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Precarious Ties
 Precarious Ties
Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia
MEG RITHMIRE
 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the
University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing
worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and
certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under
terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning
reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same
condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rithmire, Meg E., 1982- author.
Title: Precarious ties : business and the state in authoritarian Asia / Meg Rithmire.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2023] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023011408 (print) | LCCN 2023011409 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780197697528 (hardback) | ISBN 9780197697535 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780197697542 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Industrial policy—Asia. | Authoritarianism—Asia. |
Patronage, Political—Asia. | Asia—Politics and government.
Classification: LCC HD3616 .C63 R57 2023 (print) |
LCC HD3616 .C63 (ebook) | DDC 338.95—dc23/eng/20230602
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023011408
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023011409
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197697528.001.0001
 To the wonderful people who care for small children,
especially the staff at Peabody Terrace Children’s Center,
Grace Foster, Ariela Weinbach, and Amelia Kraus
 Contents

List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. The Foundations of State-Business Relations in Authoritarian Asi

a
2. The Origins of Trust and Distrust: The Making of Capitalist Class
es in Asia, 1945–1970
3. Mutual Endangerment in Indonesia: State-Business Relations wit
h Distrust
4. Mutual Alignment and Competitive Clientelism in Malaysia
5. China’s Capitalists under Reform: The Life and Death of Mutual A
lignment
6. Elite Disintegration: The Moral Economy of Mutual Endangermen
t in China
7. Crisis and Reconfiguration: The Chinese Communist Party versus
Business
8. Conclusion: Power and Moral Economy in Authoritarian Capitalis
m

Appendices
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
 Tables

1.1. Patterns of State-Business Relations

1.2. Typology and Cases
1.3. Cases and Outcomes
1.4. Trust and Distrust in Malaysia, Indonesia, and China
1.5. The Cases and the Argument
2.1. Political Inclusion of Capitalists
2.2. MCA Performance in 1959, 1964, and 1969 Elections
3.1. Credit by Source Prior to Liberalization, 1974–1983
3.2. Shares of Bank Assets by Type of Ownership, 1983–1994
3.3. Bank Growth, 1987–1994
3.4. Indonesian Chinese-Owned Conglomerates in Top Fifty National
Firms by Asset Size, with Financial Firms
4.1. Characterizing State-Business Relations in Malaysia
4.2. Asset Ownership by Ethnic Group
4.3. Asset Ownership by Group
4.4. Government-Linked Investment Companies
4.5. Rescue and Restructuring in Malaysia, 1997–2000
4.6. Election Results, 2008–2018
5.1. Sources of Startup Capital, 1988
5.2. Sources of Capital for Private Firms, 1992
5.3. Behavioral Manifestations of Distrust
5.4. Survey Data on Entrepreneurs’ Outlooks, 1995
5.5. Estimates of Capital Flight from China, 1984–1994
5.6. Selected National-Level Campaigns in Reform-Era China
5.7. Growth of Bank and Nonbank Financial Institutions, 2004–2019
6.1. Overseas M&A Activity of Four “Gray Rhino” Firms, 2001–2017
6.2. CCP Efforts at International Asset Recovery, 2008–2021
6.3. Corruption Cases, 2012–2017
6.4. Business Activities of Legal Representatives
6.5. Investments by Firms with Nonstate Individuals as Actual Contr
ollers
6.6. Corporate Organization, Select Conglomerates, 2018
7.1. Corporate Bonds for Select Firms, 2004–2017
B.1. Top One Hundred Firms by Market Capitalization on KLSE, 2004
–2018 (Malaysia)
B.2. GLICs and GLCs Designated as Contributing to “State Sharehold
ing” (Malaysia)
C.1. Privately Owned Large Conglomerate Firms (China)
D.1. Indonesia Fieldwork
D.2. Malaysia Fieldwork
D.3. China Fieldwork: Firms
D.4. China Fieldwork: Officials
 Figures

3.1. Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index and Volume, 1977–20

00
3.2. Number of Firms Listed, Jakarta Stock Exchange, 1977–2000
3.3. Network Map of Company Connections, Top Two Hundred Congl
omerates
3.4. Network Map of Conglomerates with Connections
4.1. MCA Proposal for Managing Chinese Business under the NEP
4.2. KLSE Indicators, 1990–1997
4.3. State Shareholding, Top One Hundred Firms on the KLSE, 2004
–2018
4.4. Share of the KLSE by GLICs, 2004–2018
4.5. Firm Connections through Interlocking Directorships, 2018
5.1. Central versus Local Share of Budgetary Revenues and Expendit
ures, 1970–2010
5.2. Credit Expansion in China during the Reform Era
6.1. Capital Flows, China 2000–2022
6.2. OFDI from China, 2005–2018
6.3. Expansion of Equity Markets, 1999–2021
6.4. Actual Controller of Firms
7.1. Debt-to-Asset Ratio, Listed Firms, 1992–2018
7.2. Lending Banks to HNA
7.3. Lending Banks to Wanda
7.4. Number of Invested Firms by Shareholder Type for the Top Twe
nty Shareholders on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchang
es
A.1. Example of Data Entry for the Aneka Group
C.1. New Hope Liuhe Ltd. (新希望六和股份有限公司)
C.2. Example: Jinlong Group–Dongguan Securities Co., Ltd.
C.3. Example: Evergrande Group–Evergrande Real Estate Group Co.,
Ltd.
C.4. ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database Entry for “Wanda International Gr
oup Ltd.” (China)
 Acknowledgments

I spent summer of 2015 in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia,

exploring materials for a project on transnational capital in Asia. On
a very hot day in June, I crossed the border for a long day of
meetings and took a break for lunch with a very wealthy
entrepreneur in Shenzhen. During lunch, as I was freezing in an
overly air-conditioned restaurant, my companion was sweating with
increasing unease, watching his three phones as stock markets in
Shenzhen and Shanghai were in free fall. He told me he had lost a
considerable sum as we were eating, and I offered to get the bill. He
said something along the lines of “No worries; this is basically a
casino for me, and anyway I am sure the government won’t let
important firms really collapse.” His comment did not seem
surprising at first, but I returned to it again and again while
watching the financial turmoil unfold over the next couple of years. I
did end up writing a book somewhat about transnational capital in
Asia, but not the one I expected to write. By the time of the book’s
completion, as the Chinese Communist Party was turning on
capitalists once again and financial scandal contributed to political
turmoil in Malaysia, I knew it was the right project.
The set of questions that would motivate this book emerged
during my years as an assistant and associate professor at Harvard
Business School. I would like to say the questions were all my own,
but, alas, I cannot. Scholarly life in an interdisciplinary department
and interaction with practitioners confront me with large,
comparative, and temporally expansive questions about China. My
students and colleagues puzzle over the long-term sustainability of
debt in China, why firms look the way they do, and why Chinese
entrepreneurs even bother when they can theoretically be
expropriated by the state at any moment, to name a few. The more
I tried to answer these questions, the deeper they revealed
themselves to be. The ideas in this book would have never come to
fruition without the general education I get (and try to give) in the
classroom and the hallways of campus. I am grateful to my current
and former co-teachers, including Rawi Abdelal, Rafael DiTella,
Kristin Fabbe, Jeremy Friedman, Peter Katzenstein, Akshay Mangla,
Vincent Pons, Sophus Reinert, Dante Roscini (who taught me how to
read a bank balance sheet at some predawn hour), Gunnar
Trumbull, Matt Weinzierl, and Eric Werker, who were all part of a
mutual aid society of sorts. I have also been enriched by
conversations with Alberto Cavallo, Matts Fibiger, Reshma Hussam,
Charlotte Robertson, Marco Tabellini, Marlous van Waijenburg, and
Jaya Wen. Several of my colleagues read parts of this book in
progress. I thank Rawi Abdelal, Caroline Elkins, Kristin Fabbe,
Charlotte Robertson, Gunnar Trumbull, Marlous van Waijenburg,
Matt Weinzierl, and Jaya Wen for their critical help. Matts Fibiger not
only read the work but also helped with sources for Indonesia.
Sophus Reinert provided critical feedback and camaraderie. I owe a
special debt to the late Julio Rotemberg, whose improbable
intellectual mentorship enriched my life immensely. He told me that
working on how businesspeople behave would be fun; as with most
things, he was right.
Rick Doner introduced me to political economy and Southeast
Asia when I was much younger and has encouraged me in the
decades since. I will always be grateful to Elizabeth Perry for my
training in Chinese politics and her good judgment and support; I
will always be her student. It is my great fortune to be part of the
larger Harvard China and Asia community. I am grateful to Bill
Alford, Nara Dillon, Dinda Elliott, Mark Elliott, Bill Hsiao, Iain
Johnston, Bill Kirby, Dan Murphy, Bill Overholt, Dwight Perkins,
James Robson, Tony Saich, Michael Szonyi, Karen Thornber, Mark
Wu, and Winnie Yip for engaging my ideas or helping me socialize
them. I am especially delighted to benefit from a younger generation
of Harvard China comrades: Arunabh Ghosh, Li Jie, Daniel Koss, Ya-
Wen Lei, Yuhua Wang, Mark Wu, and David Yang. Roderick
MacFarquhar and Ezra Vogel were sources of support and
constructive challenge. I was lucky to learn from them as a student
and be treated graciously as a colleague. We all miss them dearly.
Warren McFarlan has been a booster, a mentor, and a mensch.
Having his name on my card has elicited admiration from people I
have met all over Asia, and it is a privilege to take on the mantle.
The research for this book took many years and spanned several
countries. A leave year in 2016–2017 enabled me to spend time in at
the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore
and in Shanghai. ARI was a terrific home in Singapore, and the NUS
Southeast Asia and Chinese collection librarians were wonderfully
helpful. Singapore was a great base for travel to Malaysia and
Indonesia, where I was grateful to the many businesspeople,
political elites, and bureaucrats who tolerated my slow education in
Southeast Asian politics and business. I especially appreciate Essie
Alamsyah, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Li-Kai Chen, George
Hendrata, George Hendropropriyono, Jomo KS, Tom Lembang, Ray
Pulungan, and Datuk Othman Yusoff for help in Indonesia and
Malaysia. In China, I thank Nancy Dai, Huang Jingsheng, Dawn Lau,
Lin Shu, Wang Yi, and especially Bonnie Cao at HBS’s Asia Pacific
Research Office, as well as scholars from the China Academy of
Social Sciences, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Fudan,
East China Normal, Peking, Tsinghua, Renmin, and Nanjing
Universities for invaluable discussions and help in the field. The
names of scholars, businesspeople, regulators, and citizens in China
who helped me do not appear here, but I could not have written
most of the other words without them.
My own collaborators over the last several years have contributed
immensely to my own intellectual growth and to the research in this
book. Chen Hao has been a thoughtful interlocutor and friend, and
the research in the chapters on China would not have been possible
without him. Margaret M. Pearson and Kellee S. Tsai have been
mentors, partners, and inspiring examples in a great many things
during an especially challenging time. Li Yihao literally traveled the
earth with me, and it is a miracle his patience survived.
Harvard Business School invested considerable resources in this
project. I thank the Department of Faculty Research and
Development and especially the school’s Global Research Fellowship
for support on research and travel. Victoria Liublinksa and Christine
Rivera from Research Computing Services lent their talents to this
work, and the Baker Library team was professional, patient, and
always helpful. I thank Alex Caracuzzo, Katy McNeill, Linda Rosen,
Rhys Sevier, and James Zeitler for help in accessing, organizing, and
visualizing data in these chapters. Lin Poping introduced me to the
world of Chinese bond prospectuses. Richard Lesage and Ma Xiao-
He from Harvard’s libraries provided critical help in acquiring
sources. Nancy Hearst did that and also read every single word of
this book and cleaned up my mess of footnotes. I am so grateful for
her editorial skills in addition to her wonderful library.
A small army of overqualified research assistants spent their
valuable time helping me. These include Essie Alamsayah, Jamie
Chen, Nathan Cisneros, Galit Goldstein, Irene Guo, David Hicks,
Alexa Jordan, Yihao Li, Elizabeth Lively, Paul Sedille, Jing Shang,
Mike Shao, Zhiming Shen, Leticia Smith, Seth Soderborg, Kaitlyn
Sydlowski, Yuhao Wang, and Zhiying Xie. I am terrifically grateful to
Angelin Oey and Liu Jingyu for their time and patience with
Indonesian and Chinese materials respectively.
Many people read parts of this book and provided helpful
feedback, though they surely do not agree with all of what follows. I
thank Ling Chen, Nara Dillon, Martin Dimitrov, Yue Hou, Chang-Tai
Hsieh, Roselyn Hsueh, Yasheng Huang, Diana Kim, Arthur Kroeber,
Doreen Lee, Maggie Lewis, Yi-Min Lin, Kristen Looney, Eddy Malesky,
Dan Mattingly, Sean McGraw, Jonas Nahm, Barry Naughton, Jean Oi,
Lynette Ong, Jen Pan, Tom Pepinsky, Maria Repnikova, Scott Rozelle,
Tony Saich, Victor Shih, Yeling Tan, Ashutosh Varshney, Andrew
Walder, Jeremy Wallace, Carl Walter, Saul Wilson, and Logan Wright.
I also appreciate Tom Remington, who initially prodded me to focus
on finance, and Adi Sunderam, who did his best to make sure I did
not make mistakes on finance. Needless to say, he is not to blame if
I did. I am especially grateful to Dan Slater and John Yasuda for
engaging with the whole project so constructively. My special thanks
to Stacy Tan for educating me about intricacies of China’s financial
regulation and, again, preventing me from making mistakes. David
McBride from Oxford University Press supported this project from the
very beginning and was patient with all my delays. Lyndsey Willcox
and Sarah Antommaria provided invaluable logistical help on this and
many things. Dave Barboza and Lin Zhang read the work, provided
helpful feedback, and kindly contributed rich data.
For a book largely about dangerous and fragile relationships, I am
fortunate to have strong ones. I am certain I taxed them all in
writing this book. Jill Bolduc, Veronica Herrera, Ryan and Tammy
Hickox, Brad Holland, Nia Maya James, Phil Jones, Rita Kraner, Didi
Kuo, Kristen Looney, Sean McGraw, Jonas Nahm, Kang-Kuen Ni, Ann
Owens, Christine Pace, and Annie Temple all helped me stay afloat
and reminded me to play outside. My husband, Dave Hampton, left
his job as a public interest lawyer for a year to allow us to spend
time in Asia. Thank you for coming on this ride and for your patience
with me as I did this work. My mother, Maxine Rithmire, mother-in-
law, Betty Ford Hampton, and my brother-in-law, Jeff Hampton, took
turns helping Dave while I was traveling. Dave and I are lucky to
have this family. We lost my father, Jack, in 2020. He was the kind of
man happy to watch the women around him shine, and his belief in
me motivates me still.
My children, Theo and Maxine, actively impeded the completion of
this book, but of course that is their job, and it is my absolute
privilege to watch them do it so well. Raising them, especially in a
pandemic, would not have been possible for us were it not for the
community of people who care for them. These people also taught
me how to parent and cared for me, too. For this, I will always be
grateful to Peabody Terrace Children’s Center, Ariela Weinbach,
Grace Foster, and especially Amelia Kraus. I dedicate this book to
them; my work is only possible because of theirs.
 Abbreviations

1MDB Malaysia Development Berhad (state-owned investment fund)

AFC Asian Financial Crisis
BCA Bank Central Asia
BDNI Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia
BEE Bumiputera Economic Empowerment program
BEJ Bursa Efek Jakarta (Indonesia Stock Exchange)
BERITA British Malaysian Industry and Trade Association
BI Bank Indonesia
BIS Bank for International Settlements
BKPM Investment Coordinating Board
BLBI Bantuan Likuiditas Bank Indonesia
BMA British Malayan Administration
BN Barisan Nasional (National Front, Malaysia)
BPK Supreme Audit Agency
BPPN Badan Penyahayan Perbankan Nasional (Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency)
BRI Bank Rakyat Indonesia
BRI Belt and Road Initiative
BTN Bank Tabungan Negara (State Savings Bank)
BTO bank takeover
CBE commune and brigade enterprise (China)
CBRC China Regulatory Banking Commission
CCDI Central Commission on Discipline Inspection (China)
CDRC Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (Indonesia)
CEFC China Energy Company, Ltd.
CFWC Central Financial Work Commission (China)
CIC Capital Issuance Committee (Malaysia)
CITIC China International Trust and Investment Corporation (中信)
CMIG China Minsheng Investment Group
CSRC China Securities Regulatory Commission
DAP Democratic Action Party (Malaysia)
DTC deposit-taking cooperative
ECRL East Coast Rail Link (Malaysia)
EPF Employees Provident Fund (Malaysia)
FDI foreign direct investment
FELDA Federal Land Development Authority (Malaysia)
FI financial institution
FYP five-year plan
GLC government linked corporation (Malaysia)
GLCT Government Linked Companies Transformation Programme
(Malaysia)
GLIC government linked investment company
IBRA Indonesia Banking Restructuring Agency
ICA Industrial Coordination Act (Malaysia)
ICIJ International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
IMF International Monetary Fund
IOI property development and palm oil plantation conglomerate
(Malaysia)
JKSE Jakarta Composite Stock Index
JSX Jakarta Stock Exchange
KKN corruption-collusion-nepotism
KLSE Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now known as Bursa Malaysia)
KMT Guomindang, Nationalist Party (China)
KNB Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Sovereign Wealth Fund) (Malaysia)
KPB Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (Malaysia)
KPK Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (anticorruption commission,
Indonesia)
KWAP Retirement Fund Incorporated (Malaysia)
LGFV local government financing vehicle (China)
LTAT Armed Forces Savings Fund (Malaysia)
LTH Pilgrim’s Savings Fund (Malaysia)
M&A merger and acquisition
MARA Majlis Amanah Rakyat
MCA Malayan Chinese Association
MCP Malayan Communist Party
MIC Malayan Indian Congress
MIDF Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad
MLB Ministry of Land Resources (China)
MoF Ministry of Finance (China)
MOFCOM Ministry of Commerce (China)
MPAJA Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army
MUI Malaysia United Industries
NEAC National Economic Advisory Council (Malaysia)
NEM New Economic Model (Malaysia)
NEP New Economic Policy (Malaysia)
NOC National Operations Council (Singapore)
NPL nonperforming loan
NUS National University of Singapore
OCBC Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (Singapore)
OFDI outward foreign direct investment
P2P peer-to-peer lending
PAP People’s Action Party (Singapore)
PAS Islamic Party of Malaysia
PBoC People’s Bank of China
PCMA Perak Chinese Mining Association (Malaysia)
PERNAS Perbadanan Nasional Berhad
PETRONAS Malaysia’s National Oil Company
PGRM Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People’s Movement Party)
PKI Parti Kommunist Indonesia (Communist Party of Indonesia)
PKP anticorruption commission
PKR People’s Justice Party (Malaysia)
PNB Permodalan Nasional Berhad (Malaysia)
PPP People’s Progressive Party (Malaysia)
PRC People’s Republic of China
PSP Soehargo Gondokusumo’s Bank (Indonesia)
RHB financial services group and bank (Malaysia)
RIDA Rural Industrial Development Authority (Malaysia)
RoC Republic of China
SAFE State Administration of Foreign Exchange (China)
SASAC State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission
(China)
SDR Special Drawing Rights
SEDC State Economic Development Corporation
SEZ special economic zone
SIP Singapore-Suzhou Industrial Park (新加坡苏州工业园区) (China)
SME small- and medium-sized enterprise
SOE state-owned enterprise
TNI Indonesian Republican Military Forces
TVE town and village enterprise (China)
UEM engineering company (Malaysia)
UI Universitas Indonesia
UMNO United Malay National Organization
WTO World Trade Organization
YTL construction company (Malaysia)
 1
The Foundations of State-Business Relations i
n Authoritarian Asia

For most authoritarian regimes, whether political elites are able to

control economic elites is a fundamental factor in the regime’s
survival and achievement. For all economies save those in which the
state plans production and consumption, authoritarian rulers face
the dilemma of needing to discipline but also to cultivate the
business class. They must ensure that capitalists, who have
substantial access to economic resources, do not organize against
the regime, but excessive control of economic elites precludes them
from investing in growth. For the past half-century at least, the vast
majority of nondemocratic regimes have been in developing
countries with at least partial market economies. As a result, political
elites have faced demands to generate economic growth, but they
have not entirely controlled whether and how their investments are
allocated. Failing to strike a balance between disciplining and
courting the business class can have catastrophic results for
authoritarian rulers, either by generating political dissent, by
precipitating economic crisis through capital flight, or through the
kind of slow-churning economic stagnation that leaves one
generation no better off than the last.
Capitalists in late-developing countries have not, in general, been
agents of political liberalization.1 Although a classical literature in
social science credits the bourgeoisie with agitating for political
democratization in the past, more contemporary portraits of the
business class in authoritarian regimes have settled in the opposite
direction, focusing on capitalists as a source of “authoritarian
resilience.” State-business relations in most developing countries are
more often viewed as “money politics” or “crony capitalism” than as
“no bourgeoisie, no democracy.”2 Scholars have focused on the roles
of capitalists in corruption networks, enriching rulers and their
families and securing privileged access for themselves at the
expense of the society at large rather than their role in challenging
political elites. I argue in this book that the empirical reality is
somewhere in between. Although capitalists have not marched in the
streets to take down autocratic regimes, they have contributed
indirectly to many cases of regime change and collapse, either by
precipitating economic crisis or by eroding regime legitimacy through
extensive crony networks. In essence, business elites have generally
been tied to autocrats, but those ties have been precarious.
This book answers a series of theoretical questions about the
delicate relationship between capitalists and autocrats. What
strategies do authoritarian political elites adopt to manage the
business class? What kinds of strategies succeed, for example, to
secure political stability and economic growth, and what kinds fail,
either by stymieing economic growth or by generating regime
instability? In pursuing these questions, I posit an additional
empirical and theoretical puzzle: Why do elite relationships in
authoritarian regimes so often begin as partnerships for growth but
then disintegrate into corruption, authoritarian decay, and,
frequently, regime collapse?
I explore these questions and this puzzle in the context of three
authoritarian regimes in developing Asia: Indonesia under Suharto’s
New Order, Malaysia under the Barisan Nasional (BN), and China
under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The political and
economic experiences of these three Asian authoritarian regimes
present numerous empirical puzzles. China under the CCP—the same
regime that sought to exterminate the capitalist class between the
1940s and 1960s—has experienced dramatic economic growth and
political stability since the market reforms began in 1978.3 The BN in
Malaysia, a coalition held together by a shared commitment to
capitalism and fear of Communist movements and national
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
editors, likewise, indicate gaps and omissions, but it seems doubtful
whether the extant Hamthesmol ever had a really consecutive
quality, its component fragments having apparently been strung
together with little regard for continuity. The notes indicate some of
the more important editorial suggestions, but make no attempt to
cover all of them, and the metrical form of the translation is often
based on mere guesswork as to the character of the original lines
and stanzas. Despite the chaotic state of the text, however, the
underlying narrative is reasonably clear, and the story can be
followed with no great difficulty.

[Contents]

[546]

1. Great the evils | once that grew,

With the dawning sad | of the sorrow of elves;
In early morn | awake for men
The evils that grief | to each shall bring.

2. Not now, nor yet | of yesterday was it,

Long the time | that since hath lapsed,
So that little there is | that is half as old,
Since Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, whetted
Her sons so young | to Svanhild’s vengeance.

3. “The sister ye had | was Svanhild called,

And her did Jormunrek | trample with horses,
White and black | on the battle-way,
Gray, road-wonted, | the steeds of the Goths.

4. “Little the kings | of the folk are ye like,

For now ye are living | alone of my race.

[547]

5. “Lonely am I | as the forest aspen,

Of kindred bare | as the fir of its boughs,
My joys are all lost | as the leaves of the tree
When the scather of twigs | from the warm day
turns.”

6. Then Hamther spake forth, | the high of heart:

“Small praise didst thou, Guthrun, | to Hogni’s
deed give
When they wakened thy Sigurth | from out of his
sleep,
Thou didst sit on the bed | while his slayers
laughed.

7. “Thy bed-covers white | with blood were red

From his wounds, and with gore | of thy husband
were wet; [548]
So Sigurth was slain, | by his corpse didst thou sit,
And of gladness didst think not: | ’twas Gunnar’s
doing.

8. “Thou wouldst strike at Atli | by the slaying of

Erp
And the killing of Eitil; | thine own grief was worse;
So should each one wield | the wound-biting sword
That another it slays | but smites not himself.”

9. Then did Sorli speak out, | for wise was he ever:

“With my mother I never | a quarrel will make;
Full little in speaking | methinks ye both lack;
What askest thou, Guthrun, | that will give thee no
tears?

10. “For thy brothers dost weep, | and thy boys so

sweet,
Thy kinsmen in birth | on the battlefield slain;
Now, Guthrun, as well | for us both shalt thou
weep,
We sit doomed on our steeds, | and far hence
shall we die.”

[549]

11. Then the fame-glad one— | on the steps she

was—
The slender-fingered, | spake with her son:
“Ye shall danger have | if counsel ye heed not;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
By two heroes alone | shall two hundred of Goths
Be bound or be slain | in the lofty-walled burg.”

12. From the courtyard they fared, | and fury they

breathed;
The youths swiftly went | o’er the mountain wet,
On their Hunnish steeds, | death’s vengeance to
have.

13. On the way they found | the man so wise; [550]

. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“What help from the weakling | brown may we
have?”

14. So answered them | their half-brother then:

“So well may I | my kinsmen aid
As help one foot | from the other has.”

15. “How may a foot | its fellow aid,

Or a flesh-grown hand | another help?”

16. Then Erp spake forth, | his words were few,

As haughty he sat | on his horse’s back: [551]
“To the timid ’tis ill | the way to tell.”
A bastard they | the bold one called.
17. From their sheaths they drew | their shining
swords,
Their blades, to the giantess | joy to give;
By a third they lessened | the might that was
theirs,
The fighter young | to earth they felled.

18. Their cloaks they shook, | their swords they

sheathed,
The high-born men | wrapped their mantles close.

19. On their road they fared | and an ill way found,

And their sister’s son | on a tree they saw,
On the wind-cold wolf-tree | west of the hall,
And cranes’-bait crawled; | none would care to
linger.

[552]

20. In the hall was din, | the men drank deep,

And the horses’ hoofs | could no one hear,
Till the warrior hardy | sounded his horn.

21. Men came and the tale | to Jormunrek told

How warriors helmed | without they beheld:
“Take counsel wise, | for brave ones are come,
Of mighty men | thou the sister didst murder.”
22. Then Jormunrek laughed, | his hand laid on his
beard,
His arms, for with wine | he was warlike, he called
for;
He shook his brown locks, | on his white shield he
looked,
And raised high the cup | of gold in his hand.

23. “Happy, methinks, | were I to behold

Hamther and Sorli | here in my hall; [553]
The men would I bind | with strings of bows,
And Gjuki’s heirs | on the gallows hang.”

24. In the hall was clamor, | the cups were

shattered,
Men stood in blood | from the breasts of the Goths.

25. Then did Hamther speak forth, | the haughty of

heart:
“Thou soughtest, Jormunrek, | us to see,
Sons of one mother | seeking thy dwelling;
Thou seest thy hands, | thy feet thou beholdest,
Jormunrek, flung | in the fire so hot.”

26. Then roared the king, | of the race of the gods,

Bold in his armor, | as roars a bear:
“Stone ye the men | that steel will bite not,
Sword nor spear, | the sons of Jonak.”
[554]

Sorli spake:

27. “Ill didst win, brother, | when the bag thou didst
open,
Oft from that bag | came baleful counsel;
Heart hast thou, Hamther, | if knowledge thou
hadst!
A man without wisdom | is lacking in much.”

Hamther spake:

28. “His head were now off | if Erp were living,

The brother so keen | whom we killed on our road,
The warrior noble,— | ’twas the Norns that drove
me
The hero to slay | who in fight should be holy.

29. “In fashion of wolves | it befits us not

Amongst ourselves to strive, [555]
Like the hounds of the Norns, | that nourished
were
In greed mid wastes so grim.

30. “We have greatly fought, | o’er the Goths do

we stand
By our blades laid low, | like eagles on branches;
Great our fame though we die | today or tomorrow;
None outlives the night | when the Norns have
spoken.”

31. Then Sorli beside | the gable sank,

And Hamther fell | at the back of the house.

This is called the old ballad of Hamther. [545]

[Contents]

NOTES
[546]

1. This stanza looks like a later interpolation from a totally unrelated

source. Sorrow of elves: the sun; cf. Alvissmol, 16 and note.

2. Some editors regard lines 1–2 as interpolated, while others

question line 3. Guthrun, etc.: regarding the marriage of Jonak and
Guthrun (daughter of Gjuki, sister of Gunnar and Hogni, and widow
first of Sigurth and then of Atli), and the sons of this marriage,
Hamther and Sorli (but not Erp), cf. Guthrunarhvot, introductory
prose and note.

3. Svanhild and Jormunrek: regarding the manner in which

Jormunrek (Ermanarich) married Svanhild, daughter of Sigurth and
Guthrun, and afterwards had her trodden to death by horses, cf.
Guthrunarhvot, introductory note. Lines 3–4 are identical with lines
5–6 of Guthrunarhvot, 2.
4. These two lines may be all that is left of a four-line stanza.
[547]The manuscript and many editions combine them with stanza 5,
while a few place them after stanza 5 as a separate stanza,
reversing the order of the two lines. Kings of the folk: Guthrun’s
brothers, Gunnar and Hogni, slain by Atli.

5. Cf. note on stanza 4; the manuscript does not indicate line 1 as

beginning a stanza. Scather of twigs: poetic circumlocution for the
wind (cf. Skaldskaparmal, chapter 27), though some editors think the
phrase here means the sun. Some editors assume a more or less
extensive gap between stanzas 5 and 6.

6. Lines 1–3 are nearly identical with lines 1–3 of Guthrunarhvot, 4.

On the death of Sigurth cf. Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 21–24, and
Brot, concluding prose. The word thy in line 3 is omitted in the
original.

7. Lines 1–2 are nearly identical with lines 4–5 of Guthrunarhvot, 4.

The manuscript, followed by many editions, indicates line 3 and not
line 1 as beginning a stanza. [548]

8. Some editors regard this stanza as interpolated. Erp and Eitil:

regarding Guthrun’s slaying of her sons by Atli, cf. Atlamol, 72–75.
The Erp here referred to is not to be confused with the Erp, son of
Jonak, who appears in stanza 13. The whole of stanza 8 is in
doubtful shape, and many emendations have been suggested.

10. Some editors assign this speech to Hamther. Brothers: Gunnar

and Hogni. Boys: Erp and Eitil. [549]

11. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 21, and some editors
take the word here rendered “fame-glad one” (hróþrglǫþ) to be a
proper name (Jormunrek’s mother or his concubine). The
Volsungasaga, however, indicates that Guthrun at this point “had so
fashioned their war-gear that iron would not bite into it, and she bade
them to have nought to do with stones or other heavy things, and
told them that it would be ill for them if they did not do as she said.”
The substance of this counsel may well have been conveyed in a
passage lost after line 3, though the manuscript indicates no gap. It
is by being stoned that Hamther and Sorli are killed (stanza 26). On
the other hand, the second part of line 3 may possibly mean “if silent
ye are not,” in which case the advice relates to Hamther’s speech to
Jormunrek and Sorli’s reproach to him thereupon (stanzas 25 and
27). Steps: the word in the original is doubtful. Line 3 is thoroughly
obscure. Some editors make a separate stanza of lines 3–5, while
others question line 5.

12. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 1. In several
editions lines 2–3 are placed after line 2 of stanza 18. Hunnish: the
word meant little more than “German”; cf. Guthrunarhvot, 3 and note.
[550]

13. In the manuscript these two lines follow stanza 16; some editors
insert them in place of lines 2–3 of stanza 11. The manuscript
indicates no gap. The man so wise: Erp, here represented as a son
of Jonak but not of Guthrun, and hence a half-brother of Hamther
and Sorli. There is nothing further to indicate whether or not he was
born out of wedlock, as intimated in stanza 16. Some editors assign
line 3 to Hamther, and some to Sorli.

14. The stanza is obviously defective. Many editors add Erp’s name
in line 1, and insert between lines 2 and 3 a line based on stanza 15
and the Volsungasaga paraphrase: “As a flesh-grown hand |
another helps.” In the Volsungasaga, after Erp’s death, Hamther
stumbles and saves himself from falling with his hand, whereupon he
says: “Erp spake truly; I had fallen had I not braced myself with my
hand.” Soon thereafter Sorli has a like experience, one foot slipping
but the other saving him from a fall. “Then they said that they had
done ill to Erp, their brother.”

15. Many editions attach these two lines to stanza 14, while a few
assume the loss of two lines.
16. In the manuscript this stanza stands between stanzas 12 and 13.
Some editors make line 4 a part of Erp’s speech. [551]

17. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a stanza.

The giantess: presumably the reference is to Hel, goddess of the
dead, but the phrase is doubtful.

18. In the manuscript these two lines are followed by stanza 19 with
no indication of a break. Some editions insert here lines 2–3 of
stanza 12, while others assume the loss of two or more lines.

19. Cf. note on stanza 18. Ill way: very likely the road leading
through the gate of Jormunrek’s town at which Svanhild was
trampled to death. Sister’s son: many editors change the text to read
“stepson,” for the reference is certainly to Randver, son of
Jormunrek, hanged by his father on Bikki’s advice (cf.
Guthrunarhvot, introductory note). Wolf-tree: the gallows, the wolf
being symbolical of outlaws. Cranes’-bait: presumably either snakes
or worms, but the passage is doubtful. [552]

20. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 3. The warrior:
presumably a warder or watchman, but the reference may be to
Hamther himself.

21. The word here rendered men (line 1) is missing in the original,
involving a metrical error, and various words have been suggested.

22. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; some editors directly

reverse the meaning here indicated by giving the line a negative
force, while others completely alter the phrase rendered “his arms he
called for” into one meaning “he stroked his cheeks.”

23. Gjuki’s heirs: the original has “the well-born of Gjuki,” and some
editors have changed the proper name to Guthrun, but the phrase
apparently refers to Hamther and Sorli as Gjuki’s grandsons. In the
manuscript this stanza is followed by stanza 11, [553]and such editors
as have retained this arrangement have had to resort to varied and
complex explanations to account for it.

24. Editors have made various efforts to reconstruct a four-line

stanza out of these two lines, in some cases with the help of lines
borrowed from the puzzling stanza 11 (cf. note on stanza 23). Line 2
in the original is doubtful.

25. Some editors mark line 1 as an interpolation. The manuscript

marks line 4 as beginning a new stanza. As in the story told by
Jordanes, Hamther and Sorli succeed in wounding Jormunrek (here
they cut off his hands and feet), but do not kill him.

26. The manuscript marks line 3, and not line 1, as beginning a

stanza. Of the race of the gods: the reference here is apparently to
Jormunrek, but in the Volsungasaga the advice to kill Hamther and
Sorli with stones, since iron will not wound them (cf. note on stanza
11), comes from Othin, who enters the hall as an old man with one
eye. [554]

27. In the manuscript this stanza is introduced by the same line as

stanza 25: “Then did Hamther speak forth, | the haughty of heart,”
but the speaker in this case must be Sorli and not Hamther. Some
editors, however, give lines 1–2 to Hamther and lines 3–4 to Sorli.
Bag: i.e., Hamther’s mouth; cf. note on stanza 11. The manuscript
indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza.

28. Most editors regard stanzas 28–30 as a speech by Hamther, but

the manuscript does not indicate the speaker, and some editors
assign one or two of the stanzas to Sorli. Lines 1–2 are quoted in the
Volsungasaga. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning
a stanza. Erp: Hamther means that while the two brothers had
succeeded only in wounding Jormunrek, Erp, if he had been with
them, would have killed him. Lines 3–4 may be a later interpolation.
Norns: the fates; the word used in the original means the goddesses
of ill fortune. [555]
29. This is almost certainly an interpolated Ljothahattr stanza, though
some editors have tried to expand it into the Fornyrthislag form.
Hounds of the Norns: wolves.

30. Some editors assume a gap after this stanza.

31. Apparently a fragment of a stanza from the “old” Hamthesmol to

which the annotator’s concluding prose note refers. Some editors
assume the loss of two lines after line 2.

Prose. Regarding the “old” Hamthesmol, cf. Guthrunarhvot,

introductory note. [557]
[Contents]
 PRONOUNCING INDEX OF PROPER
NAMES
Introductory Note

The pronunciations indicated in the following index

are in many cases, at best, mere approximations,
and in some cases the pronunciation of the Old
Norse is itself more or less conjectural. For the sake
of clarity it has seemed advisable to keep the number
of phonetic symbols as small as possible, even
though the result is occasional failure to distinguish
between closely related sounds. In every instance
the object has been to provide the reader with a
clearly comprehensible and approximately correct
pronunciation, for which reason, particularly in such
matters as division of syllables, etymology has
frequently been disregarded for the sake of phonetic
clearness. For example, when a root syllable ends in
a long (double) consonant, the division has arbitrarily
been made so as to indicate the sounding of both
elements (e.g., Am-ma, not Amm-a).

As many proper names occur in the notes but not in

the text, and as frequently the more important
incidents connected with the names are outlined in
notes which would not be indicated by textual
references alone, the page numbers include all
appearances of proper names in the notes as well as
in the text.

The following general rules govern the application of

the phonetic symbols used in the index, and also
indicate the approximate pronunciation of the
unmarked vowels and consonants.

Vowels. The vowels are pronounced approximately

as follows:

a —as in “alone”
ā —as in “father”
e —as in “men”
ē —as a in “fate”
i —as in “is”
ī —as in “machine”
o —as in “on”
ō —as in “old”
ö —as in German “öffnen”
ȫ —as in German “schön”
ǭ —as aw in “law”
u —as ou in “would”[558]
ū —as ou in “wound”
y —as i in “is”
Both with a slight sound of
ȳ —as ee in
German ü
“free”
æ —as e in “men”
ǣ —as a in “fate”
ei —as ey in “they”
ey —as in “they”
au —as ou in “out”
ai —as i in “fine”

No attempt has been made to differentiate between

the short open “o” and the short closed “o,” which for
speakers of English closely resemble one another.

Consonants. The consonants are pronounced

approximately as in English, with the following
special points to be noted:

G is always hard, as in “get,” never soft, as in “gem;”

following “n” it has the same sound as in “sing.”

J is pronounced as y in “young.”

Th following a vowel is soft, as in “with;” at the

beginning of a word or following a consonant it is
hard, as in “thin.”
The long (doubled) consonants should be
pronounced as in Italian, both elements being
distinctly sounded; e.g., “Am-ma.”

S is always hard, as in “so,” “this,” never soft, as in

“as.”

H enters into combinations with various following

consonants; with “v” the sound is approximately that
of wh in “what”; with “l,” “r” and “n” it produces
sounds which have no exact English equivalents, but
which can be approximated by pronouncing the
consonants with a marked initial breathing.

Accents. The accented syllable in each name is

indicated by the acute accent (′). In many names,
however, and particularly in compounds, there is both
a primary and a secondary accent, and where this is
the case the primary stress is indicated by a double
acute accent (″) and the secondary one by a single
acute accent (′). To avoid possible confusion with the
long vowel marks used in Old Norse texts, the
accents are placed, not over the vowels, but after the
accented syllables. [559]
[Contents]
PRONOUNCING INDEX