Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell Page 12
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.