“Tri eilldeyrn ynys Prydain: Gwrgai vab Gwrien yn y Gogledd, a Chadavael vab Cynvedw yng Ngwynedd, a Hyveidd Hir vab Bleiddan Sant ym Morganwg: sev y rhodded Teyrnedd iddynt am eu campau a’u cynneddvau clodvorion a rhadvorion.” (Triad, 26, third series.)
Taliesin, in his Ode to Urien, speaks of Hyveidd in conjunction with Gododin;—
“Hyveidd a Gododin a lleu towys.” (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 57.)
His name also occurs in another poem, by the same Bard, “to Gwallawg ap Lleenawg;”—
“Haearnddur a Hyfeidd a Gwallawg Ac Owein Mon Maelgynig ddefawd A wnaw peithwyr gorweiddiawg.”
Haearnddur and Hyveidd and Gwallawg, And Owain of Mon, of Maelgynian manner, Would prostrate the ravagers. (Myv. Arch. vol. i. p. 64.)
The epithet “Hir,” (_long_ or _tall_) applied to Hyveidd, countenances the view of his being conspicuous on account of his size.
{ 91a} Gognaw must have been the son of Botgad. The name, as well as that of the preceding hero, occurs in an Ode which Taliesin addressed to Gwallawg ab Lleenawg.
If, however, it be not a proper name in this stanza, it may be rendered either “with laughter and sprightliness,” or “they were a laughing energy.”
{ 91b} Al. “As with blades they dealt mutual blows.”
{ 91c} “A llaw,” _a hand_; metaphorically _power_. Al. “a allaw,” _who is able_.
{ 92a} The same consideration which induced us to regard “Manawyd” as a proper name in a former stanza, has caused us to leave “Gwanar” untranslated in this place. It is not improbable, however, from the shortness of this sonnet, that the line containing the name of its hero may have been lost. In that case we should translate “chwerthin wanar,” “their leader laughed.” That Gwanar was occasionally used as a proper name by the ancient Britons, appears from Triad xl. (first series) where we find one of the sons of Lliaws ab Nwyvre so called. He flourished however before the date of the Gododin, and cannot on that account be identified with the Gwanar of the text. Taliesin uses the word in his “Mic Dinbych,” apparently as a proper name;—
{ 92b} Or “gem of a regiment;” his choice regiment.
{ 92d} The Bard in the two last lines seems to be addressing Death, or Fate, which he designates as “the strong pillar of the living law,” or the law of nature, just as the Latins called it “dura necessitas,” “mortis dura lex,” “fatalis Parcarum lex,” &c. The expressions “heb vawr drydar,” and “arwar,” indicative of the effects of death, are introduced by way of contrast to the noisy mirth which characterised the warriors’ march to the field of battle. “Arwar” signifies literally a _quiescent state_, or _state of general rest_; _pacification_; and as such is a very proper term to denote the character of death.