And the next day at dawn, Erbin desired Geraint to send messengers to the men to ask them whether it was displeasing to them that he should come to receive their homage, and whether they had anything to object to him.  Then Geraint sent ambassadors to the men of Cornwall to ask them this.  And they all said that it would be the fulness of joy and honor to them for Geraint to come and receive their homage.  So he received the homage of such as were there.  And the day after the followers of Arthur intended to go away.  “It is too soon for you to go away yet,” said he; “stay with me until I have finished receiving the homage of my chief men, who have agreed to come to me.”  And they remained with him until he had done so.  Then they set forth towards the court of Arthur.  And Geraint went to bear them company, and Enid also, as far as Diganwy; there they parted.  And Ondyaw, the son of the Duke of Burgundy, said to Geraint, “Go, now, and visit the uttermost parts of thy dominions, and see well to the boundaries of thy territories; and if thou hast any trouble respecting them, send unto thy companions.”  “Heaven reward thee!” said Geraint; “and this will I do.”  And Geraint journeyed to the uttermost parts of his dominions.  And experienced guides, and the chief men of his country, went with him.  And the furthermost point that they showed him he kept possession of.

CHAPTER VII

Geraint, the son of Erbin (Continued)

Geraint, as he had been used to do when he was at Arthur’s court, frequented tournaments.  And he became acquainted with valiant and mighty men, until he had gained as much fame there as he had formerly done elsewhere.  And he enriched his court, and his companions, and his nobles, with the best horses and the best arms, and with the best and most valuable jewels, and he ceased not until his fame had flown over the face of the whole kingdom.

   “Before Geraint, the scourge of the enemy,
    I saw steeds white with foam,
    And after the shout of battle a fearful torrent.”

    —­Hen.

When he knew that it was thus, he began to love ease and pleasure, for there was no one who was worth his opposing.  And he loved his wife, and liked to continue in the palace with minstrelsy and diversions.  So he began to shut himself up in the chamber of his wife, and he took no delight in anything besides, insomuch that he gave up the friendship of his nobles, together with his hunting and his amusements, and lost the hearts of all the host in his court.  And there was murmuring and scoffing concerning him among the inhabitants of the palace, on account of his relinquishing so completely their companionship for the love of his wife.

                                     “They
    Began to scoff and jeer and babble of him
    As of a prince whose manhood was all gone,
    And molten down in mere uxoriousness.”