“ ATHELSTAN, OR THE FIGHT AT BRUNANBURH.
Æthelstan King, of earls the lord,
Of heroes ring-giver, and his brother too,
Edmund Ætheling, enduring fame
Earned in the fight with edges of swords
By Brunanburh. The board-wall they cleaved,5
The war-shields hewed with leavings of hammers
The sons of Edward. 'Twas natural to them
By right of descent that in battle they oft
'Gainst every foe their land defended,
Their hoards and homes. The foes were fallen,10
Folk of the Scots and men of the ships,
Fated they fell. ”

“ The fight rages. Byrhtnoth is wounded. He slays the foe. He is wounded again. He prays to God to receive his soul, and is hewn down by the heathen men. Godric flees on Byrhtnoth's horse. His brothers follow him. Ælfwine encourages the men to avenge the death of their lord. So does Offa, who curses Godric. Leofsunu will avenge his lord or perish. Dunnere also. Others follow their example. Offa is slain and many warriors. The fight still rages. The aged Byrhtwold exhorts them to be the braver as they become the fewer. So does another Godric, not he who fled. * * * *
The Dream of the Rood. ”

“ The other Germans are usually so taken up with technical and mechanical questions that they leave no room for æsthetic considerations. Whether Cynewulf wrote the poem or not,—and the probabilities favor his authorship, though we may not hesitate to say with Morley, "I don't know,"—it is certainly the work of a gifted Christian poet, who reverences the cross as the means of the redemption of mankind. ”

“ The first nine cantos, nearly three-fourths of the poem, are irretrievably lost, so that we have left but the last three cantos with a few lines of the ninth. The story is from the apocryphal book of Judith, and the part remaining corresponds to chapters XII. 10 to XVI. 1, but the poet has failed to translate the grand thanksgiving of Judith in the sixteenth chapter. The story of Judith and Holofernes is too well known to need narration. The poet, doubtless, followed the Latin Vulgate, as we have no reason to think that a knowledge of Greek was a common possession among Old English poets ”

“ I. The Elene, or Helena, is a poem on the expedition of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, to Palestine in search of the true cross, and its successful issue. The mediæval legend of the Finding of the Cross is given in the Acta Sanctorum under date of May 4, assigned by the Church to the commemoration of St. Helena's marvellous discovery. The Latin work is the Life of St. Quiriacus, or Cyriacus, Bishop of Jerusalem, that is, the Judas of the poem. ”

“ I take advantage of this opportunity to say that my translation of Béowulf, of which the last reprint was issued in 1910, is not in prose, as some have misconceived it, but it is in the same metrical form as the translations in the present volume,—an accentual metre in rough imitation of the original. I agree with Professor Gummere and others that this is a better form for the translation of Old English poetry than plain prose. It was approved by the late Professor Child nearly thirty years ago, as noted in the Preface to the second edition of my translation of BÉOWULF, January, 1885. ”

“ Warriors retiring, among the slaughtered,
The smoking corpses; it was time to take
For the dwellers-in-land from the loathsome ones,315
Their ancient foes deprived of life,
The gory booty, the shining trappings,
Shields and broad swords, brown-colored helmets,
Precious treasures. Gloriously had they
On thát folk-place their foes overcome,320
The defenders of home their ancient foes
With swords put-to-sleep: behind them rested
Those who in life were most hateful to them
Of living races. ”

“ Other poems, as the Guthlac, Phœnix, Christ's Descent into Hell, Andreas, Dream of the Rood, and several other shorter poems, have been ascribed to him with more or less probability, and very recently Sarrazin (in Anglia, IX. 515 ff.) would credit him with the authorship of even the Béowulf (!) . We might as well assign to him, as has been suggested, all the poems in the two great manuscripts, the Exeter Book and the Vercelli Book, and be done with it. ”

“ If Cynewulf made use of the Latin Life of Cyriacus in the Acta Sanctorum, he expanded his source considerably and showed great skill and originality in his treatment of the subject, as may be seen by comparing the translation with the Latin text in Zupitza's third edition of the Elene (1888) , or in Professor Kent's forthcoming American edition, after Zupitza. The Old English text was discovered by a German scholar, Dr. F. Blume, at Vercelli, Italy, in 1822, and the manuscript has since become well known as the Vercelli Book (cf. Wülker's Grundriss, p. 237 ff.) . ”

“ It has been usually thought that the Old English poet used this Life as his source; but Glöde, in a recent volume of Anglia (IX. 271 ff.) , has given reasons for thinking that the poet used some other Latin text. He rejects ten Brink's conjecture that the legend of Elene had come to England in a Greek form. As to the author of the poem, we know his name, but very little else about him. He has left us his name, imbedded in runic letters as an acrostic, in the last canto of the poem, q.v. These letters spell the word CYNEWULF; but who was Cynewulf? ”

“ III. The Athelstan, or Fight at Brunanburh, is found in four manuscripts of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" and in Wheloc's edition (1643) , printed from a MS. that was burnt in the unfortunate fire among the Cottonian manuscripts (1731) . It is entered under the year 937 in all but one MS., where it occurs under 938. The poem gives a brief, but graphic, description of the fight between King Athelstan and his brother Edmund on the one side, and Constantine and his Scots aided by Anlaf and his Danes, or Northmen, on the other, in which fight the Saxons were completely victorious. ”

“ Brave warriors-with-shields, though the mighty weened not of it,20
Awful lord of earls. Thén was Holofernes,
Gold-friend of men, full of wine-joy:
He laughed and clamored, shouted and dinned,
That children of men from afar might hear
How the strong-minded both stormed and yelled,25
Moody and mead-drunken, often admonished
The sitters-on-benches to bear themselves [2] well. ”

“ The Hebrews' host, honored with victory,
With glory ennobled; them took the Lord God300
Fairly to help, the Lord Almighty.
They bravely then with shining swords,
Stout-hearted heroes, a war-path wrought
Through heaps of their foes, hewed down their shields,
Cut through their phalanx: the warriors were305
Enraged in battle, the Hebrew men;
The thanes at that time were much delighted
At the combat with spears. Here fell in the dust
The highest part of the chiefest number
Óf the Assyrians' princely nobility,310
Of the hateful race; very few came
Alive to their homes. ”

“ The future betokened, that it is to the time
Now amongst men [13] almost arrived,
When wé our lives shall lose together,
In battle perish: here lies with sword hewn
Our lord beheaded." They then sad-in-mind290
Threw down their weapons and sorrowful went
To hasten in flight. They fought on their tracks,
The mighty folk, till the greatest part
Of the army lay, in battle struck down,
On the victor-plain, hewn down with swords,295
To wolves for pleasure, and to slaughter-greedy
Fowls for a joy. Those who lived fled
The shields of their foes. ”

“ Helena 'fore earls without concealment:620
"If thou in heaven willest to have
Dwelling with angels and life on earth,
Reward in the skies, tell me quickly
Where rests the rood of the King of heaven
Holy 'neath earth, which yé now long625
Through sin of murder from men have concealed."
Judas replied (his mind was sad,
Heat in his heart and woe for both,
Whether hope of heaven with [all] his soul
He should renounce, along with his present630
Kingdom 'neath skies, or show the rood) :
"How may I that find that long ago happened
In course of winters? ”

“ Sweet and ten Brink also hold that he was a Northumbrian of the eighth century, but not the Bishop of Lindisfarne, while Wülker regards him as a West-Saxon. Professor Henry Morley, in the current edition of his "English Writers," has devoted a chapter (Vol. II. Chap. IX., 1888) to Cynewulf, and virtually concludes that we know nothing about him except that he was a poet and probably lived in the eighth century. ”

“ Lo! Ælfwine, thóu hast all admonished,
Thanes, of the need. Now lieth our lord,
Earl on the earth, to us all there is need
That each one of us should strengthen the other
Warrior to war, while weapon he may235
[Still] have and hold, the hardened brand,
Spear and good sword. Us hath Godric,
Cowed son of Offa, all [basely] deceived:
So many men thought when on mare he rode,
On thát proud steed, that it wás our lord:240
Therefore in field here the folk was divided,
The phalanx broken: may perish his deed,
That he here so many men caused to flee! ”

“ Then spake the noble one to all the folk:
"Here ye may clearly, victory-blessed warriors,
Chiefs of the people, upón the most hateful
Heathen hero's head fix your gaze,
On Holofernes deprived of life,180
Who chiefest of men wrought murders for us,
Sorest sorrows, and that yet more
Would he increase: but God him granted not
A longer life, that hé with woes
Might still afflict us. Of life I deprived him185
By help of God. Now I every man
Of these city-dwellers will [earnestly] pray,
Of shield-bearing warriors, that ye yourselves quickly
Hasten to fight ”

“ The text of Judith is now accessible in Professor Cook's edition (1888) .
The translation of the Athelstan has been added from Körner's text, compared with Grein and Wülker, and in certain passages with Thorpe and Earle. For fuller literary information than the Introduction provides, the reader is referred to ten Brink's "Early English Literature," Kennedy's translation (1883) , and to Morley's "English Writers," Vol. II. (1888) . ”

“ The agèd enemy, nor Anlaf the more.
With their army-remnant they durst not rejoice
That in deeds of war they proved to be better
On the place of battle, the striking of standards,
The mingling of spears, the meeting of men,50
The clashing of weapons, when on slaughter-field
In contest with Edward's sons they contended.
Departed the Northmen in nailèd ships,
Drear remnant of darts, on the sea of Dyng [5] [?] ”

“ The Lord of Creation should shield. That Father in heaven to her
The Glorious-in-mind did grant, for thát firm faith she had
Ín the Almighty ever. Then heard I that Holofernes
Wine-summons eagerly wrought, and with all wonders a glorious
Banquet had hé prepared; to thát bade the prince of men
All his noblest thanes. Thát with mickle haste10
Did the warriors-with-shields perform; came to the mighty chief
The people's leaders going. Ón the fourth day was that
After that Judith, cunning in mind,
The elf-sheen virgin, him first had sought. ”

“ Victory and faith without fear, that I with this sword may be able
To hew down this dealer of murder; grant [too] my safety to me,90
Strong-hearted Leader of men; ne'er in this world had I
Of thy mercy more urgent need: avenge now, mighty Lord,
Glorious Giver of honor, that I am so angry in mind,
So heated within my breast." Hér then the highest Judge
Quickly with courage inspired, as doth he [ever] each one95
Of dwellers here [upon earth] , who him for help to them seek
With rede and righteous belief. ”

“ The name of the Saviour. That is to each man465
Unutterable. Him may no one
Upon this earth [ever] find out.
Never that plan that this people framed
Was I willing to follow, but I always myself
Held aloof from their crimes, by no means wrought shame470
To mine own spirit. To them earnestly often
On account of their wrong I made opposition,
When the learned-in-lore counsel were taking,
Were seeking in soul how the Son of their Maker,
Men's Helm, [29] they might hang, the Lord of all,475
Both angels and men, noblest of children. ”

“ Bold were the men [in battle-byrnies, Gn.] ,
Ready for war. Bright shone the spears,
The ringéd corselets. With shouts and shields
They hoisted the standards. The heroes were there25
Plainly assembled, and [host, Gn.] all together.
The multitude marched. A war-song howled
The wolf in the wood, war-secret concealed not;
The dew-feathered eagle uplifted his song
On the trail of his foes. Hastened quickly30
O'er cities of giants [3] the greatest of war-hosts
In bands to battle, such as king of the Huns
Of dwellers-around anywhere might,
Of city-warriors, assemble to war. ”

“ Still we should treasure all that remains, and the Old English language should be at least as well known as Latin is now, and should occupy as prominent a position in education and general culture. Until that millennial period arrives, translations of Old English poems may not be without service.
[1] Crow's "Maldon and Brunnanburh," 1897.
ABBREVIATIONS IN NOTES. B. = Bouterwek; C. = Cook; Gm. = Grimm; Gn. = Grein; K. = Kemble; Kl. = Kluge; Kr. = Körner; S. = Sievers; Sw. = Sweet; Th. = Thorpe; W. = Wülker; Z. = Zupitza; Zl. = Zernial. CYNEWULF'S ELENE. I. ”

“ With these is connected the question of date, and the poem has been placed all the way from 700 to 800 A.D., even a little before and a little after, possibly 675 to 825 A.D., so as yet there is no common agreement. The similarity of thought in the personal epilogue (II. 122 ff.) to the epilogue of the Elene (II. 1237 ff.) is striking, and they may be compared by the curious reader. The translation is made from the Grein-Wülker text (Vol. II., pp. 116-125) , with emendations from others, as seen in the notes. ”

“ The warriors-with-shields began to lead
The glorious maid to the lofty tent
Where the mighty himself always [4] rested
By night within, to the Saviour hateful,45
Holofernes. There wás an all-golden
Beautiful fly-net around the folk-warrior's
Bed suspended, só that the hateful
Was able to look through, the chief of warriors,
Upon each one that therein came50
Of the sons of heroes, and on him no one
Of the race of men, unless the proud some one
Of the strong-in-war bade to him nearer
Of warriors for counsel to come. They then to him at rest brought
Quickly the cunning woman ”