{ 84c} “Erwyt” (erwyd) a pole, or a staff to mete with, and, like the _gwialen_, an emblem of authority. “I will—mete out the valley of Succoth.” (Psalm lx. 6.) A similar expression occurs in Llywarch Hen’s Poems with reference to Urien Rheged, viz.
“That was the prompt defender of his neighbourhood.”
{ 84d} Llywarch Hen says in like manner of his own son Gwen,—
In the assault like the eagle at the fall of rivers thou wert.
The eagle was probably the armorial badge of the hero of this stanza.
{ 84e} Al. “y lyr,” to our shore. We have here an instance of the kindred signification of some of the different readings found in the Poem. Both words are used in juxtaposition in the following extracts;—
“Gwelais ar vorwyn— Lliw golau tonau taenverw gwenyg Llanw _ebyr_ ar _llyr_, lle ni mawr-drig.” (Cynddelw.)
I beheld on a maiden The bright hue of the spreading ebullition of the breakers of the waves, Of the flood of the effluxes of rivers, on the strand, where it tarries not long.
“Oedd ei var— Megys twrv _ebyr_ yn _llyr_ llawn.” (Cynddelw.)
His rage Was like the tumult of the mouths of rivers with a full margin.
“Calan hyddvrev, tymp dydd yn edwi, Cynhwrv yn _ebyr_, _llyr_ yn llenwi.” (Ll P. Moch.)
The beginning of October, the period of the falling off of day, There is tumult in the mouths of rivers, filling up the shore.
{ 85a} “I ammod.” This was probably a confederation entered into by the different princes, for the purpose of uniting their forces against the common enemy; a supposition corroborated by the word “cywlad,” just used. The poet might, however, have intended a play upon the word “ammod,” because of its great resemblance in sound to “ammwyd,” a _bait_, to which the eagle was allured, “llithywyt” (llithiwyd) a strictly sporting term.
{ 85b} “A garwyd,” al. “a gatwyt” “was preserved, or protected.”
{ 85c} The connection between “arvaeth,” and the bannerial device is very obvious at lines 110, 111.
With such a magnificent Design of enterprize blazoned on his standard.
{ 85e} We have adopted “Manawyd” as a proper name, under the impression that the different stanzas of the Gododin, albeit regular links of the same general subject, are nevertheless in a manner each complete in itself, and therefore that it would be more natural, where the drift of the paragraph allowed, or seemed to have that tendency, to look out for the names of the chiefs, who may be thus distinctly introduced; according to the tenor of the following declaration which is appended to “Gorchan Cynvelyn.” (Myv. Arch. vol. i. page 61.)