Page:Beowulf (Wyatt).djvu/159

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

BEOWULF.

135

oð þæt hē ðā bān-hūs gebrocen hæfde,
hāt on hreðre. Higum unrōte
mōd-ceare mǣndon mon-dryhtnes cw[e]alm;^[1]
3150swylce gīomor gyd ^[2]*[sīo gēo-]mēowle^[3]Fol. 198b.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . [b]unden heorde
. . . sorg-cearig sǣlSe geneahhe,
þæt hīo hyre : : : : : : : gas hearde : : : : : de^[4]
wæl-fylla wonn : : : : des egesan
3155hyðo : h : : : : : d. Heofon rēce swe[a]lg.^[5]

↑ 3149. MS. torn at foot.
↑ 3150. “Almost all that is legible in this page freshened up in a late hand.”—Z.
↑ 3150—5, I have treated these six mutilated lines in the same way as ll. 2214—20, that is to say, the text is an accurate reproduction of Zupitza’s transliteration of the MS. The only changes are the division into verse-lines, and the addition of length-marks, etc.; the letters in square brackets also are added from Zupitza’s foot-notes. For the most part it is needless to give the foot-notes themselves. The division into lines is not absolutely certain, but again I agree with Bugge, and again I arrived at the same conclusion as he quite independently—that this passage contains six verse-lines and not seven, as in Heyne, Wülcker, etc. For example, Heyne makes two half-lines between egesan and heofon, where, according to Zupitza, there is room in the MS. for only twelve letters. Similarly, Wülcker makes a whole line between wonn and hyðo. Since the rearrangement and renumbering in the text are confirmed by the alliteration and by Bugge’s restoration below, they may be considered proven. This makes the total number of lines in the poem one less—3182 (Wülcker 3183, Heyne 3184).
With respect to ‘geo-meowle’ Zupitza says: “This reading is confirmed by the word written over meowle, which is neither con nor on, but, without any doubt, (the Latin) auns.”
↑ 3153. “The first two letters after hearde look like on or an, the letter before de may have been e, as the stroke that generally connects e with a following letter is preserved.”—Z.
↑ 3155. Bugge’s reconstruction of this passage (see “Beit.” x. 110—11) is, apart from the last half-line, hardly to be improved upon:
3150swylce gīomor-gyd sīo gēo-mēowle

[1] 3149. MS. torn at foot.

[2] 3150. “Almost all that is legible in this page freshened up in a late hand.”—Z.

[3] 3150—5, I have treated these six mutilated lines in the same way as ll. 2214—20, that is to say, the text is an accurate reproduction of Zupitza’s transliteration of the MS. The only changes are the division into verse-lines, and the addition of length-marks, etc.; the letters in square brackets also are added from Zupitza’s foot-notes. For the most part it is needless to give the foot-notes themselves. The division into lines is not absolutely certain, but again I agree with Bugge, and again I arrived at the same conclusion as he quite independently—that this passage contains six verse-lines and not seven, as in Heyne, Wülcker, etc. For example, Heyne makes two half-lines between egesan and heofon, where, according to Zupitza, there is room in the MS. for only twelve letters. Similarly, Wülcker makes a whole line between wonn and hyðo. Since the rearrangement and renumbering in the text are confirmed by the alliteration and by Bugge’s restoration below, they may be considered proven. This makes the total number of lines in the poem one less—3182 (Wülcker 3183, Heyne 3184).
With respect to ‘geo-meowle’ Zupitza says: “This reading is confirmed by the word written over meowle, which is neither con nor on, but, without any doubt, (the Latin) auns.”

[4] 3153. “The first two letters after hearde look like on or an, the letter before de may have been e, as the stroke that generally connects e with a following letter is preserved.”—Z.

[l3155-5] 3155. Bugge’s reconstruction of this passage (see “Beit.” x. 110—11) is, apart from the last half-line, hardly to be improved upon:
3150swylce gīomor-gyd sīo gēo-mēowle

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]