By Aneurin the Bard<\/p>\n

Every ode of the Gododin is equivalent to a single song, according to the privilege of poetical composition. Each of the Gwarchans is equal to three hundred and sixty-three songs, because the number of the men who went to Catraeth is commemorated in the Gorchans; and as no man should go to battle without arms, so no bard ought to contend without that poem. Here now begins the Gwarchan of Maelderw. Taliessin sung it, and it is a privileged ode. His three Gwarchans are equal in poetical competition to all the odes in the Gododin.<\/p>\n

The noise of two Abers1 around the Caer!2
\nArouse thyself to arms and splendour!
\nCold is the passing and repassing of the breach of battle.
\nLover of fame, seekest thou to sleep?
\nThe variegated texture, the covering of heroism,
\nFor the shelterless assault shall be woven.
\nThe breach that has been attempted will not be effected.
\nBear the patient exertion of heroism.
\nSharply in arms he used to frown,
\nBut mildly allured he the intellectual world.
\nA man that will run when thou pursuest,
\nWill have the rounded house of the sepulchre for his bed.
\nCall together, but do not reproach the over-anxious;
\nAnd meddle not with the fierce and violent.
\nLet him who has a just claim break the boundary.
\nHe does not calculate upon praise
\nWho defends his shelter.
\nPraise is the meed of those who have made impressions.
\nThe victor gazed towards the fair one.
\nOf bright and prominent uplifted front,
\nOn the ruddy dragon, the palladium of Pharaon,3
\nWhich will in the air accompany the people.
\nDead is every one that fell on his mouth
\nIn the repulsion of the march of Teth and Teddyd.
\nCourteous was the great retinue of the wall, of ashen spears.
\nTo the sea thou mayst not come;
\nBut neither thy retreat nor thy counsel will fail,
\nThou magnanimous soul in the defence of his boundaries.
\nNo more can they extricate themselves,
\nExtricate themselves before the barrier of Eiddyn.4
\nCenan, the fair wall of excellence,
\nPlaced a sword on the entrenchment of warriors.
\nVictorious was the chief
\nIn disposing the sovereign, I
\nThe inconstant
\nGray-headed chief of ministers,
\nWhose counsels were deep.
\nThe mutually sweet will not produce the mutually bitter.
\nI have mutually wished,
\nI do mutually wish for the repose of Enlli
\nThe fair aspect of which is filled with deep interest,
\nOn the course on a serene morning.
\nIt allures me, it plays upon my strong desire.
\nI will ask the men for a dwelling,
\nIn order to lessen the loss.
\nHappiness was lost and recovered.
\nThe northern Run, chieftain, thou hast caused to withdraw;
\nThe fat one in returning thou wilt cause to return to me.
\nThey call more for large trees than for honeysuckles.<\/p>\n

(Three lines untranslated).<\/p>\n

Let the sovereign stand firm between the looks of Dremrudd,
\nThe ruddy glancer, whose purpose cannot be viewed for a sufficient time,
\nWhose purpose cannot be viewed for a sufficient time,
\nBy those who with impunity plough the noisy sea.
\nFirst to be satisfied is the pale one,
\nThe eccentric, whose throne is of complete form.
\nBefore he was covered, Gownddelw
\nWas a tall man of great worth like Maelderw.
\nI will extol him who wields the spear,
\nWhose course is like that of the ruler of the mount,
\nThe pervader of the land, by whose influence I am moved.
\nWith active tumult did he descend to the ravine between the hills,
\nNor was his presence a running shadow.
\nWhatever may befall the high land,
\nDisgrace shall never happen to the assembled train.<\/p>\n

1. aber: the mouth of a river; a delta.
\n2. caer: lit. an encampment, but essentially is equivalent to the Latin “castra,” from which we get our term “chester,” as seen in such placenames as “Gloucester” or “Worcester”–that is, they once served as Roman encampments, and towns grew up around them.<\/p>\n

3. “dragon… Pharon”: this refers to the story of “Lludd and Llefelys”, wherein two dragons are discovered fighting–a red one and a white one. This fighting has destroyed Britain, and so Lludd seeks the help of his brother Llefelys, who tells him to imprison the dragons under the mountains in Snowdon, as we are told in the Red Book. However, according to Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth, when Vortigern wanted to build his fort on this mountain–Dinas Pharon (City of the Pharaoh? for reasons no one has been able to satisfactorally explain)–the dragons prevent it, until the boy Merlin–here called Merlin Ambrosius\/Myrddin Emrys–tells him to let the dragons loose. The red dragon kills the white, and Merlin Ambrosius explains that the red dragon represents the leader of the Welsh, while the white dragon represents the leader of the Saxons; i.e., that Uther Pendragon and his son Arthur would defeat the Saxon invaders. The red dragon is now on the flag of Wales:<\/p>\n

4. Eiddyn: Duneiddyn, which is Edinburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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