Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 167 



scripsit elimenta Cerpano ; et intravit in do- he wrote elements for Cerpan ; and he entered into 



mum regiam, et non surrexerunt ante se, nisi the royal house, and they did not rise up before 



unus tantum, hoc est Hercus sacrilegus, et dixit him, except one only, that is Hercus Sacrilegus,* 



illi, Cur tu solus surrexisti in honorem Dei and he said unto him, Why hast thou alone risen 



mei in me ? Et dixit ei Hercus, nescio quid ; up to the honour of my God in me ? And Hercus 



video scintellas igneas de labiis tuis ascendere replied to him, I know not why ; I see ignited 



in labia mea. Sanctus quoque dixit, si babtisma sparks ascend from thy hps to mine. The saint 



Domini accipies, quod mecum est ? Respondit, also said. Wilt thou receive the baptism of the 



accipiam. Et venierunt ad fontem Loigles Lord, which is with me ? He answered, I will, 



in Scotica, nobiscum vitulus civitatum. Cum- And they came to the fountain [called] in the 



que aperuisset librum atque babtitzasset Scotic Loigles, with us the calf of the cities. 



virum Hercum, audivit viros post tergum suum And when he had opened the book and had bap- 



se inridentes ad invicem de rei illius considera- tized Hercus, he heard men behind his hack de- 



tione, quia nescierunt quid fecerat. Et babtit- riding him on account of that thing, because they 



zavit tot milia hominum in die ilia. knew not what he had done. And he baptized 



many thousand men on that day. 



The ruins of Cuchfair Cormaic, or Cormac's Kitchen, now obliterated, were 

 situated over the brink of this well, to the east ; that is, between it and the 

 external ring of Rath-na-Riogh. 



On the same Leiter, or slope of the hill, in which this well was situated, and 

 not far to the west of Rath-na-Riogh, the prose account places two stones mark- 

 ing the sepulchres of Cu and Cethen. These monuments were to the south of 

 the well, and, like it, have disappeared. The verse, with equal distinctness, 

 points out the situation of these monuments, but adds another feature called 

 Cnoc-bo, or the Hill of the Cow, of which also there is no trace. The destruc- 

 tion of these monuments is at once accounted for by the fact, that this side of 

 the hill has been long under cultivation. Respecting Cnoc-bo, no historical 

 account is given, but the sepulchral stones of Cu and Cethen, according to the 

 prose account, owe their origin to two distributors, or servants, of Cormac's 

 household, as thus stated : 



" Cu slew Cethen, Cormac's Rannaire (distributor) in the presence of 

 Cormac, in the middle of the house, and then passed westwards under the height 

 of Temur, but was pursued and killed by the brother of him whom he had slain. 

 And though Cormac said that Cu should not be slain yet no one interposed until 



• Query lawgiver? " Qj' e an c-Gappucc Gipc pi po ba bpeicherii do pacpcnc." i. e. It is this 

 Bishop Eire who was brehon [judge] to Patriclt. — Four Masters, ad ann. 512. 



