"Hyd ydd aeth ef
Ercwlf mur _ffosawd_
As arnut tywawd." (Myv. Arch. i. p. 69.)
Until he, Ercwlf,
Descended into the fosse of the rampart,
And was covered with sand.
{114a} Their names are given in "Gwarchan Cynvelyn." (Myv. Arch. vol.
i. page 60. Davies's Mythology, page 622.)
Three warriors and three score and three hundred,
To the conflict of Cattraeth went forth;
Of those who hastened from the mead of the cup-bearers,
Three only returned,
Cynon and Cadreith, and Cadlew of Cadnant,
And I myself from the shedding of blood.--
{114b} The grave of Cynon is thus recorded;--
"Bet gur gwaud urtin
In uchel titin in isel gwelitin
Bet Cynon mab Clytno Idin."
The grave of a warrior of high renown
Is in a lofty region--but a lowly bed;
The grave of Cynon the son of Clydno Eiddin.
And in another stanza;
"Piau y bet y dann y brin
Bet gur gwrt yng Kiuiscin
Bet Kinon mab Clytno Idin."
Whose is the grave beneath the hill?
It is the grave of a warrior valiant in the conflict,--
The grave of Cynon the son of Clydno Eiddin. (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p.
79.)
A saying of Cadreith has been preserved in the Englynion y Clywed.
"A glyweisti a gant Cadreith
Fab Porthawr filwr areith
Ni char Dofydd diobeith." (Myv. Arch. i. 175.)
Hast thou heard what Cadreith sang,
The son of Porthawr, with the warlike speech?
God loves not the despairer.
{114c} "Gwenwawd." It might be translated "flattering song," but
_candid_ or _sacred_ seems more consonant with the character of a Bard,
whose motto was "Y gwir yn erbyn y byd." We may presume that Aneurin on
this occasion displayed his heraldic badge, which, according to the law
of nations, would immediately cause a cessation of hostilities.
"Tair braint Beirdd ynys Prydain; Trwyddedogaeth lle'r elont; nas
dycer arv noeth yn eu herbyn: a gair eu gair hwy ar bawb."
The three primary privileges of the Bards of the Isle of Britain;
maintenance wherever they go; that no naked weapon be borne in their
presence; and their word be preferred to that of all others.
(Institutional Triads. See also Myv. Arch. vol. iii. Laws of
Dyvnwal Moelmud.)
"Sed me per hostes Mercurius celer
Denso paventem sustulit aere. (Horace Carm. lib. ii. Ode 7.)
{115a} "Gwyn dragon;" probably Hengist, who bore, as his arms, a _white
prancing horse_ upon a red field. There is here accordingly an allusion
to the first arrival of the Saxons, which was the cause to the Britons of
all their national calamities for many a long year after.
Al. "Had it not been for the two hundred (al. ten hundred) men of the
white-bannered commander."
{115b} Or, "we were not--until." &c.
{115c} Lit. "thorn bushes." For an illustration of the advantage which
the natives would derive from their woods and thickets in times of war,
the reader is referred to a story told of Caradoc in the Iolo MSS. pp.
185, 597. which on account of its length we cannot transfer into our
pages.
{115d} Or more sententiously, as Davies has it,
"Base is he in the field, who is base to his own relatives."
The construction adopted in the text, might allude to the marriage of
Rowena with Vortigern.
{116a} "Llwyeu," from "llwyv," a _frame_, a _platform_, a _loft_. Or it
may be "llwyv," an _elm tree_, in reference to the devastation of the
groves just mentioned. The elm was very common in the island at the
period under consideration. Taliesin celebrates a battle entitled
"Gwaith Argoed Llwyvein," which means "the battle of the forest of elms."
"A rhag gwaith Argoed Llwyvain
Bu llawer celain." (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 53.)