Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 65’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 400-1.
Engan þú fyrirlít, þótt aflvani sé
eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr;
margr er hygginn, þótt herviligr sé,
ok mjök lítit megi.
Fyrirlít þú engan, þótt sé aflvani, eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr; margr er hygginn, þótt sé herviligr, ok megi mjök lítit.
You should not look down on anybody, although he may be deficient in strength or ugly and short; many a one is intelligent, although he may be wretched and is capable of very little.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(143), 624(144)
Readings: [1] fyrirlít: fyrirlítir 624(144) [2] þótt: þótt hann 624(143); aflvani sé: sé álfvani 624(143), álfvani sé 624(144) [3] eða: om. 624(143), 624(144); lágskapaðr: lágr er margr skapaðr 624(143), lágr skapaðr margr er 624(144) [4] margr er: þó er sá margr 624(143) [5] þótt herviligr sé: er herviligr er sýnar 624(143), þótt sé herviligir 624(144) [6] ok mjök lítit megi: so 624(144), eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr 1199ˣ, maðr þó lítit megi 624(143)
Editions: Skj AII, 182, Skj BII, 196, Skald II, 102; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 18, Gering 1907, 18-19, Tuvestrand 1977, 108, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 73.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 9) Corporis exigui vires contemnere noli: / consilio pollet, cui vim natura negavit ‘Do not disdain the powers of a small body; [the man] to whom nature denied strength may be strong in counsel’. Cf. Sól 34. Further parallels occur in Hávm 10 and 75. — [3] eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr ‘or ugly and short’: The two versions in 624 are hypermetrical. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) has eða ljótr ok lágr skapaðr. — [6]: The last l. in 1199ˣ is a repetition of l. 3 and appears to be the result of scribal error.
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