Waltharius170

Walther leads the army of the Huns to victory in battle (170–214)

Venerat interea satrapae certissima fama 170  Satrapae: see note on line 43.   Quandam, quae nuper superata, resistere gentem  Quandam … gentem: since the sudden rebellion is merely a plot device, the precise identity of the people is unimportant.   bellum Hunis confestim inferre paratam. Tunc ad Waltharium convertitur actio rerum.  Actio rerum: “the leadership of the expedition.”   Qui mox militiam percensuit ordine totam Et bellatorum confortat corda suorum, 175  Confortat = confirmat    2 Sam. 11.25 Vulg.: conforta bellatores. “Encourage thy warriors.” Gen. 18.5 Vulg.: confortate cor vestrum. “Strengthen ye your heart.”   Hortans praeteritos semper memorare triumphos Promittensque istos solita virtute tyrannos  Tyrannos = rebelles (here, cf. line 1384). Tyrannus has a wide semantic range (Neidorf 2025, note on line 886). Solita virtute: reference to the description in the Psychomachia of Patientia (Suffering), who explicitly does not win battles by fighting (see Psychomachia 155–159)    Prudentius, Psychomachia 155–56: “vicimus,” inquit, / “exultans Vitium solita virtute.” “‘We have overcome,’ he said, ‘a proud Vice with our wonted virtue.’” Aeneid 11.415: quamquam o si solitae quicquam virtutis adesset! “If only we had any of our wonted valour!”   Sternere et externis terrorem imponere terris. Nec mora, consurgit sequiturque exercitus omnis.  Josh. 8.3 Vulg.: surrexit Iosue et omnis exercitus bellatorum cum eo. “And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him.” Aeneid 2.415: exercitus omnis… “The whole host…” 11.597–99: At manus interea muris Troiana propinquat, / Etruscique duces equitumque exercitus omnis / compositi numero in turmas. “But meanwhile the Trojan band draws near the walls, with the Etruscan chiefs and all their mounted array, marshalled by number into squadrons.”   Ecce locum pugnae conspexerat et numeratam 180  The description of the battle that follows reworks a scene from the Aeneid (11.597ff.) while attempting some limited level of verisimilitude in its depiction of medieval warfare. The warriors fight on horseback (a practice adopted by the Franks in Carolingian times), first with arrows and javelins from afar (the practice of the Hungarian Avars), and then in hand-to-hand combat with swords (not found in the scene from the Aeneid). The use of ecce here also reminds us of the poem’s medieval context (see note on line 52).    Aeneid 11.599: compositi numero in turmas… “Marshalled by number into squadrons…”   Per latos aciem campos digessit et agros.  Aeneid 10.407–8: extenditur una / horrida per latos acies Volcania campos. “Vulcan’s bristling battleline spreads unbroken over the broad fields.” 11.601–2: tum late ferreus hastis / horret ager campique armis sublimibus ardent. “Far and wide the field bristles with the steel of spears, and the plains are ablaze with raised weapons.”   Iamque infra iactum teli congressus uterque  (Lines 182–83) Aeneid 11.608–9: iamque intra iactum teli progressus uterque / substiterat: subito erumpunt clamore. “And now in its advance each army had halted within a spear cast of the other; with a sudden shout they dash forth.”   Constiterat cuneus: tunc undique clamor ad auras  (Lines 183-84) Aeneid 9.566–67. undique clamor / tollitur. “On all sides a shout goes up.” 2.699: se tollit ad auras. “He raises himself to the airs.”   Tollitur, horrendam confundunt classica vocem,  Aeneid 7.637: classica iamque sonant. “And now the trumpet sounds.” 9.731–32: arma / horrendum sonuere. “His armour rang terribly.”   Continuoque hastae volitant hinc indeque densae. 185  Aeneid 11.612–13: continuo… “At once…” 11.610–11: fundunt simul undique tela / crebra nivis ritu. “Together from all sides they shower weapons as thick as snowflakes.”   Fraxinus et cornus ludum miscebat in unum,  Fraxinus et cornus: by metonymy, the wooden spears. Ash was the most common material for spear shafts in medieval Europe. Dogwood shafts only occasionally appear in the archaeological record (Vlasatý 2023). Ludum: recalling the iocis (line 102) of war, here and in other instances in the Waltharius, battle is in some way a game. Similarly, in the Old English Waldere, Waldere’s skill in battle is referred to as his skill in sweordplega “sword-play” (frag. A, line 13). This association is also present in other early medieval literature (cf. Old English Beowulf, lines 1073 and 2039; Old High German Ludwigslied, line 49). For other instances in the Waltharius of the Latin root of play, lud-/lus-, see lines 541, 734, 740, 766, 782, 794, 903, 956, 1230, 1252, 1291, 1349, 1352, 1424; for the metaphor of athletic games in the use of certamen/certare, see lines 611, 743, 908, 1003, 1301, 1424; athleta, see lines 962, 1046, 1411; agon, see line 1025. For further scholarship on play in the Waltharius, see Ziolkowski 2001.    Aeneid 9.698: volat Itala cornus. “The Italian dogwood shaft flies.” 12.267: sonitum dat stridula cornus. “The whistling dogwood shaft sings.” 12.714: fors et virtus miscentur in unum. “Chance and valour blend in one.” Waldere frag. A, line 13: sweordplega. “sword-play.”   Fulminis inque modum cuspis vibrata micabat.  In modum = instar    Aeneid 11.615–16: excussus Aconteus / fulminis in morem…praecipitat longe. “Flung off like a thunderbolt, Aconteus is hurled headlong far away.”   Ac veluti boreae sub tempore nix glomerata  (Lines 188–89) Veluti … haud aliter: language of epic simile. The image of battle as a storm is common in Greek and Latin poetry from the time of Homer (cf. Iliad 12.156–158, 278; Aeneid 12.283; Ovid, Met. 5.157; Psychomachia 129, 133–134, 173; further examples at Althof 1905, 67), including in Aeneid 11.610–611, which the Waltharius reworks here, as well as in Germanic poetry (cf. Beowulf 3117; Kudrun 503, 861, 1417, 1455; Biterolf und Dietlieb 10191).   Spargitur, haud aliter saevas iecere sagittas. Postremum cunctis utroque ex agmine pilis 190 Absumptis manus ad mucronem vertitur omnis:  Prudentius Psychomachia 137: vertitur ad capulum manus. “Her ruthless hand turned to her sword-hilt.”   Fulmineos promunt enses clipeosque revolvunt,  Clipeosque revolvunt: variously explained. The warriors are either throwing back their shields or taking them up again having already done so, in preparation for combat (cf. restaurant in the following line).    Aeneid 4.579–80: vaginaque eripit ensem / fulmineum. “He snatches his flashing sword from its sheath.” 9.441–42: instat non setius ac rotat ensem / fulmineum. “Onward none the less he presses, whirling his lightning blade.”   Concurrunt acies demum pugnamque restaurant.  (Lines 193–94) Aeneid 11.612–17: adversis Tyrrhenus et acer Aconteus / conixi incurrunt hastis primique ruinam / dant sonitu ingenti perfractaque quadripedantum / pectora pectoribus rumpunt; excussus Aconteus fulminis in morem… praecipitat longe. “At once Tyrrhenus and fierce Aconteus charge each other full force with spears, and are first to go down with a mighty crash, breaking and shattering their horses as they collide breast to breast. Flung off like a thunderbolt, Aconteus is hurled headlong far away.” 10.360–61: aciesque Latinae / concurrunt. “The ranks of Latium clash.”   Pectoribus partim rumpuntur pectora equorum,  The thought of this line parallels that of the next: some of both the horses and the men were killed merely by being crushed against one another while armed in the stampede of battle.   Sternitur et quaedam pars duro umbone virorum. 195  Prudentius, Psychomachia 255–56: hostem humilem cupiens inpulsu umbonis equini / sternere… “Eager to upset her lowly enemy with the shock of her horse-hide shield…”   Waltharius tamen in medio furit agmine bello,  (Lines 196–97) Aeneid 11.762: qua se cumque furens medio tulit agmine virgo… “Wherever the maiden rides among the ranks in her fury…”   Obvia quaeque metens armis ac limite pergens.  Aeneid 10.513–14: proxima quaeque metit gladio latumque per agmen / ardens limitem agit ferro… “With the sword he mows down all the nearest ranks, and fiercely drives a broad path through the host with the steel…”   Hunc ubi conspiciunt hostes tantas dare strages,  Aeneid 9.783–84: unus homo et vestris, o cives, undique saeptus / aggeribus tantas strages… ediderit? “My countrymen, shall one man, hemmed in on every side by your ramparts, deal such carnage?” Georgics 3.246–47: nec funera vulgo / tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere. “Never does the shapeless bear spread death and havoc so widely.”   Ac si praesentem metuebant cernere mortem,  Ac si: qualifying praesentem, not beginning a clause.    Aeneid 1.91: praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem. “All forebodes the sailors’ instant death.”   Et quemcunque locum, seu dextram sive sinistram, 200  (Lines 200–201) Aeneid 3.563: laevam cuncta cohors … petivit. “Leftward all our force plied.”   Waltharius peteret, cuncti mox terga dederunt  (Lines 201–2) Aeneid 9.686: agminibus totis qut versi terga dedere. “With all their columns [they] are routed and turn to flight.”   Et versis scutis laxisque feruntur habenis.  Versis scutis: they put their shields on their backs to protect them as they flee.    Aeneid 11.618–619: versique Latini / reiciunt parmas. “The routed Latins cast their shields behind them.” 11.623: hi fugiunt penitusque datis referuntur habenis “The others flee, and retreat far off with loosened rein.” Georgics 2.364: palmes agit laxis per purum immisus habenis… “The shoot, speeding through the void with loosened reins…” Aeneid 1.62-63: qui foedere certo/ et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas. “Who, under fixed covenant, should be skilled to tighten and loosen the reins at command.”   Tunc imitata ducem gens maxima Pannoniarum  Aeneid 11.758–59: ducis exemplum eventumque secuti / Maeonidae incurrunt. “Following their chief’s example and success, Maeonia’s sons attack.”   Saevior insurgit caedemque audacior auget,  Aeneid 12.902; Prudentius, Psychomachia 31: altior insurgens… “Rising to his height…”   Deicit obstantes, fugientes proterit usque, 205  Prudentius, Psychomachia Praefatio 28: pellit fugatos, sauciatos proterit. “[He] drives off in flight those proud kings … or cuts them down.”   Dum caperet plenum belli sub sorte triumphum.  Belli sub sorte: roughly “in the outcome of the battle”    Prudentius, Psychomachia 474: belli sub sorte… “By the luck of war…”   Tum super occisos ruit et spoliaverat omnes. Et tandem ductor recavo vocat agmina cornu  Aeneid 7.513–14: cornuque recurvo / Tartaream intendit vocem. “On the twisted horn [she] strains her hellish voice.” 3.239: dat signum specula Misenus ab alta / aere cavo. “Misenus on his hollow brass gave the signal from his watch aloft.” Prudentius, Psychomachia 422: recavo misceret labra palato. “[She] beats the lips into the arched mouth.” Aeneid 7.508: vocat agmina Tyrrhus. “Tyrrhus summons his bands.”   Ac primus frontem festa cum fronde revinxit,  Frontem festa cum fronde: alliteration (Lines 209–210) Lauro: The poem depicts Waltharius’ victory in a typically Roman fashion. A laurel wreath is more likely a classical reference than a literal description of the homecoming, since the bay laurel, from which laurel wreaths are typically made, is a Mediterranean plant, and it would have a hard time surviving in northern Europe.    (Lines 209–210) Aeneid 4.459: velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum… “Wreathing it with snowy fleeces and festal foliage…” 5.71–73: “…cingite tempora ramis.”/ Sic fatus velat materna tempora myrto. / hoc Helymus facit, hoc aevi maturus Acestes / hoc puer Ascanius, sequitur quos cetera pubes. “‘…Wreathe your brows with leaves.’ So speaking, he crowns his brows with his mother’s myrtle. Thus does Helymus, thus Acestes, ripe of years, thus the boy Ascanius, the rest of the youth following.” Aeneid 5.539: cingit viridanti tempora lauro. “He binds his brows with green laurel.” 7.614: sequitur tum cetera pubes. “Then the rest of the warriors take up the cry.” Eclogue 8.12–13: hanc sine tempora circum / inter victricis hederam tibi serpere lauros. “Grant that, amid the conqueror’s laurels, this ivy may creep about your brows.”   Victrici lauro cingens sua timpora vulgo, 210  Timpora = tempora   Post hunc signiferi, sequitur quos cetera pubes. Iamque triumphali redierunt stemmate compti Et patriam ingressi propria se quisque locavit Sede, sed ad solium mox Waltharius properavit. « previous   Prologue 1–12: Introduction: the Huns 13–418: The Huns 13–33: The Franks under Gibich surrender to Attila, giving Hagen as a hostage 34–74: The Burgundians under Hereric surrender to Attila, giving Hildegund as a hostage 75–92: The Aquitainians under Alphere surrender to Attila, giving Walther as a hostage 93–115: Experience of the hostages at Attila’s court 116–122: Death of Gibich, flight of Hagen 123–141: Attila’s queen Ospirin advises her husband to ensure Walther’s loyalty by arranging a marriage 142–169: Walther rejects Attila’s offer of a bride 170–214: Walther leads the army of the Huns to victory in battle 215–418: The Escape 215–255: Walther returns from battle and encounters Hildegund 256–286: Walther reveals to Hildegund his plans for escaping with Attila’s treasure 287–323: Walther hosts a luxurious banquet for Attila’s court; eventually all his intoxicated guests fall asleep 324–357: Flight of Walther and Hildegund from Attila’s court 358–379: The following day, the escape of Walther and Hildegund is discovered by Ospirin 380–418: Attila is infuriated and vows revenge on Walther, but can find no one willing to dare to pursue him, even for a large reward 419–1061: The Single Combats 419–639: Diplomacy 419–435: Flight of Walther and Hildegund to the area of Worms 436–488: Gunther, King of the Franks, learns of Walther’s presence on his territory and, despite Hagen’s warnings, decides to pursue him for his treasure 489–512: Walther makes his camp in a mountainous area and goes to sleep 513–531: Gunther and his companions approach Walther’s camp; Hagen unsuccessfully tries to dissuade the king from attacking it 532–571: Hildegund sees the Franks approaching and wakes Walther, who calms her fears and prepares for battle; he recognizes Hagen from a distance 572–580: Hagen persuades Gunther to try diplomacy before using force 581–616: Camalo is sent as a messenger to Walther, who offers to make Gunther a gift in return for allowing his passage 617–639: Hagen counsels Gunther to accept the offer, but Gunther rejects this advice, calling him a coward. Insulted, Hagen goes off to a nearby hill 640–1061: Combat 640–685: 1st single combat. Camalo is sent back to Walther, who slays him 686–719: 2nd single combat. Walther slays Kimo/Scaramund, Camalo’s nephew 720–724: Gunther encourages his men 725–753: 3rd single combat. Walther slays Werinhard, a descendant of the Trojan Pandarus 754–780: 4th single combat. Walther slays the Saxon Ekivrid, after an exchange of insults 781–845: 5th single combat. Walther slays Hadawart, after an exchange of insults 846–877. Hagen sees his nephew Patavrid going off to fight Walther and laments the evil wreaked on mankind by greed 878–913. 6th single combat. After trying to dissuade him from fighting, Walther slays Patavrid 914–940: 7th single combat. Walther slays Gerwitus 941–961: Gunther again encourages his men, giving Walther some time to rest 962–981. 8th single combat. Walther is shorn of his hair by Randolf, whom he then slays 982–1061. Walther is attacked by Eleuthir/Helmnot, assisted by Trogus, Tanastus, and Gunther; he slays all but Gunther 1062–1452: The Final Combat 1062–1088: Gunther tries to persuade Hagen to help him to defeat Waltharius; remembering his wounded honor, Hagen refuses 1089–1129: Hagen changes his mind and agrees to help Gunther, but advises that they must lie low wait until Walther comes down from the mountains into open ground 1130–1187: Walther decides to spend the night in the mountains. He rematches the severed heads with the bodies of his victims, prays for their souls, then sleeps 1188–1207: The following day, Walther and Hildegund set out from the mountains, taking the horses and arms of the defeated warriors 1208–1236: Hildegund perceives Gunther and Hagen approaching to attack; the king addresses Walther 1237–1279: Walther ignores Gunther and pleads with Hagen to remember the bond of their childhood friendship; Hagen counters that Walther has already broken their faith by slaying Patavrid 1280–1345: The fight begins and continues for seven hours; Gunther foolishly tries to retrieve a thrown spear from the ground near Walther and is only saved from death by Hagen’s brave intervention 1346–1375: Walther challenges Hagen; he severs Gunther’s leg, but Hagen again saves the king’s life 1376–1395: Hagen cuts off Walther’s right hand; Walther gouges out one of Hagen’s eyes and, cutting open his cheek, knocks out four teeth 1396–1442: Having wounded each other, the warriors end the battle, drink together, and engage in a friendly exchange of humorous taunt 1443–1452: The warriors return to their respective homes; Walther marries Hildegund and eventually becomes king of the Aquitainians 1453–1456: Epilogue  next » English Scansion