Cite as: David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 35’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 826-7.

Lítilæti fann flýtir fyst, það er horfa lystir höfði að jörð og hafði, himiríkis, kvöl slíka.

Skínn fyr skuggsjón hreinni skuggalausa* huggan andi hans, án enda, eilífr, að guð hlífir.

{Flýtir himiríkis} fann fyst lítilæti, það er lystir horfa höfði að jörð, og hafði slíka kvöl. Skuggalausa* huggan skínn fyr hreinni skuggsjón, eilífr andi hans, að guð hlífir án enda.

{The promoter of heaven} [APOSTLE = Peter] first found that humility, by which he desires to turn his head to the earth, and he had such a torment. [This] shadow-free consolation shines before a pure mirror, his eternal soul which God protects without end.

Mss: 621(59r)

Readings: [6] skuggalausa*: skuggalausan 621

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 7]. En drape om apostlen Peder 35: AII, 505, BII, 553, Skald II, 303, NN §§1737, 1738, 3397; Kahle 1898, 85-6, 111.

Notes: [1-4]: Finnur Jónsson’s emendation of ms. lítilæti to lítilætis, and ms. himirrikis to himinríki is unnecessary and produces awkward sense. Cf. Skj B: Ydmyghedens befordrer fandt ... en sådan kval, idet han lyster at vende hovedet nedad mod jorden og fik himmerig ‘The promoter of humility found ... such a torment, in that he desires to turn his head down towards the earth and obtained heaven’. The interpretation given here follows NN §1737. — [2-3] lystir horfa höfði að jörð ‘he desires to turn his head to the earth’: Cf. Pétr 109/2-7: mællti Petrus: ‘Ek bið yðr ... snuit krossi minum, þviat drottinn minn Jesus Kristr, sa er af himni steig til iarðar, var hafinn ꜳ rettsnuinn kross; em ek eigi verðr sva at krossfestaz sem minn herra, þviat hann let ser soma at kalla mik af iorðo til himins, þar fyrir snuit niðr minu hǫfði til iarþar, en upp fotum til himins. ‘Peter said: I ask you ... reverse my cross, because my Lord Jesus Christ, who descended from heaven to earth, was raised on a cross turned upright. I am not worthy to be so crucified like my Lord, because he deigned to call me from earth to heaven; therefore turn my head down to the earth and my feet up to heaven.’ — [5-7]: Finnur Jónsson translates (Skj B): hans sjæl skinner i et skyggefrit spejl med en ren trøst uden ende ‘his soul shines in a shadow-free mirror with a pure solace without end’. The less convoluted syntax of Kock’s interpretation (NN §1738) is followed here. — [6] skuggalausa* ‘shadow-free’: weak f. nom. sg. with huggan; see NN §1738. — [7-8] eilífr andi hans, að guð hlífir án enda ‘his eternal soul which God protects without end’: Both Finnur Jónsson and Kock merely paraphrase l. 8: Skj B, om at den evige gud beskytter (os) ‘that the eternal God may protect (us)’; NN §1738 evigt är hos Gud vårt skydd ‘is eternally with God our protection’. Að is more likely the rel. particle here (cf. Kahle 1898, 111; sts 10/8, 11/6, 36/4, and Notes). That að might alternatively introduce an appositive cl., and andi might be a scribal error for anda (dat. sg.) is a more remote possibility (= að eilífr guð hlífir anda hans án enda ‘[the consolation ...] that eternal God protects his soul without end’).