Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 116’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 429-30.
Ofdrykkju forðaz; * hon drýgir erfiði;
svá skal við vífin varaz;
líkams lestir tæla lýða hvern,
er í sællífi sitr.
Forðaz ofdrykkju; * hon drýgir erfiði; svá skal varaz við vífin; líkams lestir tæla hvern lýða, er sitr í sællífi.
Avoid too much drinking; * it causes hardship; thus one must guard against women; vices of the body entrap every man who keeps to a wealthy way of life.
Mss: 1199ˣ(74v-75r), 720a IV(2r), 723aˣ(82), 624(146)
Readings: [2] *: en 1199ˣ, því 720a IV, 723aˣ, ok 624; hon: so 720a IV, 723aˣ, om. 1199ˣ, 624; drýgir erfiði: so 720a IV, drýg erfiði 1199ˣ, 624, erfiði drýgir 723aˣ [3] skal: skal ok 720a IV, skaltu ok 723aˣ; við: om. 723aˣ; vífin: so 720a IV, 723aˣ, meinum 1199ˣ, vífni 624 [4] lestir: losti 624 [5] tæla: tælir 624
Editions: Skj AII, 191, Skj BII, 205, Skald II, 107, NN §2593; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 28, Gering 1907, 31, Tuvestrand 1977, 135, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 109.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallels: (Dist. IV, 10) Cum te detineat Veneris damnosa voluptas, / indulgere gulae noli, quae ventris amica est ‘When the cursed pleasure of Venus holds you in its grasp, do not indulge in gluttony, which is a friend of the stomach’. (Dist. IV, 24) Hoc bibe, quo possis, si vis tu, vivere sanus: / morbi causa mali est homini quaecumque voluptas ‘Drink what you are able, if you wish to live healthy; the cause of bad disease to a man is most frequently some kind of pleasure’. Cf. also Hsv 133. The advice not to drink too much is also expressed in several sts of Hávm (e.g. 11, 12, 19). The advice to beware of physical desire is also mentioned in Sól 71. — [2] * hon drýgir erfiði ‘* it causes hardship’: The reading in 1199ˣ, en drýg erfiði ‘but suffer hardship’ does not produce good sense. The reading here is that of 720a IV and 723aˣ, and is adopted in Skj B. Both 720a IV and 723aˣ begin with því here, but adopting their reading would require emendation to því að ‘because...’.
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