76.  Cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die; but the fair fame never dies of him who has earned it.

77.  Cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die; but I know one thing that never dies,—­judgment on each one dead.

78.  Full storehouses I saw at Dives’ sons’:  now bear they the beggar’s staff.  Such are riches; as is the twinkling of an eye:  of friends they are most fickle.

79.  A foolish man, if he acquires wealth or woman’s love, pride grows within him, but wisdom never:  he goes on more and more arrogant.

80.  Then ’tis made manifest, if of runes thou questionest him, those to the high ones known, which the great powers invented, and the great talker[20] painted, that he had best hold silence.

81.  At eve the day is to be praised, a woman after she is burnt, a sword after it is proved, a maid after she is married, ice after it has passed away, beer after it is drunk.

82.  In the wind one should hew wood, in a breeze row out to sea, in the dark talk with a lass:  many are the eyes of day.  In a ship voyages are to be made, but a shield is for protection, a sword for striking, but a damsel for a kiss.

83.  By the fire one should drink beer, on the ice slide; buy a horse that is lean, a sword that is rusty; feed a horse at home, but a dog at the farm.

84.  In a maiden’s words no one should place faith, nor in what a woman says; for on a turning wheel have their hearts been formed, and guile in their breasts been laid;

85.  In a creaking bow, a burning flame, a yawning wolf, a chattering crow, a grunting swine, a rootless tree, a waxing wave, a boiling kettle,

86.  A flying dart, a falling billow, a one night’s ice, a coiled serpent, a woman’s bed-talk, or a broken sword, a bear’s play, or a royal child,

87.  A sick calf, a self-willed thrall, a flattering prophetess, a corpse newly slain, [a serene sky, a laughing lord, a barking dog, and a harlot’s grief];

88.  An early sown field let no one trust, nor prematurely in a son:  weather rules the field, and wit the son, each of which is doubtful;

89.  A brother’s murderer, though on the high road met, a half-burnt house, an over-swift horse, (a horse is useless, if a leg be broken), no man is so confiding as to trust any of these.

90.  Such is the love of women, who falsehood meditate, as if one drove not rough-shod, on slippery ice, a spirited two-years old and unbroken horse; or as in a raging storm a helmless ship is beaten; or as if the halt were set to catch a reindeer in the thawing fell.[21]

91.  Openly I now speak, because I both sexes know:  unstable are men’s minds towards women; ’tis then we speak most fair when we most falsely think:  that deceives even the cautious.

92.  Fair shall speak, and money offer, who would obtain a woman’s love.  Praise the form of a fair damsel; he gets who courts her.