The Dawn in Britain :: :: University of Virginia Library

High noon was, when arrived, with the East-men,
Whom Antethrigus leads, and Trinobants,
Caratacus, Cunobelin's other son:
Ah, heavy he is, to death; who now, by swift
Sent messengers, heard, in march, his brother's death.
Men marvel, which behold his godlike countenance,
Shining, through damps of sorrow; as the sun
Ascends, from clouds! The chief estates touch Caradoc's
Glaive: and sith reverent, taking, by the hand,
Him all salute, in room, of Togodumnos,
Warlord! Kings gird him, with the golden belt.

Caradoc beheld, full-fledged of shafts and darts,
The targe, leaned in chief place, of Togodumnos!
And, in an oak, hanged hauberk of Manannan,
Was on the warlord slain: nor, yet, is washed,
From his death-blood! as in that forest place.
And hastily turned the lord away his face,
For his exceeding smart; so gate him forth,
Alone, to wood to weep. Nor came, again,
Till eve, (when kings have supped,) Caratacus.

He entered, to their watch-light, where they sit;

His lords sees, fell-eyed! twixt whom, stirred debate
Have hellish hags, with firebrands, in their hands;
Catha and Macha, carrion-hopping fiends;
Which troubled have blue Britons' camps, to-night.
Manannan seeks, with wisdom and mild voice;
And king Duneda, (who arrived, to-night,)
With old war-tales, appease their stormy mood.

Of that king-slaying arrow, was their strife:
Fledged with what fowl's wing, nocked was, in what sort,
Ashen, or birch, the stele, or river reed;
Of bronze or bone, or subtle flint, the head.
Some mean, that shaft's wing-feathers were of swan,
Whereout his tribe were known, who loost the shot;
Dweller by Thames. They cease, seen Caradoc,
In reverence of the warlord's mourning looks!