Daniel LII, cont'd

Here is the continuation and end of section LII of Daniel:

When the stiff-minded king saw all this, trusting his senses,
the wonder occurring in torment, it seemed amazing to him.
The young men went forth whole in the hot oven,
all three law-fast men, and one more was seen in there,
an angel almighty. It had not damaged them any bit,
but there inside that oven it was pleasant, much like
when in the summer the sun is shining,
when the dew is dried in the day, strewn by the wind.
It was the God of Glory who had saved them
from that hot hatred. (268-78)

Then Azarias from his inmost thoughts
sang a holy song through the heated flame,
enduring, eager of deeds, praising his Lord,
a mna without sins and then spoke these words: (279-82)

“All-creating Lord, listen! You are greatly powerful,
saving mankind. Your name is well-known,
radiant and glory-fast throughout the races of man.
Your decrees in every day are true and strong
and triumphant, just as you yourself are.
Your will is a success in this world,
righteous and roomy, Ruler of the Skies.
Shaper of Souls, eagerly grant us your comfort
and aid through your grace, Holy Lord—
now, enwrapped in fire, we entreat you
in this compulsion and captivity
for the favor of your grace. (283-95a)

“We have wrought in this world, as we have lived,
even as our ancestors have committed sin—
the city-dwellers have broken your commandments
out of over-pride, and despised the state of holy living.
We have been scattered across the broad earth,
dispersed in bands, without your grace—
our lives are useless and disreputable
throughout many lands and among many peoples.
We are banished us as thralls into the power
of the worst of the earthly kings, into the slavery
of savage men, and now we suffer
the captivity of heathens. Thanks be you,
Glory-King of Armies,
that you have ordained this wrack upon us. (295b-308)

“Do not forsake us alone, Eternal Lord,
for the mercy that men attribute to you,
and for the troth that you, fixed in glory,
Savior of Mankind, have granted to Abraham
and to Isaac and to Jacob, Shaper of Spirits! (309-14)

“You promised them through your speech
that you would increase their first-kin
in days gone past, so that there would be born
a great multitude in the generations after them
and they would become famous, a family
to be exalted as the heavenly stars that enclose
a broad orbit, or as the seashore, the sands
of the strand across the salty waves that grind
in the ocean, so that they must become innumerable
down a multitude of years. (315-24)

“Fulfill now your ancient word, though few of them
are living! Magnify in us your statements
and your glory! Reveal your craft and might
so that the Chaldeans and many other folk
who live as heathens under the heavens
might learn that you are alone the Eternal Lord,
the Sovereign of Armies, of all the worldly creation,
the Ordainer of Victories, the Measurer Sooth-fast!” (325-332)

So was the blessed man praising the mercy of the Maker
and relating the power of his might through his voice.
At that moment from the heavens was sent
from above an all-bright angel, a beautiful human
in his glorious garments who was come to them
as a comfort and a life-saving, with love and with kindness.
He, holy and heaven-lustrous, scattered the flames, the hot fires,
sweeping them away and swinging them through his great might,
the illuminated tongues, so that their bodies were not
any bit troubled, but he smote their enemies,
with fire upon their foes for their sinful deeds. (333-44)

Then the furnace became, where the angel had come,
breezy and beautiful, much like the weather
when in the summertime a shower of raindrops is sent
during the spaces of the day, a warm falling from the skies.
Such is the best of weather, and such was in that fiery place
as an aid to those holy men by the blessed power of the Lord.
The heated flames were driven out and washed away
wherever the deed-brave men went within that oven,
and the angel with them preserving their lives,
who was the fourth in there with Annanias and Azarias
and Misael. There the three mind-brave men praised
their Lord in their thoughts, calling upon the sons of Israel
and every land creature to bless the Eternal Lord,
the Sovereign of Nations. So these three called out,
quick of their wits, through one common word: (345-61)

Daniel LII, pt 1

So I have been considering the fact that I have two manuscripts' worth of translations on this site, Anglo-Saxon Religious Poems and The Junius Manuscript, and have realized the time has come to start shopping these translations around to become the books I've always intended them to be. No sense sitting on them any longer until I have time to work on them. I will never have time to devote to them any time soon, but that shouldn't stop me from seeking the fulfillment of their true destiny. Let the dice fly!

Here's the first part of Daniel LII: --------------------------

Then the single-minded king grew enraged—he ordered an oven
to be stoked hot for the killing of these young men’s lives
since they resisted his power. Then it was kindled
as grimly as it could be, with the cruel tongues of flame,
when he gathered together the people in that place
and wanted them bound, the messengers of God,
fierce and much mourning in mind, the warden of Babylon. (224-29)

Then he ordered his servants to shove those youths
into the baleful blaze, those young warriors.
He was ready who did them comfort, though the king
had urged so cruelly in the arms of the fiery flames—
nevertheless a mighty guardian of God preserved their lives.
As the many were to learn the Holy One had ordained them help,
God, the Warden of Men sent them from the lofty heavens
his blessed spirit. An angel came within the furnace
where they endured their misery, covering these free-born sons
with his embrace under the fiery roof.
Nor could the welling of the flickering flames spoil their beauty
one whit, those men who the Sovereign had saved. (230-40)
Savage-minded was the heathen king—he ordered them
to be swiftly burned. The pyre was senselessly strong.
Then was the oven kindled, the iron all heated through.
Many slaves flung wood inside it, just as they were wordfully
commanded—they bore brands into the burning of the bright flames—
the wolf-hearted king wished to rear up an iron wall
around those law-fast men—until the fire leapt over
those beloved men and lustfully destroyed a great many,
more than should be appropriate. (242-49)

Then the flame flew upon those hateful men,
onto the heathens from the holy ones. The young men
were joyful at heart; the servants were burned
around and without the furnace. The pyre turned
upon them painfully to their hurt, and the lord of Babylon
witnessed it all. Blithe were the Hebrew nobles,
readily praising their Lord in joy, doing as they knew best
within the oven, preserving their lives.
The glad-minded men worthied God
within whose embrace the heat of the wicked fire
was put to flight. The free-born sons were delivered
from the onslaught of the flames, so that they did
no harm to them. The noise was no more a sorrow to them
than the shining of the sun, nor did the burning beat
upon these men who should be beat upon in there—
instead that fire let fly fire upon those worked harm then,
turning upon those heathen servants away from the blessed boys,
and the fairness of those accursed men was diminished,
who had rejoiced in those terrible deeds. (250-67)

Daniel LI concluded

Here is the rest of Daniel LI:

Nor might the multitude then at the moot
through their clever craft conceive
or contrive anything, when it was denied them
that they could speak of the dream of the king
or the mysteries of fate, until the wise man came,
Daniel at his decree—he was chosen by the Lord,
witty and truth-fast, and he went into that palace.
He was the best of that wretched remnant
who were forced to obey the heathens.
God had given him a heavenly gift
through the prophecies of the holy spirit,
so that an angel of God told him all
just as the wicked king had dreamed it. (145-57)

The Daniel went to him, at dawn light,
to relate the dream to his lord,
speaking sagely of the ends of nations,
that the haughty king understood at once
the start and the conclusion which was revealed to him.
Daniel had great glory then, and splendor
among the scholars of Babylon,
after he narrated the dream to the king,
which because of his crimes the warden of Babylon
could not previously remember in his breast-hoard. (158-67)

No matter what Daniel could do so that the king
would believe in the might of the Measurer—
instead the king began to create an idol on the plain
which the over-bold men named Dira,
that was there among those people who were called
the mighty Babylonians. The guardian of the city,
one nefarious above the mercy of the Lord,
reared among men this image of gold
because he was not wise, this warden of men,
fierce and rash, not right… (168-77)

[Leaf missing from the manuscript]

And then a listening came across the warriors
when the voice of the trumpet was heard by the city-dwellers.
Then they fell to their knees before that symbol,
that heathen people worshipping in that temple,
praising that golden idol, they knew no stronger course.
They raised up unrighteousness, just as they lord did,
mixing up wickedness, emboldening their minds.
The folk-army was estranged, just as their lord was first,
establishing their folly—an evil conclusion
was to befall them afterwards—and doing ill. (178-87)

There were three in their lord’s city, men of Israel,
who would never submit to the prince’s decree,
so that they did not rear up their prayers to that idol,
even though the trumpets sang its praises there.
They were good sons of Abraham by descent,
pledge-fast, knowing the Almighty Lord eternally above. (188-95)

These noble children made it known that they
would not take nor keep that golden image for god,
except for the High King, the Warden of Souls,
who had given grace to them.
Often they spoke in boldness to redeem men
that they cared not for that graven image,
nor could the heathen leader of armies
compel them to make their prayers,
so that they would turn to that place,
men to that gilded statue which the king had ordained
for himself as a god. These thanes said to their lord
that they were of one mind in this; servants of a higher being
in that high city, “who do not wish to exalt nor to worthy
this idol which you have wondrously appointed to your glory.” (196-208)

Then the warden of Babylon answered them
in rage and a boiling mind, speaking to those young earls
grimly and harshly saying to them they must
immediately be punished and suffer a great constraint,
the whelming of wicked flames unless they would
beg for mercy from that worst of all things,
these Hebrew men from that golden object,
which the king had ordained himself as a god. (209-16)

Though these young men would not heed
in their hearts that heathen instruction.
They eagerly conceived that the law of the Lord
would endure all things nor would they abandon
the Lord of Hosts, and turn towards paganism any more,
nor would they beg for shelter from the sinful
even though a bitter death be commanded them. (217-223)

Daniel LI pt 1

Part 51 of Daniel is kind of long, so we'll break it up into several pieces. Here is part one.

-----------------

Widely renowned was the warden of Babylon then,
notorious and proud across middle-earth,
terrifying to the sons of men. He never performed the law,
but in over-pride he always lived his life.
Once to that chieftain at his first slumber,
after the prince of the realm had turned towards his rest,
there came a tumultuous dream hurtling into his head,
how the world was bedecked so beautifully,
so unlike men, at least until their renewed creation.
This truth was revealed unto him in his sleep,
that all realms, all earthly joys, must pass
and their terrible end be realized. (104-15)

Then awoke the wolf-heart, who slept wine-drunk,
the warden of Babylon. His mind was not happy,
but sorrows mounted him, the clattering of his dream—
He could not remember what he had dreamed.
He ordered then his people to gather,
those who bore the most learning in magical skill,
and asked the assembly what he had dreamed,
while speech-bearing men occupied their slumber.
The king became affrighted in his terror,
when he did not know any word or start
to his own dream, but he commanded them to speak regardless.
Then those unhappy men answered him,
the devil-wise—there was not the power
ready in them to speak of the dream to the king: (116-29)

"How can we, sire, scry out something so secret
as your mind, or what you have dreamed,
or the wisdom of the condition of fortune
that inhabits you, if you cannot first
tell us of its beginning?” (130-33)

Deeply troubled then the wolf-hearted
king replied to his counselors:
“You all are not so excellent over all men
in your mind-thoughts as you have said to me,
when you told me that you knew my life-laws,
just as it would befall me after,
or as I should discover it further along.
Now you do not know of my dreaming,
when it comes bearing wisdom for my people.
You all shall die in death, unless I know
the truth of my dream, which compels me.” (134-44)

Daniel L complete

The Daniel translation page is now available (check on the right side for the link).

Here is more of the first section (helpfully numbered section 50, since the scribe of the first part of the Junius Manuscript may have considered the sequential sections as all part of the same big poem). The poem feels good so far, like I'm back inside my own skin, which is a nice sensation.

---------------------------

Then the Prince of Realms grew anger-minded
at that disloyal people to whom he had given everything.
He directed them at the start, those who were at first
the dearest of mankind before that, dearest of the multitude,
most beloved of the Lord—a marching path had he marked out
unto the high city, those alien noblemen into their homeland
where stood Salem, strengthened with skillful walls,
bedecked with battlements. To that place came the Chaldeans,
witful men, onwards upon that city,
where Israel was clothed in its wealthy things;
against them that host was attacking,
a powerful force, eager for sinful harms.
A princely chief of men aroused that killing hate,
the lord of Babylon in his city-stead,
Nebuchadnezzar through his envious hatred,
so that he sought his inmost thoughts
for how he could most easily oppress
the Israelite people through fierce men’s journey.
So then he gathered together from the south and north
a bloodthirsty host and brought them westwards
in an army of heathen kings unto that high city.
The home-wardens of Israel held their love,
their lively prosperity, so long as the Lord allowed them. (33-55)

Then I heard that the kindred of the olden enemy
laid to waste the wine-city of men. These warriors did not believe,
bereaving the glory of halls, Solomon’s temple,
of its red gold, its treasures, and silver.
They plundered its riches under the stone cliffs,
everything that these earls might possess,
until they had smashed every stronghold
that stood as a sanctuary for these people.
They burdened themselves with the bounty
of the hoard-wardens as plunder, the coins and the chattels
such as they found there, and then they journeyed
back again with their possessions,
and led back on the long road the children of Israel,
on the eastern ways to Babylon, a numberless people
beneath the hand of warriors and heathen overlords.
Nebuchadnezzar put them under constraint,
the sons of Israel, the survivors of the swords,
as work-thralls out of all hope. (56-74)

Then he sent out an army of his own thanes
to go westwards so that they might rule over
that people’s territory, their wasted
homeland, in the stead of the Hebrews.
The king ordered his reeves to seek out
among the wretched remnants of the Israelites
which of their young men was who had been brought there
the wisest in the commandments of their books.
He wished that the young men should be learned
in this craft so that he could chatter to them
of the wisdom in his heart, and not at all
so that he could or would be mindful to thank God
for the gifts which the Lord bestowed upon him
for his own mortal glory. (75-87)

Then they found among them three
lord-wise and noble men and law-fast as well,
young and goodly in their godly descent.
One was Annanias, the second Azarias,
and Misael the third, chosen by Measurer.
Then these three came before the prince
hardy and heart-wise, where the heathen sat,
the king eager for his retinue, in the Chaldean city.
Then they were required to reveal their wisdom
the Hebrew men, to that proud king wordfully,
their high mind-power through their holy hearts,
when the warrior ordered, the warden of Babylon,
the stern-minded king, his own thanes, his first-spears,
upon their lives to ensure that there would be no lack
of food or clothing in this worldly life for these three young men. (88-103)

Daniel Begins

Hello,

Missing the act of translation, and the good feeling it inspires in me, I finally got around to downloading an electronic text of Daniel, Christ A, B & C, and Judith. These are the last three narrative poems in the Anglo-Saxon corpus (except for Beowulf, of course), and the final stops on the crazy, madcap journey that has been the Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project.

I think I'm going to start with Daniel, since it is the one that I'm the least familiar with.

Here are the first few lines, and they felt great to work on:

I have that the Hebrews lived blessedly
in Jerusalem, parting out their gold-hoard,
holding their own sovereignty, as was natural to them,
since through the might of the Measurer into Moses hand
the war and the host of warriors were delivered,
and they marched forth from Egypt with a great many.
They were a proud people!
So long as they were allowed to rule their realm,
and survey their cities, bright prosperity was theirs—
so long as that folk kept the covenant of their fathers.
God himself strengthened them, the Heaven-Realm’s Ward,
the Holy Lord, the Keeper of Glory.
He gave their armies spirit and power, the Lord of All Creatures,
so that they crushed the resistance of many peoples,
the helmets of armies, those who pledged them no loyalty,
until a pride seized them at their wine-feasts,
with devil-deeds and drunken thoughts.
Then they abandoned their law-crafts,
the power of their Maker, just as no man should
part the love of his soul from God. (1-21)

Then I saw that people turning towards error,
the kindred of Israel, doing unright and working sin.
That was an affliction to God!
Often he sent to that nation as teachers,
the Warden of Heaven-Realm, holy spirits
who tended wisdom for that host.
They would trust in the truth of those wise men
for a little while, until the longing for earthy joys
betrayed them of lasting good,
so that they forsook at the utmost end themselves
and the glories of God, choosing the devil’s craft. (22-32)

More to come in the next few days. I just need to figure out how the Junius MS divides the poem up into sections, and I will open up the blog page devoted to the poem. Keep an eye out!

Yrrk!

It's been a little while since there has been an update. I must confess that I am having motivational difficulties getting through the Metres of Boethius. It desperately needs an updated translation, but I am beginning to think that I am not the one to produce it.

See, the problem is that Boethius must be the most boring, sententious poet out there. I understand that as a metrical innovator he is quite spectacular and a great deal is lost in the transmission from Latin to Anglo-Saxon and then into my own modern English. But thematically the Metres are a concatenation on one tiresome note. There is precious little of the dynamic tension (now we are in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I guess) I am accustomed to seeing the narrative poems, a dazzling vitality that I have felt equal to reproducing in my translations. Nope, the Metres is just a frog-march, and my own lyrical inadequacies make the process even more painful to endure. So I am giving it up for the time being. Maybe I will come back to it later. Who knows?

So, I think I should get back into the few remaining narrative poems. That would be just Daniel and the latter two parts of Christ. Perhaps I will start them soon. I have been missing the process and pleasures of translation a great deal.

Another thing that needs to happen is the process of revising the extant translations, especially Genesis A&B. I have a body of comments that need to be incorporated, both from the blog and from my students in my Spring 2012 Anglo-Saxon poetry course.