# Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 16

XVI.
1050Ðā gyt ǣghwylcumeorla drihten, þāra þe mid Bēowulfebrim-lāde tēah, on þǣre medu-bencemāþðum gesealde, yr*fe-lāfe;ond þone ǣnne hehtFol. 153a. golde forgyldan,þone ðe Grendel ǣr 1055māne ācwealde,swā hē hyra mā wolde, ​nefne him witig Godwyrd forstōde, ond ðæs mannes mōd.Metod eallum wēold gumena cjnines,swā hē nū git dēð; forþan bið andgitǣghwǣr sēlest, 1060ferhðes fore-þanc.Fela sceal gebīdan lēofes ond lāþes,sē þe longe hēr on ðyssum win-dagumworolde brūceð. Þǣr wæs sang ond swegsamod ætgædere fore Healfdeneshilde-wīsan, 1065gomen-wudu grēted,gid oft wrecen, ðonne heal-gamenHrōþgāres scop æfter medo-bencemǣnan scolde: “Finnes eaferum,ðā hīe se fǣr begeat, hæleð Healf-Dena,Hnæf Scyldinga, 1070in Frēs-wælefeallan scolde. Ne hūru Hildeburhherian þorfte Eotena trēowe;unsynnum wearð ​beloren lēofumæt þām lind-plegan, bearnum ond brōðrum;hīe on gebyrd hruron 1075gāre *wunde;þæt wæs gēomuru ides.Fol. 153b. Nalles hōlingaHōces dohtor meotod-sceaft bemearn,syþðan morgen cōm, ðā hēo under sweglegesēon meahte morþor-bealo māga,þǣr hē[o] ǣr mǣste hēold 1080worolde wynne.Wīg ealle fornam Finnes þegnas,nemne fēaum ānum, þæt hē ne mehteon þǣm meðel-stede wūg Hengestewiht gefeohtan, ne þā wēa-lāfewīge forþringan 1085þēodnes ðegne;ac hig him geþingo budon, þæt hīe him ōðer fleteal gerȳmdon, healle ond hēah-setl,þæt hīe healfie geweald wið Eotena bearnāgan mōston, ond æt feoh-gyftumFolcwaldan sunu 1090dōgra gehwylceDene weorþode, Hengestes hēaphringum wenede, efne swā swīðesinc-gestrēonum fǣttan goldes,swā hē Frēsena cyn on bēor-selebyldan wolde. 1095Ðā hīe getrūwedonon twā healfa fæste frioðu-wǣre;Fin Hengeste elne unflitmeāðum *benemde,Fol. 154a. þæt hē þā wēa-lāfeweotena dōme ārum hēolde,þæt ðǣr ǣnig mon 1100wordum ne worcumwǣre ne brǣpe, ne þurh inwit-searoǣfre gemǣnden, ðēah hīe hira bēag-gyfanbanan folgedon ​ðēoden-lēase,þā him swā geþearfod wæs. Gyf þonne Frȳsna hwylcfrecnan sprǣce 1105ðæs morþor-hetesmyndgiend wǣre, þonne hit sweordes ecgsyððan scolde. Āð wæs geæfned,ond icge gold āhæfen of horde.Here-Scyldinga betst beado-rincawæs on bǣl gearu: 1110æt þǣm āde wæsēþ-gesȳne swāt-fāh syrce,swȳn eal-gylden, eofer īren-heard,æþeling manig wundum āwyrded;sume on wæle crungon. Hēt ðā Hildeburhæt Hnæfes āde 1115hire selfre sunusweoloðe befæstan, bān-fatu bærnanond on bǣl dōn; earme on eaxleides gnornode, gēomrode giddum.Gūð-rinc āstāh. Wand *tō wolcnumwæl-fȳra mǣst,Fol. 154b. 1120hlynode for hlāwe;hafelan multon, ben-geato burston;ðonne blōd ætspranc lāð-bite līces.Līg ealle forswealg, gǣsta gīfrost,þāra ðe þǣr gūð fornam bēga folces;wæs hira blǣd scacen.
* ↑ 1051. MS. ‘leade.’
* ↑ 1068—9. There are one or two difficulties here. (1) Heyne, followed by Earle, makes the episode begin with l. 1069. I agree with Wülcker and Bugge in regarding l. 1068 as the commencement, partly because this helps to get rid of the difficulty of (2) the government of eaferum. Kemble ‘[be] Finnes eaferum’; Heyne and Socin ‘Finnes eaferum [fram].’ I follow Grein in regarding eaferum as an instr. pl., with reference to feallan scolde. (3) Bugge (“Beiträge” xii. 29) has shown that the emendation Healfdenes for Healf-Dena is misleading, the latter being a tribal name, such as we find in ll. 1, 116, 383, 392. (4) I cannot follow Bugge, when be goes on to explain hæleð as acc. pl., anticipated by hīe in the previous line. This is to force hīe from its natural and obvious meaning, as referring to eaferum. He quotes as a parallel the hit of l. 1705; but the cases are not analogous, in that hit cannot possibly refer to anything gone before. I therefore take hæleð, with Heyne and Earle, as nom. sing., Hnæf Scyldinga being a parallel expression to hæleð Healf-Dena.
* ↑ 1070. MS. ‘infr es wæle’: “r altered from some other letter, after it a letter erased, then es on an erasure: that fres is all that the scribe intended to write, is shown by a line connecting r and e.”—Zupitza.
* ↑ 1073. MS. ‘hild’; emended for the alliteration.
* ↑ 1079. MS. ‘he.’
* ↑ 1104. Zupitza’s transliteration ‘frecnen spræce’; Wülcker ‘frecnenspræce.’
* ↑ 1118. Grundtvig ‘gūð-rēc’ (but he read ruic for rinc in the MS.). Skeat supports this reading by l. 3144, and Elene 795: “rēc āstīgan,” and compares gūð-rēc with the compound wæl-fȳr in the next line.