Anon Hsv 59^VII

Áhyggju bera        skaltu fyrir öngum hlut,
        þeim er leynir guð gum*a,
þvít himneska skepnu        megu eigi höldar vita,
        þeir er á jörðu búa.

Skaltu bera áhyggju fyrir öngum hlut, þeim er guð leynir gum*a, þvít höldar, þeir er á jörðu búa, megu eigi vita himneska skepnu.

You must not be concerned about anything which God conceals from men, because men who live on earth cannot know heavenly creation.

Mss: 1199ˣ(73r-v), 624(143) (ll. 4-6)

Readings: [3] gum*a: gumna 1199ˣ    [4] þvít: om. 624;    skepnu: hluti 624    [5] megu: mega 1199ˣ, 624

Editions: Skj AII, 181, Skj BII, 195, Skald II, 102; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 17, Gering 1907, 17, Tuvestrand 1977, 104, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 68.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 2) Mitte arcana dei caelumque inquirere quid sit, / [An di sint caelumque regant, ne quaere doceri] / cum sis mortalis quae sunt mortalia cura ‘Avoid asking what are the secret things of God and heaven; [do not seek to be told whether gods exist and rule the heaven] since you are human, worry about human things’. — [3] gum*a ‘men’: The word is unmetrical in 1199ˣ. This emendation is found in Hallgrímur Scheving’s edn and is also adopted in Skj B. Cf. also gumn- emended to gum*- in this metrical position in sts 86/6, 87/3 (624 has gunnum), 121/3, 122/6 and 130/6. In general, the shorter, metrically correct form seems unknown to all scribes. — [5] megu ‘can’: The mss have the subj. form mega, but an indic. verb is needed here (so Skj B, Skald). — [6] er á jörðu búa ‘who live on earth’: This l. lacks alliteration in both mss. Finnur (Skj B) has þeir er í heimi hafaz ‘those who are on earth’, which derives from Hallgrímur Scheving’s edn.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
5. Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
6. Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
7. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.