VIII.

Hunferth spake, Ecglaf’s son, who at {the} feet sat of {the} Scyldings’ lord; unbound {a} hostile speech. To him was {the} voyage of Beowulf, {the} bold sea-farer, {a} great displeasure; because he grudged 1010 that any other man ever more glories of mid-earth held under heaven than himself: ‘Art thou the Beowulf who with Breca strove on {the} wide sea, in {a} swimming strife, where ye from pride 1020 tempted {the} fords, and for foolish vaunt in {the} deep water ventured {your} lives? Nor you any man, nor friend nor foe, might blame {for your} sorrowful voyage, when on {the} sea ye row’d, when ye {the} ocean-stream, 1030 with {your} arms deck’d, measur’d {the} sea-ways, with {your} hands vibrated {them}, glided o’er {the} main; ocean boil’d with waves, with winter’s fury: ye on {the} water’s domain, {for} seven nights toil’d. He thee in swimming overcame, {he} had more strength, 1040 when him at morning tide, on to Heatho-ræmes {the} sea bore up; whence he sought {his} dear country, {the} beloved of his people, {the} Brondings’ land, {his} fair, peaceful burgh, where he {a} people own’d, {a} burgh and rings. 1050 All {his} promise to thee Beanstan’s son truly fulfil’d.

_Criticism of the Translation._

This being a strictly literal translation, the reader is referred to the sections on the text for a valuation and criticism. It is a question whether there was need for another literal rendering in England at this time. Kemble’s translation was not yet out of date, and with Thorpe’s new glossary the student had a sufficient apparatus for the interpretation of the poem.

Some German scholars have discovered that the short lines in which Thorpe’s translation is couched are imitative of the Old English measure. I am unable to agree with them. Probably any short-line translation would _ipso facto_ assume a choppiness not dissimilar to the Old English, and probably plenty of lines could be discovered which correspond well enough to the ‘five types,’ but the agreement seems purely fortuitous. It is quite unlikely that Thorpe intended any imitation.

_Influence of Thorpe’s Edition._

The influence of this edition has been considerable. It was the principal authority used by Grein[4] and Heyne[5] in constructing their texts. Thus its influence was felt in all texts down to the publication of the Zupitza _Autotypes_ (1882). Thomas Arnold[6] copied the text almost word for word.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 33.] [[Kemble]]

[Footnote 2: The numbers in parentheses are those of Wyatt’s text.]

[Footnote 3: Line 3995 in Kemble; 4004 in Thorpe.]

[Footnote 4: See infra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

[Footnote 5: See infra, p. 63.] [[Heyne]]

[Footnote 6: See infra, p. 71.] [[Arnold]]

GREIN’S TRANSLATIONS

Dichtungen der Angelsachsen, stabreimend übersetzt von C. W. M. Grein. Erster Band. Göttingen: Georg H. Wigand, 1857. 8vo, Beowulf, pp. 223-308. Zweite (Titel-) Auflage, 1863.

Beowulf. Stabreimend übersetzt von Professor Dr. C. W. M. Grein. Zweite Auflage. Kassel: Georg H. Wigand, 1883. 8vo, pp. 90.

Second German Translation. Imitative Measures.

_Grein’s Preparation for Scholarly Work._

Christian Wilhelm Michael Grein[1] (1825-77) was eminently well fitted for the editing and translating of Old English poetry. He possessed a natural aptitude for the study of Germanic Philology, and had the advantage of studying with an excellent professor, Franz Eduard Christoph Dietrich (1810-83), in the University at Marburg. As early as 1854 he began his labors as a translator of Old English poetry with a version of the _Phoenix_, ‘Der Vogel Phoenix: ein angelsächsisches Gedicht, stabreimend übersetzt,’ Rinteln, 1854. In the same year he printed a translation of the _Heliand_.

In 1855 he assumed the position of Praktikant at the Kassel Landesbibliothek. Here he was able to devote a large part of his attention to the study of Old English, acquiring a familiarity with the poetry of that tongue which it has seldom been the fortune of a scholar to surpass. He formed the design of editing and translating the entire body of Old English poetry and appending to it a complete glossary which should not only give the meanings of the words, but instance every occurrence of the word. This design he carried out between the years 1857 and 1864.

_Grein’s Texts._

The text of _Beowulf_ is found in Grein’s _Bibliothek der angelsächsichen Poesie_, Erster Band, Göttingen, 1857, where it occupies pp. 255-341. A second edition, several times re-edited, is _Beovulf, nebst den Fragmenten Finnsburg und Waldere_, Kassel und Göttingen, 1867.

Grein never saw the MS. of the poem[2]. He based his text on a collation of all the preceding editions. This was unfortunate, because, had Grein seen the MS., he would doubtless have hastened to make a correct transcription of it. As it was, his edition necessarily shares some of the faults of its predecessors, since the text had never yet been accurately transcribed. A simple illustration of this defect may be seen by examining line 2218 of the text, where Grein reads,

_be fire, fyrena hyrde_,

following Thorpe[3]. As has been pointed out, this is an impossible reading, and one for which there is no justification in the MS. Thorpe, however, had presented it as the MS. reading, and Grein could not but copy it.

Like Kemble, Grein had a supreme respect for the readings of the MS., and he announced his intention of following this reading wherever possible:--

‘Bei der Behandlung des Textes galt als erste Pflicht, handschriftliche Lesarten, wo es nur immer möglich war, zu retten und namentlich auch manche angezweifelte, den Lexicis fremde Wörter als wolbegründet nachzuweisen: nur da, wo Verderbniss auf der Hand liegt, habe ich mir mit der grössten Vorsicht Aenderungen erlaubt oder bereits von Andern vorgeschlagene Aenderungen aufgenommen, wobei ich mich möglichst eng an das handschriftlich gebotene anzuschliessen suchte.’ --Vorwort, iv. (_Bibl._).

This was wise. Since the days of Kemble, emendation had become unnecessarily frequent. We have seen in what a light-hearted way Thorpe spoke of the ‘blunders of the scribes,’ and how careless he was in the preparation of his text. The dialect had not yet received proper attention, and the copyists were blamed for errors that they never made.

Grein was extremely clever in filling the lacunae of the MS., and his conjectural emendations are frequently retained by later editors.

Still another improvement which he introduced was the full punctuation of the text; this was superior to any that had preceded it. In previous editions defective punctuation had obscured the sense of the lines; here it was made a factor in their interpretation.

_Theory of Translation._

Grein’s theory of translation is sufficiently expressed in the Vorrede to the _Dichtungen_:--

‘Die Sammlung von metrischen Uebersetzungen angelsächsischer Dichtungen, deren erster Band hiermit der Oeffentlichkeit übergeben wird, soll einen doppelten Zweck erfüllen. Einerseits betrachte ich dieselben als eine wesentliche Ergänzung, gleichsam als fortlaufenden Commentar zu meiner gleichzeitig in demselben Verlag erscheinenden Textausgabe der angelsächsischen Dichter, indem sie meine Interpretation der Originaltexte, worin ich oft von meinen Vorgängern abweiche, einfach vor Augen legen. Andrerseits aber bezweckte ich dadurch die Bekanntschaft mit den in vieler Beziehung so herrlichen dichterischen Erzeugnissen des uns engverwandten englischen Volkes aus der Zeit vor dem gewaltsamen Eindringen des romanischen Elements durch die normannische Eroberung auch in weiteren Kreisen anzubahnen, was sie sowol nach ihrem Inhalte als auch nach der poetischen Behandlung des Stoffes gewiss in hohem Grade verdienen. Daher war ich eifrigst bemüht, die Uebersetzung dem Original in möglichster Treue nach Inhalt, Ausdruck und Form eng anzuschliessen: namentlich suchte ich, soweit es immer bei dem heutigen Stande unserer Sprache thunlich war, auch den Rhythmus des Originals nachzubilden, wobei es vor allem auf die Beibehaltung der eigentümlichen Stellung der Stabreime ankam, ein Punkt, der bei der Uebertragung alter Alliterationspoesien nur zu oft vernachlässigt wird.’ --Vorrede, iii.

_Differences between the two Editions._

The second edition of the translation (see supra, p. 65) was edited from Grein’s ‘Handexemplar’ of the _Dichtungen_ after his death by Professor Wülker, who has also re-edited the text of the _Bibliothek_. The differences are seldom more than verbal, and are largely in the early parts of the poem. The second edition is, of course, superior.

EXTRACT.