THE DANISH HISTORY OF SAXO GRAMMATICUS

BOOK TWO

Dan 2.1.1 (p. 36,2 )

1 Hadingo filius Frotho succedit, cuius varii insignesque casus fuere. 2 Pubertatis annos emensus iuvenilium praeferebat complementa virtutum. 3 Quas ne desidiae corrumpendas praeberet, abstractum voluptatibus animum assidua armorum intentione torquebat. 4 Qui cum, paterno thesauro bellicis operibus absumpto, stipendiorum facultatem, qua militem aleret, non haberet attentiusque necessarii usus subsidia circumspiceret, tali subeuntis indigenae carmine concitatur:

HADDING was succeeded by FRODE, his son, whose fortunes were many and changeful. When he had passed the years of a stripling, he displayed the fulness of a warrior's prowess; and being loth that this should be spoilt by slothfulness, he sequestered his mind from delights and perseveringly constrained it to arms. Warfare having drained his father's treasury, he lacked a stock of pay to maintain his troops, and cast about diligently for the supplies that he required; and while thus employed, a man of the country met him and roused his hopes by the following strain:

Dan 2.1.2 (p. 36,9 )

1 Insula non longe est praemollibus edita clivis,

"Not far off is an island rising in delicate slopes,

collibus aera tegens et opimae conscia praedae.

hiding treasure in its hills and ware of its rich booty.

2 Hic tenet eximium montis possessor acervum

Here a noble pile is kept by the occupant of the mount,

implicitus gyris serpens crebrisque reflexus

who is a snake wreathed in coils, doubled in many a fold,

orbibus et caudae sinuosa volumina ducens

and with tail drawn out in winding whorls,

multiplicesque agitans spiras virusque profundens.

shaking his manifold spirals and shedding venom.

3 Quem superare volens clipeo, quo convenit uti,

If thou wouldst conquer him, thou must use thy shield

taurinas intende cutes corpusque bovinis

and stretch thereon bulls' hides, and cover thy body

tergoribus tegito nec amaro nuda veneno

with the skins of kine, nor let thy limbs lie bare

membra patere sinas; sanies, quod conspuit, urit.

to the sharp poison; his slaver burns up what it bespatters.

4 Lingua trisulca micans patulo licet ore resultet

Though the three-forked tongue flicker and leap out of the gaping mouth,

tristiaque horrifico minitetur vulnera rictu,

and with awful yawn menace ghastly wounds remember

intrepidum mentis habitum retinere memento,

to keep the dauntless temper of thy mind; nor let the point

nec te permoveat spinosi dentis acumen,

of the jagged tooth trouble thee, nor the starkness

nec rigor aut rapida iactatum fauce venenum.

of the beast, nor the venom spat from the swift throat.

5 Tela licet temnat vis squamea, ventre sub imo

Though the force of his scales spurn thy spears, yet know there is

esse locum scito, quo ferrum mergere fas est;

a place under his lowest belly whither thou mayst plunge the blade;

hunc mucrone petens medium rimaberis anguem.

aim at this with thy sword, and thou shalt probe the snake to his centre.

6 Hinc montem securus adi pressoque ligone

Thence go fearless up to the hill, drive the mattock,

perfossos scrutare cavos, mox aere crumenas

dig and ransack the holes; soon fill thy pouch with treasure,

imbue completamque reduc ad litora puppim.

and bring back to the shore thy craft laden."

Dan 2.1.3 (p. 36,30 )

1 Credulus Frotho solitarius in insulam traicit, ne comitatior beluam adoriretur, quam athletas aggredi moris fuerat. 2 Quae cum aquis pota specum repeteret, impactum Frothonis ferrum aspero cutis horrore contempsit. 3 Sed et spicula, quae in eam coniecta fuerant, eluso mittentis conatu laesionis irrita resultabant. 4 At ubi nil tergi duritia cessit, ventris curiosius adnotati mollities ferro patuit. 5 Quae se morsu ulcisci cupiens clipeo dumtaxat spinosum oris acumen impegit. 6 Crebris deinde linguam micatibus ducens vitam pariter ac virus efflavit.

Frode believed, and crossed alone to the island, loth to attack the beast with any stronger escort than that wherewith it was the custom for champions to attack. When it had drunk water and was repairing to its cave, its rough and sharp hide spurned the blow of Frode's steel. Also the darts that he flung against it rebounded idly, foiling the effort of the thrower. But when the hard back yielded not a whit, he noted the belly heedfully, and its softness gave entrance to the steel. The beast tried to retaliate by biting, but only struck the sharp point of its mouth upon the shield. Then it shot out its flickering tongue again and again, and gasped away life and venom together.

Dan 2.1.4 (p. 37,5 )

1 Repertae pecuniae regem locupletem fecere, quibus instructus classe Curetum partibus admovetur. 2 Quorum rex Dorno periculosi belli metu huiusmodi ad milites orationem habuisse fertur: 'Externum, proceres, hostem et totius ferme Occidentis armis opibusque succinctum salutarem pugnae cunctationem sectantes inediae viribus obtinendum curemus. 3 Internum hoc malum est. 4 Difficillimum erit domesticum debellare periculum. Facile famelicis obviatur. 5 Melius adversarium esurie quam armis tentabimus, nullum hosti inedia acrius iaculum adacturi. 6 Edax virium pestis edendi penuria nutritur. 7 Armorum opem alimentorum inopia subruit. 8 Illa quiescentibus nobis tela contorqueat, illa pugnae ius officiumque suscipiat. 9 Discriminis expertes discrimen licebit inferre. 10 Exsangues absque sanguinis detrimento praestare poterimus. 11 Inimicum otio superare fas est. 12 Quis damnose quam tuto dimicare maluerit? Quis, cum impune certare liceat, poenam experiri contendat? 13 Felicior armorum successus aderit, si praevia fames bellum committit. 14 Hac primam confligendi copiam duce captemus. 15 Castra nostra tumultus expertia maneant, illa nostri loco decernat; quae si victa cesserit, otium rumpendum est. 16 Facile ab indefesso lassitudine concussus opprimitur. 17 Adesa marcore dextera pigrior in arma perveniet. 18 Lentiores ferro manus dabit, quem quispiam prius labor exhauserit. 19 Praeceps victoria est, ubi tabe consumptus cum robusto congreditur. 20 Taliter indemnes aliis damnorum auctores fore poterimus.'

The money which the King found made him rich; and with this supply he approached in his fleet the region of the Kurlanders, whose king Dorn, dreading a perilous war, is said to have made a speech of the following kind to his soldiers: "Nobles! Our enemy is a foreigner, begirt with the arms and the wealth of almost all the West; let us, by endeavouring to defer the battle for our profit, make him a prey to famine, which is all inward malady; and he will find it very hard to conquer a peril among his own people. It is easy to oppose the starving. Hunger will be a better weapon against our foe than arms; famine will be the sharpest lance we shall hurl at him. For lack of food nourishes the pestilence that eats away men's strength, and lack of victual undermines store of weapons. Let this whirl the spears while we sit still; let this take up the prerogative and the duty of fighting. Unimperilled, we shall be able to imperil others; we can drain their blood and lose no drop of ours. One may defeat an enemy by inaction. Who would not rather fight safely than at a loss? Who would strive to suffer chastisement when he may contend unhurt? Our success in arms will be more prosperous if hunger joins battle first. Let hunger captain us, and so let us take the first chance of conflict. Let it decide the day in our stead, and let our camp remain free from the stir of war; if hunger retreat beaten, we must break off idleness. He who is fresh easily overpowers him who is shaken with languor. The hand that is flaccid and withered will come fainter to the battle. He whom any hardship has first wearied, will bring slacker hands to the steel. When he that is wasted with sickness engages with the sturdy, the victory hastens. Thus, undamaged ourselves, we shall be able to deal damage to others."

Dan 2.1.5 (p. 37,25 )

1 His dictis quaecumque tutatu difficilia animadvertit, defensionis diffidentia populatus adeo hostilem saevitiam in vastanda patria praecucurrit, ut nihil, quod a supervenientibus occupari posset, intactum relinqueret. 2 Maiorem deinde copiarum partem indubitatae firmitatis municipio complexus ab hoste se circumsederi permittit. 3 Cuius Frotho oppugnandi diffidentia concitatus complures insolitae profunditatis fossas intra castra fieri latenterque per corbes humum egeri et in fluvium moenibus propinquum tacite disici iussit. 4 Quem dolum crebro caespite fossis superaddito occultandum curavit, incautum hostem praecipitio consumpturus futurumque ratus, ut ignaros desidentis glaebae lapsus obrueret. 5 Post haec simulato metu castra paulisper deserere coepit. 6 Quibus imminentes oppidanos passimque elusis vestigiis in foveas provolutos ingestis desuper iaculis trucidavit.

Having said this, he wasted all the places which he saw would be hard to protect, distrusting his power to guard them, and he so far forestalled the ruthlessness of the foe in ravaging his own land, that he left nothing untouched which could be seized by those who came after. Then he shut up the greater part of his forces in a town of undoubted strength, and suffered the enemy to blockade him. Frode, distrusting his power of attacking this town, commanded several trenches of unwonted depth to be made within the camp, and the earth to be secretly carried out in baskets and cast quietly into the river bordering the walls. Then he had a mass of turf put over the trenches to hide the trap: wishing to cut off the unwary enemy by tumbling them down headlong, and thinking that they would be overwhelmed unawares by the slip of the subsiding earth. Then he feigned a panic, and proceeded to forsake the camp for a short while. The townsmen fell upon it, missed their footing everywhere, rolled forward into the pits, and were massacred by him under a shower of spears.

Dan 2.1.6 (p. 38,1 )

1 Inde profectus in Trannonem Rutenae gentis tyrannum incidit; cuius maritimas copias speculaturus crebros clavos ex fustibus creat iisdemque carabum onerat. 2 Quo hostilem noctu classem subiens imas navigiorum partes terebro sauciat. 3 Quae ne repentinum undarum paterentur incursum, patentia foraminum loca provisis antea clavis obstruit terebrique damnum stipitibus pensat. 4 At ubi foraminum copiam mergendae classi sufficere credidit, demptis obstaculis promptum aquis aditum patefecit hostilemque classem sua circumfundere properavit. 5 Ancipiti periculo circumventi Ruteni, armis prius an undis resisterent, haesitabant. 6 Naufragio pereunt, dum navigium ab hoste vindicare contendunt. 7 Internum discrimen externo atrocius erat; dum foris ferrum stringunt, intus fluctibus cedunt. 8 Bina simul in miseros pericula grassabantur. 9 Incertum erat, celerius nando salus an dimicando peteretur. 10 Medium pugnae certamen nova fati diremit occasio. 11 Geminae mortes uno ferebantur incessu; duae leti viae socium egere periculum. 12 Ambiguum erat, ferrum magis an fretum officeret. 13 Gladios propulsantem tacitus fluctuum allapsus excepit; e contrario fluctibus obviantem obvius ensis implicuit. 14 aquarum eluvies cruoris aspergine foedabatur.

Thence he travelled and fell in with Trannon, the monarch of the Ruthenians. Desiring to spy out the strength of his navy, he made a number of pegs out of sticks, and loaded a skiff with them; and in this he approached the enemy's fleet by night, and bored the hulls of the vessels with an auger. And to save them from a sudden influx of the waves, he plugged up the open holes with the pegs he had before provided, and by these pieces of wood he made good the damage done by the auger. But when he thought there were enough holes to drown the fleet, he took out the plugs, thus giving instant access to the waters, and then made haste to surround the enemy's fleet with his own. The Ruthenians were beset with a double peril, and wavered whether they should first withstand waves or weapons. Fighting to save their ships from the foe, they were shipwrecked. Within, the peril was more terrible than without: within, they fell back before the waves, while drawing the sword on those without. For the unhappy men were assaulted by two dangers at once; it was doubtful whether the swiftest way of safety was to swim or to battle to the end; and the fray was broken off at its hottest by a fresh cause of doom. Two forms of death advanced in a single onset; two paths of destruction offered united peril: it was hard to say whether the sword or the sea hurt them more. While one man was beating off the swords, the waters stole up silently and took him. Contrariwise, another was struggling with the waves, when the steel came up and encompassed him. The flowing waters were befouled with the gory spray.

Dan 2.1.7 (p. 38,18 )

1 Victis itaque Rutenis, patria Frothoni repetitur. 2 Qui cum legatos in Rusciam exigendi tributi studio missos incolarum perfidia atroci mortis genere consumptos animadverteret, duplici iniuria permotus urbem Rotalam arta admodum obsidione persequitur. 3 Qua ne fluvii interstitio prohibente tardius potiretur, universam aquae molem nova rivorum diversitate partitus ex ignotae profunditatis alveo meabilia vada perfecit nec ante destitit, quam rapidior vertex dividuo minoratus excursu languidiore undas lapsu ageret ac per exiles flexus vadosa paulatim constrictione raresceret. 4 Ita amne domito oppidum naturae praesidio vacuum inoffensa militum irruptione prosternit. 5 His gestis ad urbem paltiscam exercitum contulit. 6 Quam viribus invictam ratus bellum fallacia mutavit. 7 Siquidem paucis admodum consciis ignotae opacitatis latebras petivit exstinctumque se, quo minus hosti terroris afferret, vulgo nuntiari praecepit. 8 Additae in fidem exsequiae tumulusque constructus. 9 Sed et milites conscio fraudis maerore simulatum ducis obitum prosequuntur. 10 Qua fama rex urbis Vespasius, perinde ac victoria potitus, tam languidam et remissam defensionem egit, ut hostibus irrumpendi potestate facta inter lusus ac otia necaretur.

Thus the Ruthenians were conquered, and Frode made his way back home. Finding that some envoys, whom he had sent into Russia to levy tribute, had been horribly murdered through the treachery of the inhabitants, Frode was stung by the double wrong and besieged closely their town Rotel. Loth that the intervening river should delay his capture of the town, he divided the entire mass of the waters by making new and different streams, thus changing what had been a channel of unknown depth into passable fords; not ceasing till the speed of the eddy, slackened by the division of its outlet, rolled its waves onward in fainter current, and winding along its slender reaches, slowly thinned and dwindled into a shallow. Thus he prevailed over the river; and the town, which lacked natural defences, he overthrew, his soldiers breaking in without resistance. This done, he took his army to the city of Paltisca. Thinking no force could overcome it, he exchanged war for guile. He went into a dark and unknown hiding- place, only a very few being in the secret, and ordered a report of his death to be spread abroad, so as to inspire the enemy with less fear; his obsequies being also held, and a barrow raised, to give the tale credit. Even the soldiers bewailed his supposed death with a mourning which was in the secret of the trick. This rumour led Vespasins, the king of the city, to show so faint and feeble a defence, as though the victory was already his, that the enemy got a chance of breaking in, and slew him as he sported at his ease.

Dan 2.1.8 (p. 38,35 )

1 Urbe capta, Frotho spe Orientis imperium complexus Andwani moenibus admovetur. 2 Qui quondam succensae per Hadingum urbis admonitus cunctos eius penates domesticis avibus vacuefecit, quo minus similis iacturae periculo multaretur. 3 Nec nova Frothoni calliditas defuit. 4 Quippe permutata cum ancillulis veste peritam se pugnandi puellam simulat depositoque virili cultu femineum aemulatus transfugae titulo oppidum peti. 5 Illic omnibus curiosius exploratis, postridie emisso comite exercitum muris affore iubet portasque sua pandendas opera pollicetur. 6 Taliter elusis vigilibus, urbs somno sepulta diripitur, securitatis poenas interitu luens desidiaque sua quam hostium virtute miserior. 7 Nihil enim in re militari perniciosius animadvertitur quam per otium metu vacuum solutis neglectisque rebus nimia fiduciae praesumptione torpescere.

Frode, when he had taken this town, aspired to the Empire of the East, and attacked the city of Handwan. This king, warned by Hadding's having once fired his town, accordingly cleared the tame birds out of all his houses, to save himself from the peril of like punishment. But Frode was not at a loss for new trickery. He exchanged garments with a serving-maid, and feigned himself to be a maiden skilled in fighting; and having thus laid aside the garb of man and imitated that of woman, he went to the town, calling himself a deserter. Here he reconnoitred everything narrowly, and on the next day sent out an attendant with orders that the army should be up at the walls, promising that he would see to it that the gates were opened. Thus the sentries were eluded and the city despoiled while it was buried in sleep; so that it paid for its heedlessness with destruction, and was more pitiable for its own sloth than by reason of the valour of the foe. For in warfare nought is found to be more ruinous than that a man, made foolhardy by ease, should neglect and slacken his affairs and doze in arrogant self-confidence.

Dan 2.1.9 (p. 39,8 )

1 Andwanus cum patriae res perditas eversasque conspiceret, regias opes navibus impositas, ut undas potius quam hostem ditaret, in altum demersit, quamquam satius fuerat adversariorum favorem pecuniae largitionibus occupare quam eius commodum mortalitatis usibus invidere. 2 Post haec Frothone filiam in matrimonium per legatos poscente, cavendum respondit, ne rerum prosperitate corruptus victoriae successum in superbiam vertat, sed potius victis parcere et in deiectorum condicione pristinum fulgoris habitum venerari meminerit discatque in miserorum sorte praeteritam aestimare fortunam. 3 Curandum itaque, ne, cuius affinitatem expetat, imperium rapiat et, quem nuptiis illustrare gestiat, obscuritatis sordibus respergat, matrimonii dignitatem avaritiae studio corrupturus. 4 Cuius dicti comitate et victorem generum ascivit et regni libertatem obtinuit.

Handwan, seeing that the fortunes of his country were lost and overthrown, put all his royal wealth on shipboard and drowned it in the sea, so as to enrich the waves rather than his enemy. Yet it had been better to forestall the goodwill of his adversaries with gifts of money than to begrudge the profit of it to the service of mankind. After this, when Frode sent ambassadors to ask for the hand of his daughter, he answered, that he must take heed not to be spoiled by his thriving fortunes, or to turn his triumph into haughtiness; but let him rather bethink him to spare the conquered, and in this their abject estate to respect their former bright condition; let him learn to honour their past fortune in their present pitiable lot. Therefore, said Handwan, he must mind that he did not rob of his empire the man with whom he sought alliance, nor bespatter her with the filth of ignobleness whom he desired to honour with marriage: else he would tarnish the honour of the union with covetousness. The courtliness of this saying not only won him his conqueror for son-in-law, but saved the freedom of his realm.

Dan 2.2.1 (p. 39,20 )

1 Interea Sueonum regis Hundingi coniunx Thorilda cum privignos suos Regnerum et Thoraldum, quorum infinito odio tenebatur, ut variis periculorum generibus implicaret, regio tandem pecori praefecisset, Hadingi filia Suanhuita, sororibus in famulitium sumptis, Suetiam petit, clarissimae indolis exitium muliebri ingenio praecursura. 2 Cumque praedictos adolescentes nocturnis gregum excubiis occupatos diversi generis portentis circumfundi videret, sorores equis descendere cupientes tali poematis sono vetuit:

Meantime Thorhild, wife of Hunding, King of the Swedes, possessed with a boundless hatred for her stepsons Ragnar and Thorwald, and fain to entangle them in divers perils, at last made them the king's shepherds. But Swanhwid, daughter of Hadding, wished to arrest by woman's wit the ruin of natures so noble; and taking her sisters to serve as retinue, journeyed to Sweden. Seeing the said youths beset with sundry prodigies while busy watching at night over their flocks, she forbade her sisters, who desired to dismount, in a poem of the following strain:

Dan 2.2.2 (p. 39,27 )

1 Monstra quidem video celerem raptantia saltum

"Monsters I behold taking swift leaps

corpora nocturnis praecipitare locis.

and flinging themselves over the night places.

2 Bella gerit daemon, et iniquae dedita rixae

The demon is at war, and the unholy throng,

militat in mediis turba nefanda viis.

devoted to the mischievous fray, battles in the mid- thoroughfare.

3 Effigie spectanda truci portenta feruntur,

Prodigies of aspect grim to behold pass by,

haecque hominum nulli rura patere sinunt.

and suffer no mortal to enter this country.

4 Agmina praecipiti per inane ruentia cursu

The ranks galloping in headlong career through the void

hac nos progressum sistere sede iubent;

bid us stay our advance in this spot; they warn us

flectere lora monent sacrisque absistere campis

to turn our rein and hold off from the accursed fields,

arvaque nos prohibent ulteriora sequi.

they forbid us to approach the country beyond.

5 Trux Lemurum chorus advehitur, praecepsque per auras

A scowling horde of ghosts draws near, and scurries furiously

cursitat et vastos edit ad astra sonos.

through the wind, bellowing drearily to the stars.

6 Accedunt Fauni Satyris, Panumque caterva

Fauns join Satyrs, and the throng of Pans

Manibus admixta militat ore fero;

mingles with the Spectres and battles with fierce visage.

Silvanis coeunt Aquili, Larvaeque nocentes

The Swart ones meet the Woodland Spirits, and the pestilent phantoms

cum Lamiis callem participare student.

strive to share the path with the Witches.

7 Saltu librantur Furiae, glomerantur iisdem

Furies poise themselves on the leap, and on them huddle

Fanae, quas Simis Fantua iuncta premit.

the Phantoms, whom Foreboder (Fantua) joined to the Flatnoses (Satyrs), jostles.

8 Calcandus pediti trames terrore redundat,

The path that the footfarer must tread brims with horror.

tutius excelsi terga premantur equi.

It were safer to burden the back of the tall horse."

Dan 2.2.3 (p. 40,9 )

1 Ad haec Regnerus servum regium se professus tam longinqui a domo excessus causam astruxit, quod, cum pastoralis operis gratia rus relegatus pecus, cui praeerat, amisisset, desperata recuperatione reditu abstinere quam ultionis poenam incurrere praeoptasset. 2 Et ne fratris condicionem silentio praeteriret, tale dictis poema subiunxit:

Thereon Ragnar declared that he was a slave of the king, and gave as reason of his departure so far from home that, when he had been banished to the country on his shepherd's business, he had lost the flock of which he had charge, and despairing to recover it, had chosen rather to forbear from returning than to incur punishment. Also, loth to say nothing about the estate of his brother, he further spoke the following poem:

Dan 2.2.4 (p. 40,14 )

1 Nos homines, non monstra puta, servosque manentes

"Think us men, not monsters; we are slaves

per loca pascendos exagitasse greges.

who drove our lingering flocks for pasture through the country.

2 At cum per teneros ageremus tempora lusus,

But while we took our pastime in gentle sports,

forte remota vagum cessit in arva pecus.

our flock chanced to stray and went into far-off fields.

3 Cumque petita diu spes deforet inveniendi,

And when our hope of finding them, our long quest failed,

incessit miseris sollicitudo reis.

trouble came upon the mind of the wretched culprits.

4 Cumque boum nusquam vestigia certa paterent,

And when sure tracks of our kine were nowhere to be seen,

obtinuit maestus sontia corda pavor.

dismal panic filled our guilty hearts.

5 Hinc est, quod virgae vulnus poenale verentes

That is why, dreading the penal stripe of the rod,

duximus in proprios triste redire lares.

we thought it doleful to return to our own roof.

6 Credidimus, quam ferre manum poenamque subire,

We supposed it safer to hold aloof from the familiar hearth

tutius assuetis abstinuisse focis.

than to bear the hand of punishment.

7 Sic poenam differre iuvat, reditumque perosis

Thus we are fain to put off the punishment; we loathe going back

hac dominum latebra fallere cura manet.

and our wish is to lie hid here and escape our master's eye.

8 Hac ope neglecti pecoris vitabitur ultor,

This will aid us to elude the avenger of his neglected flock;

solaque stat nostris haec fuga tuta viis.

and this is the one way of escape that remains safe for us."

Dan 2.2.5 (p. 40,30 )

1 Tunc Suanhuita speciosissimum lineamentorum eius habitum curiosiori contemplatione lustratum impensius admirata: 'Regibus te', inquit, 'non servis editum praeradians luminum vibratus eloquitur. 2 Forma prosapiam pandit, et in oculorum micatu naturae venustas elucet. 3 Acritas visus ortus excellentiam praefert, nec humili loco natum liquet, quem certissima nobilitatis index pulchritudo commendat. 4 Exterior pupillarum alacritas interni fulgoris genium confitetur. 5 Facies fidem generi facit, et in luculentia vultus maiorum claritudo respicitur. 6 Neque enim tam comis tamque ingenua species ab ignobili potuit auctore profundi. 7 Sanguinis decus cognato frontem decore perfundit, et in oris speculo condicio nativa resultat. 8 Minime ergo tam spectati caelaminis simulacrum obscurus opifex absolvit. 9 Nunc itaque celerrima declinatione crebros viae excessus petentes monstrigenos vitate concursus, ne elegantissimorum corporum praeda sordidissimis pastum agminibus praebeatis.'

Then Swanhwid gazed intently, and surveying his features, which were very comely, admired them ardently, and said: "The radiant flashing of thine eyes is eloquent that thou art of kingly and not of servile stock. Beauty announces blood, and loveliness of soul glitters in the flash of the eyes. A keen glance betokens lordly birth, and it is plain that he whom fairness, that sure sign of nobleness, commends, is of no mean station. The outward alertness of thine eyes signifies a spirit of radiance within. Face vouches for race; and the lustre of forefathers is beheld in the brightness of the countenance. For an aspect so benign and noble could never have issued from base parentage. The grace of thy blood makes thy brow mantle with a kindred grace, and the estate of thy birth is reflected in the mirror of thy countenance. It is no obscure craftsman, therefore, that has finished the portrait of so choice a chasing. Now therefore turn aside with all speed, seek constantly to depart out of the road, shun encounters with monsters, lest ye yield your most gracious bodies to be the prey and pasture of the vilest hordes."

Dan 2.2.6 (p. 41,8 )

1 At Regnero maximus ob deformitatem cultus rubor incesserat, cuius unicum in obscuranda nobilitate remedium ducebat. 2 Servitutem itaque non semper virilitate vacuam reperiri subiunxit; saepe enim sordido cultu robustam obtegi manum, fortemque dextram atra veste concludi interdum; itaque naturae vitium virtute redimi damnumque generis animi ingenuitate pensari. 3 Se ergo, Thor deo excepto, nullam monstrigenae virtutis potentiam expavere, cuius virium magnitudini nihil humanarum divinarumve rerum digna possit aequalitate conferri. 4 Sed neque larvas livido tantum squalore terribiles a masculis debere pectoribus formidari, quarum effigies adulterino distincta pallore momentaneum corporis habitum ab aeris teneritudine mutuari consueverit. 5 Falli igitur Suanhuitam, quae solidum virorum robur muliebriter emollire viresque vinci insolitas effeminato pavore perfundere conetur.

But Ragnar was seized with great shame for his unsightly attire, which he thought was the only possible device to disguise his birth. So he rejoined, "That slaves were not always found to lack manhood; that a strong hand was often hidden under squalid raiment, and sometimes a stout arm was muffled trader a dusky cloak; thus the fault of nature was retrieved by valour, and deficiency in race requited by nobleness of spirit. He therefore feared the might of no supernatural prowess, save of the god Thor only, to the greatness of whose force nothing human or divine could fitly be compared. The hearts of men ought not to be terrified at phantoms, which were only awful from their ghastly foulness, and whose semblances, marked by counterfeit ghostliness, were wont for a moment to borrow materiality from the fluent air. Swanhwid therefore erred in trying, womanlike, to sap the firm strength of men, and to melt in unmanly panic that might which knew not defeat."

Dan 2.2.7 (p. 41,20 )

1 Admirata iuvenis constantiam Suanhuita, ablegato nubilae inumbrationis vapore, praetentas ori tenebras suda perspicuitate discussit ensemque variis conflictibus opportunum se ei daturam pollicita miram virginei candoris speciem novo membrorum iubare praeferebat. 2 Taliter accensi iuvenis connubium pacta prolato mucrone sic coepit:

Swanhwid marvelled at the young man's steadfastness, and cast off the cloud of mist which overshadowed her, dispelling the darkness which shrouded her face, till it was clear and cloudless. Then, promising that she would give him a sword fitted for diver's kinds of battle, she revealed the marvellous maiden beauty of her lustrous limbs. Thus was the youth kindled, and she plighted her troth with him, and proffering the sword, she thus began:

Dan 2.2.8 (p. 41,25 )

1 In gladio, quo monstra tibi ferienda patebunt,

"King, in this sword, which shall expose the monsters to thy blows,

suscipe, rex, sponsae munera prima tuae.

take the first gift of thy betrothed.

2 Hoc dignum te rite proba, manus aemula ferri

Show thyself duly deserving hereof; let hand rival sword,

gestamen studeat condecorare suum.

and aspire to add lustre to its weapon.

3 Ferrea vis tenerum mentis confortet acumen,

Let the might of steel strengthen the defenceless point of thy wit,

atque animus dextrae noverit esse comes.

and let spirit know how to work with hand.

4 Aequet onus lator, et ut ensi congruat actus,

Let the bearer match the burden: and that thy deed may sort with thy blade,

accedat gravitas par in utroque tibi.

let equal weight in each be thine.

5 Framea quid prodest, ubi languet debile pectus,

What avails the javelin when the breast is weak and faint,

et telum trepidae destituere manus?

and the quivering hands have dropped the lance?

6 Ferrum animo coeat, corpusque armetur utroque,

Let steel join soul, and be both the body's armour!

iungatur capulo consona dextra suo.

Let the right hand be linked with its hilt in alliance.

7 Haec celebres edunt pugnas, quia iuncta vigoris

These fight famous battles, because they always keep more force

plus retinere solent, dissociata minus.

when together; but less when parted.

8 Hinc tibi si volupe est belli clarescere palma,

Therefore if it be joy to thee to win fame by the palm of war,

consectare ausu, quod premis ipse manu.

pursue with daring whatsoever is hard pressed by thy hand."

Dan 2.2.9 (p. 41,41 )

1 Cumque multa ad hunc modum coaptato rhythmorum canore prompsisset, dimissis comitibus, adversum obscenissimas portentorum catervas noctem dimicando permensa, luce reddita varias larvarum formas et inusitata specierum figmenta passim arvis incidisse cognoscit, inter quas et ipsius Thorildae crebris offusa vulneribus effigies visebatur. 2 Quas in struem congestas ingenti pyra accensa cremavit, ne taeter obscenorum cadaverum odor pestifera exhalatione diffusus propius accedentes corruptionis contagio sauciaret. 3 Quo facto Regnero Suetiae regnum, sibi vero Regneri torum conciliavit. 4 Qui licet tirocinium nuptiis auspicari deforme existimaret, servatae salutis suae respectu provocatus promissum beneficio exsolvit.

After thus discoursing long in harmoniously-adjusted strains, she sent away her retinue, and passed all the night in combat against the foulest throngs of monsters; and at return of daybreak she perceived fallen all over the fields diverse shapes of phantoms, and figures extraordinary to look on; and among them was seen the semblance of Thorhild herself covered with wounds. All these she piled in a heap and burnt, kindling a huge pyre, lest the foul stench of the filthy carcases might spread in pestilent vapour and hurt those who came nigh with its taint of corruption. This done, she won the throne of Sweden for Ragnar, and Ragnar for her husband. And though he deemed it uncomely to inaugurate his first campaign with a wedding, yet, moved by gratitude for the preservation of his safety, he kept his promise.

Dan 2.2.10 (p. 42,10 )

1 Inter haec Ubbo quidam, sororem Frothonis Ulvildam iam pridem matrimonio complexus, Daniae regnum, cuius procurationem perfunctorie gerebat, uxoris nobilitate fretus occupat. 2 Quamobrem Frotho Orientis bella deserere coactus apud Suetiam cum Suanhuita sorore grave proelium facit. 3 Quo afflictus, noctu conscensa cymba, per occultos navigationis anfractus perforandae hostium classis aditum quaerebat. 4 Deprehensus a sorore rogatusque, cur tacito remigio varias meatuum ambages sequeretur, simili quaestionis modo percontantem absolvit. 5 Nam Suanhuita quoque eodem noctis tempore solitariam navigationem ingressa ancipiti declinationis gyro multiplices sensim aditus recessusque captabat. 6 Fratrem itaque dudum ab eo collatae sibi libertatis admonitum rogare coepit, ut, quam bellum Rutenicum petiturus arbitraria nubendi potestate donaverat, assumpto coniuge frui permittat ratumque post factum habeat, quod fieri ipse concesserit. 7 Tam iustis precibus permotus Frotho pacem cum Regnero componit iniuriamque, quam ex sororis petulantia suscepisse videbatur, rogatui remisit. 8 A quibus etiam manu, quantam per eos amiserat, donatus deforme vulnus specioso beneficio pensatum gaudebat.

Meantime one Ubbe, who had long since wedded Ulfhild the sister of Frode, trusting in the high birth of his wife, seized the kingdom of Denmark, which he was managing carelessly as deputy. Frode was thus forced to quit the wars of the East and fought a great battle in Sweden with his sister Swanhwid, in which he was beaten. So he got on board a skiff, and sailed stealthily in a circuit, seeking some way of boring through the enemy's fleet. When surprised by his sister and asked why he was rowing silently and following divers meandering courses, he cut short her inquiry by a similar question; for Swanhwid had also, at the same time of the night, taken to sailing about alone, and was stealthily searching out all the ways of approach and retreat through devious and dangerous windings. So she reminded her brother of the freedom he had given her long since, and went on to ask him that he should allow her full enjoyment of the husband she had taken; since, before he started on the Russian war, he had given her the boon of marrying as she would; and that he should hold valid after the event what he had himself allowed to happen. These reasonable entreaties touched Frode, and he made a peace with Ragnar, and forgave, at his sister's request, the wrongdoing which Ragnar, seemed to have begun because of her wantonness. They presented him with a force equal to that which they had caused him to lose: a handsome gift in which he rejoiced as compensation for so ugly a reverse.

Dan 2.2.11 (p. 42,27 )

1 Daniam ingressus capto perductoque ad se Ubboni ignovit veniamque quam poenam male merito rependere maluit, quod regnum potius uxoris impulsu quam propria cupiditate tentasse nec tam auctor iniuriae quam imitator fuisse videretur. 2 Ulvildam eidem ademptam amico suo Scotto, qui et ipse Scottici nominis conditor fuit, nubere coegit, tori varietatem supplicii loco reputans. 3 Cuius discessum regiis etiam vehiculis prosecutus iniuriam beneficio pensavit. 4 Sororis siquidem naturam, non ingenium intuens suae potius famae quam illius nequitiae consulebat.

Ragnar, entering Denmark, captured Ubbe, had him brought before him, and pardoned him, preferring to visit his ill deserts with grace rather than chastisement; because the man seemed to have aimed at the crown rather at his wife's instance than of his own ambition, and to have been the imitator and not the cause of the wrong. But he took Ulfhild away from him and forced her to wed his friend Scot, the same man that founded the Scottish name; esteeming change of wedlock a punishment for her. As she went away he even escorted her in the royal chariot, requiting evil with good; for he regarded the kinship of his sister rather than her disposition, and took more thought for his own good name than of her iniquity.

Dan 2.2.12 (p. 42,35 )

1 Quae fraternis meritis nihil ex consueti odii pertinacia remittens novi mariti animum occidendi Frothonis occupandique Danorum imperii consilio fatigabat. 2 Segniter enim deserere solet animus, quicquid solido fuerit amore complexus, neque fluidis annis inolitum continuo crimen elabitur. 3 Primaevam quippe mentem posterior imitatur affectio, nec cito vitiorum vestigia pereunt, quae tenera moribus aetas impresserit. 4 Cum vacuas mariti aures haberet, insidias a fratre in virum convertit, mercede conductis, qui iugulum dormientis confoderent. 5 Qua de re Scottus per pedissequam certior factus nocte, qua caedis ministerium circa se peragendum acceperat, lecto loricatus incessit. 6 Rogatus ab Ulvilda, quid ita assuetae quietis usum ferreo cultu mutasset, sic ad praesens sibi collibitum retulit. 7 Cum somno offusus putaretur, irrumpentes insidiarum ministros lecto delapsus obtruncat. 8 Quo evenit, ut Ulvildam insidiis fratri nectendis abstraheret et aliis uxorum perfidiam cavendi documentum praeberet.

But the fair deeds of her brother did not make her obstinate and wonted hatred slacken a whit; she wore the spirit of her new husband with her design of slaying Frode and mastering the sovereignty of the Danes. For whatsoever design the mind has resolutely conceived, it is slow to quit; nor is a sin that is long schemed swept away by the stream of years. For the temper of later life follows the mind of childhood; nor do the traces easily fade of vices which have been stamped upon the character in the impressible age. Finding the ears of her husband deaf, she diverted her treachery from her brother against her lord, hiring bravoes to cut his throat while he slept. Scot was told about this by a waiting-woman, and retired to bed in his cuirass on the night on which he had heard the deed of murder was to be wrought upon him. Ulfhild asked him why he had exchanged his wonted ways to wear the garb of steel; he rejoined that such was just then his fancy. The agents of the treachery, when they imagined him in a deep sleep, burst in; but he slipped from his bed and cut them down. The result was, that he prevented Ulfhild from weaving plots against her brother, and also left a warning to others to beware of treachery from their wives.

Dan 2.3.1 (p. 43,11 )

1 Quae dum geruntur, adoriendae bello Fresiae Frothoni consilium incidit, claritatem Orientis devictione quaesitam Occidentis oculis infundere avido. 2 Oceanum petenti prima adversum Withonem Fresorum piratam congressio fuit, in qua, sociis primos hostium impetus solo clipeorum obiectu patienter excipere iussis, non ante missilibus utendum edixit, quam penitus hostilium iaculorum imbrem exhaustum adverterent. 3 Quae tanto a Fresis avidius emissa, quanto a Danis tolerabilius excepta, Withone Frothonis patientiam a pacis cupiditate profectam existimante. 4 Oritur ingens classicum, et immenso pila stridore dissultant. 5 Cum nullum incautis iaculum superesset, Danorum telis offusi vincuntur. 6 Fuga litus amplexi inter flexuosos fossarum ambitus obtruncantur. 7 Rhenum deinde classe rimatus extremis Germaniae partibus manus iniecit. 8 Repetito Oceano Fresorum classem vadosis inflictam vertibus adortus caede naufragium cumulavit.

Meantime the design occurred to Frode of a campaign against Friesland; he was desirous to dazzle the eyes of the West with the glory he had won in conquering the East. He put out to ocean, and his first contest was with Witthe, a rover of the Frisians; and in this battle he bade his crews patiently bear the first brunt of the enemy's charge by merely opposing their shields, ordering that they should not use their missiles before they perceived that the shower of the enemy's spears was utterly silent. This the Frisians hurled as vehemently as the Danes received it impassively; for Witthe supposed that the long- suffering of Frode was due to a wish for peace. High rose the blast of the trumpet, and loud whizzed the javelins everywhere, till at last the heedless Frisians had not a single lance remaining, and they were conquered, overwhelmed by the missiles of the Danes. They fled hugging the shore, and were cut to pieces amid the circuitous windings of the canals. Then Frode explored the Rhine in his fleet, and laid hands on the farthest parts of Germany. Then he went back to the ocean, and attacked the Frisian fleet, which had struck on shoals; and thus he crowned shipwreck with slaughter.

Dan 2.3.2 (p. 43,24 )

1 Nec tantas hostium acies obtrivisse contentus Britanniam tentat. 2 Cuius rege devicto, Melbrictum Scotticae regionis praefectum aggreditur. 3 Cui cum bellum illaturus Britannorum regem imminere ex speculatore cognosset tergoque simul ac pectori consulere nequiret, militibus ad contionem vocatis deserenda vehicula, abiciendam supellectilem aurumque, quod ab iis gestaretur, passim per arva disiciendum edixit, affirmans solam in opum effusione opem restare nec aliud conclusis subsidium superesse quam hostem ab armis in avaritiam pellicere. 4 Libenter praedam apud exteros quaesitam supremae necessitati impendi debere; fore enim, ut hostes non minore aviditate collectam abicerent quam repertam corriperent, oneri potius quam usui futuram.

Nor was he content with the destruction of so great an army of his foes, but assailed Britain, defeated its king, and attacked Melbrik, the Governor of the Scottish district. Just as he was preparing to fight him, he heard from a scout that the King of the Britons was at hand, and could not look to his front and his rear both at once. So he assembled the soldiers, and ordered that they should abandon their chariots, fling away all their goods, and scatter everywhere over the fields the gold which they had about them; for he declared that their one chance was to squander their treasure; and that, now they were hemmed in, their only remaining help was to tempt the enemy from combat to covetousness. They ought cheerfully to spend on so extreme a need the spoil they had gotten among foreigners; for the enemy would drop it as eagerly, when it was once gathered, as they would snatch it when they first found it; for it would be to them more burden than profit.

Dan 2.3.3 (p. 43,34 )

1 Tunc Thorkillus, avaritia ante alios insignis ceterisque elogio praestans, capite galea nudato, clipeo innixus: 'Movet', inquit, 'rex, plerosque tuae praeceptionis austeritas, qui magni aestimant, quod sanguine pepererunt. 2 Aegre proicitur, quod maximo constat periculo quaesitum. 3 Inviti deserunt, quod vitae discrimine emerunt. 4 Extremae enim dementiae est virili animo ac manu parta muliebriter spernere opesque hosti insperatas afferre. 5 Quid deformius quam belli fortunam praedae, quam gerimus, contemptu praecurrere certumque et praesens bonum dubii mali metu relinquere? 6 Nondum Scottos aspeximus et arvum auro spargemus? 7 Quales in proelio existimandi sunt, quos bellum petentes sola bellorum enervat opinio? 8 An, qui hosti formidolosi fuimus, ridiculi erimus claritatemque contemptu mutabimus? 9 Mirabitur Britannus ab iis se victum, quos solo vinci timore conspexerit. 10 Illorum metu prememur, quibus metum priores ingessimus? 11 Quorum praesentiam contempsimus, absentiam metuemus? 12 Quando opes probitate mercabimur, quas timore iactamus? 13 Pecunias, pro quibus pugnavimus, pugnam vitando temnemus? 14 Quos paupertati subicere debuimus, divitiis imbuemus? 15 Spolia fortiter cepimus; molliter iaciemus? 16 Quid turpius a nobis committi poterit quam aurum erogare, quibus ferrum infligere debemus? 17 Pavor numquam eximat, quod virtus peperit. 18 Quod bello quaesivimus, bello linquendum est. 19 Tanti praeda veneat, quanti empta est; ferro pretium ponderetur. 20 Praestat speciosa defungi morte quam lucis aviditate vilescere. 21 A vita parvulo temporis momento deserimur; pudor etiam fatum insequitur. 22 Huic accedit, quod iactantes aurum hostis hoc avidius insequetur, quo maiore metu urgeri crediderit. 23 Praeterea neutra nobis fortuna auri odium facit. 24 Victores namque aere, quod gestamus, ovabimus, victi sepulturae praemio relinquemus.' Haec senior.

Then Thorkill, who was a more notable miser and a better orator than them all, dishelming and leaning on his shield, said: "O King! Most of us who rate high what we have bought with our life-blood find thy bidding hard. We take it ill that we should fling away what we have won with utmost hazard; and men are loth to forsake what they have purchased at peril of their lives. For it is utter madness to spurn away like women what our manly hearts and hands have earned, and enrich the enemy beyond their hopes. What is more odious than to anticipate the fortune of war by despising the booty which is ours, and, in terror of an evil that may never come, to quit a good which is present and assured? Shall we scatter our gold upon the earth, ere we have set eyes upon the Scots? Those who faint at the thought of warring when they are out for war, what manner of men are they to be thought in the battle? Shall we be a derision to our foes, we who were their terror? Shall we take scorn instead of glory? The Briton will marvel that he was conquered by men whom he sees fear is enough to conquer. We struck them before with panic; shall we be panic-stricken by them? We scorned them when before us; shall we dread them when they are not here? When will our bravery win the treasure which our cowardice rejects? Shall we shirk the fight, in scorn of the money which we fought to win, and enrich those whom we should rightly have impoverished? What deed more despicable can we do than to squander gold on those whom we should smite with steel? Panic must never rob us of the spoils of valour; and only war must make us quit what in warfare we have won. Let us sell our plunder at the price at which we bought it; let the purchase-money be weighed out in steel. It is better to die a noble death, than to molder away too much in love with the light life. In a fleeting instant of time life forsakes us, but shame pursues us past the grave. Further, if we cast away this gold, the greater the enemy thinks our fear, the hotter will be his chase. Besides, whichever the issue of the day, the gold is not hateful to us. Conquerors, we shall triumph in the treasure which now we bear; conquered, we shall leave it to pay our burying."

Dan 2.3.4 (p. 44,20 )

1 At milites regis potius quam sodalis consilium intuentes prioremque exhortationem posterae praeferentes, quod cuique opum erat, certatim loculis egerunt. 2 Mannos quoque variae supellectilis gerulos oneribus absolvunt sicque, vacuefactis crumenis, armis habilius accinguntur. 3 Quibus progressis, succedentes Britanni in patentem late praedam dissiliunt. 4 Quos rex circa pecuniae raptum avidius aequo occupatos conspiciens cavere iubet, ne destinatas proelio manus opum onere fatigent, scientes triumphum ante carpendum quam censum. 5 Proinde, auro spreto, auri dominos insequantur nec aeris, sed victoriae fulgorem mirentur, meminerintque satius trophaeum pensare quam quaestum. 6 Potiorem esse metallo virtutem, si rite amborum habitum metiantur. 7 Hoc namque exteriorem ornatum conciliari, illam interno externoque cultui pretium afferre. 8 Quamobrem remotos a pecuniae contemplatione oculos habeant abstractumque avaritia animum belli studiis impendant. 9 Praeterea noverint praedam ab hostibus de industria reiectam aurumque insidiis potius quam usui seminatum. 10 Sed et simplicem argenti nitorem latentis hami fraude implicitum teneri. 11 Neque enim facile fugisse existimandum, qui fortem Britannorum gentem fugae prior adegerit. 12 Ceterum nihil indignius opibus esse, quae raptorem captivant, dum ditare creduntur. 13 Siquidem Danos, quibus opes obtulisse videantur, ferro caedeque multandos duxisse. 14 Itaque si sparsa rapiant, eo hostem instruere viderentur. 15 Si enim aeris in medio positi specie tangerentur, non solum id, sed et, si quid iis propriae pecuniae superesset, amitterent. 16 Quid enim colligere prodesset, quae protinus erogare cogantur? 17 Sin pecuniae prosterni renuerint, hostem haud dubie prostraturos. 18 Potius itaque virtute arduos quam cupiditate pronos exsistere debere nec occiduos in avaritiam animos, sed erectos in gloriam habendos esse; armis, non auro certandum fore.

So spoke the old man; but the soldiers regarded the advice of their king rather than of their comrade, and thought more of the former than of the latter counsel. So each of them eagerly drew his wealth, whatever he had, from his pouch; they unloaded their ponies of the various goods they were carrying; and having thus cleared their money-bags, girded on their arms more deftly. They went on, and the Britons came up, but broke away after the plunder which lay spread out before them. Their king, when he beheld them too greedily busied with scrambling for the treasure, bade them "take heed not to weary with a load of riches those hands which were meant for battle, since they ought to know that a victory must be culled ere it is counted. Therefore let them scorn the gold and give chase to the possessors of the gold; let them admire the lustre, not of lucre, but of conquest; remembering, that a trophy gave more reward than gain. Courage was worth more than dross, if they measured aright the quality of both; for the one furnished outward adorning, but the other enhanced both outward and inward grace. Therefore they must keep their eyes far from the sight of money, and their soul from covetousness, and devote it to the pursuits of war. Further, they should know that the plunder had been abandoned by the enemy of set purpose, and that the gold had been scattered rather to betray them than to profit them. Moreover, the honest lustre of the silver was only a bait on the barb of secret guile. It was not thought to be that they, who had first forced the Britons to fly, would lightly fly themselves. Besides, nothing was more shameful than riches which betrayed into captivity the plunderer whom they were supposed to enrich. For the Danes thought that the men to whom they pretended to have offered riches ought to be punished with sword and slaughter. Let them therefore feel that they were only giving the enemy a weapon if they seized what he had scattered. For if they were caught by the look of the treasure that had been exposed, they must lose, not only that, but any of their own money that might remain. What could it profit them to gather what they must straightway disgorge? But if they refuse to abase themselves before money, they would doubtless abase the foe. Thus it was better for them to stand erect in valour than be grovelling in greed; with their souls not sinking into covetousness, but up and doing for renown. In the battle they would have to use not gold but swords."

Dan 2.3.5 (p. 45,5 )

1 Finiente rege, eques Britannicus cunctis onustum auro gremium ostendens: 'Colliguntur,' inquit, 'rex, ex oratione tua gemini rerum affectus, unus timoris, alter malevolentiae testis, cum et opibus propter hostem uti prohibeas, nosque egenos tibi quam locupletes militare satius ducas. 2 Quid hac deformius voluntate? Quid exhortatione stolidius? 3 Domesticas hic gazas agnoscimus, agnitas tollere dubitabimus? 4 Quod armis repetere pergebamus, quod sanguine recuperare contendimus, ultro restitutum vitabimus? 5 Propria vindicare cunctabimur? Uter timidior est, qui parta fundit, an qui fusa legere pertimescit? En, quod necessitas ademit, casus reddidit. 6 Non hostium, sed nostra haec spolia sunt; non attulit aurum Britanniae Danus, sed abstulit. 7 Quae subacti invitique perdidimus, gratis redeuntia fugiemus? Nefas est tantum fortunae beneficium indignanter excipere. 8 Quid enim vesanius quam opes in propatulo constitutas despicere, conclusas ac vetitas affectare? 9 Ante oculos collocata fastidio dabimus, fugientia captaturi? 10 In medio positis abstinebimus, longinqua atque extera petituri? 11 Quando peregrina praedabimur, si propria refutamus? 12 Numquam deos tam infestos experiar, ut sinum paterna avitaque pecunia refertum tam iusto onere vacuefacere compellar. 13 Novi Danorum luxum; numquam plena meri vasa liquissent, ni timor aufugere compulisset. 14 Facilius vitam deseruissent quam vinum. 15 Communis hic nobis affectio est, hac illis imagine respondemus. 16 Esto, fugam finxerint; ante tamen in Scottos incident, quam regredi queant. 17 Numquam porcis proculcandum aut beluis hoc aurum rure squalebit, humano melius usui serviturum. 18 Praeterea si exercitus, a quo victi sumus, spolia rapimus, fortunam in nosmet victoris transferimus. 19 Quod enim certius victoriae praesagium accipi possit, quam pugnam praeda praecurrere castraque ab hostibus deserta ante proelium capere? 20 Satius est metu vicisse quam ferro.'

As the king ended, a British knight, shewing them all his lapful of gold, said: "O King! From thy speech can be gathered two feelings; and one of them witnesses to thy cowardice and the other to thy ill will: inasmuch as thou forbiddest us the use of the wealth because of the enemy, and also thinkest it better that we should serve thee needy than rich. What is more odious than such a wish? What more senseless than such a counsel? We recognise these as the treasures of our own homes, and having done so, shall we falter to pick them up? We were on our way to regain them by fighting, we were zealous to win them back by our blood: shall we shun them when they are restored unasked? Shall we hesitate to claim our own? Which is the greater coward, he who squanders his winnings, or he who is fearful to pick up what is squandered? Look how chance has restored what compulsion took! These are, not spoils from the enemy, but from ourselves; the Dane took gold from Britain, he brought none. Beaten and loth we lost it; it comes back for nothing, and shall we run away from it? Such a gift of fortune it were a shame to take in an unworthy spirit. For what were madder than to spurn wealth that is set openly before us, and to desire it when it is shut up and kept from us? Shall we squeamishly yield what is set under our eyes, and clutch at it when it vanishes? Shall we seek distant and foreign treasure, refraining from what is made public property? If we disown what is ours, when shall we despoil the goods of others? No anger of heaven can I experience which can force me to unload of its lawful burden the lap which is filled with my father's and my grandsire's gold. I know the wantonness of the Danes: never would they have left jars full of wine had not fear forced them to flee. They would rather have sacrificed their life than their liquor. This passion we share with them, and herein we are like them. Grant that their flight is feigned; yet they will light upon the Scots ere they can come back. This gold shall never rust in the country, to be trodden underfoot of swine or brutes: it will better serve the use of men. Besides, if we plunder the spoil of the army that prevailed over us, we transfer the luck of the conqueror to ourselves. For what surer omen of triumph could be got, than to bear off the booty before the battle, and to capture ere the fray the camp which the enemy have forsaken? Better conquer by fear than by steel."

Dan 2.3.6 (p. 45,31 )

1 Finierat vix eques, et ecce omnium effusae in praedam manus nitida passim aera carpsere. 2 Mirareris illic obscenae aviditatis ingenium, speculari posses immoderatum cupiditatis exemplum. 3 Videres cum gramine pariter aurum convelli, intestinum discidium nasci, immemores hostium cives ferro decernere, familiaritatis iura, societatis respectum neglegi, avaritiam omnes, amicitias neminem intueri.

The knight had scarce ended, when behold; the hands of all were loosed upon the booty and everywhere plucked up the shining treasure. There you might have marvelled at their disposition of filthy greed, and watched a portentous spectacle of avarice. You could have seen gold and grass clutched up together; the birth of domestic discord; fellow-countrymen in deadly combat, heedless of the foe; neglect of the bonds of comradeship and of reverence for ties; greed the object of all minds, and friendship of none.

Dan 2.3.7 (p. 45,37 )

1 Interea Frotho silvam, quae Scottiam Britanniamque secernit, vasto itinere permensus arma milites capere iubet. 2 Cuius aciem speculati Scotti, cum sibi levia tantum pila suppetere, Danos vero praestantiori armaturae genere cultos conspicerent, pugnam fuga praeveniunt. 3 Quos Frotho Britannicae effusionis metu modicum insecutus Ulvildae virum Scottum cum ingenti exercitu obvium recepit, quem e remotissimis Scottiae finibus auxilii Danis ferendi cupido perduxerat. 4 Per hunc, Scottorum insectatione relicta, cursum in Britanniam reflectere iussus praedam, quam vafre reiecerat, acriter recuperavit. 5 Igitur quo aequiore animo opes deseruit, hoc facilius recepit. 6 Paenituit tunc oneris Britannos, sanguine poenas avaritiae dantes. 7 Piguit inexpletae aviditati brachia porrexisse. 8 Puduit minus regiae exhortationi quam propriae indulsisse cupiditati.

Meantime Frode traversed in a great march the forest which separates Scotland and Britain, and bade his soldiers arm. When the Scots beheld his line, and saw that they had only a supply of light javelins, while the Danes were furnished with a more excellent style of armour, they forestalled the battle by flight. Frode pursued them but a little way, fearing a sally of the British, and on returning met Scot, the husband of Ulfhild, with a great army; he had been brought from the utmost ends of Scotland by the desire of aiding the Danes. Scot entreated him to abandon the pursuit of the Scottish and turn back into Britain. So he eagerly regained the plunder which he had cunningly sacrificed; and got back his wealth with the greater ease, that he had so tranquilly let it go. Then did the British repent of their burden and pay for their covetousness with their blood. They were sorry to have clutched at greed with insatiate arms, and ashamed to have hearkened to their own avarice rather than to the counsel of their king.

Dan 2.3.8 (p. 46,8 )

1 Post haec celeberrimum insulae oppidum Lundoniam petit. 2 Cuius murorum firmatate expugnationis facultatem negante, mortis simulatione facta vires ab astutia mutuatus est. 3 Siquidem praefectus Lundoniae Dalemannus, cum falsum de eius obitu nuntium accepisset, receptis in deditionem Danis ducem ex indigenis offert. 4 Quem ut ex magno acervo legerent, oppidum intrare permisit. 5 Quibus electionis diligentiam simulantibus, nocturnis insidiis circumventus opprimitur.

Then Frode attacked London, the most populous city of Britain; but the strength of its walls gave him no chance of capturing it. Therefore he reigned to be dead, and his guile strengthened him. For Daleman, the governor of London, on hearing the false news of his death, accepted the surrender of the Danes, offered them a native general, and suffered them to enter the town, that they might choose him out of a great throng. They feigned to be making a careful choice, but beset Daleman in a night surprise and slew him.

Dan 2.4.1 (p. 46,15 )

1 His gestis, regem in patriam regressum Scato quidam convivio excipit, bellicis eius laboribus voluptatis licentiam permixturus. 2 Apud quem Frotho, dum regio more stratis auro pulvinaribus accubaret, per Hundingum quendam ad dimicandum provocatus, quamquam convivalibus mentem gaudiis impendisset, plus pugnae propinquitate quam epularum praesentia delectatus duello cenam, victoria duellum absolvit. 3 In quo dubiae salutis vulnere suscepto, rursum Haquini pugilis adhortatione perstrictus provocantis nece ultionem irritatae quietis exegit. 4 Duos ex cubiculariis palam insidiarum convictos ingentibus saxis affixos pelago obruit, ponderosum animi crimen adnexa corporibus mole multando.

When he had done these things, and gone back to his own land, one Skat entertained him at a banquet, desirous to mingle his toilsome warfare with joyous licence. Frode was lying in his house, in royal fashion, upon cushions of cloth of gold, and a certain Hunding challenged him to fight. Then, though he had bent his mind to the joys of wassail, he had more delight in the prospect of a fray than in the presence of a feast, and wound up the supper with a duel and the duel with a triumph. In the combat he received a dangerous wound; but a taunt of Hakon the champion again roused him, and, slaying his challenger, he took vengeance for the disturbance of his rest. Two of his chamber- servants were openly convicted of treachery, and he had them tied to vast stones and drowned in the sea; thus chastising the weighty guilt of their souls by fastening boulders to their bodies.

Dan 2.4.2 (p. 46,25 )

1 Ferunt quidam Ulvildam tunc ei insecabilem ferro vestem donasse, qua circumamictus nullo telorum acumine laederetur. 2 Nec praetereundum Frothonem contusis commolitisque auri fragminibus cibos respergere solitum, quibus adversum familiares veneficorum insidias uteretur.

Some relate that Ulfhild gave him a coat which no steel could pierce, so that when he wore it no missile's point could hurt him. Nor must I omit how Frode was wont to sprinkle his food with brayed and pounded atoms of gold, as a resource against the usual snares of poisoners.

Dan 2.4.3 (p. 46,29 )

1 Hic dum regnerum Suetiae regem falso proditionis insimulatum bello lacessit, non telorum vi, sed armorum pondere et corporis aestu strangulatus interiit, Haldano, Roe et Scato filiis relictis.

While he was attacking Ragnar, the King of Sweden, who had been falsely accused of treachery, he perished, not by the spears, but stifled in the weight of his arms and by the heat of his own body. Frode left three sons, Halfdan, Ro, and Skat,

Dan 2.5.1 (p. 46,32 )

1 His virtute paribus aequa regnandi incessit aviditas. 2 Imperii sui cuique cura exstitit, fraternus nullum respectus astrinxit. 3 Quem enim nimia sui caritas ceperit, aliena deserit, nec sibi quisquam ambitiose atque aliis amice consulere potest. 4 Horum maximus Haldanus, Roe et Scato fratribus interfectis, naturam scelere polluit, regnum parricidio carpsit et, ne ullum crudelitatis exemplum omitteret, comprehensos eorum fautores prius vinculorum poena coercuit, mox suspendio consumpsit. 5 Cuius ex eo maxime fortuna admirabilis fuit, quod, licet omnia temporum momenta ad exercenda atrocitatis officia contulisset, senectute vitam, non ferro finierit.

who were equal in valour, and were seized with an equal desire for the throne. All thought of sway, none was constrained by brotherly regard: for love of others forsaketh him who is eaten up with love of self, nor can any man take thought at once for his own advancement and for his friendship with others. Halfdan, the eldest son, disgraced his birth with the sin of slaying his brethren, winning his kingdom by the murder of his kin; and, to complete his display of cruelty, arrested their adherents, first confining them in bonds, and presently hanging them. The most notable thing in the fortunes of Halfdan was this, that though he devoted every instant of his life to the practice of cruel deeds, yet he died of old age, and not by the steel.

Dan 2.5.2 (p. 47,4 )

1 Huius filii Roe et Helgo fuere. 2 A Roe Roskildia condita memoratur, quam postmodum Sueno furcatae barbae cognomento clarus civibus auxit, amplitudine propagavit. 3 Hic brevi angustoque corpore fuit, Helgonem habitus procerior cepit. 4 Qui, diviso cum fratre regno, maris possessionem sortitus regem Sclaviae Scalcum maritimis copiis lacessitum oppressit. 5 Quam cum in provinciam redegisset, varios pelagi recessus vago navigationis genere perlustrabat. 6 Hic licet ferocioris ingenii esset, luxuria tamen saevitiam aequabat. 7 Adeo siquidem proiectus in Venerem exstitit, ut ambiguae existimationis esset, tyrannide magis an libidine arserit. 8 Apud insulam Thorø virgine Thora stuprum pati coacta, filiam suscepit, cui postmodum Ursae vocabulum aptavit.

Halfdan's sons were Ro and Helge. Ro is said to have been the founder of Roskild, which was later increased in population and enhanced in power by Sweyn, who was famous for the surname Forkbeard. Ro was short and spare, while Helge was rather tall of stature. Dividing the realm with his brother, Helge was allotted the domain of the sea; and attacking Skalk, the King of Sklavia, with his naval force, he slew him. Having reduced Sklavia into a province, he scoured the various arms of the sea in a wandering voyage. Savage of temper as Helge was, his cruelty was not greater than his lust. For he was so immoderately prone to love, that it was doubtful whether the heat of his tyranny or of his concupiscence was the greater. In Thorey he ravished the maiden Thora, who bore a daughter, to whom she afterwards gave the name of Urse.

Dan 2.5.3 (p. 47,14 )

1 Hundingum Saxoniae regis Syrici filium apud Stadium oppidum proelio vicit eundemque ex provocatione adortus duello prostravit. 2 Ob quod Hundingi interemptor vocatus victoriae decus cognomine usurpavit. 3 Iutiae Saxonibus ereptae ius procurationemque Hesce, Eyr et Ler ducibus commisit. 4 Apud Saxoniam ingenui ac liberti necem pari summa rependendam constituit, perinde ac liquido constare volens, quod cunctas Theutonum familias aequa servitus teneret omniumque corrupta libertas parem condicionis ignominiam redoleret.

Then he conquered in battle, before the town of Stad, the son of Syrik, King of Saxony, Hunding, whom he challenged, attacked, and slew in duel. For this he was called Hunding's-Bane, and by that name gained glory of his victory. He took Jutland out of the power of the Saxons, and entrusted its management to his generals, Heske, Eyr, and Ler. In Saxony he enacted that the slaughter of a freedman and of a noble should be visited with the same punishment; as though he wished it to be clearly known that all the households of the Teutons were held in equal slavery, and that the freedom of all was tainted and savoured equally of dishonour.

Dan 2.5.4 (p. 47,22 )

1 Cum ad insulam Thorø piraticam reflexisset, Thora, necdum amissae virginitatis maerore deposito, turpi commento nefariam stupri ultionem excogitavit. 2 Siquidem filiam nubilis aetatis de industria litori immissam concubitu patrem maculare praecepit. 3 Qui licet insidiosae voluptatis illecebris corpus dedisset, animi tamen integritatem exuisse credendus non est, cum ei promptissimam erroris excusationem ignorantiae beneficium afferret. 4 O stolidam matrem, quae filiae pudicitiam, ut suam ulcisceretur, exsulare permisit nec sanguinis sui castitatem curavit, dummodo incesti efficeret reum, per quem prior ipsa perdiderit caelibatum! 5 Atrocem feminae mentem, quae veluti secundam sui corruptionem in poenam corruptoris expendit, cum hoc ipso potius iniuriam augere quam extenuare videretur! 6 Quippe quo se ultionem assequi credidit, culpam astruxit et, dum noxam detrahere gestit, nefas adiecit, subolis suae novercam agendo, cuius, ut propriam expiaret infamiam, flagitio non pepercit. 7 Nec dubium eandem refertum impudentia animum gessisse, cuius tantus a pudore excessus erat, ut iniuriae solacium filiae probro petere non erubesceret. 8 Magnum, sed uno expiabile scelus, quod concubitus noxam fausta proles detersit neque opinione tristius quam fructu iucundius fuit. 9 Siquidem genitus ex Ursa Rolpho ortus sui infamiam conspicuis probitatis operibus redemit, quorum eximium fulgorem omnis aevi memoria specioso laudum praeconio celebrat. 10 Fit enim, ut laetis lugubria finiantur et in speciosos exitus turpiter auspicata concedant. 11 Igitur ut flagitiosus, ita felix patris error exstitit, quem tanta luce mirificus postmodum filius expiavit.

Then Helge went freebooting to Thorey. But Thora had not ceased to bewail her lost virginity, and planned a shameful device in abominable vengeance for her rape. For she deliberately sent down to the beach her daughter, who was of marriageable age, and prompted her father to deflower her. And though she yielded her body to the treacherous lures of delight, yet she must not be thought to have abjured her integrity of soul, inasmuch as her fault had a ready excuse by virtue of her ignorance. Insensate mother, who allowed the forfeiture of her child's chastity in order to avenge her own; caring nought for the purity of her own blood, so she might stain with incest the man who had cost her her own maidenhood at first! Infamous-hearted woman, who, to punish her defiler, measured out as it were a second defilement to herself, whereas she clearly by the selfsame act rather swelled than lessened the transgression! Surely, by the very act wherewith she thought to reach her revenge, she accumulated guilt; she added a sin in trying to remove a crime: she played the stepdame to her own offspring, not sparing her daughter abomination in order to atone for her own disgrace. Doubtless her soul was brimming over with shamelessness, since she swerved so far from shamefastness, as without a blush to seek solace for her wrong in her daughter's infamy. A great crime, with but one atonement; namely, that the guilt of this intercourse was wiped away by a fortunate progeny, its fruits being as delightful as its repute was evil. ROLF, the son of Urse, retrieved the shame of his birth by signal deeds of valour; and their exceeding lustre is honoured with bright laudation by the memory of all succeeding time. For lamentation sometimes ends in laughter, and foul beginnings pass to fair issues. So that the father's fault, though criminal, was fortunate, being afterwards atoned for by a son of such marvellous splendour.

Dan 2.5.5 (p. 48,8 )

1 Interea Regnero apud Suetiam defuncto, coniunx eius Suanhuita parvo post et ipsa morbo ex maestitia contracto decedit, fato virum insecuta, a quo vita distrahi passa non fuerat. 2 Fieri namque solet, ut quidam ob eximiam caritatem, quam vivis impenderant, etiam vita excedentes comitari contendant. 3 His filius Hothbrodus succedit, qui proferendi imperii studio Orienti bellum intulit ac post immensam populorum cladem athislum et Høtherum filios procreavit. 4 Iisdem Gevarum quendam egregiis sibi meritis devinctum paedagogum ascivit. 5 Nec Orientis victoria contentus Daniam petit eiusque regem Roe tribus proeliis provocatum occidit.

Meantime Ragnar died in Sweden; and Swanhwid his wife passed away soon after of a malady which she had taken from her sorrow, following in death the husband from whom she had not endured severance in life. For it often happens that some people desire to follow out of life those whom they loved exceedingly when alive. Their son Hothbrodd succeeded them. Fain to extend his empire, he warred upon the East, and after a huge massacre of many peoples begat two sons, Athisl and Hother, and appointed as their tutor a certain Gewar, who was bound to him by great services. Not content with conquering the East, he assailed Denmark, challenged its king, Ro, in three battles, and slew him.

Dan 2.5.6 (p. 48,17 )

1 His cognitis, Helgo filium Rolvonem Lethrica arce conclusit, heredis saluti consulturus, utcumque suam fortuna tractasset. 2 Deinde praesides ab Hothbrodo immissos, ut externo patriam dominio liberaret, missis per oppida satellitibus caede subegit. 3 Ipsum quoque Hothbrodum cum omnibus copiis navali pugna delevit nec solum fratris, sed etiam patriae iniuriam plenis ultionis armis pensavit. 4 Quo evenit, ut, cui nuper ob Hundingi caedem agnomen incesserat, nunc Hothbrodi strages cognomentum inferret.

Helge, when he heard this, shut up his son Rolf in Leire, wishing, however he might have managed his own fortunes, to see to the safety of his heir. When Hothbrodd sent in governors, wanting to free his country from alien rule, he posted his people about the city and prevailed and slew them. Also he annihilated Hothbrodd himself and all his forces in a naval battle; so avenging fully the wrongs of his country as well as of his brother. Hence he who had before won a nickname for slaying Hunding, now bore a surname for the slaughter of Hothbrodd.

Dan 2.5.7 (p. 48,24 )

1 Praeterea Sueones, perinde ac parum proeliis afflictos, abiectissimae condicionis instituto multavit, lege sanciens, ne cuiuspiam eorum iuxta legitimarum compositionum formulam laesio sarciretur. 2 His gestis, ob superioris flagitii ruborem patriam penatesque perosus, repetito Oriente, decedit. 3 Opinantur quidam, quod exprobratae sibi turpitudinis anxius super destrictum gladium incumbendo voluntaria se morte consumpserit.

Besides, as if the Swedes had not been enough stricken in the battles, he punished them by stipulating for most humiliating terms; providing by law that no wrong done to any of them should receive amends according to the form of legal covenants. After these deeds, ashamed of his former infamy, he hated his country and his home, went back to the East, and there died. Some think that he was affected by the disgrace which was cast in his teeth, and did himself to death by falling upon his drawn sword.

Dan 2.6.1 (p. 48,30 )

1 Huic filius Rolvo succedit, vir corporis animique dotibus venustus, qui staturae magnitudinem pari virtutis habitu commendaret. 2 Cuius temporibus cum Danorum imperio Suetia subiaceret, Athislus Hothbrodi filius, liberandae patriae ratione callidius quaesita, matrem Rolvonis Ursam coniugio sibi sociandam curavit, intercedente connubii affinitate efficaciores privigno monitus super tributi laxatione daturus. 3 Nec fortunam votis adversam habuit. 4 Hic a puero liberalitatis odio imbutus adeo pecuniae tenax exstitit, ut munificum haberi infamiae loco duceret. 5 Quem cum Ursa tantis avaritiae sordibus offusum videret ideoque eo carere cuperet, insidiis agendum rata mira artis superficie fraudis formulam texit. 6 Impietatis quippe simulationem amplexa maritum capessendae libertatis admonitum novarum rerum exhortatione sollicitat filiumque maximis muneribus promissis Suetiam arcessiri curat. 7 Ita namque se votis maxime potituram credebat, si filio aurum vitrici nacto regias opes fugiendo convellere virumque non tantum toro, sed etiam pecunia fraudare potuisset. 8 Neque enim avaritiam ullo melius quam opum subtractione multandam putabat.

He was succeeded by his son Rolf, who was comely with every gift of mind and body, and graced his mighty stature with as high a courage. In his time Sweden was subject to the sway of the Danes; wherefore Athisl, the son of Hothbrodd, in pursuit of a crafty design to set his country free, contrived to marry Rolf's mother, Urse, thinking that his kinship by marriage would plead for him, and enable him to prompt his stepson more effectually to relax the tribute; and fortune prospered his wishes. But Athisl had from his boyhood been imbued with a hatred of liberality, and was so grasping of money, that he accounted it a disgrace to be called openhanded. Urse, seeing him so steeped in filthy covetousness, desired to be rid of him; but, thinking that she must act by cunning, veiled the shape of her guile with a marvellous skill. Feigning to be unmotherly, she spurred on her husband to grasp his freedom, and urged and tempted him to insurrection; causing her son to be summoned to Sweden with a promise of vast gifts. For she thought that she would best gain her desire if, as soon as her son had got his stepfather's gold, she could snatch up the royal treasures and flee, robbing her husband of bed and money to hoot. For she fancied that the best way to chastise his covetousness would be to steal away his wealth.

Dan 2.6.2 (p. 49,10 )

1 Cuius doli profunditas, ab intimis astutiae modis profecta, haud facile ex hoc discerni poterat, quod permutandi tori studium affectatae libertatis imagine colorabat. 2 Caecam viri mentem, qui matrem adversum filii caput exarsisse putavit nec suam potius strui perniciem intellexit! 3 Stolidum mariti sensum, qui pervicacem uxoris industriam non advertit transferendi connubii copiam filialis odii specie molientem! 4 Cum enim nulla muliebribus animis fiducia debeatur, is tanto stolidiorem feminae fidem detulit, quanto facilius eam sibi fidam, filio insidiosam putavit.

This deep guilefulness was hard to detect, from such recesses of cunning did it spring; because she dissembled her longing for a change of wedlock under a show of aspiration for freedom. Blind-witted husband, fancying the mother kindled against the life of the son, never seeing that it was rather his own ruin being compassed! Doltish lord, blind to the obstinate scheming of his wife, who, out of pretended hatred of her son, devised opportunity for change of wedlock! Though the heart of woman should never be trusted, he believed in a woman all the more insensately, because he supposed her faithful to himself and treacherous to her son.

Dan 2.6.3 (p. 49,18 )

1 Igitur promissorum magnitudine excitus Rolvo, cum Athisli forte penates ingressus ob absentiae diuturnitatem convictusque desuetudinem parum a matre cognosceretur, leniendae famis subsidium per iocum petere coepit. 2 Qua prandium a rege poscendum hortante, laceram vestis suae partem exserens operam consuentis exposcit. 3 Cum obseratas matris aures haberet: 'Difficile', inquit, 'veram ac solidam amicitiam reperiri, cum filio mater epulum, fratri soror suendi obsequium neget.' 4 Ita, matris errore multato, magnum eidem negatae humanitatis ruborem iniecit.

Accordingly, Rolf, tempted by the greatness of the gifts, chanced to enter the house of Athisl. He was not recognised by his mother owing to his long absence and the cessation of their common life; so in jest he first asked for some victual to appease his hunger. She advised him to ask the king for a luncheon. Then he thrust out a torn piece of his coat, and begged of her the service of sewing it up. Finding his mother's ears shut to him, he observed, "That it was hard to discover a friendship that was firm and true, when a mother refused her son a meal, and a sister refused a brother the help of her needle." Thus he punished his mother's error, and made her blush deep for her refusal of kindness.

Dan 2.6.4 (p. 49,26 )

1 Quem cum Athislus inter epulas matri discubitu iunctum aspiceret, utrumque lasciviae increpans impudicum fratris sororisque consessum asseruit. 2 Cui Rolvo honestum in filio maternae caritatis amplexum respondit, lacessitae integritatis defensionem ab artissimo naturae vinculo mutuatus. 3 Idem percontantibus convivis, quod fortitudinis genus ceteris anteferret, patientiam nominavit. 4 Interrogatus ab iisdem Athislus, cui potissimum virtuti votorum suorum studium obligasset, liberalitatis sibi professionem aptavit. 5 Exiguntur igitur hinc animositatis, inde munificentiae facta, priorque Rolvo virtutis experimentum edere iubetur.

Athisl, when he saw him reclining close to his mother at the banquet, taunted them both with wantonness, declaring that it was an impure intercourse of brother and sister. Rolf repelled the charge against his honour by an appeal to the closest of natural bonds, and answered, that it was honourable for a son to embrace a beloved mother. Also, when the feasters asked him what kind of courage he set above all others, he named Endurance. When they also asked Athisl, what was the virtue which above all he desired most devotedly, he declared, Generosity. Proofs were therefore demanded of bravery on the one hand and munificence on the other, and Rolf was asked to give an evidence of courage first.

Dan 2.6.5 (p. 49,35 )

1 Qui cum igni applicaretur, parmulam parti, qua acrius urgebatur, obiecit alteroque laterum defenso reliquum munimento vacuum unico patientiae duramento firmavit. 2 Magnam viri sollertiam, leniendi ardoris praesidium a clipeo mutuantis, ut inde exposito flammis corpori propugnaret, unde eidem inter stridentia quandoque tela consuluisset. 3 AEstus tamen telis acrior, cum vallatam clipeo partem expugnare non posset, defectum munimine latus invasit. 4 Quem pedissequa, quae forte propter focum astabat, intolerabili costarum ardore torreri conspiciens, egesta dolio clepsydra, fuso flammam humore sopivit mediasque incendii poenas tempestivo liquoris beneficio repressit. 5 Rolvo patientiae consummatione laudatur. 6 Post haec Athisli munera requiruntur. 7 Ferunt illum, collatis in privignum opibus, ad ultimum ingentis ponderis torquem, quo donum cumulatius redderet, expendisse.

He was placed to the fire, and defending with his target the side that was most hotly assailed, had only the firmness of his endurance to fortify the other, which had no defence. How dexterous, to borrow from his shield protection to assuage the heat, and to guard his body, which was exposed to the flames, with that which sometime sheltered it amid the hurtling spears! But the glow was hotter than the fire of spears; as though it could not storm the side that was entrenched by the shield, yet it assaulted the flank that lacked its protection. But a waiting-maid who happened to be standing near the hearth, saw that he was being roasted by the unbearable heat upon his ribs; so taking the stopper out of a cask, she spilt the liquid and quenched the flame, and by the timely kindness of the shower checked in its career the torturing blaze. Rolf was lauded for supreme endurance, and then came the request for Athisl's gifts. And they say that he showered treasures on his stepson, and at last, in order to crown the gift, bestowed on him an enormously heavy necklace.

Dan 2.6.6 (p. 50,7 )

1 Igitur Ursa tertio convivii die edendae fraudis copiam aucupata, suspicato nil tale coniuge, regia pecunia vehiculis imposita, propriis se penatibus furtivo subduxit egressu sublustrique nocte fugam cum filio consecuta discedit. 2 Insequentis se viri metu percita per summam ulterioris fugae diffidentiam comites abiciendae pecuniae iussu sollicitat, vita vel opibus carituros affirmans; unicum salutis compendium in aeris abiectione repositum, nec fugae subsidium nisi rerum damno carpendum. 3 Eodem itaque exemplo utendum, quo sibi Frothonem apud Britannos consuluisse proditum erat. 4 Adiecit etiam non magno constare, si propria Suetis resumenda deponerent, dum inde sibi fugae profectus, unde iis insecutionis defectus accederet, magisque aliena restitui quam sua deseri viderentur.

Now Urse, who had watched her chance for the deed of guile, on the third day of the banquet, without her husband ever dreaming of such a thing, put all the king's wealth into carriages, and going out stealthily, stole away from her own dwelling and fled in the glimmering twilight, departing with her son. Thrilled with fear of her husband's pursuit, and utterly despairing of escape beyond, she begged and bade her companions to cast away the money, declaring that they must lose either life or riches; the short and only path to safety lay in flinging away the treasure, nor could any aid to escape be found save in the loss of their possessions. Therefore, said she, they must follow the example of the manner in which Frode was said to have saved himself among the Britons. She added, that it was not paying a great price to lay down the Swedes' own goods for them to regain; if only they could themselves gain a start in flight, by the very device which would check the others in their pursuit, and if they seemed not so much to abandon their own possessions as to restore those of other men.

Dan 2.6.7 (p. 50,18 )

1 Nec mora, quo fuga celerius carperetur, reginae iussa complentur. 2 Aurum crumenis egeritur, opes hostium raptui relinquuntur. 3 Sunt qui asserant Ursam, retentis pecuniis, aes auro oblitum fugae suae vestigiis instravisse. 4 Credi namque poterat feminam ingentia molitam facinora metallum quoque iactui destinatum inani fulgore pinxisse, verarum opum pretia mendacis auri iubare simulantem. 5 Videns igitur Athislus donatum Rolvoni torquem inter alia auri insignia relictum, intimum avaritiae suae pignus curiosius contemplatus, ut praedam exciperet, affixis humo genibus cupiditati maiestatem inclinare sustinuit. 6 Quem Rolvo tollendae pecuniae gratia pronum demissumque conspiciens propriis prostratum muneribus risit, perinde ac cupide repetentem quod callide tribuisset. 7 Contentis praeda Suetis, ocius ad naves se recipit fugamque vehementi remorum conatu captavit.

Not a moment was lost; in order to make the flight swifter, they did the bidding of the queen. The gold is cleared from their purses; the riches are left for the enemy to seize. Some declare that Urse kept back the money, and strewed the tracks of her flight with copper that was gilt over. For it was thought credible that a woman who could scheme such great deeds could also have painted with lying lustre the metal that was meant to he lost, mimicking riches of true worth with the sheen of spurious gold. So Athisl, when he saw the necklace that he had given to Rolf left among the other golden ornaments, gazed fixedly upon the dearest treasure of his avarice, and, in order to pick up the plunder, glued his knees to the earth and deigned to stoop his royalty unto greed. Rolf, seeing him lie abjectly on his face in order to gather up the money, smiled at the sight of a man prostrated by his own gifts, just as if he were seeking covetously to regain what he had craftily yielded up. The Swedes were content with their booty, and Rolf quickly retired to his ships, and managed to escape by rowing violently.

Dan 2.6.8 (p. 50,30 )

1 Ferunt autem illum, quicquid praestare posceretur, primae supplicationi prompta liberalitate tribuere solitum nec umquam ad secundam petentis vocem distulisse rogatum. 2 Siquidem precum iterationem munificentiae velocitate praecurrere quam beneficium tarditate notare maluit. 3 Quae res ei maximam athletarum frequentiam conciliavit. 4 Plerumque enim virtus aut praemiis pascitur aut laudibus incitatur.

Now they relate that Rolf used with ready generosity to grant at the first entreaty whatsoever he was begged to bestow, and never put off the request till the second time of asking. For he preferred to forestall repeated supplication by speedy liberality, rather than mar his kindness by delay. This habit brought him a great concourse of champions; valour having commonly either rewards for its food or glory for its spur.

Dan 2.6.9 (p. 50,36 )

1 Per idem tempus Agnerus quidam Ingelli filius sororem Rolvonis, Rutam nomine, matrimonio ducturus ingenti convivio nuptias instruit. 2 In quo cum pugiles omni petulantiae genere debacchantes in Hialtonem quendam nodosa passim ossa conicerent, accidit, ut eius consessor, Biarco nomine, iacientis errore vehementem capite ictum exciperet. 3 Qui dolore pariter ac ludibrio lacessitus, osse invicem in iacientem remisso, frontem eius in occiput reflexit idemque loco frontis intorsit, transversum hominis animum vultus obliquitate multando. 4 Ea res contumeliosam ioci insolentiam temperavit pugilesque regia abire coegit.

At this time, a certain Agnar, son of Ingild, being about to wed Rute, the sister of Rolf, celebrated his bridal with a great banquet. The champions were rioting at this banquet with every sort of wantonness, and flinging from all over the room knobbed bones at a certain Hjalte; but it chanced that his messmate, named Bjarke, received a violent blow on the head through the ill aim of the thrower; at whom, stung both by the pain and the jeering, he sent the bone back, so that he twisted the front of his head to the back, and wrung the back of it to where the front had been; punishing the wryness of the man's temper by turning his face sidelong. This deed moderated their wanton and injurious jests, and drove the champions to quit the place.

Dan 2.6.10 (p. 51,6 )

1 Qua convivii iniuria permotus sponsus ferro cum Biarcone decernere statuit, violatae hilaritatis ultionem duelli nomine quaesiturus. 2 In cuius ingressu utri prior feriendi copia deberetur, diutule certatum est. 3 Non enim antiquitus in edendis agonibus crebrae ictuum vicissitudines petebantur, sed erat cum intervallo temporis etiam feriendi distincta successio, rarisque sed atrocibus plagis certamina gerebantur, ut gloria potius percussionum magnitudini quam numero deferretur. 4 Praelato ob generis dignitatem Agnero, tanta vi ictum ab eo editum constat, ut prima cassidis parte conscissa supremam capitis cuticulam vulneraret ferrumque mediis galeae interclusum foraminibus dimitteret. 5 Tunc Biarco mutuo percussurus, quo plenius ferrum libraret, pedem trunco adnixus medium Agneri corpus praestantis acuminis mucrone transegit. 6 Sunt qui asserant, morientem Agnerum, soluto in risum ore, per summam doloris dissimulationem spiritum reddidisse.

The bridegroom, nettled at this affront to the banquet, resolved to fight Bjarke, in order to seek vengeance by means of a duel for the interruption of their mirth. At the outset of the duel there was a long dispute, which of them ought to have the chance of striking first. For of old, in the ordering of combats, men did not try to exchange their blows thick and fast; but there was a pause, and at the same time a definite succession in striking: the contest being carried on with few strokes, but those terrible, so that honour was paid more to the mightiness than to the number of the blows. Agnar, being of higher rank, was put first; and the blow which he dealt is said to have been so furious, that he cut through the front of the helmet, wounded the skin on the scalp, and had to let go his sword, which became locked in the vizor-holes. Then Bjarke, who was to deal the return-stroke, leaned his foot against a stock, in order to give the freer poise to his steel, and passed his fine-edged blade through the midst of Agnar's body. Some declare that Agnar, in supreme suppression of his pain, gave up the ghost with his lips relaxed into a smile.

Dan 2.6.11 (p. 51,19 )

1 Cuius ultionem pugiles avidius expetentes simili per Biarconem exitio multati sunt. 2 Utebatur quippe praestantis acuminis inusitataeque longitudinis gladio, quem Løvi vocabat. 3 Talibus operum meritis exsultanti novam de se silvestris fera victoriam praebuit. 4 Ursum quippe eximiae magnitudinis obvium sibi inter dumeta factum iaculo confecit comitemque suum Hialtonem, quo viribus maior evaderet, applicato ore egestum beluae cruorem haurire iussit. 5 Creditum namque erat hoc potionis genere corporei roboris incrementa praestari. 6 His facinorum virtutibus clarissimas optimatum familiaritates adeptus etiam regi percarus evasit, sororem eius Rutam uxorem ascivit victique sponsam victoriae praemium habuit. 7 Ab Athislo lacessiti Rolvonis ultionem armis exegit eumque victum bello prostravit. 8 Tunc Rolvo magni acuminis iuvenem, Hiarwarthum nomine, sorore Sculda sibi in matrimonium data annuoque vectigali imposito, Suetiae praefectum constituit, libertatis iacturam affinitatis beneficio leniturus.

The champions passionately sought to avenge him, but were visited by Bjarke with like destruction; for he used a sword of wonderful sharpness and unusual length which he called Lovi. While he was triumphing in these deeds of prowess, a beast of the forest furnished him fresh laurels. For he met a huge bear in a thicket, and slew it with a javelin; and then bade his companion Hjalte put his lips to the beast and drink the blood that came out, that he might be the stronger afterwards. For it was believed that a draught of this sort caused an increase of bodily strength. By these valorous achievements he became intimate with the most illustrious nobles, and even, became a favourite of the king; took to wife his sister Rute, and had the bride of the conquered as the prize of the conquest. When Rolf was harried by Athisl he avenged himself on him in battle and overthrew Athisl in war. Then Rolf gave his sister Skulde in marriage to a youth of keen wit, called Hiartuar, and made him governor of Sweden, ordaining a yearly tax; wishing to soften the loss of freedom to him by the favour of an alliance with himself.

Dan 2.6.12 (p. 51,33 )

1 Hoc loci quiddam memoratu iucundum operi inseratur. 2 Adolescens quidam, Wiggo nomine, corpoream Rolvonis magnitudinem attentiori contemplatione scrutatus ingentique eiusdem admiratione captus percontari per ludibrium coepit, quisnam esset iste Krake, quem tanto staturae fastigio prodiga rerum natura ditasset, faceto cavillationis genere inusitatum proceritatis habitum prosecutus. 3 Dicitur enim lingua Danica Krake truncus, cuius semicaesis ramis fastigia conscenduntur, ita ut pes praecisorum stipitum obsequio perinde ac scalae beneficio nixus sensimque ad superiora provectus petitae celsitudinis compendium assequatur. 4 Quem vocis iactum Rolvo perinde ac inclitum sibi cognomen amplexus urbanitatem dicti ingentis armillae dono prosequitur. 5 Qua Wiggo dexteram excultam extollens, laeva per pudoris simulationem post tergum reflexa, ridiculum corporis incessum praebuit, praefatus exiguo laetari munere, quem sors diutinae tenuisset inopiae. 6 Rogatus, cur ita se gereret, inopem ornamenti manum nulloque cultus beneficio gloriantem ad aspectum reliquae verecundo paupertatis rubore perfundi dicebat. 7 Cuius dicti calliditate consentaneum priori munus obtinuit. 8 Siquidem Rolvo manum, quae ab ipso occultabatur, exemplo reliquae in medium accersendam curavit. 9 Nec Wiggoni rependendi beneficii cura defuit. 10 Siquidem artissima voti nuncupatione pollicitus est, si Rolvonem ferro perire contingeret, ultionem se ab eius interfectoribus exacturum. 11 Nec praetereundum, quod olim ingressuri curiam proceres famulatus sui principia alicuius magnae rei voto principibus obligare solebant, virtute tirocinium auspicantes.

Here let me put into my work a thing that it is mirthful to record. A youth named Wigg, scanning with attentive eye the bodily size of Rolf, and smitten with great wonder thereat, proceeded to inquire in jest who was that "Krage" whom Nature in her beauty had endowed with such towering stature? Meaning humorously to banter his uncommon tallness. For "Krage" in the Danish tongue means a tree-trunk, whose branches are pollarded, and whose summit is climbed in such wise that the foot uses the lopped timbers as supports, as if leaning on a ladder, and, gradually advancing to the higher parts, finds the shortest way to the top. Rolf accepted this random word as though it were a name of honour for him, and rewarded the wit of the saying with a heavy bracelet. Then Wigg, thrusting out his right arm decked with the bracelet, put his left behind his back in affected shame, and walked with a ludicrous gait, declaring that he, whose lot had so long been poverty-stricken, was glad of a scanty gift. When he was asked why he was behaving so, he said that the arm which lacked ornament and had no splendour to boast of was mantling with the modest blush of poverty to behold the other. The ingenuity of this saying won him a present to match the first. For Rolf made him bring out to view, like the other, the hand which he was hiding. Nor was Wigg heedless to repay the kindness; for be promised, uttering a strict vow, that, if it befell Rolf to perish by the sword, he would himself take vengeance on his slayers. Nor should it be omitted that in old time nobles who were entering. The court used to devote to their rulers the first-fruits of their service by vowing some mighty exploit; thus bravely inaugurating their first campaign.

Dan 2.7.1 (p. 52,16 )

1 Interea Sculda tributariae solutionis pudore permota, diris animum commentis applicans, maritum, exprobrata condicionis deformitate, propulsandae servitutis monitu concitatum atque ad insidias Rolvoni nectendas perductum atrocissimis novarum rerum consiliis imbuit, plus unumquemque libertati quam necessitudini debere testata. 2 Igitur crebras armorum massas diversi generis tegminibus obvolutas tributi more per Hiarwarthum in daniam perferri iubet, occidendi noctu regis materiam praebituras. 3 Refertis itaque falsa vectigalium mole navigiis, Lethram pergitur, quod oppidum a Rolvone constructum eximiisque regni opibus illustratum ceteris confinium provinciarum urbibus regiae fundationis et sedis auctoritate praestabat.

Meantime, Skulde was stung with humiliation at the payment of the tribute, and bent her mind to devise deeds of horror. Taunting her husband with his ignominious estate, she urged and egged him to break off his servitude, induced him to weave plots against Rolf, and filled his mind with the most abominable plans of disloyalty, declaring that everyone owed more to their freedom than to kinship. Accordingly, she ordered huge piles of arms to be muffled up under divers coverings, to be carried by Hiartuar into Denmark, as if they were tribute: these would furnish a store wherewith to slay the king by night. So the vessels were loaded with the mass of pretended tribute, and they proceeded to Leire, a town which Rolf had built and adorned with the richest treasure of his realm, and which, being a royal foundation and a royal seat, surpassed in importance all the cities of the neighbouring districts.

Dan 2.7.2 (p. 52,26 )

1 Rex adventum Hiarwarthi convivalis impensae deliciis prosecutus ingenti se potione proluerat, hospitibus praeter morem ebrietatis intemperantiam formidantibus. 2 Ceteris igitur altiorem carpentibus somnum, Sueones, quibus scelesti libido propositi communem quietis usum ademerat, cubiculis furtim delabi coepere. 3 Aperitur illico telorum occlusa congeries, et sua sibi quisque tacitus arma connectit. 4 Deinde regiam petunt irruptisque penetralibus in dormientium corpora ferrum destringunt. 5 Experrecti complures, quibus non minus subitae cladis horror quam somni stupor incesserat, dubio nisu discrimini restitere, socii an hostes occurrerent, noctis errore incertum reddente.

The king welcomed the coming of Hiartuar with a splendid banquet, and drank very deep, while his guests, contrary to their custom, shunned immoderate tippling. So, while all the others were sleeping soundly, the Swedes, who had been kept from their ordinary rest by their eagerness on their guilty purpose, began furtively to slip down from their sleeping-rooms. Straightway uncovering the hidden heap of weapons, each girded on his arms silently and then went to the palace. Bursting into its recesses, they drew their swords upon the sleeping figures. Many awoke; but, invaded as much by the sudden and dreadful carnage as by the drowsiness of sleep, they faltered in their resistance; for the night misled them and made it doubtful whether those they met were friends or foes.

Dan 2.7.3 (p. 52,35 )

1 Eiusdem forte silentio noctis Hialto, qui inter regios proceres spectatae probitatis merito praeeminebat, rus egressus scorti se complexibus dederat. 2 Hic cum obortum pugnae fragorem stupida procul aure sensisset, fortitudinem luxuriae praetulit maluitque funestum Martis discrimen appetere quam blandis Veneris illecebris indulgere. 3 Quanta hunc militem regis caritate flagrasse putemus, qui, cum ignorantiae simulatione excusationem absentiae praestare posset, salutem suam manifesto periculo obicere quam voluptati servare satius existimavit? 4 Discedentem pelex percontari coepit, si ipso careat, cuius aetatis viro nubere debeat. 5 Quam Hialto perinde ac secretius allocuturus propius accedere iussam, indignatus amoris sibi successorem requiri, praeciso naso deformem reddidit erubescendoque vulnere libidinosae percontationis dictum multavit, mentis lasciviam oris iactura temperandam existimans. 6 Quo facto, liberum quaesitae rei iudicium a se ei relinqui dixit. 7 Post haec repetito ocius oppido, confertissimis se globis immergit adversasque acies mutua vulnerum inflictione prosternit. 8 Cumque dormientis adhuc Biarconis cubiculum praeteriret, expergisci iussum tali voce compellat:

Hjalte, who was foremost in tried bravery among the nobles of the king, chanced to have gone out in the dead of that same night into the country and given himself to the embraces of a harlot. But when his torpid hearing caught from afar the rising din of battle, preferring valour to wantonness, he chose rather to seek the deadly perils of the War- god than to yield to the soft allurements of Love. What a love for his king, must we suppose, burned in this warrior! For he might have excused his absence by feigning not to have known; but he thought it better to expose his life to manifest danger than save it for pleasure. As he went away, his mistress asked him how aged a man she ought to marry if she were to lose him? Then Hjalte bade her come closer, as though he would speak to her more privately; and, resenting that she needed a successor to his love, he cut off her nose and made her unsightly, punishing the utterance of that wanton question with a shameful wound, and thinking that the lecherousness of her soul ought to be cooled by outrage to her face. When he had done this, he said he left her choice free in the matter she had asked about. Then he went quickly back to the town and plunged into the densest of the fray, mowing down the opposing ranks as he gave blow for blow. Passing the sleeping-room of Bjarke, who was still slumbering, he bade him wake up, addressing him as follows:

Dan 2.7.4 (p. 53,12 )

1 Ocius evigilet, quisquis se regis amicum

"Let him awake speedily, whoso showeth himself by service

aut meritis probat aut sola pietate fatetur.

or avoweth himself in mere loyalty, a friend of the king!

2 Discutiant somnum proceres; stupor improbus absit;

Let the princes shake off slumber, let shameless lethargy begone;

incaleant animi vigiles; sua dextera quemque

let their spirits awake and warm to the work; each man's own right hand

aut famae dabit aut probro perfundet inerti;

shall either give him to glory, or steep him in sluggard shame;

noxque haec aut finis erit aut vindicta malorum.

and this night shall be either end or vengeance of our woes.

3 Non ego virgineos iubeo cognoscere ludos

"I do not now bid ye learn the sports of maidens,

nec teneras tractare genas aut dulcia nuptis

nor stroke soft cheeks, nor give sweet kisses to the bride

oscula conferre et tenues astringere mammas,

and press the slender breasts,

non liquidum captare merum tenerumve fricare

nor desire the flowing wine and chafe the soft thigh

femen et in niveos oculum iactare lacertos.

and cast eyes upon snowy arms.

4 Evoco vos ad amara magis certamina Martis.

I call you out to the sterner fray of War.

5 Bello opus est nec amore levi, nihil hic quoque facti

We need the battle, and not light love; nerveless languor

mollities enervis habet; res proelia poscit.

has no business here: our need calls for battles.

6 Quisquis amicitiam regis colit, arma capessat.

Whoso cherishes friendship for the king, let him take up arms.

7 Pensandis animis belli promptissima lanx est.

Prowess in war is the readiest appraiser of men's spirits.

8 Ergo viris timidum nihil aut leve fortibus insit,

Therefore let warriors have no fearfulness and the brave no fickleness:

destituatque animos armis cessura voluptas.

let pleasure quit their soul and yield place to arms.

9 In pretio iam fama manet, laudis sibi quisque

Glory is now appointed for wages; each can be the arbiter

arbiter esse potest propriaque nitescere dextra.

of his own renown, and shine by his own right hand.

10 Instructum luxu nihil adsit; plena rigoris

Let nought here be tricked out with wantonness: let all be full of sternness,

omnia praesentem discant exsolvere cladem.

and learn how to rid them of this calamity.

11 Non debet laudis titulos aut praemia captans

He who covets the honours or prizes of glory

ignavo torpere metu, sed fortibus ire

must not be faint with craven fear, but go forth to meet the brave,

obvius et gelidum non expallescere ferrum.

nor whiten at the cold steel."

Dan 2.7.5 (p. 53,37 )

1 Ad hanc vocem expergefactus Biarco cubicularium suum Scalcum ocius excitatum hoc alloquitur modo:

At this utterance, Bjarke, awakened, roused up his chamber-page Skalk speedily, and addressed him as follows:

2 Surge puer crebroque ignem spiramine pasce;

"Up, lad, and fan the fire with constant blowing;

verre larem ligno et tenues dispelle favillas.

sweep the hearth clear of wood, and scatter the fine ashes.

3 Scintillas extunde focis ignisque iacentes

Strike out sparks from the fire, rouse the fallen embers,

erige relliquias et opertas elice flammas.

draw out the smothered blaze.

4 Languentem compelle larem producere lumen,

Force the slackening hearth to yield light by kindling the coals

arenti rutilas accendens stipite prunas.

to a red glow with a burning log.

5 Proderit admota digitos extendere flamma.

It will do me good to stretch out my fingers when the fire is brought nigh.

6 Quippe calere manu debet, qui curat amicum,

Surely he that takes heed for his friend should have warm hands,

et nocui penitus livoris pellere frigus.

and utterly drive away the blue and hurtful chill."

Dan 2.7.6 (p. 54,10 )

1 Rursum Hialto:

Hjalte said again:

2 Dulce est nos domino percepta rependere dona.

"Sweet is it to repay the gifts received from our lord,

3 En virtus sua quemque monet meritum bene regem

to grip the swords, and devote the steel to glory.

rite sequi dignaque ducem gravitate tueri,

Behold, each man's courage tells him loyally to follow a king of such deserts,

acceptare enses famaeque impendere ferrum.

and to guard our captain with fitting earnestness.

4 Enses Theutonici, galeae armillaeque nitentes,

Let the Teuton swords, the helmets, the shining armlets,

loricae talo immissae, quas contulit olim

the mail-coats that reach the heel, which Rolf of old bestowed upon his men,

Rolvo suis, memores acuant in proelia mentes.

let these sharpen our mindful hearts to the fray.

5 Res petit et par est, quaecumque per otia summa

The time requires, and it is just, that in time of war we should earn

nacti pace sumus, belli dicione mereri,

whatsoever we have gotten in the deep idleness of peace,

nec laetos cursus maestis praeponere rebus

that we should not think more of joyous courses than of sorrowful fortunes,

aut duris semper casus praeferre secundos.

or always prefer prosperity to hardship.

6 Mente pari proceres sortem capiamus utramque,

Being noble, let us with even soul accept either lot,

nec mores fortuna regat, quia condecet aeque

nor let fortune sway our behaviour, for it beseems us to receive equably

delicias ac dura pati, vultuque sub illo

difficult and delightsome days; let us pass the years of sorrow

ducamus tristes, quo dulces hausimus annos.

with the same countenance wherewith we took the years of joy.

Dan 2.7.7 (p. 54,26 )

1 Omnia, quae poti temulento prompsimus ore,

Let us do with brave hearts all the things that in our cups we boasted

fortibus edamus animis et vota sequamur

with sodden lips; let us keep the vows which we swore

per summum iurata Iovem superosque potentes.

by highest Jove and the mighty gods.

2 Danorum primus herus est meus, adsit eidem,

My master is the greatest of the Danes: let each man,

ut probus est quisque; procul hinc, procul este fugaces!

as he is valorous, stand by him; far, far hence be all cowards!

3 Forti opus est stabilique viro, non terga ferente

We need a brave and steadfast man, not one that turns his back

in dubium bellive truces metuente paratus.

on a dangerous pass, or dreads the grim preparations for battle.

4 Maxima saepe duci virtus ex milite pendet:

Often a general's greatest valour depends on his soldiery,

tanto etenim princeps aciem securior intrat,

for the chief enters the fray all the more at ease

quanto illum melius procerum stipaverit agmen.

that a better array of nobles throngs him round.

5 Arripiat digitis pugnacibus arma satelles,

Let the thane catch up his arms with fighting fingers,

iniciens dextram capulo clipeumque retentans,

setting his right hand on the hilt and holding fast the shield:

inque hostes ruat et nullos expalleat ictus.

let him charge upon the foes, nor pale at any strokes.

6 Nemo se retro feriendum praebeat hosti,

Let none offer himself to be smitten by the enemy behind,

nemo enses tergo excipiat; pugnacia semper

let none receive the swords in his back: let the battling breast ever

pectora vulneribus pateant. Certamina prima

front the blow. `Eagles fight brow foremost',

fronte gerunt aquilae et rapidis se rictibus urgent

and with swift gaping beaks speed onward in the front:

anteriore loco; species vos alitis aequet,

be ye like that bird in mien, shrinking

adverso nullam metuentes corpore plagam.

from no stroke, but with body facing the foe.

Dan 2.7.8 (p. 55,8 )

1 Ecce furens aequoque sui fidentior hostis,

"See how the enemy, furious and confident overduly,

ferro artus faciemque aurata casside tectus

his limbs defended by the steel, and his face with a gilded helmet,

in medios fertur cuneos, ceu vincere certus

charges the thick of the battle-wedges, as though sure of victory,

intimidusque fugae et nullo superabilis ausu.

fearless of rout and invincible by any endeavour.

2 Suetica, me miserum, Danos fiducia spernit.

Ah, misery! Swedish assurance spurns the Danes.

3 Ecce truces oculis Gothi visuque feroces

Behold, the Goths with savage eyes and grim aspect

cristatis galeis hastisque sonantibus instant;

advance with crested helms and clanging spears:

in nostro validam peragentes sanguine cladem

wreaking heavy slaughter in our blood,

destringunt gladios et acutas cote bipennes.

they wield their swords and their battle-axes hone-sharpened.

4 Quid te, Hiarwarthe, loquar? quem Sculda nocente replevit

"Why name thee, Hiartuar, whom Skulde hath filled with guilty purpose,

consilio tantaque dedit crudescere culpa?

and hath suffered thus to harden in sin?

5 Quid te, infande, canam, nostri discriminis auctor,

Why sing of thee, villain, who hast caused our peril,

proditor eximii regis, quem saeva libido

betrayer of a noble king? Furious lust of sway hath driven thee

imperii tentare nefas furiisque citatum

to attempt an abomination, and, stung with frenzy, to screen thyself

coniugis aeternam pepulit praetendere noxam?

behind thy wife's everlasting guilt.

6 Quis te error factum Danis dominoque nocentem

What error hath made thee to hurt the Danes and thy lord,

praecipitavit in hoc foedum scelus? unde subibat

and hurled thee into such foul crime as this? Whence entered

impietas tanto fraudis constructa paratu?

thy heart the treason framed with such careful guile?

Quid moror? Extremam iam degustavimus escam.

"Why do I linger? Now we have swallowed our last morsel.

7 Rex perit, et miseram sors ultima corripit urbem.

Our king perishes, and utter doom overtakes our hapless city.

8 Illuxit suprema dies, nisi forte quis adsit

Our last dawn has risen, unless perchance there be one here

tam mollis, quod se plagis praebere timescat,

so soft that he fears to offer himself to the blows,

aut imbellis ita, ut domini non audeat ultor

or so unwarlike that he dares not avenge his lord,

esse sui dignosque animo proscribat honores.

and disowns all honours worthy of his valour.

Dan 2.7.10 (p. 55,32 )

1 Tu quoque consurgens niveum caput exsere, Ruta,

"Thou, Ruta, rise and put forth thy snow-white head,

et latebris egressa tuis in proelia prodi.

come forth from thy hiding into the battle.

2 Caedes te foris acta vocat; iam curia bellis

The carnage that is being done without calls thee. By now the council-chamber

concutitur, diroque strepunt certamine portae.

is shaken with warfare, and the gates creak with the dreadful fray.

3 Loricas lacerat ferrum, dirumpitur hamus

Steel rends the mail-coats, the woven mesh is torn apart,

nexilis, et crebro cedunt praecordia telo.

and the midriff gives under the rain of spears.

4 Iam clipeum regis vastae minuere secures,

By now the huge axes have hacked small the shield of the king;

iam longi resonant enses, crepitatque bipennis

by now the long swords clash, and the battle-axe clatters its blows

humanis impacta humeris et pectora findens.

upon the shoulders of men, and cleaves their breasts.

5 Quid pavitant animi? quid hebescit languidus ensis?

Why are your hearts afraid? Why is your sword faint and blunted?

Porta vacat nostris, externo plena tumultu.

The gate is cleared of our people, and is filled with the press of the strangers."

Dan 2.7.11 (p. 56,4 )

1 Cumque Hialto, magna admodum strage edita, proelium cruentasset, tertio tabernaculum Biarconis offendebat, quem metus causa avidum quietis ratus tali ignaviae exprobratione pertentat:

And when Hjalte had wrought very great carnage and stained the battle with blood, he stumbled for the third time on Bjarke's berth, and thinking he desired to keep quiet because he was afraid, made trial of him with such taunts at his cowardice as these:

2 Ut quid abes, Biarco? num te sopor occupat altus?

"Bjarke, why art thou absent? Doth deep sleep hold thee?

Quid tibi, quaeso, morae est? Aut exi aut igne premeris.

I prithee, what makes thee tarry? Come out, or the fire will overcome thee.

3 Elige quod praestat! eia! concurrite mecum!

Ho! Choose the better way, charge with me! Bears may be kept off

Dan 2.7.12 (p. 56,10 )

1 Igne ursos arcere licet; penetralia flammis

with fire; let us spread fire in the recesses,

spargamus, primosque petant incendia postes.

and let the blaze attack the door-posts first.

2 Excipiat torrem thalamus, tectique ruina

Let the firebrand fall upon the bedchamber, let the falling roof

fomentum flammis et alendo praebeat igni.

offer fuel for the flames and serve to feed the fire.

3 Fundere damnatis fas est incendia portis.

It is right to scatter conflagration on the doomed gates.

Dan 2.7.13 (p. 56,15 )

1 At nos, qui regem voto meliore veremur,

But let us who honour our king with better loyalty

iungamus cuneos stabiles tutisque phalangem

form the firm battle-wedges, and, having measured the phalanx

ordinibus mensi, qua rex praecepit, eamus,

in safe rows, go forth in the way the king taught us: our king,

qui natum Bøki Røricum stravit avari

who laid low Rorik, the son of Bok the covetous,

implicuitque virum leto virtute carentem.

and wrapped the coward in death.

2 Ille quidem praestans opibus habituque fruendi

He was rich in wealth, but in enjoyment

pauper erat, probitate minus quam fenore pollens;

poor, stronger in gain than bravery;

aurum militia potius ratus, omnia lucro

and thinking gold better than warfare, he set lucre above all things,

posthabuit, laudisque carens congessit acervos

and ingloriously accumulated piles of treasure,

aeris et ingenuis uti contempsit amicis.

scorning the service of noble friends.

3 Cumque lacessitus Rolvonis classe fuisset,

And when he was attacked by the navy of Rolf,

egestum cistis aurum deferre ministros

he bade his servants take the gold from the chests

iussit et in primas urbis diffundere portas,

and spread it out in front of the city gates,

dona magis quam bella parans, quia militis expers

making ready bribes rather than battle, because he knew not the soldier,

munere, non armis, tentandum credidit hostem,

and thought that the foe should be attempted with gifts and not with arms:

tamquam opibus solis bellum gesturus et usu

as though he could fight with wealth alone,

rerum, non hominum Martem producere posset.

and prolong the war by using, not men, but wares!

4 Ergo graves loculos et ditia claustra resolvit,

So he undid the heavy coffers and the rich chests; he brought forth

armillas teretes et onustas protulit arcas,

the polished bracelets and the heavy caskets;

exitii fomenta sui, ditissimus aeris,

they only fed his destruction.

bella toris inops hostique adimenda relinquens

Rich in treasure, poor in warriors, he left his foes to take away

pignora, quae patriis praebere pepercit amicis.

the prizes which he forebore to give to the friends of his own land.

5 Annellos ultro metuens dare, maxima nolens

He who once shrank to give little rings of his own will, now unwillingly

pondera fudit opum, veteris populator acervi.

squandered his masses of wealth, rifling his hoarded heap.

6 Rex tamen hunc prudens oblataque munera sprevit,

But our king in his wisdom spurned him and the gifts he proffered,

rem pariter vitamque adimens, nec profuit hosti

and took from him life and goods at once; nor was his foe profited by the useless wealth

census iners, quam longo avidus cumulaverat aevo.

which he had greedily heaped up through long years.

7 Hunc pius invasit Rolvo summasque perempti

But Rolf the righteous assailed him, slew him,

cepit opes, inter dignos partitus amicos,

and captured his vast wealth, and shared among worthy friends

quicquid avara manus tantis congesserat annis,

what the hand of avarice had piled up in all those years;

irrumpensque opulenta magis quam fortia castra

and, bursting into the camp which was wealthy but not brave,

praebuit eximiam sociis sine sanguine praedam.

gave his friends a lordly booty without bloodshed.

Dan 2.7.14 (p. 57,4 )

1 Cui nil tam pulchrum fuit, ut non funderet illud,

Nothing was so fair to him that he would not lavish it,

aut carum, quod non sociis daret, aera favillis

or so dear that he would not give it to his friends, for he used treasure

assimulans famaque annos, non fenore mensus.

like ashes, and measured his years by glory and not by gain.

2 Unde liquet, regem claro iam funere functum

Whence it is plain that the king who hath died nobly lived also

praeclaros egisse dies, speciosaque fati

most nobly, that the hour of his doom is beautiful,

tempora praeteritos decorasse viriliter annos.

and that he graced the years of his life with manliness.

3 Nam virtute ardens, dum viveret, omnia vicit,

For while he lived his glowing valour prevailed over all things,

egregio dignas sortitus corpore vires.

and he was allotted might worthy of his lofty stature.

4 Tam praeceps in bella fuit, quam concitus amnis

He was as swift to war as a torrent

in mare decurrit, pugnamque capessere promptus,

tearing down to sea, and as speedy to begin battle

ut cervus rapidum bifido pede tendere cursum.

as a stag is to fly with cleft foot upon his fleet way.

Dan 2.7.15 (p. 57,15 )

1 Ecce per infusas humana tabe lacunas

"See now, among the pools dripping with human blood,

caesorum excussi dentes rapiente cruoris

the teeth struck out of the slain are carried on

profluvio loti scabris limantur arenis.

by the full torrent of gore, and are polished on the rough sands.

2 Splendescunt limo allisi, lacerataque torrens

Dashed on the slime they glitter, and the torrent of blood

sanguinis ossa vehit truncosque superfluit artus.

bears along splintered bones and flows above lopped limbs.

3 Danicus undescit sanguis, stagnatque cruenta

The blood of the Danes is wet,

latius eluvies, et corpora sparsa revolvit

and the gory flow stagnates far around, and the stream pressed

elisus venis vapidum spumantibus amnis.

out of the steaming veins rolls back the scattered bodies.

4 Impiger invehitur Danis Hiarwarthus, amator

Tirelessly against the Danes advances Hiartuar, lover

Martis, et extenta pugnantes provocat hasta.

of battle, and challenges the fighters with outstretched spear.

5 Attamen hic inter discrimina fataque belli

Yet here, amid the dangers and dooms of war,

Frothonis video laetum arridere nepotem,

I see Frode's grandson smiling joyously,

qui Furivallinos auro conseverat agros.

who once sowed the fields of Fyriswald with gold.

Dan 2.7.16 (p. 57,28 )

1 Nos quoque laetitiae species extollat honesta

Let us also be exalted with an honourable show of joy,

morte secuturos generosi fata parentis.

following in death the doom of our noble father.

2 Voce ergo simus alacres ausuque vigentes.

Be we therefore cheery in voice and bold in daring;

3 Namque metum par est animosis spernere dictis

for it is right to spurn all fear with words of courage,

et memorabilibus letum consciscere factis.

and to meet our death in deeds of glory.

4 Deserat os animumque timor; fateamur utroque

Let fear quit heart and face; in both let us avow

intrepidos nisus, nec nos nota iudicet ulla

our dauntless endeavours, that no sign anywhere may show us

parte aliqua signum dubii praestare timoris.

to betray faltering fear.

5 Librentur stricto meritorum pondera ferro.

Let our drawn sword measure the weight of our service.

6 Gloria defunctos sequitur, putrique favillae

Fame follows us in death, and glory shall outlive

fama superstes erit, nec in ullum decidet aevum,

our crumbling ashes! And that which perfect valour hath achieved

quod perfecta suo patravit tempore virtus.

during its span shall not fade for ever and ever.

7 Quid clausis agitur foribus? quid pessula valvas

What want we with closed floors? Why doth the locked bolt close

iuncta seris cohibent? Etenim iam tertia te vox,

the folding- gates? For it is now the third cry, Bjarke,

Biarco, ciet clausoque iubet procedere tecto.

that calls thee, and bids thee come forth from the barred room."

Dan 2.7.17 (p. 58,4 )

1 Contra quae Biarco:

Bjarke rejoined:

2 Quid me Rolvonis generum, quid, bellice Hialto,

"Warlike Hjalte, why dost thou