men reviled us two (the cross and Christ) both together.
I was moistened with the blood poured forth from His side.
3. Christ was upon the cross;
howbeit, thither came eagerly from afar
princes to (see) that One; I beheld all that.
sorely was I afflicted with sorrows;
I submitted however to the men's hands.
4. wounded with arrows,
they laid Him down, weary in His limbs.
they stood beside Him, at the head of His corpse.
they beheld there the Lord of heaven.
In the late MS. it is the cross that is wounded by arrows; whereas
in the runic inscription it seems to be implied that it was Christ
Himself that was so wounded. The allusion is in any case very obscure;
but the latter notion makes the better sense, and is capable of being
explained by the Norse legend of Balder, who was frequently shot at by
the other gods in sport, as he was supposed to be invulnerable; but he
was slain thus one day by a shaft made of mistletoe, which alone had
power to harm him.
There is also extant a considerable number of very brief inscriptions,
such as that on a column at Bewcastle, in Cumberland; but they
contribute little to our knowledge except the forms of proper names.
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