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Walther challenges Hagen; he severs Gunther’s leg, but Hagen again saves the king’s life (1346–1375)

Interea herois coepit subrepere menti  Liber Deuteronomii 15.9: cave ne forte subripiat tibi impia cogitatio. ‘Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee.’

 

 DSSSDS
Elision: interea herois
 
Quiddam, qui tacito premit has sub corde loquelas:  Aeineid 4.332: curam sub corde premebat. ‘He smothered the pain deep within his heart.’ Statius, Thebaid 9.824: pressum tacito sub corde dolorem. . . ‘The grief that lay hidden in his silent breast. . .’

 

 SDDSDS 
Si Fortuna viam non commutaverit, isti  SDSSDS 
Vana fatigatum memet per ludicra fallent.'  DSSSDS 
Ilico et elata Haganoni voce profatur: 1350  DSDSDS
Elision: ilico et
Hiatus: elata Haganoni
 
O paliure, vires foliis, ut pungere possis;  Paliure: a play on Hagen’s name. Hagedorn is German for “hawthorn.” Cf. line 1421.
Ut pungere possis: i.e., and that is all.

 

 Aeineid 6.373: O Palinurus.

 

 DDDSDS    O paliure, vires foliis, ut pungere possis Crosslingual mocking of the thorny Hagen – see also the Faunus puns on Walther (Wald-Herr, i.e. lord of the woods) v769. Althof explains: Hagano a diminutive of two-parted names such as Hagimund, Hagibold, Haginold – the first part of these names could derive from different roots 1. OHG (i.e. Old High German) ‘Hag’ (modern German: Gehege, i.e. fenced domicile); 2. OHG ‘aki’ (fear, horror); 3. OHG ‘ekka’ (sword) – the adjective ‘haguna’ means nebulous or ghost-like. (Althof 1905 vol2 pp21-2) The author of the Waltharius puns on the first meaning of hedge (still in modern German Hagebutte, i.e. dog rose, rosa canina). Grimm dictionary gives as Latin equivalent of ‘hagen’ paliurus and ligna spinosa. The two exactly match the punning terms here. Moreover, ‘Hagedorn’ serves in Middle High German as mocking nickname, and even as name of one devil. Grimm Hagen and Hagedorn Morgan draws a line to a common practice in medieval letter writing : “When Alcuin writes to one of his most frequent correspondents, Bishop Arno, he can hardly forget that arno means ‘eagle’. Letter after letter is addressed to Aquila, and the joke becomes more and more complex. He calls the Bishop venerandus volucris – ‘venerable bird’, or again sublime volans – ‘ flying on high’ ; he brings in his own nickname, Cuculus, and whole paragraphs dissolve into a welter of bird-imagery, with eagles, cuckoos, swans, and larks, circling over the page.”(Morgan1986 p172)  
Tu saltando iocans astu me ludere temptas.  Astu: not, as Wieland oddly has it, “foolishness,” but rather “cunning” – Waltharius claims that there is a method to Hagen’s “play.”

 

 SDSSDS 
Sed iam faxo locum, propius ne accedere tardes:  SDDSDS
Elision: ne accedere
 
Ecce tuas -- scio, praegrandes -- ostendito vires!  Scio equiv. to quas novi

 

 DDSSDS 
Me piget incassum tantos sufferre labores.' 1355  Aeineid 7.421: Turne, tot incassum fusos patiere labores? ‘Turnus, will you endure all these labours spend in vain?’

 

 DSSSDS 
Dixit et exiliens contum contorsit in ipsum,  Ipsum: Hagen

 

 Aeneid 12.266: dixit, et adversos telum contorsit in hostis. ‘He spoke, and hurled his spear full against the foe.’

 

 DDSSDS 
Qui pergens onerat clipeum dirimitque aliquantum  Aeneid 10.476-477.: illa volans umeri surgunt qua tegmina summa/ incidit, atque viam clipei molita per oras/ tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni. ‘On flies the shaft and strikes where the top of the mail rises to guard the shoulder; then, forcing a way through the shield’s rim, at last even grazed the mighty frame of Turnus.’

 

 SDDDDS
Elision: dirimitque aliquantum
 
Loricae ac magno modicum de corpore stringit;  SSDSDS
Elision: loricae ac
 
Denique praecipuis praecinctus fulserat armis.  Fulserat: perhaps a true pluperfect (pace Beck), describing Hagen before the blow, in order to explain how it does him so little damage.

 

 Prudentius, Psychomachia 454: gremio praecincta capaci. . . ‘Her robe arranged to make a capacious fold in front. . .’ Aeneid 11.769: insignis longe Phrygiis fulgebat in armis. ‘He glittered resplendent from farr off in his Phrygian armour.’

 

 DDSSDS 
At vir Waltharius missa cum cuspide currens 1360  SDSSDS 
Evaginato regem importunior ense  Aeneid 10.474-475.: emittit viribus hastam/ vaginaque cava fulgentem deripit ensem. ‘She hurls his spear with all his strength and plucks his flashing sword from its hollow scabbard.’ Liber Regum I 31.4: evagina gladium tuum. ‘Draw thy sword.’

 

 SSSSDS
Elision: regem importunior
 
Petit et scuto dextra de parte revulso  DSSSDS 
Ictum praevalidum ac mirandum fecit eique  SDSSDS
Elision: praevalidum ac
 
Crus cum poplite adusque femur decerpserat omne.  SDDSDS
Elision: poplite adusque
 
 Crus cum poplite adusque femur decerpserat omne Literal repetition of verse 625, i.e. Hagen’s dream vision. It seems to suggest that the dream vision found its realization in life. 
Ille super parmam ante pedes mox concidit huius. 1365  Pedes…huis: i.e., of Waltharius

 

 DSDSDS
Elision: parmam ante
 
Palluit exanguis domino recidente satelles.  Satelles: Hagen

 

 DSDDDS 
Alpharides spatam tollens iterato cruentam  Spatam equiv. to ensem
Iterato equiv. to iterum

 

 DSSDDS 
Ardebat lapso postremum infligere vulnus.  SSSSDS
Elision: postremum infligere
 
Immemor at proprii Hagano vir forte doloris  DDDSDS
Hiatus: proprii Hagano
 
Aeratum caput inclinans obiecit ad ictum. 1370  Aeratum: i.e., wearing a helmet

 

 SDSSDS 
Extensam cohibere manum non quiverat heros,  Prudentius, Psychomachia 137-138.: vertitur ad capulum manus inproba et ense corusco/ conisa in plagam dextra sublimis ab aure/ erigitur mediumque ferit librata cerebrum./ aerea sed cocto cassis formata metallo/ tinnitum percussa refert aciemque retundit/ dura resultantem, frangit quoque vena rebellis/ inlisum chalybem, dum cedere nescia cassos/ excipit adsultus ferienti et tuta resistit./ 'Ira, ubi truncati mucronis fragmina vidit/ et procul in partes ensem crepuisse minutas,/ iam capulum retinente manu sine pondere ferri,/ mentis inops ebur infelix decorisque pudendi/ perfida signa abicit monumentaque tristia longe/ spernit, et ad proprium succenditur effera letum. ‘She turns her ruthless hand to her sword-hilt, and, putting all its strength into a blow with the flashing blade, it rises high above her right ear and then, launching its stroke, smites her foe’s head in the very middle. But the helmet of forged bronze only resounds under the blow; the blade rebounds with blunted edge, so hard it is; the unyielding metal breaks the steel that smites it, unflinchingly receives the vain attack, and stands up to the striker without hurt. Seeing her blade shivered in pieces and how the sword has scattered away in rattling fragments while her hand still grasps the hilt after it has lost its weight of steel, Wrath is beside herself and casts away the luckless ivory that has been false to her, the token of honour turned to shame. Afar she flings that unwelcome reminder, and wild passion fires her to slay herself.’ Aeneid 12.740-741.: mucro glacies ceu futtilis ictu/ dissiluit, fulva resplendent fragmina harena. ‘The blade, like brittle ice, flew asunder at the stroke; the fragments glitter on the yellow sand.’

 

 SDDSDS 
Sed cassis fabrefacta diu meliusque peracta  Fabrefacta equiv. to a fabro facta

 

 Prudentius, Psychomachia 137-138.: vertitur ad capulum manus inproba et ense corusco/ conisa in plagam dextra sublimis ab aure/ erigitur mediumque ferit librata cerebrum./ aerea sed cocto cassis formata metallo/ tinnitum percussa refert aciemque retundit/ dura resultantem, frangit quoque vena rebellis/ inlisum chalybem, dum cedere nescia cassos/ excipit adsultus ferienti et tuta resistit./ 'Ira, ubi truncati mucronis fragmina vidit/ et procul in partes ensem crepuisse minutas,/ iam capulum retinente manu sine pondere ferri,/ mentis inops ebur infelix decorisque pudendi/ perfida signa abicit monumentaque tristia longe/ spernit, et ad proprium succenditur effera letum. ‘She turns her ruthless hand to her sword-hilt, and, putting all its strength into a blow with the flashing blade, it rises high above her right ear and then, launching its stroke, smites her foe’s head in the very middle. But the helmet of forged bronze only resounds under the blow; the blade rebounds with blunted edge, so hard it is; the unyielding metal breaks the steel that smites it, unflinchingly receives the vain attack, and stands up to the striker without hurt. Seeing her blade shivered in pieces and how the sword has scattered away in rattling fragments while her hand still grasps the hilt after it has lost its weight of steel, Wrath is beside herself and casts away the luckless ivory that has been false to her, the token of honour turned to shame. Afar she flings that unwelcome reminder, and wild passion fires her to slay herself.’ Aeneid 12.740-741.: mucro glacies ceu futtilis ictu/ dissiluit, fulva resplendent fragmina harena. ‘The blade, like brittle ice, flew asunder at the stroke; the fragments glitter on the yellow sand.’

 

    SDDDDS 
Excipit assultum mox et scintillat in altum.  DSSSDS 
Cuius duritia stupefactus dissilit ensis,  Stupefactus…ensis: personification

 

 SDDSDS 
Proh dolor! et crepitans partim micat aere et herbis. 1375  Partim micat aere et herbis: i.e., the sword shatters; the pieces fly in different directions.

 

 DDSDDS
Hiatus: NOT H-HIATUS aere et
 

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