Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 20’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 586-7.
Remman brast af rót í kvistu;
rann þá glæpr af hverjum til annars;
leið svá heimr um langan tíma
lífs andvani en fullr af grandi.
Liettir hvörki ugg nie ótta,
eftir mest en þó er að lesti;
opið helvíti búið með bölvi
bauð sig fram við hvers manns dauða.
Remman brast af rót í kvistu; þá rann glæpr af hverjum til annars; leið heimr svá um langan tíma, lífs andvani, en fullr af grandi. Liettir hvörki ugg nie ótta, en þó er eftir mest að lesti; opið helvíti, búið með bölvi, bauð sig fram við dauða hvers manns.
The bitterness sprang forth from root to twigs; then sin ran from one to the next; the world proceeded thus for a long time, devoid of life and full of injury. Neither dread nor fear lets up, yet the worst is what comes at the last; gaping hell, provided with misfortune, presented itself at each man’s death.
Mss: Bb(114ra), 720a VIII(2r), 99a(4v-5r), 622(26), 713(7), Vb(248), 41 8°ˣ(110-111), 705ˣ(6v), 4892(27v)
Readings: [1] af: sem 99a, 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892, om. 713; rót: brot 713; í: á 4892; kvistu: kvistum 99a, 713, 705ˣ, 4892, kvisti Vb, 41 8°ˣ [3] langan: langa 720a VIII, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892 [4] andvani: andvana 99a, 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892; en: er 720a VIII, 713, om. 622, ok 4892 [5] Liettir: ‘leittir’ Bb, lietti 720a VIII, 99a, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892 [6] eftir: eitt er 99a, 622, en eitt er Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892, eirna 705ˣ; en: það 99a, er 713, sem Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892; þó er að: þar á 720a VIII, þó er á 622, 713 [7] opið: að opið 99a; helvíti: helvíti er 99a; búið: burð 720a VIII; með: við 99a [8] bauð: og bauð 99a; við: í 720a VIII, 622
Editions: Skj AII, 369-70, Skj BII, 395, Skald II, 215, NN §2629 C.
Notes: [1] remman brast ‘the bitterness sprang forth’: Cf. ONP: bresta A.3. The verb bresta is used of things that spring forth after having been pent up: flóð brestr í hlíð ‘a river bursts down a mountainside or over a cliff’, kelda brestr upp ‘a well springs forth’, blóð brestr út ‘blood gushes out’ (JH). — [5] hvorki ugg nie ótta liettir ‘neither dread nor fear lets up’: The verb is impers. with the nouns in the acc. case; cf. LP: létta 2. — [6] eftir mest en þó er að lesti ‘yet the worst is what comes at the last’: Eiríkur Magnússon’s glossary renders the idiom ‘that is yet the most, the worst, which follows sin’ (1870, 107). — [8]: Note the past tense of the statement: before salvation was made possible by Christ, all were ultimately doomed to hell.
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