[1053 ff] Hrōðgār, who feels responsible for the safety of his guests, compounds for the loss of a man by the payment of wergild.
[1056-62] God and mōd, 1056 f. constitute the dual subject; see note on 572 f. The apparent subordination of fate to God (Intr. xlix) does not justify us in recognizing in this passage the influence of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy (as Earle does, see his note; H. F. Stewart, Boethius, an Essay [1891], pp. 163 ff.). Nor do we need to follow the earlier dissecting critics who condemned this passage as an interpolation. It is merely one of those interspersed reflections in which the author of the poem delighted. It enjoins rational trust in the governance of the Almighty and readiness to accept whatever may be in store for us, be it good or evil. (Cf Angl. xxxv 118.) With 1060-62 cp. Gnom. Cott. 11 f.: gomol [bið] snoterost,/fyrngēarum frōd, sē pe ær feala gebīdeð. [The adversative meaning 'yet' proposed, though "very tentatively," for Forpan 1059 (M. Daunt, MLR. xiii 478) does not improve the context.]
[1064] fore Healfdenes hildewīsan, 'in the presence of Healfdene's battle-leader,' i.e. of Hrōðgār. We may assume that the title appertaining to Hrōðgār during his father's reign is here retained, in violation of chronology. For the use of fore, see 1215, Wids. 55, 104. Cf. Angl. xxviii 449 n. 3. [Cf. Aant. 18 ("louter onzin"); ten Brink 68; Tr.1 183: hildewīsan = -wīsum, dat. plur.]
[1069-1159] The Finn Episode. See Introduction to The Fight at Finnsburg and Finnsburg Bibliography (LF.).
[1066-70] Scholars are not at all agreed on the punctuation and construction of these lines. A detailed survey of the various modes of interpretation has been offered by Green (LF. 4.27). See also Varr.
According to the punctuation here adopted the lines announcing the recital of the Finn story, . . . . . [be] Finnes eaferum, ðā hīe se fǣr begeat, indicate, by a characteristic anticipation, the final triumph of the Danes over their enemies, see 1146 f.: Swylce . . . Finn eft begeat/sweordbealo, 1151 ff. The clause ðā hīe se fǣr begeat 1068b certainly looks like the termination of a sentence, cp. 1291b, 2872b, 2883b, 2230b. -- healgamen 1066, 'entertainment,' hence 'entertaining tale'; with ðonne 1066 cp. 880. gid oft wrecen 1065b, 'many a song was recited' (cf. Siev. xxix 571; note on 794b-5); whereupon a definite specimen of the scop's repertory is exhibited in summary and paraphrase. It may seem that the author passes very abruptly to the new theme, leaving unexpressed the thought: 'and thus he sang.' However, this difficulty vanishes, if the phrase of 1065b is understood in a more general sense: 'there was plenty of entertainment by the minstrel' (or if gid is interpreted as part or 'fit' of a lay). The insertion of be in 1068: [be] Finnes eaferum, 'about Finn's men' or 'about Finn and his men' (cp. Hrēðlingas 2960, eaforum Ecgwelan 1710; Sat. 63(?); Aant. 26) is on the whole more natural than the change to eaferan (a second object of mǣnan), though the latter would be quite possible stylistically (Angl. xxviii 443).
The reading of Schücking (xxxix 106, ed.), Holthausen3, who make the Episode (direct quotation) begin at 1071, and who -- virtually returning to the practice of the earliest edd. -- place a comma after begeat, thus considering 1069-70 the continuation of the subordinate clause introduced by ðā 1068, and taking hæleð as nom. sing., is incompatible with the facts of the story, since it is the Danes, not the Frisians, who are overtaken by the sudden attack (fær) which leads to Hnæf's death.
Dispensing with an emendation in 1068, Ettmüller, Grein, and others mark the beginning of the Episode at Finnes eaferum. Moreover, Grein, Bugge (29), Green construe heæleð as acc. plur. (parallel with hīe), thus arriving at the rendering: ' By Finn's men -- when onset befell them, the heroes of the Half-Danes -- Hnæf was fated to fall.' See Green, l.c., also L 6.8.5; cf. Kock2 109. This must be admitted to be a highly satisfactory interpretation, provided it can be justified on syntactical and stylistic grounds. However, it is still a question whether feallan could be construed with a dative of personal agency, especially as this intrans. verb is elsewhere used absolutely (or with an expression denoting instrumentality in a more indirect way, see 2834. f., cp. 2902, Mald. 71). Besides, the opening of the sentence by such heavy, complex phraseology (1068-69a) is decidedly harsh, and the use of the so-called proleptic pronoun hīe (cf. MPh. iii 255; Intr. lxvi) in this context is felt to be unnatural. It may be that absolute certainty is not within reach.
[1071 f] Nē hūru Hildeburh etc. Litotes. 1071a: Type B1, XXX-|X-
[1074] bearnum ond brōðrum. Generic plural: 'son and brother'; see 565. Möller (59) thought the combination an archaic idiom derived from the (elliptic) 'dvandva dual' (cf note on 2002); but see Osthoff, IF. xx 204 f.
[1074] hīe on gebyrd hruron. Cp. 2570. A variant, but hardly convincing rendering of on gebyrd is 'in succession,' 'one after another' (Aant. 18; cf. B.-T. Suppl.).
[1077] syþðan morgen cōm. This may or may not mean the first morning after the night attack; see Finnsb. 41.
1082-85a. The purport of these lines as commonly understood is: 'he could be successful neither in the offensive nor in the defensive.' gefeohtan does not mean here (as might be expected): 'obtain by fighting'; wīg serves as 'cognate accus.' (Cf. Lorz 50; JEGPh. xiv 548.) As to forþringan, the meaning rescue' generally assigned to it is questionable -- it would indeed fit oðþringan --; the only prose instance of the verb, Ben. R. (ed. Schroer, in Gr.-Wü., Bibl. d. ags. Prosa iii) 115.7 (cp. Ormulum 6169), would favor the sense 'thrust aside,' 'crush.' Carleton Brown (MLN. xxxiv 181 ff.) suggests the change of ðegne to ðegna; thus the object of forþringan ('crush') would be 'the remnant of the thanes of the prince,' 'wēalāfe referring in 1084 as well as in 1098 to the Danish party. -- (Met. Bt. 1.22: ne meahte pā sēo wēalāf wīge forstandan/Gotan mid gūðe. . . .) -- The stress laid by the poet on the weakening of the Frisian forces (cp. 1080 f.) attests his desire to exalt the valor and success of the Danes. (Cf. Lawrence, Publ. MLAss. xxx 403.) [Moore, JEGPh. xviii 208 f., like Brown, understands forþringan as 'put down,' but takes pēodnes ðegne as variation of Hengeste and considers 1084 semi-parenthetical.]
[1085] hig, i.e. the Frisians; so hīe, 1086a.
[-88] hīe, i.e. the Danes. It is reasonable to believe that the Danes and Frisians are to be entertained in one and the same hall, a different one from that wrecked by the fight; hence eal 1086 does not imply the exclusion of the Frisians. (Cp. Vǫlsungasaga, ch. 11: skipa bápir konungar eina hǫll.）
[1097] unflitme is unexplained. It may be connected with flītan 'contend,' cp. unbefliten 'uncontested'; elne unflitme: 'with undisputed zeal.' It has been held that the instr. elne has the force of an intensive adverb, 'much,' 'very' (and that unflitme is an adv. form), which is but adding another guess. Kock2 109 proposes elne, unflitme: "strongly and indisputably." No light is obtained from the equally obscure unhlitme 1129. [Grienb. 748 would translate 'firmly' or 'inviolably,' deriving unflitme from flēotan 'float.']
[1098] weotena dōme. A noteworthy allusion to the authority of the king's advisory council. Cp. Jul. 98: ofer witena dōm. King Ælfred undertook the codification of the laws 'mid mīnra witena geðeahte,' Ælfr. Laws, Introd. 49.9. Cf. F. Purlitz, Konig u. Witenagemot bei den Angelsachsen, Leipzig Diss., 1892, F. Liebermann, The National Assembly in the Anglo-Saxon Period, Halle a.S., 1913.
[1099] þæt, 'upon condition that.' (Angl. xxviii 444.)
[1101 f] nē . . . ǣfre gemǣnden etc., 'nor . . . ever mention [the fact] although they followed . . .' . -- banan. Whether Finn himself slew Hnæf we do not know; see note on 1968. -- Making peace with the slayers of one's lord was entirely contrary to the Germanic code of honor. Cp. OE. Chron. A.D. 755 ('Cynewulf and Cyneheard'): Ond pā cuǣdon hīe þæt him nǣnig mǣg læeofra nǣre þonne hiera hlāford, ond hīe nǣfre his banan folgian noldon.
[1104] þonne, adversative, 'on the other hand.' (Angl. xxviii 444.)
[1106] remains problematical, see Varr. The reading sēðan (JEGPh. viii 255, cf. Lang. § 24, p. xci, n. 4) would mean 'declare the truth,' 'settle'; cp. scȳran 1939; Antiq. § 6. Kock2 109 argues for the existence of a wk. verb syððan (rel. to sēoðan), 'atone,' 'clear.'
[1107-8] Ād (MS. að) wæs geæfned, ond icge gold/āhæfen of horde. Why is gold fetched from the hoard? Presumably the reference is to precious objects to be placed on the funeral pile -- cp. 1111 f., 3138 ff., perhaps 3134 f. 3163 ff.; 36 ff.; Par. § 7: Saxo viii 264 --, which points to ād as the proper reading; see also 1110: Æt ðǣm āde. (If āð were meant, we should expect the plural, cp. 1097.) [Lawrence, Publ. MLAss. xxx 406 suggests that Finn intended to rewald his warriors with presents of gold. -- The payment of wergild seems out of the question.] -- icge is entirely obscure; see Varr., B.-T. One of many possibilities is to explain it as a corruption of the adj. æce found once in the runic inscription of the Isle of Wight sword, which perhaps means 'one's own' (Hempl, Publ. MLAss. xviii 95 ff.); ǣce gold = 'aurum domesticum'; JEGPh. viii 256.
[1109] betst beadorinca, i.e. Hnæf. -- 1109b. wæs on bǣl gearu, 'was ready to be placed on the funeral pile.'
[1116] bānfatu bærnan, ond on bǣl dôn. The same hysteron proteron in 2126. Evidently the purpose, or the result, of the action was uppermost in the author's mind.
[1117-18] Ides gnornode,/geōmrode giddum. The song of lament by Hildeburh is in keeping with primitive custom. See 3150 ff., 2446 f. Cf. Gummere L 4.121.1.222; Schucking L 4.126.1.7 ff. (The reading gūðhring or the interpretation of -rinc as -bring (so Holthausen; cp. ætspranc 1121), 'loud lamentation,' would add the wailing of a chorus as a kind of refrain; cp. Iliad xxiv 719 ff.) Gūðrinc āstāh; i.e., the warrior was placed on the funeral pile. Cf. Bu. Tid. 50 f.; Sairazin, Beitr. xi 530. [Grimm L 9.2.262: 'the warrior's spirit rose into the air.']
[1120] hlynode for hlāwe. Does hlāw denote the place where the mound is to be built, or an old mound which is to be used again ? See 2241 ff., 2802 ff., 3156 ff.
[1121 f] bengeato burston, ðonne blōd ætspranc./lāðbite līces. This seems to be an accurate description of what might easily happen during the initial stage of the heating of the bodies by the funeral fire; cf. JEGPh xiv 549. lāðbite is parallel with bengeato.
