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Waltharius the Goth
Preface
Almighty Father, Lover of the highest virtue,1 and Nourishing Spirit, born of both, with equal right,2 triple in person, but one in true deity, you who live a life everlasting and who will perpetually hold the highest priesthood—grant salvation for now and forever to glorious Erkambold, worthy of a famous name, so that he may grow within filled with holy inspiration and may be a medicine prepared for many men in time to come. Holy bishop of God, now receive the gifts of your servant, which a feeble and trivial sinner by the name of Geraldus, has decided to produce for you from his generous love—for he is sure of heart and your faithful pupil. May the Father, governing the heavens and earth from on high, grant the thing for which I pray continually to the Lord who thunders through all the heavens,3 namely that you obtain by your action what I produce in speech.
16
Servant of the highest God, don't look down upon the words of this little book. It does not sing the nourishing works of God but resounds the wondrous deeds of a young man, named Walter, a man maimed4 through much fighting. It is intended more for play than for prayer to the Lord. When read through, it shortens the long hours of the day.
21
May you, holy priest, be happy through further years, and may Geraldus your dear brother be in your mind!
Part I
A third part of the Earth is called Europe,5 brothers,6 and it divides its races, which differ in customs, languages, and names, by culture and separates them also by religion. Among these races, the Pannonians7 are known to reside, a race which we generally call the Huns. This nation was once strong and courageous in warfare, not only lording over the surrounding territories but even passing over the lands of the Ocean's shore, granting treaties to suppliant peoples, and subduing all who revolted. It is said that their dominion lasted more than a thousand years. King Attila once ruled that kingdom, a man who was busy to revive their age-old victories in his own time. He roused his forces and commanded that they go against the Franks, whose king, powerful in his high throne, was Gibicho, who had recently rejoiced at the birth of a child, of whom I shall tell later,8 for he fathered a son whom he called Gunther.
17
Rumor flies and soon whips at the fearful king's ears: a hostile host was crossing the Danube, a force outnumbering the stars and the sands of the riverbank. The king, not trusting in warfare or the strength of his people, gathers a council and asks what they should do. Everyone agreed that they ought to ask for a treaty and to join hand in hand, if the Huns would, and to give hostages and pay the tribute that was ordered. They thought this would be better than to lose both their life and land as well as their sons and wives.
27
Now, noble Hagen at that time was a young man of outstanding bloodline, descending from the race of Troy.9Since Gunther had not yet reached the age where he could manage his own tender life without his mother, they decided to send Hagen along with a mass of treasure to the Hunnish king. There was no delay. The ambassadors, taking the tribute and the youth, went and asked for peace and affirmed the treaty.
34
At this time Burgundy was under mighty kingship. Heriric then held its chief office. He had only a single daughter, Hildegund by name, excellent for her nobility as well as for her beautiful figure. She, as heiress, was supposed to reside at her father's court and, if she had been allowed that, to enjoy the wealth collected there. The Avars, however, after settling a firm peace with the Franks, kept away from their territory; but Attila then quickly turned his reins away to Burgundy, nor were the rest of his vassals slow to follow his footsteps. They marched along well-ordered and in a long line. The Earth groaned as she was pounded by their horses racing along. The air above thundered in fright at the clashing of their shields. An iron forest flashed with ruddy light through all the fields not unlike when the beautiful sun strikes the sea, gleaming in the early morn at the edge of the world.10
50
And now their host had crossed the deep rivers, the Arar and the Rhone, and the whole army dispersed to ravage the land. Heriric was at Châlons,11 and suddenly the lookout, lifting his eyes, exclaimed: “What cloud is this that rises up in a dense mass of dust? An enemy force is coming. Close the gates now!” Already then the prince knew what the Franks had done, and he addressed all the elders12 in this way: If such a strong race has left Pannonia—a race which we cannot match—, then with what courage do you think we will engage this host and defend our sweet country? It is better that we make a pact with them, and they receive a tribute. I have a single daughter whom I do not hesitate to hand over on behalf of our kingdom; only let them be quick to affirm a treaty.”
64
The ambassadors go and, relieved of their weapons, enter the enemy camp. They ask what the king had ordered, that the Huns stop their ravaging. Attila the leader receives them, as usual in a charming manner, and says: “I would rather make treaties than conduct indiscriminate wars. The Huns prefer to rule by peace, but they do, unwillingly, strike their opponents in war, if they see that they are in rebellion. Let your king come to us and give and receive a hand in pledge.” The prince of the Burgundians goes out bringing countless treasure, and he strikes a pact and leaves his daughter with Attila.
74
The most beautiful gem of her parents then went into exile. After completing the pact and establishing tribute, Attila moved his ranks out and into the western regions.
77
Now, the kingship of the Acquitanians was then in the hands of Alphere who they say had offspring of the male sex, named Walter, who shone with the blossom of youth. Furthermore, Heriric and Alphere had sworn an oath between them to bind together their children as soon as they came to a marriageable age. When Alphere had seen that these two races had been conquered, he then began then to quiver with great fear in his heart, nor did he retain any hope of defense from savage arms. “What should we cede,” he said, “if we cannot raise a war? Burgundy and Frankland have provided us with an example. We are not shamed if we should be compared to such as them. I shall send ambassadors, and I shall tell them to establish a treaty and shall offer my beloved son as a hostage and shall promptly pay the Huns the tribute which they assign.” Why should I linger? He fulfilled his words through deeds.
93
Then at last the Avars, burdened with much treasure, took the hostages—Hagen, the girl Hildegund, and lastly Walter—and returned with happy hearts. Attila, after he entered Pannonia and was received in the city, showed fatherly care13 for the exiled children and bid that they be raised as his own; and he ordered the queen to care for the maiden; but he bid both the youths to be always in his sight. Moreover, he also instructed them in the arts and particularly in making jests in times of war.14They, growing both in intelligence and age, surpassed the brave in strength and the wise in wit, until soon they boldly excelled all the Huns. Then Attila made them first men in his army and not undeservedly, since, whenever he made a campaign, these two sparkled amidst triumphal decorations. Therefore, the prince loved them both very much. The maiden, although captive, by the grace of the highest God, relaxed the queen's doubting face and increased her love, for the girl abundantly displayed her outstanding character and the industry of her works. At last she was made the steward to watch over all the king's treasure, and she was but little short of ruling herself, for, whatever she wanted, she actually did.
116
Meanwhile Gebicho died, and Gunther himself succeeded to the kingship, and immediately he dissolved the treaty with the Huns and refused to endure the tribute. As soon as Hagen had heard this in his exile, at night he undertook flight and hastened to his lord. But Walter went to battle at the head of the Huns, and, wherever he went, prosperous outcomes soon followed. Ospirin15 the royal wife, noticing Hagen was gone, advised her lord in such words: “Let the king's clever mind be aware and careful lest the pillar of your empire totter and fall—that is, lest Walter your friend leave, for a great force of power resides in him. Take care since I fear that he may flee in imitation of Hagen. Therefore, consider now my plan. When first he comes, say these words to him, ‘As our servant, you were accustomed to endure great toils, and so you should know that Our Grace16 loved you very much, more than all our friends. This I want to affirm for you by my deeds rather than by my words. Choose yourself a bride from my Hunnish vassals, and do not worry about your poverty. I will enrich you greatly with both land and home. Nor will anyone, who gives you his daughter as bride, be sorry about it afterwards.' If you do as I say, you can keep him faithful.” Her speech pleased the king, and he began preparations.
Notes
1 That is, Christ, the second member of the Trinity.
2 That is, the Spirit has equal right or power with the Son and the Father.
3 I follow Strecker's manuscripts B, P, and T which read "omnitonantem" ("who thunders through all the heavens"), but Strecker himself suggests "omnitenentem" ("holding all creation").
4 The Latin "resecti" means "trimmed" or "cut off." Therefore, it may be proleptic, looking toward the end of the poem, when he will have his arm cut off. Kratz (1984) seems to take it in a more general sense since he translates: "he was slashed in many battles."
5 This has the ring of a medieval geography lesson. For the division of the earth into three parts see Sallust Jugurtha 17.3, Pliny the Elder Natural History 3.3, Hyginus Astronomica 1.8.1, Servius Aeneid 1.385, and Velleius Paterculus 2.40.4. The great early medieval scholar Isidore of Seville records this idea at Etymologiae 14.2: "[orbis] divisus est autem trifarie: e quibus una pars Asia, altera Europa, tertia Africa nuncupatur." Furthermore, late antique and early medieval maps, which our author would have seen, show the world clearly divided into three. These are sometimes called TO maps because they look like a T inside an O. See the pictures of TO maps from a 9 th century edition of Isidore and an edition of Sallust's Jugurthine War at: http://www.nmsu.edu/~honors/TOmaps.html. Other images of early TO maps can fe found at: http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/205JJ.html and http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/205I.html.
6 This appears to be an address to fellow ecclesiastics, either monks or, perhaps, canons (clerics usually attached to a church). Kratz (1984: xiii) says that this is the only sure indication of the author's identity, since the dedicatory prologue may have been written by someone other than the poet.
7 These people are called Pannonians, Huns, and Avars by the poet. Compare Isidore Etymologiae 9.2.66 for the identification of Huns and Avars.
8 The poet notes that this son, Gunther, will be more than a name, since his greed will motivate the plot for much of the poem, beginning at line 470.
9 This detail seems most likely to be new to the Latin, since it is harder to see how this detail would make its way into a (probably) oral Germanic epic. Our author might have invented the detail to tie his work, a Germanic and Christian poem, to the pagan classical tradition of Greek and Latin epic, represented by Vergil's Aeneid , to which our author often alludes, and Statius' Thebaid , which he may also have known.
10 This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see the note 178 on the longest of these.
11 Kratz (1984): "Von den Steinen (1952, pp. 40-44) cites this passage, which places Chalo-sur-Sâone in Burgundy, as historical evidence for dating the composition of the Waltharius in the ninth century. He cites also the identification of Acquitaine as a regnum (line 77) and the reference to Metz as a metropolis (line 644) to support his belief that the Waltharius was written during the Carolingian period."
12 The valence of the Latin word seniores ("elders") in the Middle Ages is far ranging—old men, elders (as persons of authority), or lords.
13 The Latin pietas ("fatherly care") is hard to translate, but our poet would have known its manifestation in the Aeneid as a key trait of Aeneas, who displayed pietas in, among other things, his care and devotion to father and son.
14 The taunts and jokes of warfare are an important characteristic of the warrior in the Waltharius . For example, compare Walter's jibe at Hagen (1351) and the jesting exchange between Ekivrid and Walter (761-69). These comments are a species of flyting, a mocking method of exchange sometimes for fun ("ludic flyting") among members of the same social group and sometimes to set the terms of battle ("heroic flyting")--see Alta Cools Halama (1996) "Flytes of Fancy: Boasting and Boasters from Beowulf to Gangsta Rap" Proceedings of the Illinois Medieval Association 13: 81-96 (http://www.luc.edu/publications/medieval/vol13/halama.html) for more on flyting. This type of exchanges is common in confrontations between Homeric warriors in the Iliad , and in Vergil's Aeneid a more refined, literary form of flyting occurs (for example: 10.440-81 Turnus and Pallas, 12.887-995 Turnus and Aeneas), but the flyting of the Waltharius seems to have more in common with that seen in Germanic poetry. Compare the exchange between Unferth and Beowulf in Beowulf and the mocking language of the Waldere , the Anglo-Saxon version of the story of Walter (fragment 2, lines 16b-17): "Snatch, if you dare, the hoary hauberk from [me though] so battle-worn!" ("Feta, gyf ðu dyrre , æt ðus heaðuwerigan hare byrnan"). For more on such flyting in Anglo-Saxon, see Earl R. Anderson (1970) "Flyting in The Battle of Maldon" Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 71.2: 197-202.
15 Kratz (1984) here notes: "The poet seems to have invented this name for Attila's wife." We might also ask which poet—that of the Latin or Gemanic poem?
16 This is a title like "Your Majesty."
142
Walter came, and the prince declared these things to him, persuading him to take a wife, but he, even then thinking ahead to what he later did,1 answered the king, who had urged him with these suggestions: "You show fatherly care since you take note of the situation of a lowly servant. But because you carry my servile acts in your mind's eye, I could never have earned this. Still I beg that you receive the words of a faithful slave: If I receive a wife in accordance with my lord's commands, I shall be bound in utmost care and love to a girl and be generally retarded from my service to the king. I shall be driven to build homes and attend to the cultivation of my fields, and this will delay me from being in my lord's presence and from rendering the usual devotion to the kingship of the Huns. For, whoever has tasted pleasure, straightaway he is accustomed to bear toils with less tolerance. Nothing is so sweet to me as to be faithfully obedient to my lord. Therefore, I beg: Allow me now to conduct my life without the conjugal bond. If in the late or middle part of the night you give me your command, I shall go free of other concerns and prepared for whatever mission you order. In wars no anxieties will persuade me to yield—not sons nor wife will draw me back and urge me to flee. I beg you, best father, by your life and by the yet unconquered race of the Huns that you stop compelling me to take up the marriage torch." Conquered by these entreaties, the king deserted all his persuasion, expecting that Walter would never run away.
170
Meanwhile, a very well-confirmed rumor had come to the ruler2 that a certain race, which had recently been conquered, was now in revolt, already prepared, and hurrying to bring war against the Huns. Then the leadership of the affair was turned over to Walter, who soon reviewed the whole army in order and encouraged the hearts of his warriors, exhorting them always to remember past triumphs and promising that they would lay these tyrants low and subject the foreign lands to their terror.
179
There was no delay. All the army rose and followed. Look!3 He has seen the place for battle and has arranged his numbered battleline through the wide meadows and fields. And now each host has come together and stopped within a spear's throw. Then on all sides the clamour rises up to the air; the military trumpets confound their horrific cries, and suddenly the spears fly dense from this side and that. Ash and cornel-wood mix in the game, and the swinging spear flashes like a lightning bolt. And, as a dense cloud of snow at winter-time scatters, not otherwise do they shoot their savage arrows.4 At last, when all the spears from both sides are spent, every hand turns to the sword. They whip out lightning blades and whirl their shields around; the ranks finally meet and renew battle. Horses fall after ramming each other chest to chest; men fall as they clash shield to shield.
196
Walter raged with war in the middle of his line, reaping with his sword whatever was in his way and continuing along his path. When the enemy saw him wreaking such havoc, they feared his sight like death itself.5 And wherever Walter headed whether on the right or left, they all then turned tail and tossed their shields and slackened their reins to run. The mighty race of the Huns, imitating their leader, rose up more fiercely, and more boldly they increased the slaughter , chasing those who fled, until they had attained a full triumph in the lot of war. Then they rushed over the slain and despoiled them all. And at last the leader called his ranks with a curved horn and first bound his forehead with a festal frond, girding his temples all around with victorious laurel.6 After him went the standard bearers, who were followed by the rest of the youth. Now decorated in triumphal garb, they returned and, entering their homeland, each placed himself in his own seat, but Walter hurried then to the throne.
215
Look! The palace ministers run down from the citadel; rejoicing at his sight, they take hold of his horse7 so that the famous man might dismount from his high seat. They ask then if things are well. He, giving them some brief response—for he was tired—enters the court and seeks the king's chamber.
221
Here he met Hildegund sitting there alone, whom he embraced and with whom he exchanged sweet kisses, before saying: “Quick bring me drink here! I am worn out and out of breath.” She then filled a precious goblet with unmixed wine and offered it to the man who received it, while making the sign of the cross, and gripped the maiden's hand in his own.8 But she stood by and quietly but intently watched his lordly expression, and Walter, drinking the cup dry, held it out to her—and they both knew that they had enacted the rites of their betrothal. Then with this speech he challenged the dear girl: “We have both endured exile so long, not unaware of what our parents arranged concerning our future estate between us. How long will it be that we suppress these same things in a quiet mouth?”
235
The maiden thinking that her bride-groom had not spoken his mind, was silent a while but then said these words: “Why do you pretend with your tongue what you condemn from the depths of your soul and persuade with your mouth what you reject with all your heart, as if it would be a great shame to marry such a bride?" The wise man answered in reply and spoke these words: “Away with these words you say! Set straight your sentiment! You know I spoke nothing from a dissembling mind,9 and don't think there was anything nebulous or false in what I said, for no one is here but the two of us. If I knew you would lend me a ready mind and keep your pledge through everything with careful vows, I would be willing to show you all the secrets of my heart.” Then the maiden, bowing at the man's knees, said: “My lord, I will eagerly follow wherever you call me, nor would I prefer to place anything above your pleasing commands.”
251
He then replied: “In short, I am ashamed of our exile, and I often recall the territory of our homeland that I left behind, and so I desire a swift and secret flight. This I could already have done, many days earlier if I were not grieved that Hildegund would remain alone." The small maiden added these words from the depths of her heart: "Your will is mine; I toss amidst the waves of concern for this thing alone. Let my lord order, whether prosperous or ill-omened, I am ready with all my heart to suffer. Walter at last spoke thus in the maiden's ear: “Truly public authority has made you guardian over the treasury; therefore, carefully note these words of mine. First, the king's helmet and shirt, the triple-ply hauberk bearing the mark of its maker10 , steal these; then take two medium sized coffers. Fill these with so many Hunnish bracelets that you can scarcely lift it to the bottom of your chest.11 Then make me eight boots according to custom; and, getting the same number for you, put them in the containers. Thus the coffers will be filled to the top. Also secretly request some bent hooks from the smiths. Let our traveling fare be fish as well as birds. I must be a fisherman as well as a birdhunter. Do all these things cautiously and gradually within the week. You have heard what a traveler must have.
276
“Now I shall disclose how we can make our flight. After Phoebus12 has completed seven circuits, I shall prepare a merry party for the king and queen, their vassals, dukes, and attendants. And I shall be quick with all my wit to bury them in drink until no one is left to realize what I shall do. But you, meanwhile, drink your wine moderately and take care scarcely to slake your thirst at the table. When the rest get up, return to your well-known task. But when the violence of drink has overcome everyone, then together let us hasten to seek the western lands.” The maiden mindfully completed the man's commands.
288
Look! The appointed day for the feast arrives, and Walter himself has arranged the food at great expense.13 At last there is luxury in the midst of the table, and the king enters the hall closed off by curtains on every side. The great-spirited hero, greeting him in the accustomed way, leads him to a throne, which is covered in fine purple cloth.14 He bids two dukes to sit on either side; acting like a servant, he seats the rest. The king's companions15 took one hundred seats at once. The guests each taste a different dish and begin to sweat. When these dishes are taken away, others are brought in to eat. Exquisite mixed wine steams in gold—only gold goblets stand on the fine tablecloth. And painted Bacchus adorns the mixing bowls. The sight and sweetness of the drink entices them to drink. Walter exhorts them all to wine and food.
304
After hunger was driven away by feasting, and the table was removed,16 the aforementioned hero addressed his lord and said: “I beg that Your Grace be conspicuous in this, namely that you first make yourself and then the others merry." And as he spoke he gave him a bowl17 crafted with skill and displaying in ordered relief the deeds of earlier men.18 This the king took and drained in one draught, and immediately ordered the rest to do likewise.
312
Swiftly the servers run back and forth; they give full cups and take back empty. At the exhortations of their host and king they all compete in drinking. Hot drunkenness is lord throughout the hall. Their eloquence, spilt out of their sopping mouths, scarcely stutters. You would have seen, were you there, strong heroes totter about on their feet.
318
In such a way Walter kept serving the gifts of Bacchus late into the night, and he detained those who wanted to go home, until, suppressed by the force of the drink and burdened by sleep, here and there about the colonnades they all lay strewn on the ground. Even if he had wanted to commit the walls to burning flame,19 no one would have remained to know what he had done.
324
At length, he called his beloved woman to his side and ordered her quickly to bring out the things she had prepared. And he himself led the champion of the horses from the stable, whom he had named Lion on account of his courage. The steed stood and wildly chomped on its foaming bit. After he had covered the horse with its accustomed gear, he promptly hung the coffers full of treasure from each side, packed modest provisions for a long journey,.20 and entrusted the flowing reins to the maiden's hand.
Notes
1 This is another instance of our poet's making connections both forward (as here) and backward within the narrative, just as the brief comment about Gunther above (15-16).
2 The Latin word "satrapae" could refer either to Attila himself, as translated here, or to his underling, which would make the line: "Meanwhile, a very well-confirmed rumor had come from a vassal." Either way Attila hears the rumor, but in the second instance the source is clear. I chose the first alternative because rumors (the Latin is "fama") generally do not have specific sources, and the second meaning forces one to take "satrapae" as an awkward subjective genitive. Compare line 371 where "satrapae" ("ruler") clearly refers to Attila.
3 The poet's frequent use of ecce (usually translated "look!) and en (usually translated "behold") is unusual in Latin epic, though our author may have picked up the habit from Prudentius who uses ecce fairly often. Alternately this practice may have been influenced by a similar interjection in Germanic epic; compare the common Old English "Hwæt!" In any case, en and ecce often introduce a new scene or a new section of a speech.
4This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see the note 178 on the longest of these.
5 Compare Vergil Aeneid 1.91.
6 Compare Vergil Eclogues 8.12f. and Aeneid 5.71, 7.614, 4.459.
7 The first of several examples where the poet uses eques for horse, following Vergilian practice as explained by Servius in his commentary on Georgics 3.116. Compare lines 460-1 which extensively rework the same passage from the Georgics .
8 The signing of the cross is one of the explicitly Christian actions of the hero, and this scene is important because it marks a formal, though private, engagement of Walter and Hildegund, whom the poet will often call sponsus ("betrothed" or "bride-groom") and sponsa ("betrothed" or "bride").
9 Compare Vergil Aeneid 4.105.
10 The shirt or hauberk does save Walter later, and it seems to have played a larger role in the Anglo-Saxon Waldere . Compare line 965 below and the note there.
11 Kratz (1984) here suggests that these two coffers stuffed with gold are meant to be compared unfavorably with the recommendations of Good Works in the Psychomachia (613), who exhorts her companions not even to take a wallet with them in their journey, echoing the words of Christ (Luke 9:3, 10:4, 22:35). The author of the Waltharius clearly alludes to the Psychomachia at points throughout, and so this is a compelling suggestion.
12 A Greek name for the Sun god, sometimes equated with Apollo, "Phoebus" is here used as in much Latin poetry as an elegant way of referring to the Sun.
13 Kratz (1984: xvii): "The banquet at which Walter induces such drunkenness among the Huns that they fail to notice his escape is based on the banquet given by Dido in honor of Aeneas ( Aeneid 1.637-756)."
14 The “fine purple cloth” is a biblical allusion to Luke 16:19.
15Sodales means "companions" or "comrades" and here the context tells us that they are the king's, not Walter's companions, but Kratz strangely translates the word as "guests."
16 Compare Servius On the Aeneid 1.730 and Ruodlieb 5.76, 6.46.
17Nappa ("bowl") is derived from a Germanic word (cf. Niermayer "nappa") and seems to be related to modern German Napf ("bowl" or "dish").
18 For this decorated bowl, compare Statius' ( Theb . 1.539 ff.) description of a patera ("dish" or "bowl").
19 Kratz (1984) here notes that this could be an allusion to the legend of Attila's palace burning which is found in the Nibelungenlied .
20 The Latin "iteri" ("journey") is an anomalous form, either a mistake, a nod for meter, or our author has been reading some grammarians who cited similar forms from archaic poetry.
333
Then he himself, clothed in a hauberk like a giant,1 places a red-crested helm on his head, surrounds his calves in golden greaves, and girds his left thigh with a double-edged sword and his right with another in the manner of the Huns—but he dealt blows only from one side.2 Then, taking his spear in his right hand and his shield in his left, he anxiously starts to leave the hated land.
341
The woman led the horse bearing several talents of treasure, and in her hands she held a hazel-wood rod of the sort with which a fisherman put a hook in the water so that the waiting fish might swallow the hook. For the mighty man was burdened all over with armor and weapons, and he feared he might need to fight at any time. Through all the night they hurried to run, but, when Phoebus3 reddened showing the first light to the Earth, they were quick to hide in the forest and seek the shadowed places. Dread, wearing them down, troubled them even in the safe places. Fear struck the woman's heart so much that she shuddered at every whisper of the windy breeze, scared by the birds or branches as they dashed against each other. On this side hatred of exile and on that love of their homelands urged them on.
355
They flee the towns and leave behind the beautiful fields, following4 their winding, curved path through uncut mountains, they turn their nervous steps this way and that through the pathless wild. But the people of the city, loosed by sleep and wine,5 lie quiet in slumber until the middle of the following day. But, after they rise, they all seek out the duke6 to thank him and greet him in festive praise. King Attila holding his head in his hands, leaves the chamber and calls Walter in pain to complain about his headache.7 His attendants answer that they cannot find the man, but the prince hopes he is still quietly held in sleep and that he has chosen a hidden place for his slumber.
369
Ospirin, after noticing that Hildegund was not there to bring out the queen's clothes as she used to, sadly cried out to the ruler and said: "O you detestable food which we ate yesterday! O wine which has destroyed all the Huns! That day, of which I, in my foreknowledge, warned my lord the king some time ago, has come, and we can do nothing about it. Behold! Today the pillar of your empire has clearly fallen. Behold! Your strength and famous courage has gone far from here. Walter, light of Pannonia, has departed hence, and my dear child Hildegund too—he took her with him."
380
Now the prince is fired up, wild with anger;8 a grieving heart takes the place of his former happiness. From his shoulders he tears off his cloak, rending it down to the hem. And now he shifts his sad mind this way, now that. As the sand is stirred by Aeolian gales, so the king's mind whirls within, his internal concerns all about him;9 and, imitating his changing heart with changing face, he showed outside whatever he endured within. Anger permitted him no words. In fact, on this day, he disdained food and drink, nor could his worry give calm rest to his limbs, for, when dark night had stolen color from the world, he fell into bed but did not close his eyes.
393
Now propped up on his right side, now on his left, and like one pierced in the heart by a sharp javelin, he feels about and tosses his head this way and that, and then in madness he sits bolt upright on his mattress. Nor does this please him—at last, he leaps up and runs about the city; and, whenever he returns to his bed, he leaves it as soon as he touches it.
399
In such a way, Attila spent a restless night. But the fugitive companions, going through the friendly silence10 hurried to leave the feared land behind their backs.
402
Scarcely now had the next day broken, when the king called his elders together and said: "O, if only someone would bring me this fugitive Walter, bound like a worthless hound! Then I would clothe him in oft-smelted gold11 and would wall him up on this side and that right where he stood—I would shut him up alive12 with treasure." But there was not a single vassal in so large a country—whether duke, count, soldier, or attendant—who, though eager both to show his strength and to win unending praise through his courage, and also ambitious to stuff his purse with treasure, nevertheless, undertook to pursue Walter, since he was angry and armed. They did not wish to see the man with sword drawn—for his courage was known, and they had even personally experienced what great slaughter he had worked scathelessly and victoriously, without receiving a single wound, and so the king could not persuade any of his men, though they wanted the treasure he promised in exchange.
419
Walter, as I said, went fleeing by night; and by day, seeking out wooded valleys and dense stands of trees, he skillfully lured and caught birds, now tricking them with bird-lime, now with split wood.13 But, when he came to where the curved rivers flowed, he would throw in a hook and catch his prey from beneath the swirling waters. Enduring this hard task, he staved off destructive hunger. For always Walter the praiseworthy hero applied himself to the needs of the fugitive maiden.14
Part II
428
Look! The sun had finished forty circuits, since he had left the Pannonian city. On that very day, which completed this count, he came now in mid-evening to a river, to the Rhine, where it bent its course toward the city named Wörms, glorious for its royal seat. There for his passage he gave the ferryman fish he had caught before; and soon, after crossing, he stepped out in breathless haste.15
436
After day had risen and banished the dark shades, the ferryman got up and went to the aforementioned city and brought the chief royal cook the fish which the traveling man had given him. When the cook had prepared them with herbs and served them to King Gunther, the king was amazed and spoke from his high seat: "Frankland has never shown me this sort of fish. I think they are from a foreign land. Tell me swiftly. What man brought them?" The cook responded and told him that the boatman had given them to him. The prince ordered the man summoned; and, when he arrived and was questioned concerning the matter, he said the following, explaining the matter in sequence: "Last evening, I was sitting by the bank of the Rhine, when I saw a traveler quickly approaching, and he seemed ready for battle, with all his limbs prepared.16 Indeed, my famous king, he was entirely clothed in bronze; and, as he walked, he carried a shield and a flashing spear—he was quite the brave man, and, though he carried a large load, still his step had a fierce vigor. Attractive and even unbelievably beautiful a girl followed him and her step kept close to his. By the reins she guided a stout horse, which bore two good-sized coffers on its back; and, whenever the steed tossed his high neck and was eager to paw the air with his hooves,17 the coffers made a sound like someone striking gold with gems. This man gave me the fish here as his fare."
464
When he heard this, Hagen—who happened to be seated at the table—happily spoke a word from his heart: "Rejoice with me, I beg you, since I have recognized what this means! My comrade Walter has returned from the Huns." Prince Gunther, then, haughtily18 exclaimed—and soon all the hall shouted back to him: "Rejoice with me, I bid you, since I have lived to see this!19 The treasure which Gibicho sent to the eastern king has now been returned to me here in my kingdom by the Almighty." This he said; and, striking the table with his foot and leaping up, he bid them to bring his horse and to ready his carved saddle. He chose twelve men out of the crowd with him, men remarkable for their strength and generally proven in their courage. Among these he bid Hagen come too. But he, remembering his old pledge and his former ally, strove to change his lord from the quest he had begun. The king, however, insisted in opposition and began: "Be not slow, men! Gird your brave bodies in iron. Let the scaly hauberk cover your backs. Should this man take away so much treasure from Frankish lands?" All equipped with their weapons, they issued out the gate—for the king's order was urgent. Each of them was wishing to see you, Walter, and was thinking they would cheat20 an unwarlike man for their gain. Still Hagen was busy trying to hinder them however he could, but the unlucky21 king did not wish to wisely reconsider what he had begun.
489
Meanwhile, the great-spirited man continued on from the river and came then into the forested valley called Vosges—it is a huge, broad wood which holds countless haunts of wild beasts and is frequently home to the noise of the hounds and horns of the hunt.22 There were two mountains close by in a secluded recess, and between these there stood a cave quite pleasant in spite of its cramped chamber. It was not dug out of hollowed earth, but formed by an outcropping of rocky crags. Indeed, it was a place fit for bloody bandits.23 This little retreat produced edible green vegetation.
498
As soon as the young man saw it, he said: "Here, let us go here. I want to rest my tired body at this camp." For, since he had fled the land of the Avars, he had never yet tasted rest other than what he got propped up against his shield. He had scarcely closed his eyes. Then finally, putting aside his burdens of war, he spoke, collapsing into the maiden's lap: "Keep a careful watch, Hildegund, and, if you see a dark cloud rising, wake me up with your charming touch. And, though you should see a huge host coming, please, my dear girl, take care not to disturb me from my sleep right away; for from here you can see clearly far away. Look sharply all around the area!" This he said and closed his shining eyes, now at last enjoying the rest he had so long desired.
Notes
1 Compare Vergil Aeneid 11.486ff., 12.87ff. and the unfavorable biblical connections with the giants Goliath and the Nephilim.
2 The second sword figures into the climactic battle; see lines 1390-2. Note that the Anglo-Saxon Waldere fragments may indicate that that version of the story included a similar incident involving a second sword. Fragment A begins with someone (perhaps Hildegund) encouraging Walter not to worry about his sword failing him, and this concern is repeated in line 24 of the fragment—perhaps to foreshadow the shattering of his sword (seen in the Waltharius at line 1374). Fragment B of Waldere seems to begin with a reference to a sword hidden in a jeweled vessel (i.e., a sheath), but it is unclear who is speaking and so whose sword it is. The kenning for sheath in the Anglo-Saxon version, "stanfate" ("jeweled vessel" frag. B 3), reminds one of the sheath kenning in the Waltharius , "viridem...aedem" ("green house" 1036), which may be owed to a Germanic model.
3 That is, the Sun.
4 Instead of "following", "sectantes" might be translated "slicing" if the "uncut mountains" ("montibus intonsis") are signs of etymological word play here.
5 Vergil Aeneid 9.189
6 The "duke" is apparently Walter.
7 E. R. Curtius (1973: 429) cites this scene as an example of comic elements in medieval epic.
8 For the description of Attila here (380-401) our author has adapted from Vergil's depiction of Dido in Aeneid 4.1-89.
9 This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see note 178 on the longest of these.
10 Compare Vergil Aeneid 2.255
11 The poet seems to have incorporated part of a gloss by Servius into his allusion to Vergil. Compare Aeneid 8.624 and Servius On the Aeneid 8.624: "recocto saepe purgato."
12 Kraft translates "vivo" ("alive") as "as I live." This is possible, but the awkwardness of the syntax—there is no word for “as”—and the fact that "alive" fits the context better both argue against Kratz's choice.
13 Apparently this refers to some kind of trap.
14 Kratz (1984) translates: "And that praiseworthy hero Walter, all the time / They fled, refrained from carnal use of Hildegund." Certainly usus can mean intercourse (OLD usus 11) but one would expect some contextual marker. Continere se is a natural idiom for restraining one's self, but the namque introducing this clause should indicate that it explains or elaborates upon the preceding clause—this does not seem to work with the reference to sexual abstinence. Still the normal usage of continere se points to Kratz's version.
15 Evidently he was eager to continue on his way.
16 A strange description because the author adopts Vergil Aeneid 4.554-5 perhaps influenced by Servius On the Aeneid 4.555: "nam et certus eundi fuerat, et rite cuncta praeparaverat..."
17 Literally this means "to ball up haughty whirls of legs," but compare Vergil Georgics 3.117, 192. Note that, though not here, the poet sometimes uses eques for horse (e.g. at line 216) as Vergil did at Georgics 3.116, which is explained in Servius' commentary for that line.
18 Gunther's haughtiness is a major negative aspect of his presentation in the poem. Guthere's character in the fragmentary Anglo-Saxon Waldere appears to have been similar (fragment 1 lines 25b-29a), although clearly the poet of the Waltharius has added depth through his allusions connecting Gunther (and Walter himself) to the character Haughtiness or Pride ( Superbia ) in Prudentius' Psychomachia —compare notes 61 and 65.
19 Note how Gunther repeats and perverts much of Hagen's speech—replacing Hagen's display of loyal friendship with greed and selfishness.
20 The verb "fraudare" ("cheat") foreshadows the thievery topos that will be spread throughout the coming battle. Who are the thieves? Who are the victims?
21 The epithets infelix ("unlucky," "unhappy," or "unblessed") and superbus ("haughty") are often applied to Gunther. This could be the plan of the Latin poet, since his model, Vergil, often calls Aeneas pius —or it may be owed to an oral Germanic model which used standard epithets.
22 A perfect place for Walter, if we consider the poet's hint at the etymology of his name, Walt = forest. See lines 761-775.
23 The phrase "fit for bloody bandits” ("apta...latronibus...cruentis") might cause one to consider who the bandits are. Both Walter and his attackers will be depicted as thieves or bandits in the following narrative. Walter has already stolen treasure and armor from Attila and will be shown "stealing" life from his attackers, while Gunther and his men will try to steal the treasure from him.
513
But, when Gunther had sighted his tracks in the dust,1 he urged on his swift steed with sharp spurs2 and, exulting in his spirit,3 vainly spoke thus into the air: "Quick now, men! Soon you will catch him in his course. Never will he escape us today! He will leave behind the stolen treasure."4 But famous Hagen soon responded this in turn: "One thing only I tell you, bravest of kings: If you had seen Walter fighting and raging in fresh slaughter as often as I, you would never think he would be so easy to despoil. I have seen the Pannonian ranks, when they stirred war against the northern and southern regions. There Walter, flashing in his own courage, went out to battle—hated by his enemies and admired by his allies. Whoever met him, soon saw Tartarus. O king and companions, trust me since I know how well he wields a shield5 and with what force he can whirl a spear." But, while Gunther, burdened by a crazed mind,6 refused to be dissuaded, they were approaching the camp.
532
Hildegund, looking far away from the top of the mountain, knew they were coming by the cloud of dust and with a soothing touch warned Walter to wake up. He lifted his head and asked if anyone was coming. She replied that a force was flying toward them from afar. He wiped his eyes clearing them of the blur of sleep, and bit by bit he clothed his stiff limbs in iron and picked back up his heavy shield and spear. He leapt up and whipped through the empty air with his blade—playing swiftly with his weapons in preparation for bitter battle.
542
Look! The woman saw the flashing spears close at hand; and, quite awestricken, she said: "These are the Huns," and, sadly falling to the ground, she continued: "I beg, my lord, that my neck be cut by your sword so that I, who did not get to join myself to you in the arranged marriage bed, shall not suffer the intercourse of the flesh with any other." Then the youth said: "Shall your innocent blood stain me? How can my sword strike down my enemies, if it does not now spare so faithful a friend? Away with this request of yours! Toss fear out of your mind! The one,7 who has often led me out of various dangers, He can confound our enemies." These things he said and, lifting his eyes, told her: "These are not the Avars, but the Frankish fops who dwell here!" Behold! He saw the helm of Hagen; and, recognizing it, he smiled and spoke: "And this is my ally Hagen, my old comrade."
559
After saying this, the hero went toward the entrance to the place8 and spoke thus to the woman standing down inside: "Now before this entryway I speak a haughty boast9 —not one of the Franks who returns from here will presume to tell his wife that he has taken any of our great treasure without paying for it!" He had not yet finished speaking, when suddenly he collapsed to the earth and begged forgiveness, since he had said such things.10 Afterwards he got up, looking at them all more warily. "Of these men, whom I see, I fear none except Hagen, for he has long known my methods of battle; and he too is clever and talented at the art of war. If only, God willing, I can deal with his skillful tactics, then I shall escape the battle alive for you, Hildegund, my bride."
572
When Hagen saw Walter situated in such a place, he then advised the haughty king: "My lord, do not provoke this man to fight! First let someone go and ask him everything: his family, his homeland, his name, and whence he's come; and let him ask him too if perhaps he would choose to turn over the treasure and receive peace with no bloodshed. By his answer we can discover the mann 11 and, if Walter is staying there—he is wise—perhaps, he will concede to your honor."
581
The king ordered a man named Camalo to go—a man whom famous Frankland had sent to the city Metz as prefect. This man had arrived at court bringing gifts on the day before the prince had received this report.12 Camalo slackened his reins and flew off, racing like the East Wind13 across the length of the field, and, approaching the youth, addressed him thus where he stood blocking the way: "Tell me, fellow. Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you heading?"
589
The great-spirited hero answered speaking thus: "Do you come on your own, or did someone send you here? I would like to know." Camalo then answered with a haughty voice: "Know then that king Gunther who rules this land sent me to ask your circumstances."
594
When he had heard this, the young man answered thus: "I have no idea why you need to examine the circumstances of a passer-by, but I am not afraid of telling. I am called Walter, born of Aquitanian parents. As a hostage I was given by my father to the Huns, when I was a little boy. I lived with them and now have returned, eager to see my country again and my dear people." The king's agent replied to this: "The hero14 whom I just named bids you through me to hand over the horse, the treasure coffers, and the girl too. If you do this promptly, he will grant you your life and limbs."
604
Walter in return boldly declared this: "I think that I have never heard a clever man speak more stupidly. Look, do you recall what your prince—or whoever he is—promises? It is something that is not in his hands and perhaps never will be. Or is he God that he can rightfully grant me my life? Surely he has not got this in his hands? He has not thrust me into a prison cell or twisted my hands behind my back and bound them in chains, has he? Well then, listen! If he lets me go without a fight—for I see he has come in armor ready for battle—I shall send him a hundred bracelets of red gold to honor the king's name." Receiving this response, Camalo left and told the princes what he had spoken, and the answers he had heard.
617
Then Hagen said to the king: "Take the treasure he's offered. You can decorate your companions with it, Father. Just be sure to keep your hand from combat. Walter and his mighty courage are yet unknown to you. As a vision last night showed me, if we join battle, it will not all turn out favorable for us, for it seemed to me that you were wrestling a bear, who after a long struggle bit off one of your legs up to the knee, all of it below your thigh. Then, as I came to your aid with weapons in hand, he attacked me and cut out one of my eyes as well as some of my teeth."15
628
Hearing this, that haughty king shouted: "You seem to me to be imitating your father Hagathie. He too held an over-fearful mind in his frigid breast16 and avoided battles through much talk."17
632
Then the great-spirited hero grew justly angry, if it is ever permitted to be angry with a lord, and said: "Look! Let everything rest upon your skill at arms. The man you want is within sight. Let every man fight! You stand close now, nor does fear still hinder any of you. Let me simply watch the outcome and not take part in the spoils." He finished speaking, then rode to a nearby hill, dismounted from his horse, took a seat and watched from there.
640
Then, Gunther spoke and ordered Camalo: "Go and order him to give me back all the treasure. But if he should hesitate, since I know you're a brave and daring man, engage with him and, when you've conquered him in combat, take the spoils."18
644
Camalo, metropolitan19 of Metz, made his way, his helmet glittering over his blond hair and his hauberk about his chest. And from far off he said: "Hello, listen, friend, hand over all the treasure to the king of the Franks, if you want to keep your life and health any longer!"
649
The bravest of heroes kept quiet awhile, waiting for the savage enemy to come nearer. The king's agent rushed onward and called out the same message again.20 Then the young man, undisturbed, produced this reply: "What are you seeking? What do you compel me to return? Surely you do not think I was stealing21 these things from King Gunther? Or do you think he ever gave me anything on loan so that he might now rightfully force me to pay so much interest? Surely I did no damage to your country in my journey such that you would, therefore, think that you would rightly despoil me? If this nation shows so much jealousy toward everyone that it does not even grant a wayfarer the right to trod the ground, then, look, I shall pay for my passage, give the king two-hundred bracelets. Only let him give up battle and grant peace."
664
After Camalo had received this response in his beastly heart, he said: "You will open the coffers and increase your gift. And now I want to put an end to all this talk. Either you will give up what is requested or you will pour out your life-blood." So he spoke and drew his triple-layered shield up on his arm; and, brandishing his flashing spear, he strove to throw it with all his strength, but the youth carefully dodged the blow. The spear flew through air and bit the earth—a pointless wound.
672
Then Walter said: "If this is your wish, let us do it!" With these words he cast his spear at once. It traveled through the left side of Camalo's shield. And look! His hand, just as he had begun to draw his blade, was pinned to his leg by the spear which drove on through the horse. There was no delay. As the horse sensed the blow, he began to rage and shake his back trying to dislodge his rider and perhaps would have if the piercing shaft did not hold him on.
680
Meanwhile Camalo cast aside his shield and taking the spear in his left hand tried to draw it out of his right. As soon as the most celebrated hero noticed this, he ran up, grabbed Camalo's foot, and drove his sword in up to the hilt. As he drew this out, he also removed the spear from the wound.
685
Then at the same time fell both the horse and his lord. When Camalo's nephew—his brother's son named Kimo, whom some say was also called Scaramund—saw this, he groaned and sadly addressed all the party in tears: "Alas, this event means more to me than to the rest of you. Now I shall either die or avenge my dear friend!" Indeed, the cramped space forced them to meet one on one, nor could anyone run to the aid of
Notes
1 Compare Ovid Metamorphoses 4.105-7: "serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto / pulvere certa ferae totoque expalluit ore / Pyramus..."
2 The description of Gunther here alludes to Prudentius' image of Pride ("Superbia") in the Psychomachia 253-4, just before she falls in the pit of Deceit ("Fraus")—not a favorable prototype. Furthermore, deceit will be a major part of the action during the battles; the verb fraudare ("cheat" or "deceive") appears at 486 and 979, while the noun fraus ("deceit" or "deception") appears at 790 describing Walter.
3 Compare Silius Italicus 10.557: "aetherias anima exultans euasit in auras."
4 An instance of the thievery topos which runs throughout this scene.
5 Literally this is either "how high he jumps against a shield" or "how high he rises up into his shield."
6 The phrase "by a crazed mind" ("male sana mente") has been adapted from Prudentius Psychomachia 203, a description of Pride ("Superbia"). An appropriate allusion since superbus ("proud" or "haughty") is often used to describe him.
7 Kratz (1984) notes that qui (“who”) here may refer grammatically to Deus (God) or gladius (his sword) creating an interesting (and Kratz says intentional) ambiguity and that there is a reference to a passage in the Bible (2 Corinthians 1.10 “qui de tantis periculis nos eripuit”, “he who has snatched us from such great dangers”) where qui clearly refers to God. Compare Waldere fragment B 25-29 for a similar statement about God giving victory, where it seems that Walter is addressing Gunther.
8 I have here translated statio as "place", but it specifically means a "place where one stops or stays" or a "residence"; Kratz (1984) translates it here as "stronghold."
9 Haughtiness is a key trait of Gunther's and clearly negative, but Walter will soon show regret for this attitude.
10 This is one of the most Christian actions of Walter. It is hard to say just how much of this Christian element has been added by the poet, since Germanic versions of the tale could have had Christian features too.
11 I have used an archaic spelling for “man” because “homonem” (“mann”) is an archaic Latin form. It appears also at line 933. Kratz (1984) here mentions that the grammarian Priscian quotes an example from Ennius, but Servius ( On the Aeneid 6.595) also quotes an Ennian fragment containing the archaic form, and our author definitely knows Servius—compare note 47.
12 That is, the report from the ferryman about Walter passing through with treasure.
13 This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see note 178 on the longest of these.
14 The narrator tends to reserve this term for Walter.
15 This dream foreshadows the end of the final battle, and the image of Walter as a bear is in a way fulfilled by the most elaborate simile of the poem which compares Walter to a Numidian bear (1337-43).
16 That is, he was not hot with courage.
17 Gunther's taunt about Hagen's father will be repeated by Hagen himself (1067-72).
18 For Gunther's pride and his refusal of Walter's offer of treasure, compare the Anglo-Saxon Waldere fragment A 25-31.
19 For metropolitanus ("metropolitan") Kratz (1984) has "prefect." A metropolitan is someone connected with a metropolitan church, a major regional church center. It is unclear whether Camalo should anachronistically and contrary to his portrayal be considered an ecclesiastic metropolitan, that is, a sort of primate or archbishop over a region, or whether he should be seen as an entirely secular official having a similar kind of overarching authority. In either case, he seems to hold an important position.
20 I omit line 652 "Hand over all the treasure to the king of the Franks!" (= 647), which Strecker did not include in his text since it was added because of a note in manuscript S which indicated that the repeated message was the words of line 647.
21 An instance of the thievery topos which runs throughout this scene.
another. Unlucky Scaramund, soon to die, flew off, brandishing two spears with wide blades in his hand. When he saw Walter entirely undisturbed by fear and standing fixed in the same place, he gnashed his teeth and spoke thus as the horse-haired crest on his helm shook: "In what do you trust? What is your source of hope? I am not seeking treasure now nor any of your things, but I am asking for the stolen life of my relative."1 Walter then said: "If you convince me that I made first trial of combat, or if for some reason I rightfully deserve to suffer these things, then without delay let your spear bore through me!"
705
He had not yet finished speaking when suddenly Scaramund hurled one of his two spears at him and then immediately the other. The most celebrated hero dodged one of these and shook the second from his shield. Then Scaramund unsheathing his sharp-edged sword rushed at the youth, intending to split his forehead open. Galloping on the back of his horse and nearing Walter, he could not plant a balanced wound upon his head but slammed his hilt against Walter's helm—it sprang away with a ringing sound as it shot fire into the air. But he could not turn his haughty steed, before Walter had fixed a spear-blow under his chin and lifted him off his high seat and cut off his head with his own sword2 even as he tried to talk—making kindred blood flow together..3
720
When haughty Gunther saw this man die, he began to encourage his raging comrades to renew the fight: "Let's attack him and give him no chance to rest, until he grows tired and fails. Then, beaten, he will return the treasure and will pay the penalty for bloodshed."
725
Behold! Third, Werinhard goes and provokes battle—a man born from as long a line of descendants as any. O famous man, lover of skill4 , and your kinsman, Pandarus, you who once when ordered to disrupt the treaty sent your arrow spinning into the midst of the Achaeans!5 This man spurned the spear and carried a bow and quiver, troubling Walter from afar with arrows shot in unfair warfare. Still that manly youth stood facing him, holding the circle of his seven-layered shield before him and continually evading the oncoming shots through his foresight, for now he would jump aside, now turn his shield into the wind6 and strike away the arrows—none of them touched him.
737
After Pandarides7 saw he had spent his arrows in vain, soon in anger he brought out his sword and finally, flying forward, cast these words from his mouth: "Well, clever fellow, if you mocked my air-borne shots, perhaps you will now receive a blow from my whirling sword hand." To him8 as he smiled Walter began: "Now for a long time I have been waiting to engage in combat on fair footing.9 Hurry up! For my part there will be no delay!"
745
He had spoken and with all his body he strove and hurled the iron. The spear flying through the air unlocked the horse's breast—the steed rose up and whipped the air with its hooves; and, unseating the rider, collapsed over top of him. The youth10 ran up and snatched his sword from him by force. Knocking off his helm, the hero seized his blonde hair and addressed him as he was making one prayer11 after another: "A little while ago you were not casting such words into the air." This he said and left him, a body severed from its head..12
754
Still the three corpses seen there did not frighten Gunther in his insanity. He bade another to hurry to death in turn. Behold! Fourth, Ekivrid born of the Saxon lands,.13 made trial of battle—he who on account of killing some nobleman had fled from home as an exile. A painted chestnut horse carried this man. When he saw Walter ready for war, he said: "Tell me whether a material body gives you vigor,14 or if you are a deception made by airy shapes, you cursed fellow! To me at least you seem to be a faun, an inhabitant of the woods."
764
Walter laughed and gave this response: "The Celtic tongue15 proves you were born of that race to whom nature granted to surpass all others at sport. But if you come nearer and my hand touches you, you will be able to tell the Saxons later that today you saw the phantasm of a faun in Vosges."
770
"Well, I will try to discover what you are," said Ekivrid, and then he forcefully cast his iron-tipped cornel-wood. It flashed out of his throwing strap,16 but the stout shield shattered it. Walter in turn replied as he threw his spear: "A sylvan faun sends you this gift. See whether my spear is more penetrating."
776
The shaft split the wood covered with bull hide and ripping his shirt lodged in his lung. Unlucky Ekivrid rolled over and coughed up a stream of blood. Behold how, while fleeing death, he met it just the same.17 The youth drove off his horse behind him onto the grass.
781
Then, fifth, Hadawart, deceived by his own inflated breast, demanded that Gunther promise him Walter's shield. Soon advancing he threw his spear aside for his comrades to hold and boldly trusted vainly in his sword alone. When he saw that the corpses lying there had blocked the whole path and that the horse could not go that way, he leapt off and prepared to proceed by foot. Walter stood there fierce in arms and praised the man since he offered a chance to fight fairly. Then Hadawart told him: "You wily trickster and snake guilty of deception! You always hide your limbs in scaly covering and, like an adder coiled up into a circle, escape so many weapons without even a scratch for a wound! And you strangely evade poisoned arrows! Do you think you will cleverly avoid this blow that my right hand now sends with sure aim as I stand nearby? No such man is the author of this weapon or wound. Hear my advice; put down your painted shield! My lot seeks this, and the king's pledge promises it too. But I don't want you to hurt it since it pleases my eyes. Otherwise, though you take the nourishing light from me,18 more of my comrades and my blood-kin are here who, even if you play the bird and take to wing,19 will never let you get away unharmed."
805
But the warrior, not at all frightened, spoke this in return: "As for the rest I say nothing, but as for the shield I am anxious to protect it. For its good service I am its debtor—believe me. It has often put itself in the way of my enemies and received wounds itself in place of me. And you yourself see how useful it has been to me today, since you would, perhaps, not be speaking with Walter, if it were not here. O, right hand, take care to strike down my enemy with the utmost strength so that he may not snatch away the towers of my wall!20 O, left hand, earnestly grip the handle of my shield and keep your fingers fixed like glue around the ivory. Do not lose the burden which you have carried over so many long paths from the lofty seats of the Avars!"21
818
The other then said: "You act against your will, if you willingly refuse. Not only will you give up the shield but also your horse along with the girl and the gold. Then finally will you pay the penalty of torture for your crimes." This he said and stripped his well-known sword from its sheath. Springing from different directions they ran together. The Vosges was dumbstruck at the lightining strikes of their blows. They were lofty in spirit and grand arms—this one trusting a sword,22 this one fierce and tall with his spear. They mixed much in battle with forceful strength. Not so does the black holm-oak resound when stricken by the ax as their did their helms clatter and their shields rebound. The Franks looked on in wonder because the hero Walter was not yet worn out, though no rest or space of time was given him.
831
This fellow from Wörms, now thinking he could get away with it, leapt up in a boiling rage and raised his sword, calling out that he would end the war with this blow. But the foresightful youth intercepted him in mid-swing with a whack of his spear and made him drop the blade in surprise. From a distance the sword could be seen gleaming in the bushes. When he saw he had been despoiled of his friendly sword, he wanted to quickly flee and go to the thicket. Alpharides,23 relying on his feet and fresh youth, followed saying: "Where are you fleeing to? Come get my shield!24 So he spoke and swiftly lifted his spear in both hands and struck. The man fell, his great shield clanging about him. Nor was the youth slow. He stepped on his neck and, prying away the shield, stabbed through him into the earth. The man rolled back his eyes and breathed his spirit out into the air.
846
The sixth was Patavrid. Hagen's sister had brought him into the light, and, when he saw him going forth, his uncle called to him shouting, begging, and trying to turn him away from this pursuit: "Where are you rushing off to? Look at Death! How he grins! Stop! Behold! The Fates are gathering your last threads. Oh, my dear nephew, your mind deceives you. Quit this! In short, you are no match for Walter's strength." Still the unlucky fellow went on his way spurning all this advice, for he burned in his veins, lusting to seize glory.
855
Sadly Hagen drew a long sigh from his breast and poured these words into the air:25 "O Maelstrom of the World, Insatiate Hunger to Have, Whirpool of Greed, Heart
Notes
1 Notice the reference again to thievery, but now Walter is the thief, and he is stealing life.
2 Kimo seems to have dropped his sword when it rebounded from Walter's helm, and so Walter picked it up.
3 Kimo or Scaramund is Camalo's nephew, so they have “kindred blood”.
4 The poet means, of course, the skill of archery.
5 The poet makes another explicit connection of his epic to the Greco-Roman epic tradition by having Werinhard be descended from Homer's Pandarus; compare with the mention of Hagen's Trojan blood (line 28). These lines recall Vergil's direct address to Pandarus (Verg. Aen . 5.322, 495), and Pandarus also plays a part in the so-called Latin Homer ( Homerus Latinus 346 ff.) and is there, as in the Aeneid and Waltharius , addressed in apostrophe (at line 449) by the poet. Pandarus was the chief archer of the Trojans in the Iliad , but because of his truce-breaking shot, which the poet here alludes to, he is often seen as a rogue. The poet of the Waltharius clearly intended to create an unflattering parallel between Werinhard and his ancestor.
6 The poet uses auster ("south wind"), it seems, for wind in general. Compare Servius' notes on Vergil's similar use of the word at On the Aeneid 1.9 and 3.70.
7 That is, "descendent of Pandarus." This is the same kind of patronymic as Alpharides ("son of Alphere") for Walter.
8 For "olli" an archaic form of "illi" ("to him" or "to that man"), compare Vergil Aeneid 1.254, 12.829, and Servius On the Aeneid 1.254.
9 Literally this is "just weight", refering metaphorically to a balance scale.
10 As often, here Walter is called "iuvenis" ("the youth").
11 The Latin "preces" (“prayer”) can also mean "pleas".
12 Walter's lack of mercy, particularly since his opponent was possibly praying or at least begging for mercy, is thoroughly un-Christian. The chilling touch of the scene is reminiscent of Aeneas' killing of Turnus who is described as "precantem" ("pleaing" or "begging", Vergil Aeneid 12.930), but here Walter has no moral justification like Pallas' belt.
13 It is unclear whether this means Saxony on the continent or Saxon holdings in Britain.
14 The Latin verb here "vegetat" and the rest of this speech indicate a etymological pun on Walter's name, which is from the same root as German "der Wald" ("the forest"). Compare the puns on Hagen's name which means “thorn bush” (lines 1351 and 1421). See Morgan (1972) "Walter the Wood-Sprite" Medium Aevum 41: 16-19, for a discussion of the poet's etymological plays.
15 Langosch says: "'Celtica lingua' ist nicht sicher zu deuten, meint wohl Kauderwelsch." ("'Celtic tongue' is not clear, perhaps it mean Kauderwelsch." By Kauderwelsch Langosch means a sort of confused mismash of Celtic and Germanic languages, a vulgar dialect. Morgan (see above note) suggests that it may have to do not with his language so much as as his wit—therefore, meaning "Clever tongue." Morgan suggests that Walter acknowledging Ekivrid's riddling, ridiculing etymology on Walter's name.
16 Compare Vergil Aeneid (9.665, and the note by Servius On the Aeneid 9.662) for the “throwing strap”.
17 Evidently this means simply that Ekivrid did not plan to die but to kill Walter. Compare Vergil Aeneid 11.881.
18 This may be another instance of the topos of thievery with Walter as the thief of life.
19 Perhaps this is another riddling reference to “Walter the wood-sprite", since woodland spirits might change into birds.
20 This invocation of his right hand recalls the godless Mezentius' invocation of his hand in the Aeneid (10.773-6). Mezentius' impiety and his later downfall make this an unfavorable parallel—Walter should be addressing God! It is this same right hand that has brought him so much glory which will be cut off in the final battle, perhaps evoking Mark 9:42: "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off..."
21 The invocation of his left hand has a similar impious connotation, and also Walter's strong attachment to his shield, a material possession, is not in keeping with a Christian hero. Furthermore, the poet's choice of Avars as the name for the Huns here could be because of a punning connection with avaritia ("avarice" or "greed")—see below at line 1404.
22 Compare Vergil Aeneid 12.788.
23 This patronymic epithet meaning "son of Alphere" is part of the poet's nod toward pagan epic—Vergil calls Aeneas "Anchisiades" ("son of Anchises" Aen . 5.407). Compare with Pandarides above (737).
24 Kratz (1984) translates this "Pick up your shield!" but the Latin "Accipe scutum!" gives no indication of whose shield. Moreover, since Hadawart attacked Walter specifically to take his shield, it seems far more poignant to have Walter mock him by saying "Come, take it!" The taunt fits well the tone of the exchanges between opponents throughout the combat sequence. Of course, this does present Walter in an unfavorable light, but we have already noted failings in his character from a Christian standpoint—notably his invocation of his right and left hands, not God, to save him.
25 Kratz (1984) here says: "This speech is central to the design of the Waltharius . Hagen equates the desire for praise, which motivates Batavrid, with the sin of avarice. The death of Batavrid will provide Hagen's motivation for fighting Walter; and Hagen will reject Walter's offer of treasure in order to perform a 'memorable deed.'" Note that the whole of the plot can be seen as illustrating the vice of avarice, since Walter steals two chests of treasure and the armor and helmet of Attila (263-4) for his journey. This is not in accord with the exhortation of Good Works in the Psychomachia (613) or Christ to his apostles (Luke 9:3, 10:4, 22:35), both of whom say not even to take a purse on one's journey.
of All Evils! Oh, how I wish, you dreadful creature, that you would swallow only precious metals and all other riches but return men without harm! But now you inflame men blowing through them with your perverse spirit. To no man do their own goods suffice! Look! They do not fear to rush to meet a foul death in their hope for profit. The more they have, the more the thirst to have burns them. They take possession of other men's goods sometimes by force and sometimes by deceit; and, what causes more fresh groans and stirs new tears, they thrust their heaven-born souls into the furnace of Erebus.1 Look! I cannot call my beloved nephew back, for he is urged on by you, Savage Desire!2 Behold how blindly he hastens to taste an unspeakable death and wants to descend to the shades for but cheap glory. Alas, my dear nephew, what, Lost One, are you giving your mother? Who, my dear, shall take care of your newly wedded wife to whom you, stolen from hope, did not give a child to cheer? What madness is this of yours? Where does this insanity come from?" So he spoke and spattered his lap with welling tears. And at last between sobs he proclaimed: "Farewell, my handsome boy!"3
878
Walter, though far off, noticed his comrade's grim sadness, and his voice too reached his ears. Therefore, he addressed the approaching horseman thus: "Take my advice, most illustrious youth; and save yourself to await a better fate! Stop! Your rash confidence deceives you! Look at all these slaughtered heroes, and abandon battle so that you do not see your last hour and make me more enemies."4 "Why do you care if I die, you tyrant?" said the other, "Now you must fight, not talk!" He had spoken and aimed his knotty spear as he talked. But the hero knocked it aside with his own and turned it elsewhere. As it was carried down in an arcing dance and driven by Walter's raging strength,5 it entered the camp and fixed itself before the girl's feet. She, stricken with fear, exclaimed a womanly cry. But, after a weak pulse returned to her heart, briefly peeking up from below, she looked to see whether the hero was alive.
895
At the same time the brave man ordered the Frank to depart from battle, but he bared his sword in rage and ran to attack Walter and brandished his wound by his head.6 But Alpharides swung his shield just at the right time and wordlessly gnashed his teeth like a boar foaming at the mouth.
900
In his desire to strike, Patavrid exposed himself all the more openly to a blow, while Walter ducked and hid under his shield, contracting his body. And look! Cheated of the wound,7 the youth fell clumsily. It would have been the end, had not the warrior been lying there with his knees bent to the ground, fending off the fine-steel under the circle of his shield. While he was getting up, the other too lifted himself and quickly in alarm brought the shield before him and vainly began to renew the contest. But Alpharides too swiftly planted his spear in the ground and attacked him with his sword, taking off half of his shield with a massive swing, cutting through his linked hauberk, and laying bare his loins. Unlucky Patavrid, seeing his own guts, collapsed giving his body to the silvan beast and his soul to Orcus.8
914
Gerwit came then promising to avenge this companion. Gerwit, borne on a strong horse flew over all the strewn corpses, which had closed off the narrow pathway. He came and flourished his double-headed axe in Walter's face—for at that time the Franks used this sort of weapon9 —just as the powerful warrior had cut off the dead man's head. Walter threw his shield in the way, frustrated the blow, jumped back, snatched up his trusty spear, and tossed his bloody sword in the green rushes. And then you would have seen fearful wars of men! Indeed, there was no talk to interrupt their Martial warfare, so intent were their minds on adverse warre .10 The other raged to honor his slain comrades with revenge, but Walter tried zealously to protect his life with all his effort and, if chance so granted, to retain his victory palm. This one strikes, the other guards; this one attacks, the other leans away. Luck and courage are eagerly mixed together.11 Still the long spear knocked aside the enemy's shorter weapon, but he circled on his horse, wanting to trick the wearied mann .12
934
Now more and more burdened by a mass of wrath, Walter lifted the bottom of Gerwit's shield and passed his iron through his groin and penetrated his thigh. He fell backward making a gloomy shout, and in the pain of his death he kicked the field with his heels.13 And now Walter hacked through the man's neck and left a headless corspe where there had earlier been a count of the lands of Wörms.
941
Then it happened that the Franks began first to delay and to beseech their lord with great prayers that he depart from battle. He, miserable fellow, grew enraged and blindly spoke: "I ask, brave men and hearts so often tested, that this fortune not bring each man fear but anger instead. What shall I do, if I leave the Vosges as ingloriously as this? Let each adopt my sentiment for himself. Behold! I am ready to die before I enter Wörms under such circumstances. Should this fellow seek his homeland victoriously with no blood fine? Till now you burned to despoil the man of his treasures.14 Burn again, men, burn to honor the blood that has been spilt so that death may wipe away the stain of death, and blood that of blood. Let your murderous blow console your murdered comrades!"
954
Saying this, he fired spirits up and made them all forgetful of both their life and safety. And, like in some game, each was eager to outrun the other in the race for death.15 But the path, as I said before, forced only two men to contend in war. Yet the illustrious man, as he saw them delaying, removed his helm and hung it in the tree and, catching his breath, wiped away the sweat as he panted.
962
Look! The athlete Randolf on his quick horse passed the rest and menacingly raced toward Walter and then aimed under his chest with his iron-tipped pike.16 And if the Work of Weland17 with its hardened rings were not in the way, he would have pierced his loins with the thick wood. Still Walter, though stunned in his heart with sudden fear, threw his protecting shield in the way and recovered his wits. Not yet had there been a chance to grab his helm.
970
But the Frank tossed his spear, stripped his sword, and struck, shaving two locks of hair off the Aquitanian's head. Still he could not—it chanced—scrape the surface of the skin, so he drew back again and struck another blow, but in haste he planted his fine-steel directly in the obstructing shield, nor could he withdraw it, no matter how hard he tried. Alpharides in turn, shaking himself free as quick as lightning, threw the Frank to the ground with his powerful strength. Standing over him, he stepped on his chest and said: "Behold! For shaving my head, I shall cheat18 you of yours, lest this be your boast over me to your bride." Scarcely had he said this, when he chopped the man's neck, even as he prayed.19
982
Well, the ninth, Helmnod, succeeded to the fight, and he wielded a trident tied to a three-strand rope, which his comrades standing behind him held. The plan was, when he threw the weapon, and it stuck in the shield, they would all eagerly pull together so that they might cast down even so raging a man. Because of this hope they considered their triumph certain. There was no delay; the duke, pouring all his strength into his arms, threw the trident at his adversary, calling out loudly: "Under this iron, bald man,20 you will find your end!" It pierced the wind, flashing like Javelins,21 those kind of snakes that shoot down from high trees with such force that they pierce all obstacles.
995
Why do I linger? It split the shield-boss and settled in the shield; the Franks sent up a shout and leapt backwards. Striving altogether and in turn they pulled the rope, nor did the prince hesitate to apply himself to such work. Rivers of sweat seeped down all their limbs, but still the hero stood in this contest, like an ash tree, which seeks the stars with its leafage no more, than it seeks Tartarus with its roots—unmoved and holding all the roaring winds in contempt. The enemies contended with him and encouraged each other, saying that, if they could not drag him out into the open field, they should at least be eager to wrench away his protecting shield so that, with this removed, they might easily take him alive. I shall tell the names of those pulling, those who remained.
1008
Ninth was Eleuthir, called also by the name Helmnod; the Argentine town22 provided the tenth, Trogus; the powerful city Speyer produced the eleventh, Tanastus; the king filled the twelfth place, leaving out Hagen. Together these four contended with the utmost effort against one in a great and indecisive struggle. Meanwhile the vain toil goaded Alpharides to anger; and, just as he had long now had his head bare of helm, so, relying on his lance23 and bronze24 shirt, he cast aside his shield and first attacked Eleuthir. Rending his helm, he split the man's brain in two and, cutting through the neck itself, opened up his chest. The heart beating sickly soon gave up its warm breath.
1021
Then he attacked Trogus, while he was still hanging onto the damnable rope. Trogus, astonished by the sudden death of his falling comrade, at the horrific sight of his enemy began in vain to attempt bitter flight and wanted to recover the weapons he had
Notes
1 That is, "Hell."
2 For "saeva cupido" ("Savage Desire"), compare Statius Silvae 2.1.214 and Juvenal 14.175 (similar moralizing passages about the ills of mankind). The phrase is not Vergilian; he prefers "dira cupido" ( Georgics 1.37; Aeneid 6.373, 721, 9.185).
3 This is a touching echo of Vergil Eclogues 3.79, where it is an address of a woman to her departing lover.
4 This passage shows the more Christian side of Walter, who wants to spare the young man, though one might also find a literary model in Aeneas' desire to spare Lausus whom he kills, arousing the wrath of Mezentius, Vergil Aeneid 10.809-12; and the scene also illustrates Walter's loyalty to Hagen, whom he does not want to grieve.
5 Kratz (1984) translates: "Propelled by breezes and the raging warrior's strength..." (my emphasis). The key word of the Latin "choris" ("in an arcing dance") is obscure; a chorus is usually an dance ring or chorus. I have taken it as refering to the arcing "dance" of the spear through the air. Kratz no doubt connects "choris" with "Cauris," the ablative plural of "Caurus" ("north-west wind"). The poetic plural as well as the double corruption of diphthong au to simple vowel o (and even then the long o must be shortened to fit the meter) and of unaspirated c to aspirated ch , is possible but seems improbable.
6 At Aeneid 2.529, Vergil uses vulnus ("wound") apparently to refer to a sword. Servius comments on this line: "'vulnus' pro telo" (“‘wound' in place of weapon”). Our poet often uses “vulnus” (“wound”) in place of a word meaning “blow” or “weapon”.
7 That is, the wound which he hoped to inflict. Kratz (1984) translates "tricked into a wild blow" but the ablative case of "vulnere" ("wound" or "blow") does not fit this interpretation.
8 That is, to "Hell."
9 Note the narrator's earlier remark about the Hunnish custom of wearing two blades (337) and Hagen's later remark that Walter would be breaking his people's custom by wearing his sword on the right (1429). These comments display an anthropological or antiquarian interest. Compare Statius Thebaid 5.525-6 and Silius 8.549-50 for this kind of comment in Roman epic.
10 The poet uses the archaic form duellum , rather than the usual bellum , for "war." Duellum is not found in Vergil. Where did the poet find it? Statius ( Thebaid 8.684, 11.282) provides examples, as do Ovid ( Fast i 6.201), Juvenal (1.169), Horace ( Odes 3.5.38, 3.14.18, 4.15.8; Epistulae 1.2.7, 2.1.254, 2.2.298), and Ennius (in a fragment quoted by Priscian GL 2.470K.).
11 Compare Vergil Aeneid 12.714 and Servius' note on the line which implies that fors ("luck") is Turnus and virtus ("courage" or "virtue") is Aeneas. This may be the correct way to take the passage here.
12 This translates an archaic Latin form. See the note on line 578.
13 Compare Vergil Aeneid 10.404.
14 This is an instance of the thievery topos that runs throughout the latter half of the poem.
15 This athletic metaphor is extended below.
16 Compare Prudentius Psychomachia 116.
17 Kratz (1984) notes: "Wayland or Wieland in Norse mythology is the god of smiths." In the Anglo-Saxon poem Waldere , Walter's hauberk or byrnie may have played a greater role than here, since fragment B 16-24 contains a scene where Walter taunts Gunther who seems to have particularly wanted this heirloom of Walter's father. In the Waltharius , it is his shield which receives the most attention as a desired prize—compare Hadawart's request to have the shield above (781 ff.) and Helmnod's plan to wrench it away (982 ff.).
18 The Latin "fraudo" ("cheat") is another instance of the thievery topos. Walter keeps stealing their life just as they try to steal the treasure, which he stole to begin with.
19 One could also translate "precantis" "as he pled." Compare the similar scene at 751 ff. above, and see the note there.
20 Helmnod is, of course, taunting Walter for the two lost locks of hair.
21 Compare Isidore Etymologiae 12.4.29 and Lucan 9.720.
22 That is, "Strassburg."
23 The Latin "framea" is a rare word meaning "spear" in classical authors, though it may mean "sword" here—compare below at line 1376. Interestingly Tacitus uses it often in the Germania for the weapons of the Germans (see especially 6.1 where he claims it is a Germanic word).
24 The use of “bronze” instead of “iron” or “steel” is anachronistic and is owed to the poet's literary models such as Vergil, who adapted these “bronze” weapons and armor from archaic Greek poets such as Homer, whose poetry preserved memories of the late bronze age.
laid aside so that he might renew the contest1 —for they had all put aside their spears and shields to pull the rope. But, just as the mighty hero excelled in bravery, so did he also in speed. As he caught up with Trogus in a run, he sliced the man's calves with his sword point, thus slowing him down, and passed him to steal his shield.2 But Trogus, though weakened by the wound, nevertheless, seething in his mind, saw a huge stone, which he snatched up and suddenly hurled at his enemy as he strove onward, and it split his own shield from top to bottom.
1035
But the hide stretched over the frame held the broken wood together. And soon, though on bended knee, Trogus emptied the green house3 and burning with emotion terrified the air with his swings. Though he could not display his manliness4 through deeds, still he showed his manly manner in heart and voice. And, failing to see the ghosts smiling, he boldly began: "O, if only I had my trusty shield! Luck has given you victory over me, not famed manliness. Here take my sword to match my shield!"5
1044
Then the hero, grinning too,6 said: "I am coming!" And, flying at Trogus in a run, detached his right hand in mid-swing.7 But, when the athlete8 was balancing a second blow by his ear and was eager to open the doors for his spirit to leave, suddenly Tanastus along with the king—they had recovered their weapons—appeared, threw his shield in the way, and warded off the wound from his comrade.
1050
Then indignantly Walter turned his anger toward this man and tore his shoulder from its joint and sliced through his side with iron, spilling his guts. "Farewell!" Tanastus whispered faintly as he fell forward.9 As he fell, Trogus disdained to produce prayers10 but incensed his friend's conqueror with bitter abuse—perhaps through manly spirit, perhaps he was simply desperate. Then Alpharides said: "Die and take this message down to Tartarus. Tell your comrades that you avenged them." This he spoke and put a golden torque about his neck. Look! The friends lie slain together in the dust, striking the gory earth with twitching heels.11
Notes
1 The word "agonem" ("contest") is Greek in origin; the poet could have found it in Servius ( On the Aeneid 3.704, 5.370; On the Georgics 3.19). This is another instance the athletic metaphor.
2 This is another example of the thievery topos.
3 This is a kenning for "sheath".
4 The Latin " vir tutem" could also be translated "virtue" or "courage", and it is echoed in the Latin by the word play in "habitum... vir ilem" ("manly manner").
5 This taunt recalls Walter's jibe: "Come get my shield!" (840).
6 The "too" may be because ghosts smiled at Trogus in the previous paragraph.
7 This is strangely like what happens to Walter at the end.
8 This refers to Walter, continuing athletic metaphor.
9 The depiction of Tanastus' final goodbye is sympathetic, especially since he was seeking to protect his friend.
10 The word “preces” (“prayers”) could also be translated "pleas".
11 This description is harsh and elicits sympathy for the two friends. The poet may have been inspired by the model of Vergil's Nisus and Euryalus episode in book 9 of the Aeneid or of Statius' Hopleus and Dymas episode in book 10 of the Thebaid .
Part III
1062
The unlucky king, seeing this, drew in his breath and, trying to escape in all eagerness, mounted the back of his finely adorned1 horse to fly quickly to gloomy Hagen2 and tried with all kinds of pleas to make him go with him and renew the battle. But Hagen spoke: "The unspeakable race of my parents prevents me from fighting, and cold blood has stolen my wits away in the midst of battle. So I say, for my father melted down, whenever he set eyes upon weapons, and fearfully renounced combat with many a word. When you made those taunts, king, among your comrades, our aid to you was shameful indeed."3
1073
The other, nonetheless, entreating him yet more as he refused, strove to change him with such words as these: "I beseech you by the gods. Drop this wrath that you have conceived within! Shake off this anger you have for me! If we live and return home together, I shall requite my debt to you with many generous rewards. Do you not feel ashamed to disown your manhood, when so many of your companions and relatives have died? Words, I think, can move your mind more than awful deeds. You would more justly have grown angry at a cruel tyrant, who alone today had dared to defame the Head of the world.4 We suffer no little loss from the slaughter of men. Yet never will Frankland overcome so great a dishonor.5 Those who used to fear us will whisper and say: 'All the army of the Franks at the hands of one man—for shame we know not even whom—is slain with no retribution.'"
1089
Still Hagen kept delaying and tossing about in his heart his pledge to Walter and recalling the event in sequence just as it happened, but the unlucky king pressed upon him, imploring even more, until moved by the vigor of his insistent pleas he blushed at the face of his lord and thought again of the honor that he had on account of his courage, and how it would perhaps henceforth become vile, if he were to spare himself in this situation. At last he burst out and answered thus in a clear voice: "Whither do you call me, lord? Whither shall I follow, famous prince? Confidence promises the heart what cannot happen.6 Who has ever proved to be so foolish that he has tried to jump into the gaping pit7 of his own accord? So I say, for I know Walter is so bitter on the field of battle that, situated in such a stronghold and residence, he will despise a huge company as if it were one little man. Even if Frankland had sent all her cavalry and infantry here, still he would have done just the same; but, since I see that you are more grieved by shame than by destructive slaughter, and that you do not want thus to leave, I feel sympathy, and my own grief gives way to my king's honor. And look! I shall try to find the path of salvation,8 which shows itself either nowhere or else only under compulsion.9 So I say, for on my dear nephew's account—I confess, my lord—I would not spoil the oath I pledged. Look! For you, my king, I shall go into certain danger. But know now that I will go far from the conflict. Let us depart and give him space to come out, and then place ourselves in a lookout10 and pasture our horses in the meadow, until, secure at last, he leaves his close-set stronghold, thinking that we have gone. When he steps into the open field, let us rise and attack him from behind while he is surprised. Thus can we try some work of courage. But this very sure hope I have amongst doubtful things: then, my king, you will be able to fight—if you have a mind for war—for he will never put the two of us to flight, but we must either flee or wage fierce war."
1126
His lord praises the advice, embraces him, and comforts him with a kiss. And look! They leave and search for a place suitable for ambush, and relaxing they tie up their horses on the lush grass.
1130
Meanwhile, Phoebus11 tilts toward the western shores, marks his farthest tracks over famous Thule, and leaves the Spaniards along with the Irishmen behind him. After the Sun has gradually warmed the ocean waves, Hesperus12 turns his horns to the Ausonid13 lands, and then wisely the warrior begins to think to himself whether to stay in his safe stronghold while all was deeply silent or to entrust himself to the vast fields of wilderness. He storms within amidst great waves of worry and searches his wits in a swift hunt.14 So he did, for he feared Hagen alone, and that kiss and embrace of the king. He was totally unsure about the mind of his enemy—would they want to return to the city that they had left to gather more comrades over night and come back at first light to renew awful war, or would they set an ambush by themselves and lie in wait nearby? In addition to these worries the forest with its unfamiliar, crossing trails made him fear that he might chance upon places rough with thorn-bushes,15 or even wild beasts, and somehow lose his betrothed. After considering all of this, he spoke: "Well, however the affair turns out, I shall rest here until the sphere runs its course and returns its beloved light so that that haughty king may not say that I fled the bounds of his country like a thief through the shadows."16
1155
He spoke and look! He fortified the tight path with a barricade, placing freshly cut thorns and Christ's Thorn17 together all around. When he had finished, he turned to the maimed corpses with a bitter groan and put the heads beside each of them;18 and, lying face down toward the East19 with his bare sword in his hand, he prayed thus: "To the maker of the world who also governs all creation, without whose permission or even command nothing stands, I give thanks that he has defended me from the unjust blows of the hostile band and also from their abusive taunts.20 But I beseech my kind Lord with a repentant mind that he, who wants to destroy not sinners but their faults, may allow me to see these men in the heavenly home."
1168
After completing his prayer, straightaway he rises, turns the six horses around, and ties them up with thin twigs twisted in the customary way—only these remained; for two were killed in battle, and king Gunther had driven off three.21 Finishing all of this, he loosens his belt, removes the massive weight, and lightens his steaming body.22
1174
Then with happy words he consoles his gloomy bride and soon took food and refreshed his weary limbs, for he was quite exhausted. Then, lying back against his shield, he ordered the girl to keep watch so that he might sleep first. He decided to take the morning watch which was more suspect, and at last he rested.
1180
At his head she sat and kept her usual watch and kept her sleepy eyes awake by singing. But when the man first broke his sleep and awoke, he rose without delay, ordered the girl to sleep, and quickly snatched up a spear and propped himself against it. So he continued the rest of the night, for sometimes he would go among the horses, and sometimes he would approach the barricade and listen, wishing that the appearance of the world and light would return. Meanwhile, Lucifer23 scaled Olympus as herald, saying: "The isle of Taprobane24 sees the bright sun." It was the hour when the chilly Eous25 bedews the land. The youth approached to despoil the slain of their arms and armor. Leaving the shirts and other things, he only stripped the armbands, belts and belt buckles, swords, hauberks, and the helmets too.
1195
He loaded four horses, placed the one he called his bride on the fifth, and mounted the sixth himself. Then he went out first, after pulling aside the barricade. Yet, while the path of the confined trail pierced onward, checking everything around him with clear eyes, he caught the airy wind in his ears, pricked to see if he could hear any whispers, footsteps, jangling bridles of haughty men, or even, perhaps, the clatter of an iron-clad horse's hoof.
1204
After he saw that all was quiet, he moved the burdened horses in front of him and bid the girl too to go ahead. He himself, keeping hold of the horse carrying the coffers, dared to follow the path girt in his usual apparel. He crossed nearly a mile, and look! The girl—for her fragile sex drove her to fear in her heart—looked back and saw the two men coming down from a hill, going at a fast and unusual pace.26 Going white, she addressed the man behind her with a cry: "Our delayed end has now come. Flee, lord! They are closing in!"
1214
He turned, recognized them at first sight, and said: "In vain, did my right hand27 lay low my enemies, if glory shall abandon me at the last, and dishonor stand at my side. It is better to seek a handsome death in battle than to lose our possessions and escape alone as a wanderers.28 But the rewards of salvation are not so hopeless for one who has seen greater perils. Take the reins of Lion, who carries the gold, go quickly, and hurry into that nearby wood! But I choose rather to stand by on the mountain's slope, waiting for what shall come and greeting them as they arrive."
1225
The famous young maiden obeys his words as he commands. He quickly grabs his shield and shakes his spear to test the temper of the unfamiliar horse in battle. The king races madly at him, with his retainer at his side, and from afar he addresses him in the haughtiest manner: "Savage enemy, you will now be cheated of all your hard work! Look! Your hidden den is far away, the place from which, like a wolfhound bitch you used rabidly to gnash your teeth and bark. Behold! Fight, if you will, in an open field and find out if luck can get you an end equal to your beginning. I know—you have invited Fortune with a reward,29 and so you disdain flight or surrender."
Notes
1 Kratz (1984) describes the horse as "richly furbished", perhaps a misprint for "furnished"—the Latin term falerati indicates that the horse has an ornament on his head or chest.
2 He is sad for the death of friends and his nephew. This foreshadows his choice to join Gunther against Walter.
3 See lines 628-31 for Gunther's taunt.
4 That is, "God."
5 The dishonor seems to lie in their failure to take Walter.
6 That is, "promisses impossible things."
7 For baratrum compare Judges 5:15 and Lucretius 3.966. One could also translate "jump over the gaping pit."
8 For "viam...salutis" ("the path of salvation") compare Acts 16:17. One could also follow Kratz (1984) and translate the phrase as "the path to safety", since it is also found in pagan literature (Servius On the Aeneid 8.131 and Cicero De Haruspicum Responso 63).
9 Kratz (1984) translates: "...I will try to find a path to safety / Which will reveal itself—if not at once, then never." But nusquam means "nowhere" not "never," and "coacte" must mean something like "under force" rather than "at once." The "sive" then is parallel to "aut"; that is, it means simply "or else" not "if not"—see the Oxford Latin Dictionary under "sive" 5a.
10 Kratz (1984) translates "speculis" as "caves", but Niermeyer (1976) defines speculum as "watch-tower." Langosch has "auf die Lauer" ("on the lookout").
11 That is, the Sun.
12 That is, "The Evening Star"
13 That is, "western." The poet seems to have created this adjective from the Vergilian form "Ausonidum" ( Aeneid 10.564, 11.297, 12.121) which Servius ( On the Aeneid 10.564) explains as a special genitive plural of a first declension noun, Ausonida.
14 For “arguta indagine” (“in a swift hunt”) compare Servius On the Aeneid 4.121 "indagine ferarum inquisitione", On the Eclogues 4.34 "argutos celeres dici" and 7.1 "alibi 'argutum' breve".
15 Perhaps this is a sly allusion to "thorny Hagen," as Kratz (1984) here suggests. See line 1351 for a pun on Hagen's name, which is etymologically related to "hedge" and the haw- "in hawthorn."
16 This is another instance of the thievery topos running throught the latter half of the poem.
17 Compare Vergil Eclogues 5.39 and Servius on that line. Paliurus or “Christ's Thorn” is one of several different thorny or prickly shrubs found in Palestine including Paliurus aculeatus, Zizyphus Spina-Christi, and Z. vulgaris. The last produces the jujube fruit and may have been most available for making the crown of thorns for Christ.
18 Concerning the debate over how Christian the poem and its hero are, Kratz (1984: xviii) says: "[Those arguing for a Christian hero] point specifically to his various expressions of contrition and especially to the scene in which Walter, during a respite from the attacks against him, fits the heads of his decapitated foes to their appropriate trunks and prays for his victims."
19 Early Christians (and many still today) placed altars at the eastern end of their churches, and thus prayer was supposed to face the altar or (in the absence of an altar) the East. This orientation may be owing to the association of Christ who rose again with the Sun which rose in the East.
20 Kratz (1984) translates “probris” (“from their abusive taunts”) as "from disgrace".
21 This does not count the king's own and Hagen's which would make the full total of 13.
22 Evidently he is hot and sweaty from fighting.
23 That is, the "Dawn Star."
24 Perhaps Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the island of Taprobane is mentioned several times by Pliny the Elder in his Natural Histories : 6.79, 6.81, 6.89, 6.92, 7.30, 9.106, an 32.143, and by others including Ovid Pont . 1.5.80 and Servius ad Geo . 1.48
25 That is, the "Morning Star"; compare Vergil Georgics 1.288.
26 The odd phrasing here is due to the poet's adaptation of Vergil's choice wording “raptim et sine more”–compare Aeneid 8.635 and Servius on this line.
27 Again he speaks of his right hand as his source of glory and honor; compare his invocation of both hands above (813 ff.) and his loss of his right hand in the final battle.
28 Walter's desire for honor and possessions are un-Christian and represent the pagan Germanic aspect of the hero, which underlies much of his attitude and actions—for example the violent beheadings of his opponents. It is, therefore, clear that the author of the Latin version did not seek to erase these qualities but rather to provide a context in which to evaluate them. Walter is a sinner, but admirably he realizes this.
29 Kratz (1984) notes here that those who call on Fortune in medieval literature are often concerned with transitory values rather than permanent moral goods.
1237
Alpharides gave no reply to the king but, as if deaf, turned from him to the other, saying: "I have words for you, Hagen. Stay a bit! What, I ask, has suddenly changed so faithful a friend such that he, who in his recent departure seemed hardly able to be pried away from my embrace, will, though in no way wronged, voluntarily seek to attack me? I admit I had hoped, though wrongly, that, if you were able to discover that I was returning from my exile, you would come then personally to greet me, and would entertain me in restful hospitality, though against my will, and would wish peacefully to take me back to the kingdom of my father. And, thinking this, I was concerned as to where to bring your gifts. Yes, though I went through unfamiliar lands, I said to myself: 'I fear none of the Franks so long as Hagen lives.'
1252
"I beg you now by our childhood games. Recover your senses. Remember those games, which we with one heart were accustomed to play and share our experience, games in which we spent those earliest years of our lives. Where did that famous harmony we had go? It used always to remain in both war and peace, never knowing the traps of temptation.1 Indeed, it made you forget your father's face, and my great fatherland grew vile as I lived with you. Can it really be true that you have wiped from your mind the oath that we so often affirmed? I beseech you. End this wickedness, do not provoke battle! Let us keep our pact untroubled through the ages. If you agree to this, this very moment you will leave enriched with praise; I shall fill your shield with ruddy gold."
1264
To this Hagen produced these words with his face set grim and so expressed his open anger: "You practice force first, Walter, and only later do you play the wise man. You ended our pact, when you saw that I was there and yet killed so many of my comrades, and even my kinsmen. You can not deny that you knew then that I was there. Since even if my face was hidden, yet you saw my arms which you know well, and you could recognize the man by his gear. Perhaps, I might bear the rest, if this one grief were not with me—uniquely dear, ruddy, charming, and precious was the tender little blossom whom you reaped with your sickle's blade. This is the deed by which you first made void that pact of our youth, and so I want no treasure in return for that pledge. I want to learn in battle whether you have courage by yourself, and from your hands I seek vengeance for my nephew. Behold! Either I approach my death, or I shall do something memorable."
1280
He spoke and, jumping, threw himself from the back of his horse; Gunther too, and the hero Walter did the same no more slowly—all of them ready to make war on foot. Each stood and guarded himself, looking out for the blow to come; their martial limbs shook in anticipation beneath their shields.
1285
It was the second hour of the day when these three joined. The arms of two conspire against one. First of all, Hagen collects his strength and aims his apple wood2 spear, breaking the peace. But as it flies, terrible with a great whirlwind and shreaking sound, Alpharides, seeing he can not receive it, cleverly deflects the blow by tilting his shield. As it meets the shield, the spear bounces off as if it were polished marble, and it violently stabs the hill, sinking into the ground up to the nails.3 Then with great heart but little strength haughty Gunther throws his ash shaft, which flies and sticks in the bottom of Walter's shield. But, as soon as he shakes it, the weakling iron falls out of the scratched wood. At this sign, the Franks, though gloomy and confused in their hearts, soon strip war from its sheath; their grief turns to anger; and, covering themselves with their shields, they try to attack the Aquitanian.
1302
But he vigorously knocked them away with a sweep of his spear and frightened them with both his countenance and his weapons as they rushed at him. Now King Gunther considered a foolish undertaking, thinking how he might quietly and secretly approach to recover his spear, thrown in vain and fallen to the ground—lying, in fact, by the hero's feet where he dislodged it. So he thought, since, armed with only their short swords, they could not close hand-to-hand with him, for he kept whirling his outstretched spear around. Therefore, he gave a sign to his vassal with his eyes, encouraging him to edge forward so that with his defense he might complete his plan.
1313
There was no delay. Hagen went forth and challenged their enemy, and the king, hiding his bejeweled sword in its scabbard, unencumbered his hand for a quick act of theft.4 But need I say more? He leaned forward, put his hand on the spear, gripped it, and gradually drew it away from Walter—asking too much from fortune. But the mighty hero, in as much as he was always quite alert in war and very observant of all but the briefest moment, saw him leaning down, sensed what he was doing, and did not allow it, but pushed aside Hagen—who stood in the way to deflect his upraised blow—, jumped on the spear shaft being snatched away, held it with his foot, and yelled at the king caught in his thievery so that now his knees gave way under the stricken spear. And he would have sent him straight to hungry Orcus, if Hagen, the mighty warrior, had not quickly run to his aid, defended his lord with opposing shield, and brought the bare blade of his cruel sword against the face of his foe.
1331
So, while Walter avoided Hagen's blow, Gunther got back up, trembling, and stood there in a stupor, scarcely returned from death. There was no delay, no rest. They renewed bitter war.
1334
Now the two rush at the man together, now they take turns. And, while he rains fiercer blows on the one who advances, from the other side the second immediately approaches and hinders his swings, not unlike when a Numidian bear5 is hunted, stands surrounded by dogs, bristles on his limbs,6 and, covering7 his head, growls and squeezes the Umbrian8 hounds that come too close, making them whine miserably; then the rabid Molossians bark from this side and that, and the dread beasts fear to come closer.9 In such a way the conflict flowed on till the ninth hour. And threefold trouble wore on them all—fear of death, the very toil of battle, and the burning heat of the sun. Meanwhile, a certain thing began to creep upon the hero's mind, and he suppressed these words within his heart: "If fortune does not change her path, they will tire me out and deceive me with their vain sport."10
1350
Right then he raised his voice and called to Hagen: "O Christ's thorn,11 you sprout such foliage that you can prick. You jest and dance and try to trick me with your wit. But now I will make room so that you may not be slow to come closer. Look! Show me your strength—I know it's very great! I am sick of suffering such great toil in vain. He spoke and, leaping up, whirled his spear at him, and it drove through his shield, weighing it down, and tore through a bit of his hauberk, slicing a tiny piece off his great body. Indeed, he had stood gleaming, girt in marvelous arms.12
1360
But like a man,13 Walter, threw his spear, unsheathed his sword, and ran threateningly to attack the king; he pried his shield away on the right, made a mighty and amazing blow, and cut off the king's leg, knee and all, just below his thigh.14 Gunther fell then on top of his shield at Walter's feet. His retainer grew bloodlessly pale, at the fall of his lord. Alpharides lifted the bloody blade again, burning to inflict the final wound on the fallen man. But it chanced that, heedless of his own pain, Hagen, like a man,15 bending his helmeted head, opposed it to the blow. The hero could not check his hand at the end of its swing, but the helm made long ago and finely forged received the attack and sent sparks into the air. Stunned at the hard helm, the sword burst asunder.16 Oh pain! With a clang it flew apart sparkling in the air and the grass all around.17 The warrior, as he saw the fragments of the broken brand,18 grew indignant and raged wildly with exceeding anger; and, unable to stand his hilt without the burden of its iron, though outstanding for its skillful metal work, he tossed it aside and spurned the sad memorial.
1381
While he extended his hand in mighty effort, Hagen quite happily removed it with a prompt swipe. The hand was falling as the mighty swing continued its arc...the hand once feared by many races, nations, and tyrants, the hand which once gleamed before innumerable trophies. But the exceptional man, not knowing how to yield to misfortune, capable in his sound mind of overcoming the pains of the flesh, did not despair, nor did he cast down his face, but stuck the bloody stump in his shield and then snatched up in his unharmed hand the half-sword, with which we have said that he girded his right side,19 taking severe vengeance from his foe on the spot. He struck Hagen and cut out his right eye, severing his temple, slicing off his lips, and knocking six teeth from his mouth. The battle was over when this business was done.
1397
Each man's wound and harsh panting convinced him to put down his weapons. Who could leave here unharmed, where two great-spirited heroes equal both in strength and in fervor of mind stood in the thunderstorm of war? After it was finished, each of them was marked. There lay king Gunther's foot, there Walter's hand, and here the still quivering eye of Hagen. In just such a way20 they divided the Avarish bracelets!21
1405
The two of them sat together—the third was still lying down—and they wiped the torrential river of blood off the flowers. In the mean time, Alpharides called back the
Notes
1 The Latin word "scandala" ("temptation") here is hard to translate; Kratz (1984) gives "...nor knew / Dissent..." The word is derived from Greek skandalon and found in the New Testament (Matt. 13:41, 18:7; Luke 17:1); the King James translation is "stumbling block" but it is sometimes translated "scandal". The original Greek usage, however, indicates that the word referred to part of a trap, perhaps the trigger on which the bait is placed. This meaning is metaphorically present in the word's use in the New Testament, and our poet, therefore, will have known its connotation if not its exact origin.
2 The adjective "maligenam" "[made of] apple wood" could also be translated "ill-born" or "born for evil", if one were to connect it with malum ("evil"), but this word has a short a in Latin, whereas in "maligenam" the a is long. Compare Langosch (1967: 369): "V. 1287 'Maligeram' wohl identisch mit 'maligenam': aus Apfelbaumholz. Oder mit anderer Etymologie: verderbenbringend?"
3 That is, up to the nails which held the spear head to the shaft.
4 This is another example of the thievery topos in the latter half of the poem.
5 Although African bears are not common in poetry, there are precedents: Verg. Aen . 5.37 (the skin of a "Libyan she-bear", "Libystidis ursae") and Juvenal 4.99-100 (arena fights with "Numidian bears", "ursos...Numidas").
6 Kratz (1984) translates “artubus” (“on his limbs”) as “with claws,” but I can find no parallel for this sense of artus.
7 Kratz (1984) has "lowering" instead of “covering” but I can find no example of occultare in this sense.
8 Umbrian (from Umbria in Italy) and Molossian (from North Africa) hounds were two of the chief ancient breeds.
9 This is the longest of the similes in the Waltharius , and its apparent source is Vergil's comparison of Mezentius to a boar attacked by dogs ( Aeneid 10.707-715). There may be a connection with Hagen's earlier dream (see 617-27), since in this he saw a bear tearing off Gunther's leg, and Walter is here compared to a bear.
10 Notice that now it is Walter who is dependent on fortune, an un-Christian position.
11 This is a punning reference to Hagen's name which means “thorn bush”; see also line 1421.
12 The significance of this sentence is hard to see. Kratz (1984) translates: "(He was of course resplendent, clad in finest armor)" as a sort of note explaning that Hagen had fine armor on when Walter hit him. This may be right; but, perhaps, Hagen no longer gleams in splendid armor (so the past perfect "had stood gleaming") because his shield has been pierced and his hauberk torn and stained with blood.
13 The word "vir" ("man") seems to be marked in the Latin; one should note its connection with "virtus" ("manliness," "courage," or "virtue").
14 This is the first of the three maimings which mark this climactic scene. Kratz (1984: xxi) notes that this part of the poem has often confused readers, and that some have thought that the poet has carelessly retained this horrific, pagan scene from his model, though it does not fit the Christian poem. However, there is no evidence that this scene existed in any of the other versions of the story, so it may be reasonable to see it as an invention. If so, the maimings may be an allusion to Exodus 21:22-25: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"; furthermore, the poet's listing of Gunther's foot, Walter's hand, and Hagen's eye (at lines 1402-3) directs the reader to Mark 9:42-48: "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to Hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into Hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
15 See the note on the first instance of "like a man" in this paragraph.
16 This scene, where Walter's sword shatters and is thrown away, alludes to scenes in Vergil's Aeneid (Turnus' sword shatters at 12.729-41) and Prudentius' Psychomachia (Anger's sword shatters at 132-44), and as Kratz (1984) notes: “Neither reference is flattering to Walter.” Note also the striking personification of the sword which is "stupefactus" ("stunned" or "astonished").
17 Compare the note on 338 where the sword in the Anglo-Saxon Waldere fragments is discussed.
18 I have tried to reproduce the alliteration of "framea...fragmina" with "broken brand." The Latin framea usually means "spear" in classical Latin, but Niermayer defines framea as "sword," citing among others Gregory of Tours History of the Franks 3.15. Clearly here the word refers to his sword, but compare line 1016.
19 Kratz (1984) translates "semispatam" ("half-sword") as "a dagger," but it clearly is the second sword mentioned in lines 336-7.
20 “In just such a way” translates “sic sic” a usage which is strange to Latin and may reproduce a Germanic idom like the Anglo-Saxon swa swa .
21 Kratz (1984) here notes: "Perhaps another pun: Avars and avarice.” The Latin words are Avares (Avars) and avaritia (avarice).
fearful girl with a shout, and she came and bandaged each wound. When this was done, her bridegroom ordered her: "Now mix wine and offer it first to Hagen. He is a good athlete1 , provided that he keeps his pledge. Then hand it to me, since I endured more than the others. Finally, I want Gunther to drink, in as much as he appeared sluggish among the arms of great-spirited men, and he did the work of Mars in a lukewarm and weakly manner."2 The daughter of Heriric obeyed his every word, but the Frank, when the wine was offered, though parched within, said: "Give it first to Alpharides your bridegroom and lord,3 maiden, since, I confess, he is braver than I, and not I alone, but he excels all in warfare."
1421
Then at last thorny Hagen4 and the Aquitanian himself, unconquered in mind, though exhausted throughout their bodies, after the various clamours and fearful blows of the fight, playfully jest with each other while drinking.
1425
The Frank says: "Henceforth you will chase the stags, my friend, so that you may enjoy endless gloves5 made from their hide! But I advise you to stuff your right glove with tender wool so that you can deceive those who do not know with the appearance of a hand. Wah! Well, what will you say6 since you seem to break the custom of your race by fixing a sword by your right thigh? And, if ever you feel the desire, will you really7 put your left arm about your wife in a perverse embrace? Now why do I go on? Behold! From now on you must do everything with your left hand!" Walter answered him thus: "Why are you so boastful, I wonder, my one-eyed Sicambrian.8 If I shall hunt stags, you will avoid boar meat.9 Henceforth in fear you will order your servants—greeting the crowds of heroes with a sideways glance.10 But, mindful of our old pledge, I will give you counsel: Now, when you come home and near your household, make a larded poultice of barley and milk. This will give you both sustenance and healing."
1443
This said, they renew their pact with repeated pledge; and, together lifting the king, who was in great pain, they put him on his horse; and separated11 thus the Franks returned to Wörms, and the Aquitanian came to his homeland. There, received gratefully with much honor, he made the customary public vows of betrothal to Hildegund; and, dear to all after the death of his father, he ruled the people happily for thrice ten years. What kind of battles and what great triumphs he often received hereafter... Well, my blunted pen refuses to write any more.
1453
Whoever reads this poem, forgive the strident cicada. And consider not its shrill little voice but its age, for it has not yet left its nest to seek the sky.12 This is the poem of Walter. May Jesus save you!
Notes
1 The use of the athletic metaphor here is not as pointed as earlier around the “tug-of-war” scene (see 954-1049), where “athleta” (“athlete”) was used twice.
2 Kratz (1984: xviii) suggests that the final scene in the Waltharius is based on a scene from Prudentius' Psychomachia (606-63) where the Virtues rest and refresh themselves after combat.
3 The word “senior” (“lord”) could also be translated "husband".
4 There is an etymological play on Hagen and the Germanic root meaning "thorn bush"; the English words hedge and haw thorn are related as is the modern German Hagedorn .
5 The poet uses the Old High German word "wantis" for the gloves.
6 The Latin "dicis" literally translates "do you say" but context seems to want a future here. It is somewhat uncommon to have present for future in Latin, but regular in Germanic languages. Compare "I shall cheat" for the present tense "fraudo" at line 979 and "I shall hunt" for present "venor" in 1436.
7 The Latin "euge" is actually an interjection indicating that Hagen is pleased with his clever imagination.
8 The adjective is related to a German tribe called the Sugambri .
9 It is unclear what this means, whether it is a riddle or a joke.
10 His glance is "transversa" ("sideways") because he is suspicious and because he only has one eye. For the phrase "transversa tuendo," compare Vergil Eclogues 3.8 (and Servius on this line) and Valerius Flaccus 2.154.
11 The Latin disiecti ("separated") can refer to both the dis persal of the friends and the dis memberment of their bodies.
12 It would seem that either the author thinks of himself as young and inexperienced, or at least he wants us to think this. Perhaps he was fairly young, but owing to the frequent exaggeration of poetic language it would be rash to assume that he must have been a boy. The claim that he had not yet left the nest could mean that he had not yet achieved the age or ecclesiastic learning which would allow him to gain a greater position in the Church, permitting him to leave his home monastery or church.
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