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HIS WEAPONS. HIS AEMY. 847
In such a conflict, however, Death must appear as the leader
of a large and ever increasing army. There is a following, a
retinue assigned him :
der Tot suochte sere da sin gesinde was/
Nib. 2161, 3. The Greeks set us the fashion of calling the dead
ol TrXeove? the majority, and e? i jr\^6v(ov lickcrQai meant the same
as 9 "AiSov l/c., to reach the abode of the great multitude, join
the great host, as we still say. In the Bohemian Ploughman,
Death is styled captain of the mountain ; because, as in the Greek
song (p. 845), the march of his army covers the mountains ? In
des Todes schar varn, fare to D/s host, Wh. v. Orl. 2113. <ist
an die vart, 3
gone his way (obiit), Walth. 108, 6. Though taking
no part in the fight, the dead seem to bear a badge (flag or
lance), which, so to speak, he fastens on the dying, with which
he touches them, enrolls them in his band. 1 That is how I
understand des Todes zeichen tragen, Nib. 928, 3. 2006, 1,
though it may include the collateral sense of having
received a
death-wound, which now serves as his badge and cognisance.
Hence in Nib. 939, 3 : des Todes zeichen ie ze sere sneit/ D/s
token aye too sore he cut; where one MS. reads wafen (arms),
and elsewhere we find eines wafen tragen/ carry some one s
arms, Parz. 130, 4. Freidank 74, 18. Wigal. 7797, and even
des todes wdpen (coat of arms) tragen/ Wh. 17, 16. Tristandes
zeichen viieren, Heinr. Trist. 2972, is to be wounded like him.
So far back as Alfred s Boeth. p. 16 (Rawl.) we have DeaSes
tdcnung ; even Zio s or Tiwes tacen p. 200, and OSin s spear
p. 147 are worth considering (see Suppl.). 3
With the idea of messengership and that of the great company
were associated some others, which probably reach a long way
the count is called der verlorne, wand er muose im ze suone (satisfaction) geben
beide sin gesunt und sin leben. So Iw. 7161 speaks of having to gelten (pay) viir
des Todes schelten ; and the same perhaps is meant by der Tot hat uf si gesworn,
Nib. 2017, 5. In the Ackermann aus Bohmen on the contrary, Death is the
defendant, and a man whose wife he has carried off is prosecutor. Similar law
suits are brought by the Devil. Nu kume vil grimmeclicher Tot, und rihte
Gote von uns beiden ! MS. 1, 17. Observe too mit des Todes hantveste iiber-
sigelet, sealed with D. s sign manual, Wh. 391, 27. The Indian god of death,
Yama, is a lord of law.
1
Conf. einem des Todes muoder (mieder) sniden, Titur. ; to cut D s. coat ou
(or for) a man.
2 It is worthy of note, that in the Meister-song already quoted (Mus. 2, 187)
Death says : be ready, when I send thee my messengers (the infirmities) to give
thee the signs, to mark thee for my own. Death, orig. a messenger himself, sends
out under-messengers. Conf. Kinderm. no. 177. Even the 0. Fr. Chanson des
Saxons 2, 134 has : la Morz le semont sovent et menu, viz. by fainting-fits.