39-40. The sentiment contained in these lines is fully borne out in the foregoing poem, Mitt döda barn, a touching expression of intense parental affection.
43-46. Though never suffering actual want, the poet for several years after his marriage in 1847 made a very meager living as a journalist, and the lines may be more poetic than true. "During these years his bread was not infrequently more than scarce, and want was often on the point of crossing his threshold," says J.A. RUNSTRÖM.
53-56. The poet faintly alludes to an attack of blindness in his youth which left traces for life.
VIKTOR RYDBERG.
DEXIPPOS.
The poem bears as its title the name of a Grecian historian, who flourished at the time of the invasion of the Goths, one episode of which is here described, the poet dating the event 267 A.D.
1. Pallas' stad, i.e. Athens, whose tutelary goddess was Pallas Athene.
8. örnar, the eagle-shaped figures used as standards in the Roman army. That emblem of imperialism had been the ensign of the kings of Babylon and of the Ptolemies. The Romans adopted it in conjunction with other devices, but Marius made it the ensign of the legion, and confined the other devices to the cohorts. It has remained to this day the preëminent sign of power in coats of arms, whether of monarchies, empires or republics. See U.S. seal and ensigns.
järn, here, the swords and lances of the legions.
24. The Corybant priests of the goddess Cybele in Phrygia, Asia Minor, worshiped by means of boisterous music and frantic dances.