Neud athwyv, o nwyv, yn ail Garwy hir; 2. I love the proudly formed fortress of Cyvylchi, wherein the towering form of mine intrudes: the renowned and the bustling into it do penetrate: the restless, noisy wave doth clamour at the chosen spot of her so splendid; fair its glittering aspect, brightly rising, by the torrent side, above the woman that imparts a lustre on the present year, in the wild of Arvon in Eryri. To deserve the tent, to see the velvet vest, there is not one that loves and will defend her more than I: were she the prize for bardic song there would not intervene a night ere I should be the next to her. "Carav gaer valchwaith o'r Gyvylchi, Yny bylcha balchlun vy hun ynddi : Nebawd noswaith y byddwn nesav iddi." These lines are from an elegy by Seisyll upon Owen, Prince of Gwynedd, or North Wales, who died in the year 1169: 1. After Owen chief of Mona how devoid of hope our songs! how enthralled the minstrels! Is not unpropitious, is not paralyzed our hope! and is not Cymmru's cheering language broken down! "Gwedi Ewain Mon mòr ddiobaith cyrdd! Neud avrwydd, neud evrydd gobaith! Neud Cymmru cymmriw ei chyviaith!" The next is an extract from an ode addressed by Einion ab Gwgawn to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales: 1. At Aber Teivi thickly overhead were ravens flying, where was seen the owner of a gallant throng of spears; there thickly glared the blades, and screamed the cormorants for gore, and there regaled on prostrate heaps of slain. 2 Then may Llywelyn older be than Llywarch, longer be his course! "Yn Aber Teivi tew oedd brain uch ben, Llywelyn boed hyn, boed hwy dichwain The three following specimens are taken from the odes of Elidyr Sais. The first is from his elegy upon Rhodri, the son of Owen, Prince of North Wales, who was slain in battle, in the year 1171; and the others are out of odes upon moral subjects: 1. By losing Rhodri, suitors, who respected me, a mead-enjoying host, with sorrow how oppressed are they! By such a loss, to me affliction greatly worse became; it gave a shock as on the plains of Cattraeth!3 "O golli Rhodri, neud rhygaeth eirchiaid, A'm parchai, llu meddvaeth! O golled ym galled mawrwaeth; Gallas drais tiredd cattraeth!" 2. Glowing is my bardic lay, as Merddin erst did sing; a glow that from the cauldron of the muse did rise, avoiding ire, exalted higher than of angels. I a bard will be to God, as long as I a man remain—since thou art three-and otherwise thou need not be;-since thou art two and one-profound the thoughts! "Llathraid vy marddair, wedi Merddin; Llethrid à berid o bair awen, Bar ochel uchel uch engylion. Bardd vyddav i Dduw, hyd tra vwyv ddyn.— This alludes to the aged prince and bard so called, from whose works extracts have been already given. 3 The battle of Cattraeth is the theme of the Gododin by Aneurin, already quoted. SECOND SERIES, VOL. I. F Can wyt tri-nid rhaid it amgen ; Can wyt dau, pell goddeu, ac un!" 3. He made earth, before his presence came above from heaven to look on us: He made a sun to light a glorious course; He made a moon with light pervading darkness; He made the ebb and flow of tides-the universe his own, and over empires ruling. "Ev gwnaeth daiar, cyn dyvu ei vron Vry o nev ein canvu : Ev gwnaeth haul hwylvawr lewychu; Ev gwnaeth lloer â llewych arddu; Ev gwnaeth trai a llanw-a llwyr veddu byd, Llywarch Prydydd Moch, or Llywarch the rapid poet, a distinguished eulogist of several princes who were his contemporaries, was the author of the compositions from which the three next passages are selected. The first is upon the two surviving sons of Owen Gwynedd; and the others are addressed to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth : 1. Two ardent princes, as to whom our anger died away: they were beloved by all on earth: one was on land the chief of ardent troops in conflict in Arvon checking violence; and another all mildness on the bosom of a mighty sea, in turmoil great and strange.* "Dau deyrn terwyn, dydores ein llid: Llu daiar a'u hofes : Un àr dir àr dorvoedd rhythres, Ac arall mynawg yn mynwes mawrvor 2. By Druids it is told of generous ones to be born again, of eagle offspring, in Eryri; Owen's grandsons, on the face of Britain dignified in London, of exalted qualities. "Dywawd derwyddon This was Madawg, of whom there is a triad recording his disappearance with a fleet. The same bard, in another ode, announces his readiness to submit to an ordeal of hot irons, to clear himself from any knowledge of the fate of Madawg. O hil eryron, "O wyron Ewain, O lan deithi." 3. Bards! woe to us altogether, that on him the earth is laid, and we to mourn him! He who was our chief to stem the wrath of foes: then birds of prey towards his course did fly; there rippled the ruddy streams from men made silent; from the tumult, there lay dead the greatest part; the waves with many hues did there swell up and wildly break in endless roar: a far-extending wave of brine raged on; another overwhelming wave of gory red succeeded, when the leader of a gleaming host prevailed-Llywelyn, the renowned chief of Alun: then of warriors were a myriad slain, a lure for screaming ravens, and a thousand in captivity. When we did cross Porthaethwy, on sea wafted steeds," above the swelling tumult of the wave, there ashen shafts made ruthless waste; there death in bloody red proceeded through a mazy gurgling path; there dreadful, there relentless was our course; there led despair, there death took forms unlike before; and there the world might doubt if there were left of us some few with age to die. Dybryd in' veirdd byd, bod daiar arno, Ac arnam ei alar! Ev en llyw cyn llid gyvesgar: Ysglyvion ysglyvynt Ilwrw bar; Oedd ran veirw vwyav o'r drydar; Oedd amliw tònau hon anmhar eu naid, Nid oeddynt ddilavar: Ton heli ehelaeth trwy var; Ton arall guall goch gwyar, Pan orvu pen llu llachar-Llywelyn ; Llyw Alun athavar: Myrdd bu lladd llith brain gorddyar, Meirch morthwy uch mawrdwrv tòniar; 5 A common term among the poets for ships Oedd ongyr oedd engir eu bar; The next extracts are from the odes of Davydd Benvras, to the same Prince Llywelyn. 1. May HE who has made a splendour from the west to glow, the sun and pallid moon in radiant orbits; may the Lord of universal light make me of high degree, embued with Merddin's ardent muse, to sing an eulogy, as erst Aneurin on the day he the Gododin sung, to celebrate the happiness of the inhabitants of Venedotia. "Gwr à unaeth llewych o'r gorllewin, Haul a lloer addoer addev iesin, A'm gwnel rad uchel, rwyv cyvychwin, Cylawn awen, awydd Merddín, I ganu moliant, màl Aneurin gynt I voli gwyndawd Gwyndyd werin." 2. Come is May to me! I am disconsolate, since that my lord is bound beneath the sod! for that the generous one is covered over, lamentation is the theme! he is in earth the ruddy spear is slackened in the ford: all see that God has taken our support on high and the monarch of the Cymmry gone, afflicting is the stroke! True is it that a dreaded chief has died before the fortress of Eluglyd-it were better for us if we all were dead! "Mai yw ym doddyw! yn anhyvryd wyv, Am vyned vy rhwyv yn rhwym gweryd! Am vrenin Cymmry cymmrwyn ergyd! 3. Llywelyn, who is affable, brave, and amiable, with his princely sons Griffith and David, faultless ones in cutting off their adversaries; three whom God has taken |