33. #to him#: the others have him. #þe mot#: he is to be understood from
him in the preceding clause, see 6/18 note. E has þe he mot, D, ꝥ he, M,
þat he, the other MSS. he.
34. #fremede . . . sibbe#: a formula, see KH 64 note. A variant is, ‘to
freomede ⁊ to kunne,’ OEH ii. 259/30. #wule# is singular; comp. T.
35. Comp. 30/19, 44/238. The proverb is common, as, ‘he ne mei hwon he
wule, þe nolde hwule þet he muhte,’ AR 338/19; ‘hit is riht Godes dom,
þet hwo ne deð hwon he mei, he ne schal nout hwon he wolde,’ id. 296/22;
Hendyng C., stanza 46.
36. The fruits of many a man’s hard toil often pass into the possession
of his enemies. Comp. 22/129, 30. From ‘Scrutetur foenerator omnem
substantiam eius: et diripiant alieni labores eius,’ Psalm cviii. 11, in
the OE. version, ‘Ealle his æhta unholde fynd, rice reðe mann, rycene
gedæle; and his feoh onfon fremde handa,’ Thorpe, Psalter, 317/11. #sare
iswinc# is plural.
37. #don afirst#, put off: OE. #fyrst#, respite: comp. ‘Vre deð he do in
firste ȝet,’ OEH i. 71/294. #slawen#: so e; but sclakien E; slakien J;
sleuhþen D; sclakie M. ‘Nolite deficere benefacientes,’ 2 Thess. iii.
13.
40. #he his#: he it E; he hit JD; he e M. #mid iwisse#, of a certainty:
OE. #mid gewisse#: ‘mid iwissen,’ 38/139 is #mid gewissum#: ‘iwis,’
187/349 represents _s. neut._ of #gewiss#: ‘fuliwis,’ 79/17,
‘fullȝewiss,’ 89/20 is the same strengthened by ful: ‘to fuliwis’
190/445 shows the same treated as though it were a noun: similarly ‘to
fuligewis,’ 192/508, a compound of fulli + #gewiss#; Orm has contracted
‘fuliȝwiss.’ From #to wisse#, #mid wisse# come ‘to nafre none wisse,’
45/240, ‘mid neure nane wisse,’ 44/236. See KH 1209 note.
42-65. Comp. generally 27/274-291.