Stanza 48

Original Old Norse:

Mildir frœknir

menn bazt lifa

sjaldan sút ala

en ósnjallr maðr

uggir hotvetna

sýtir æ gløggr við gjöfum

Auden & Taylor:

The generous and bold have the best lives, 

Are seldom beset by cares, 

But the base man sees bogies everywhere

And the miser pines for presents.

Bellows:

The lives of the brave | and noble are best,

Sorrows they seldom feed;

But the coward fear | of all things feels,

And not gladly the niggard gives.

Bray:

Most blest is he who lives free and bold

and nurses never a grief,

for the fearful man is dismayed by aught,

and the mean one mourns over giving.

Chisholm:

He who gives gladly lives the best life,

and seldom has sorrow.

But the unwise suspect all

and always pine for gifts.

Hollander:

He who giveth gladly a goodly life leadeth,

and seldom hath he sorrow;

but the churlish wight is chary of all,

and grudgingly parts with his gifts.

Terry:

Men brave and generous live the best lives,

seldom will they sorrow;

then there are fools, afraid of everything,

who grumble instead of giving.

Thorpe:

Liberal and brave men live best,

they seldom cherish sorrow;

but a base-minded man

dreads everything;

the niggardly is uneasy even at gifts.

A parallel message is that generousity is equated with heroism and miserliness is equated with cowardice.

Actions and materiel are interchangible on some level.Fighting in battle is an act of giving just as making an item with your own hands and gifting the item is giving just as gifting money is giving. Makes me wonder about the case of buying your way out of military service, a loophole of sorts.

The latter part:
"en ósnjallr maðr
uggir hvotvetna,
sýtir æ glöggr við gjöfum."

The miser doesn´t become happy at all when someone brings him a gift. He will be expected to give something back, now or later, and the very thought of that is unbearable to him. I have met a few misers in my life, and strangely enough they are all bachelors - in a comical accordance with this stanza.