Lines 124–246

Also him Q and U
with death shall approach,
the prudent leaders
shall advance against him,
they have light spears,
long shafts,
sweeps strong of mood;
blows they spare not,
dear dints;
loathly to them is the Devil.
Then L
and angry C
shall gird him about with war;
the crooked letter wageth
bitter terror:
soon shall shrink
hell's captive,
so that he goeth backward.
then shall F and M
throng from without
about the guilty wretch;
sharp spears have they,
the terrible flight of arrows:
they shall let fire
upon the fiend's hair
strew its shafts,
a bitter terror;
the mischief fiercely
with rage they shall repay,
that often pride breaketh them.
Then him at last
narrowly shall still
G the crooked,
whom God sendeth
a support to his friends;
D fareth after,
full of five virtues:
five is the third;
the letter near the street
shall abide still.
H shall hasten,
the angel shall clothe him,
Christ's warrior,
in the quick weeds
of enquiring God,
in a new garment.
Then him in the lift,
the twins of life,
beneath the masses of the stars,
with points of twigs,
with silver sweeps,
shall mightily vex,
until the bone appear,
the veins shall bleed:
the rage of shafts they shall pour
on the greedy devil.
Ever may the God's word,
for every man,
every fiend
put to flight,
through mouth of man,
the troop of evil ones
the black troop oppress;
let them never so strangely
change with colours
in their body,
or assume plumage.
Sometimes they seize the sailor,
sometimes they turn
into the body of a snake
sharp and piercing,
they sting the neat
going about the fields,
they destroy the cattle;
sometimes in the water
they bow the horse,
with their horns they hew him
until his heart's blood,
a foaming bath of flood,
falls to the earth.
Sometimes they fetter
the hands of the doomed;
they make them heavy when he
is called upon in war
against a hostile troop
to provide for his life:
they cut upon his weapon
a heap of fatal marks,
baleful letters;
they write away the bill,
the glory of the sword.
Therefore should no man
often without a cause
draw forth
the weapon's edge,
although its beauty please him;
but ever let him sing,
when he his sword draweth,
the Pater Noster,
and the palm-tree
joyfully pray,
that it will give him both
life and hand,
when his foe cometh.
. . . . desist,
ere he truly know,
that the sinful
souls shall stick,
with the enemies
in the midst of hell;
then shall the mighty king command
to close hell
full of fire,
and the fiends with it.
Then had the wise
son of David
overcome and surpassed in knowledge
the earl of the Chaldæans:
yet was he satisfied,
who on his journey had come
dispatched from afar;
never before had his spirit laughed.
Lo! I have learnt that there contended
in days of yore
men wise of mood,
princes of the earth,
struggled about their wisdom;
ill doth he that lieth,
or the truth rejecteth!
Salomon was the more famous,
although Saturnus,
the bold chief,
had of some
books the keys,
the locks of learning.
All the land he circled,
[the realm of Indians,]
east Corsias,
the kingdom of the Persians,
Palestinion,
Nineveh the city,
and Northpredan;
the treasure-halls of Medes,
the land of Marculf;
the realm of Saul
as it lieth southward
about Gilboa,
and about Geador;
the palace of the north-Philistines,
the fastness of the Greeks,
the wood of the Egyptians,
the waters of the Matheans,
Claudas, Coreffes,
the realm of the Chaldees,
the crafts of Greeks,
the kin of Arabians,
the lore of Lybians,
the land of Syrians,
Bythinia, Buthanasan,
Pamphilia Pores boundary:
Macedonia,
Mesopotamia,
Cappadocia,
Christ's Hiericho,
Jerusalem . . . .
or I mount,
purchase my advantage,
though . . .
I know then if thou goest
on the Wendel sea,
over the Cofor flood
to seek thy country,
that thou wilt boast thou hast
. . children
overcome and surpassed in knowledge;
I know that the Chaldeans were
thus boastful in war,
thus proud of gold,
thus moody of their glory,
since news of that was brought
south about Sanere field.
Tell me of the land
where no man may
step with feet.

Saturnus quoth.
The sailor over the sea,
the noble one was named
Wandering Wolf,
well known unto the tribes
of the Philistines,
the friend of Nebrond.
He slew upon the plain
five and twenty
dragons at daybreak,
and himself fell down there dead;
therefore that land may not
any man,
that boundary place
any one visit,
nor bird fly over it,
or any more, the cattle of the field.
Thence the poisonous race
first of all
widely arose,
which now bubbling
through breath of poison
force their way.
Yet shines his sword
mightily sheathed,
and over his burial-place
glimmer the hilts.

Salomon quoth.
Foolish is he that goeth
on deep water,
who hath not skill of swimming,
nor a ship furnished with sails,
nor flight of bird,
and cannot with his feet
reach to the bottom:
truly he tempteth God
very foolishly,
the Lord's might.

Saturnus quoth.
But who is the dumb one who
in some den resteth,
is very wise;
hath seven tongues,
and each tongue hath
twenty points,
and each point hath
an angel's wisdom;
each of which will
so bring it up,
that thou mayst see
of the golden Hierusalem
the walls glitter,
and her dear cross shine,
the ensign of the faithful?
Say what I mean.