Waltharius754

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4th single combat: Walther slays the Saxon Ekivrid, after an exchange of insults (754–780)

Sed non dementem tria visa cadavera terrent  SSDDDS 
Guntharium: iubet ad mortem properare vicissim. 755  DDSDDS 
En a Saxonicis oris Ekivrid generatus  Saxonicis oris: Saxony in the early Middle Ages was the north-west area of present day Germany, today’s Niedersachsen.

 

 
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Quartus temptavit bellum, qui pro nece facta  SSSSDS 
Cuiusdam primatis eo diffugerat exul.  Primatis: here not necessarily a cleric, but a noble.

 

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False quantities: primatis
 
Quem spadix gestabat equus maculis variatus.  Aeineid 5.565-566.: quem Thracius albis/ portat equus bicolor maculis. ‘Him a Thracian horse bears, dappled with spots of white.’ 9.49-50.: maculis quem Thracius albis/ portat equus. ‘A Thracian steed, spotted with white, bears him.’ Georgics 3.81-82.: honesti/ spadices glaucique. ‘Good colors are bay and grey.’

 

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Hic ubi Waltharium promptum videt esse duello, 760  DDSDDS 
Dic', ait, 'an corpus vegetet tractabile temet  Prudentius, Apotheosis 956 f: aerium Manichaeus ait sine corpore vero/ pervolitasse Deum, mendax phantasma cavamque/ corporis effigiem, nil contrectabile habentem. ‘There moved about, says the Manichean, a phantasmal God without real body, a false appearance, an empty likeness of body, having nothing tangible.’ Aeineid 3.310-311.: verane te facies, verus mihi nuntius adfers,/ nate dea? vivisne? ‘Are you a real form, a real messenger, coming to me, goddess-born? Are you alive?’ 6.292-293.: ni docta comes tenuis sine corpore vitas/ admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae. . . ‘Unless his wise companion had warned him that these were but faint, bodiless lives, flitting under a hollow semblance of form. . .’ 6.700: ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum,/ ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,/ par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno. ‘Thrice there he strove to throw his arms about his neck; thrice the form, vainly clasped, fled from his hands, even as light winds, and most like a winged dream.’ 10.636-637.: tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram/ in faciem Aeneae. . .morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras/ qut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus. ‘Then the goddess from hollow mist fashions a thin, strengthless phantom in the likeness of Aeneas. . .like shapes that flit, it is said, after death, or like dreams that mock the slumbering senses.’ 12.889-890.: quae nunc deinde mora est? aut quid iam, Turne, retractas? ‘What more delay is there now? Why Turnus, do you still draw back?’

 

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Sive per aerias fallas, maledicte, figuras.  Prudentius, Apotheosis 956 f: aerium Manichaeus ait sine corpore vero/ pervolitasse Deum, mendax phantasma cavamque/ corporis effigiem, nil contrectabile habentem. ‘There moved about, says the Manichean, a phantasmal God without real body, a false appearance, an empty likeness of body, having nothing tangible.’ Aeineid 3.310-311.: verane te facies, verus mihi nuntius adfers,/ nate dea? vivisne? ‘Are you a real form, a real messenger, coming to me, goddess-born? Are you alive?’ 6.292-293.: ni docta comes tenuis sine corpore vitas/ admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae. . . ‘Unless his wise companion had warned him that these were but faint, bodiless lives, flitting under a hollow semblance of form. . .’ 6.700: ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum,/ ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,/ par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno. ‘Thrice there he strove to throw his arms about his neck; thrice the form, vainly clasped, fled from his hands, even as light winds, and most like a winged dream.’ 10.636-637.: tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram/ in faciem Aeneae. . .morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras/ qut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus. ‘Then the goddess from hollow mist fashions a thin, strengthless phantom in the likeness of Aeneas. . .like shapes that flit, it is said, after death, or like dreams that mock the slumbering senses.’ 12.889-890.: quae nunc deinde mora est? aut quid iam, Turne, retractas? ‘What more delay is there now? Why Turnus, do you still draw back?’


Prudentius, Psychomachia 712: aerius et de phantasmate visus. ‘He is unsubstantial, a mere apparition.’  

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Saltibus assuetus faunus mihi quippe videris.'  Faunus: Ekivrid insults Waltharius by asking whether he is not just a ghostly, Silenus-like “wood-goblin.”

 

 Aeineid 5.301: adsueti silvis. . . ‘Inured to the forests. . .’

 

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Illeque sublato dedit haec responsa cachinno:  DSDSDS 
Celtica lingua probat te ex illa gente creatum, 765  Celtica lingua: Since Ekivrid is a Saxon German, this must mean simply a “barbaric foreign accent.” The poet is probably referring to the effects of the consonant shift that separated High German from Low German, the latter being spoken in the Saxon region.

 

 
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Elision: te ex
 
Cui natura dedit reliquas ludendo praeire.  SDDSDS
False quantities: praeire
 
At si te propius venientem dextera nostra  SDDSDS 
Attingat, post Saxonibus memorare valebis,  
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Te nunc in Vosago fauni fantasma videre.'  
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Attemptabo quidem, quid sis', Ekivrid ait, ac mox 770  SDSDDS 
Ferratam cornum graviter iacit. illa retorto  Ferratam cornum: i.e., a spear made of cornel wood

 

 Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.323-324.: ferrataque collo/ fraxinus. . .adacta est. ‘The iron-tipped ash was driven through his neck.’


Prudentius, Psychomachia 324-325.: stridula lancea torto/ emicat amento. ‘The lash-thrown lance shoots forth hissing.’  

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Emicat amento: quam durus fregerat umbo.  Amento: a strap used to fling the spear with greater force

 

 Prudentius, Psychomachia 324-325.: stridula lancea torto/ emicat amento. ‘The lash-thrown lance shoots forth hissing.’

 

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Waltharius contra respondit cuspide missa:  DSSSDS 
Haec tibi silvanus transponit munera faunus.  Aeineid 10.881-882.: ‘haec tibi porto/ dona prius.’ dixit, telumque intorsit in hostem. ‘ “First I bring you these gifts.” He spoke, and hurled a javelin at his foe.’

 

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Aspice, num mage sit telum penetrabile nostrum.' 775  Aeineid 10.481-482.: ‘aspice num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum.’/ dixerat; at clipeum. . .quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri,/ vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu/ loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens. ‘ “See whether my weapon is not sharper!” He had spoken; and with quivering stroke the point tears through the center of the shield, with all the bull hide’s overlaying folds; then pierces the corslet’s barrier and the mighty breast.’ 10.784-785.: per linea terga tribusque/ transiit intextum tauris opus, imaque sedit/ inguine. ‘Through the inwoven work of triple bull hides it sped, and lodged low in the groin.’

 

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Lancea taurino contextum tergore lignum  Aeineid 10.481-482.: ‘aspice num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum.’/ dixerat; at clipeum. . .quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri,/ vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu/ loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens. ‘ “See whether my weapon is not sharper!” He had spoken; and with quivering stroke the point tears through the center of the shield, with all the bull hide’s overlaying folds; then pierces the corslet’s barrier and the mighty breast.’ 10.784-785.: per linea terga tribusque/ transiit intextum tauris opus, imaque sedit/ inguine. ‘Through the inwoven work of triple bull hides it sped, and lodged low in the groin.’

 

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Diffidit ac tunicam scindens pulmone resedit.  DDSSDS 
Volvitur infelix Ekivrid rivumque cruoris  Aeineid 9.414: volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen. ‘Spouting a warm torrent from his breast he rolls over.’ 9.433-434.: volvitur Euryalus leto. ‘Euryalus rolls over in death.’ 10.781: sternitur infelix. ‘He falls, unlucky man.’ 11.668: sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit. ‘Coughing streams of blood, he falls.’

 

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Evomit: en mortem fugiens incurrit eandem.  Aeineid 9.414: volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen. ‘Spouting a warm torrent from his breast he rolls over.’ 9.433-434.: volvitur Euryalus leto. ‘Euryalus rolls over in death.’ 10.781: sternitur infelix. ‘He falls, unlucky man.’ 11.668: sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit. ‘Coughing streams of blood, he falls.’

 

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Cuius equum iuvenis post tergum in gramen abegit. 780  DDSSDS
Elision: tergum in
 

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