ted their bodies
alternately, and injured them by an immoderate increase first of cold
and then of heat. Moreover, dysentery killed most of them. So the mass
of the Danes, being pent in by the dangerous state of the weather,
perished of the bodily plague that arose on every side. And when Ragnar
saw that he was hindered, not so much by a natural as by a factitious
tempest, he held on his voyage as best he could, and got to the country
of the Kurlanders and Sembs, who paid zealous honour to his might and
majesty, as if he were the most revered of conquerors. This service
enraged the king all the more against the arrogance of the men of
Permland, and he attempted to avenge his slighted dignity by a sudden
attack. Their king, whose name is not known, was struck with panic at
such a sudden invasion of the enemy, and at the same time had no heart
to join battle with them; and fled to Matul, the prince of Finmark. He,
trusting in the great skill of his archers, harassed with impunity the
army of Ragnar, which was wintering in Permland. For the Finns, who are
wont to glide on slippery timbers (snowskates), scud along at whatever
pace they will, and are considered to be able to approach or depart very
quickly; for as soon as they have damaged the enemy they fly away as
speedily as they approach, nor is the retreat they make quicker than
their charge. Thus their vehicles and their bodies are so nimble that
they acquire the utmost expertness both in advance and flight.

Ragnar was filled with amazement at the poorness of his fortunes when
he saw that he, who had conquered Rome at its pinnacle of power, was
dragged by an unarmed and uncouth race into the utmost peril. He,
therefore, who had signally crushed the most glorious flower of the
Roman soldiery, and the forces of a most great and serene captain, now
yielded to a base mob with the poorest and slenderest equipment; and he
whose lustre in war the might of the strongest race on earth had failed
to tarnish, was now too weak to withstand the tiny band of a miserable
tribe. Hence, with that force which had helped him bravely to defeat the
most famous pomp in all the world and the weightiest weapon of military
power, and to subdue in the field all that thunderous foot, horse, and
encampment; with this he had now, stealthily and like a thief, to endure
the attacks of a wretched and obscure populace; nor must he blush to
stain by a treachery in the night that noble glory of his whic