ac se hwîta helm But the burnished helmet hafelan werede, his head to protect, se þe mere-grundas in the murky mere mengan scolde, was now to be merged, sêcan sund-gebland in the swirl of the swimmer since geweorðad, all its sumptuous array, befangen frea-wrasnum fringed with lordly filigree swa hine fyrn-dagum as in far-away days worhte wæpna-smið, by weapon-smith ’twas wrought, wundrum teode and wondrously dight, besette swîn-lîcum beset with figures swine-like þæ̂t hine siððan nô that on it ever since brond nê beado-mêcas no brand or blade of war bîtan ne meahton. had any power to bite. These closing lines recall the remarkable passage of Tacitus, where he says that the Æstii (Esthonians) venerate the mother of the gods, and that they wear figures of the wild boar as the emblem of her cult, and that this observance alone suffices without arms offensive or defensive to make her votary feel secure even in the midst of enemies[15]. The mother of the gods may be identified, or at least proximately equated, with FRIGE, the consort of Woden, whose name survives in the sixth day of the week, Friday; FRIGE-DÆG. A survival of her cult is seen in the festive ceremony of the Boar’s Head, which is kept up in Queen’s College, Oxford, adding a mystic incident to the mirth of Christmas. Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino. The boar’s head in hand bring I, With garlands gay and rosemary. Our fifth example occurs in a passage eminently characteristic of the heroic age, when the institutions of monarchy rested upon the personal devotion of the thane to the king. This relation is one of great historical consequence; it was to grow into the later institution of knighthood; it had been matured by that immemorial tradition of sacred confidence and fidelity between the war-chief and his companion in arms, which is signalized by Tacitus in words familiar to the modern historian. The passage which I am about to quote exhibits this devotion in concrete act. Beowulf, the hero of the poem, has returned successful from his adventure, and he is fulfilling his first duty by rendering a report to Hygelac his king. His speech is closing with mention of rich guerdon he had received from the king whom he had delivered, namely, Hrothgar, son of Halfdan; and then he produces the noblest of these prizes as a dutiful offering to his lord. This scene constitutes a frame to our last instance of the boar-figure as the most signal feature in a warrior’s headgear: 2145 2145