Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 3.djvu/293

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 281 to him Eindricl Johnsson. All the smaller ships lay saga xv.- farther off, and they were all nearly loaded with weapons and stones. * Then Sigurd of Royr made the following speech : Chapter been promised ns all the summer, that we shall meet i^oy'"'^ King Inge in battle. We have long prepared our- ^p®^*''* selves for this; and many of our comrades have boasted that they would never fly from or submit to King Inge and Gregorius, and now let them remem- ber their words. But we who have sometimes sfot the toothach in our conflicts with them, speak less confidently ; for it has happened, as all have heard, that we very often have come ofi* without glory. But, nevertheless, it is noAv necessary to fight manfully, and stand to it with steadiness ; for the only escape for us is in victory. Although we have somewhat fewer men than they, yet luck determines which side shall have the advantage, and God knows that the right is on our side. Inge has killed two of his bro- thers; and it is obvious to all men that the mulct he intends to pay King Hakon for his father's murder is to murder him also, as well as his other relations, which will be seen this day to be his intent. King Hakon desired from the beginning no more of Norway than the third part, which his father had possessed, and which was denied him; and yet, in my opinion. King Hakon has a better right to inherit after his father's brother King Eystein, than Inge or Simun Skalp, or the other men who killed King Eystein. Many of them who would save their souls, and yet have defiled their hands with such bloody deeds as Inge has done, must think it a presumption before God that he takes the name of king ; and I wonder the battles of those ages, form an element in the military movements of great bodies of men in the countries in which stones are scarce, not sufficiently considered by historians.
 * ^ Now there is hope that the time is come which has sioTiJd of
 * The importance of stones, and the enormous quantity required in