"ærgewin" is a unique compound and, as the translations indicate, there is disagreement over whether the phrase refers to the agony of those who were crucified or the hostility of those wretches who crucified Christ. For the first interpretation cf. lines 30b-33a and 87-88a which treat the cross generically and 50-51. All these leave open the possibility that others had been crucified on the Cross before Christ, and allow the sense "the agony once suffered by wretches" (see Crossley-Holland). In favour of the second interpretation, although l. 65a speaks of the crucifixion as "ðam miclan gewinne", the sense of "strife", "hostility" is well established for "gewinn" and "earm" would be an appropriate adjective for sinful and deluded mankind rejecting Christ and salvation and "ær" suggests the long history of human sinfulness. (see Hermann 1978).