Gripla - 20.12.2005, Page 34

GRIPLA32
times: berandi, byrgiandi, segiandi, sva talandi, sva segiandi, kallandi ok
segiandi, farandi (Post.:326.18,26,29,33;327.16,27 respectively), correspond-
ing to the Latin only twice (accendentes for berandi, Faber:26v.17-18, and
dicentes for segiandi, in „kallandi ok segiandi,“ Faber:27r.26). The elevated
rhetorical style seen here and in other places in this saga is akin to that found
in the sagas of John and Matthias, although the pronounced use of the present
participle here is much more extensive than in any of the other sagas in the
AM 645 and AM 652/630 collections.
4. GROUP C
Clement (AM 645), Martin (AM 645), Matthias (AM 652/630), Ni›rstign-
ingar saga (AM 645), Paul (AM 645), Peter (AM 645 and AM 652/630), fior-
lákr’s miracle book (AM 645)
The sagas in this group (apart from fiorlákr’s miracle book, which is original)
are derived from sources other than Pseudo-Abdias.
Stylistically, the saga of St. Matthias is related to the Group B sagas, since
it is written as a homily, focuses on the sublimity of the saint, and displays
certain heightened rhetorical characteristics. It is derived, however, from a
number of different sources on the saint, including the gospels and the local
traditions of the saint’s cult at Trier in Germany (giving it the distinction of
being the only saga in either collection to be based on such a tradition). The
saga of St. Peter shows characteristics of the Group A texts, in that it is written
in a more straightforward, less rhetorical style, yet it is based on a wide variety
of sources, including the gospels and Acts as well as material from the Cle-
mentine tradition, Pseudo-Marcellus, and Pseudo-Linus (as a compendium it
is similar to the Pseudo-Abdian passio of Peter, although it is not directly
derived from Pseudo-Abdias). Ni›rstigningar saga is a translation of the Des-
census Christi ad Inferos, which existed in many different manuscripts in the
Middle Ages; it is the most paratactic of all the sagas in either of the col-
lections, and it preserves more Latin words and phrases in its text than any of
the others.
The saga of St. Martin is similar in many ways to the miracle book of St.
fiorlákr, since it is primarily a collection of miracles; these two works are thus
distinguished from any of the other sagas in the collections in their lack of
narrative and thematic unity (except inasmuch as the miracles manifest the