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Finn 69<br />
shatter the horned helm. The castle floor reechoed,<br />
till in<br />
the fray fell Garulf, son <strong>of</strong> Guthlaf, first <strong>of</strong> dwellers upon<br />
earth, and many a gallant warrior about him; The<br />
raven hovered dismal with its dusky plumage; the gleam <strong>of</strong><br />
swords flashed forth as though all Finn's castle were aflame.<br />
Never have I heard <strong>of</strong> sixty warriors flushed with victory<br />
who bore themselves more gallantly nor more honourably<br />
in mortal conflict, nor squires who paid a better recompense<br />
for shining mead than did his retinue to Hnaef. Five days<br />
they fought in such a wise that no man fell out <strong>of</strong> that<br />
knightly band ; but still they held the door.<br />
Then departed a wounded hero limping from the fray;<br />
he said that his mailcoat, armour <strong>of</strong> pro<strong>of</strong>, was shattered and<br />
pierced likewise was his helm. Him straightway asked the<br />
keeper <strong>of</strong> the host how those warriors survived their wounds,<br />
or which <strong>of</strong> the heroes<br />
non-Germanic, Mycenaean, Macedonian, Celtic, instances, cf. Daremberg-<br />
Saglio, ii. 1438 ff., s.v. galea.<br />
36. Hickes' hwearflacra hraer is corrupt, and none <strong>of</strong> the many<br />
emendations (Grundtvig, hwearflicra hrsew ; Bugge, P.B.B. xii. 27: hwearf<br />
[f~\lacra hreew) are at all convincing.<br />
Those editors who see a verb in hraer<br />
are perhaps nearer the mark (Jellinek, P.B.B. xv. 431, hwearf laffra<br />
hreas) ; and Holthausen's hwearf [b]lacra hreas, " a company <strong>of</strong> pale ones<br />
fell," is supported by Beowulf, v. 2488, hreas [hilde]blac.<br />
38. Hickes, Finnsburuh, an impossible form in AS.<br />
41. Grein (Beowulf, p. 76) emends Hickes to ne nmfre swanas Bwetne<br />
medo sel forgyldan. Swanas is obviously correct; but since the metre is<br />
corrupt again, there is no point in altering hwitne.<br />
44. duru: probably Hickes misread u for a in the MS., as in v. 3 eastun,<br />
v. 27 weuna.<br />
47. heresceorpum hror. Thorpe emends to heresceorp unhror, "his<br />
armour useless," though it is doubtful whether unhror can bear this<br />
meaning; cf. however, Chambers, Beowulf, p. 162. But the MS. reading<br />
can be translated "strong as armour" (Bosworth-Toller).<br />
48. f dices hyrde: Finn; cf. the common Homeric expression<br />
\auv, " shepherd <strong>of</strong> the host," applied especially to Agamemnon.