It is distinctly pagan in thought, and reminds one strongly of the laments of the dead Homeric heroes as they wail for the joys of life and strength and lordship. Stanley states that it is "borrowed, with a few variations, from the anonymous French translation of the 'Clericalis Disciplina' of Petrus Alphonsus composed between the years 1106 and 1110." But it is strangely un-Christian in sentiment as a few lines will show-- "Tiel come tu es, je autiel fu, tu seras tiel come je su, De la mort ne pensay je mie, tant come j'avoy la vie. En terre avoy grand richesse, dont je y fys grand noblesse, Terre, mesons, et grand tresor, draps, chivalx, argent et or. Mesore su je povres et cheitifs, perfond en la terre gys, Ma grand beaute est tout alee, ma char est tout gastee Moult est estroite ma meson, en moy ne si verite non, Et si ore me veissez, je ne quide pas que vous deeisez Que j'eusse onges hom este, si su je ore de tout changee." Below this inscription are ranged coats-of-arms, bearing the ostrich feathers and the motto _Ich Diene_ ("I serve"), which, according to time-honoured but unauthenticated tradition, the prince won from the blind King of Bohemia, who was led into the thick of the fighting at Cressy, and died on the field. Welsh archaeologists, however, maintain that these words are Celtic, and mean "behold the man;" their theory suggests that this was the phrase used by Edward I. when he presented his firstborn son to the Welsh people as their prince, and that the words thus became the motto of the princes of Wales. This is a rather far-fetched piece of reasoning, and one would certainly prefer to accept the more picturesque tradition which connects the phrase with the glories of Cressy. The other word found on these escutcheons--_Houmont_--is still more puzzling. We know that the Black Prince was wont to sign himself _Houmont, Ich Diene_. Stanley explains the combination gracefully, but not very convincingly. "If, as seems most likely, they are German words, they exactly express what we have seen so often in his life, the union of 'Hoch muth,' that is _high spirit_, with 'Ich Dien,' _I serve_. They bring before us the very scene itself after the battle of Poitiers, where, after having vanquished the whole French nation, he stood behind the captive king, and served him like an attendant." [Illustration: THE BLACK PRINCE'S TOMB (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY CARL NORMAN AND CO.).]