SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

3 14
8
9
10
II
12
13
1. 18
2
Saga-Book of the Viking Society
'God be with trewpe qwer he be
I wolde he were in pis cuntre' (R. Hist. no. 59 as
caption).
Lawtie and luife ar in exile (WL).
Lawtie expellit and all gentilnes (Bannatyne :\IS.,
spurious Chaucerian verse).
Thro ar bort wend
oc fierran sand
j fremedhe land (T 11. 37-39).
Owtlawed ben Feyninge and Falsenesse, (L p. 463
1. 42, with 'destroying' refrain).
Feythe hape exyled doublenesse, (L p. 466 I. I I,
with 'destroying' refrain).
On the idea and the image:
muneraexcaecantoculossapientium (Dent. XVI, 19).
Nummus corda necat sapientium, lumina cecat
(Carm. Bur. no. II).
On the image:
Under dercnesse, darket lit of stedcfastnesse
(PRL p. 264).
1. 19 See notes to I. 5.
I. 20 On 'contraries'
In Carm. Bur. no. 6 .contraries, are linked with
'impossibilities' and with the 'past-present' antithesis.
One of the features of the genre is reference
to the present rise of vices and fall of their opposing
virtues. Note the categoric statements in;
AH 21Jp. 130 no. 185 verse 3J13th C.
Prostat judicium
Alget justicia
Sibi dominium
Usurpant vitia
Videntur omnium
Ex factis paria
Virtus et vitium
Cum sint contraria.
caption of Des. V p. 167 no. 949:
'comment verite, charite et loyaute, foy et creance
font au jour d'uy Ie contraire de leurs noms',
and e.g. II. 1-2 'Se verite veult estre menteresse
Et loyaulte veuIt estre desloial,'
and examples under illustrations to lines above, plus:
Moult sont les loys et les drois bestornes
Les gens aussi et leurs condicions
Et les bons temps et usages mues
Entre mauvais, entre les nacions (Des. V p. 261
no. 100511. 1-4).