On the other hand against organised forces, like those of the later Spartans or the Romans, at all events if commanded by generals who followed a definite plan of campaign, the Homeric Achaeans would have had no chance after the first encounter. This may be seen especially from the history of the campaigns against the Italian Gauls, who appear to have employed a very similar method of warfare. The Saxons and other northern peoples owed their successes largely to the rapidity of their movements, combined with the fact that they had command of the sea. But, so far as we know, they seldom or never had to deal with any considerable Roman army. In Britain their procedure was probably similar to that followed by the Scandinavian invaders in the Viking Age; but the latter were unable to cope with prolonged and organised resistance, such as was offered by Alfred the Great. The armies of the Goths at the height of their power were doubtless more formidable; but they had probably learnt much from long experience of the Romans, both as foes and allies. It is not to be forgotten however that supremacy came ultimately to the Franks, who of all the Teutonic peoples seem to have been least affected by the spirit of the Heroic Age.
FOOTNOTES:
[496] We may compare such expressions as me þaet wyrd gewaef in the Anglo-Saxon Rhyming Poem (Cod. Exon.), v. 70.
[497] We may compare a passage from the poem on the battle of Maldon, which largely follows heroic poetry (cf. pp. 3, 97). In v. 216 ff. Aelfwine, one of Byrhtnoth's knights, boasts as follows: "I will make my lineage known to all, that I come of a great Mercian house. My grandfather, Ealhhelm by name, was a wise earl and blessed with worldly prosperity. Not against me shall knights bring public reproach, that I am willing to leave this army and make my way home, now that my prince lies slain in battle." Ealhhelm held office in the reign of Edmund I.
[498] iam uero infame in omnem uitam ac probrosum superstitem principi suo ex acie recessisse. illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriae eius assignare praecipuum sacramentum est. principes pro uictoria pugnant, comites pro principe.
[499] freoðoburh, lit. 'city of peace.' The expression probably springs from the sacred peace attaching to the king's dwelling, to which we find frequent allusions in the laws (Ine, § 6, Alfred, § 7, etc.).
[500] ealdne eþelstol. If this expression is to be interpreted in a local sense ('seat of authority') it is possible to read the idea of patriotism as a sentiment into it; but my impression is that the poet means no more than defence of home. A different interpretation of the passage is given by Prof. Heusler (S.-B. d. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1909, p. 926), according to whom it means "Verteidigung des eald eþelstol, des alten Erbthrones (nicht Stammsitzes)."
[501] For the translation of this fragment I am indebted to the kindness of Mr A. B. Cook.
[502] This analogy applies perhaps also to the objects aimed at in the two sets of records. Within certain limitations it may be said that the object of the heroic stories is to entertain and that of unheroic records to instruct. The latter remark holds good not only for historical works but also for tribal traditions and tribal law. It is likely that opportunity was taken to impart instruction of this type at festal gatherings. We may quote a passage from Praetorius' Deliciae Prussicae (ed. Pierson, p. 24) relating to a festal gathering of young people at a time when the Prussian Lithuanians had not yet been entirely converted. "Darauf haben sie sich um die Eiche und Stein niedergesetzt, der Weydulut aber uf den Stein das Fell gelegt, sich darauf gesetzet, einen Sermon gehalten von ihrem Herkommen und alten Gebräuchen, Glauben p. p., den Zemyna, den Perkuns und andere mehr genennet." There is abundant evidence for the existence of similar traditions among the Teutonic peoples from the earliest times—for which the reader may be referred to Dr Schütte's interesting book Oldsagn om Godtjod (especially pp. 118-197). But in heroic poetry, whether Teutonic or Greek, references to the early traditions of a nation are extremely rare and practically limited to the ancestors of the royal family, while 'law' is the will of the ruler. For Greek parallels we must turn to works of the Hesiodic school and the elegiac poets.
With regard to historical works we have to remember that all records dating from the Heroic Age are of foreign origin. But it is certainly to be noted that the interest of the stories given by Gregory of Tours and other writers of the sixth century—in so far as they relate to persons of Teutonic blood—is essentially personal, and similar to that which characterises the poems. This is the more noteworthy since these stories are related from a totally different point of view (cf. p. [338] f.).