[46] 55 In homes and houses:  ’twas no happy arrangement
          In both of the quarters to barter and purchase
          With lives of their friends.  Then the well-aged ruler,
          The gray-headed war-thane, was woful in spirit,
          When his long-trusted liegeman lifeless he knew of,

{Beowulf is sent for.}

       60 His dearest one gone.  Quick from a room was
          Beowulf brought, brave and triumphant. 
          As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,

{He comes at Hrothgar’s summons.}

          Went then that earlman, champion noble,
          Came with comrades, where the clever one bided
       65 Whether God all gracious would grant him a respite
          After the woe he had suffered.  The war-worthy hero
          With a troop of retainers trod then the pavement
          (The hall-building groaned), till he greeted the wise one,

{Beowulf inquires how Hrothgar had enjoyed his night’s rest.}

          The earl of the Ingwins;[5] asked if the night had
       70 Fully refreshed him, as fain he would have it.

    [1] Several eminent authorities either read or emend the MS. so as to
    make this verse read, While Grendel was wasting the gold-bedecked
    palace.  So 20_15 below:  ravaged the desert.

    [2] For ‘sona’ (1281), t.B. suggests ‘sara,’ limiting ‘edhwyrft.’  Read
    then:  Return of sorrows to the nobles, etc.  This emendation supplies
    the syntactical gap after ‘edhwyrft.’

    [3] Some authorities follow Grein’s lexicon in treating ‘heard ecg’ as
    an adj. limiting ‘sweord’:  H.-So. renders it as a subst. (So v. 1491.)
    The sense of the translation would be the same.

[4] B. suggests ‘under hrof genam’ (v. 1303).  This emendation, as well as an emendation with (?) to v. 739, he offers, because ‘under’ baffles him in both passages.  All we need is to take ‘under’ in its secondary meaning of ‘in,’ which, though not given by Grein, occurs in the literature.  Cf.  Chron. 876 (March’s A.-S.  Gram.  Sec. 355) and Oro.  Amaz.  I. 10, where ‘under’ = in the midst of.  Cf. modern Eng. ’in such circumstances,’ which interchanges in good usage with ’under such circumstances.’

    [5] For ‘neod-laethu’ (1321) C. suggests ‘nead-laethum,’ and translates: 
    asked whether the night had been pleasant to him after
    crushing-hostility.

XXI.

HROTHGAR’S ACCOUNT OF THE MONSTERS.

{Hrothgar laments the death of AEschere, his shoulder-companion.}

          Hrothgar rejoined, helm of the Scyldings: 
          “Ask not of joyance!  Grief is renewed to
          The folk of the Danemen.  Dead is AEschere,
          Yrmenlaf’s brother, older than he,
        5 My true-hearted counsellor, trusty adviser,
          Shoulder-companion, when fighting in battle
          Our heads we protected, when troopers were clashing,