a . Cynewulf

Selections from the Christ

[Critical edition: Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf, Boston, 1900. Text and translation: Gollancz, Cynewulf’s Christ, London, 1892. Translation: Kennedy, The Poems of Cynewulf, pp. 153, ff. The poem consists of three parts:

1. Advent, largely from the Roman breviary.

2. Ascension, taken from an Ascension sermon of Pope Gregory.

3. Second coming of Christ, taken from an alphabetical Latin hymn on the Last Judgment, quoted by Bede.

Is there enough unity to make us consider it one work? Cook thinks we can. The differences in the language and meter are not so striking as to make it unlikely. The great objection to it is that the runes occur at the end of the second part, which is not far from the middle of the entire poem. In the three other poems signed by Cynewulf the runes occur near the end.]

1. Hymn to Christ

. . . . . . . . . . . to the King.

Thou art the wall-stone that the workmen of old

Rejected from the work. Well it befits thee

To become the head of the kingly hall,

5 To join in one the giant walls

In thy fast embrace, the flint unbroken;

That through all the earth every eye may see

And marvel evermore, O mighty Prince,

Declare thy accomplishments through the craft of thy hand,

10 Truth-fast, triumphant, and untorn from its place

Leave wall against wall. For the work it is needful

That the Craftsman should come and the King himself

And raise that roof that lies ruined and decayed,

Fallen from its frame. He formed that body,

15 The Lord of life, and its limbs of clay,

And shall free from foemen the frightened in heart,

The downcast band, as he did full oft.

2. Hymn to Jerusalem

50 O vision of happiness! holy Jerusalem!

Fairest of king’s thrones! fortress of Christ!

The home-seat of angels, where the holy alone,

The souls of the righteous, shall find rest unceasing,

Exulting in triumph. No trace of sin

55 Shall be made manifest in that mansion of bliss,

But all faults shall flee afar from thee,

All crime and conflict; thou art covered with glory

Of highest hope, as thy holy name showest.

Cast now thy gaze on the glorious creation,

60 How around thee the roomy roof of heaven

Looks on all sides, how the Lord of Hosts

Seeks thee in his course and comes himself,

And adopts thee to dwell in, as in days agone

In words of wisdom the wise men said,

65 Proclaimed Christ’s birth as a comfort to thee,

Thou choicest of cities! Now the child has come,

Born to make worthless the work of the Hebrews.

He bringeth thee bliss; thy bonds he unlooseth;

He striveth for the stricken; understandeth their

needs,—

70 How woeful men must wait upon mercy.

1. This poem begins in the fragmentary manner indicated by the translation.

2. See Psalms 118:22.

3. Joseph and Mary

[Mary] “O my Joseph, O Jacob’s son,

165 Kinsman of David, the king renowned,

Dost thou plan to turn from thy plighted troth,

And leave my love?”

[Joseph] “Alas, full soon

I am oppressed with grief and deprived of honor.

I have borne for thee many bitter words,

170 Insulting slurs and sorrowful taunts,

Scathing abuses, and they scorn me now

In wrathful tones. My tears I shall pour

In sadness of soul. My sorrowful heart,

My grief full easily our God may heal,

175 And not leave me forlorn. Alas, young damsel,

Mary maiden!”

[Mary] “Why bemoanest thou

And bitterly weepest? No blame in thee,

Nor any fault have I ever found

For wicked works, and this word thou speakest

180 As if thou thyself with sinful deeds

And faults wert filled.”

[Joseph] “Far too much grief

Thy conception has caused me to suffer in shame.

How can I bear their bitter taunts

Or ever make answer to my angry foes

185 Who wish me woe? ’Tis widely known

That I took from the glorious temple of God

A beautiful virgin of virtue unblemished,

The chastest of maidens, but a change has now come,

Though I know not the cause. Nothing avails me—

190 To speak or to be silent. If I say the truth,

Then the daughter of David shall die for her crime,

Struck down with stones; yet still it were harder

To conceal the sin; forsworn forever

I should live my life loathed by all people,

195 By men reviled.” Then the maid revealed

The work of wonder, and these words she spoke:

“Truly I say, by the Son of the Creator

The Savior of souls, the Son of God,

I tell thee in truth that the time has not been

200 That the embrace of a mortal man I have known

On all the earth; but early in life

This grace was granted me, that Gabriel came,

The high angel of heaven, and hailed me in greeting,

In truthful speech: that the Spirit of heaven

With his light should illumine me, that life’s Glory by me

205 Should be borne, the bright Son, the blessed Child of God,

Of the kingly Creator. I am become now his temple,

Unspoiled and spotless; the Spirit of comfort

Hath his dwelling in me. Endure now no longer

Sorrow and sadness, and say eternal thanks

210 To the mighty Son of the Maker, that his mother I have become,

Though a maid I remain, and in men’s opinion

Thou art famed as his father, if fulfillment should come

Of the truth that the Prophets foretold of his coming.”

164. This passage is especially interesting in being one of the first appearances of the dialogue form in old English. Some scholars have gone so far as to think that we have here the germ from which English drama comes, but there does not seem reason to believe that the scene ever received any kind of dramatic representation.

4. Rune Passage

Not ever on earth need any man

780 Have dread of the darts of the devil’s race,

Of the fighting of the fiends, whose defense is in God,

The just Lord of Hosts. The judgment is nigh

When each without fail shall find his reward,

Of weal or of woe, for his work on the earth

785 During the time of his life. ’Tis told us in books,

How from on high the humble one came,

The Treasure-hoard of honor, to the earth below

In the Virgin’s womb, the valiant Son of God,

Holy from on high. I hope in truth

790 And also dread the doom far sterner,

When Christ and his angels shall come again,

Since I kept not closely the counsels my Savior

Bade in his books. I shall bear therefore

To see the work of sin (it shall certainly be)

795 When many shall be led to meet their doom,

To receive justice in the sight of their Judge.

Then the Courageous shall tremble, shall attend the King,

The Righteous Ruler, when his wrath he speaks

To the worldlings who weakly his warning have heeded

800 While their Yearning and Need even yet could have easily

Found a comfort. There, cowering in fear,

Many wearily shall wait on the wide plain

What doom shall be dealt them for the deeds of their life,

Of angry penalties. Departed hath Winsomeness,

805 The ornaments of earth. It Used to be true

That long our Life-joys were locked in the sea-streams,

Our Fortunes on earth; in the fire shall our treasure

Burn in the blast; brightly shall mount,

The red flame, raging and wrathfully striding

810 Over the wide world; wasted shall be the plains;

The castles shall crumble; then shall climb the swift fire,

The greediest of guests, grimly and ruthlessly

Eat the ancient treasure that of old men possessed

While still on the earth was their strength and their pride.

815 Hence I strive to instruct each steadfast man

That he be cautious in the care of his soul,

And not pour it forth in pride in that portion of days

That the Lord allows him to live in the world,

While the soul abideth safe in the body,

820 In that friendly home. It behooveth each man

To bethink him deeply in the days of his life

How meekly and mildly the mighty Lord

Came of old to us by an angel’s word;

Yet grim shall he be when again he cometh,

825 Harsh and righteous. Then the heavens shall rock,

And the measureless ends of the mighty earth

Shall tremble in terror. The triumphant King

Shall avenge their vain and vicious lives,

Their loathsome wickedness. Long shall they wallow

830 With heavy hearts in the heat of the fire bath,

Suffer for their sins in its surging flame.

779. The passage following contains the runes from which we obtain the name Cynewulf. The runes are at once a word and a letter, in the same way that our letter I is also the symbol for the first personal pronoun. In the places where the meaning fits, Cynewulf has written the runes that spell his name.

804. In this passage the runes omit the e of the poet’s name, although it is found in the other runic passages.

Selections from the Elene

[Critical edition: Holthausen, Kynewulf’s Elene, Heidelberg, 1905.

Translation: Kennedy, The Poems of Cynewulf, pp. 87 ff.; Kemble, The Poetry of the Codex Vercelliensis, with an English translation, London, 1856.

Source: Acta Sanctorum for May 4.

The first passage describes the vision of the cross by the Emperor Constantine, the second the finding of the true cross by his mother, Helena, in Old English, “Elene.”

The poem is usually regarded as Cynewulf’s masterpiece.]

1. The Vision of the Cross

. . . . . . . . Heart-care oppressed

The Roman ruler; of his realm he despaired;

He was lacking in fighters; too few were his warriors,

His close comrades to conquer in battle

65 Their eager enemy. The army encamped,

Earls about their ætheling, at the edge of the stream,

Where they spread their tents for the space of the

night,

After first they had found their foes approach.

To Cæsar himself in his sleep there came

70 A dream as he lay with his doughty men,

To the valiant king a vision appeared:

It seemed that he saw a soldier bright,

Glorious and gleaming in the guise of a man

More fair of form than before or after

75 He had seen under the skies. From his sleep he awoke,

Hastily donned his helmet. The herald straightway,

The resplendent messenger spoke unto him,

Named him by name —the night vanished away:

“O Constantine, the King of angels bids—

80 The Master Almighty, to make thee a compact,

The Lord of the faithful. No fear shouldst thou have,

Though foreign foes bring frightful war,

And horrors unheard of! To heaven now look,

To the Guardian of glory: Thou shalt gain there support,

85 The sign of victory!”

Soon was he ready

To obey the holy bidding, and unbound his heart,

And gazed on high, as the herald had bade him,

The princely Peace-weaver. With precious jewels adorned,

He saw the radiant rood over the roof of clouds,

90 Gorgeous with gold and gleaming gems.

The brilliant beam bore these letters

Shining with light: “Thou shalt with this sign

Overcome and conquer in thy crying need

The fearsome foe.” Then faded the light,

95 And joining the herald, journeyed on high

Unto the clean-hearted company. The king was the blither,

And suffered in his soul less sorrow and anguish,

The valiant victor, through the vision fair.

92. This is a translation of the famous Latin motto in hoc signo vinces.

2. The Discovery of the Cross

Striving in strength and with steadfast heart,

830 He began to delve for the glorious tree

Under its covering of turf, till at twenty feet

Below the surface concealed he found

Shut out from sight, under the shelving cliff,

In the chasm of darkness —three crosses he found,

In their gloomy grave together he found them,—

835 Grimy all over, as in ancient days

The unrighteous race had wrapped them in earth,

The sinful Jews. Against the Son of God

They showed their hate as they should not have done

Had they not harkened to the behests of the devil.

840 Then blithe was his heart and blissful within him.

His soul was inspired by the sacred tree.

His heart was emboldened when he beheld that beacon

Holy and deep hidden. With his hands he seized

The radiant cross of heaven, and with his host he raised it

845 From its grave in the earth. The guests from afar

And princes and æthelings went all to the town.

In her sight they set the three sacred trees,

The proud valiant men, plain to be seen

Before Elene’s knee. And now was joy

850 In the heart of the Queen; she inquired of the men

On which of the crosses the crucified Lord,

The heavenly Hope-giver, hung in pain:

“Lo! we have heard from the holy books

It told for a truth that two of them

855 Suffered with him and himself was the third

On the hallowed tree. The heavens were darkened

In that terrible time. Tell, if you can,

On which of these roods the Ruler of angels,

The Savior of men suffered his death.

860 In no wise could Judas —for he knew not at all—

Clearly reveal that victory tree

On which the Lord was lifted high,

The son of God, but they set, by his order,

In the very middle of the mighty city

865 The towering trees to tarry there,

Till the Almighty King should manifest clearly

Before the multitude the might of that marvelous rood.

The assembly sat, their song uplifted;

They mused in their minds on the mystery trees

870 Until the ninth hour when new delight grew

Through a marvelous deed. —There a multitude came,

Of folk not a little, and, lifted among them,

There was borne on a bier by brave-hearted men

Nigh to the spot —it was the ninth hour—

875 A lifeless youth. Then was lifted the heart

Of Judas in great rejoicing and gladness.

He commanded them to set the soulless man,

With life cut off, the corpse on the earth,

Bereft of life, and there was raised aloft

880 By the proclaimer of justice, the crafty of heart,

The trusty in counsel, two of the crosses

Over that house of death. It was dead as before

The body fast to the bier: about the chill limbs

Was grievous doom. Then began the third cross

885 To be lifted aloft. There lay the body,

Until above him was reared the rood of the Lord,

The holy cross of heaven’s King,

The sign of salvation. He soon arose

With spirit regained, and again were joined

890 Body and soul. Unbounded was the praise

And fair of the folk. The Father they thanked

And the true and sacred Son of the Almighty

With gracious words. —Glory and praise be his

Always without end from every creature.

829. After Constantine has accepted Christianity, his mother Helena (Elene) undertakes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the purpose of discovering the true cross. After many failures she finally learns where it is hidden. The passage here translated relates the discovery of the cross.