76
THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC
1190young men together: the Geat, too, sat there,
Beowulf brave, the brothers between.
XVIII
A cup she gave him, with kindly greeting
and winsome words. Of wounden gold,
she offered, to honor him, arm-jewels twain,
1195corselet and rings, and of collars the noblest
that ever I knew the earth around.
Ne’er heard I so mighty, ’neath heaven’s dome,
a hoard-gem of heroes, since Hama bore
to his bright-built burg the Brisings’ necklace,[1]
1200jewel and gem casket.—Jealousy fled he,
Eormenric’s hate: chose help eternal.[2]
Hygelac Geat,[3] grandson of Swerting,
on the last of his raids this ring bore with him,
under his banner the booty defending,
1205the war-spoil warding; but Wyrd o’er whelmed him
what time, in his daring, dangers he sought,
- ↑ Legend and myth are interwoven in this allusion, but the Brisings’ (Brosings’ in our Ms.) necklace by this time had probably sunk to a sort of celestial standard of value in jewelry, a traditional phrase, and the myth—preserved in part by Scandinavian stories—of the wonderful ornament of the goddess Freyja had quite lost its vitality in epic verse. For Eormanric, see the allusion in Deor’s Song, below. Hama is Heime in the Germanic legend.
- ↑ Usually this means that “he died”; but Bugge, translating “he went into God’s refuge,” and relying on a late form of the legend, thinks we are to understand that Hama retired from the world into a monastery.
- ↑ The poet now tells the fate of this gift of Wealhtheow. Beowulf gives it to his lord Hygelac, who wears it on his fated raid into Frisian lands,—the historical event which took place between 512 and 520 A.D. Theudebert, grandson of Clovis the Frankish king, surprised and slew Hygelac, captured his fleet and the booty, and took many prisoners.—See also vv. 2355, 2914.
