to the better breed! So, borne aloft,
thy fame must fly, O friend my Beowulf,
1705far and wide o’er folksteads many. Firmly thou shalt all maintain,[1]
mighty strength with mood of wisdom. Love of mine will I assure thee,
as, awhile ago, I promised; thou shalt prove a stay in future,
in far-off years, to folk of thine,
to the heroes a help. Was not Heremod[2] thus
1710to offspring of Ecgwela, Honor-Scyldings,
nor grew for their grace, but for grisly slaughter,
for doom of death to the Danishmen.
He slew, wrath-swollen, his shoulder-comrades,
companions at board! So he passed alone,
1715chieftain haughty, from human cheer.
Though him the Maker with might endowed,
delights of power, and uplifted high
above all men, yet blood-fierce his mind,
his breast-hoard, grew; no bracelets gave he
1720to Danes as was due; he endured all joyless
strain of struggle and stress of woe,
long feud with his folk. Here find thy lesson!
Of virtue advise thee! This verse[3] I have said for thee,
wise from lapsed winters. Wondrous seems
- ↑ The three verses are hypermetric in the original.
- ↑ The antitype again: see above, v. 901. Heremod is of Hrothgar’s own kingdom; of Ecgwela, a Danish ancestor also, nothing is known.
- ↑ Poetry was a wide word of old, and gid—i.e. “verse” or “poem”—was also used to indicate the oral communication of wisdom (once always in rimed saws, proverbs, and the like) and philosophy.
