The Old English Physiologus | Page 2

Codex Exoniensis, which appeared
in 1842. The long conjectural passage in the Partridge is due wholly to
Mr. Pitman.

A.S.C.
March 27, 1921.
PHYSIOLOGUS
[**Transcriber's note: The following texts have been split into small
sections based on the pagination of the original. These sections
alternate as follows, each section being separated from its neighbors by
rows of asterisks: Old English verse; Modern English verse translation;
Modern English prose translation. While this fragments each version, it
facilitates comparison in parallel.]
I
THE PANTHER
Monge sindon geond middangeard
unr[=i]mu cynn, [_þ[=a]ra_] þe
w[=e] æþelu ne magon
ryhte [=a]reccan n[=e] r[=i]m witan;
þæs
w[=i]de sind geond wor[_u_]l[d] innan
5 fugla and d[=e]ora
foldhr[=e]rendra
wornas widsceope, sw[=a] wæter bib[=u]geð
þisne beorhtan b[=o]sm,
brim grymetende,
sealt[=y]pa geswing.
W[=e] bi sumum h[=y]rdon
wr[=æ]tl[=i]c[um] gecynd[_e_] wildra
secgan,
10 f[=i]rum fr[=e]am[=æ]rne, feorlondum on,
eard weardian, [=e]ðles n[=e]otan,
æfter d[=u]nscrafum. Is þæt
d[=e]or Pandher
bi noman h[=a]ten, þæs þe niþþa bear[n],

Of living creatures many are the kinds
Throughout the
world--unnumbered, since no man
Can count their multitudes, nor
rightly learn
The ways of their wild nature; wide they roam,
These
beasts and birds, as far as ocean sets
A limit to the earth, embracing

her
And all her sunny fields with salty seas
And toss of roaring
billows.
We have heard
From men of wider lore of one wild beast,

Wonderful dweller in a far-off land
Renowned of men, who loves his
native glens
And dusky caverns. Him have wise men called

Many, yea numberless, are the tribes throughout the world whose
natures we can not rightly expound nor their multitudes reckon, so
immense are the swarms of birds and earth-treading animals wherever
water, the roaring ocean, the surge of salt billows, encompasses the
smiling bosom of earth.
We have heard about one marvelous kind of wild beast which inhabits,
in lands far off, a domain renowned among men, rejoicing there in his
home amid the mountain-caves. This beast is called panther, as the
learned

w[=i]sfæste weras, on gewritum c[=y]þa[_ð_]
15 bi þ[=a]m
[=a]nstapan.
S[=e] is [=æ][_g_]hw[=a]m fr[=e]ond, duguða [=e]stig, b[=u]tan
dracan [=a]num;
þ[=a]m h[=e] in ealle t[=i]d andwr[=a]ð leofaþ,

þurh yfla gehwylc þe h[=e] geæfnan mæg.
Ðæt is wr[=æ]tl[=i]c
d[=e]or, wundrum sc[=y]ne,
20 h[=i]wa gehwylces. Sw[=a] hæleð
secgað,
g[=æ]sth[=a]lge guman, þætte I[=o]s[=e]phes
tunece w[=æ]re telga
gehwylces
bl[=e]om bregdende, þ[=a]ra beorhtra gehwylc,

[=æ]ghwæs [=æ]nl[=i]cra, [=o]þrum l[=i]xte
25 dryhta bearnum,
sw[=a] þæs d[=e]ores h[=i]w,
bl[=æ]c, brigda gehwæs, beorhtra and sc[=y]nra
wundrum l[=i]xeð,

þætte wr[=æ]tl[=i]cra
[=æ]ghwylc [=o]þrum, [=æ]nl[=i]cra g[=i]en

and f[=æ]gerra, frætwum bl[=i]ceð,
30 symle sell[=i]cra.
H[=e] hafað sundorgecynd,

The panther, and in books have told of him,
The solitary rover.
He is kind,
A bounteous friend to every living thing
Save one alone,
the dragon; but with him
The panther ever lives at enmity,

Employing every means within his power
To work him evil.
Fair is he, full bright
And wonderful of hue. The holy scribes
Tell
us how Joseph's many-colored coat,
Gleaming with varying dyes of
every shade,
Brilliant, resplendent, dazzled all men's eyes
That
looked upon it. So the panther's hues
Shine altogether lovely,
marvelous,
While each fair color in its beauty glows
Ever more rare
and charming than the rest.
His wondrous character is mild, and free

among the children of men report in their books concerning that lonely
wanderer.
He is a friend, bountiful in kindness, to every one save only the dragon;
with him he always lives at enmity by means of every injury he can
inflict.
He is a bewitching animal, marvelously beautiful with every color. Just
as, according to men holy in spirit, Joseph's coat was variegated with
hues of every shade, each shining before the sons of men brighter and
more perfect than another, so does the color of this beast blaze with
every diversity, gleaming in wondrous wise so clear and fair that each
tint is ever lovelier than the next, glows more enchanting in its splendor,
more rare, more beauteous, and more strange.
He has a nature all his own, so gentle and so calm is

milde, gemetfæst. H[=e] is monþw[=æ]re,
lufsum and l[=e]oftæl: nele
l[=a]þes wiht
[=æ][ng]um geæfnan b[=u]tan þ[=a]m [=a]ttorsceaþan,

his fyrngeflitan, þe ic [=æ]r fore sægde.
35 Symle, fylle fægen,
þonne f[=o]ddor þigeð,
æfter þ[=a]m gereordum ræste s[=e]ceð,
d[=y]gle st[=o]we under
d[=u]nscrafum;
ð[=æ]r se þ[=e]o[d]wiga þr[=e]onihta fæc
swifeð
on swe[_o_]fote, sl[=æ]pe gebiesga[d].
40 Þonne ellenr[=o]f [=u]p
[=a]stondeð,
þrymme gewelga[d], on þone þriddan dæg,
sn[=e]ome of sl[=æ]pe.
Sw[=e]ghl[=e]oþor cymeð,
w[=o]þa wynsumast, þurh þæs wildres
m[=u]ð;
æfter pære stefne stenc [=u]t cymeð
45 of þ[=a]m
wongstede-- wynsumra st[=e]am,
sw[=e]ttra and sw[=i]þra, swæcca gehwylcum,
wyrta bl[=o]stmum
and wudubl[=e]dum,
eallum æþel[=i]cra eorþan frætw[um].

From all disturbing passion. Gracious, kind,
And full of love, he
meditates no harm
But to that venomous foe, as I have told,
His
ancient enemy.
Once he has rejoiced
His heart with feasting, straight he finds a nook

Hidden among dim caves, his resting-place.
There three nights'
space, in deepest slumber wrapped,
The people's champion lies. Then,
stout of heart,
The third day he arises fresh from sleep,
Endowed
with glory. From the creature's mouth
Issues a melody of sweetest
strains;
And close upon the voice a balmy scent
Fills all the
place--an incense lovelier,
Sweeter, and abler to perfume the air,

Than any odor of an earthly flower
Or scent of