PART II

It is only here and there that we are struck by an inherent improbability in Müllenhoff's scheme. Thus the form in which Müllenhoff assumes the poem to have existed before Interpolator A set to work on it, is hardly a credible one. The "original poet" has brought Beowulf from his home to the Danish court, to slay Grendel, and the "continuator" has taken him to the haunted lake: Beowulf has plunged down, slain Grendel's mother, come back to land. Here Müllenhoff believed the poem to have ended, until "Interpolator A" came along, and told how Beowulf returned in triumph to Hrothgar, was thanked and rewarded, and then betook himself home, and was welcomed by Hygelac. That it would have been left to an interpolator to supply what from the old point of view was so necessary a part of the story as the return to Hrothgar is an assumption perilous indeed. "An epic poem only closes when everything is really concluded: not, like a modern novel, at a point where the reader can imagine the rest for himself[258]."

Generally speaking, however, the theories of the "dissecting school" are not in themselves faulty, if we admit the assumptions on which they rest. They fail however in two ways. An examination of the short lay and the long epic, so far as these are represented in extant documents, does not bear outwell the assumptions of the theorizers. Secondly, the minute scrutiny to which the poem has been subjected in matters of syntax, metre, dialect and tradition has failed to show any difference between the parts attributed to the different authors, such as we must certainly have expected to find, had the theories of the "dissecting school" been correct.

That behind our extantBeowulf, and connecting it with the events of the sixth century, there must have been a number of older lays, may indeed well be admitted: also that to these lays our poem owes its plot, its traditions of metre and its phraseology, and perhaps (but this is a perilous assumption) continuous passages of its text. But what Müllenhoff and ten Brink go on to assume is that these original oral lays were simple in outline and treated a single well-defined episode in a straightforward manner; that later redactors and scribes corrupted this primitive simplicity; but that the modern critic, by demanding it, and using its presence or absence as a criterion, can still disentangle from the complex composite poem the simpler elements out of which it was built up.

Here are rather large assumptions. What right have we to postulate that this primitive "literature without letters[259]," these short oral ballads and lays, dealt with a single episode without digression or confusion: whilst the later age,—the civilized, Christianized age of written literature during whichBeowulfin the form in which we now have it was produced,—is assumed to have been tolerant of both?

No doubt, here and there, in different literatures, groups of short lays can be found which one can imagine might be combined into an orderly narrative poem, without much hacking about. But on the other hand a short lay will often tell, in less than a hundred lines, a story more complex than that of theIliador theOdyssey. Its shortness may be due, not to any limitation in the scope of the plot, but rather to the passionate haste with which it rushes through a long story. It is one thing to admit that there must have been short lays on the story of Beowulf: it is another to assume that these lays were of such a character that nothing was needed but compilerswith a taste for arrangement and interpolation in order to turn them into the extant epic ofBeowulf.

When we find nearly five hundred lines spent in describing the reception of the hero in Hrothgar's land, we may well doubt whether this passage can have found its way into our poem through any such process of fitting together as Müllenhoff postulated. It would be out of scale in any narrative shorter than theBeowulfas we have it. It suggests to us that the epic is developed out of the lay, not by a process of fitting together, but rather by a retelling of the story in a more leisurely way.

A comparison of extant short lays or ballads with extant epics has shown that, if these epics were made by stringing lays together, such lays must have been different from the great majority of the short lays now known. "The lays into which this theory dissects the epics, or which it assumes as the sources of the epics, differ in two ways from extant lays: they deal with short, incomplete subjects and they have an epic breadth of style[260]."

It has been shown by W. P. Ker[261]that a comparison of such fragments as have survived of the Germanic short lay (Finnsburg,Hildebrand) does not bear out the theory that the epic is a conglomeration of such lays. "It is the change and development in style rather than any increase in the complexity of the themes that accounts for the difference in scale between the shorter and the longer poems."

A similar conclusion is reached by Professor Hart: "It might be illuminating to base aLiedertheoriein part, at least, upon a study of existingLieder, rather than wholly upon an attempt to dismember the epic in question. Such study reveals indeed a certain similarity in kind of Ballad and Epic, but it reveals at the same time an enormous difference in degree, in stage of development. If theBeowulf, then, was made up of a series of heroic songs, strung together with little or no modification, these songs must have been something very different from the popular ballad[262]."

And subsequent investigations into the history and folk-lore of our poem have not confirmed Müllenhoff's theory: in some cases indeed they have hit it very hard. When a new light was thrown upon the story by the discovery of the parallels betweenBeowulfand theGrettis saga, it became clear that passages which Müllenhoff had condemned as otiose interpolations were likely to be genuine elements in the tale. Dr Olrik's minute investigations into the history of the Danish kings have shown from yet another point of view how allusions, which were rashly condemned by Müllenhoff and ten Brink as idle amplifications, are, in fact, essential.

How the investigation of the metre, form, and syntax ofBeowulfhas disclosed an archaic strictness of usage has been explained above (Sect. II). This usage is in striking contrast with the practice of later poets like Cynewulf. How far we are justified in relying upon such differences of usage as criteria ofexactdate is open to dispute. But it seems clear that, had Müllenhoff's theories been accurate, we might reasonably have expected to have been able to differentiate between the earlier and the later strata in so composite a poem.

The composite theory has lately been strongly supported by Schücking[263]. Schücking starts from the fact, upon which we are all agreed, that the poem falls into two main divisions: the story of how Beowulf at Heorot slew Grendel and Grendel's mother, and the story of the dragon, which fifty years later he slew at his home. These are connected by the section which tells how Beowulf returned from Heorot to his own home and was honourably received by his king, Hygelac.

It is now admitted that the ways of Old English narrative were not necessarily our ways, and that we must not postulate, because our poem falls into two somewhat clumsily connected sections, that therefore it is compounded out of two originally distinct lays. But, on the other hand, as Schücking rightly urges, instancesareforthcoming of two O.E. poems having been clumsily connected into one[264]. Therefore, whilst no one would now urge thatBeowulfis put together out of two olderlays,merelybecause it can so easily be divided into two sections, this fact does suggest that a case exists for examination.

Now if a later poet had connected together two old lays, one on the Grendel and Grendel's mother business, and one on the dragon business, we might fairly expect that this connecting link would show traces of a different style. It is accordingly on the connecting link, the story ofBeowulf's Returnand reception by Hygelac, that Schücking concentrates his attention, submitting it to the most elaborate tests to see if it betrays metrical, stylistic or syntactical divergencies from the rest of the poem.

Various tests are applied, which admittedly give no result, such as the frequency of the repetition in theReturnof half verse formulas which occur elsewhere inBeowulf[265], or the way in which compound nouns fit into the metrical scheme[266]. Metrical criteria are very little more helpful[267]. We have seen that the antiquity ofBeowulfis proved by the cases where metre demands the substitution of an older uncontracted form for the existing shorter one. Schücking argues that no instance occurs in the 267 lines of theReturn. But, even if this were the case, it might well be mere accident, since examples only occur at rare intervals anywhere inBeowulf. As a matter of fact, however, examples are to be found in theReturn[268](quite up to the normal proportion), though two of the clearest come in a portion of it which Schücking rather arbitrarily excludes.

Coming to syntax in its broadest sense, and especially the method of constructing and connecting sentences, Schücking enumerates several constructions which are found in theReturn, but not elsewhere inBeowulf. Syntax is a subject to which he has given special study, and his opinion upon it must be of value. But I doubt whether anyone as expert in the subject as Schücking could not find in every passage of like length inBeowulfsome constructions not to be exactly paralleled elsewhere in the poem.

The fact that we find here, and here only, passages introduced by the clausesic sceal forð sprecan[269], andtō lang ys tō reccenne[270], is natural when we realize that we have here the longest speech in the whole poem, which obviously calls for such apologies for prolixity.

The fact that no parentheses occur in theReturndoes not differentiate it from the rest ofBeowulf: for, as Schücking himself points out elsewhere, there are three other passages in the poem, longer than theReturn, which are equally devoid of parentheses[271].

There remain a fewhapax legomena[272], but very inconclusive.

There are, in addition, examples which occur only in theReturn, and in certain other episodic passages. These episodic passages also, Schücking supposes, may have been added by the same reviser who added theReturn. But this is a perilous change of position. For example, a certain peculiarity is found only in theReturnand the introductory genealogical section[273]; or in theReturnand theFinn Episode[274]. But when Schücking proceeds to the suggestion that theIntroductionor theFinn Episodemay have been added by the same reviser who addedBeowulf's Return, he knocks the bottom out of some of his previous arguments. The argument from the absence of parentheses (whatever it was worth) must go: for according to Schücking's own punctuation, such parentheses are found both in theIntroductionand in theFinn Episode. If these are by the author of theReturn, then doubt is thrown upon one of the alleged peculiarities of that author; we find the author of theReturnno more averseon the wholeto parentheses than the author or authors of the rest of the poem.

Peculiar usages of the moods and tenses are found twice in theReturn[275], and once again in the episode where Beowulfrecalls his youth[276]. Supposing this episode to be also the work of the author of theReturn, we get peculiar constructions used three times by this author, which cannot be paralleled elsewhere inBeowulf[277].

Now a large number of instances like this last might afford basis for argument; but they must be in bulk in order to prove anything. By the laws of chance we might expect, in any passage of three hundred lines, taken at random anywhere inBeowulf, to find something which occurred only in one other passage elsewhere in the poem. We cannot forthwith declare the two passages to be the work of an interpolator. One swallow does not make a summer.

And the arguments as to style are not helped by arguments as to matter. Even if it be granted—which I do not grant—that the long repetition narrating Beowulf's contest with Grendel and Grendel's mother is tedious, there is no reason why this tedious repetition should not as well be the work of the original poet as of a later reviser. Must we find many different authors forThe Ring and the Book? It must be granted that there are details (such as the mention of Grendel's glove) found in the Grendel struggle as narrated inBeowulf's Return, but not found in the original account of the struggle. Obviously the object is to avoid monotony, by introducing a new feature: but this might as well have been aimed at by the old poet retelling the tale as by a new poet retelling it.

To me, the fact that so careful and elaborate a study of the story ofBeowulf's Returnfails to betray any satisfactory evidence of separate authorship, is a confirmation of the verdict of "not proven" against the "dividers[278]." But there can be no doubt that Schücking's method, his attempt to prove differences in treatment, grammar, and style, is the right one. If any satisfactory results are to be attained, it must be in this way.

Section IV. Are the Christian elements incompatible with the rest of the poem?

Later students (like the man in Dante, placed between two equally enticing dishes) have been unable to decide in favour of either of the rival theories of Müllenhoff and ten Brink, and consequently the unity of the poem, which always had its champions, has of late years come to be maintained with increasing conviction and certainty.

Yet many recent critics have followed Müllenhoff so far at least as to believe that the Christian passages are inconsistent with what they regard as the "essentially heathen" tone of the rest of the poem, and are therefore the work of an interpolator[279].

Certainly no one can escape a feeling of incongruity, as he passes from ideas of which the home lies in the forests of ancient Germany, to others which come from the Holy Land. But that both sets of ideas could not have been cherished, in England, about the year 700, by one and the same poet, is an assumption which calls for examination.

As Christianity swept northward, situations were created which to the modern student are incongruous. But the Teutonic chief often had a larger mind than the modern student: he needed to have, if he was to get the best at the same time both from his wild fighting men and from his Latin clerks. It is this which gives so remarkable a character to the great men of the early centuries of converted Teutonism: men, like Theodoric the Great or Charles the Great, who could perform simultaneously the duties of a Germanic king and of a Roman Emperor: kings like Alfred the Great or St Olaf, who combined the character of the tough fighting chieftain with that of the saintly churchman. I love to think of these incongruities: to remember that the warrior Alfred, surrounded bythegnandgesith, listening to the "Saxon songs" which he loved, was yet the same Alfred who painfully translated Gregory'sPastoralCareunder the direction of foreign clerics. It is well to remember that Charles the Great, the catholic and the orthodox, collected ancient lays which his successors thought too heathen to be tolerated; or that St Olaf (who was so holy that, having absent mindedly chipped shavings off a stick on Sunday, he burnt them, as penance, on his open hand) nevertheless allowed to be sung before him, on the morning of his last fight, one of the most wild and utterly heathen of all the old songs—theBjarkamál.

It has been claimed that the account of the funeral rites of Beowulf is such as "no Christian poet could or would have composed[280]." Lately this argument has been stated more at length:

"In the long account of Beowulf's obsequies—beginning with the dying king's injunction to construct for him a lofty barrow on the edge of the cliff, and ending with the scene of the twelve princes riding round the barrow, proclaiming the dead man's exploits—we have the most detailed description of an early Teutonic funeral which has come down to us, and one of which the accuracy is confirmed in every point by archaeological or contemporary literary evidence[281]. Such an account must have been composed within living memory of a time when ceremonies of this kind were still actually in use[282]."

Owing to the standing of the scholar who urges it, this argument is coming to rank as a dogma[283], and needs therefore rather close examination.

Professor Chadwickmaybe right in urging that the custom of burning the dead had gone out of use in England even before Christianity was introduced[284]: anyhow it is certain that, wherever it survived, the practice was disapproved by ecclesiastics, and was, indeed, formally censured and suppressed by the church abroad.

The church equally censured and endeavoured to suppress the ancient "heathen lays"; but without equal success. Now, in many of these lays the heathen rites of cremation must certainly have been depicted, and, in this way, the memory of the old funeral customs must have been kept fresh, longafter the last funeral pyre had died out in England. Of course there were then, as there have been ever since, puritanical people who objected that heathen lays and heathen ways were no fit concern for a Christian man. But the protests of such purists are just the strongest evidence that the average Christian did continue to take an interest in these things. We have seen that the very monks of Lindisfarne had to be warned by Alcuin. I cannot see that there is any sucha prioriimpossibility that a poet, though a sincere Christian enough, would have described a funeral in the old style, modelling his account upon older lays, or upon tradition derived from those lays.

The church might disapprove of the practice of cremation, but we have no reason to suppose that mention of it was tabooed. And many of the old burial customs seem to have kept their hold, even upon the converted. Indeed, when the funeral of Attila is instanced as a type of the old heathen ceremony, it seems to be forgotten that those Gothic chieftains who rode their horses round the body of Attila were themselves probably Arian Christians, and that the historian who has preserved the account was an orthodox cleric.

Saxo Grammaticus, ecclesiastic as he was, has left us several accounts[285]of cremations. He mentions the "pyre built of ships" and differs from the poet ofBeowulfchiefly because he allows those frankly heathen references to gods and offerings which the poet ofBeowulfexcludes. Of course, Saxo was merely translating. One can quite believe that a Christian poet composing an account of a funeral in the old days, would have omitted the more frankly heathen features, as indeed theBeowulfpoet does. But Saxo shows us how far into Christian times the ancient funeral, in all its heathendom, was remembered; and how little compunction an ecclesiastic had in recording it. The assumption that no Christian poet would have composed the account of Beowulf's funeral or of Scyld's funeral ship, seems then to be quite unjustified.

The further question remains: Granting that hewould, could he? Is the account of Beowulf's funeral so true to old custom that it must have been composed by an eye-witness ofthe rite of cremation? Is its "accuracy confirmed in every point by archaeological or contemporary literary evidence"?

As to the archaeological evidence, the fact seems to be that the account is archaeologically so inexact that it has given great trouble to one eminent antiquary, Knut Stjerna. That the pyre should be hung with arms, which areburntwith the hero (ll. 3139-40), and that then a second supply of unburnt treasures should beburiedwith the cremated bones (ll. 3163-8), is regarded by Stjerna as extraordinary[286].

Surely, any such inexactitude is what we should expect in a late poet, drawing upon tradition. He would know that in heathen times bodies were burnt, and that weapons were buried; and he might well combine both. It is not necessary to suppose, as Stjerna does, that the poet has combined two separate accounts of Beowulf's funeral, given in older lays, in one of which the hero was burnt, and in the other buried. But the fact that an archaeological specialist finds the account of Beowulf's funeral so inexact that he has to assume a confused and composite source, surely disposes of the argument that it is so exact that it must date back to heathen times.

As to confirmation from literary documents, the only one instanced by Chadwick is the account of the funeral of Attila. The parallel here is by no means so close as has been asserted. The features of Attila's funeral are: the lying in state, during which the chosen horsemen of the nation rode round the body singing the dead king's praises; the funeral feast; and the burial (not burning) of the body. Now the only feature which recurs inBeowulfis the praise of the dead man by the mounted thanes. Even here there is an essential difference. Attila's men rode round the dead body of their lordbeforehis funeral. Beowulf's retainers ride and utter their lament around (not the body but) the grave mound of their lord, ten days after the cremation.

And this is perhaps no accidental discrepancy: it may well correspond to a real difference in practice between the Gothic custom of the time of the migrations and the Anglo-Saxonpractice as it prevailed in Christian times[287]. For many documents, including theDream of the Rood, tend to show that thesorhlēoð, the lament of the retainers for their dead lord, survived into Christian times, but as a ceremony which was subsequent not merely to the funeral, but even to the building of the tomb.

So that, here again, so far from the archaeological accuracy of the account of Beowulf's funeral being confirmed by the account of that of Attila, we find a discrepancy such as we might expect if a Christian poet, in later times, had tried to describe a funeral of the old heathen type.

Of course, the evidence is far too scanty to allow of much positive argument. Still,so far as it goes, and that is not far, it rather tends to show that the account of the funeral customs is not quite accurate, representing what later Christian times knew by tradition of the rite of cremation, rather than showing the observation of that rite by an eye-witness.

We must turn, then, to some other argument, if we wish to prove that the Christian element is inconsistent with other parts of the poem.

A second argument thatBeowulfmust belong either to heathen times, or to the very earliest Christian period in England, has been found in the character of the Christian allusions: they contain no "reference to Christ, to the Cross, to the Virgin or the Saints, to any doctrine of the church in regard to the Trinity, the Atonement,etc.[288]" "A pious Jew would have no difficulty in assenting to them all[289]." Hence it has been argued[290]that they are the work of an interpolator who, working upon a poem "essentially heathen," was not able to impose upon it more than this "vague and colourless Christianity." I cannot see this. If passages had to be rewritten at all, it was just as easy to rewrite them in a tone emphatically Christian as in a tone mildly so. The difficulties which the interpolator would meet in removing a heathen phrase, and composing a Christian half-line in substitution, would be metrical, rather than theological. For example, in a secondhalf-line the interpolator could have writtenond hālig Cristorylda nergendjust as easily asond hālig god, orylda waldend: he could have put in an allusion to the Trinity or to the Cross as easily as to the Lord of Hosts or the King of Glory. It would depend upon the alliteration which was the more convenient. And surely, if he was a monk deliberately sitting down to turn a heathen into a Christian poem, he would, of two alternatives, have favoured the more dogmatically Christian.

The vagueness which is so characteristic of the Christian references inBeowulfcan then hardly be due to the poem having originally been a heathen one, worked over by a Christian.

Others have seen in this vagueness a proof "that the minstrels who introduced the Christian element had but a vague knowledge of the new faith[291]": or that the poem was the work of "a man who, without having, or wanting to have, much definite instruction, had become Christian because the Court had newly become Christian[292]." But, vague as it is, does the Christianity ofBeowulfjustify such a judgment as this? Do not the characters of Hrothgar or of Beowulf, of Hygd or of Wealhtheow, show a Christian influence which, however little dogmatic, is anything but superficial? This is a matter where individual feeling rather than argument must weigh: but theBeowulfdoes not seem to me the work of a man whose adherence to Christianity is merely nominal[293].

And, so far as the absence of dogma goes, it seems to have been overlooked that the Christian references in theBattle of Maldon, written when England had been Christian for over three centuries, are precisely of the same vague character as those inBeowulf.

Surely the explanation is that to a devout, but nottheologically-minded poet, writing battle poetry, references to God as the Lord of Hosts or the Giver of Victory came naturally—references to the Trinity or the Atonement did not. This seems quite a sufficient explanation; though it may be that inBeowulfthe poet has consciously avoided dogmatic references, because he realized that the characters in his story were not Christians[294]. That, at the same time, he allows those characters with whom he sympathizes to speak in a Christian spirit is only what we should expect. Just so Chaucer allows his pagans—Theseus for instance—to use Christian expressions about God or the soul, whilst avoiding anything strikingly doctrinal.

Finally I cannot admit that the Christian passages are "poetically of no value[295]." The description of Grendel nearing Heorot is good:

Ðā cōm of mōre under mist-hleoþumGrendel gongan—

Ðā cōm of mōre under mist-hleoþum

Grendel gongan—

but it is heightened when the poet adds:

Godes yrre bær.

Yet here again it is impossible to argue: it is a matter of individual feeling.

When, however, we come to the further statement of Dr Bradley, that the Christian passages are not only interpolations poetically worthless, but "may be of any date down to that of the extantMS" (i.e. about the year 1000A.D.), we have reached ground where argumentispossible, and where definite results can be attained. For Dr Bradley, at the same time that he makes this statement about the character of the Christian passages, also quotes the archaic syntax ofBeowulfas proving an early date[296].But this archaic syntax is just as prominent a feature of the Christian passages as of any other parts of the poem.If these Christian passages are really the work of a "monkish copyist, whose piety exceeded his poetic powers[297]," how do they come to show an antique syntax and a strict technique surpassing those of Cynewulf or theDreamof the Rood? Why do they not betray their origin by metrical inaccuracies such as we find in poems undoubtedly interpolated, likeWidsithor theSeafarer?

Dr Bradley is "our chief English seer in these matters," as Dr Furnivall said long ago; and it is only with the greatest circumspection that one should differ from any of his conclusions. Nevertheless, I feel that, before we can regard any portion ofBeowulfas later than the rest, discrepancies need to be demonstrated.

Until such discrepancies between the different parts ofBeowulfcan be demonstrated, we are justified in regarding the poem as homogeneous: as a production of the Germanic world enlightened by the new faith. Whether through external violence or internal decay, this world was fated to rapid change, and perished with its promise unfulfilled. The great merit ofBeowulfas a historic document is that it shows us a picture of a period in which the virtues of the heathen "Heroic Age" were tempered by the gentleness of the new belief; an age warlike, yet Christian: devout, yet tolerant.

A. The early Kings of the Danes according to Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo, Book I, ed. Ascensius, fol. iii b; ed. Holder, p. 10, l. 25.

Uerum a Dan, ut fert antiquitas, regum nostrorum stemmata, ceu quodam deriuata principio, splendido successionis ordine profluxerunt. Huic filii Humblus et Lotherus fuere, ex Grytha, summæ inter Teutones dignitatis matrona, suscepti.Lecturi regem ueteres affixis humo saxis insistere, suffragiaque promere consueuerant, subiectorum lapidum firmitate facti constantiam ominaturi. Quo ritu Humblus, decedente patre, nouo patriæ beneficio rex creatus, sequentis fortunæ malignitate, ex rege priuatus euasit. Bello siquidem a Lothero captus, regni depositione spiritum mercatus est; hæc sola quippe uicto salutis conditio reddebatur. Ita fraternis iniuriis imperium abdicare coactus, documentum hominibus præbuit, ut plus splendoris, ita minus securitatis, aulis quam tuguriis inesse. Ceterum iniuriæ tam patiens fuit, ut honoris damno tanquam beneficio gratulari crederetur, sagaciter, ut puto, regiæ conditionis habitum contemplatus. Sed nec Lotherus tolerabiliorem regem quam militem egit, ut prorsus insolentia ac scelere regnum auspicari uideretur; siquidem illustrissimum quemque uita aut opibus spoliare, patriamque bonis ciuibus uacuefacere probitatis loco duxit, regni æmulos ratus, quos nobilitate pares habuerat. Nec diu scelerum impunitus, patriæ consternatione perimitur; eadem spiritum eripiente, quæ regnum largita fuerat.Cuius filius Skyoldus naturam ab ipso, non mores sortitus, per summam tenerioris ætatis industriam cuncta paternæ contagionis uestigia ingeniti erroris deuio præteribat. Igitur ut a paternis uitiis prudenter desciuit, ita auitis uirtutibus feliciter respondit, remotiorem pariter ac præstantiorem hereditarii moris portionem amplexus. Huius adolescentia inter paternos uenatores immanis beluæ subactione insignis extitit, mirandoque rei euentu futuræ eius fortitudinis habitum ominata est. Nam cum a tutoribus forte, quorum summo studio educabatur, inspectandæ uenationis licentiam impetrasset, obuium sibi insolitæ granditatis ursum, telo uacuus, cingulo, cuius usum habebat, religandum curauit, necandumque comitibus præbuit. Sed et complures spectatæ fortitudinis pugiles per idem tempus uiritim ab eo superati produntur, e quibus Attalus et Scatus clari illustresque fuere. Quindecim annos natus, inusitato corporis incremento perfectissimum humani roboris specimen præferebat, tantaque indolis eius experimenta fuere, ut ab ipso ceteri Danorum reges communi quodam uocabulo Skioldungi nuncuparentur....

Lecturi regem ueteres affixis humo saxis insistere, suffragiaque promere consueuerant, subiectorum lapidum firmitate facti constantiam ominaturi. Quo ritu Humblus, decedente patre, nouo patriæ beneficio rex creatus, sequentis fortunæ malignitate, ex rege priuatus euasit. Bello siquidem a Lothero captus, regni depositione spiritum mercatus est; hæc sola quippe uicto salutis conditio reddebatur. Ita fraternis iniuriis imperium abdicare coactus, documentum hominibus præbuit, ut plus splendoris, ita minus securitatis, aulis quam tuguriis inesse. Ceterum iniuriæ tam patiens fuit, ut honoris damno tanquam beneficio gratulari crederetur, sagaciter, ut puto, regiæ conditionis habitum contemplatus. Sed nec Lotherus tolerabiliorem regem quam militem egit, ut prorsus insolentia ac scelere regnum auspicari uideretur; siquidem illustrissimum quemque uita aut opibus spoliare, patriamque bonis ciuibus uacuefacere probitatis loco duxit, regni æmulos ratus, quos nobilitate pares habuerat. Nec diu scelerum impunitus, patriæ consternatione perimitur; eadem spiritum eripiente, quæ regnum largita fuerat.

Cuius filius Skyoldus naturam ab ipso, non mores sortitus, per summam tenerioris ætatis industriam cuncta paternæ contagionis uestigia ingeniti erroris deuio præteribat. Igitur ut a paternis uitiis prudenter desciuit, ita auitis uirtutibus feliciter respondit, remotiorem pariter ac præstantiorem hereditarii moris portionem amplexus. Huius adolescentia inter paternos uenatores immanis beluæ subactione insignis extitit, mirandoque rei euentu futuræ eius fortitudinis habitum ominata est. Nam cum a tutoribus forte, quorum summo studio educabatur, inspectandæ uenationis licentiam impetrasset, obuium sibi insolitæ granditatis ursum, telo uacuus, cingulo, cuius usum habebat, religandum curauit, necandumque comitibus præbuit. Sed et complures spectatæ fortitudinis pugiles per idem tempus uiritim ab eo superati produntur, e quibus Attalus et Scatus clari illustresque fuere. Quindecim annos natus, inusitato corporis incremento perfectissimum humani roboris specimen præferebat, tantaque indolis eius experimenta fuere, ut ab ipso ceteri Danorum reges communi quodam uocabulo Skioldungi nuncuparentur....

Saxo then relates the adventures of Gram, Hadingus and Frotho, whom he represents as respectively son, grandson and great-grandson of Skioldus. That Gram and Hadingus are interpolated in the family is shewn by the fact that the pedigree of Sweyn Aageson passes direct from Skiold to his son Frothi.

Saxo, Book II, ed. Ascensius, fol. xi b; ed. Holder, p. 38, l. 4.

Hadingo filius Frotho succedit, cuius uarii insignesque casus fuere. Pubertatis annos emensus, iuuenilium præferebat complementa uirtutum, quas ne desidiæ corrumpendas præberet, abstractum uoluptatibus animum assidua armorum intentione torquebat. Qui cum, paterno thesauro bellicis operibus absumpto, stipendiorum facultatem, qua militem aleret, non haberet, attentiusque necessarii usus subsidia circunspiceret, tali subeuntis indigenæ carmine concitatur:Insula non longe est præmollibus edita cliuis,Collibus æra tegens et opimæ conscia prædæ.Hic tenet eximium, montis possessor, aceruumImplicitus giris serpens crebrisque reflexusOrbibus, et caudæ sinuosa uolumina ducens,Multiplicesque agitans spiras, uirusque profundens.Quem superare uolens clypeo, quo conuenit uti,Taurinas intende cutes, corpusque bouinisTergoribus tegito, nec amaro nuda uenenoMembra patere sinas; sanies, quod conspuit, urit.Lingua trisulca micans patulo licet ore resultet,Tristiaque horrifico minitetur uulnera rictu,Intrepidum mentis habitum retinere memento.Nec te permoueat spinosi dentis acumen,Nec rigor, aut rapida iactatum fauce uenenum.Tela licet temnat uis squamea, uentre sub imoEsse locum scito, quo ferrum mergere fas est;Hunc mucrone petens medium rimaberis anguem.Hinc montem securus adi, pressoque ligonePerfossos scrutare cauos; mox ære crumenasImbue, completamque reduc ad littora puppim.Credulus Frotho solitarius in insulam traiicit: ne comitatior beluam adoriretur, quam athletas aggredi moris fuerat. Quæ cum aquis pota specum repeteret, impactum Frothonis ferrum aspero cutis horrore contempsit. Sed et spicula, quæ in eam coniecta fuerant, eluso mittentis conatu læsionis irrita resultabant. At ubi nil tergi duritia cessit, uentris curiosius annotati mollities ferro patuit. Quæ se morsu ulcisci cupiens, clypeo duntaxat spinosum oris acumen impegit. Crebris deinde linguam micatibus ducens, uitam pariter ac uirus efflauit.Repertæ pecuniæ regem locupletem fecere....

Insula non longe est præmollibus edita cliuis,Collibus æra tegens et opimæ conscia prædæ.Hic tenet eximium, montis possessor, aceruumImplicitus giris serpens crebrisque reflexusOrbibus, et caudæ sinuosa uolumina ducens,Multiplicesque agitans spiras, uirusque profundens.Quem superare uolens clypeo, quo conuenit uti,Taurinas intende cutes, corpusque bouinisTergoribus tegito, nec amaro nuda uenenoMembra patere sinas; sanies, quod conspuit, urit.Lingua trisulca micans patulo licet ore resultet,Tristiaque horrifico minitetur uulnera rictu,Intrepidum mentis habitum retinere memento.Nec te permoueat spinosi dentis acumen,Nec rigor, aut rapida iactatum fauce uenenum.Tela licet temnat uis squamea, uentre sub imoEsse locum scito, quo ferrum mergere fas est;Hunc mucrone petens medium rimaberis anguem.Hinc montem securus adi, pressoque ligonePerfossos scrutare cauos; mox ære crumenasImbue, completamque reduc ad littora puppim.

Insula non longe est præmollibus edita cliuis,

Collibus æra tegens et opimæ conscia prædæ.

Hic tenet eximium, montis possessor, aceruum

Implicitus giris serpens crebrisque reflexus

Orbibus, et caudæ sinuosa uolumina ducens,

Multiplicesque agitans spiras, uirusque profundens.

Quem superare uolens clypeo, quo conuenit uti,

Taurinas intende cutes, corpusque bouinis

Tergoribus tegito, nec amaro nuda ueneno

Membra patere sinas; sanies, quod conspuit, urit.

Lingua trisulca micans patulo licet ore resultet,

Tristiaque horrifico minitetur uulnera rictu,

Intrepidum mentis habitum retinere memento.

Nec te permoueat spinosi dentis acumen,

Nec rigor, aut rapida iactatum fauce uenenum.

Tela licet temnat uis squamea, uentre sub imo

Esse locum scito, quo ferrum mergere fas est;

Hunc mucrone petens medium rimaberis anguem.

Hinc montem securus adi, pressoque ligone

Perfossos scrutare cauos; mox ære crumenas

Imbue, completamque reduc ad littora puppim.

Credulus Frotho solitarius in insulam traiicit: ne comitatior beluam adoriretur, quam athletas aggredi moris fuerat. Quæ cum aquis pota specum repeteret, impactum Frothonis ferrum aspero cutis horrore contempsit. Sed et spicula, quæ in eam coniecta fuerant, eluso mittentis conatu læsionis irrita resultabant. At ubi nil tergi duritia cessit, uentris curiosius annotati mollities ferro patuit. Quæ se morsu ulcisci cupiens, clypeo duntaxat spinosum oris acumen impegit. Crebris deinde linguam micatibus ducens, uitam pariter ac uirus efflauit.

Repertæ pecuniæ regem locupletem fecere....

Saxo, Book II, ed. Ascensius, fol. xv b; ed. Holder, p. 51, l. 4.

His, uirtute paribus, æqua regnandi incessit auiditas. Imperii cuique cura extitit; fraternus nullum respectus astrinxit. Quem enim nimia sui caritas ceperit, aliena deserit: nee sibi quisquam ambitiose atque aliis amice consulere potest. Horum maximus Haldanus, Roe et Scato fratribus interfectis, naturam scelere polluit: regnum parricidio carpsit. Et ne ullum crudelitatis exemplum omitteret, comprehensos eorum fautores priusuinculorum pœna coercuit, mox suspendio consumpsit. Cuius ex eo maxime fortuna ammirabilis fuit, quod, licet omnia temporum momenta ad exercenda atrocitatis officia contulisset, senectute uitam, non ferro, finierit.Huius filii Roe et Helgo fuere. A Roe Roskildia condita memoratur: quam postmodum Sueno, furcatæ barbæ cognomento clarus, ciuibus auxit, amplitudine propagauit. Hic breui angustoque corpore fuit: Helgonem habitus procerior cepit. Qui, diuiso cum fratre regno, maris possessionem sortitus, regem Sclauiæ Scalcum maritimis copiis lacessitum oppressit. Quam cum in prouinciam redegisset, uarios pelagi recessus uago nauigationis genere perlustrabat.

Huius filii Roe et Helgo fuere. A Roe Roskildia condita memoratur: quam postmodum Sueno, furcatæ barbæ cognomento clarus, ciuibus auxit, amplitudine propagauit. Hic breui angustoque corpore fuit: Helgonem habitus procerior cepit. Qui, diuiso cum fratre regno, maris possessionem sortitus, regem Sclauiæ Scalcum maritimis copiis lacessitum oppressit. Quam cum in prouinciam redegisset, uarios pelagi recessus uago nauigationis genere perlustrabat.

Saxo, Book II, ed. Ascensius, fol. xvi a; ed. Holder, p. 53, l. 16.

Huic filius Roluo succedit, uir corporis animique dotibus uenustus, qui staturæ magnitudinem pari uirtutis habitu commendaret.

Ibid., ed. Ascensius, fol. xvii a; ed. Holder, p. 55, l. 40.

Per idem tempus Agnerus quidam, Ingelli films, sororem Roluonis, Rutam nomine, matrimonio ducturus, ingenti conuiuio nuptias instruit. In quo cum pugiles, omni petulantiæ genere debacchantes, in Ialtonem quendam nodosa passim ossa coniicerent, accidit, ut eius consessor, Biarco nomine, iacientis errore uehementem capite ictum exciperet. Qui dolore pariter ac ludibrio lacessitus, osse inuicem in iacientem remisso, frontem eius in occuput reflexit, idemque loco frontis intorsit, transuersum hominis animum uultus obliquitate mulctando. Ea res contumeliosam ioci insolentiam temperauit, pugilesque regia abire coegit. Qua conuiuii iniuria permotus, sponsus ferro cum Biarcone decernere statuit, uiolatæ hilaritatis ultionem duelii nomine quæsiturus. In cuius ingressu, utri prior feriendi copia deberetur diutule certatum est. Non enim antiquitus in edendis agonibus crebræ ictuum uicissitudines petebantur: sed erat cum interuallo temporis etiam feriendi distincta successio; rarisque sed atrocibus plagis certamina gerebantur, ut gloria potius percussionum magnitudini, quam numero deferretur. Prælato ob generis dignitatem Agnero, tanta ui ictum ab eo editumconstat, ut, prima cassidis parte conscissa, supremam capitis cuticulam uulneraret, ferrumque mediis galeæ interclusum foraminibus dimitteret. Tunc Biarco mutuo percussurus, quo plenius ferrum libraret, pedem trunco annixus, medium Agneri corpus præstantis acuminis mucrone transegit. Sunt qui asserant, morientem Agnerum soluto in risum ore per summam doloris dissimulationem spiritum reddidisse. Cuius ultionem pugiles auidius expetentes, simili per Biarconem exitio mulctati sunt. Utebatur quippe præstantis acuminis inusitatæque longitudinis gladio, quem Løui uocabat. Talibus operum meritis exultanti nouam de se siluestris fera uictoriam præbuit. Ursum quippe eximiæ magnitudinis obuium sibi inter dumeta factum iaculo confecit: comitemque suum Ialtonem, quo uiribus maior euaderet, applicato ore egestum belluæ cruorem haurire iussit. Creditum namque erat, hoc potionis genere corporei roboris incrementa præstari. His facinorum uirtutibus clarissimas optimatum familiaritates adeptus, etiam regi percarus euasit; sororem eius Rutam uxorem asciuit, uictique sponsam uictoriæ præmium habuit. Ab Atislo lacessiti Roluonis ultionem armis exegit, eumque uictum hello prostrauit. Tunc Roluo magni acuminis iuuenem Hiarthwarum nomine, sorore Sculda sibi in matrimonium data, annuoque uectigali imposito, Suetiæ præfectum constituit, libertatis iacturam affinitatis beneficio leniturus.Hoc loci quiddam memoratu iucundum operi inseratur. Adolescens quidam Wiggo nomine, corpoream Roluonis magnitudinem attentiori contemplatione scrutatus, ingentique eiusdem admiratione captus, percontari per ludibrium cœpit, quisnam esset iste Krage, quem tanto staturæ fastigio prodiga rerum natura ditasset; faceto cauillationis genere inusitatum proceritatis habitum prosecutus. Dicitur enim lingua Danica 'krage' truncus, cuius semicæsis ramis fastigia conscenduntur, ita ut pes, præcisorum stipitum obsequio perinde ac scalæ beneficio nixus, sensimque ad superiora prouectus, petitæ celsitudinis compendium assequatur. Quern uocis iactum Roluo perinde ac inclytum sibi cognomen amplexus, urbanitatem dicti ingentis armillæ dono prosequitur. Qua Wiggo dexteram excultam extollens, læua per pudoris simulationem post tergumreflexa, ridiculum corporis incessum præbuit, præfatus, exiguo lætari munere, quem sors diutinæ tenuisset inopiæ. Rogatus, cur ita se gereret, inopem ornamenti manum nulloque cultus beneficio gloriantem ad aspectum reliquæ uerecundo paupertatis rubore perfundi dicebat. Cuius dicti calliditate consentaneum priori munus obtinuit. Siquidem Roluo manum, quæ ab ipso occultabatur, exemplo reliquæ in medium accersendam curauit. Nec Wiggoni rependendi beneficii cura defuit. Siquidem arctissima uoti nuncupatione pollicitus est, si Roluonem ferro perire contingeret, ultionem se ab eius interfectoribus exacturum. Nec prætereundum, quod olim ingressuri curiam proceres famulatus sui principia alicuius magnæ rei uoto principibus obligare solebant, uirtute tirocinium auspicantes.Interea Sculda, tributariæ solutionis pudore permota, diris animum commentis applicans, maritum, exprobrata condicionis deformitate, propulsandæ seruitutis monitu concitatum atque ad insidias Roluoni nectendas perductum atrocissimis nouarum rerum consiliis imbuit, plus unumquenque libertati quam necessitudini debere testata. Igitur crebras armorum massas, diuersi generis tegminibus obuolutas, tributi more per Hiarthwarum in Daniam perferri iubet, occidendi noctu regis materiam præbituras. Refertis itaque falsa uectigalium mole nauigiis, Lethram pergitur, quod oppidum, a Roluone constructum eximiisque regni opibus illustratum, ceteris confinium prouinciarum urbibus regiæ fundationis et sedis auctoritate præstabat. Rex aduentum Hiarthwari conuiualis impensæ deliciis prosecutus ingenti se potione proluerat, hospitibus præter morem ebrietatis intemperantiam formidantibus. Ceteris igitur altiorem carpentibus somnum, Sueones, quibus scelesti libido propositi communem quietis usum ademerat, cubiculis furtim delabi cœpere. Aperitur ilico telorum occlusa congeries, et sua sibi quisque tacitus arma connectit. Deinde regiam petunt, irruptisque penetralibus in dormientium corpora ferrum destringunt. Experrecti complures, quibus non minus subitæ cladis horror quam somni stupor incesserat, dubio nisu discrimini restitere, socii an hostes occurrerent, noctis errore incertum reddente. Eiusdem forte silentio noctis Hialto, quiinter regios proceres spectatæ probitatis merito præeminebat, rus egressus, scorti se complexibus dederat. Hic cum obortum pugnæ fragorem stupida procul aure sensisset, fortitudinem luxuriæ prætulit, maluitque funestum Martis discrimen appetere, quam blandis Veneris illecebris indulgere. Quanta hunc militem regis caritate flagrasse putemus, qui, cum ignorantiæ simulatione excusationem absentiæ præstare posset, salutem suam manifesto periculo obicere, quam uoluptati seruare satius existimauit? Discedentem pellex percunctari cœpit, si ipso careat, cuius ætatis uiro nubere debeat. Quam Hialto, perinde ac secretius allocuturus, propius accedere iussam, indignatus amoris sibi successorem requiri, præciso naso deformem reddidit, erubescendoque uulnere libidinosæ percunctationis dictum mulctauit, mentis lasciuiam oris iactura temperandam existimans. Quo facto, liberum quæsitæ rei iudicium a se ei relinqui dixit. Post hæc, repetito ocius oppido, confertissimis se globis immergit, aduersasque acies mutua uulnerum inflictione prosternit. Cumque dormientis adhuc Biarconis cubiculum præteriret, expergisci iussum, tali uoce compellat:

Hoc loci quiddam memoratu iucundum operi inseratur. Adolescens quidam Wiggo nomine, corpoream Roluonis magnitudinem attentiori contemplatione scrutatus, ingentique eiusdem admiratione captus, percontari per ludibrium cœpit, quisnam esset iste Krage, quem tanto staturæ fastigio prodiga rerum natura ditasset; faceto cauillationis genere inusitatum proceritatis habitum prosecutus. Dicitur enim lingua Danica 'krage' truncus, cuius semicæsis ramis fastigia conscenduntur, ita ut pes, præcisorum stipitum obsequio perinde ac scalæ beneficio nixus, sensimque ad superiora prouectus, petitæ celsitudinis compendium assequatur. Quern uocis iactum Roluo perinde ac inclytum sibi cognomen amplexus, urbanitatem dicti ingentis armillæ dono prosequitur. Qua Wiggo dexteram excultam extollens, læua per pudoris simulationem post tergumreflexa, ridiculum corporis incessum præbuit, præfatus, exiguo lætari munere, quem sors diutinæ tenuisset inopiæ. Rogatus, cur ita se gereret, inopem ornamenti manum nulloque cultus beneficio gloriantem ad aspectum reliquæ uerecundo paupertatis rubore perfundi dicebat. Cuius dicti calliditate consentaneum priori munus obtinuit. Siquidem Roluo manum, quæ ab ipso occultabatur, exemplo reliquæ in medium accersendam curauit. Nec Wiggoni rependendi beneficii cura defuit. Siquidem arctissima uoti nuncupatione pollicitus est, si Roluonem ferro perire contingeret, ultionem se ab eius interfectoribus exacturum. Nec prætereundum, quod olim ingressuri curiam proceres famulatus sui principia alicuius magnæ rei uoto principibus obligare solebant, uirtute tirocinium auspicantes.

Interea Sculda, tributariæ solutionis pudore permota, diris animum commentis applicans, maritum, exprobrata condicionis deformitate, propulsandæ seruitutis monitu concitatum atque ad insidias Roluoni nectendas perductum atrocissimis nouarum rerum consiliis imbuit, plus unumquenque libertati quam necessitudini debere testata. Igitur crebras armorum massas, diuersi generis tegminibus obuolutas, tributi more per Hiarthwarum in Daniam perferri iubet, occidendi noctu regis materiam præbituras. Refertis itaque falsa uectigalium mole nauigiis, Lethram pergitur, quod oppidum, a Roluone constructum eximiisque regni opibus illustratum, ceteris confinium prouinciarum urbibus regiæ fundationis et sedis auctoritate præstabat. Rex aduentum Hiarthwari conuiualis impensæ deliciis prosecutus ingenti se potione proluerat, hospitibus præter morem ebrietatis intemperantiam formidantibus. Ceteris igitur altiorem carpentibus somnum, Sueones, quibus scelesti libido propositi communem quietis usum ademerat, cubiculis furtim delabi cœpere. Aperitur ilico telorum occlusa congeries, et sua sibi quisque tacitus arma connectit. Deinde regiam petunt, irruptisque penetralibus in dormientium corpora ferrum destringunt. Experrecti complures, quibus non minus subitæ cladis horror quam somni stupor incesserat, dubio nisu discrimini restitere, socii an hostes occurrerent, noctis errore incertum reddente. Eiusdem forte silentio noctis Hialto, quiinter regios proceres spectatæ probitatis merito præeminebat, rus egressus, scorti se complexibus dederat. Hic cum obortum pugnæ fragorem stupida procul aure sensisset, fortitudinem luxuriæ prætulit, maluitque funestum Martis discrimen appetere, quam blandis Veneris illecebris indulgere. Quanta hunc militem regis caritate flagrasse putemus, qui, cum ignorantiæ simulatione excusationem absentiæ præstare posset, salutem suam manifesto periculo obicere, quam uoluptati seruare satius existimauit? Discedentem pellex percunctari cœpit, si ipso careat, cuius ætatis uiro nubere debeat. Quam Hialto, perinde ac secretius allocuturus, propius accedere iussam, indignatus amoris sibi successorem requiri, præciso naso deformem reddidit, erubescendoque uulnere libidinosæ percunctationis dictum mulctauit, mentis lasciuiam oris iactura temperandam existimans. Quo facto, liberum quæsitæ rei iudicium a se ei relinqui dixit. Post hæc, repetito ocius oppido, confertissimis se globis immergit, aduersasque acies mutua uulnerum inflictione prosternit. Cumque dormientis adhuc Biarconis cubiculum præteriret, expergisci iussum, tali uoce compellat:

Saxo's translation of theBjarkamálfollows. The part which concerns students ofBeowulfmost is the account of how Roluo deposed and slew Røricus.

Saxo, Book II, ed. Ascensius, fol. xix a; ed. Holder, p. 62, l. 1.

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