Cadreith, and Cadlew of Cadnant, besides Aneurin himself. {7i} The
number of common soldiers that fell must be conjectured.

We have said that the battle commenced on a Tuesday; it would appear from
two passages, namely, where the meeting of reapers in the hall of Eiddin,
{7j} and the employment of Gwynwydd in protecting the corn on the
highlands, {8a} are spoken of, that the time of year in which it occurred
was the harvest.

It is not, however, so easy to determine the exact year when all this
happened. Neither Arthur nor Urien are mentioned as being present, and
though the stanzas containing their names may have been lost, it must be
admitted that in the case of such distinguished warriors reason will not
warrant the supposition: the fair inference would be that they were dead
at the time. This view is, moreover, supported by readings of the
Gododin, where certain heroes are compared to the said chiefs
respectively, "of Arthur," "un Urien," which would hardly have been done
had these latter been alive. The death of Arthur is placed in the year
542; Owain, who died at Cattraeth, slew Ida, A.D. 560, and Urien is said
to have been assassinated about 567; the battle under consideration must
have happened subsequently, probably about the year usually assigned it,
viz., 570. This was in the reign of Rhun, a descendant in the 4th degree
of Cunedda Wledig, King of Gododin!

The vulgar opinion is that the Britons lost the battle in consequence of
having marched to the field in a state of intoxication; and it must be
admitted that there are many passages in the Poem, which, simply
considered, would seem to favour that view. Nevertheless, granting that
the 363 chieftains had indulged too freely in their favourite beverage,
it is hardly credible that the bulk of the army, on which mainly depended
the destiny of the battle, had the same opportunity of rendering
themselves equally incapacitated, or, if we suppose that all had become
so, that they did not recover their sobriety in seven days! The fact
appears to be, that Aneurin in the instances alluded to, intends merely
to contrast the social and festive habits of his countrymen at home with
their lives of toil and privation in war, after a practise common to the
Bards, not only of that age, but subsequently. Or it may be that the
banquet, at which the British leaders were undoubtedly entertained in the
hall of Eiddin, was looked upon as the sure prelude to war, and tha