Þat verðr skylt,
ef at skilum yrkja,
greppum þeim,
at gleði fyrða,
allra helzt,
ef eru færi
virðar þeir,
an verit hǫfðu.
Þat verðr skylt þeim greppum, ef yrkja at skilum, at gleði fyrða, allra helzt, ef þeir virðar eru færi, an verit hǫfðu.
It is the obligation of the poets, if they compose correctly, that they gladden people, above all, if those men are fewer than they have been.
[2] ef ‘if’: Skj B emends to es ‘who’, but that emendation violates the syntax because the rel. particle cannot occur separately in another cl. before the demonstrative (see NN §3128).