Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 62’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 398-9.
Litlu láni fagni lýða hverr,
ok hafi eigi metnað mikinn;
í litlum polli haldaz lengi skip,
er síðan brýtr hregg í hafi.
Hverr lýða fagni litlu láni, ok hafi eigi metnað mikinn; skip haldaz lengi í litlum polli, er hregg brýtr í hafi síðan.
Let every man rejoice at small benefits, and let him not have great arrogance; ships stay safe for a long time in a small pool, which a storm at sea later wrecks.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(143)
Readings: [1] láni: hann 624 [2] fagni: fagna 624 [3] ok: om. 624; eigi: eigi maðr 624 [4] í: opt í 624 [6] er síðan: þau er 624; brýtr hregg: hregg brýtr 624; í: so 624, ór 1199ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 181, Skj BII, 196, Skald II, 102; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 17, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 551, Gering 1907, 18, Tuvestrand 1977, 106, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 71.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 6) Quod nimium est fugito, parvo gaudere memento: / tuta mage est puppis, modico quae flumine fertur ‘Flee that which is excessive; remember to rejoice in small things; that craft is safer which is borne on a small stream’. Both versions render the Lat. distich equally well, but the text in 624 seems somewhat corrupt.
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