Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell Read online

  by night, then back was wont to go seeking his lair; now was

  he bound in death, for the last time had he used his earthy

  2560 caves. Beside them goblets and ewers stood, and dishes lay

  and precious swords, rusty and eaten through, as had they

  dwelt there a thousand winters in the earth’s embrace. In that

  day that heritage had been endowed with mighty power; the

  gold of bygone men was wound about with spells, so that

  2565 none among them might lay hand upon that hall of rings,

  unless God himself, true King of Victories, granted to the

  man he chose the enchanter’s secret and the hoard to open,

  to even such among men as seemed meet to Him.

  Now all could see that to evil fortune had he sallied forth

  2570 who wrongfully had kept concealed therein the precious

  things beneath the builded mound. One only, and none

  beside, had the Guardian slain, before his deeds of enmity

  were bitterly avenged. A mystery it is where a man of prow-

  ess and good heart shall meet the end of his allotted life, when

  2575 no longer may he among his kin dwell in the hall, his mead

  drinking. Even thus it was with Beowulf: when he sought

  out the barrow’s guardian, his guile and malice, he knew

  not himself through what means his parting from the world

  should come about. To this end had the mighty chieftains,

  2580 those that there had laid it, set a deep curse upon it even until

  the Day of Doom, that that man should be for his crimes

  condemned, shut in the houses of devils, fast in the bonds

  of hell, tormented with clinging evil, who should that place

  despoil. Alas, Beowulf ere he went had not more carefully

  2585 considered the old possessor’s will that cursed the gold.

  Wiglaf spake, the son of Wihstan: ‘Oft must it be that

  many men through one man’s will shall suffer woe, even as

  is now befallen us. We could not advise our king beloved, the

  shepherd of this realm, to any well-counselled course, that he

  2590 should not approach the keeper of the gold, but should let

  him lie where long time he had been, abiding in his dwellings

  unto the world’s end, pursuing his mighty fate. The hoard

  is laid bare, grimly was it gained. Too mighty was the doom

  that thither drew this mortal man. I have been therein and all

  2595 of it have I surveyed, the treasures of that house, when leave

  was given me – in no kindly wise was my entry welcomed

  in beneath the earthy mound. In haste I seized with hands a

  mighty burden huge of hoarded treasures, and hither did I bear

  them out unto my king. Yet living was he then, clear in mind

  2600 and conscious, and all those many things he spake, aged and in

  anguish; and he bade me greet you, commanding that ye should

  fashion in memory of your good lord’s deeds upon the place

  of his pyre such a lofty tomb, mighty and splendid, even as he

  was among men the most renowned in war over the wide earth,

  2605 while yet it was his lot to use the wealth within his courts.

  ‘Let us now haste, going once again to find and look

  upon that press of fair-wrought gems, the marvellous things

  beneath the builded mound. I will guide you, that ye from

  nigh at hand shall gaze there upon rings in plenty and on

  2610 massive gold. Let the bier be ready, swiftly arrayed, when

  we come out; then let us bear our prince, our dear-beloved,

  where he shall long abide in the keeping of the Lord!’

  Then the son of Wihstan, mighty man of valour, bade

  them summons send to many among men that homesteads

  2615 ruled, that they being masters of men should bring from afar

  wood for the pyre to their good lord’s need. ‘Now shall the

  smoking flame be fed, the glowing fire devour the prince of

  men, even him who oft endured the iron hail, when the storm

  of arrows urged by bowstrings fled above the wall of shields,

  2620 and the shaft performed its task sped by its feathered raiment,

  following the arrowhead.’

  Moreover the wise son of Wihstan summoned from the

  host the king’s own knights, seven in company, men most

  excellent; now eight warriors in all they went under the

  2625 accurséd roof, one bearing in his hand a fiery torch, going

  forward at their head. No need then to cast lots who should

  despoil that hoard, when keeperless those men espied still

  any portion lying crumbling there; little did any grieve that

  they in haste brought forth those treasures of great price. The

  2630 serpent too they thrust over the towering cliff, let the tide the

  dragon take, the flowing sea engulf the keeper of fair things.

  Then was the wreathéd gold laded upon a wain, beyond all

  count, and the prince borne away to Hronesnæs (Whale’s

  Head), their chieftain hoar.

  2635 For him then the Geatish lords a pyre prepared upon the

  earth, not niggardly, with helms o’erhung and shields of war

  and corslets shining, as his prayer had been. Now laid they

  amidmost their glorious king, mighty men lamenting their

  lord beloved. Then upon the hill warriors began the mightiest

  2640 of funeral fires to waken. Woodsmoke mounted black

  above the burning, a roaring flame ringed with weeping, till

  the swirling wind sank quiet, and the body’s bony house

  was crumbled in the blazing [?core]. Unhappy in heart they

  mourned their misery and their liege-lord slain. There too a

  2645 lamentable lay many a Geatish maiden with braided tresses

  for Beowulf made, singing in sorrow, oft repeating that days

  of evil she sorely feared, many a slaying cruel and terror

  armed, ruin and thraldom’s bond. The smoke faded in the

  sky. Then the lords of the windloving people upon a seaward

  2650 slope a tomb wrought that was high and broad, to voyagers

  on the waves clear seen afar; and in ten days they builded the

  memorial of the brave in war, encompassed with a wall what

  the fires had left, in such most splendid wise as men of chief

  wisdom could contrive. In that mound they laid armlets and

  2655 jewels and all such ornament as erewhile daring-hearted men

  had taken from the hoard, abandoning the treasure of mighty

  men to earth to keep, gold to the ground where yet it dwells

  as profitless to men as it proved of old.

  Then about the tomb rode warriors valiant, sons of

  2660 princes, twelve men in all, who would their woe bewail, their

  king lament, a dirge upraising, that man praising, honouring

  his prowess and his mighty deeds, his worth esteeming – even

  as is meet that a man should his lord beloved in words extol,

  in heart cherish, when forth he must from the raiment of

  2665 flesh be taken far away.

  Thus bemourned the Geatish folk their master’s fall, comrades

  of his hearth, crying that he was ever of the kings of

  earth of men most generous and to men most gracious, to his

  people most tender and for praise most eager.

  NOTES ON THE TEXT OF THE TRANSLATION

  These notes are largely but not exclusively concerned with the varying interpretations, found in the texts of the translation, of words and passages in Be
owulf. Many of these are discussed in the commentary, and the words in a textual note ‘See the commentary’ without line-reference means that it is the same in both cases; but the page-number of the note in the commentary, or of the particular passage in the note, is usually given to make it easier to find quickly.

  The letters LT (‘latest text’) stand for the text of the translation of Beowulf given in this book.

  14 (*18) Beow: this (and again at 41 (*53)) is almost the only case in the translation where I have altered a clear reading without justification in any of the texts, all of which have Beowulf. The matter is discussed in the commentary, pp. 144–8.

  17-18 (*21) On the translation ‘he dwells in his father’s bosom’ see the commentary, p. 149.

  60 (*74) In B(i) against the word ‘proclaimed’ is written in pencil in another hand ‘summoned?’ This is the first of several suggestions certainly in the hand of C.S. Lewis, in this case not adopted.

  67 (*83) B(i) had ‘the time was not yet come’; in C ‘come’ was changed to ‘at hand’, together with another alternative ‘was not far off’, which I have adopted; see the commentary, p. 158.

  94-5 (*117) ‘ale-drinking’: B(i) had ‘ale-quaffing’; ‘ale-drinking’ was the suggestion of C.S. Lewis.

  97 (*120) For Old English Wiht unhǽlo B(i) and C had ‘That ruinous thing’, later emended in C to ‘That accurséd thing’. In a note on Wiht unhǽlo, taken to mean ‘creature of evil’, my father wrote that he favoured the emendation unfǽlo, ‘since elsewhere unhǽlo means “bad health, illness”, and unfǽle is precisely the right adjective: it means unnatural, sinister, unclean, evil – and ridding Heorot of Grendel is said to be making it fǽle again (Heorot fǽlsian, 350, *432).’

  97-9 (*121–3) The Old English text reads: . . . grim ond grǽdig, gearo sóna wæs, réoc ond réþe, ond on ræste genam þrítig þegna; in the translation, ‘ravenous and grim, swift was ready; thirty knights he seized . . .’ Thus there is no translation of the words réoc ond réþe (both adjectives mean ‘fierce, savage, cruel’). This was lacking in the earliest text B(i), and was never noticed subsequently.

  107-8 (*134–5) On the translation ‘Nor was it longer space than but one night’ see the commentary, p. 164.

  110 (*137) ‘wrong’ (O.E. fyrene): suggested by C.S. Lewis for B(i) ‘sin’.

  123-5 (*154–6) ‘truce would he not have with any man of the Danish host, nor would withhold his deadly cruelty, nor accept terms of payment’: on this translation see the commentary, pp. 164–6.

  ‘nor accept terms of payment’ is an emendation in C for ‘nor make amends with gold’.

  127–8 (*160) ‘both knights and young’ (O.E. duguþe ond geogoþe): this is apparently a clear example of a correction made to B(i) after the making of the typescript C, which retained the original reading ‘both old and young’. On the translation of duguð see the commentary on p. 189 and pp. 204-5

  134-5 (*168–9) These lines were enclosed in brackets in both B(i) and C. Both texts had ‘Who took no thought of him’, but this was emended in C to ‘nor did he know His will’. See the commentary pp. 181 ff.

  135-50 (*170–88) See the commentary, where p. 173 appears a closely similar version of this passage in the translation.

  140 (*175) ‘tabernacles’: emendation in C of ‘fanes’; see the commentary pp. 179–80.

  140 (*177) ‘the slayer of souls’ (O.E. gástbona): suggested by C.S. Lewis for B(i) ‘destroyer of souls’.

  143-50 (*180–8) The brackets enclosing these lines are editorial: see the commentary, p. 186, footnote.

  146 (*184) ‘fiendish malice’: emendation in C of ‘rebellious malice’. On the translation of sliðne nið see the commentary, pp. 175–6.

  163-4 (*202–3) ‘With that voyage little fault did wise men find’: pencilled here on C: ‘[i.e. they applauded it]’. See the commentary, pp. 187–8.

  181-2 (*223–4) The original reading of B(i) ‘The waters were overpassed; they were at their sea-way’s end’ was changed on the text to ‘Then for that sailing ship the voyage was at an end’ (on C ‘voyage’ emended to ‘journey’). See the commentary, pp. 193–4.

  182–3 (*225) ‘the Windloving folk’ (O.E. Wedera léode). My father found it difficult to decide on a rendering of the names of the Geats, who in Beowulf are called also Weder-Geatas, Wederas, Sæ-Geatas. In the texts of the translation are found, in addition to simple preservation of the Old English names, ‘Storm-folk’, ‘Storm-Geats’, ‘Windloving folk’, ‘Windloving Geats’. His cursory correction of the C text left inconsistencies, but it is plain nonetheless that his final decision was ‘windloving folk, windloving Geats’ (perhaps following ‘sealoving Geats’ for Sæ-Geatas). I have therefore given ‘windloving (folk, Geats)’ at all occurrences of Wederas and Weder-Geatas in the poem.

  184 (*226) B(i) ‘their mail-shirts clashed’ was changed on the text to ‘their mail-shirts they shook’; see the commentary, pp. 194–5.

  189 (*232) The word fyrwyt was translated ‘eagerness’ in B(i) and corrected in C to ‘anxiety’; see the commentary, pp. 195–6. At 1668 (*1985) ‘eagerness’ remained; while at 2342 (*2784) ‘anxiety’ was the original translation in B(ii).

  202 (*249) O.E. seldguma: B(i) and C ‘minion’, corrected in C to ‘hall-servant’. See the commentary, pp. 196–7.

  210 (*259) ‘opened his store of words’ (O.E. wordhord onléac): suggested by C.S. Lewis for B(i) ‘unlocked his prisoned words’.

  219-20 (*271–2) ‘nor shall there in his court be aught kept secret’ was emended in C to ‘and there a certain matter shall not be kept secret’.

  223 (*276) ‘monstrous’ (O.E. uncúðne): emendation in B(i) of ‘inhuman’.

  232–4 (*287–9) In B(i) and C the text ‘it behoves a warrior that is bold of heart and right-minded to discern what truth there is in both words and deeds’ was not part of the coastguard’s speech, which begins “This have I heard . . .” This was emended in C to ‘“A man of keen wit who takes good heed will discern the truth in both words and deeds: my ears assure me . . .”’ See the commentary, pp. 200–1.

  240 (*297) ‘streams’ (O.E. lagustréamas): suggested by C.S. Lewis for B(i) ‘currents’.

  246-8 (*303–6) B(i) after emendation and C had here: ‘Images of the boar shone above the cheek-guards, adorned with gold, gleaming, fire-tempered; grim of mood the vizored helm kept guard over life’; this was corrected in C to LT (the text given in this book). See the commentary, pp. 201–4.

  334-5 (*413–14) ‘as soon as the light of evening is hid beneath heaven’s pale’: on this translation see the commentary, pp. 225–7.

  338-9 (*419–20) B(i) and C: ‘when I returned all stained with blood from the dangerous toils of my foes’; my father was treating fáh as the distinct word (‘decorated, coloured, stained’), taken (as widely) to mean here ‘(blood)-stained’; but he made no reference to this interpretation in his commentary. Later, in pencil on ‘C’, he changed his original version to the translation in LT, ‘when I returned from the toils of my foes, earning their enmity’. See the commentary, pp. 227–8.

  339–40 (*420–1) B(i) and C: ‘when five I bound, and made desolate the race of monsters, and when I slew . . .’ On the changes made to C here see the commentary on 290–5, pp. 228-32.

  344 (*426) O.E. ðing wið þyrse: B(i) and C: ‘keep appointed tryst’; corrected in C to ‘hold debate’.

  346 (*428) In the poem Beowulf addresses Hrothgar as brego Beorht-Dena, eodor Scyldinga, but eodor Scyldinga is omitted in the translation. I have introduced this into the text, ‘defender of the Scyldings’ (as in line 539, *663).

  348-9 (*431–2) B(i) and C: ‘. . . that I (be permitted B(i) >) may, unaided, I and my proud company’, corrected in C to ‘only I may, and my proud company’; see the commentary, pp. 232–5.

  356-9 (*442–5) B(i) and C: ‘Methinks he will, if he may so contrive it, in this hall of strife devour without fear the Geatish folk, as oft he hath the proud hosts of your men’. On
the B(i) typescript my father pencilled now scarcely legibly above ‘Geatish folk’ the words ‘folk of the Goths’, and above ‘the proud hosts of your men’ some words were struck through and are illegible except for ‘Hreðmen’. These corrections do not appear in C as typed, but the text as given in this book was entered subsequently. On this passage see the commentary, pp. 237–40.

  380-1 (*471–2) B(i) and C: ‘sending over the backs of the sea ancient treasures’: the O.E. text has sende ic Wylfingum ofer wæteres hrycg ealde mádmas, but ‘to the Wylfings’ was omitted and its absence not noticed in C.

  386–7 (*478) ‘God (alone) may easily’, O.E. God éaþe mæg: the word ‘alone’ was struck through but then marked with a tick of acceptance in B(i); typed in C it was subsequently bracketed. In his copy of Klaeber’s third edition my father noted against line 478: ‘A cry of despair: Only God can help me’. See the commentary, pp. 247–8.

  395-7 (*489–90) B(i): ‘Sit now at the feast, and unlock the thoughts of thy mind, thy victories and triumph, unto men, even as thy heart moveth thee’; emended on the typescript to ‘Sit now at the feast, and in due time turn thy thought to victory for thy men, as thy heart may urge thee.’ This was the form in C as I typed it; later my father changed ‘in due time’ to ‘when the time comes’, and scribbled, just legibly, ‘or for the Hrethmen’ against ‘for thy men’. See the commentary, pp. 251–2.

  398 (*491) O.E. Géatmæcgum: C ‘the Geatish knights’, corrected to ‘the young Geatish knights’, with ‘not B’ (i.e. ‘not Beowulf’) written at the same time in the margin: see the commentary, p. 229.

  398-405 (*491–8) This passage in the translation appears in almost identical form in the commentary on 163–4, pp. 188–9.

  452 (*555) O.E. hwæþre mé gyfeþe wearð: B(i) ‘it was decreed by fate that I found’, emended to ‘as my fate willed I found’; emended in C to ‘it was granted to me to find’. See the commentary, pp. 255–6.

  524–30 (*644–51) See the commentary pp. 262–4 on the translation of these lines.

  555-6 (*681) O.E. þára góda ‘of gentle arms’: see the commentary, p. 265.

  635 (*776) O.E. míne gefrǽge ‘as I have heard’ B(i) and C; in B(i) (only) with ‘so the tale tells’ written above, which I have adopted.

  687-8 (*846) O.E. feorhlastas bær ‘his desperate footsteps’ B(i) and C, changed in C to ‘his footsteps, bleeding out his life’; see the commentary, p. 279.