[All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 3) Virtutem primam esse puta conpescere linguam; / proximus ille deo est, qui scit ratione tacere ‘I think the first virtue to be curbing your tongue; he is closest to God who knows how to keep quiet properly’. The advice to listen rather than to speak in a circle of strangers is parallelled in Hsv 16, but this st. concentrates on discretion as a general virtue. A similar idea is expressed in Hávm 103 (cf. NK, 33).
References
- Bibliography
- NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
- Internal references
- Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 16’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 370.
- Not published: do not cite ()