Juliana completed

Hello all,

It only took eleven months, but Juliana is now complete in first draft. The final section, what I'm calling the epilogue is posted below. For the rest of section six, please go to the full Juliana translation from the sidebar.

Following Kennedy and Bradley, Cynewulf's runic signature is translated into likely words and are given in italics. The lines are purposely different from those of the rest of the narrative, broken up into short bursts of thought. I like how this pattern of lineation feels so far, so I think I'll keep it.


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Epilogue

There is a great need for me
for that holy woman to effect me help,
when the dearest of all shall be parted
from me, the two brothers united shall
be torn apart, their great heart-love.
My soul shall part from my body
upon a journey—I myself do not know where—
in ignorance of its destination.
From this place I shall seek another,
journeying according to my former works
and my olden deeds. (695b-703a)

Mournful will mankind depart.
The king will be stern, the Giver of Victories,
when, flecked by sins, the sheep,
terrified, await what, according to their deeds
He will adjudge them, as a reward of life.
The watery floods will tremble,
lowering themselves sorrowfully.* (703b-09a)

I remember all that pain,
wounded by the sins that I late and early
have wrought in this world,
what I must lament with mournful tears.
There was one time too late,
so that I was ashamed afore of my evil deeds,
while ghost and body together fared
uninjured upon the earth.
I will have need of mercies then,
that the holy woman intercede
with that highest of kings.
(709b-717a)

A great heart’s sorrow reminds me
of this need. I pray that every man
of human kindred who recites this song,
earnest and mindful,
will remember me by my own name,
and pray to the Lord, the Helm of the Heavens,
Wielder of Powers, will provide me help,
on that greatest of days, the Father,
the Spirit of Comfort, on that awful day,
the Deemer of Deeds, and his dear Son,
when their Threeness sitting in majesty
as a singularity, the kindred of mankind
through that glorious creation decrees by his works
the reward of every man. Forgive us, Great God
so that we find your aspect, Joy of Nobles,
merciful on that famous day—
Amen.
(717b-31)

Juliana VI underway

I'm about a hundred lines from the end of Juliana, and I can't express how happy that makes me. Although I am generally happy with the results, this poem has been with me for far too long. The summer was a pretty wretched stretch of bad translating, which I do not care to revisit.

I'm looking ahead with mild excitement to the next target, and I'm beginning to think it should be Genesis A&B. It's long, it's difficult, it really needs to be done.

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[MS folio missing]

“… eagerly before
they praised [him] on high and his holy word,*
they said truly that he alone wielded all victories
over all of creation, and eternal blessed gifts.” (559b-63a)

Then came an angel of God, blazing with bangles
and thrust the fire to the side, freeing and fortifying
her clean of guilts, free of vices, and scattering
the ferociously hungry tongues of flame where the holy woman stood,
the maiden more bold, in their midst, unhurt. (563b-68)

That for the rich man was a distress to endure—
he would change it, if he could, for the whole world.*
Heliseus, flecked with many sins, sought how he could
most painfully, through the worst of torments,
devise her soul’s death. Nor was the enemy too slow—
he instructed the nobleman to make an earthen vessel,
by wonder-craft and the terrifying howls of warriors,
ordering it to be set it around with wooden beams
and forest timber. Then the obstinate creature commanded
that men fill that earth-bowl with lead, and then ordered
the pyre, the greatest of fires, be kindled,
surrounded by brands on all sides.
The bath welled with heat. (569-81)

Swiftly then, Heliseus, swollen with rage, ordered the woman
sinless and devoid of fault, to be shoved into the surging lead.
Then the fire became separated and scattered.
Lead burst wide, hot and hungry—
Warriors were terrified, seized by the rush.
There were five and seventy of the heathen host
forburned through the searing sneeze.
Then yet Juliana the holy woman stood
uninjured in her beauty. Nothing of her hem or garment,
her hair or skin, was damaged by the fire,
neither body or limb. She stood in the flames
totally unharmed, saying thanks for all to the Lord of Lords.
Then the deemer became stormy and mind-savage;
he began to tear his clothes and bared and gnashed his teeth.
He raged in his wits as if he were a wild beast,
roaring sad-minded and cursing his gods,
because their power could not withstand a woman’s will. (582-600a)

Juliana, the maid of glory, was resolute and unafraid,
mindful of her strength and the desire of the Lord.
Then the wretched judge ordered her put to death by sword-bite,
holy at heart, deprived of her head, chosen by Christ.
Her death would be no profit to him,
after he further knew its consequences. (600b-06)

Then was the hope of the holy woman renewed
and the mind of the maiden greatly gladdened,
after she heard the hero deliberate his evil counsel,
that the conclusion of her struggle-days must come—
her life released. Then Heliseus, full of sins, ordered
Juliana, chaste and chosen, to be led unto her sinless death.
Then came suddenly that humbled hell-ghast singing a harmful song,
wretched and unhappy—that same cursed devil
whom she had bound and beaten with torments—
he called for the crowd, filled with sorrowful songs: (607-18)

“Requite it with affliction now, that she has despised
the power of our gods, and degraded me most strongly,
so that I became a traitor. Let her obtain the hateful rewards
through the sword’s spoor, achieve your olden enmity,
enveloped in your sins. I remember the sorrow,
how I endured in one night countless afflictions
and sufferings, fast in bonds, innumerable evils. (619-27a)

Last part of Juliana V

The final stanzas of the fifth section of Juliana are now drafted. These were fairly complicated, and will probably change incrementally as I continue to read them aloud to myself.

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“I have borne it all—cruel crimes throughout human nations,
those that have happened in the wide ages from the start of the world
for the kindred of men, the earls upon the earth.
There was none among them that have dared to touch me thus
boldly as you now do, holy with your hands.
There were none of these mindful men across the earth
through holy might, none of the high-fathers or prophets:
even though the God of Multitudes, the King of Glory,
revealed to them the spirit of wisdom, his boundless gift,
nevertheless I might approach the way to them. (506b-518a)

There was none of them who have laden me with bonds so boldly*
or whelmed me over with calamity, before now
when you seized me fast and overcame my great strength,
which my father gave me, the enemy of man-kind,
when he ordered me to venture, a prince from the darkness,
so that I had to sweeten your sins for you.
There sorrow befell me, a heavy hand-struggle.
I need not rejoice over this errand in the company of my kinsmen
after this sore suffering, when I must render unto them
a sorrowful account in our gloomy home.” (518b-530a)

Then Heliseus the noblemen, a cruel-minded man, ordered
Juliana, holy in heart, to be lead out from her narrow house
unto his doom-seat to speak with the heathens.
She, sainted and inspired in her breast, dragged with her
that unbelieving devil, fastened in bonds.
Then he, wretched and careful, lamented his errand,
bewailed his pain, bewept his bad fortune, speaking wordfully:
(530b-38)

“I entreat you, my lady Juliana, before the peace of God,
to work me no further insult, no disgrace in front of these earls,
more than you have done already, when you overwhelmed
the wisest under the prison’s shadow, the king of the hell-dwellers
in the city of fiends; he is our father, the evil prince of murder.
So, you have chastised me by your soreful swats!
I know as truth that I have never met, before or since,
in worldly realms a woman like you—more bold in your thoughts,
nor more cross-timbered* of all womankind!
It is clear to me that you have become in all things
unabashed and wise in mind.” (539-553a)

At that moment the woman allowed the devil after his time
of suffering to seek the shadows in the dark earth,
the adversary of souls, in pain of torment. He knew more readily,
that messenger of malice, to speak of it before his kinsmen,
torture’s thanes, how it befell him on his journey. (553b-58)

Okay, so a sense of flow is returning now that I've made a point to work on Juliana a little bit every day. Here are the first fifty lines of the fifth part of the poem, in which the interrogation of the demon continues:

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Then that beautiful woman, the light of glory,
spoke wordfully to that pledge-breaker:
“You must confess more wicked deeds,
humiliated spirit of hell, before you may go hence—
what iniquity, what great evil works by dark error,
have you accomplished, against the children of men?” (454-60a)

To her that devil replied: “Now I learn it by your speech,*
that I must speak my mind, constrained by compulsion
as you command me, to suffer your affliction.
This miserable time is full strong, this punishment excessive.
I have to suffer and tolerate all things in your judgment,
to uncover my dark and stained deeds, which I have plotted for an age.
Often I have stolen the sight, blinding countless warriors
by wicked thoughts, the kindred of men, covering the light
of their eyes with a cowl of mist, through the poisonous spear-point
and storms of darkness, and I have crushed the feet
of some through evil contrivances, others I have brought into burning,
into the blazes’ embrace, so that the last of his tracks was visible.* (460b-75a)

“Also I did unto some so that the blood spewed
from their bone-locks, so that they with sudden peril
gave up their ghost through the welling of their veins.
Others on a sea-voyage were drowned upon the way of waters,
on the ocean-flood, by my skill under the gloomy gushing.
Some I delivered unto the rood so that they gave up their life,
dreary, upon the high gallows. Others I incited by my teaching
to make strife so that they in sudden peril renewed old grudges,
drinking beer. I poured out for them crime from the cup,
so that they lose their soul in the wine-hall through sword-grabbing,
hastening fated from the flesh-home, seeking sore wounds.
When I find some without the mark of God, heedless
and unblessed, then I boldly slay them by various deaths
with my own hands and devilish devices. (475b-94a)

“Even though I sit a summer-long day,* I could not relate
all the suffering that I have performed as evil, early and late,
indeed since the heavens and the way of stars were areared,
the earth was fastened and the first humans, Adam and Eve,
from whom I snatched away life and instructed them
so that they abandoned the love of the Lord, his eternal blessed gift,
and their bright happy home, so that wretchedness became them both
forever and so upon their heirs, the darkest of sinful deeds—
How much more endless evil must I recount? (494b-506)

Juliana IV complete!

After only six months, I have finished the first translation of part four of Juliana. It's not that it is particularly difficult rendering, I just have had a lot of other things to do with my time. The final three stanzas are posted below and appear on the Juliana translation page in context. The post-wrestling conversation with the devil is almost finished.

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The accursed one addressed her, that wretched miscreant:
“Say to me first how you, daring through deep thought,
became thus battle-bold beyond all of woman-kind
so that you clapped me fast thus in chains,
in every way defenseless. You placed your trust
in God Eternal, He that Sits in Majesty, Maker of Man-kind,
such as I founded hope in my father, the king of hellish citizens. (429-37)

“Then I am dispatched against sooth-fast people,
that I might convert their minds in wicked deeds,
their hearts from health. At times my desire is
restrained by their resistance, my hope for holy ones,
just as sorrow befalls me here on my campaign.
I know that much too late myself: now I, a sin-worker,
have to suffer shame over this for a long time. (438-45)

“Therefore I beg of you through the power of the Highest,
the grace of the Heaven-King, who upon the rood-tree
suffered, Lord of Majesty, that you have mercy upon me
in my wanting, so that I miserable may not wholly perish,
even though I, thus rashly and dull-wittedly sought you
on my journey, where I did not expect such an unhappy time as this.
(446-53)

Three more stanzas of Juliana IV

Several more stanzas of Juliana have crept onto the translation page. They are repeated below for your morning-coffee convenience.

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If I meet any powerful or mind-proud champions of the Maker
who against my arrows’ flight will not bend far thence
from the battle but heaves up his board against them,
mind-wise, a holy shield, his ghostly war-dress,
who will not betray his God—but bold in his prayers he makes a stand,
fast in a foot-band so I must flee far thence,
low-minded, deprived of comfort, in the grip of gleeds,
mourning my care, so that I can not with craft of strength
go against him with war, but sad I should seek others
lacking in courage, under the bristle of standards,
the more sluggish warrior who I can puff up with my leaven,
and hinder from warfare. Although he the strength of God
may begin spiritually, I will be immediately ready,
so that I look through all his thought,
how established he might be his inward strength,
built his defenses. (382-401a)

I open up the gate of his wall through reproach;
the tower will be pierced, opened by its apeture,
then first I dispatch to him through arrow-flight
into his breast-self bitter thoughts by varied desires of the mind,
so that it seems better to himself to perform sins
instead of the praise of God, lusts of the body.
I am an eager teacher so that he may live
according to my wicked customs,* averted certainly
from the law of Christ, his heart troubled for me
as power in the pit of his sins. I care more,
and more eagerly about the spirit, the ruin of the soul,
than for the body-house, that which must become in this world
the comfort of worms and is commended to a lair in the earth.” (401b-17a)

Then again the woman spoke: “Speak, wretched shape,
spirit unclean, ruler of darkness, how do you associate yourself
in the company of the clean? You of old, pledge-less, labored
against Christ and drew along a struggle, plotting against holy men.
For you was the pit of hell delved below, where you,
harassed by your misery on account of your over-pride
sought a home. I supposed that you must be the more cautious—
and the more cowardly—in such a meeting against the sooth-fast
one that often withstood your will by the Glory-King.
(417b-28)

* 410. mon-þeawum: This is usually translated as “human custom” or simply “custom.” However, the possibility cannot be ruled out “mon-” (human) is not “man-” (evil, wicked), especially since the context seems to demand it.

Finally some progress with Juliana

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Meanwhile the Guthlac translation is getting tons of hits and Andreas is just as well read as ever.

I have had such trouble getting through Juliana. Two measly sections were giving me fits (the final two posted below) -- and suddenly I lost confidence in my ability to translate effectively, then I got very busy with another season on the job market (better known 'round these parts as the susel-tid). But things are settling down now and I have some time to work on this again

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IV.

Then the holy woman asked wordfully the enemy of heroes,
the workman of crime, the originator of sinful deeds.
“You must speak to me further, enemy of souls,
about how you grievously harm, by falling into sins,
the soothfast encompassed round with guilt.” (345-351a)

To her the fiend answered, a faithless wretch,
and spoke his words: “I will make it known to you,
blessed virgin, of every evil from the start forth unto the end
that I, wounded by sins, have performed—
and not just a few times—so that by this you may plainly know
yourself that this is the truth, and not at all lies.
I believed and reckoned it certain, an audacious thought,
that I could, without difficulty and by my own craft,
turn you away from your salvation, so that you renounced
the Heaven-King, the Lord of Victories, and bowed down
to an inferior, sacrificed to the Origin of Sins.
(352b-62a)

Thus I turn the minds of soothfast men through varying forms.
Where I find him making steadfast his spirit to the desire of God,
I am soon ready that I him multifold the lusts of the mind
towards bear horrible thoughts, dark errors, through
delusions uncountable. (362b-68)

I sweeten in him the desires for sin, the wicked loves of his heart,
so that he, quickly for evil deeds attached to his crimes, hears my teachings.
I enflame him very strongly in these sins so that he, burning,
ceases his prayers, stepping willfully—he can not abide
in the place of prayer firm as a foundation
for long on account of the love of his crimes.
And so I conduct a hateful dread to the man whom I begrudge
life and the clarity of belief, and he wishes to hear my teachings
through the desires of his mind and perform sins, he shall afterwards
turn away, deprived of all good virtues. (369-81)

New Section breaks

More lines from Juliana appear below, this time with the Exeter Book's own section breaks preserved. According to Muir's the Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry, new sections (chapters, fitts, call them what you like) in the poem are demarcated by skipping a line and then starting the new line with a large capital letter followed by a smaller initial. Translations of the poem vary in their breaks, from Marie Nelson's unbroken stichic presentation to Bradley's divisions by sense. It seems better to, like with the Guthlac translation, to respect the manuscript's division when possible.

Enjoy! And let me what you think about the translation, my lurking friends. :)

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III.

Then it seemed base to the folk-leader to be unable
to turn the heart of that woman, or her intentions.
He ordered her to be seized by the hair
ad heaved up onto a high branch, where
she, sun-bright, should suffer blows, strife unstintingly fierce
for six hours of the day, and he ordered her forthwith
to be taken down again and he commanded her be led to prison.
Within her was the praise of Christ fast wound within her heart-lock;*
in her mild heart, a strength unbroken. (225-35)

The prison door was bolted closed then by the work of hammers.
The holy woman abode within pledge-fast. Always she praised
the Glory-King in her heart, Heaven-realm’s God, the Savior of Men,
within her constraining cell, covered with darkness.
The Holy Spirit was her enduring companion. (235-42a)

Then came suddenly into the closed hall the enemy of heroes
skilled in evil. He wore the shape of an angel—
a soul’s foe skilled in afflicting songs, a captive of Hell,
who spoke to the sainted one: “What do you suffer,
dearest and most worthy to the Glory-King, our Lord?
This deemer has prepared the worst tortures for you,
endless pain, if you do not wish, wise-minded, to make sacrifice
and propitiate his gods. Be hasty, as he orders you led out hence,
so that you quickly offer up some gift, a victory offering,
before you seize your death, a murder before his multitude.
Then you shall escape the judge’s ire, blessed virgin.” (242b-257)

She swiftly asked then, she who was unafraid, pleasing to Christ,
whence his origins were. To her the wrack-kin replied:
I am an angel of God sailing from above,
a noble thane, and to you sent holy from the heights.
For you severe tortures with slaughter-grim wounds are decreed
as deadly punishment. God orders you be commanded,
child of the Wielder, to protect yourself from them." (258-66)

More Juliana

Work on Juliana continues. The lines below conclude the second part of the poem:

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Unafraid she then gave him answer through spiritual thought,
Juliana: “Never will you persuade me to promise tribute
by hypocrisy unto deaf and dumb devil-idols, the enemies of souls,
the worst thanes of torture but I will worship the Lord of Glory,
of Middle-earth and of Power Majestic—
and to him alone do I entrust all things, that he may become
my protector, my helper and savior against the hell-harmers.” (147-57)

Then Affricanus wrathfully delivered her, the father of that woman,
into the power of her enemy, Eleusius.
He ordered her at daybreak to be led unto his judgment-seat.
The crowd was astonished at the woman’s beauty, the people all together.
Then noble Eleusius greeted her at first, her bridegroom,
with soothing words: “My sweetest shone of sun, Juliana!
What gleam you have! What perpetual plenitude of grace!
What fruit of youth’s kind! If you will serve our gods yet
and betake yourself to their protection so mild,
the succor of sainted ones, then shall be turned aside from you
innumerable tortures cruelly contrived, savage sorrows that are
prepared for you if you do not wish to sacrifice unto our true gods.” (158-74)

Him the noble maid gave answer: “Never will you constrain me
with your threats, nor will you prepare torments of such great wrath,
that I would love your lord-ship, except if you renounce these false beings,
your idol-worship and recognize wisely the God of Glory,
Creator of Souls, the Maker of Mankind—
in whose power are all created things forever.” (175-83)

Then before the people with an angry mind Eleusius spoke
with boast-words, growing quite infuriated, the folk-owning man,
and he ordered the woman through spite-wrack to be stretched out
naked and sinless and beaten with scourges. (184-8)

The battle-warrior then laughed, speaking sarcastically:
“Thus is the life-domain of our enemy seized at its start!
Yet I will grant you your life, though you first
spoke many unwary words and refused too strongly
to adore the true gods. Your reward for your counter-thinking
must be frightful tortures afterwards, unless you are reconciled
with them, and sacrifice thankworthy gifts unto them—
after your vice-words setting your peace with them. (189-201a)

“Let rest this strife Juliana, this hateful civic infighting.
If you, long after this, through your rashness again
follow perversity, then I must be compelled to revenge,
constrained by hatred, your god-breaking—your grievous strife-speech—
that you with blasphemy began to contend against the best gods
and the most merciful of those that men know,
that this people-hood has long worshipped for themselves.” (201b-8)

Noble Juliana, heart unafraid, spoke to him:
"I do not fear your judgments, accursed harm-doer,
nor your baleful torments. I have as my hope
Heaven-realm's Ward, the Mild Protector, the Wielder of Power,
he who shields me against your shine-play,*
fro the grip of the fierce ones whom you consider your gods.
They are lacking of every good, idle, worthless,
without profit, nor may any man meet with comfort there,
true concord. Though he may seek friendship for himself,
he will not find there help among those devils.
I have affixed my heart in the Lord,
he who over every power rules wide-lived,
Owner of Glory, of every victory—
That is a True King."


* 214) scinlace: Literally "shine-play," but translated by Kennedy and Bradley as 'delusion(s),' and defined by Woolf as 'delusion, rage.' Clark-Hall defines the word as 'sorcery, magic, superstition' and adds the above definitions. The word must be derived from the same idea as "glamour," a magical spell, and is ancestor to "moonshine" as a wild idea or what gives those wild ideas. I decided to leave the strange kenning as is for the moment until I can think of something that alliterates and seems more communicative.

Start of Juliana II

I've had a little spare time to work on the translations. Besides working on Juliana, I've been reassessing the lineation of the Guthlac poems. Despite several suggestions to try for a prose poem form, I am convinced that the translation belongs in some form of free verse. I am redoing Guthlac now, so please come by to see how you like the new line breaks.

Below are four stanzas of Juliana from the second part of the poem:


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To her father then blessed Juliana gave answer,
she that had to God firmly founded her wifely friendship:
“Never will I endure this prince’s husband-love
unless he should cultivate the God of Hosts more eagerly
than he has previously done, loving with gifts
he that created the light, heaven and earth and the course of the seas,
the orbit of the universe. He cannot otherwise bring me to his bed.
Eleusius must look with his goods for another woman for bride-love—
he will have nothing here.” (105-16)

Then Juliana’s fiendly father replied to her in rage—
and he was not promising her ornaments:
“I shall make it such, as my life endures, that if you do not abandon
this crime first, if you henceforth attend to an alien god
and abandon those that are dearer to us, who stand as succour to our people,
that you shall succumb to death, quickly forfeiting your life
through the clutch of beasts, if you do not wish to submit to
the legal union, the partnership with brave Eleusius.
Great is that enterprise and terrible too for one like you,
one that despises our lord.” (117-29)

Blessed Juliana then gave him back answer, wise and dear to God:
“I wish to speak a truth to you, so long as I am of the living,
I wish not to tell a lie. Never will I fear your judgments,
nor are your torturing perils bitter to me, your battle-crash
by which you with violent evil-doing threaten me,
nor will you ever cause by your idolatry
me to turn from the praise of Christ.” (130-9)

Then Africanus* was infuriated, angry and ferocious,
maddened and mind-grim, the father against the daughter.*
Then he ordered her beaten, threatening her with torment,
troubling her with tortures and spoke this speech:
“Exchange your thoughts and convert these word that you spoke
in folly before when you disparaged the worship of our gods.” (140-7)

New Juliana lines! Yatta!

Long time no post, nu? Here is the first section of Juliana, which has been posted to the appropriate page as well, fresh off the grill. There are doubtlessly still some mistakes, and notes are marked but not yet completed. As usual, please send me your comments and suggestions.

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I.

Listen! We have heard of heroes deliberating,
deed-brave men determining what occurred in the days
of Maximian, who throughout middle-earth, raised up
persecution, an infamous king killing Christian men
and felling churches—a heathen war-leader pouring out
upon the grassy field the sainted blood of the God-praising,
the right-performing. His realm was broad, wide and mighty
across human nations—very nearly across the entire earth. (1-10)

They traveled among the cities, as he had commanded,
the Emperor’s awful thegns. Often they roused strife with perverted acts,
those that hated the Lord’s law through criminal skill.
Fiend-ship was aroused, heaving up heathen idols
and slaying the holy, breaking the book-crafty and burning the chosen,
terrifying the champions of God with spear and flame. (11-7)

There was a certain wealthy* man of noble kind, a mighty count.
He ruled over guard-cities, ever defending that ground and holding
hoarded treasure in the city of Nicomedia. Often he earnestly and by duty
sought an idol, heathen-worship over the word of God. His name was ascribed
to be Eleusius and he had a great and renowned authority.
When his mind began to yearn after the virgin Juliana curiosity broke him.
She bore in her soul the holy troth, eagerly intending that her maidenhood
would be preserved for the love of Christ, pure from any sin. (18-31)

Then was that woman, with the wish of her father, betrothed to that wealthy man.
Her fate he did not fully know—how she, young in spirit, despised espoused friendship.
Her fear of God was greater in her mind than all the riches that abode
in the possession of that nobleman. Then the wealthy one, that gold-rich man,
was eager in his heart for marriage, when the woman would most promptly
be prepared for him, a bride unto his home. She firmly set herself against
that warrior’s love, although he owned acquired-wealth within hoard-locks,
uncountable jewels upon the earth. (32-44a)

Condemning it all, Juliana spoke a word amongst a multitude of men:
“I can say to you that you need not trouble yourself so greatly. If you adore
and believe in the True God and exalt his praise, you would recognize
the Comfort of Souls and I would immediately, without faltering, be prepared
to submit to your desire. Likewise I say to you, if in fact you confide
in an inferior god through devil-worship, or call to heathen-idols,
you cannot have me nor can you compel me to sin.
Never will you, through your violent spite, prepare the harsh pain
of severe torments that you should turn me from these words.” (44b-57)

Then the nobleman grew swollen with fury,
stained with criminal acts, hearing that woman’s words.
Rough and heart-blind, he ordered then a swift messenger
to bring the saint’s father to deliberation at once.
Voices mounted up after they leaned their spears together,
these war-great men. They were heathens sick in their sins,
father-in-law and son-in-law. (58-65)

Then spoke the ward of realms
with that woman’s father, and a dangerous mind,
spear-holding: “You daughter has shown me
shame. She says to me—singling me out—
that she does not care for my husband-love
nor my conjugal ways. These great difficulties
were a disgrace to me in my heart’s ken.
She quite viciously offers me abuse before your own people—
she commanded me to worship an alien God with my wealth,
—over the other Gods that we have known before—
to praise him wordfully, to extol him in my mind,
or else I will never possess her.”* (66-77)

Then darkened the bold father-in-law after these words
Juliana’s father, unbinding his mind-hoard:
“I swear it by the true gods, as I find favor at their hands,
or else, my prince, comfort at yours in wine-halls,
if these words are true, dearest of men, which you say to me,
that I will not spare her, but will give her to you,
famous prince, unto your authority for her ruination.
Sentence her to death, if you deem it appropriate,
or allow her to live, whatever may be more preferable to you.” (78-88)

Then her father boldly went to speak with Juliana,
resolute and wrath-wretched, swollen with rage,
where he knew the glad-hearted young woman kept her home.
He spoke then by word: “You are my daughter, dearest
and sweetest in my heart, close by the earth, the light of my eyes,
Juliana! You have in foolishness taken, through your idle hostility,
a way contrary to the judgment of wise men.
You renounce too strongly according to your own advice,
your bridge-groom, who is better than you,*
more noble in this world, more wealth-endowed in money riches.
He is good to have as a friend.
Therefore it is worthy that you be the lady of this man,
his eternal love’s blessing, yet not forsake him.” (89-104)

Happy New Year! Juliana begins

Greetings one and all!

Feeling restless and realizing that the work of translation makes me feel good about myself --a needed break from other writing and studying-- I decided to get going on Juliana. Here are the first 57 lines. This represents my first attempt to get into the voice of Cynewulf, a process that will take discovering as I go along.

Right at the start, I am interested in the kennings with æht- as the first part (æht-welig (18), æht-spedigra (101), æht-gestealdum (115)) that indicate the wealth of Eleusius where we might usually expect a kenning on feoh-. It seems to me an intriguing possibility that there is a pun intended here, playing off a less common usage of æht (according to BT, with a long vowel, feminine noun) to mean "persecution." This usage appears only once in Beowulf (a text we have good reason to believe Cynewulf knew well)at line 2957: "Þa wæs æht boden Sweona leodum, segn Higelaces freoðowong þone forð ofereodon, syððan Hreðlingas to hagan þrungon" [Then was persecution commanded for the Swedish people, the standards of Hygelac over-rode into the refuge-field, after the Hrethings swarmed to its battlements.] Since Eleusius is both rich in possessions and in the desire to persecute Juliana, the double meaning definitely works though it is lost in translation.

(Translation)

Listen!
We have heard of heroes deliberating, deed-brave men determining
what occurred in the days of Maximian, who heaved up persecution
throughout middle-earth, an infamous king killing Christian men
and felling churches—a heathen war-leader pouring out upon the grassy field
the sainted blood of the God-praising, the right-performing.
His realm was broad, wide and mighty across human nations,
very nearly across the entire earth. (1-10)

They traveled among the cities, as he had commanded, the Emperor’s awful thegns.
Often they roused strife with perverted acts, those that hated the Lord’s law
through criminal skill. Fiend-ship was aroused, heaving up heathen idols
and slaying the holy, breaking the book-crafty and burning the chosen,
terrifying the champions of God with spear and flame. (11-7)

There was a certain wealthy* man of noble kind, mighty count.
He ruled over guard-cities, ever defending that ground and holding
hoarded treasure in the city of Nicomedia. Often he earnestly and by duty
sought an idol, heathen-worship over the word of God. His name was ascribed
to be Eleusius and he had a great and renowned authority.
When his mind began to yearn after the virgin Juliana curiosity broke him.
She bore in her soul the holy troth, eagerly intending that her maidenhood
would be preserved for the love of Christ, pure from any sin. (18-31)

Then was that woman, with the wish of her father, betrothed to that wealthy man.
Her fate he did not fully know—how she, young in spirit, despised espoused friendship.
Her fear of God was greater in her mind than all the riches that abode
in the possession of that nobleman. Then was that wealthy one, that gold-rich man,
was eager in his heart for the marriage, when the woman would most promptly
be prepared for him, a bride unto his home. She firmly set herself against
that warrior’s love, although he owned acquired-wealth within hoard-locks,
uncountable jewels upon the earth. (32-44a)

Juliana condemned all that and spoke a word among the multitude of men:
“I can say to you that you need not trouble yourself so greatly. If you adore
and believe in the True God and exalt his praise, you would recognize
the Comfort of Souls and I would immediately, without faltering, be prepared
to submit to your desire. Likewise I say to you, if in fact you confide
in an inferior god through devil-worship, or call to heathen-idols,
you cannot have me nor can you compel me to sin.
Never will you, through your violent spite, prepare the harsh pain
of severe torments that you should turn me from these words.” (44b-57)

(Notes)

18: See above for discussion of æht-welig.