George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 38’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 273.
Snjallr, ert orðinn öllum
ofrníðingum síðan
djöflum leiðr ept dauða,
dýrr kross, himinstýris.
Leggr andskota undan
ætt fyr göfgum mætti
opt ok yðrum krapti
óttagjörn á flótta.
Dýrr kross, ert snjallr orðinn öllum ofrníðingum síðan, djöflum leiðr ept dauða {himinstýris}. Andskota ætt, óttagjörn, leggr undan opt á flótta fyr yðrum göfgum mætti ok krapti.
‘Precious Cross, you have afterwards attained power over all arch-villains, [you are] hateful to devils since the death of heaven’s ruler [= God (= Christ)]. The devil’s clan, eager with fear, flees often before your noble might and power.’
Sts 38-41 (especially 39-40) appear to be based largely on a list of virtues and powers of the Cross in the Icel. homily De sancta cruce (HómÍsl 1993, 18r; HómÍsl 1872, 39; cf. HómNo, 105), beginning with fyr crosse drotteɴs fløia dioflar. hræþesc helvite ‘devils flee before the Cross of the Lord; hell is afraid’. The devils’ fear of, or flight from, the Cross (or its sign) is a common motif. See, e.g., Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo 247 (Auctor incertus [Augustinus Hipponensis?], col. 2203) Hoc signo daemones fugantur ‘At this sign demons are put to flight’, and, from hymns, O crux praeclara, / quam impia / tremunt tartara ‘O famous Cross, which the ungodly, infernal regions fear’ (AH 9, 25); the idea occurs also in the late medieval Icel. Gimsteinn 113/8 enn giædi hans [i.e. krossins] munu dioflaʀ hrædazt ‘but devils will fear its [the Cross’s] virtue’ (ÍM I.2, 329; cf. Máríublóm 18/5-6, ÍM I.2, 176).
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Sniallr ertu ordenn o᷎llum ofr nidingum sidan dio᷎flum leidr efter dauda dýrr kross himenstýriss. | leggr annd skota vnndan e᷎tt fir go᷎fgum me᷎tti oppt ok ýdrum krappte otta gio᷎rn a flótta. |
(GST)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], C. 1. Líknarbraut 38: AII, 157, BII, 170, Skald II, 90; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 47, Rydberg 1907, 18, 51, Tate 1974, 83.
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