Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 49’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 390-1.
Þjarka eða þræta skaltu eigi við þína liða;
heldr skaltu væginn vera;
sanna elsku gerir samþykki,
en þverúð af þrætum vex.
Skaltu eigi þjarka eða þræta við liða þína; skaltu heldr vera væginn; samþykki gerir sanna elsku, en þverúð vex af þrætum.
You must not dispute or argue with your followers; you should rather be balanced; concord makes true love, but discord grows from disputes.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73r), 723aˣ(80), 401ˣ(1v), 624(143)
Readings: [1] Þjarka eða þræta: þræta eða þjarka 723aˣ, 624, þjarka né þræta 401ˣ [2] eigi við: aldri við 723aˣ, við 401ˣ, eigi við þér meira mann eða 624; liða: corrected from ‘lika’ 401ˣ, líka 624 [3] heldr skaltu væginn vera: væg þú opt fyrir vinum 401ˣ, væg þú fyrir vinum 624 [4] sanna elsku: inn sanna elska 723aˣ, 401ˣ [5] samþykki: ‘sa[...]þycki’ 401ˣ [6] en: om. 401ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 179, Skj BII, 193-4, Skald II, 101; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 50, Gering 1907, 15, Tuvestrand 1977, 98, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 62.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 36) Litem inferre cave cum quo tibi gratia iuncta est, / ira odium generat, concordia nutrit amorem ‘Beware of starting a fight with someone who is closely joined to you; anger brings about hatred; harmony nourishes love’. A similar topic is dealt with in Hsv 7. — [3] skaltu heldr vera væginn ‘you should rather be balanced’: 624 and 401ˣ read: væg þú (opt 401ˣ) fyrir vinum ‘yield (often) to friends’.
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