Beozvulf and the Homeric Poems 341 



with that of Beowulf, but against this must be set the differences, 

 and the possibiUty that the Huns might have become acquainted 

 with the Homeric tradition through their contacts with the East- 

 ern Empire.^ In the last two lines of the poem, Beowulf is repre- 

 sented as not only Christian, but Christlike, in every phrase 

 except the last, and in that, what may be called the virtually 

 ineradicable pagan trait, love of fame, bears a close resemblance to 

 one exhibited by the Christian Aldhelm.^ 



Another illustration of Homeric influence may perhaps be 

 detected in Beoiv. 856 and 865. In the former, warriors are 

 represented as riding on white horses' ; in the latter, on 'fallow' 



the ground where he lay, his achievements were recited in the following 

 dirge : "Attila, the eminent king of the Huns, the son of Murdzuk, and 

 lord of the most vahant of all peoples, acquired, by an ability previously 

 unexampled, sole dominion over the Sc3'^thian and German realms, and so 

 terrified both Roman empires by the capture of their cities that their 

 entreaties moved him to accept tlieir annual tribute in lieu of further 

 spoliation. And, when he had accomplished all this by virtue of a rare good 

 fortune, he died, not as one smitten by his foes or betrayed by his subjects, 

 but in the midst of rejoicing by the nation which he had established in 

 security, himself in high spirits and with no touch of pain. Who can think 

 of this as death, since for it there is no occasion to exact vengeance?" 

 When these lamentations had ceased, they celebrated the so-called strava 

 over his tumulus with unrestrained festivities, thus mingling revelry with 

 funereal grief [cf. //. 665, 802]. Then, in the dead of night, they committed 

 his body to the earth.' The corresponding Beowulfian passage is (3169-72) : 

 'Then warriors, sons of princes, twelve in all, rode round about the mound ; 

 they would bewail their sorrow, mourn their king, utter the dirge, and speak 

 of their hero.' But this is not unlike Od. 24. 68-70 : 'Many heroes of the 

 Achfeans moved mail-clad around the pyre when thou wast burning, both 

 footmen and horse, and great was the din that arose.' 



^ For the knowledge of Homer in the Greek colony of Olbia (rebuilt after 

 248) among the Getse of about 83 a. d., see Dio Chrysostom, Orat. 36. 



^ Cf . above, p. 299, note i. ^lithelfrith, the father of three Northumbrian 

 kings, and the grandfather of Aldfrith, is characterized by Bede (Eccl. 

 Hist. I. 34) as 'glorije cupidissimus,' which the Alfredian translator renders 

 by 'se gylpgeornesta.' This epithet applies in a remarkable degree to the 

 whole Northumbrian dynasty from ^thelfrith to Aldfrith, inclusive. 

 Alfred, an unusual Christian for those or any times, did not hesitate to 

 declare (Boetliius, ed. Sedgefield, p. 41) : 'This it is that I have desired — 

 to live worthily while I lived, and after my life to leave to the men who 

 should follow me my memory in good deeds.' 



^ Blauca, 'white horse,' sometimes, perhaps, shading off into 'noble horse' 

 (see Tupper, Riddles of the Exeter Book, p. 119), or simply 'horse,' as 



