Sitt mein þykkir sárast hveim;
sáttargǫrð er ætluð tveim;
oddamaðr fæsk opt inn þriði;
jafntrúr skal sá hvárra liði.
Engi of dœmir sjálfan sik;
slíkt ætlak nú henda mik;
ýta lið þótt alt fari byrst,
engi læzk því valda fyrst.
Mein sitt þykkir hveim sárast; sáttargǫrð er ætluð tveim; oddamaðr fæsk opt inn þriði; jafntrúr skal sá hvárra liði. Engi of dœmir sjálfan sik; ætlak slíkt nú henda mik; þótt alt lið ýta fari byrst, læzk engi valda því fyrst.
His own pain seems the sorest to each man; it takes two to arrange terms of settlement; often an arbitrator is brought in as a third; he must be equally fair to both sides. No one passes sentence on himself; I suppose such will happen to me now; though all the troop of men go bristling, no one allows that he caused that first.
[7] byrst ‘bristling’: Adj., p. p. of byrsta ‘with raised hackles, angry’ (ONP: byrsta 2). This is the only time in verse that the verb refers to a person.