Mr. Peteie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 43 



tain 19 sections ; the first and second of whicli give the title, as above, with some additional 

 circumstances, relating to the life of King Cormac. — Cenfaelad states in the third, that the Laws of 

 the Irish are derived from four sources — the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin, and the Irish ; adding 

 that there are several ancient Irish terms of Law, which are here explained in detail, and also 

 eight emails (or interpretations) oiEtgens (or crimes) which are also explained in the sequel. The 

 following inference is drawn near the end of this section : — ' Ip ap pin ip poUup o biap pip in cinaio 

 ac Duine jon copoibh pip nahepce concroh ampip Ion piach — i. e. and hence it is plain that when 

 once man comes to know a crime, though he knows not the punishment attached to it, he is Uable 

 to be punished accordingly.' 



" The fourth section begins with the words ' Giplip polla eicgioch op p. im cia leap no 

 cia lin DO epnailib qiia pap o bheilijcb in cej. ip com. p. L^ban icincaighe -i i plain- 

 ci5h.' These words are interhned with a very ancient gloss by Cenfaelad, from which it appears 

 that this section treats of the various aggravating circumstances of crimes, and how each crime may 

 be distinguished by its email, or signs and tokens. It also treats of proofs of crimes, and the 

 necessity of corporal presence to establish evidence, — adding that the ignorant, and the Coward, 

 who resemble brutes, must not be permitted to give evidence, even though their personal presence 

 be ascertained : and here is quoted the authority of an ancient Poet, called Fer-Muman mac 

 Echgain, whose words, in the ancient Irish idiom, are — 



" ' Conioh DC ac. poc paicc. -i anphocanpaicc. 



6iDbcach caphaicchup ipoic — ip bpep. ciaimciajaicoij.' 



" These verses are written without any distinction of Unes, or even of words, except rarely ; 

 and they are so written, that the second line must be read before the first. Several instances of this 

 occur in Irish MSS. of great antiquity. Usher observes on an ancient MS. in which he discovered 

 one of Columbanus's Poems, that it is all written as if it were prose. See his Sylioge, p. 99 and 

 122. Many similar instances occur in the writings of the middle ages, as noticed in the Rerum 

 Hibernicarum, vol. 1. The above Irish verses may be interpreted thus : 



" 1. Whoever is in terror is a Fot. — He is false though he should strut as a champion. 



" 2. Wherefore it is said that Fot means a coward, and a confirmed Fot is a confirmed coward. 



" The idiom alone sufficiently proves that these verses must be referred to a very remote period, 

 even were it not for the circumstance of some of the words not being divided from each other, and 

 being wholly unknown at this day : and though there are undoubtedly, in Cennfaelad's gloss, and 

 in the parts of this work composed by him, some references to Laws enacted by the Christian Kings 

 of Ireland in the 6th and 7th centuries, the parts ascribed to King Cormac are written in an idiom 

 so very obscure and remote, as to justify, ab intrinseco, the positive assertion of Cenfaelad, that 

 they are the genuine Laws of that Prince. 



" The 5th section is Cenfaelad's interpretation of the Law terms of Cormac's work, beginning, 

 ' Ciaanmano nacina pin — What are the names of those crimes.' 



" The 6th begins, ' Ro rannchiaghaic a cechaip jacb ne — Four quaUties make known the 

 extent of each crime.' 



" The 7th is < Ceopa poohlapoghLa, — Three are the distinctive qualities of plunder.' 



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