Anon Pét 45^VII

Metr líkn guðs og ljótan
löst* sinn vánar trausti
smurðr af greina garði
gegn brásteina regni.
Enn frá öðrum mönnum
allþrútinn fór úti
angrs; var einn í gaungu
ótt til grafar dróttins.

Gegn, smurðr {regni {brásteina}} af {garði greina}, metr guðs líkn og ljótan löst* sinn trausti vánar. Enn allþrútinn angrs fór úti frá öðrum mönnum; einn var í gaungu ótt til grafar dróttins.

The upright man, anointed {with rain {of eyelash-stones}} [EYES > TEARS] from {the enclosure of wits} [BREAST], considers God’s mercy and his own ugly sin with the support of hope. Still swollen with grief, he was walking outside, away from other men; alone he made his way quickly to the Lord’s grave.

Mss: 621(59v)

Readings: [2] löst*: ‘laustn’ 621

Editions: Skj AII, 507, Skj BII, 555-6, Skald II, 304, NN §§1747, 2884; Kahle 1898, 88, 111.

Notes: [3] af garði greina ‘from the enclosure of wits [BREAST]’: See NN §1747. Cf. Arngr Gd 3/4^IV í minnis garði ‘in the enclosure of memory’ (SnE 1998, 108/25-7; Meissner, 136-7). Kock compares st. 43/4 gleði tárkveiktan steðja ‘anvil of joy moved to tears [HEART]’, and the OE Andreas (Brooks 1961) 1277-9: þa cwom wopes hring þurh þæs beornes breost blat ut faran ‘and then a pale ring of weeping came forth from the man’s breast’. — [4] regni brásteina ‘with rain of eyelash-stones [EYES > TEARS]’: Cf. EGils Guðkv 14/2^IV í brásteinum ‘in eyelash-stones [EYES]’; Skarp Lv 11^V (Nj 44) l. 4 bráregni ‘with eyelash-rain [TEARS]’; Meissner, 130-1. — [5] enn ‘still’: Ms. ‘enn’. Skj B prints en, but en conj. is elsewhere written ‘en’ in ms. — [6]: Cf. Matt. XXVI.75; Luke XXII.62: egressus foras ‘having gone out’; Pétr²Aˣ 161/40: gekk ut ‘went out’; PP 286/7: hann geck ut ‘he went out’. — [7-8]: Kock (NN §2884, Skald) emends grafar (l. 8) to grafinnar to improve the metre. The ll. appear to refer to Peter’s hurrying to the sepulchre (Skj B til herrens grav ‘to the Lord’s grave’) on hearing that Christ has risen. Cf. Pétr 15/24-5: Petrus einn saman for [B rann] þa til leiðis sins meistara ‘Peter then went [B ran] alone to the tomb of his master’; Luke XXIV.12 Petrus autem consurgens cucurrit ad monumentum ‘but Peter rising up, ran to the sepulchre’. The transition from Peter’s departure from the courtyard of Caiphas (in l. 6) to this later episode in the gospel narrative is, however, abrupt to say the least! Petrus Comestor, Historia scholastica, ch. 159, refers to the tradition that after his denial Peter fled to a mountain cave to grieve in solitude (col. 1624): egressus foras flevit amare, fugiens in caveam, quae modo Gallicantus appellatur ‘going out he wept bitterly, fleeing to a cave which is now called Gallicantus’. Cf. Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, ch. 52 ‘De Resurrectione Domini’ (in Maggioni 1998, 362). However, no reference is made to this tradition in Pétr (cf. Note to st. 46/7-8).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. Brooks, Kenneth R., ed. 1961. Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 44 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1280.
11. Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 3^IV)
12. Not published: do not cite (EGils Guðkv 14^IV)