Y Gododin: A Poem of the Battle of Cattraeth Part 23

{112a} "Fawd ut," i.e. ffawddyd, from ffawdd, radiation, splendour. We may also render the sentence as follows,-

"I fell by the radiant rampart, (ffin)"

the epithet _radiant_ having a reference to the arms of the soldiers.

{112b} Or, as a moral reflection,-

"A hero's prowess is not without ambition."

There are various readings of the word which is here translated _prowess_, e.g. cobnet, colwed, eofned, but all of them are capable of that construction, thus "cobnet" comes from _cobiaw_, to thump, "colwed,"

from _col_ a sting, or a prop, whilst "eofned" literally means fearlessness.

{112c} In Maelderw's stanzas thus,-

"When all went up, thou didst go down."

In another place,-

"When all were extended, thou didst also fall."

{112d} The line in Gorchan Maelderw, Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 62, has been translated by Dr. W. O. Pughe,

"Present, ere he spoke, was carried with the arms." (Dict. _Voce_ Breichiawl.)

That in the other Gorchan of Maelderw, page 85, may be rendered,

Present narrates that he was carried with the arms.

{113a} Lit. "Three heroes and three score and three hundred, wearing the golden torques."

{113b} If "ffosawd" ever bears the meaning a.s.signed to it by Dr. Pughe, it must have derived it from the practise of fighting in the _fosse_ of a camp, (which would be peculiarly _gashing_) for on his own showing the word has no other etymon than that of "ffos," a _ditch_, a _trench_.

From the same root Merddin gives it the sense of burial-defossio.

"A hyt vraut yth goffaaf Dy _ffossaut_ trallaut trymmaf." (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 149.)

Until doom will I remember Thy interment, which was a most heavy affliction.

Likewise Taliesin;-

"Hyd ydd aeth ef Ercwlf mur _ffosawd_ As arnut tywawd." (Myv. Arch. i. p. 69.)

Until he, Ercwlf, Descended into the fosse of the rampart, And was covered with sand.

{114a} Their names are given in "Gwarchan Cynvelyn." (Myv. Arch. vol.

i. page 60. Davies's Mythology, page 622.)

Three warriors and three score and three hundred, To the conflict of Cattraeth went forth; Of those who hastened from the mead of the cup-bearers, Three only returned, Cynon and Cadreith, and Cadlew of Cadnant, And I myself from the shedding of blood.-

{114b} The grave of Cynon is thus recorded;-

"Bet gur gwaud urtin In uchel t.i.tin in isel gwelitin Bet Cynon mab Clytno Idin."

The grave of a warrior of high renown Is in a lofty region-but a lowly bed; The grave of Cynon the son of Clydno Eiddin.

And in another stanza;

"Piau y bet y dann y brin Bet gur gwrt yng Kiuiscin Bet Kinon mab Clytno Idin."

Whose is the grave beneath the hill?

It is the grave of a warrior valiant in the conflict,- The grave of Cynon the son of Clydno Eiddin. (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p.

79.)

A saying of Cadreith has been preserved in the Englynion y Clywed.

"A glyweisti a gant Cadreith Fab Porthawr filwr areith Ni char Dofydd diobeith." (Myv. Arch. i. 175.)

Hast thou heard what Cadreith sang, The son of Porthawr, with the warlike speech?

G.o.d loves not the despairer.

{114c} "Gwenwawd." It might be translated "flattering song," but _candid_ or _sacred_ seems more consonant with the character of a Bard, whose motto was "Y gwir yn erbyn y byd." We may presume that Aneurin on this occasion displayed his heraldic badge, which, according to the law of nations, would immediately cause a cessation of hostilities.

"Tair braint Beirdd ynys Prydain; Trwyddedogaeth lle'r elont; nas dycer arv noeth yn eu herbyn: a gair eu gair hwy ar bawb."

The three primary privileges of the Bards of the Isle of Britain; maintenance wherever they go; that no naked weapon be borne in their presence; and their word be preferred to that of all others.

(Inst.i.tutional Triads. See also Myv. Arch. vol. iii. Laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud.)

"Sed me per hostes Mercurius celer Denso paventem sustulit aere. (Horace Carm. lib. ii. Ode 7.)

{115a} "Gwyn dragon;" probably Hengist, who bore, as his arms, a _white prancing horse_ upon a red field. There is here accordingly an allusion to the first arrival of the Saxons, which was the cause to the Britons of all their national calamities for many a long year after.

Al. "Had it not been for the two hundred (al. ten hundred) men of the white-bannered commander."

{115b} Or, "we were not-until." &c.

{115c} Lit. "thorn bushes." For an ill.u.s.tration of the advantage which the natives would derive from their woods and thickets in times of war, the reader is referred to a story told of Caradoc in the Iolo MSS. pp.

185, 597. which on account of its length we cannot transfer into our pages.

{115d} Or more sententiously, as Davies has it,

"Base is he in the field, who is base to his own relatives."

The construction adopted in the text, might allude to the marriage of Rowena with Vortigern.

{116a} "Llwyeu," from "llwyv," a _frame_, a _platform_, a _loft_. Or it may be "llwyv," an _elm tree_, in reference to the devastation of the groves just mentioned. The elm was very common in the island at the period under consideration. Taliesin celebrates a battle ent.i.tled "Gwaith Argoed Llwyvein," which means "the battle of the forest of elms."

"A rhag gwaith Argoed Llwyvain Bu llawer celain." (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 53.)

Al. "When we were deprived of our sharpened weapons."