Part 14

Sá hon thar vada thunga strauma menn meinsvara ok mordvarga; (en) á fellr austr eitrdæla thann's annars glepr eyrarúna.

"There saw she heavy streams (of venom) flow upon (or through) perjurers and murderers. The waste-water of the venom-troughs (that is, the waste-water of the perjurers and murderers after the venom-streams had rushed over them) falls upon him who seduces the wife of another man."

Thus we get not only a connected idea, but a very remarkable and instructive passage.

The verb _vada_ is not used only about persons who wade through a water. The water itself is also able to _vada_ (cp. _eisandi udr vedr undan_--Rafns S. Sveinb.), to say nothing of arrows that wade _i fólk_ (Havam., 150), and of banners which wade in the throng of warriors. Here the venom wades through the crowds of perjurers and murderers. The verb _vada_ has so often been used in this sense, that it has also acquired the meaning of _rushing_, _running_, _rushing through_. Heavy venom-streams run through the perjurers and murderers before they fall on the adulterers. The former are the venom-troughs, which pour their waste-water upon the latter.

We now return to Saxo's description of the hall of Nastrands, to see whether the Völuspa strophe thus hypothetically restored corresponds with, or is contradicted by, it. Disagreeable as the pictures are which we meet with in this comparison, we are nevertheless compelled to take them into consideration.

Saxo says that the wall of the hall is bespattered with liquid filth (_paries obductus illuvie_). The Latin word, and the one used by Saxo for venom, is _venenum_, not _illuvies_, which means filth that has been poured or bespattered on something. Hence Saxo does not mean venom-streams of the kind which, according to Völuspa, are vomited by the serpents down through the roof-openings, but the reference is to something else, which still must have an upper source, since it is bespattered on the wall of the hall.

Saxo further says that the floor is bespawled with all sorts of impurity: _pavimentum omni sordium genere respersum._ The expression confirms the idea, that unmixed venom is not meant here, but everything else of the most disgusting kind.

Furthermore, Saxo relates that groups of damned are found there within, which groups he calls _consessus_. _Consessus_ means "a sitting together," and, in a secondary sense, persons sitting together. The word "sit" may here be taken in a more or less literal sense. _Consessor_, "the one who sits together with," might be applied to every participator in a Roman dinner, though the Romans did not actually sit, but reclined at the table.

As stated, several such _consessus_, persons sitting or lying together, are found in the hall. The benches upon which they sit or lie are of iron. Every _consessus_ has a _locus_ in the hall; and as both these terms, _consessus_ and _locus_, in Saxo united in the expression _consessuum loca_, together mean rows of benches in a theatre or in a public place, where the seats rise in rows one above the other, we must assume that these rows of the damned sitting or lying together are found in different elevations between the floor and ceiling. This assumption is corroborated by what Saxo tells, viz., that their _loca_ are separated by leaden hurdles (_plumbeæ crates_). That they are separated by hurdles must have some practical reason, and this can be none other than that something flowing down may have an unobstructed passage from one _consessus_ to the other. That which flows down finally reaches the floor, and is then _omne sordium genus_, all kinds of impurity. It must finally be added that, according to Saxo, the stench in this room of torture is well-nigh intolerable (_super omnia perpetui fætoris asperitas tristes lacessebat olfactus_).

Who is not able to see that Völuspa's and Saxo's descriptions of the hall in Nastrands confirm, explain, and complement each other? From Völuspa's words, we conclude that the venom-streams come from the openings in the roof, not from the walls. The wall consists, in its entirety, of the _backs_ of serpents wattled together (_sá er undinn salr orma hryggjom_). The heads belonging to these serpents are above the roof, and vomit their venom down through the roof-openings--"the ljors" (_fellu eitrdropar inn um ljóra_). Below these, and between them and the floor, there are, as we have seen in Saxo, rows of iron seats, the one row below the other, all furnished with leaden hurdles, and on the iron seats sit or lie perjurers and murderers, forced to drink the venom raining down in "heavy streams." Every such row of sinners becomes "a trough of venom" for the row immediately below it, until the disgusting liquid thus produced falls on those who have seduced the dearest and most confidential friends of others. These seducers either constitute the lowest row of the seated delinquents, or they wade on the floor in that filth and venom which there flows. Over the hall broods eternal night (it is _sólu fjarri_). What there is of light, illuminating the terrors, comes from fires (see below) kindled at the doors which open to the north (_nordr horfa dyrr_). The smoke from the fires comes into the hall and covers the door-posts with the "soot of ages" (_postes longæva fuligine illitæ_).

With this must be compared what Tacitus relates concerning the views and customs of the Germans in regard to crime and punishment. He says:

"The nature of the crime determines the punishment. Traitors and deserters they hang on trees. Cowards and those given to disgraceful debauchery they smother in filthy pools and marshes, casting a _hurdle_ (crates) over them. The dissimilarity in these punishments indicates a belief that crime should be punished in such a way that the penalty is visible, while scandalous conduct should be punished in such a way that the debauchee is removed from the light of day" (_Germania_, xii.).

This passage in _Germania_ is a commentary on Saxo's descriptions, and on the Völuspa strophe in the form resulting from my investigation. What might naturally seem probable is corroborated by _Germania's_ words: that the same view of justice and morality, which obtained in the camp of the Germans, found its expression, but in gigantic exaggeration, in their doctrines concerning eschatological rewards and punishments. It should, perhaps, also be remarked that a similar particularism prevailed through centuries. The hurdle (_crates_) which Saxo mentions as being placed over the venom- and filth-drinking criminals in the hall of Nastrands has its earthly counterpart in the hurdle (also called _crates_), which, according to the custom of the age of Tacitus, was thrown over victims smothered in the cesspools and marshes (_ignavos et imbelles et corpore infames cœno ac palude injecta insuper crate mergunt_). Those who were sentenced to this death were, according to Tacitus, cowards and debauchees. Among those who received a similar punishment in the Teutonic Gehenna were partly those who in a secret manner had committed murder and tried to conceal their crime (such were called _mordvorgr_), partly debauchees who had violated the sacredness of matrimony. The descriptions in the Völuspa strophe and in Saxo show that also in the hall of the Nastrands the punishment is in accordance with the nature of the crime. All are punished terribly; but there is a distinction between those who had to drink the serpent venom unmixed and those who receive the mixed potion, and finally those who get the awful liquid over themselves and doubtless within themselves.

In closing this chapter I will quote a number of Völuspa strophes, which refer to Teutonic eschatology. In parallel columns I print the strophes as they appear in Codex Regius, and in the form they have assumed as the result of an investigation of which I shall give a full account in the future. I trust it will be found that the restoration of _á fellr austan um eitrdala_ into _á fellr austr eitrdæla_, and the introducing of these words before _thanns annars glepr eyrarúna_ not only restores to the strophe in which these words occur a regular structure and a sense which is corroborated by Saxo's eschatological sources and by the _Germania_ of Tacitus, but also supplies the basis and conditions on which other strophes may get a regular structure and intelligible contents.

_Codex Regius._ _Revised Text._

A fellr austan um eitrdala sauxom oc sverthom slithr heitir su. Stod fyr nordan Stód fyr nordan a nitha vollom a Nida völlum salr or gulli salr or gulli sindra ettar. Sindra ættar; enn annar stod enn annar stod a okolni a Ókólni, bior salr iotuns bjorsals jötuns, en sa brimir heitir. en sá Brimir heitir.

Sal sá hon standa Sal sá hon standa solo fiárri sólu fjarri na strondu a Náströndu á, northr horfa dyrr nordr horfa dyrr; fello eitr dropar fellu eitrdropar inn um lióra inn um ljóra, sa er undinn salr sa er undinn salr orma hryggiom. orma hryggjum.

(38) Sa hon thar vada Sa hon thar vada thunga strauma thunga strauma menn meinsvara menn meinsvara oc mordvargar. oc mordvarga; oc thann annars glepr en á fell austr eyra runo eitrdæla thar sug nithhauggr thanns annars glepr nái fram gegna eyrarúnu sleit vargr vera vitoth er en etha hvat.

(35) Hapt sa hon liggia Hapt sá hon liggja undir hvera lundi undir hveralundi legiarn lici lægjarnliki loca atheckian. Loka áthekkjan; thar sitr Sigyn thar saug Nidhöggr theygi um sinom nái framgengna, ver velglyiod sleit vargr vera. vitoth er en etha hvat. Vitud ér enn eda hvat?

Thar kná Vala vigbönd snúa, heldr várn hardgör höpt or thörmum; thar sitr Sigyn theygi um sínum ver vel glýgud. Vitud ér enn eda hvat?

78.

THE PLACES OF PUNISHMENT. (_continued_). LOKE'S CAVE OF PUNISHMENT. GYLFAGINNING'S CONFOUNDING OF MUSPEL'S SONS WITH THE SONS OF SUTTUNG.

Saxo (_Hist. Dan._, 429 ff.) relates that the experienced Captain Thorkil made, at the command of King Gorm, a second journey to the uttermost North, in order to complete the knowledge which was gained on the first journey. That part of the lower world where Loke (by Saxo called Ugartilocus) dwells had not then been seen. This now remained to be done. Like the first time, Thorkil sailed into that sea on which sun and stars never shine, and he kept cruising so long in its darkness that his supply of fuel gave out. The expedition was as a consequence on the point of failing, when a fire was suddenly seen in the distance. Thorkil then entered a boat with a few of his men and rowed thither. In order to find his way back to his ship in the darkness, he had placed in the mast-top a self-luminous precious stone, which he had taken with him on the journey. Guided by the light, Thorkil came to a strand-rock, in which there were narrow "gaps" (_fauces_), out of which the light came. There was also a door, and Thorkil entered, after requesting his men to remain outside.

Thorkil found a grotto. At the fire which was kindled stood two uncommonly tall men, who kept mending the fire. The grotto had an inner door or gate, and that which was seen inside that gate is described by Saxo in almost the same words as those of his former description of the hall at the Nastrands (_obsoleti posies_, _ater situ paries_, _sordidum tectum_, _frequens anguibus pavimentum_). Thorkil in reality sees the same hall again; he had simply come to it from another side, from the north, where the hall has its door opening toward the strand (_nordr horfa dyrr_--Völuspa), the pillars of which, according to Saxo's previous description, are covered with the soot of ages. The soot is now explained by the fire which is kindled in the grotto outside the hall, the grotto forming as it were a vestibule. The two gigantic persons who mend the fire are called by Saxo _aquili_.

In Marcianus Capella, who is Saxo's model in regard to style and vocabulary, persons of semi-divine rank (_hemithei_) are mentioned who are called _aquili_, and who inhabit the same regions as the souls of the dead (_lares_ and _larvæ_--Marc. Cap., i., ii. Compare P. E. Müller, not., _Hist. Dan._, pp. 68, 69). Aquilus also has the signification, _dark_, _swarthy_, Icel. _dökkr_.

In the northern mythology a particular kind of elves are mentioned--black or swarthy elves, _dökkálfar_. They dwell under the farthest root of the world-tree, near the northern gate of the lower world (_iormungrundar i iodyr nyrdra_), and have as their neighbours the Thurses and the unhappy dead (_náir_--Forspjallsljod, 25). Gylfaginning also (ch. 17) knows of the swarthy elves, at least, that they "dwell down in the earth" (_búa nidri í jördu_). As to mythic rank, colour, and abode, they therefore correspond with the Roman _aquili_, and Saxo has forcibly and very correctly employed this Latin word in order to characterise them in an intelligible manner.

The two swarthy elves keeping watch outside of the hall of Nastrands ought naturally to have been astonished at seeing a living human being entering their grotto. Saxo makes them receive the unexpected guest in a friendly manner. They greet him, and, when they have learned the purpose of his visit, one of them reproaches him for the rash boldness of his undertaking, but gives him information in regard to the way to Loke, and gives him fire and fuel after he had tested Thorkil's understanding, and found him to be a wise man. The journey, says the swarthy elf, can be performed in four days' fast sailing. As appears from the context, the journey is to the east. The traveller then comes to a place where not a blade of grass grows, and over which an even denser darkness broods. The place includes several terrible rocky halls, and in one of them Loke dwells.

On the fourth day Thorkil, favoured by a good wind, comes to the goal of his journey. Through the darkness a mass of rock rising from the sea (_scopulum inusitatæ molis_) is with difficulty discerned, and Thorkil lays to by this rocky island. He and his men put on clothes of skin of a kind that protects against venom, and then walk along the beach at the foot of the rock until they find an entrance. Then they kindle a fire with flint stones, this being an excellent protection against demons; they light torches and crawl in through the narrow opening. Unfortunately, Saxo gives but a scanty account of what they saw there. First they came to a cave of torture, which resembled the hall on the Nastrands, at least, in this particular, that there were many serpents and many iron seats or iron benches of the kind described above. A brook of sluggish water is crossed by wading. Another grotto which is not described was passed through, whereupon they entered Loke's awful prison. He lay there bound hands and feet with immense chains. His hair and beard resembled spears of horn, and had a terrible odour. Thorkil jerked out a hair of his beard to take with him as evidence of what he had seen. As he did this, there was diffused in the cave a pestilential stench; and after Thorkil's arrival home, it appeared that the beard-hair he had taken home was dangerous to life on account of its odour (_Hist. Dan._, 433). When Thorkil and his men had passed out of the interior jurisdiction of the rock, they were discovered by flying serpents which had their home on the island (cp. Völuspa--_thar saug Nidhöggr_, &c., No. 77). The skin clothes protected them against the venom vomited forth. But one of the men who bared his eyes became blind. Another, whose hand came outside of the protecting garments, got it cut off; and a third, who ventured to uncover his head, got the latter separated from his neck by the poison as by a sharp steel instrument.

The poem or saga which was Saxo's authority for this story must have described the rocky island where Loke was put in chains as inhabited by many condemned beings. There are at least three caves of torture, and in one of them there are many iron benches. This is confirmed, as we shall see, by Völuspa.

Saxo also says that there was a harbour. From Völuspa we learn that when Ygdrasil trembles at the approach of Ragnarok, the ship of the dead, Nagelfar, lies so that the liberated Loke can go aboard it. That it has long lain moored in its harbour is evident from the fact that, according to Völuspa, it then "becomes loose." Unknown hands are its builders. The material out of which it is constructed is the nail-parings of dead men (Gylfag., 51--probably according to some popular tradition). The less regard for religion, the less respect for the dead. But from each person who is left unburied, or is put into his grave without being, when possible, washed, combed, cleaned as to hands and feet, and so cared for that his appearance may be a favorable evidence to the judges at the Thing of the dead in regard to his survivors--from each such person comes building material for the death-ship, which is to carry the hosts of world-destroyers to the great conflict. Much building material is accumulated in the last days--in the "dagger-and-axe age," when "men no longer respect each other" (Völuspa).

Nagelfar is the largest of all ships, larger than Skidbladner (_Skidbladnir er beztr skipanna ... en Naglfari er mest skip_--Gylfag., 43). This very fact shows that it is to have a large number of persons on board when it departs from Loke's rocky island. Völuspa says:

Str. 47, 8. Naglfar losnar, Nagelfar becomes loose, Str. 48. Kioll ferr austan, a ship comes from the east, koma muno Muspellz the hosts of Muspel um laug lydir, come o'er the main, en Loki styrir; Loke is pilot; fara Fifls megir all Fifel's descendants med Freka allir, come with Freke, theim er brodir Byleipt's brother Byleipts i fór. is with them on the journey.

Here it is expressly stated that "the hosts of Muspel" are on board the ship, Nagelfar, guided by Loke, after it has been "freed from its moorings" and had set sail from the island where Loke and other damned ones were imprisoned.

How can this be harmonised with the doctrine based on the authority of Gylfaginning, that the sons of Muspel are inhabitants of the southernmost region of light and warmth, Gylfaginning's so-called Muspelheim? or with the doctrine that Surt is the protector of the borders of this realm? or that Muspel's sons proceed under his command to the Ragnarok conflict, and that they consequently must come from the South, which Völuspa also seems to corroborate with the words _Surtr ferr sunnan med sviga læfi_?

The answer is that the one statement cannot be harmonised with the other, and the question then arises as to which of the two authorities is the authentic one, the heathen poem Völuspa or Gylfaginning, produced in the thirteenth century by a man who had a vague conception of the mythology of our ancestors. Even the most uncritical partisan of Gylfaginning would certainly unhesitatingly decide in favour of Völuspa, provided we had this poem handed down in its pure form from the heathen days. But this is clearly not the case. We therefore need a third witness to decide between the two. Such an one is also actually to be found.

In the Norse heathen records the word _muspell_ occurs only twice, viz., in the above-mentioned Völuspa strophe and in Lokasenna, 42, where Frey, who has surrendered his sword of victory, is threatened by Loke with the prospect of defeat and death--_er Muspellz synir rida Myrcvith yfir_, "when Muspel's sons ride over Darkwood." The Myrkwood is mentioned in Volundarkvida (1) as a forest, through which the swan-maids coming from the South flew into the wintry Ulfdales, where one chases bears on skees (snow-shoes) to get food. This is evidently not a forest situated near the primeval fountains of heat and fire. The very arbitrary manner in which the names of the mythical geography is used in the heroic poems, where Myrkwood comes to the surface, does not indicate that this forest was conceived as situated south of Midgard, and there is, as shall be shown below, reason for assuming that Darkwood is another name for the Ironwood famous in mythology; the wood which, according to Völuspa, is situated in the East, and in which Angerboda fosters the children of Loke and Fenrer.

One of these, and one of the worst, is the monster Hate, the enemy of the moon mentioned in Völuspa as _tungls tiugari_, that makes excursions from the Ironwood and "stains the citadels of rulers with blood." In the Ragnarok conflict Hate takes part and contends with Tyr (Gylfag.), and, doubtless, not only he, but also the whole offspring of the Fenris-wolf fostered in the Ironwood, are on the battlefield in that division which is commanded by Loke their clan-chief. This is also, doubtless, the meaning of the following words in the Völuspa strophe quoted above: "Fifel's descendants all come with Freke (the wolf), and in company with them is Byleipt's (or Byleist's) brother." As Loke, Byleipt, and Helblinde are mentioned as brothers (Gylfag., 33), no one else can be meant with "Byleipt's brother" than Loke himself or Helblinde, and more probably the latter, since it has already been stated, that Loke is there as the commander of the forces. Thus it is Muspel's sons and Loke's kinsmen in the Ironwood who are gathered around him when the great conflict is at hand. Muspel's sons accompany the liberated Loke from his rocky isle, and are with him on board Nagelfar. Loke's first destination is the Ironwood, whither he goes to fetch Angerboda's children, and thence the journey proceeds "over Myrkwood" to the plain of Vigrid. The statements of Völuspa and Lokasenna illustrate and corroborate each other, and it follows that Völuspa's statement, claiming that Muspel's sons come from the East, is original and correct.