78 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



Ip 1 po in chain parpaic qia, ocup ippeo This is the Cain of Patrick, and it is a fact, 



na cumuic nech 6perheitian oaonna do that no individual Brehon of the Gaels has dared 



Jaooeluib do caicbiuc nee ni po jebup a to abrogate any thing found in the Senchus Mor. 

 Senchup TTlop, 



The writer then proceeds, as in the former instance, to explain the etymo- 

 logical meanings of the word Senchus, of which the following will afford a 

 suflScient specimen : 



6unaD ocup mne ocup aipbejic connaoup The root, import, and meaning of the word 



Don pocul ap Senchup, .i. bunao do poene a senchus. Its root is the Hebrew soene or the 



ebpa, poene a ^P^'S' "°' I^eno a ebpa Greek soene, or the Hebrew saeno, in Greek 



poopa a 5pei5, ratio a Lamm, oligeo a n soosa, which is ratio in Latin, and dlighedh (law) 



^uoioelj ; ocup ol.ijeD a aipBepc. in Irish ; and its import is law. 



It is also stated in these prefaces, as well as in many other very old Irish 

 documents, that the ancient laws of the Irish previously to St. Patrick's time 



This very ancient quatrain is better given in tlie Life of Saint Patrick, preserved in the Leabhar Breac, thus : 

 "Cicpai caillceno, rap muip meipceno, 

 CI bpacc coillceno, a cpano cpomceno, 

 Q iniap a n-aipchep a rije 

 ppipcepuc a ihuincep uLi, amen, amen." 

 It is also given by the Scholiast of Fiech, and thus translated by Colgan in his Trias Thaum. p. 5, col. 2. 

 " Veniet tonsus in vertice trans mare vorticosum, 

 Cujus toga (i. e. cassula) erit desuper perforata, cujus baculus erit prsecurvi capitis, 

 Cujus disci sive utensilia erunt in parte Orientali suae domus ; 

 Eique decantanti, tota ipsius familia respondebit jimen. Amen." 

 A somewhat different reading of this verse is given in the Life of Patrick, preserved in the Book of Lismore, thus : 

 " Ciccpac cailcmn, rap itiuip meipceann, 

 CI m-bpuic roillceann, a cpainn cpoimceann, 

 Q miapa a n-aipchep a ciji, 

 ppipcepac uile, amen." 

 Immediately after this quatrain, another, wanting the fourth line, is introduced from the Buile Chuinn, [the phrensy 

 of the Druid Conn,] in a Life of St. Patrick preserved in a MS. in Trinity College, Class H. 3. 18. 



" Cicpac railcmo conucpar Ruama 

 Noicpic cella ceoilci je benoacha 

 6enchopuip iliplaic himbachla." 

 This is also translated into Latin by Colgan, as follows : 



" Advenlet cum circulo tonsus in capite ; cujus ledes erunt ad instar sdium Romanarum : 

 Efficiet quod cellse futurss sint in pretio et aestimatione : 

 £des ejus erunt angustae et angulatae et fana multa : pedum pastorale dominabitur." 



Triat Thaum. p. 123, col. 2. 



