Northvegr - Waltharius

Walter came, and the prince declared these things to him, persuading him to take a wife, but he, even then thinking ahead to what he later did,¹ answered the king, who had urged him with these suggestions: "You show fatherly care since you take note of the situation of a lowly servant. But because you carry my servile acts in your mind's eye, I could never have earned this. Still I beg that you receive the words of a faithful slave: If I receive a wife in accordance with my lord's commands, I shall be bound in utmost care and love to a girl and be generally retarded from my service to the king. I shall be driven to build homes and attend to the cultivation of my fields, and this will delay me from being in my lord's presence and from rendering the usual devotion to the kingship of the Huns. For, whoever has tasted pleasure, straightaway he is accustomed to bear toils with less tolerance. Nothing is so sweet to me as to be faithfully obedient to my lord. Therefore, I beg: Allow me now to conduct my life without the conjugal bond. If in the late or middle part of the night you give me your command, I shall go free of other concerns and prepared for whatever mission you order. In wars no anxieties will persuade me to yield—not sons nor wife will draw me back and urge me to flee. I beg you, best father, by your life and by the yet unconquered race of the Huns that you stop compelling me to take up the marriage torch." Conquered by these entreaties, the king deserted all his persuasion, expecting that Walter would never run away.

Meanwhile, a very well-confirmed rumor had come to the ruler² that a certain race, which had recently been conquered, was now in revolt, already prepared, and hurrying to bring war against the Huns. Then the leadership of the affair was turned over to Walter, who soon reviewed the whole army in order and encouraged the hearts of his warriors, exhorting them always to remember past triumphs and promising that they would lay these tyrants low and subject the foreign lands to their terror.

There was no delay. All the army rose and followed. Look!³ He has seen the place for battle and has arranged his numbered battleline through the wide meadows and fields. And now each host has come together and stopped within a spear's throw. Then on all sides the clamour rises up to the air; the military trumpets confound their horrific cries, and suddenly the spears fly dense from this side and that. Ash and cornel-wood mix in the game, and the swinging spear flashes like a lightning bolt. And, as a dense cloud of snow at winter-time scatters, not otherwise do they shoot their savage arrows.⁴ At last, when all the spears from both sides are spent, every hand turns to the sword. They whip out lightning blades and whirl their shields around; the ranks finally meet and renew battle. Horses fall after ramming each other chest to chest; men fall as they clash shield to shield.

Walter raged with war in the middle of his line, reaping with his sword whatever was in his way and continuing along his path. When the enemy saw him wreaking such havoc, they feared his sight like death itself.⁵ And wherever Walter headed whether on the right or left, they all then turned tail and tossed their shields and slackened their reins to run. The mighty race of the Huns, imitating their leader, rose up more fiercely, and more boldly they increased the slaughter , chasing those who fled, until they had attained a full triumph in the lot of war. Then they rushed over the slain and despoiled them all. And at last the leader called his ranks with a curved horn and first bound his forehead with a festal frond, girding his temples all around with victorious laurel.⁶ After him went the standard bearers, who were followed by the rest of the youth. Now decorated in triumphal garb, they returned and, entering their homeland, each placed himself in his own seat, but Walter hurried then to the throne.

Look! The palace ministers run down from the citadel; rejoicing at his sight, they take hold of his horse⁷ so that the famous man might dismount from his high seat. They ask then if things are well. He, giving them some brief response—for he was tired—enters the court and seeks the king's chamber.

Here he met Hildegund sitting there alone, whom he embraced and with whom he exchanged sweet kisses, before saying: “Quick bring me drink here! I am worn out and out of breath.” She then filled a precious goblet with unmixed wine and offered it to the man who received it, while making the sign of the cross, and gripped the maiden's hand in his own.⁸ But she stood by and quietly but intently watched his lordly expression, and Walter, drinking the cup dry, held it out to her—and they both knew that they had enacted the rites of their betrothal. Then with this speech he challenged the dear girl: “We have both endured exile so long, not unaware of what our parents arranged concerning our future estate between us. How long will it be that we suppress these same things in a quiet mouth?”

The maiden thinking that her bride-groom had not spoken his mind, was silent a while but then said these words: “Why do you pretend with your tongue what you condemn from the depths of your soul and persuade with your mouth what you reject with all your heart, as if it would be a great shame to marry such a bride?" The wise man answered in reply and spoke these words: “Away with these words you say! Set straight your sentiment! You know I spoke nothing from a dissembling mind,⁹ and don't think there was anything nebulous or false in what I said, for no one is here but the two of us. If I knew you would lend me a ready mind and keep your pledge through everything with careful vows, I would be willing to show you all the secrets of my heart.” Then the maiden, bowing at the man's knees, said: “My lord, I will eagerly follow wherever you call me, nor would I prefer to place anything above your pleasing commands.”

He then replied: “In short, I am ashamed of our exile, and I often recall the territory of our homeland that I left behind, and so I desire a swift and secret flight. This I could already have done, many days earlier if I were not grieved that Hildegund would remain alone." The small maiden added these words from the depths of her heart: "Your will is mine; I toss amidst the waves of concern for this thing alone. Let my lord order, whether prosperous or ill-omened, I am ready with all my heart to suffer. Walter at last spoke thus in the maiden's ear: “Truly public authority has made you guardian over the treasury; therefore, carefully note these words of mine. First, the king's helmet and shirt, the triple-ply hauberk bearing the mark of its maker¹⁰ , steal these; then take two medium sized coffers. Fill these with so many Hunnish bracelets that you can scarcely lift it to the bottom of your chest.¹¹ Then make me eight boots according to custom; and, getting the same number for you, put them in the containers. Thus the coffers will be filled to the top. Also secretly request some bent hooks from the smiths. Let our traveling fare be fish as well as birds. I must be a fisherman as well as a birdhunter. Do all these things cautiously and gradually within the week. You have heard what a traveler must have.

“Now I shall disclose how we can make our flight. After Phoebus¹² has completed seven circuits, I shall prepare a merry party for the king and queen, their vassals, dukes, and attendants. And I shall be quick with all my wit to bury them in drink until no one is left to realize what I shall do. But you, meanwhile, drink your wine moderately and take care scarcely to slake your thirst at the table. When the rest get up, return to your well-known task. But when the violence of drink has overcome everyone, then together let us hasten to seek the western lands.” The maiden mindfully completed the man's commands.

Look! The appointed day for the feast arrives, and Walter himself has arranged the food at great expense.¹³ At last there is luxury in the midst of the table, and the king enters the hall closed off by curtains on every side. The great-spirited hero, greeting him in the accustomed way, leads him to a throne, which is covered in fine purple cloth.¹⁴ He bids two dukes to sit on either side; acting like a servant, he seats the rest. The king's companions¹⁵ took one hundred seats at once. The guests each taste a different dish and begin to sweat. When these dishes are taken away, others are brought in to eat. Exquisite mixed wine steams in gold—only gold goblets stand on the fine tablecloth. And painted Bacchus adorns the mixing bowls. The sight and sweetness of the drink entices them to drink. Walter exhorts them all to wine and food.

After hunger was driven away by feasting, and the table was removed,¹⁶ the aforementioned hero addressed his lord and said: “I beg that Your Grace be conspicuous in this, namely that you first make yourself and then the others merry." And as he spoke he gave him a bowl¹⁷ crafted with skill and displaying in ordered relief the deeds of earlier men.¹⁸ This the king took and drained in one draught, and immediately ordered the rest to do likewise.

Swiftly the servers run back and forth; they give full cups and take back empty. At the exhortations of their host and king they all compete in drinking. Hot drunkenness is lord throughout the hall. Their eloquence, spilt out of their sopping mouths, scarcely stutters. You would have seen, were you there, strong heroes totter about on their feet.

In such a way Walter kept serving the gifts of Bacchus late into the night, and he detained those who wanted to go home, until, suppressed by the force of the drink and burdened by sleep, here and there about the colonnades they all lay strewn on the ground. Even if he had wanted to commit the walls to burning flame,¹⁹ no one would have remained to know what he had done.

At length, he called his beloved woman to his side and ordered her quickly to bring out the things she had prepared. And he himself led the champion of the horses from the stable, whom he had named Lion on account of his courage. The steed stood and wildly chomped on its foaming bit. After he had covered the horse with its accustomed gear, he promptly hung the coffers full of treasure from each side, packed modest provisions for a long journey,²⁰ and entrusted the flowing reins to the maiden's hand.

1 This is another instance of our poet's making connections both forward (as here) and backward within the narrative, just as the brief comment about Gunther above (15-16).

2 The Latin word "satrapae" could refer either to Attila himself, as translated here, or to his underling, which would make the line: "Meanwhile, a very well-confirmed rumor had come from a vassal." Either way Attila hears the rumor, but in the second instance the source is clear. I chose the first alternative because rumors (the Latin is "fama") generally do not have specific sources, and the second meaning forces one to take "satrapae" as an awkward subjective genitive. Compare line 371 where "satrapae" ("ruler") clearly refers to Attila.

3 The poet's frequent use of ecce (usually translated "look!) and en (usually translated "behold") is unusual in Latin epic, though our author may have picked up the habit from Prudentius who uses ecce fairly often. Alternately this practice may have been influenced by a similar interjection in Germanic epic; compare the common Old English "Hwæt!" In any case, en and ecce often introduce a new scene or a new section of a speech.

4This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see the note 178 on the longest of these.

5 Compare Vergil Aeneid 1.91.

6 Compare Vergil Eclogues 8.12f. and Aeneid 5.71, 7.614, 4.459.

7 The first of several examples where the poet uses eques for horse, following Vergilian practice as explained by Servius in his commentary on Georgics 3.116. Compare lines 460-1 which extensively rework the same passage from the Georgics .

8 The signing of the cross is one of the explicitly Christian actions of the hero, and this scene is important because it marks a formal, though private, engagement of Walter and Hildegund, whom the poet will often call sponsus ("betrothed" or "bride-groom") and sponsa ("betrothed" or "bride").

9 Compare Vergil Aeneid 4.105.

10 The shirt or hauberk does save Walter later, and it seems to have played a larger role in the Anglo-Saxon Waldere . Compare line 965 below and the note there.

11 Kratz (1984) here suggests that these two coffers stuffed with gold are meant to be compared unfavorably with the recommendations of Good Works in the Psychomachia (613), who exhorts her companions not even to take a wallet with them in their journey, echoing the words of Christ (Luke 9:3, 10:4, 22:35). The author of the Waltharius clearly alludes to the Psychomachia at points throughout, and so this is a compelling suggestion.

12 A Greek name for the Sun god, sometimes equated with Apollo, "Phoebus" is here used as in much Latin poetry as an elegant way of referring to the Sun.

13 Kratz (1984: xvii): "The banquet at which Walter induces such drunkenness among the Huns that they fail to notice his escape is based on the banquet given by Dido in honor of Aeneas ( Aeneid 1.637-756)."

14 The “fine purple cloth” is a biblical allusion to Luke 16:19.

15Sodales means "companions" or "comrades" and here the context tells us that they are the king's, not Walter's companions, but Kratz strangely translates the word as "guests."

16 Compare Servius On the Aeneid 1.730 and Ruodlieb 5.76, 6.46.

17Nappa ("bowl") is derived from a Germanic word (cf. Niermayer "nappa") and seems to be related to modern German Napf ("bowl" or "dish").

18 For this decorated bowl, compare Statius' ( Theb . 1.539 ff.) description of a patera ("dish" or "bowl").

19 Kratz (1984) here notes that this could be an allusion to the legend of Attila's palace burning which is found in the Nibelungenlied .

20 The Latin "iteri" ("journey") is an anomalous form, either a mistake, a nod for meter, or our author has been reading some grammarians who cited similar forms from archaic poetry.