| Quotation |
Aurum ibi plurimum, quod raptu congeritur piratico. Ipsi vero pyratae, quos illi Wichingos appellant, nostri Ascomannos, regi Danico tributum solvunt, ut liceat eis predam exercere a barbaris, qui circa hoc mare plurimi abundant. Unde etiam contigit, ut licentia, quam in hostes acceperunt, sepe abutantur in suos; adeo fide nulla utrique ad invicem sunt, et sine misericordia quisque alterum, mox ut ceperit, in ius famulicii vel socio vendit vel barbaro. Et multa quidem alia tam in legibus quam in moribus aequo bonoque contraria Dani habent; ex quibus nil utile mihi visum est ut dicerem, nisi quod mulieres, si constupratae fuerint, statim venduntur; viri autem, si vel regiae maiestatis rei vel in aliquo fuerint scelere deprehensi, decollari malunt quam verberari. Alia non est ibi species penae preter securem vel servitutem, et tunc, cum dampnatus fuerit, laetum esse gloria est. Nam lacrimas et planctum ceteraque genera compunctionis, quae nos salubria censemus, ita abhominantur Dani, ut nec pro peccatis suis ulli flere liceat nec pro caris defunctis. |
| Translation |
There is very much gold in Zealand, accumulated by the plundering of pirates. These pirates, called vikings by the people of Zealand, by our people, Ascomanni, pay tribute to the Danish king for leave to plunder the barbarians who live about this sea in great numbers. Hence it also happens that the license granted them with respect to enemies is frequently misused against their own people. So true is this that they have no faith in one another, and as soon as one of them catches another, he mercilessly sells him into slavery either to one of his fellows or to a barbarian. In many other respects, indeed, both in their laws and in their customs, do the Danes run contrary to what is fair and good. None of these points appears to me worth discussing, unless it be that they immediately sell women who have been violated and that men who have been caught betraying his royal majesty or in some other crime would rather be beheaded than flogged. No kind of punishment exists among them other than the ax and servitude, and then it is glorious for a man who is convicted to take his punishment joyfully. Tears and plaints and other forms of compunction, by us regarded as wholesome, are by the Danes so much abominated that one may weep neither over his sins nor over his beloved dead. (Trans. Tschan, pp. 190-91) |
