beit.” x. 245). A certain amount of deference is to be paid to metrical conclusions, but they should hardly suffice of themselves to set aside an otherwise unexceptionable MS. reading. But Sievers also calls hēaþu “unverständlich” (“Beit.” x. 235). None the less the evidence of its existence and meaning is not contemptible. The compound hēaðo-līðend occurs in ll. 1798 and 2955 (in the latter case parallel to sǣmannum), andin “Andreas” 426; hēaðo-sigel in “Riddles” 72. 16. Sievers makes the first syllable short in “Beowulf” 1798 and 2955 (“Beit.” x. 300); if this means that he regards heaðu, “war,” as the first part of these compounds, his supposition goes far towards making the four above-cited passages “unverständlich.”
- ↑ 1867. MS. ‘·XII·’.
