{185a} Or, "whilst the foes range the sea."
{185b} Lit. "It was his characteristic or property."
{185c} "Naw rhiallu;" the literal amount of this force would be 900,000;
"naw," however, may have here the meaning of "nawv," _floating_; "naw
rhiallu," a fleet.
{185d} "Gorddinau;" from "gorddin," what impels or drives forward; or
the word may mean _tribes_, from "cordd"; and then the passage would be:
"In the face of blood, of the country, and of the tribes."
{185e} Cynddilig was introduced to our notice before, (line 645) as a
person who loved the world in company with the melody-seeking Eidol.
{186a} Or, "as the alternative."
{186b} That this is a proper name, appears from the following passage in
Taliesin's "Canu y Cwrw;"--
"Ev cyrch cerddorion
Se syberw Seon
Neu'r dierveis i rin
Ymordei Uffin
Ymhoroedd Gododin."
{186c} Or, "who caused the stream of blood."
{186d} Gwenddoleu ap Ceidiaw is recorded in the Triads as the head of
one of the three "teulu diwair," or faithful tribes of the Isle of
Britain, because his men maintained the war for six weeks after he was
slain in the battle of Arderydd, A.D. 577. He is also joined with Cynvar
and Urien, under the title of the three "tarw cad" or bulls of battle, on
account of their impetuosity in rushing upon the enemy.
{187a} "Pen o draed;" from head to foot. Not, as Davies translates it,
"from the highest to the lowest," as is evident from a similar phrase in
Cynddelw, (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 220.)
"Yd kwytynt pennawr penn o draed;"
where the word "pennawr" refers to one particular rank, if not to an
individual.
{187b} See line 344.
{187c} See line 324.
{187d} See line 335.
{187e} Lit. "after their conflict."
{188a} "Tra;" "whilst the gory pool continued to fill."
{188b} "Erchyn;" al. "echyn," "and slew them like a hero; they were not
saved."
{188c} Or, "he darted with the spear," or, "they were prostrated with
the spear."
{188d} "A medd," with the mead. He abandoned the social banquet, or a
life of luxury, at the call of public duty.
{188e} Al. "Is there a place where the people do not relate the
greatness of his counsel?"
{188f} "Bwylliadau," (i.e. bwyelliadau) the strokes of his battle-axe.
Another version gives "bwyll yaddeu," which may be rendered, "Pwyll
assaulted."
"With a rush Pwyll made the assault."
{188g} "Lliveit handit;" which were sharpened.
{188h} Al. "Where his founding blade was seen."
{189a} Or, "maintenance for."
{189b} There were two persons who bore this name in the sixth century,
the one was Pryderi the son of Dolor, chief of the people of Deivyr and
Bryneich, and was distinguished with Tinwaed and Rhineri, under the
epithet of the three strong cripples of the isle of Britain:
"Tri Gwrddvaglawg ynys Prydain; Rhineri mab Tangwn; a Thinwaed
Vaglawg; a Phryderi mab Doler Deivr a Bryneich." (Triad, 75.)
The other was Pryderi, the son of Pwyll Pen Annwn, a chieftain of Dyved,
which country is by Lewis Glyn Cothi called "Gwlad Pryderi;" and by
Davydd ab Gwilym, "Pryderi dir." He is styled one of the three strong
swineherds of Britain, having tended the swine of Pendaran his foster
father, during the absence of his father in the unknown world.
"Tri Gwrddveichiad ynys Prydain; cyntav vu Pryderi vab Pwyll Pendaran
Dyved, a getwis voch ei dad tra yttoedd yn Annwn; ac yng nglyn Cwch
yn Emlyn y cetwis eve wynt." &c. (Triad, 101.)
In the Tale of Math Mathonwy, he is said to have been buried at Maen
Tyriawg, near Ffestiniog. We may therefore presume that the Englynion y
Beddau refer to the other in the following passage;
"Yn Abergenoli y mae Bet Pryderi
Yn y terau tormeu tir."
In Abergenoli is the grave of Pryderi,
Where the waves beat against the shore.