technique is seen in the Welsh Dream of Rhonabwy (pp. 4–11 Richards), where
the narrator himself describes a series of persons who come to Rhonabwy’s
attention, and in each case Rhonabwy asks someone who this is. In Laxdœla
saga 63 Helgi’s swain returns from a scouting foray to report that he has seen
a company of men not far away who look like outsiders. He describes each
one in turn, and Helgi is able to identify them all.
Sometimes it is determined before the battle begins which hero will fight
which. In the Homeric Theomachy the gods are paired off against each other
in advance (Il. 20. 67–74), and the actual battle conforms to the programme
stated. In Aeschylus’Seven Against Thebes, perhaps following the model of the
older epic Thebaid, a scout reports who is leading the assault on each of
Thebes’ seven gates, and Eteocles decides in each case which of his own men
is to face the attacker; he himself will fight the ringleader, his own brother
Polynices. There is a remarkable parallel in the Ra ̄ma ̄yan
̇
a. In 6. 21 a report
comes to Ra ̄van
̇
a on the attackers of his city, concluding (35) ‘So I have
described the whole army of monkeys stationed on Mount Suvela; it is for you
to decide what is to be done!’ (cf. Aesch. Sept. 650–2). Then in 6. 28 scouts
report to Ra ̄ma on which leaders are defending which gates, and Ra ̄ma names
the leaders who will fight them. He himself will fight Ra ̄van
̇
a, as one of seven
fighting in human form. Other passages in Indian epic where heroes are
assigned specific opponents are MBh. 5. 161. 4–10; 6. 77. 11ff.; 8. 31. 5ff. In a
story in Acallam na Senórach (p. 55 Dooley–Roe) the warrior Caílte enquires
who is the most dangerous of the foes about to be fought, and on learning
that it is Lir, declares that he will stand against him. Then Derg asks who are
the next most dangerous, and when Donn and Dub are identified, he says he
will oppose them.
Another typical preliminary to battle is the arming scene. Heroes put on
their armour and take up their weapons. Each piece is mentioned in turn,
often with details of its form, material, decoration, or history. Homeric
examples are Il. 3. 328–39 (Paris and Menelaus), 11. 17–46 (Agamemnon), 16.
130–44 (Patroclus), 19. 364–98 (Achilles). From Indian epic we may quote
this specimen:
At their various positions the kings and princes put on their glistening and colourful
armour, well worth the honour they paid it. Vira ̄t
̇
a’s favourite brother S ́ata ̄nı ̄ka
donned a golden cuirass with an underlay of diamond-hard iron. Madira ̄s ́va,
S ́ata ̄nı ̄ka’s junior, put on a hard, solid-iron coat of mail which was beautifully plated.
The king of the Matsya himself wore a well-nigh impenetrable armour with a
hundred suns, a hundred circles, a hundred dots, and a hundred eyes... [etc.] (MBh.
- 9–12; cf. 9. 31. 54).
Of Hiltibrant and Hadubrant we just hear briefly that
472 12. Arms and the Man