Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc.. 63 



in the Book of Ballymote, with a literal translation by Mr. O'Donovan, and 

 under it the passage in Virgil, to which it corresponds : 



" TTlupo bai in cpeo pin aioci co haiobino, ba bponac 01 in aioci fin. TJo ela poloimoep, mac 

 plipiaim, lap n-ajuin DO P>pp ip in up pin, oapo opup lupcupac na pij-oume, ap cac aupourn ma 

 paili, co h-aipm a paibi Ppiam h iplONeiTIUO loib; aguppipp gacconaip nocejio inuoiuio, 

 conio ano pujj palp in crm po piacc co m-bai i piaonuipi a achap, .1. Ppium ; ajup DO beip P'pp 

 puipmio paip ou'n leacan 5111 lan-moip bai ma oeip, co puj uppamo epic, cup cuie mapb cen 

 anmuin, i piaonaipi a achap. Qcpacr annaioi conacaib a eppio caca uime; ajup cia clieap- 

 buoap, ni ceapbaio a opoc-aijne; agup popopbaip aichipmgao pipp o bpiacpaib, agup ippeao 

 po paio pip: a cuilioe, ap pe, ip mop in gnim DO pigmp, m imoeapjao-pa a^up mo mac DO 

 mapbao im piabnaipi, ujup hi piaonaipi alcoipi na n-oe h-i plt)N6rniD loib! a^up oe mme 

 oia oijail pope." Fol. 245, a, b. 



" Happy as this family was one night, sorrowful to them was that night. Poloinides, the sou 

 of Priam, after having been wounded by Pyrrhus in that slaughter, fled through the western door 

 of the royal palace, and from one apartment [aurdam~\ to another, until he came to the place where 

 Priam was in the Fidnemud of Jupiter ; and Pyrrhus followed him in every way through which he 

 passed, and overtook him just as he came into the presence of his father, i. e. Priam; and Pyrrhus 

 gave him a thrust of the large broad spear which was in his right hand, and pierced him with 

 its head, so that he fell dead without a soul, in the presence of his father. The old man rose and 

 put on his battle-dress ; and though it had become rusty, his warlike mind had not ; and he com- 

 menced abusing Pyrrhus in words, and in this wise spake he to him : ' Wretch,' said he, ' how mon- 

 strous is the deed thou hast committed, to enrage me by killing my son before me, and before the 

 altar of the gods in the Fidnemid of Jupiter ! May the gods of heaven revenge it upon thee !' " 



The following description of the death of Polites and Priam, as given by 

 Virgil, will convey an exact idea of what object the Irish translator intended 

 to designate by the term Fidnemud, or Fidnemid. 



" ^Edibus in mediis, nudoque sub astheris axe, 

 Ingens ara fuit; juxtaque veterrima laurus 

 Incumbens arce, alque umbra complexa Penates, 

 Hie Hecuba, 



Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de ctede Polites, 

 Unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostes, 

 Porticibus longis fugit, et vacua atria lustrat 

 Saucius. Ilium ardens infesto vulnere Pyrrhus 

 Insequitur, jam jamque manu tenet, et premit hasta. 

 Ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum 

 Concidit, ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit. 



