[132]. hade, a past among the presents, is probably a mistake for habe subj. pres. of indefinite comparison, Howsoever many vices he has on him, just so many fiends he there encounters: fele has dropped out after swa 133.
[135]. In Specimens [habbeþ] is inserted after hi, with the translation, ‘and they shall have for their reward the home that long shall last.’ The text given means, they shall be thrust from his sight and into their reward which must last long for them. For hin = in, comp. 13/23, and for abroden into, 13/27. But the original may have had, ⁊ higien him to hire lēan þe lange sceal gelǣstan.
[136]. a þa mucele deie: comp. ‘on þam miclan dæge,’ Christ 1049, and often; ‘in iudicium magni diei,’ S. Jude, 6. See Deering, W., The Anglo-Saxon Poets on the Judgment Day, 8.
[138]. niȝen anglene had: ‘Novem esse distinctiones, vel ordines angelorum sacrae scripturae testantur: id est, Angelos, Archangelos, Thronos, Dominationes, Virtutes, Principatus, Potestates, Cherubim et Seraphim,’ Isidore, vi. 137.
[141]. þer midenarde . . . werpeð abec. The article is s. d. fem., the noun s. d. masc. The phrase might mean, with all those who for his love turn backwards to the world, but not, ‘put aside the world,’ Morris. It seems to be without parallel: such expressions as, ‘projecerunt legem tuam post terga sua,’ ii Esdras ix. 26, suggest the acc. þes midenard here.
[142]-146. The ultimate source is Ephraem Syrus, ‘Quomodo sustinebimus, Fratres, quum videbimus igneum fluvium . . . comburentem omnem terram et quae in ea sunt opera? Tunc, dilecti, ab illo igne flumina deficient et fontes evanescent, stellae cadent, sol extinguetur, luna abibit, coelum plicabitur ut volumen, sicut scriptum est . . . Quomodo sustinebimus tunc, Christo dilecti, quum videbimus terribilem thronum praeparatum et signum crucis apparens, in quo affixus est Christus voluntarie pro nobis,’ ed. Lamy, ii. 192. Comp. with the present passage BH 91.
[144]. With aþestreð comp. 123/230.
[145]. to gað, should ordinarily mean, parts in sunder, but in view of plicabitur in the quotation above (‘et complicabuntur sicut liber caeli,’ Isaiah xxxiv. 4), it may mean here, is rolled up. Comp. ‘& on þæm dæge heofon biþ befealden swa swa boc,’ BH 91/25. si hali rode tacne usually means, the sign of the cross, 130/65; BH 237/21; AR 106/9; here and OEH i. 121/9 it is the cross itself as a sign. Comp. ‘et tunc parebit signum Filii hominis in caelo,’ S. Matt. xxiv. 30, ‘and seo hea ród | Ryht aræred rices to beacne,’ Christ 1063. See also Deering, 42.
[147]. cwaciað: comp. 34/94; ‘oðe dom of Domesdai, þer þe engles schulen cwakien,’ AR 116/19. senfulle: comp. ‘þer þe crysmechild for sunnes sore schal drede,’ OEM 90/11. The passage bears considerable resemblance to ‘hinc erunt accusantia peccata, inde terrens justitia: subtus patens horridum chaos inferni, desuper iratus judex: intus urens conscientia, foris ardens mundus. Justus vix salvabitur; peccator sic deprehensus in quam partem se premet?’ S. Anselmi Op. 208.
[148]. bechece is translated in Specimens, ‘gainsay’ and connected with cigan, which is difficult both as to form and sense: probably it is written for beceche, deceive. beswice, get the better of.