396
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
may be found in which we discover traces of the
personal meaning : thus perhaps in Beowulf where
we find these lines,
si<5<5an dreamaleas
in fenfreo<5o
feorh alegde,
h⅛<5ene sawle,
Ййег him Hel onfeng.
when reft of j oy
in his fen-refuge
he his life laid down,
his heathen soul,
there Hel received him1.
However as a death in battle did not consign
the warrior to Hel, it is usually Hild or Wig who
is represented as ravishing away the doomed hero.
Hel was no desired object, to be introduced into
the epic as the portion of chieftains and kings.
FATES.—The Northern creed, and, as it now
seems established, the German also, admitted the
intervention between man and the gods, of subor-
dinate deities or Fates. I call them subordinate from
their peculiar position in the fragmentary portions
of mythology that survive ; in their nature we must
believe them to be of a higher order than the gods,
who themselves are doomed one day to perish, and
who can probably as little avoid their doom as men,
the frailer creatures of their power. It may be that
in this, different views prevailed among different
classes of men ; the warlike princes and their fol-
lowers, who exulted in tales of battle and feasting,
may have been willing to see in Opinn the supreme
disposer of events, while a deeper wisdom lurked
1 Beow. 1. 1698 : and perhaps similarly 1. 367, “ Helle gemundon,”
they worshipped Hel.
сн. x∏∙]
HEATHENDOM. FATES.
397
in the sacerdotal songs that told how Ur⅛r, Wer-
‰∏di and Skuld (the Norns of the Past, the Pre-
sent and the Future) bore inevitable sway over the
inhabitants of heaven and earth, and slowly waited
for the period which was to confound gods, man and
nature in one vast destruction1. The Norseview
admits however of more than three Norns, though
it names those only who have been mentioned ;
and from the extraordinary relation of those three,
1 The Greek Fates are also three, and stand in a very similar posi-
tion towards the Gods. Zeus himself is not exempt from their power.
Prometheus, it is true, will not distinctly assert Zeus to be weaker than
the Fates,but he answers Verydecisively that even Zeus cannotescape
his Fate. ' , , , . ,
Xo. Tir ovv avaγκηs eστιv oιaκoστpoφos ;
∏p. Moipai τpiμopφaι, μιημoves T 'Epivvves.
Xo. Tovτωv “ipa Zevs eστιv a<τθeveστepos ;
∏p. Ovkovv &v eκφvγoι ye τηv πeπpωμevηv.
Æsch. Prom. Vin. 617-620.
The Moipeu here are only minister's of a deeper necessity, yet they seem
to wield it themselves, and that it is inseparable from justice seems to
follow from the venerable goddesses being joined in the task. Plato
however distinctly names three Moipai, the daughters of ,Avαγκi), who
spin the life of man : what is more to our purpose is that to each of the
three, the past, the present and the future are severally distributed,
as to UrtSr, WertSandi and Skuld. IIe says, dλλαs∙ fie κaθημevas rrepιξ
δι' iσov τpe^ιs, èv θpov<ρ eκAστηv, θvγaτepas τηs 'AvAγκηs, Molpas, λeυ-
χeιμovovσas, στeμμaτa ∈⅛< τωv κeφaλωv eχovσas, AAχeσlv те κa< Kλωdω
κaι Arporrov, vμveiv rrpδs τηv τωv J∑eιpηveov Appovlav, AAχeσιv μev та
yeyovoτa, Kλωdω fit та опта, *λτpoπov fié та μe∖λovτa. The spindle
however lies and revolves upon the knees of ,Awfyκ?. De Repub. lib. x.
ad fin. The white garments, garlands and throne, as well as the singing,
are wanting to our Norns, but the resemblance in other respects is very
striking. It deserves notice also that the Weird sisters in Macbeth are
three ; and even the Odyssey may intend that number,
evθa 0’ eπeιτa
τrel<reτaι, ασ<rα ol aι<ra, κaτaκλωβes Te βapeiaι,
yeιvoμlvω vησavτo λlvω, ore μιv τeκe μητηp.
Odyss. vii. 196-198.
It is well known what controversy has arisen as to the real number of
Eplvwes intended by Æschylus in his Eumenides.