Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.10.1967, Blaðsíða 98

86
aged almost twenty. In the following year he made the acquaintance
of Bartholin, a young professor, and became his amanuensis. He
went back to Iceland for the summer of 1685, and remained there
for the following winter. It is probable that during this stay in
Iceland he collected manuscripts for Bartholin, or copied them, or
got others to copy them for him, and that this was the begroning of
his collecting activity. After his return to Copenhagen in 1686,
he worked steadily for Bartholin for the next four years, until the
latter’s death.
The manuscript consists of the Icelandic text of the saga and a
Latin translation of it on facing pages. This is a form which would
be both useful and interesting to Bartholin, and conversely it is
difficult to imagine why Åmi Magnusson would write such a
manuscript unless it was for some Danish scholar or patron.
These considerations make it likely that the manuscript was
written for Bartholin. This may have been in Copenhagen in 1684-
85, in Iceland in 1685-86, or in Copenhagen in 1686-88; if the second
hånd in the manuscript could be identified, we might well be able
to decide between these possibilities.
By way of conclusion, brief reference may be made to Bartholin’s
use of the Latin translation in 922.
The Icelandic quotations in Bartholin’s work are always ac-
companied by Latin renderings. In the case of Hrolfs saga kraka,
Bartholin was provided with a complete translation in 922, which
of course he would feel free to treat as he pleased. This translation is
in Årni Magnusson’s hånd, and is presumably his work.
The Latin in 922 follows the Icelandic text closely, and although
Bartholin used it as his starting point, he altered the wording to
some extent in every instance except one (the latter consists of
only four words). Stylistic considerations lie behind most of the
alterations, which are sometimes very slight, sometimes fairly
extensive. The following passage, corresponding to Ed. Arnam.
1012—10, may be given as an example:
AM 922 4to, p. 283
mala fata nostra sunt si hoc incendio pereamus, nam in campo pugnare
ibiqve occidere malo, et si ita accidat ut crememur, mors heroum Hrolfi
regis mala est; Aliud consilium non video qvam in asseres impetum facere