wáere-ryhtum Þú, wine mín Béowulf,
and for ár-stafum úsic sóhtest.
This means: From the obligations of clientage, my friend Beowulf, and for assistance thou hast sought us.—This gives coherence to Hrothgar’s opening remarks in VIII., and also introduces a new motive for Beowulf’s coming to Hrothgar’s aid.
[2] Sit now at the feast, and disclose thy purposes to the victorious heroes, as thy spirit urges.—Kl. reaches the above translation by erasing the comma after ‘meoto’ and reading ‘sige-hrèðsecgum.’—There are other and bolder emendations and suggestions. Of these the boldest is to regard ‘meoto’ as a verb (imperative), and read ‘on sæl’: Think upon gayety, etc.—All the renderings are unsatisfactory, the one given in our translation involving a zeugma.
[IX.]
UNFERTH TAUNTS BEOWULF.
Unferth spoke up, Ecglaf his son,
Who sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings,
Opened the jousting (the journey[1] of Beowulf,
Sea-farer doughty, gave sorrow to Unferth
And greatest chagrin, too, for granted he never