第42章

Shall we scatter our gold upon the earth, ere we have set eyes upon the Scots? Those who faint at the thought of warring when they are out for war, what manner of men are they to be thought in the battle? Shall we be a derision to our foes, we who were their terror? Shall we take scorn instead of glory? The Briton will marvel that he was conquered by men whom he sees fear is enough to conquer.We struck them before with panic; shall we be panic-stricken by them? We scorned them when before us; shall we dread them when they are not here? When will our bravery win the treasure which our cowardice rejects? Shall we shirk the fight, in scorn of the money which we fought to win, and enrich those whom we should rightly have impoverished? What deed more despicable can we do than to squander gold on those whom we should smite with steel? Panic must never rob us of the spoils of valour; and only war must make us quit what in warfare we have won.Let us sell our plunder at the price at which we bought it;let the purchase-money be weighed out in steel.It is better to die a noble death, than to molder away too much in love with the light life.In a fleeting instant of time life forsakes us, but shame pursues us past the grave.Further, if we cast away this gold, the greater the enemy thinks our fear, the hotter will be his chase.Besides, whichever the issue of the day, the gold is not hateful to us.Conquerors, we shall triumph in the treasure which now we bear; conquered, we shall leave it to pay our burying."So spoke the old man; but the soldiers regarded the advice of their king rather than of their comrade, and thought more of the former than of the latter counsel.So each of them eagerly drew his wealth, whatever he had, from his pouch; they unloaded their ponies of the various goods they were carrying; and having thus cleared their money-bags, girded on their arms more deftly.They went on, and the Britons came up, but broke away after the plunder which lay spread out before them.Their king, when he beheld them too greedily busied with scrambling for the treasure, bade them "take heed not to weary with a load of riches those hands which were meant for battle, since they ought to know that a victory must be culled ere it is counted.Therefore let them scorn the gold and give chase to the possessors of the gold; let them admire the lustre, not of lucre, but of conquest;remembering, that a trophy gave more reward than gain.Courage was worth more than dross, if they measured aright the quality of both; for the one furnished outward adorning, but the other enhanced both outward and inward grace.Therefore they must keep their eyes far from the sight of money, and their soul from covetousness, and devote it to the pursuits of war.Further, they should know that the plunder had been abandoned by the enemy of set purpose, and that the gold had been scattered rather to betray them than to profit them.Moreover, the honest lustre of the silver was only a bait on the barb of secret guile.It was not thought to be that they, who had first forced the Britons to fly, would lightly fly themselves.Besides, nothing was more shameful than riches which betrayed into captivity the plunderer whom they were supposed to enrich.For the Danes thought that the men to whom they pretended to have offered riches ought to be punished with sword and slaughter.Let them therefore feel that they were only giving the enemy a weapon if they seized what he had scattered.For if they were caught by the look of the treasure that had been exposed, they must lose, not only that, but any of their own money that might remain.What could it profit them to gather what they must straightway disgorge? But if they refuse to abase themselves before money, they would doubtless abase the foe.Thus it was better for them to stand erect in valour than be grovelling in greed; with their souls not sinking into covetousness, but up and doing for renown.In the battle they would have to use not gold but swords."As the king ended, a British knight, shewing them all his lapful of gold, said:

"O King! From thy speech can be gathered two feelings; and one of them witnesses to thy cowardice and the other to thy ill will:

inasmuch as thou forbiddest us the use of the wealth because of the enemy, and also thinkest it better that we should serve thee needy than rich.What is more odious than such a wish? What more senseless than such a counsel? We recognise these as the treasures of our own homes, and having done so, shall we falter to pick them up? We were on our way to regain them by fighting, we were zealous to win them back by our blood: shall we shun them when they are restored unasked? Shall we hesitate to claim our own? Which is the greater coward, he who squanders his winnings, or he who is fearful to pick up what is squandered? Look how chance has restored what compulsion took! These are, not spoils from the enemy, but from ourselves; the Dane took gold from Britain, he brought none.Beaten and loth we lost it; it comes back for nothing, and shall we run away from it? Such a gift of fortune it were a shame to take in an unworthy spirit.For what were madder than to spurn wealth that is set openly before us, and to desire it when it is shut up and kept from us? Shall we squeamishly yield what is set under our eyes, and clutch at it when it vanishes? Shall we seek distant and foreign treasure, refraining from what is made public property? If we disown what is ours, when shall we despoil the goods of others? No anger of heaven can I experience which can force me to unload of its lawful burden the lap which is filled with my father's and my grandsire's gold.I know the wantonness of the Danes: never would they have left jars full of wine had not fear forced them to flee.They would rather have sacrificed their life than their liquor.This passion we share with them, and herein we are like them.Grant that their flight is feigned; yet they will light upon the Scots ere they can come back.This gold shall never rust in the country, to be trodden underfoot of swine or brutes: