Celtic Scotland : a history of ancient Alban / by William F. Skene.

  • William Forbes Skene
Date:
1886-1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Celtic Scotland : a history of ancient Alban / by William F. Skene. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    0 honesty of the hound! 0 pure soul! Here’s a kiss for thee; deal thou a kiss to me. Colum Cille blessed him after that, and left him the gift of wisdom, and told him that it was he who would give judgment between the men of Eriu and the men of Alba concerning the Dalriada. And this was verified. The judgment, moreover, is this, viz., their expedition, and their hosting, with the men of Eriu (for it is ‘ hosting with territories ’ always), and their rent1 and their tribute with the men of Alba. Dalian afterwards came to converse with Colum Cille, when it was that he recited the preface.2 And Colum Cille said that he (Dalian) should not make it3 but at the time of his (Colum Cille’s) death; and that it was for one dead it was fitting. Colum Cille promised to Dalian the richness and products of the earth for this eulogy ; and Dalian would not accept them, but Heaven for himself and for every one who would recite it, and would understand it between sense and sound. ‘ How shall thy death be known, and thou in pilgrimage, and I in Eriu 1 ’ asked Dalian. Colum Cille therefore gave him three signs as to the time he should make the eulogy. The first sign was, that it was the rider of a speckled steed who would announce the death of Colum Cille; and that the first word he would utter should be the beginning of the eulogy. And it was verified in ripe time, and was the wonderment of the island.4] One day in the month of May Colum Cille went to inquire after the ploughmen in the north of the island. He was con- soling5 them and instructing them. ‘ Good, then/ said he ; ‘ about the Easter that went past in the month of April—it was then I should have liked to go to Heaven ; but I would not wish grief or sadness to you after your labour; and therefore it is that I remained with you, protecting you, from Easter to Whitsuntide.’ 1 Rent. Cain. This word an- ciently meant a penal tax, or fine. But in later times it was used in the sense of ‘ tribute.’ 2 Preface. The Preface to the Amra (or Eulogy) he had composed for Colum Cille. 3 It; the Amra itself. 4 Island; i.e. Ireland. Here ends the quotation from A. L. which be- gins supra, p. 494. 8 Consoling. Ca comdidnd; lit. ‘ protecting ’ or ‘ sheltering.’