[95a] In Gorchan Maelderw we read of—
“The only son of Cian from Trabannawg.”
Cian was a Bard, and is mentioned as such by Nennius in the following passage,—
“Item Talhaern Talanguen in Poemate claruit, et Nuevin et Taliessin, et Bluchbar, et Cian qui vocatur Gueinchguant (Cian who is called Gwyngwn) simul uno tempore in poemate Britannico claruerunt.”
Taliesin likewise represents him in that character in a Poem entitled, “Angar Cyvyndawd.” (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 34.)
“Cian pan ddarvu
Lliaws gyvolu.”When Cian sang the praise of many.
The circumstance of his being thus a poet, and classed with Aneurin (Nuevin) would account for the intimacy which subsisted between the latter and his son.
Cian is said to have been the servant of Peris, and to them conjointly is Llangian in Caernarvonshire dedicated. Cian is commemorated on the 11th of December.—See Rees’s Welsh Saints, p. 302.
[95b] It is probable that three hundred was the number which composed the retinue of Mynyddawg, and that a hundred thousand, a large round figure, is chosen to denote the preponderance of the enemy’s forces that were arrayed in opposition. This view seems more in unison with reason, as well as with the grammatical construction of the passage, (“emdaflawr” being a middle verb) than the supposition that the “milcant a thrychant” formed the total of the army of the Cymry.
[96a] Or, “They served as butts for the falling lances.”