Page:The Elene of Cynewulf.djvu/18

 brightly. The shining tree was inscribed with letters of brilliance and light: ‘By this sign thou shalt overcome the foe in the dread peril; by this thou shalt stay the hated host.’

Then the light vanished, ascended up on high, and together with it the messenger, unto the throng of the pure ones. And the king, the leader of men, was the blither and the freer from grief in his heart by reason of that fair vision.

Then Constantine, bulwark of heroes and giver of gifts, battle-prince of armies and glorious king, bade fashion with greatest haste a token like unto that sign he had seen, which had been disclosed before him in the heavens, the cross of Christ. And at dawn, with the first gleam of day, he bade rouse the warriors and make ready for the stress of fight, lift up the emblem of battle, take the holy tree before them, and bear the sign of God into the press of their foes.

The trumpets rang loud at the army’s front. The raven rejoiced at the move; the dewy-feathered eagle scanned the march, the strife of battle-heated men; and the wolf, fellow of the forest, raised his song. Rife was the dread terror of battle.

Then there was the clash of shields and the shock of men, the bitter hand-to-hand struggle and the slaughter of hosts, when once they had passed within an arrow’s flight. On the fated folk dire enemies hurled a shower of darts, and with might of arm sent their spears, biting battle-adders, over the yellow shields into the midst of their foes. But with