Hróksv Hrkv 7VIII (Hálf 57)
Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 57 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 350.
Bað hann ekki við dauða drengi kvíða,
né æðruorð ekki mæla.
Engi skyldi jöfri fylgja,
nema forlögum fylkis heldi.
Hann bað drengi ekki kvíða við dauða, né mæla ekki æðruorð. Engi skyldi fylgja jöfri, nema heldi forlögum fylkis.
He bade the young warriors not to be apprehensive of death, nor to utter any word of fear. No one was to follow the prince, unless he shared the leader’s fate.
Mss: 2845(38r) (Hálf)
Editions: Skj AII, 266, Skj BII, 287-8, Skald II, 151; Hálf 1864, 33, Hálf 1909, 122, FSGJ 2, 126, Hálf 1981, 133, 192; Edd. Min. 45.
Notes: [All]: With this stanza begins a list of the various rules and ethical standards King Hálfr expected of the Hálfsrekkar. It corresponds roughly to ch. 5 of the prose text (Hálf 1981, 178) that precedes the account of Hálfr’s last stand. Other bands of warriors said to have lived by sets of rules laid down by their leader include the Jómsvíkingar (Jvs 1962, 17-18 and n. 3) and the Danes under Fróði III, according to Book V of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Saxo 2015, I, v. 5. 1-6, pp. 314-19) as well as under Knútr Sveinsson (Saxo 2015, I, x. 18. 2-6, pp. 752-7 and see n. 90 on pp. 754-5). — [7-8]: The expression at halda forlögum e-s ‘share the fate of sby’ does not occur elsewhere; see LP: forlǫg and note to forlǫg in Hálf 1909.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
- Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
- Jvs 1962 = Blake, N. F., ed. and trans. 1962. The Saga of the Jomsvikings. London etc.: Nelson.
- Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
- Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
- Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
- Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite ()
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