Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 75’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 406.
Ofdrukkinn maðr, ef hann ilt geri,
er eigi várkunnar vert;
sjálfr því veldr, ef hann svá drekkr,
at eigi at geð síns gáir.
Ofdrukkinn maðr, ef hann geri ilt, er eigi várkunnar vert; sjálfr veldr því, ef hann drekkr svá, at eigi gáir at geð síns.
If a man who has drunk too much does wrong, it does not deserve excusing; he causes it himself if he drinks so much that he is not aware of his senses.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(144)
Readings: [2] ef: so 624, þótt 1199ˣ; geri: gerir 624 [3] várkunnar: so 624, ‘vorkinnar’ 1199ˣ [5] ef: er 624 [6] eigi at geð síns: síns góðs eigi 624
Editions: Skj AII, 184, Skj BII, 198, Skald II, 103; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 20, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 551, Gering 1907, 21, Tuvestrand 1977, 114, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 80.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallels: (Dist. II, 21) Quae potus peccas, ignoscere tu tibi noli, / nam crimen nullum vini, sed culpa bibentis ‘The crimes you commit in drinking do not excuse in yourself; for there is no fault in wine, but the fault is that of the drinker’. The topic of drinking decently is dealt with in several sts of Hávm. Cf. for instance Hávm 11/4-6 (NK, 18): vegnest verra | vegra hann velli at, | enn sé ofdryccia ǫls ‘a worse journey-provision he couldn’t carry over the land / than to be too drunk on ale’ (Larrington 1996, 15). Cf. also Hávm 12 and 19. In a less direct way it is also dealt with in Sól 21.
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