Note † — II. THE FIGHT AT FINNSBURH:
Reading edition
l. 2402. "Twelfsome"; cf. "fifteensome" at l. 207, etc. As Bēowulf is essentially the Epic of Philanthropy, of the true love of man, as distinguished from the ordinary love-epic, the number twelve in this passage may be reminiscent of another Friend of Man and another Twelve. In each case all but one desert the hero.