And now the early leader,
The sun, is about to ascend,
Sovereign of the revolving [105b] lights, [105c]
In the heaven of Britain’s isle. [105d]
Direful was the flight before the shaking
Of the shield of the pursuing victor; [105e]
Bright [105f] was the horn
In the hall of Eiddin; [105g]
With pomp was he bidden [105h]
To the feast of intoxicating mead;
He drank the beverage of wine,
At the meeting of reapers; [106a]
He drank transparent wine,
With a battle-daring purpose. [106b]
The reapers sang of war,
War with the shining wing; [106c]
The minstrels sang of war,
Of harnessed [106d] war,
Of winged war.
No shield was unexpanded [107a]
In the conflict of spears;
Of equal age they fell [107b]
In the struggle of battle.
Unshaken in the tumult,
Without dishonour [107c] did he retaliate on the foe;
Buried [107d] was whoever he willed,
Ere the grave of the gigantic [107e] Gwrveling
Itself became a green sward.
XVIII.
The complement [107f] of the surrounding country [107g]
Were, three forward chiefs of the Novantæ; [107h]
Five battalions of five hundred men each; [108a]
Three levies [108b] of three hundred each;
Three hundred knights of battle [108c]
From Eiddin, arrayed in golden armour;
Three loricated hosts,
With three kings wearing the golden torques; [108d]
Three bold knights,
With three hundred of equal quality;
Three of the same order, mutually jealous,
Bitterly would they chase the foe,
Three dreadful in the toil;
They would kill a lion flat as lead. [108e]
There was in the war a collection of gold. [108f]
Three sovereigns of the people
Came from amongst the Brython, [109a]
Cynrig and Cynon [109b]
And Cynrain [109c] from Aeron, [109d]
To greet [110a] the ashen lances [110b]
Of the men who dropped from Deivyr. [110c]
Came there from the Brython,
A better man than Cynon,
Who proved a serpent to his sullen foes?
XIX.
I drank of the wine and the mead of the Mordei;
Great was the quantity of spears,
In the assembly of the warriors;
He [110d] was solemnising a banquet for the eagle.
When Cydywal [110e] hurried forth to battle, he raised
The shout with the green dawn, and dealt out tribulation, [110f]
And splintered shields about the ground he left,
And darts of awful tearing did he hew down;
In the battle, the foremost in the van he wounded.
The son of Syvno, [111a] the astronomer, knew,
That he who sold his life,
In the face of warning,
With sharpened blades would slaughter,
But would himself be slain by spears and crosses. [111b]
According to the compact, [111c] he meditated a convenient attack,
And would boast [111d] of a pile of carcases
Of gallant men of toil,
Whom in the upper part of Gwynedd [111e] he pierced.
XX.
I drank of the wine and the mead of the Mordei,
And because I drank, I fell by the edge of a gleaming sword, [112a]
Not without desiring a hero’s prowess; [112b]
And when all fell, thou didst also fall. [112c]
Thus when the issue comes, it were well not to have sinned.
Present, in his thrusting course, showed a bold and mighty arm. [112d]
XXI.
The heroes who marched to Cattraeth were renowned,
Wine and mead out of golden goblets was their beverage,
That year was to them one of exalted solemnity,
Three hundred and sixty-three chieftains, wearing the golden torques; [113a]
Of those who hurried forth after the excess of revelling,
But three escaped by valour from the funeral fosse, [113b]
The two war-dogs [114a] of Aeron, and Cynon the dauntless, [114b]
And myself, from the spilling of blood, the reward of my candid song. [114c]