Mimnermus writes of a Smyrnaean hero of recent memory, ‘Pallas Athena
never had cause to fault his acid fury, when in the front line he hurtled
through the battle’s bloody moil’ (14. 5–7). The sentence quoted from Tacitus
in the last chapter may be repeated here: ‘the war-leaders are more admired
for their conduct than their authority, for being bold and prominent and
going out in front of the line’ (Germ. 7). Later Germanic poetry sustains this
ethic. Hiltibrant ‘was ever at the front of the host, fighting was ever dear to
him’ (Hildebrandslied 27). ‘Never in the forefront did (Hrothgar’s) far-famed
valour fail, when the slain were falling’ (Beowulf 1041 f.). ‘Ever was Helgi
Slayer of Hunding foremost in the war-host, where men were fighting’
(Helgakviða Hundingsbana A 53). It is the same with the early Gododdin
warriors. ‘Wearing an ornament of rank, in the front line’s array... he was a
hero in deeds’. Cunedag likewise ‘used to carry his shield in the vanguard’.^35
The vow of abnegationIn some stories a hero is driven on by the compulsion to avenge the death of
someone near to him, or to achieve some other self-set goal. To underline his
dedication he may vow to deny himself some normal comfort or privilege
until his purpose is accomplished. Achilles declares that he will not eat or
drink until Patroclus is avenged, and he resists attempts to persuade him to
fortify himself before the battle (Il. 19. 209, 303–8). Later he refuses the
opportunity to wash Hector’s blood off his body until Patroclus has had his
proper funeral (23. 39–47). Karn
̇
a vows not to wash his feet until he has slain
Arjuna (MBh. 8. 5. 76, 46. 38, 791*. 6). The Chatti did not cut their hair or
beards until they had slain an enemy in battle (Tac. Germ. 31. 1). The Batavian
prince C. Julius Civilis, in obedience to a vow made when he took up arms
against the Romans, dyed his hair orange and let it grow long until he had
won a victory (Tac. Hist. 4. 61). Odin’s newborn son Váli does not wash his
hands or comb his hair before avenging Baldr (Vo ̨luspá 32 f., Baldrs draumar
11). Harald Fairhair vows not to cut or comb his hair until he has conquered
all of Norway (Heimskringla 3. 4). Angantyr vows not to occupy his father’s
high seat till he has avenged him (Hervarar saga 11).^36
(^35) Y Gododdin 46 f., cf. 21, 39, 220, 418, 1214, 1239; Marwnad Cunedda 41, Koch–Carey
(2000), 293. Cf. Campanile (1977), 122; (1990b), 62, who also cites several Vedic passages where
Indra is represented as standing or fighting in front of his followers, and an Irish one about King
Olaf of Dublin.
(^36) On the motif cf. Karl Müllenhoff,Deutsche Altertumskunde (Berlin 1870–1900), iv. 414;
Frazer (1911–36), iii. 261 f.
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