# Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 25

XXV.
1740oð þæt him on innan ofer-hygda dǣl weaxeð ond wrīdað, þonne se weard swefeð sāwele hyrde; bið se slǣp tō fæst, bisgum gebunden, bona swīðe nēah, sē þe of flān-bogan fyreniim scēoteð. 1745Þonne bið on hreþre under hehn drepen biteran strǣle; him bebeorgan ne con wōm wundor-bebodum wergan gāstes; þinceð him tō lȳtel, þæt hē lange hēold; gȳtsað grom-hȳdig, nallas on gylp seleð 1750fǣtte bēagas, ond hē þā forð-gesceaft forgyteð ond forgȳmeð, þæs þe him ǣr God sealde, wuldres *Waldend, weorð-mynda dǣl.Fol. 168b. Hit on ende-stæf eft gelimpeð, þæt se līc-homa lǣne gedrēoseð, ​1755 fǣge gefealleð; fēhð ōþer tō, sē þe unmurnlīce mādmas dǣleþ, eorles ǣr-gestrēon, egesan ne gȳmeð. Bebeorh þē ðone bealo-nīð, Bēowulf lēofa, secg betsta, ond þē þæt sēlre gecēos, 1760ēce rǣdas; oferhȳda ne gȳm, mǣre cempa. Nū is þīnes mægnes blǣd āne hwīle; eft sōna bið, þæt þec ādl oððe ecg eafoþes getwǣfeð, oððe fȳres feng, oððe flōdes wylm, 1765oððe gripe mēces, oððe gāres fliht, oððe atol yldo; oððe ēagena bearhtm forsiteð ond forsvvorceð; semninga bið, þæt ðec, dryht-guma, dēað oferswȳðeð. Swā ic Hring-Dena hund missera 1770wēold under wolcnum, ond hig wigge belēac manigum mǣgþa, geond þysne middan-geard æscum ond ecgum, þæt ic mē ǣnigne under swegles begong gesacan ne tealde. Hwæt! mē þæs on ēþle edwenden cwōm, 1775gyrn æfber gomene, seoþðan Grendel wearð, eald gewinna, ingenga mīn; *ic þære sōcne singales wægFol. 169a. mōd-ceare micle. Þæs sig Metode þanc, ēcean Dryhtne, þæs ðe ic on aldre gebād, 1780þæt ic on þone hafelan heoro-drēorigne ofer eald gewin ēagum starige. ​Gā nū tō setle, symbel-wynne drēoh, wigge weorþad; unc sceal worn fela māþma gemǣnra, siþðan morgen bið.” 1785Gēat wæs glæd-mōd, gēong sōna tō, setles nēosan, swā se snottra heht. Þā wæs eft swā ǣt ellen-rōfum flet-sittendum fægere gereorded nīowan stefne. Niht-helm geswearc 1790deorc ofer dryht-gumum. Duguð eal ārās; wolde blonden-feax beddes nēosan, gamela Scylding. Gēat ungemetes wel, rōfne rand-wigan, restan lyste; sōna him sele-þegn sīðes wērgum, 1795feorran-cundum, forð wīsade, sē for andrysnum ealle beweotecde þegnes þearfe, swylce þȳ dōgore hēaþo-līðende habban scoldon. Reste hine þā rūm-heort; reced hlīuade 1800gēap ond gold-fāh; gæst inne swæf, oþ þæt hrefn blaca heofones wynne blīð-heort bodode; *ðā cōm beorht scacanFol. 169b. [sunne ofer grundas]. Scaþan onetton, ​wǣron æþelingas eft tō lōodum 1805fūse tō farenne; wolde feor þanon cuma collen-ferhð cēoles nēosan. Heht þā se hearda Hrunting beran sunu Ecglāfes, heht his sweord niman, lēoflīc īren; sægde him þæs lǣnes þanc, 1810cwæð, hē þone gūð-wine gōdne tealde, wīg-cræftigne; nales wordiim lōg mēces ecge. Þæt wæs mōdig secg. Ond þā sīð-frome, searwum gearwe, wīgend wǣron, ēode weorð Denum 1815æþeling tō yppan, þǣr se ōþer wæs, hæle hilde-dēor Hrōðgār grētte.
* ↑ 1747. Heyne ‘wom’; cf. ll. 1758 and 3073. But wōm (Sievers § 295, N. 1) scans better and makes better sense. Bebeorgan takes acc. rei in 1758; but that passage alone is insufficient to settle its usual construction, and no other instance of its occurrence is known.
* ↑ 1748. Zupitza: “to imperfectly erased between he and lange.” It is inserted in the text of all the editions.
* ↑ 1750. MS. ‘fædde.’
* ↑ 1757. Grein ‘ēgesan’ (owner).
* ↑ 1774. MS. ‘ed wendan.’ Cf. ll. 280, 2188.
* ↑ 1776. Most editors ‘eald-gewinna.’ I have avoided such compounds, except where clearly indicated by the absence of inflection in the adj. Cf. ll. 373, 945, 1781 (where no editor makes a compound of eald gewin), with 853, 1381, 2778.
* ↑ 1783. Wülcker ‘wīg-geweorþad’; Heyne (following Cosijn, who compares “Elene” 150) ‘wigge-[ge]weorþad.’ I have followed the MS., for which cf. “Elene” 1196.
* ↑ 1792. MS. unig/metes.
* ↑ 1796. MS. ‘beweotene.’
* ↑ 1799. Heyne ‘hlīvade’; other editors ‘hlīfade.’ Sievers § 194.
* ↑ 1803. No gap in MS. Wülcker has: ðā cōm beorht [lēoma] scacan [ofer scadu].  Heyne: ðā cōm beorht [sunne] scacan [ofer grundas]. There is the same objection to both these emendations, that they suppose two lacunae instead of one. To avoid this, I have interchanged sunne and scacan in Heyne’s reading; of the consequent separation of adj. and noun there are frequent examples in the poem (cf. l. 255).
* ↑ 1805. MS, ‘farene ne.’ [In reality, far is now gone; but there is no doubt, from Thorkelin’s transcript, what the MS. reading was. In all such cases, in order to avoid needless detail, I give the indubitable reading as that of the extant MS.]
* ↑ 1809. MS. ‘leanes’; Mūllenhoff ‘lǣnes.’ It is possible that the passage means that Unferth gave his sword to Beowulf. Grein takes this view, for he glosses sunu (1808) as nom.; and so apparently do Heyne and Socin (though they gloss sunu as accus.!). But se hearda applies to Beowulf much better than to Unferth; cf. ll. 401, 1963.
* ↑ 1816. MS. ‘helle.’