“A rhag gwaith Argoed Llwyfain Bu llawer celain Rhuddei frain rhag rhyfel gwyr.”
Because of the battle of Argoed Llwyvain, There happened many a dead carcase, And the ravens were coloured with the war of men.
And Llywarch Hen in his “Elegy on Urien Rheged” has the following expressions;—
“Pen a borthav ar vy nhu; Pen Urien, Llary, llyw ei lu; Ac ar ei vron wen vran ddu.
Pen a borthav mywn vy nghrys; pen Urien, Llary llywiai lys: Ac ar ei vron wen vran ai hys.”
I bear by my side a head; the head of Urien, The mild leader of his army; And on his white bosom the sable raven is perched.
I bear in my shirt a head; the head of Urien, That governed a court with mildness; And on his white bosom the sable raven doth glut. (Owen’s Ll. Hen. p. 24.)
This supposition would considerably enhance the point and beauty of the passage in the text; for a sad or unbecoming thing, indeed, (“cwl,” _a fault_) would it be that one who fought by the aid of ravens should himself be eventually devoured by them.
Moreover, a tradition prevails, that Owain the son of Urien was actually engaged in the battle of Cattraeth. Thus Lewis Glyn Cothi, a poet of the fifteenth century, observes;—
“Bwriodd Owain ab Urien Y tri thwr yn Nghattraeth hen. Ovnodd Arthur val goddaith Owain, ei vrain a’i fon vraith.” (I. 140.)
Owain son of Urien overthrew The three towers of Cattraeth of old; Arthur dreaded, as the flames, Owain, his ravens, and his parti-coloured staff.
But to the view which would identify our hero with the son of Urien there is this objection, that the poem describes the former as the son of Marro or Marco; nor can the difficulty be got over, without supposing that this was another name of Urien. Or if that be inadmissible, the line, in which Owain’s name occurs, may be translated,—
an alteration, which will do no great violence to the allusion about the ravens.
{ 82a} Al. “March,” as if addressing the horse of the slain;—
O steed, in what spot Was slaughtered, &c.
{ 82b} “Cynhaiawc,” (cyn-taiawg.) Adopting this version for the sake of variety, and under the impression that all the different readings of this poem are not the mere result of orthographical accident, but that the forms of obscure or illegible words were sometimes determined by tradition, we must believe that the _taiogion_, who composed the army of Madog, were simply his own tenants or dependants.