32 2 Beozvulf and Widsith 



If Grendel is not a mere bogle or troll of popular superstition, 

 he may possibly symbolize the devastation wrought by the Picts 

 and Scots/ bearing God's anger (711), and descending over the 

 dark moors (710, 1405) to slay and despoil, a haunting terror to 

 the Northumbrian realm since the day of that dreadful battle^ in 

 eastern Scotland in which, from the full height of his power, 

 Ecgfrith untimely fell. For aught we know, it may have been 

 at the hands of the same enemies that Aldfrith himself was mor- 

 tally wounded, in that 



place of tombs, 

 Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men.' 



But if there is any ground for assuming that the character of 

 Aldfrith is reflected in Offa or Hrothgar, what shall we say of 

 any similar resemblance to the aged Beowulf ? Like Hrothgar, he 

 ruled his kingdom fifty years^ (1769. 2209, 2733) — evidently a 

 poetical round number — but otherwise there is not much that can 

 be cited as in common. The dread of the Picts and Scots^ may, 

 perchance, it is true, lie behind the utterance of the messenger 

 who carries to his comrades the news of Beowulf's death, espe- 

 cially if in the difficult line, 3005, we could feel justified in refer- 

 ring hcclcSa Jiryre to the slaughter of Ecgfrith's whole army at 

 Nechtansmere. Thus the passage runs (2999-3007; cf. 3021-30) : 



Primo contemptus procerum prrecepta docentum, 

 Dum mentis typhus ventoso pectore turget; 

 Necnon invidise pestis progignitur inde, 

 Quae solet fequales tumido contemnere fastu, 

 Atque satellitibus spretis regnare superba. 



Cf. Virgil, Am. 11. 15 (with 10. 852) ; 11. 539. For the imagery of darts 

 and arrows, cf. Aldhelm, ed. Ehwald, 201. 25-6 (Giles 327. 4-6) ; 245. 6-8 

 (Giles 16. 11-13) ; and p. 320, note 3. 



' The idea of aid against such a foe — Beowulf against Grendel — might 

 have been confirmed in Aldfrith's mind by the fact, which he may have first 

 known as a lad, of the enlistment in Oswin's hird of English nobles from 

 other provinces (Eccl. Hist. 3. 14). 



" Cf . p. 306, note 8. 



' Cf . p. 324- 



*As in the fifty ships of Achilles, each ship seating fifty men (//. 16. 

 168-170), or in the twenty years of Ulysses' wanderings (//. 24. 765; Od. 

 2. 175, etc.), or the ten years' war with Troy (Od. 5. 107; 14- 241). 



" May there be a covert reference to Aldfrith's defense of his Northum- 

 brian kingdom against these enemies in i77o''-72'^? 



