The Oldest English Epic/Chapter 1/Beowulf 43

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The Oldest English Epic
by unknown author, translated by Francis Barton Gummere

Beoulf: XLIII

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1325047The Oldest English Epic — Beoulf: XLIIIFrancis Barton Gummereunknown author

XLIII

Then^[1] fashioned for him the folk of Geats
firm on the earth a funeral-pile,
and hung it with helmets and harness of war
3140and breastplates bright, as the boon he asked;
and they laid amid it the mighty chieftain,
heroes mourning their master dear.
Then on the hill that hugest of balefires
the warriors wakened. Wood-smoke rose
3145black over blaze, and blent was the roar
of flame with weeping (the wind was still),
till the fire had broken the frame of bones,
hot at the heart. In heavy mood
their misery moaned they, their master’s death.
3150Wailing her woe, the widow^[2] old,
her hair upbound, for Beowulf’s death
sung in her sorrow, and said full oft
she dreaded the doleful days to come,
deaths enow, and doom of battle,
3155and shame.—The smoke by the sky was devoured.
The folk of the Weders fashioned there
on the headland a barrow broad and high,
by ocean-farers far descried:
in ten days’ time their toil had raised it,
3160the battle-brave’s beacon. Round brands of the pyre
a wall they built, the worthiest ever
that wit could prompt in their wisest men.
They placed in the barrow that precious booty,
the rounds and the rings they had reft erewhile,
3165hardy heroes, from hoard in cave,—
trusting the ground with treasure of earls,
gold in the earth, where ever it lies
useless to men as of yore it was.
Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,^[3]
3170atheling-born, a band of twelve,
lament to make, to mourn their king,
chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.
They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess
worthily witnessed: and well it is
3175that men their master-friend mightily laud,
heartily love, when hence he goes
from life in the body forlorn away.

Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero’s passing his hearth-companions:
3180quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most belovéd,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.

↑ The construction of the poem is certainly strengthened by this dignified close, which corresponds in theme to the opening lines.
↑ Compare the account of Hildeburh at her brother’s funeral, above, vv. 1114 ff. Nothing is said of Beowulf’s wife in the poem, but Bugge—whose restoration of the text is followed here—surmises that Beowulf finally accepted Hygd’s offer of kingdom and hoard, and, as was usual, took her into the bargain. In any case a praefica (with differences) belonged to the Germanic funeral, and chanted her vocero. Specimens of these laments, which often, as here, expressed forebodings for the future, may be found in the present writer’s Beginnings of Poetry.
↑ The close resemblance of these funeral rites to the ceremonies at Attila’s burial has often been noted. Jordanis, reporting them briefly—pauca de multis dicere—tells how the corpse was placed under a “silken tent,” and how horsemen rode round it, in masterly fashion, and chanted Attila’s great deeds. At the burial of Achilles “heroes of the Achaeans moved mail-clad round the pyre . . . both footmen and horse, and great was the noise that arose.”

[1] The construction of the poem is certainly strengthened by this dignified close, which corresponds in theme to the opening lines.

[2] Compare the account of Hildeburh at her brother’s funeral, above, vv. 1114 ff. Nothing is said of Beowulf’s wife in the poem, but Bugge—whose restoration of the text is followed here—surmises that Beowulf finally accepted Hygd’s offer of kingdom and hoard, and, as was usual, took her into the bargain. In any case a praefica (with differences) belonged to the Germanic funeral, and chanted her vocero. Specimens of these laments, which often, as here, expressed forebodings for the future, may be found in the present writer’s Beginnings of Poetry.

[3] The close resemblance of these funeral rites to the ceremonies at Attila’s burial has often been noted. Jordanis, reporting them briefly—pauca de multis dicere—tells how the corpse was placed under a “silken tent,” and how horsemen rode round it, in masterly fashion, and chanted Attila’s great deeds. At the burial of Achilles “heroes of the Achaeans moved mail-clad round the pyre . . . both footmen and horse, and great was the noise that arose.”

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