I lived, yet I am no more studious on that account. I devoured the Muses, yet so far I have made no progress” (Wyatt’s translation).
- s43 ##
43 (K-D 26)
An enemy came and took away my life
and my strength also in the word; then wetted me,
dipped me in water; then took me thence;
placed me in the sun, where I lost all my hair.
The knife’s edge cut me— its impurities ground away;
fingers folded me. And the bird’s delight
with swift drops made frequent traces
over the brown surface; swallowed the tree-dye
with a measure of liquid; traveling across me,
left a dark track. A good man covered me
with protecting boards, which stretched skin over me;
adorned me with gold. Then the work of smiths
decorated me with strands of woven wire.
Now may the ornaments and the red dye
and the precious possessions everywhere honor
the Guardian of peoples. It were otherwise folly.
If the sons of men wish to enjoy me,
they will be the safer and surer of victory
and the stronger of heart and the happier of mind
and the wiser of spirit. They will have more friends,
dearer and closer, truer and better,
nobler and more devoted, who will increase
their honor and wealth, with love and favors
and kindnesses surround them, and clasp them close
with loving embraces. Ask me my name.
I am a help to mortals. My name is a glory
and salvation to heroes, and myself am holy.
Book—Bible. First the preparation of the parchment, then the writing and decoration are described; then the manifold values of what is written. “It were otherwise folly,” l. 16 (literally: not at all stupid punishment, penance), has puzzled the scholars. Proposed renderings are “not the pains of hell” and “let no fool find fault.”
