[172a] See lines 27, &c. It would appear as if the three lines at the end of the stanza were appended to it by some compiler, merely on account of their uniformity of rhyme.
[172b] Lit, “At the early arising morn,” or “quickly rising in the morning.”
[172c] “Aber;” the junction of rivers; the fall of a lesser river into a greater, or into the sea. By metaphor, a port or harbour.
[172d] Or more definitely,—“Occurred the battle of Aber in front of the course.”
[172e] Or “a breach was made, and the knoll was pervaded with fire.”
[172f] The stanza is imperfect, which accounts for the omission of the hero’s name. From the Gorchan Maelderw we would infer that he was Gwair one of the three “taleithiawg cad,” or coronetted chiefs of battle. (Myv. Arch. ii. 12.)
[172g] Probably, the valuables collected within the encampment on the hill.
[173a] This word may be taken either in its literal sense, as alluding to the birds of prey that devoured the dead bodies, or else metaphorically as denoting the warriors themselves. In the latter sense Casnodyn uses it in the following passage;
“Cynan—
Eryr tymyr gwyr, gweilch disaesneg.”
Cynan, the eagle of the land of men, who are heroes with no English.