Y Gododin: A Poem of the Battle of Cattraeth Part 31

{157c} Or, "made the a.s.sault."

{157d} Or, simply, "women."

{157e} "Gwich," a shriek; Al. "acted bravely." Al. "were greatly exasperated;" or perhaps for "gwyth" we should read _gweddw_, "their wives they made widows." Gruffydd ap yr Ynad Coch in his Elegy upon Llywelyn, (Myv. Arch. i. 396) makes use of similar sentiments, in the following lines,-

Llawer deigr hylithr yn hwylaw ar rudd Llawer ystlys rhudd a rhwyg arnaw Llawer gwaed am draed wedi ymdreiddiaw Llawer gweddw a gwaedd y amdanaw Llawer meddwl trwm yn tomrwyaw.

Llawer mam heb dad gwedi ei adaw Llawer hendref fraith gwedi llwybrG.o.daith A llawer diffaith drwy anrhaith draw Llawer llef druan fal ban fu'r Gamlan.

Many a slippery tear sails down the cheek, Many a wounded side is red with gore, Many a foot is bathed in blood, Many a widow raises the mournful shriek, Many a mind is heavily troubled, Many a son is left without a father, Many an old grey town is deserted, Many are ruined by yonder deed of war, Many a cry of misery arises as erst on Camlan field.

{158a} Al. "Nor was there a hero (lew from glew)" &c. Al. "Nor was there a lion so generous, in the presence of a lion of the greatest course;" the latter description referring to some other chief of renown.

{158b} Or the _cry_, "dias;" being either the shout of battle, or the voice of distress.

{158c} "Angor," from _ang_ and _gor_; lit. a _staying round_, which indicates the city in question to have been of a circular form. Probably it was one of the forts which are so commonly seen on our hills.

{158d} That is, either the place where Bards were entertained, or where the deer were protected. See line 535.

{159a} "Gwryd," _manliness_, as displayed in war.

{159b} I.e. Cynon.

{159c} Or, "wide."

{159d} A similar expression has been used before (line 512) "nac eithaf na chynor." A "clod heb or heb eithaf," simply means immortal praise.

{159e} The distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of this stanza is its prosopopaeia, or its change of things into persons, as in the case of Hwrreith, Buddugre, and Rheiddyn, which are translated respectively Spoliation, Victory, and the Lance.

{159f} Eidol or Eidiol Gadarn is recorded as one of the three strong men of Britain, having, at the meeting on Salisbury plain, slain 660 Saxons with a billet of wood.

"Tri Gyrddion Ynys Prydain; Gwrnerth Ergydlym, a laddes yr arth mwyaf ac a welwyd erioed a saeth wellten; a Gwgawn Lawgadarn, a dreiglis maen Maenarch or glynn i ben y mynydd, ac nid oedd llai na thrugain ych ai tynnai; ac Eidiol Gadarn, a laddes o'r Saeson ym mrad Caersallawg chwechant a thrugain a chogail gerdin o fachlud haul yd yn nhywyll." (Triad 60. third series.)

The time here specified "from sunset until dark," will not be found to tally at all with the commencement of the fight at Cattraeth, which is said to have been "with the day," and "with the dawn;" this circ.u.mstance is fatal to Davies's theory.

The first lines of this stanza may be translated in divers ways, such as,-

"With a feast of wine and a banquet of mead, endowed By Cynlaith, mother of Hwrraith, was the energetic Eidol."

Also,-

"With a feast of wine and a banquet of mead, Did his brave (_hwrraith_ from _hwrdd_) mother Cynlaith, enrich The energetic Eidol."

Again,-

"With a feast of wine and a banquet of mead, Did his mother Hwrraith At the first fall of the dew (_cyn llaith_) enrich The energetic Eidol."

{160a} The hill on which the vanguard was stationed.

{160b} Waiting their prey.

{160c} "Cynydaw" (cnydiaw) to yield a crop. Cynydaw means also to rise; and we may thus construe the pa.s.sage,-

"The foremost spearmen spring up around him."

Another reading gives "cwydaw" to fall, in allusion to the slaughter of the men; adopting this expression, it would seem that "arnaw" was more applicable to "racvre," the mount of the van.

{160d} "Glas heid," (glas haidd) green barley. It is rather singular that the words, without the slightest alteration, will admit of another simile equally beautiful and appropriate, viz.-_glas haid_, a blue swarm of flies. The word _glas_ may be indicative of the prevailing colour of the dress or armour of the men,

"As from the rocky cliff the shepherd sees Cl.u.s.tering in heaps on heaps the driving bees, Rolling, and blackening, swarms succeeding swarms, With deeper murmurs and more hoa.r.s.e alarms; Dusky they spread, a close embodied crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud." (Pope's Homer, b. ii.

l. 111.)

{161a} "Hedin;" this word seems of kindred nature with haidd (barley) and is here translated accordingly; (hedeg, to shoot out, or to ear, as corn.) Another version gives "hediw," (_heddyw_, today.)

{161b} It is still very common in Wales to call the cause or origin of any thing by the name of mam: thus, for instance, we say "mam y drwg" of the chief instigator of mischief. What we are to understand by the "mother of the lance" it is not very easy to determine; it might have been courage or the sense of wrong, or quarrel, or any other cause which excited the Britons to fight.

{161c} Al. "They marched and chanted, clad in coat of mail."

{162a} "Vawr dru," &c. Al. "miserable hero."

{162b} This confirms the view we have taken of the "milcant a thrychant"

at line 86.

{162c} "Gloew dull;" in bright array. It may refer also to the viands.

{162d} "Mai;" Taliesin, in like manner, says of Urien, that he was,-

"Un yn darwedd Gwin a mal a medd."

One who was generous of wine, and bounty, and mead.

"Mal," properly speaking, seems to have been a certain tribute, as above.

Thus we read in Welsh legends;-

"He gave his domain of Clynog to G.o.d and to Beuno for ever, without either contribution or tax (heb na mal nac ardreth.") (Buch. Beuno.)

Again,-

"There is neither contribution nor tax, (na mal na threth) which we ought to pay." (H. Car. Mag. Mabinogion.)

The word in the text may signify gifts or presents; or it may mean _meal_, (mal, what is ground) in allusion to the more substantial portion of the feast.

{163a} Lit. "I am being ruined."

{163b} Mynyddawg himself.

{163c} Al. "From amongst."

{163d} That is, free and precipitate in his course, as a ball flies through the air. This simile seems to have been borrowed from a popular game among the Britons called _pelre_, which consisted in the beating of a ball backwards and forwards, and is alluded to by Taliesin in the following lines;