Y Gododin: A Poem of the Battle of Cattraeth Part 29

"Adwen leverydd cyni Vran; pan disgynai yn nghyvyrdy Pen gwr, pan gwin a ddyly."

{145b} "Talben," a fixed charge, or a tax. A very natural reflection from the head of a family!

{145c} "Gorddin;" what impels or drives forward; what is posterior, ultimate, or following; the rear. (Dr. Pughe's Dict.) It would appear from this that the captive was pushed along towards his prison by some person from behind.

{145d} I.e. this treatment I despise, it is beneath my notice, I will regard it as a particle of dust under my feet. There was a maxim in reference to a really felt trouble which said;-

"Nid a gwaew yn ronyn."

Pain will not become a particle.

{145e} How true to nature this disclaimer of any peevish and revengeful feelings when the power of fully exercising them was taken away! And yet his conduct, as implied in "gorddin," at the same time belied such a declaration.

{145f} Lit. "my knee." The prisoner here very naturally gives vent to his feelings in reference to the racking pain which was inflicted upon him.

{146a} "_Bundat_," from _pwn_. In the original the line is imperfect, the particular part of his person that was thus pained being left unmentioned.

{146b} He here summons back his courage, and bursts into expressions of defiance as to the irresistible freedom of his _awen_, declaring that he would still in his dismal prison celebrate the praise of his countrymen, to the disparagement of his enemies at the battle of Cattraeth.

{146c} Lit. "make," "compose;" p??e?.

{146d} Perhaps this may mean no more than that Taliesin's mind was akin to his own.

{146e} The dawn of the following morning; or, it may, be the day of liberty.

{146f} Or we may put "goroledd gogledd" in apposition with "gwr," and construe it thus,-

"The hero, the joy of the North, effected it,"

i.e. my deliverance. Llywarch Hen and his sons came from the North.

{147a} Lit. "There does not walk upon the earth."

{147b} "Dihafarch drud," the same epithets are applied to Llywarch in the following Englyn y Clywed.-

"A glyweisti a gant Llywarch, Oedd henwr drud dihavarch; Onid cyvarwydd cyvarch."

Didst thou hear what Llywarch sang, The intrepid and bold old man?

Greet kindly though there be no acquaintance.

{147c} He would not submit to arbitration, which would imply an inability to a.s.sert their rights by force of arms.

{147d} Senyllt was the son of Cedig ab Dyvnwal Hen, and father of Nudd Hael. The word means seneschal, and perhaps Senyllt acted in that character, and had derived his name from thence. The term in the etymological sense would be applied to Gwen.

{148a} Al. "He bestowed his sword upon the," &c.

{148b} Al. "lynwyssawr;" "he was a plague;" or "with his arm he made pools of blood."

{148c} "Seil," lit. "foundation."

{148d} This seems to countenance the idea suggested in the note to line 346, that the _Neuadd_ was none other than the camp itself.

{148e} "Keingyell," ceingel; a hank of thread.

{148f} This was probably his sword which flashed.

{148g} Llywarch Hen's son, see note to line 272. He was slain "ar ryd vorlas," on the ford of Morlas, which, as far as its etymology is concerned, would very well answer to the scene of the battle of Cattraeth.

{148h} There is much poetic force in this line.

{149a} Perhaps _Luce_ Bay, near _Leuco_pibia.

{149b} Llywarch Hen, in his Elegy on Urien Rheged, speaks thus,-

"Yn Aber _Lleu_ lladd Urien."

In Aber _Lleu_ Urien was slain.

{149c} Probably on the river _Lid_, or Liddel, on the northern borders of c.u.mberland.

{149d} It is not unlikely that the "cangen Caerwys," formed a part of the great fleet of Geraint, who is styled in Brut Tysilio, "Geraint Caerwys."

{149e} A poetical definition of a storm in winter.

{149f} "Rhiallu" means also the power of a sovereign, but as it is not likely that Aneurin would acknowledge the regal claims of the enemy, we have thought it more consistent with the general design of the poem to adopt a construction, which shows the advantages possessed by the enemy over the natives in point of numerical strength.

"Deg myrdd yn y rhiallu, deg rhiallu yn y vynta, a deg mynta yn y gatyrva."

Ten myriads in the riallu ten times the riallu, in the mynta, ten mynta in the catyrva.

{150a} "Dyvu wyt," dyvnwydd; or according to Gorch. Mael. dyvwn, i.e.

Devon, the country of Geraint ab Erbin,-"Gwr dewr o goettir Dyvnaint."

(Llywarch Hen.)

{150b} "Yd wodyn," from _gwoddew_, purpose or design. Al. "foddyn," did they drown.

{150c} Qu. _Carban_tium in the province of Valentia?

{150d} Dyvynawl Vrych, or Donald Brec, who is said in the Scotch Chronicles to have been slain in the battle of Vraithe Cairvin, (qu. Carw van?) by Owain king of the Britons. He is introduced to our notice again in the G.o.dodin.

{150e} Or, _a bolt_.

{150f} Pwyll in some of the pedigrees of Gwynvardd Dyved is said to be the son of Argoel, or Aircol Law Hir, son of Pyr y Dwyrain; but Mr.

Davies in the "Rites and Mythology of the Druids," states that he was the son of Meirig, son of Aircol, son of Pyr, which is rather confirmed by some other MS. Pedigrees. In Taliesin's "Preiddeu Annwn," he is mentioned, with his son Pryderi, as having joined Arthur in some perilous expeditions.

"Bu cywair carchar Gwair ynghaer Sidi Trwy ebostol Pwyll a Phryderi." &c.

Arranged was the prison of Gwair in Caer Sidi By the ministration of Pwyll and Pryderi. &c. (Myv. Arch. i. 45.)