back to line 69 mæte weorode - cf. 124a. An instrumental phrase - "mæte" relates to the "met-" = measure root and normally means "small/moderate". However in both uses in this poem the literal sense of "with (a) small company" has clearly become, in context, "alone" and one has a typical Old English form of understatement or litotes. As with the use at 34a, 60a, and 124a of the instrumental phrase "elne mycle", the double use of "mmæte weorode" seems intended to create a parallel between Christ waiting in the tomb for resurrection and the dreamer waiting for death and the Cross to raise him to heaven.