Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hví sé drengr at feigri,
at hann í odda éli
öndurðr látinn verði?
Opt sýtir sá ævi,
er aldrigi nistir
— ilt kveða argan eggja —
örn at sverða leiki.
Hugblauðum kemr hvergi
hjarta sitt at gagni.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hví sé drengr at feigri, at hann verði látinn öndurðr í éli odda? Sá, er aldrigi nistir örn at leiki sverða, sýtir opt ævi; kveða ilt eggja argan. Hugblauðum kemr hjarta sitt hvergi at gagni.
We hewed with the sword. Why should a fellow be any the more likely to die, because he is placed in the front line in the shower of spear-points [BATTLE]? He who never feeds the eagle in the game of swords [BATTLE] often regrets his life; they say it’s a troublesome business egging on a coward. The heart of a cowardly man is never of any use to him.
[2] feigri: ‘f[...]gri’ 147
[2] at feigri ‘any the more likely to die’: On the prep. at used adverbially before a comp. adj. in the sense of ‘any the …, so much the …’, see LP: 1. at D. The adj. feigr ‘fated to die, doomed’ expresses a concept of pre-ordained destiny very common in Germanic heroic poetry.