Enn vildu þá einkum
ǫldurmenn, at skyldu
— slíkt eru yrkisefni —
ágæta sér leita.
Ok haukligar hefja
heitstrengingar gátu;
eigi segik, at ýta
ǫlteiti var lítil.
Enn vildu ǫldurmenn þá einkum, at skyldu leita sér ágæta; slíkt eru yrkisefni. Ok gátu hefja haukligar heitstrengingar; eigi segik, at ǫlteiti ýta var lítil.
Further, the leaders then wished especially that they should seek fame for themselves; such matters are material for a poem. And they made hawk-like vows; I do not say that the ale-cheer of men was meagre.
[6] gátu: so all others, tóku R
[5, 6] gátu hefja ‘made’: The ÓT reading gátu, lit. ‘got, succeeded in’ is metrically more correct than R’s tóku, lit. ‘proceeded to’, as it provides the skothending needed for l. 6. Both verbs can function as auxiliaries to an inf., here hefja ‘begin, make’.