protective enclosure (Il. 3. 229, 6. 5, 7. 211; cf. 1. 283 f. of Achilles). In another
place he is called their π3ργο, their battlement or tower (Od. 11. 556).
Similar metaphors are commonplace in British heroic poetry: ‘(Morien) the
battle lord, a fortress to the frightened army’ (Y Gododdin 393, cf. 326, 422,
533, 772 f., 1244); Moryen mur trin, ‘Morien the bulwark of battle’ (Cyvoesi
Myrddin 121); ‘a broad shield, a fortress (dinas) for strong men, the best
warrior is Caranfael’ (Rowland (1990), 442 st. 92bc).^25 Cú Chulainn is called
in t-indellchró bodba fer talman, ‘the marshalled fence (cró) of battle of men of
the earth’ (Táin (I) 2213). Hrothgar is eodor Scyldinga, ‘the Scyldings’ shelter,
enclosure’ (Beowulf 428, 663, cf. 1044), and the corresponding Norse word,
iaðarr, is used in similar expressions: Fáfnismál 36 hers iaðar, Helgakviða
Hundingsbana B 42 folcs iaðar, Lokasenna 35 ása iaðarr. In this Germanic
formula the metaphor has apparently faded, and the word has come to be
hardly more than a synonym for ‘leader’. In the Armenian oral epic, on the
other hand, the old image is still alive: ‘Mher, like a fort, had been holding
back enemy kings’ (Sassountsy David 343).^26
A related but less common metaphor is that of the pillar. Pindar calls
Hector Τροα Eμαχον qστραβH κονα, ‘Troy’s uncombattable, unwarped
pillar’ (Pyth. 2. 81); near the beginning of the same ode he has praised Theron
as the support (#ρεισμα) of Acragas. In the same way Urien is called ‘the
pillar of Prydain (Britain)’, and Rheithfyw ‘the pillar of battle’. Similar
phrases are used of Irish heroes and kings.^27
Alarming symptomsThe hero’s warrior fury manifests itself physiologically in exceptional body
heat. Ra ̄ma, when ready for battle, burns like a smokeless flame (Rm. 3. 23. 15,
25 f., 27. 17). An Irish saga relates that ‘this troop descended upon the green
and sat there as one man, and the heat of the great valorous warriors was
such that the snow softened and melted for thirty feet on every side’ (Mesca
Ulad 506 Watson, trs. Gantz). When the young Cú Chulainn comes to the
(^25) Cf. also the Lament for Pyll, Rowland (1990), 409 st. 33; Urien’s Head, Rowland, 477 st. 12 =
Koch–Carey (2000), 352.
(^26) On this imagery cf. Schramm (1957), 86–8; H. Humbach, MSS 21 (1967), 21–3, 26;
Schmitt (1967), 282 f.; E. Campanile, SSL 14 (1974), 207; id. (1977), 120. Durante (1976), 114,
notes that Vedic gods such as Indra and Agni are sometimes called a púr-, ‘rampart, wall’ (RV 1.
- 2; 8. 69. 8, 80. 7; 10. 87. 22); the contexts are not military, but no doubt the metaphor could
have been so employed.
(^27) Urien’s Head 16; Y Gododdin 67; Irish references in Campanile (1977), 120 f. Cf. the Royal
Irish Academy’sDictionary of the Irish Language (Dublin 1983), s.v. deil II; Watkins (1994),
746 f.
- Arms and the Man 455