Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

52 CRITICAL DISSERTATION
beast of prej', and the yellow-footed bird. There
resounded the hard steel upon the lofty helmets of
men. The whole ocean was one wound. The cr(
waded in the blood of the slain. When we had
numbered twenty years, we lifted our spears on
high, and every where spread our renown. Eight
barons we overcame in the east, before the port of
Diminum ; and plentifully we feasted the eagle i
that slaughter. The warm stream of wounds ran
into tlie ocean. The army fell before us. When
we steered our ships into the mouth of the Vistula,
we sent the Helsingians to the hall of Odin. Then
did the sword bite. ■ The waters weie all one wound.
The earth was dyed red with the warm stream. Tlie
sword rung upon the coats of mail, and clove the
bucklers in twain. >^one fled on that daj', '
among his ships Heraudus fell. Than liim no braver
baron cleaves the sea with ships; a cheerful heart
did he ever bring to the com!)at. Then the host
threw away their shields, when the uplifted spear
flew at the breasts of heroes. 1 he sword bit the
Scarfian rocks ; bloody was tlie shield in battle,
until Rafuo the king was slain, rroui the heatis
of warriors the warm sweat streamed down their
armour. The crows around the Indirian islands
had an ample prey. It were difficult to single (
one among so many deaths. At the rising of the
sun I beheld the spears piercing the bodies of foes,
and the bows throwing forth their steel-pointed
arrows. Loud roared the swords in the plains of
Lano. — Tlie virgin long bewailed tlie slaughter
of that morning." — In this strain the poet continues
to describe several other military exploits. The
images are not much varied : the noise of arms,
streaming of blood, and the feasting the birds of
prey^ often recurring. He mentions the death of
two of his sons in battle ; and the lamentation he
describes as made for oneof tliem is very singular.
A Grecian or Roman poet would have introduced
the virgins or nymphs of the wood bewailing th€ '
untimely fall of a young hero. But, says cur
Gothic poet, " When Rogvaldus was slain, for him
mourned all the hawks of heaven," as lamenting a