Have now and hold this house unpeered;
remember thy glory; thy might declare;
660watch for the foe! No wish shall fail thee
if thou bidest the battle with bold-won life.”
X
Then Hrothgar went with his hero-train,
defence-of-Scyldings, forth from hall;
fain would the war-lord Wealhtheow seek,
665couch of his queen. The King-of-Glory
against this Grendel a guard had set,
so heroes heard, a hall-defender,
who warded the monarch and watched for the monster.
In truth, the Geats’ prince gladly trusted
670his mettle, his might, the mercy of God![1]
Cast off then his corselet of iron,
helmet from head; to his henchman gave, —
choicest of weapons, — the well-chased sword,
bidding him guard the gear of battle.
675Spake then his Vaunt[2] the valiant man,
Beowulf Geat, ere the bed he sought:—
“Of force in fight no feebler I count me,
in grim war-deeds, than Grendel deems him.
Not with the sword, then, to sleep of death
680his life will I give, though it lie in my power.
- ↑ See above, vv. 572 f.
- ↑ This Vaunt, or Boast, spoken to the hero’s few comrades on the eve of the vigil and fight, is different from the Vaunt at the banquet, and in its sentimental turn has some distant resemblance to the later “Good-Nights,” particularly the type of Lord Maxwell’s Last Good-Night.
