334 



Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



authorities. Thus, in the legend of St. Patrick's contention with the Magi at 

 Tara, as given in the Tripartite Life of the saint, it is related how his favourite 

 disciple, the boy Benen, escaped the machinations of Patrick's enemies, to 

 whom he appeared as a fawn bearing a pack or budget on his back. And it is 

 afterwards distinctly stated that the object in reality thus carried by Benen was 

 Patrick's book of the Scriptures, or in fact the Book of Armagh itself, for 

 such this book was believed to be, at the time when this legend was written. 



" Obtutibus enim ipsorum solilin apparuerunt octo cerui cum vno hinnulo, in cujus dorso vide- 

 batur aliqua sarcina jacere. Sic ergo mirificus vir socijque cum beato puero Benigno sacrum Bib- 

 liorum codicem in humeris gestante, per medios hostes salui & incolumes Temoriam vsque perue- 

 nerunt, saluifico orationis viri Dei prsesidio, velut sacra segide, muniti." Pars I. cap. LX., Trias 

 Thaum., p. 126. 



It may be objected that, in the preceding passage, there is no distinct refe- 

 rence to the polaire, or case in which the sacred volume was carried; but it is 

 obvious that the book could not have been carried, as stated, on Benen's back, 

 except in a case ; and in an old Irish version of this legend, preserved in the 

 Leabhar Sreac, the case, or bag, carried by Benen on this occasion, is called 

 the polaire of St. Patrick; and, indeed, I have no doubt that this was the word 

 used in the original Irish of the Tripartite Life, which Colgan has translated 

 sarcina. The passage to which I allude is as follows : 



" 6nloe5 i n-a n-oiaio, 7 in pino pop a jualamo, .1. 6men pin, 7 polipe phacpaic pop 

 a mum." Fol. 14, a,a. 



" One fawn [appeared] behind them, and a white bird on his shoulder, i. e. this was Benen, and 

 Patrick's polire on his back." 



Thus also, in another version of this legend, preserved in the Library of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, H. 3, 18, p. 523, the same word is used, and glossed 

 by a commentator : 



" lapnooe i n-a n-oea^aij, 7 jjaile pop a jualamo, .1. pacpaic 7 a occap 7 6enen in-a 

 n-oeajaijj, 7 a polaipe [.i. ainm DO reij liubaip] pop a mum." 



" A fawn after them, and a bag on his shoulder, i. e. Patrick and his eight [companions], and 

 Benen behind them, and ~h\spolaire [i. e. a name for a book satchel] on his back." 



It would appear, moreover, from the following passage in the Annotations 

 of Tirechan, in the Book of Armagh, that the polaire, as well as the minister, 

 was an article in some degree necessary to the episcopal character, as it enume- 



