Gripla - 20.12.2018, Page 50

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of the murder: “unna ek eigi / arfa Hildis / fagrvaxinnar / faðmlags Svǫlu”
[I do not like that the son of Hildir enjoys the embrace of the beautifully
shaped Svala].65 Óspakr is wounded in return, but walks away and is not
seen again. In the autumn, a man is found dead in a cave: “ok stóð hjá hon-
um mundlaug full af blóði, ok var þat svá svart sem tjara. Þar var Óspakr”
[and beside him stood a basin full of blood, and it was as black as tar. that
was Óspakr].66 the sharp feelings of anger and jealousy communicated in
Óspakr’s stanza, along with the swift killing, seem to be put into context
with Óspakr’s physiology in this scene. the basin and the black, tar-like
blood next to his deceased body create an image of his depressed melan-
cholic state, which adds another layer illuminating Óspakr’s inner condition,
with artistic imagery drawing from medieval learned physiology.67 Autumn
is the season of black bile, awakening jealousy, deceit and hasty temper, as is
discussed in Af natturu mannzins ok bloði (items 5 and 9).
Item 2 reveals the concept of the ideal state of the body, when all four
humours are in balance:
2. Sua segia nátturu bœkur. at sá maðr er alla hefir þessa .íííj. luti
iafnmíkla i sínv bloði. þa er hann val heill. ok hófsamr maðr. ok
stỏðugr mundanga bliðr ok ekki míok braðr. (181:24–27)
[nature books tell, that a man who has all these four things equally
in his blood is a very healthy and moderate man, and steady, justly
gentle, and not very hot-tempered.]
this idea is common, even though it is not found in Vindician’s Letter.
We can, for example, compare this to the above-mentioned eleventh-
century De mundi constitutione: “Hi cum nec plus nec minus iusto exuberant,
viget homo” [When these (the four humours) abound neither more nor less
65 Bandamanna saga, ed. by Guðni Jónsson, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, Bandamanna saga,
Odds þáttr Ófeigssonar, Íslenzk fornrit VII (reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1936),
362. the warm feelings between Óspakr and his wife Svala are communicated in ch. 4 of
the saga.
66 Ibid., 363.
67 this fits with Lars Lönnroth’s points on this scene, see his “Kroppen som själens spegel,”
48; for Peter Hallberg’s alternative view see his “Lars Lönnroth: Studier i olaf tryggvasons
saga etc.,” Samlaren 86 (1965): 169.