261 



the strongholds are bursten, 



the work of giants decaying, 



the roofs are fallen, 



the towers tottering, 



mouldering palaces roofless, 



weather-marked masonry, 



shattered shelters, 



time-scarred, tempest-marred, 



undermined of eld. 



Earth's grasp holdeth 



its mighty builders 



tumbled, crumbled 



in gravel's hard grip ; 



till a hundred generations 



of men pass away. 



Often this wall witnessed, 



now fern-tufted and Uchen-spotted, 



one great man after another 



taking shelter out of storms : 



the lofty gable [fell ?] 



swift [sledge] flashed 

 furious on the rings, 

 resolutely ri vetting 

 the wall with clamps 

 wondrously together. 

 Bright were the buildings, 

 bath houses many, 



burgstede burston, 

 brosna^ enta geweorc : 

 hrofas sind gehrorene, 

 hreorge torras, 

 hrimge edoras behrofeno, 

 hrim on lime, 

 scearde scurbeorge, 

 scorene gedrorene, 

 «eldo under eotone. 

 EorX grap hafaS 

 waldend wyrhtan 

 forweorone geleorene 

 heard gripe hrusan, 

 oS bund cnea 

 wer fieoda gewitan. 

 Oft <Ses wffig gebad 

 rseghar and readfah 

 rice fefter o<5nun 

 ofstonden under stormum : 

 steap geap gedrea[s] 

 •wonai giet .... 

 . . . num. geheawen 

 [Mutilation of MS.] 



ne 



swiftne ge brsegd 

 hwaetred in hringas 

 hygerof gebond 

 weall walan wirum 

 wundrum togsedre. 

 Beorht waeron burhreced, 

 burn sele monige, 



16 



22 



44 



11. Eotone — Grein corrects etene, which is only a modernising of the 

 orthography. In Beowulf, 3049, the MS. has " jjurhetone." 



16. Grein reads cneo. 



38. In this numeration of the lines allowance is made for the unintelligible 

 portion, which is here omitted. 



41. Literally " with wires." Whether this is analagous to our clamps I am 

 not sure. But it is clear that the feature, whatever it be, is one that belongs 

 to fortification. In one of the Riddles of this Codex, No. 18, a riddle which 

 signifies a fortified city, its subject is said to be " eodor wirum fsest," fast with 

 fence- wires. 



44. Grein suggests that burn sele means bath-houses ; and he refers to 78 

 and following lines. It is well to know that this rendering proceeds from one 

 who has no local identification to serve. 



