[93b] “Impia sub dulci melle venena latent.”
[93c] The name of the chieftain, who commanded this particular troop, is not mentioned, unless (which is not very probable) we take “Trychant” in the third line as a proper name, and translate thus,—
“Trychant marshals his men, armed with the weapons of war.”
Or, are we to understand by “trwy beiryant,” that he marshalled his men by means of some instrument or machinery?
[93d] I.e. the silence of death.
[94a] “Fyryf frwythlawn,” i.e. “fyrv frwythlawn;” the sense of “furv frwythlawn” would seem to be “in vigorous order.”
[94b] The followers of the son of Cian (a little dog) are evidently called “aergwn,” (dogs of war) in allusion to his patronymic, as well as to the name of his residence, “maen gwyngwn,” (the stone of the white dogs.) Probably also the figure of a dog was charged on their banner.
[94c] The Bernicians, as we have already noticed, were at this time opposed to the British patriots. The Cymry carried a traditional hatred of that people with them into Wales, and applied the term Bryneich to such of their kindred as allied themselves to the enemies of their country, as is abundantly manifest in the works of the mediæval Bards.—See Stephen’s Literature of the Kymry, p. 265.)
[94d] Or, “Like a deluge, I would not have left a man alive.”
[94e] It is very probable that the son of Cian had married a daughter of one of the chiefs of Bryneich, which would thus account for the Bard’s lurking apprehension at first, that he might be induced to barter his allegiance for the dowry to be expected with his wife. His fears however were groundless; for such were the purity and patriotism of our youthful hero, that he even refused the dowry when it was offered to him, and braved his father-in-law’s anger withal.