ll. 1199-1215. From the obscure hints in the passage, a part of the poem may be approximately dated,—if Hygelâc is the Chochi-laicus of Gregory of Tours, Hist. Francorum, iii. 3,—about A.D. 512-20.
l. 1200. The Breosinga men (Icel. Brisinga men) is the necklace of the goddess Freya; cf. Elder Edda, Hamarshemt. Hâma stole the necklace from the Gothic King Eormenrîc; cf. Traveller's Song, ll. 8, 18, 88, 111. The comparison of the two necklaces leads the poet to anticipate Hygelâc's history,—a suggestion of the poem's mosaic construction.
l. 1200. For Brôsinga mene, cf. B., Beit. xii. 72. C. suggests fleáh, = fled, for fealh, placing semicolon after byrig, and making hê subject of fleáh and geceás.
l. 1202. B. conjectures geceás êcne ræd to mean he became a pious man and at death went to heaven. Heime (Hâma) in the Thidrekssaga goes into a cloister = to choose the better part (?). Cf. H.-So., p. 98. But cf. Hrôðgâr's language to Beowulf, [ll. 1760], [1761].
l. 1211. S. proposes feoh, = property, for feorh, which would be a parallel for breóst-gewædu ... beáh below.
l. 1213. E. remarks that in the Laws of Cnut, i. 26, the devil is called se wôdfreca werewulf, the ravening werwolf.
l. 1215. C. proposes heals-bêge onfêng. Beit. viii. 570. For hreâ- Kl. suggests hræ-.
l. 1227. The son referred to is, according to Ettmüller, the one that reigns after Hrôðgâr.
l. 1229. Kl. suggests sî, = be, for is.
l. 1232. S. gives wine-elated as the meaning of druncne.—Beit. ix. 139; Kl. ibid. 189, 194. But cf. Judith, ll. 67, 107.