NOTES TO THE NINETEENTH CANTO.
Specimen of the metre.
Fra Valaskialf gik Odin nu i den naeste Hal;
Der vented ham Einheriar, de stod i tusindtal:
Syn, den gode Vogterske, vidt aabned Portens Flöi̱,
Da traadte mellem Kaemper Odin den Herre saa höi.
[72] Starkodder was the greatest warrior of his time, and was deified after his death. His name was ever in the greatest veneration among the Scandinavians. Though he killed Oluf, he repented it ever afterwards, and in this poem the poet puts into Oluf’s mouth the generous sentiment, that Starkodder, in killing him and making him die in blood, had perhaps saved him from dying by old age or sickness; in which case, instead of being in Valhalla, he would have risked falling into the hands of Hela. According to the author of this work, Œhlenschläger (who has made Starkodder the subject of a most interesting tragedy), Oluf’s death was revenged by his son Frode Frækne, who clove Starkodder’s scull in single combat. In the above tragedy Frode, after killing Starkodder, renders ample justice to his military talent and exploits, and anticipates, in the following manner, his reception among the heroes of Valhalla:
“Now he’s a god! at the command of Thor
Five hundred forty massive gates of Trudvang,
Each broad and long, and made of bronze, ope wide
With fearful clang; in brilliant armour clad
Five hundred forty heroes from each gate
Rush forth to meet him, and with loud applause
Thus do they greet the chief: All hail! Starkodder!
Thou greatest after Tyr and Asa-Thor!”
[73] The purport of this message is explained in the twenty-first Canto. It was to obtain from the dwarfs a magic chain, wherewith to bind Fenris.
[74] This butting match between Asa-Lok and one of Thor’s goats was no doubt suggested to the poet (for there is no account of it in either Edda) by the painting or mosaic found in Herculaneum, I believe, or in Pompeii, and which has been made the subject of many a bas-relief, medallion, or cameo: viz. a satyr butting against a goat. To Œhlenschläger may well be applied the line of Haley respecting Ariosto:
“The bard of pathos now, and now of mirth!”