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Philip»feto: Surt. 28
28
ening of the sun in consequence of the clouds of black ashes
— a phenomenon described by Pliny the younger, who Bays
(Plin. Ep. Bk VI., 16 tr. by Jebb.) "It was now day
else-where: there it was the blackest and densest of all nights".
It is intere8ting to note that in scientific descriptions
oflce-landic eruptions the great quantity of fine black dust ejected
is considered characteristic of Icelandic volcanoes. And the
chroniclers of the great eruption of Hekla in 1766 note that
140 miles from the scene of the eruption it was so dark
that a piece of white paper held up at a little distance could
not be distinguished from black. The next expression is still
more significant. If the world is to be considered as
de-8troyed by fire, it is a direct contradiction to submerge it
under the sea. But the sudden inroad of one element upon
the other, due to upheavals consequent upon volcanic
distur-bances, frequently accompanies eruptions. In the case of
Yesuvius Pliny teils us that the land encroached upon the
sea. There is such a resemblance between the two last
verses quoted and Pliny’s account that it is worth while to
com-pare the accounts again (op. eit., 20): "A black and
appall-ing cloud, rent by forked and quivering fiashes of gusty fire,
yawned asunder from time to time and displayed long
shapes of flame, like sheet lightning but on a vaster scale".
That is Surt’s sword divested of its mythological garb.
Every line, every word almost, in the whole description
gives 8ome vivid picture of a volcanic eruption, and to
de-clare in the face of tbese verses that Surt is merely a
fire-giant is to make the whole passage pointless and wordy.
Whereas, Surt once restored to his proper function, these same
verses afford an example of vivid word-painting which places
them among the finest in the whole poem.
There is one more reference to Surt in early Icelandic
literature. It occurs in ’Bergbúa fáttr’ (ed. G. Vigfússon,
Nordiske Oldskrifter XXVII. p. 123—128); a poem of twelve
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