13 May 2009
Wiglaf watches Beowulf die, and the narrator opines on the life and death of the dragon. Eventually the other men who had fled return and see the body of their dead king. Wiglaf speaks to them, telling them of the fight and his, by his own modest account, small part in it, and castigates them severely for running away.
The passage describing the dragon is a neat one, lines 2826b–35:
Bēahhordum lenġ
wyrm wōhbogen wealdan ne mōste,
ac hine īrenna ecga fornāmon,
hearde, heaðoscearpe homera lāfe,
þæt se wīdfloga wundum stille
hrēas on hrūsan hordærne nēah.
Nalles æfter lyfte lācende hwearf
middelnihtum, māðmæhta wlonc
ansyn ywde, ac hē eorðan gefēoll
for ðæs hildfruman hondġeweorce.( The ring-hoard
the coiled worm could no longer rule,
but him the iron edges took away,
hard, battle-sharp leavings of hammers,
so that the wide-flier still with wounds
fell to the ground near the treasure house.
Afterward he no more in the sky flying about
in the middle of the night, proud of his treasure
showed his face, but he fell to earth
because of the war-chief’s handiwork.)
Homera lāfe, literally the leavings of hammers, is a marvelous kenning for swords, the product of a smithy.
The ten who fled are treated less kindly than the dragon, lines 2845b–51:
Næs ðā lang to ðon
þæt ðā hildlatan holt ofġēfan,
tydre trēowlogan tyne ætsomne,
ðā ne dorston ær dareðum lācan
on hyra mandryhtnes miclan þearfe;
ac hy scamiende scyldas bæran,
gūðġewædu þær se gomela læġ.( It was not long before
the ones late to battle left the woods,
the craven traitors ten altogether,
who dared not earlier to brandish their spears
in their liege-lord’s great need;
but they being ashamed bore their shields,
their war-gear to where the old man lay dead.)
This is the only use of daroþ, spear, in the poem. (There are lots of synonyms, notably gar, which are used.) Daroþ is from the same root as our modern dart, but the modern word is a borrowing from Old French. Its use here is undoubtedly to alliterate with dorston.
Finally, the fit ends with a summary of what will befall those who ran away, lines 2884-91:
Nū sceal sinċþego ond swyrdġifu,
eall ēðelwyn ēowrum cynne,
lufen ālicgean; londrihtes mōt
þære mæġburge monna æġhwylċ
īdel hweorfan, syððan æðelingas
feorran ġefricgean flēam ēowerne,
dōmlēasan dæd. Dēað bið sēlla
eorla ġehwylcum þonne edwītlīf!”(Now shall the receiving of treasure and sword-giving,
all the homeland joys of your people,
gladness will cease; of the land-rights
of their kinsmen every man
will go deprived, when noblemen
from afar learn of your flight,
[your] inglorious deed. Death is better
for any earl than a life of shame!)
If you’ve ever wondered where the phrase death before dishonor comes from, this is it.
