especially the most recent, if they have not been sung of before; or if not his
own, then those of his forefathers, for his ancestry is essential to his identity,
and the praise poet typically refers to it.^98 He also wants to be ranked with
other famous heroes of the past, and for his deeds to be set beside theirs. A
commentator on the Taittirı ̄ya Bra ̄hman
̇
a (3. 9. 14. 4) says that the bard in
praising the king’s prowess in battle likened him to past heroes such as Pr
̇
thu,
Bharata, Bhagı ̄ratha, and Yudhis
̇
t
̇hira. To be able to compose such eulogies the
poet needed to be learned in the ancient legends. As it is stated in one of the
Welsh bardic grammars: ‘The appropriate activity of the prydydd is approba-
tion, and praise, and generating fame... It is not appropriate for the prydydd
to concern himself with charms, and divination... [but rather with] ancient
poetry, and written legends’.^99
This is well illustrated by a passage in Beowulf (867–915). After the hero
had killed the monster Grendel, a poet of Hrothgar’s company, a man with a
memory stocked with many old legends, composed and sang a new poem
about the exploit; he paralleled it with the tale of the earlier dragon-slayer
Sigemund, and told the latter’s story at some length. This must reflect the
methods of actual praise-poets of the time. The tales they told of great deeds
of the past were of interest not only to the descendants of the persons
involved. They could engage a wider audience, and so heroic narrative poetry
could maintain an independent existence.
As an example of Greek praise poetry linked to heroic episodes from the
past we may cite Ibycus’ ode to Polycrates of Samos. After recalling the Trojan
War at some length, it promises the prince unfading glory, so far as Ibycus’
own artistry and reputation can achieve it. Then there are the odes of Pindar
and Bacchylides celebrating various kings and nobles on the occasion of their
sporting victories, with regular reference to their families’ past glories. These
poems may represent a last, luxuriant outgrowth from a Greek tradition of
royal praise poetry, but we can still recognize in them elements of an ancient
inheritance.
From Rome we have the testimony of Cato (sometimes questioned for no
good reason) that banqueters used to sing the praises of outstanding men;
or, according to Varro, boys at banquets, accompanied by a piper, sang trad-
itional songs (carmina antiqua) containing laudes maiorum.^100
For the ancient Celts we have the reports of classical writers. Posidonius
defined the bardoi as poets who sang praises: ποιητα? δC οFτοι τυγχα ́ νουσι μετ’
Gιδη
$πανου λγοντε. He wrote that the chiefs had them in their entourage(^98) Cf. Schramm (1957), 110; Campanile–Orlandi–Sani (1974), 235 f.; Campanile (1988), 9.
(^99) G. J. Williams, Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid (Cardiff 1934), 35. 12ff., trs. A. T. Matonis,
ZCP 47 (1995), 222 n. 39.
(^100) Above, n. 23; cf. Schmitt (1967), 56 n. 356.
64 1. Poet and Poesy