No help of backing was to be had then from his high-born comrades; that hand-picked troop broke ranks and ran for their lives to the safety of the wood. But within one heart sorrow welled up: in a man of worth the claims of kinship cannot be denied.

No help of backing was to be had then
from his high-born comrades; that hand-picked troop
broke ranks and ran for their lives
to the safety of the wood. But within one heart
sorrow welled up: in a man of worth
the claims of kinship cannot be denied.

– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

Lines 2596-2601: As the fire breathing dragon gets the upper hand against Beowulf, all but one of his hand-picked men prepared to stand by him, the brave Wiglaf.

Beowulf Quotes