Waltharius846English

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Hagen sees his nephew Patavrid going off to fight Walther and laments the evil wreaked on mankind by greed (846–877)

The sixth was Batavrid, whom Hagen’s sister brought
Into the world; but when he saw the boy step forward,
His uncle tried to change his mind with shouts and pleas:
“Where are you rushing to?” he called out. “Look at Death,
How it is grinning! Stop! The Fates are drawing out 850
Your final threads. Your mind deceives you, darling nephew!
Desist! You are in fact no match for Walter’s strength.”
And still the luckless boy, advancing, spurned all this,
For in his veins he burned and longed to capture fame.
And Hagen mournfully drew long sighs from his breast 855
And poured out these complaints from deep within his heart:
“O whirlpool of the world, voracious lust of having!
Abyss of avarice, the root of every evil!
O dreadful one, if you would gulp down only gold
And other riches, letting men escape unharmed! 860
You kindle men, inspiring them with evil power;
And now for no one is his own enough. Behold!
For profit’s sake undaunted they risk shameful death;
The more they have, the more the thirst for having burns.
They take another’s goods by force now, now by theft; 865
And what provokes more sighs again and summons tears,
They thrust god-given souls into Erebus’ furnace.
I am not able to recall my darling nephew;
For he is prodded on by you, O savage greed,
And blindly rushes on to taste repulsive death, 870
And for cheap praise he would descend among the shades.
What message for your mother, ah, my dear lost nephew?
Dear boy, who’ll love your newly wedded bride, whom you,
Bereft of hope, gave not the pleasure of a child?
What is this rage of yours? Whence has this madness come?” 875
He spoke, and sprinkled welling tears upon his lap,
And sobbing choked out a prolonged “Farewell, fair boy.”

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Note: this English text is identical to that found in Waltharius and Ruodlieb, edited and translated by Dennis M. Kratz. The Garland library of medieval literature, Series A, vol. 14. New York: Garland Pub., 1984.