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The last of the insiders are the men in the army. They represent the people and those among them who are lucky enough to follow Lupus rather than other military leaders. As always when a good aristocrat is leading the people, the latter are instrumental, used to fulfil a task, and a loyal collective. This, as it happens, is true of the dukes too, but their approval is at least sought. The insiders thus form a hierarchy consisting of the King, his man Lupus, the dukes and the people, in this case disguised as an army. This social hierarchy is a parallel to that in Hroðgar’s Denmark and in the landnám sagas about Aud or Skalagrim (Herschend 1992; 1994) It is easy to see that if Byrhtnoth’s expedition had been successful then Venantius’ tale about Lupus would have matched the character and behaviour of the East Saxon thane returning to his king. Cato, Scipio and Pompey would have had their Germanic counterparts in elected Gothic kings or perhaps in early warleaders such as Arminius. Danes are always Danes and they are the ideal of a foreign enemy in both poems. Lupus and Sigibert are the equivalents of Byrhtnoth and King Æthelred. Thus the three poems Maldon, Lupus (Poem I), the official panegyric, and Beowulf (Part I) together with their leading figures Byrhtnoth, Lupus and Beowulf form a series of parallel scenes from ducal life: battles lost or won are at the centre of all three narratives; attack is always the best course, and leaving the hall in order to fight and return in triumph with reconciliation in mind constitutes the hero. If repeated, such heroism perfects a man. However, Byrhtnoth loses his battle and Lupus cannot repeat his success. Probably they both fail because they are so close to the selective mechanisms and randomness of real life while Beowulf, who is not much bothered by complex realities, succeeds. The Private Panegyric The panegyric, Book VII, poem 8, starts by telling us that it is a hot summer day in July and everything is suffering under the burning sun (ll. 1–10). In this time and space we meet a wanderer (ll. 11–30), who, tormented by the heat, happens to his relief to find a murmuring spring and comforting shade under the leafy crown of a tree moved by the wind. He starts to sing, that being what he can do and therefore what he naturally wants to do. So, in the first 30 lines we experience a tense and difficult situation and relief. Since Venantius’ day there have been many movies starting with such a hot, tense and threatening scene, but few have turned out after a minute or two to be introductions to some light-hearted songs in a pastoral setting. This, however, is the result of Venantius’ sentiments at the moment when he, not knowing whether Lupus is safe, finds out that indeed he is: sie ego, curarum valido defessus ab aestu, noscens te salvum fonte refectus agor. (Venantius Book VII, poem 8, ll. 31–33) 109
110 So am I, exhausted by the mighty troubles of the heat, restored by the spring when I know that you are safe. Being thus informed, by something similar to the murmur of a clear and lively spring (vitrei fontis sibilet unda recens, l. 19), and relieved of his anxiety, Venantius in his turn pours 16 lines (ll. 33–48) of the most intimate praise over Lupus. The prudent and manly German hero, not least the one known from the 1930s, would have blushed and sunk through the floor had he been the recipient: o nomen mihi dulce Lupi, replicabile semper quodque mei scriptum pagina cordis habet, 35 quem semel inclusum tabulis dulcedinis intus non abolenda virum pectoris arca tenet: thesauros pietatis habens, pretiosa voluntas producens animo pura talenta suo! divitias quas mundus habet mens aurea vincit gemmarumque decus corde micante refert. sensus aromaticus suaves diffundit odores. hoc tribuens animae qnod bene tura solent. melle saporatum refluens a pectore verbum et sale conditum reddis ab ore sophum. 45 post tenebras noctis stellarum lumina subdens Lucifer ut radiis sic mihi mente nites. ut recreat mudum veniens solis ab orto inlustrant animum sic tua verba meum. (Venantius Book VII, poem 8) Oh, Lupus’ sweet name, to me, always worth repeating, which is written on the page of my heart, (35) a man who, once included there on the tablets of sweetness, the indestructible coffer of my chest shall keep. You have a treasure of devotion, a costly benevolence, which produces pure talents in its soul. Your golden mind exceeds all worldly wealth and reflects the beauty of pearls with your brilliant heart. Your aromatic mind spreads soft fragrance and gives the soul the good which incense usually gives; the words flowing from your breast taste of honey and the wisdom you speak is spiced with salt. (45) As the morning star with its rays after the darkness of the night dominates the light of the stars, so do you shine in my mind, and as the light of the sun recreates the world when it rises, so do your words illuminate my heart. This turmoil of feelings awakes in Venantius (ll. 49–56), the memory of his coming to Germania and his first meeting with Lupus, who found time to act like a father to young Venantius although he was at the same time deeply engaged in political life, giving advice to the fatherland. Venantius was, to say the least, impressed. Bringing
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Occasional Papers in Archaeology 15
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Published with grants from Swedish
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6 The Two Panegyrics ..............
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I. Introduction This study seeks an
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(Herschend 1993). It has also becom
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democratic congregation had been es
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ample of a need for large storage f
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mately the sense applied to the oth
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is found at Borg in Lofoten and dat
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Figures 3a and b. (a) The hall at W
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(b) An early phase of a farm at Cow
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The Farm Owner’s Seat The positio
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place. Living quarters are limited
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Figure 9. A proposed schematic deve
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When eventually hall and power, kin
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Figures 12a and b. A comparison bet
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kitchen. The tempo in Northern Norw
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have their obvious counterparts in
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they, contrary to most of the guest
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accessible, elevated and at the sam
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Figures 17a-c. Three sections of ro
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this farm, however, the village was
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Figure 19. The Oelandic Iron Age vi
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50 Figures 21a and b. (a), Early Me
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question. This is certainly a matte
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the sources used, houses as well as
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Although we may accept the argument
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The change in the meaning of the wo
Page 60 and 61: 60 UlfR ok þeR Ragnarr restu sten
Page 62: Earlier discussions of the Old Engl
Page 65 and 66: Figure 22. The structure of Wealhth
Page 67 and 68: than pious disposition, ought to do
Page 69 and 70: Figure 25. Two partly overlapping e
Page 71 and 72: good father, good son or good broth
Page 73 and 74: 72 In reality it gives a significan
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Page 77 and 78: current, throughout the poem as wel
Page 79 and 80: 2209 hé gehéold tela fiftig wintr
Page 81 and 82: Figure 30. The use of the word good
Page 83 and 84: to introduce Beowulf and to describ
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Page 87 and 88: Wealhtheow, whose name means ‘cel
Page 89 and 90: In verse 1810 the sword Hrunting is
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Page 95 and 96: 45 Post tenebras noctis stellarum l
Page 97 and 98: Sigibert burn to marry the maid. Th
Page 99 and 100: why is the description of Brunhild
Page 101 and 102: Skírne-motif and hints at the para
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Page 105 and 106: The second poem seems ultimately to
Page 107 and 108: 106 You have adopted the custom of
Page 109: Distant or stand-offish Germanic ki
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Page 115 and 116: How fast does Fame fly, rising on f
Page 117 and 118: order to survive and develop, but a
Page 119 and 120: Their peaceful role in general and
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Page 123 and 124: esult of a philosophical developmen
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Page 127 and 128: and humans and animals on each side
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Page 131 and 132: The established aristocracy is alwa
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Page 135 and 136: peasants, namely the marriage betwe
Page 137 and 138: have been their obvious right to ex
Page 139 and 140: not free to pass through the lower
Page 141 and 142: 174 Then Ælfwine said, he talked b
Page 143 and 144: was a child. Today we would not cou
Page 145 and 146: Beowulf in the first part of the po
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Page 149 and 150: Andersson, K., 1993. Romersk guldsm
Page 151 and 152: Fabech, C., 1998. Slöinge i perspe
Page 153 and 154: ⎯ 1993. The origin of the hall in
Page 155 and 156: Knudsen, S. Aa. & Hertz, E., 1994.
Page 157 and 158: Nielsen, K. M., 1945. Var thegnerne
Page 159 and 160: ⎯ 1993. Vikingetidens volde og bo
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Williams, T. A., M. Shaw & V. Debha
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3 Dejbjerg. The hall from Dejbjerg
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on a central farm among other large
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186 Appendix II An English version
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188 To him who strengthless fled th
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190 When I, as a stranger, saw Germ
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Notes 1 The translation follows the
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always fasting, incessantly praying
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7. When Atharidos got to know this
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